slime-factory-tycoon
🚀 Publish in under 60 minutes — see the Quickstart Guide
At a Glance
| Time to first publish | < 60 minutes |
| Core loop | Tap → Upgrade → Rebirth → Pets → Offline earnings |
| Content updates | Edit one file (GameConfig.luau) |
| Security | Fully server-authoritative + session locking |
| Balance | Real Python simulator that gates CI |
| UI | 100% code, mobile-first, accessibility built-in |
| License | MIT — keep 100% of revenue |
Support the project
- ⭐ Star the repository
- 🐛 Report issues or suggest features
- 💡 Open a PR (we love balance tweaks with simulator proof!)
- 📢 Share what you build with the template
Every star and fork helps more people find a solid foundation instead of starting from scratch.
Screenshots
All UI is built in code (no manual GUI objects). 44px minimum touch targets. Full Reduced Motion + colour-blind support. Mobile-first by design.
What this is
A complete, production-ready Roblox idle tycoon you can publish today.
Core loop: Tap vat → earn Goo → buy upgrades → unlock zones → rebirth for permanent multipliers → hatch pets → daily rewards + leaderboards.
Why idle/tycoon? Best revenue-per-hour for solo devs on Roblox. Your entire content pipeline is data in spreadsheets (one row = new zone/pet/upgrade). This is how you ship weekly and beat the algorithm.
Read
STRATEGY.mdfirst — it covers genre economics, competition, retention loops, and real monetization numbers.
Highlights — production features that actually matter
| Feature | Why it saves you time / money |
|---|---|
| Modular service architecture | Add a full system with one file. No bootstrap edits ever. |
| Declarative networking | All remotes + validators + rate limits in one table. Security is impossible to forget. |
| Fully server-authoritative | Client sends intent only. Exploiters get zero value. |
| Session-locked DataStores | Prevents the #1 duplication bug in idle games. |
| Idempotent purchases | Save-before-confirm. Never double-charge or lose a sale. |
| Code-only mobile-first UI | 44px targets, Reduced Motion, accessibility — zero GUI objects in Studio. |
| Real CI balance simulator | Fails the build on bad progression. Caught a 33-minute rebirth during dev. |
| Single source of truth content | Everything lives in GameConfig.luau + Content.luau. Weekly updates = 15 min. |
| Accessibility by default | Reduced Motion, colour-blind modes, text scaling — persisted server-side. |
Quick start
⚡ Fastest path (publish in < 60 minutes)
- Download the
.rbxlxfrom Releases - Open in Roblox Studio
- Enable Game Settings → Security → Studio Access to API Services
- Replace
id = 0with your real Gamepass/Product IDs - Publish!
→ Full quickstart: QUICKSTART.md
Option A — Proper development (recommended)
git clone https://github.com/DLinacre/slime-factory-tycoon.git
cd slime-factory-tycoon
aftman install # or rokit install
rojo serve
Install the Rojo plugin in Studio and click Connect.
Option B — Zero tools
Download the latest .rbxlx from the Releases page and open in Roblox Studio.
Repository layout
slime-factory-tycoon/
├── src/
│ ├── shared/ → ReplicatedStorage/Modules
│ │ ├── GameConfig.luau ★ economy, zones, pets, prices
│ │ ├── Content.luau ★ achievements, cosmetics, settings, seasons
│ │ ├── Theme.luau ★ colour, type, motion, breakpoints
│ │ ├── Net.luau declarative remotes + validators + rate limits
│ │ ├── Validate.luau composable argument validators
│ │ ├── ServiceRegistry.luau service locator + lifecycle
│ │ └── Format.luau number abbreviation (1.2K / 3.4M / 5.6aa)
│ ├── server/ → ServerScriptService
│ │ ├── Bootstrap.server.luau build → register → start. Nothing else.
