How to make a game like Adopt Me! on Roblox
Adopt Me! is one of Roblox's biggest games, and it's built on looking after something. Hatch an egg, feed what comes out, watch it grow, and trade it with your friends. Pets give players a reason to come back and something to show off. Here's how to build your own take on it.
Why it works
Players hatch pets from eggs, look after them to earn money, raise them and trade them with each other.
- Something to look after. A hungry pet is a small reason to come back, and looking after it pays.
- Rare things to show. Five rarities, and pets that can be combined into glowing versions, give people something to chase for a long time.
- Friends make the economy. Trading gives every pet a value that players decide themselves.
1Start on a map
A friendly town with homes, a shop and places to walk a pet. A neighborhood works better than a big city. A finished map means your first weeks go into the game itself. Open it in Roblox Studio with File, then Open from File. Here's how, and there are free maps too.
Maps for a game like Adopt Me!
Ready to open in Roblox Studio.
2Build it in this order
Each step is something you can play. Stop when it's fun, and let people try it before you build the next one.
- 1A pet that follows you. This alone is fun for a few minutes, and everything else builds on it.
- 2Needs. Hungry, thirsty, tired. Meeting a need earns money, so playing and earning are the same thing.
- 3Eggs and rarity. Buy an egg, wait, and a pet hatches at random from a table you control.
- 4Growing up. Each need met moves a pet toward its next stage. This is what gives a pet its value.
- 5Saving. Every pet a player owns, with its age. Plan this before you have thousands of pets to move.
- 6Trading. Build it last and do it on the server, swapping both sides at once. A bug that copies pets can ruin your whole economy in an afternoon.
3Get the scripts
These are free to copy and paste, each with where it goes:
- Roblox pet follow scriptThe pet itself, following its owner around.
- Roblox save data scriptA starting point for saving what they own.
- Roblox shop GUI scriptFood and eggs. Swap the tools for your own.
- Roblox NPC dialogue scriptA shopkeeper who sells them their first egg.
For what's particular to this game, ask the script generator. Press one of these to start from it:
- A pet with a hunger bar that goes down over time, and gives its owner 10 coins when they feed it
- An egg shop where a player buys an egg that hatches after 60 seconds into a random pet from a list, with rarer pets less likely
- A trade window between two players where both add a pet and both have to accept, and the swap happens on the server
4Make it yours
- Change what's being raised. Dinosaurs, monsters and small robots all work, and each draws a different crowd.
- Give pets something to do besides follow you: races, a job, or a fight with other pets.
- Draw your own pets from the start. Your pets are the game, so they're the last thing to borrow.
Don't copy it
Adopt Me!'s name, art, music and code belong to its makers, and copying them can get your game taken down. Leaked copies and free kits are also a common place to hide backdoors, so check anything you pick up with the free backdoor scanner.
5Earn from it
Pets you can only get with Robux are what the big pet games are known for. Start with one pass, like a second pet out at once. If you sell eggs with random pets inside for Robux, Roblox requires you to show the odds.
The free game pass and developer product scripts get you started, and the tax calculator works out what to charge.
6Test it and publish
Try it with friends before anyone else. Then it's File, then Publish, and an age check to release it: here's how publishing works now. For the basics of this kind of game, read how to make a Roblox roleplay game.
Once it's out, show it on Forja so people can find it and play it.
Questions
Can I copy Adopt Me!?
Make your own game in the same style, not a copy. Nobody owns a kind of game, generally, but Adopt Me!'s name, art, music and code belong to its makers, and they can have a copy taken down. Your own names and art are safer, and they give players a reason to pick yours.
Is there a free Adopt Me! kit?
Be careful with free kits and leaked copies. They're a common place to hide backdoors, which can give a stranger control of your game. Run anything like that through Forja's free backdoor scanner before you open it, or build from free scripts you can read.
Why is trading so hard to get right?
Because pets become worth real effort, so people look hard for bugs. If one trade can be made to copy a pet, it spreads fast and rare pets stop being rare. Both sides of a trade have to change together, on the server, in one step.
Other games to learn from
Maps
Roleplay maps
A friendly town with homes, a shop and places to walk a pet. A neighborhood works better than a big city.
Browse mapsFree tool
Roblox script generator
Say what you need in plain words and get a working script, checked for backdoors.
Write a scriptForja isn't connected to Adopt Me! or the people who make it. This page explains how this kind of game works, so you can build your own.