Games Making a sequel, need advice to do better.

So my first game I made MONOWARS: Red Zone; Had some serious bad apples and has a lot of room for improvement. Debatable bad and a little crappy but still enjoyable. I wrote down a list of things I can do better but I want some advice from any of you developers on what I can do to make a better sequel.

If you would like to see that game here is the link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/905890/MONOWARS_Red_Zone/


Other devs told me it was not very original but I found the gameplay fun from a future perspective if it were a better sequel and I would guess that other people who played the game would think it would be fun. Upgrade your tank, unlock units for your army that have special abilties, take over a big map of control points littered with defenses and strategies for your team and the enemy team. I generally got this idea from diep.io ; a game that looks boring but once you play it it gets very addicting.

 

From what I've seen, it needs more visual flair and better ui to start with. It really needs to hook people when they see it

 

Needs better visuals. Better art. Better UI. It's a computer game, add more post fx. Make it look modern, shiny. Nice things.

 

I understand completely, my first game turned out pretty bad. I agree with the others the visuals need to either be better or just unique. Also before you release consider getting some honest testers, that will help. Take a step back and look at other games similar to yours and ask yourself what does my game do better, different and worse. You want to have some better, and at least one different, and ofcourse less worses. Don't be afraid to play with other systems, for example and this is just an example, maybe have some power up or event that causes you and the AI to switch. Now you're playing where they are at, which might benefit you or hurt you. Think of crazy stuff and see what happens. Good Luck

 

Why make a sequel at all? Just continue developing the original.

I only made a sequel to major mayhem for contractual publisher reasons

 

This. If it's broken - fix it. UI can be spruced up within the existing framework etc. Visuals can also quite easily be improved on.
I subscribe to the idea that generally indiedevs shouldn't make sequels, unless they've truly struck gold with something incredibly sucessful and original. A sequel could be considered if you more or less need to rework the foundation of the game to implement new ideas, or when there are ideas that substantially divert from the original concept (like a move from 1st to 3rd person, new game modes etc.).