│ │ └── Services/ auto-discovered, no manual wiring
│ │ ├── DataManager.luau session-locked saves, autosave, BindToClose
│ │ ├── EconomyService.luau authoritative income, clicks, anti-cheat
│ │ ├── MonetizationService.luau gamepasses + idempotent ProcessReceipt
│ │ ├── PetService.luau server-side hatch RNG, published odds
│ │ ├── InventoryService.luau generic UID-keyed containers
│ │ ├── AchievementService.luau stat-driven unlocks
│ │ ├── CosmeticService.luau cosmetics (no economy access by design)
│ │ ├── SettingsService.luau server-persisted, cross-device
│ │ ├── DailyRewardService.luau 7-day streak
│ │ ├── LeaderboardService.luau OrderedDataStore, throttled
│ │ └── CodeService.luau promo codes
│ └── client/ → StarterPlayer/StarterPlayerScripts
│ ├── ClientMain.client.luau input, prediction, batched remotes
│ ├── UI.luau themed component library
│ ├── AudioEngine.luau pooled procedural SFX
│ └── UIBuilder.luau screen composition
├── tools/
│ ├── balance_sim.py progression simulator (runs in CI)
│ ├── sync_site.py one-way sync to linacre.site
│ └── verify.sh every CI gate, locally
├── assets/ logo · icon set · banner (PNG + WebP)
├── game.manifest.json machine-readable project data
└── docs → STRATEGY · SETUP · SECURITY · OPTIMISATION · LAUNCH · BRAND
Adding content
The whole point of the architecture. Each of these is a single row in a data file, with no other code change:
| To add a… | Edit | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrade | GameConfig.Upgrades |
Appears in the shop, priced, balanced |
| Zone | GameConfig.Zones |
Unlocks at its threshold, applies its multiplier |
| Pet | GameConfig.Pets |
Enters the hatch pool at its rarity weight |
| Achievement | Content.Achievements |
Tracks its stat, grants its reward automatically |
| Cosmetic | Content.Cosmetics |
Unlocks by progression, crystals, or Robux |
| Setting | Content.Settings |
Renders, validates, and persists itself |
| Remote | Net.REMOTES |
Created, validated, and rate-limited automatically |
Adding a service is one file in src/server/Services/ — it’s discovered and started automatically.
The balance simulator
The part I’m most glad exists. It parses GameConfig.luau directly — no duplicated numbers — simulates a player, and reports where they’d get stuck.
$ python3 tools/balance_sim.py --hours 6
==============================================================
BALANCE SIM -- 6.0h session, 3.0 taps/s, 1.0x mult
==============================================================
parsed: 5 upgrades, 6 zones
rebirths reached : 4
lifetime goo : 298.69M
final zone : Neon Labs
longest stall : 2.9 min
timeline:
1.38 min Unlocked Goo Refinery
11.47 min Unlocked Toxic Caverns
21.78 min Rebirth #1
56.23 min Rebirth #2
77.73 min Unlocked Neon Labs
114.52 min Rebirth #3
with 2x Goo gamepass:
rebirths 4 -> 5
first rebirth 21.8 min -> 10.8 min (2.01x faster)
^ this is your gamepass sales pitch, in numbers
balance within target ranges.
It caught a real bug during development: the original rebirth cost put the first prestige at 33 minutes, well past where most players quit. Halving it moved it to 22 minutes. That’s a retention fix found in a second, without shipping anything.
CI runs --check, which exits non-zero if you push a config change that breaks these targets:
- Zone 2 reached in under 5 minutes (onboarding)
- First rebirth between 8 and 30 minutes (meaningful, but reachable)
- No progression stall longer than 45 minutes (churn wall)
Monetization, in brief
Full reasoning — including why players actually buy each item — is in STRATEGY.md.
Gamepasses: 2x Goo (199) · Auto-Clicker (149) · VIP (399) · +5 Pet Slots (299) · Lucky Egg (349) · Fast Rebirth (249)
Dev products: crystal packs (99 / 499 / 999) · 3x boost (79) · server-wide boost (199) · instant rebirth (149) · skip egg cooldown (49)
The server-wide boost is the highest-ROI item here: the buyer gets public thanks, and every other player in the server watches a purchase notification teach them that boosts exist. It’s an advertisement that players pay you to run.
