Official ‘Creatures of Sonaria’ thumbnail art by @ChoochufK
As Roblox reaches its 20th anniversary, it’s launching a new social video series that profiles the developers behind its “most exciting, recently released games,” a rep tells Tubefilter.
The goal with this series is twofold: First, to boost certain games so more players discover them; and second, to peel back the curtain of development and put friendly faces to the work keeping the Roblox UGC engine running.
But what kind of games is Roblox hoping to boost? How does it pick the titles and devs it spotlights? Justin Sousa, the platform’s Global Head of Developer Community, says the best games “are built by creators with passion–creators who build their dream project and refuse to settle for good enough.”
“At Roblox, our job is to give that passion room to grow with the tools, support, and audience to turn ambitious dreams into games that can reach millions of players,” Sousa says.
The initial wave of spotlighted creators includes:
- @Erythia (aka Mary), the Creative Director at Twin Atlas, who’s worked on Creatures of Sonaria, Warden, Dragon Adventures, and Horse Life
- @Seizarii and @coffvshop from Pixel Count Studios, which developed open-world 2D RPG Pixel Quest
- and @Roytt, who solo developed cute co-op horror gameAnimal Hospital, then launched a studio with his friends following the game’s instant success
The titles they work on are some of Roblox’s breakouts.Animal Hospital has racked up more than 2 billion visits since debuting in early June, Creatures of Sonaria has ~26,000 concurrent players at press time, and Pixel Quest, which is still in alpha release with new updates each week, has around ~200 concurrent players with 24 million visits and ~350,000 favorites.
Looking over these titles, we’re guessing Roblox also chose to highlight them because they count as “novel games“–the platform’s term for games it says are “genre-defining” and involve “deeper gameplay [and] distinct visuals.”
As spotlighted creators tell their stories, commonalities emerge. Many of them are longtime Roblox players who joined as kids and are now old enough to make the games they want to play. Several of them had plans for other careers, but got an opportunity to turn Roblox development into a full-time job and made the jump.
@Erythia, who started developing when she was 16 by teaching herself Blender, says she originally intended to go to college for biomedical engineering. She’d already been accepted to her program and was getting ready to move into the dorms when she got a message.
“All of a sudden I get this Roblox job offer at RedManta,” she explains. “My plans literally change in a day, and I’m starting to plan flying out to California to live out there and work on Roblox full-time.”
@Seizarii and @coffvshop say they took a similar “leap of faith.”
“[The developers we were working with] said, ‘Hey, come to California, live in an RV, and try to make Roblox games,’” @coffvshop says. “So we just packed up our stuff, were like ‘Bye Mom, bye Dad,’ and we just went.”
He adds that he “really believe[s] that life and success is luck, but you have to be ready for it.”
Roblox posted this series of creator spotlights across its accounts on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X. Like we mentioned above, this new initiative comes as Roblox marks its 20th year.
So far, anniversary celebrations have rolled out with a nostalgic game skin and exclusive UGC items. More announcements around the anniversary are expected this weekend, along with more announcements for Roblox as a whole, delivered at its latest Roblox Developers Conference Sept. 10-12 in San Jose.
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