Platforms for Young People to Start Making Video Games and Monetizing within 30 Days

Traditional video game development and publishing is big business.  Expensive big money business.  

According to Newzoo, the gaming industry is estimated to be over $152 billion a year,  Check out the State of the Video Game Industry and research. Gaming is bigger than music AND movies, combined!  And making video games is expensive business. Let us not forget video game marketing and publishing.  Especially if you consider the AAA video game development budgets for large game developers like EA Sports, Lucas Arts, and more.  Video game development cycles spanning 24 months or more, with 100+ people full-time staff dedicated to a given studio are not unheard of.

Does that mean only the AAA developers and publishers can create fun games that players love?  Of course not.

Must you go through years and years of formal game production school and hope for a lucky break?  Just to get a chance to create console-quality game content and get PAID?  Absolutely not. Not anymore.

Now more than ever before, young game developers and CONTENT creators can make playable games and make money in as little as 30 to 90 days

AND make good money for their creations.  As well as make the game  discoverability easy and built in!

 At the Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2019 Conference, Roblox’s CEO David Baszucki, said it perfectly.  Its category summed in 2 words.  Human Coexistence.

 

He seems to be onto something really really big.  As of July 2019, Roblox drew over 2 million creators of 3D virtual experiences.  And translated into 100 million+ active people – primarily boys and girls aged 8 to 13 – playing Roblox games every single month.

There is currently an Roblox exchange rate of $.0035/R$.  You DO have to be a member of Roblox Premium and over 13, as well as have a minimum balance of Robux.  But if you ARE, you can cash out your Robux for real money.

 

Not shabby at all, if you ask me. 

Roblox developers were set to earn over $100 million on the platform in 2019. 

Roblox’s creator community ranged widely.  Its 2 million creators spans from young creators getting their start in game design and coding, to teams of ten or twenty people forming studios. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Roblox’s CEO David about ten years ago.  He is about as smart and genuine as game CEO’s get. Ten years ago, Roblox was the mainstay of boys 7-11.  Today it attracts a loyal following over 100 million players – both young boys AND girls.  Trust me.  If you love having fun, exploring and socializing in Roblox, you MUST check out Roblox Studio.

 

Manticore Games: Like Youtube did with video creation, Manticore is on a mission.  Mission to disrupt creativity and game making.  Period. 

Its demo video on Youtube looks outright amazing. Watch the “Create a custom multiplayer game with Core in under 10 minutes.”

Currently in a 100-spots Creator Payouts Pilot Program, Manticore is testing a simple model based on an easy premise.  The more people play your game, the more you should get paid.  

 

Yes, but what about the learning curve? Say to create a multiplayer game?  24 months?  Nope.  12 months?  Nope.  6 months? Not even that. Take a look at the following screenshot.  The Core engine lets you create and customize gameplay, social as well as scenery inside of its user interface.  You can create multiplayer or single-player games.  WITHOUT writing code.  Should you like to learn step-by-step game development, check out Manticore’s Core Game Dev Bootcamp.

 

Manticore’s Core Game Dev Bootcamp is all of four weeks.  

Check out the Core Multiverse trailer.   These early games are really solid quality.  With the proper consumer insights due diligence, Core is capable of remaking even my personal favorite , Duke Nukem.

Age requirements to join the Creator Payout Program?  You DO have to be legally considered an adult in your country.  IF you get an invite from Manticore.  So in the United States, anyone aged 13 to 17 can participate, with parental permission.  

 

PER month, a creator gets paid $3 for every Averaged Daily User.  Fairly simple math.  What does it mean, for those of us familiar with free-to-play and subscription models?

Manticore’s creator payout model already accounts for 2 key metrics: Scale and Retention. 

If you have 1000 players on the 1st of the month, steadily bleed users through Day 3, but manage to retain only 100 players who stick around until the 30th?  Well then, you get paid only for the averaged Daily user player count.  In this case, in month 1, getting a total of $1432 for the 477 Daily Averaged Users.

If you have 1000 players on the 1st of the month and retain the same 1000 players on the 30th, you are paid for the 1000 Averaged Daily User. Or in the scenario below, in month 2, getting a total of $4425 for the 1475 Daily Averaged Users.

	MONTH 1 – January	MONTH 2 – February
1st	2000	2000
2nd	1000	1800
3rd	500	1500
10th	500	1500
31st	500	1500 (28th)
Month-averaged Daily Users	477	1475
Monthly Payout	$1432.26	$4425

  

Of course, even breakout hits and the big money-makers on Roblox and Manticore Games are not accidental surprises.  Solid consumer research, player testing and fun, engaging gameplay are all expected table stakes.  But for young people who are looking to get started making video games, built-in mechanics for video game marketing?  Definitely check out Roblox and Manticore Games.

Game on. Level up. Live long and prosper…