Premium Payout is treated as its own lever — Premium members get a permanent visible 1.25× and a dedicated daily chest. You’re not selling them anything; you’re buying session time that Roblox pays you for.
Security summary
Full threat model in SECURITY.md.
- Token-bucket click limiting — 20/s sustained, hard clamp of 100 per call
- Type/NaN/infinity validation on every inbound remote argument
- Server-side lookup of upgrade costs, pet ownership, and purchase asset IDs
- Per-player, per-remote rate guard wrapping every handler
- Session locking via atomic
UpdateAsync(dupe prevention) - Receipt idempotency with save-before-confirm and rollback on save failure
- Never save on a failed load — the #1 cause of “I lost everything”
Deliberately not included: client-side anti-cheat, remote name obfuscation, auto-banning. They’re either trivially bypassed or they punish real players for lag. Capping rewards server-side is strictly better than banning.
Documentation
| Doc | What’s in it |
|---|---|
| STRATEGY.md | Genre analysis, competition, retention loop, full monetization plan, compliance |
| SETUP.md | Click-by-click Studio setup, object tree, file mapping |
| SECURITY.md | Exploits, dupe bugs, remote hardening, DataStore protection |
| OPTIMISATION.md | Mobile-first performance, server load, load times |
| LAUNCH.md | Release checklist, Roblox SEO, icon/thumbnail ideas, analytics to watch |
| BRAND.md | Palette semantics, typography, motion, accessibility, voice |
Monetisation ethics
The line is drawn structurally, not by good intentions:
CosmeticServicehas no access to the economy multiplier. Pay-to-win isn’t discouraged here, it’s unrepresentable — a cosmetic physically cannot change income because the code path doesn’t exist.- No fake timers. Any countdown is server-authoritative and real.
- Hatch odds are published in-game, and the numbers shown are read from the same table the RNG uses.
showOffersis a setting. A player can turn every shop popup off permanently, and the game still works.- Convenience, not gates. The Auto-Clicker removes tedium; it doesn’t unlock content. Nothing purchasable is required to see any part of the game.
Accessibility
Not a backlog item. Shipped, persisted server-side, and synced across devices:
- Reduced Motion —
UI.tween()collapses to an instant property set, so every animation in the game respects it automatically rather than each call site remembering. - High Contrast — adds borders to interactive surfaces.
- Text Scale — 80–150%.
- Colour-blind modes — Deuteranopia, Protanopia, Tritanopia.
- 44px minimum touch targets, enforced in
UI.button. - Rarity is never colour alone — always paired with a text label.
Website
The project page at linacre.site/games renders directly from game.manifest.json. tools/sync_site.py recomputes the stats from source and copies the manifest and art across, so the website can’t drift from the repository — and can’t display a number that isn’t derived from the code.
Where information genuinely doesn’t exist yet (screenshots, the Roblox link), the page shows “Coming Soon” or a disabled “Not Yet Available” button. No placeholder imagery, no invented player counts.
Roadmap
- Core loop, rebirths, zones, pets, dailies, leaderboards
- Promo code system
- Rojo project + CI + balance simulator
- Service architecture, declarative networking, content framework
- Achievements, cosmetics, inventory, settings, audio, UI library
- Visual identity + website integration
- 5 high-quality screenshots + major GitHub polish
- Seasonal event content (framework ready)
AnalyticsService+ funnel tracking- Trading system (deliberately last due to dupe risk)
- Published example game using this template
Current state: v0.3.0 — fully playable and publishable.
Contributing
PRs welcome. CI runs selene, stylua --check, the balance simulator, and a Rojo build. Run every CI check locally with one command — no tooling required beyond Python
(lint/format/build steps auto-skip if the tools aren’t installed):
./tools/verify.sh
Note on the CI badge: GitHub Actions requires Actions minutes to be enabled on the account. If the badge shows failing with zero steps executed, that’s a billing/entitlement issue on the repo owner’s account, not the code —
./tools/verify.shruns the identical checks locally.
Honest expectations & results
Most first Roblox games earn very little. Success comes from shipping update #12+, not a perfect first version.
This template gives you:
- Battle-tested save + monetization code (the hard parts)
- A working balance model you can tweak in minutes
- Mobile-first UI you don’t have to rebuild
Realistic timeline: 1 weekend to a playable game → 2-4 weekends to a publishable game with your own assets and IDs.
The balance simulator already proved its value — it caught a 33-minute first rebirth during development and moved it to ~22 minutes.
Stuck? Ask an AI
Copy this prompt into any LLM for personalised setup help
The repo is small and well-commented, so an LLM with this context can usually unblock you faster than an issue can. Paste the following, then describe your problem: ``` You are helping me set up an open-source Roblox game template called Slime Factory Tycoon (github.com/DLinacre/slime-factory-tycoon). ARCHITECTURE - Luau, Rojo project. src/shared -> ReplicatedStorage/Modules, src/server -> ServerScriptService, src/client -> StarterPlayerScripts. - One server Script (Bootstrap) which does: Net.build() to create remotes, Registry.registerFolder(Services) to auto-discover services, Registry.start() to run init() then start() on all of them. - Services are ModuleScripts in src/server/Services. They may implement init(), start(), onPlayerAdded(player), onPlayerRemoving(player). They resolve each other by name via ServiceRegistry.get("Name"). - Remotes are DECLARED in src/shared/Net.luau with a validator and a cooldown. Net.onServer(name, handler) applies both automatically. - All game design values live in src/shared/GameConfig.luau (economy, zones, pets, prices) and src/shared/Content.luau (achievements, cosmetics, settings, seasons). Never hardcode numbers in service code. KEY RULES - The client sends INTENT (e.g. "I tapped 5 times"), never VALUE. Any code where the client sends a currency amount is a critical bug. - CosmeticService must never touch the economy multiplier (no pay-to-win). - One loop iterating all players, never one loop per player. COMMON GOTCHAS - DataStores fail silently unless Game Settings > Security > "Enable Studio Access to API Services" is ON. This is the #1 cause of "saving is broken". - Gamepass/product IDs default to 0 and are skipped. Replace them with real IDs from the Creator Dashboard. - Session locking will kick you if the same account loads on two servers. Wait ~30s and rejoin. VERIFY - ./tools/verify.sh runs every check (config, balance sim, Luau compile, lint, format, manifest sync, Rojo build) and skips tools that aren't installed. - python3 tools/balance_sim.py --hours 6 models progression and fails if the first rebirth falls outside 8-30 minutes. My problem is: ``` This is a convenience, not official support. If the AI is confidently wrong, [open an issue](https://github.com/DLinacre/slime-factory-tycoon/issues) — that's a documentation bug worth fixing.FAQ
Can I sell a game made with this? Yes. MIT licence, no attribution required, keep all revenue.
Do I need to credit you? No. Appreciated, never required.
Will this get me moderated on Roblox? Nothing here violates Roblox policy. Hatch odds are published in-game, there are no fake timers, and there’s no real-money gambling framing. You remain responsible for your own content and any changes you make.
Do I need Rojo?
No. Download the .rbxlx
and open it in Studio. Rojo is only for live-syncing your editor.
Why isn’t there a GitHub Actions badge?
Actions has no runner minutes on this account, so hosted jobs finish without
executing. Rather than display a badge that reports a failure that isn’t real,
the checks run locally — ./tools/verify.sh runs the identical gates.
Is this actually production-ready? The architecture, security and save handling are. You still need your own art, your own asset IDs, and a play-test pass before publishing.
My DataStores aren’t saving. Game Settings → Security → enable Studio Access to API Services. Without it every DataStore call fails silently and the code looks broken. It isn’t.
License
MIT — see LICENSE. Use it commercially, keep the Robux, no attribution required.