“From the Devs”: How One Developer Learned Management Skills on Roblox
There are numerous ways you can practice real-world skills on the Roblox platform; from developing, to self-managing, to managing other groups, there are plenty of ways to practice business techniques through your Roblox development career.
We chatted with SONICTHEHEDGEHOGXX about his experience creating and running a group on Roblox. SONICTHEHEDGEHOGXX told us about some of the skills he’s learned since creating and managing the group. Check out what he said!
What was your inspiration for creating a group on Roblox?
I was a big fan of the F.E.A.R. games on Xbox, and wanted to re-imagine it on Roblox, though I did not have much clan experience when I created the group early 2010. I thank MeowMixxed, who showed me the ropes on how to run a clan successfully. Later on, I strayed away from following the game’s lore and moved to making my own theme, lore, and image for the clan.
How has being a leader of a large group impacted your development career?
Being a leader of a large group has helped me mature in my development career. I remember back in 2008 when I first joined Roblox, I was a fan of Wierdoking’s game “Five Star Hotel”, and he later removed the game and replaced it with “Sea & Sun Island”. Lots of players stopped playing after that, so I decided to make my own version of the game, called “Live In A Five Star Island Resort” (mainly to hang out with friends). I was young and new to the platform, so I would utilize Free Models to help structure the environment. A few weeks after the game was released, I was hanging out with friends at the place and it suddenly reached 300–500+ players and #1 on Popular, all without running any advertisements.
That game started it all for me. When I created The First Encounter Assault Recon, I built a game called “F.E.A.R. Recruitment Center”.t had weapons and vehicles for players to use. “Live In A Five Star Island Resort” was still a popular game, so I advertised people to join the group in the game’s description, which caused the Recruitment Center to rise in the Popular sort, reaching 500+ players, recruiting 30,000 members in 2 weeks, and becoming the biggest group on Roblox. I was still a novice when it came to development at the time; being a leader of a large group gave me the motivation to learn and become a better developer, manager, and role model.
Have you been able to leverage your group to promote your game? How, if at all, have you been able to extend your marketing reach outside of your group?
The First Encounter Assault Recon has helped tremendously in promoting my games. Our group has always driven us to do our absolute best with our projects. “Welcome to Venezia” was one of our biggest projects we announced for FEAR, because it was built to be their home and city for the group. We would constantly get wall feedback, and messages on how excited they were for the game, and always asking when the game would come out. When “Welcome to Venezia” was released in 2013, our group helped us reach #1 on Top Earning, and #1 on Top Paid when Dev Exchange was just released on Roblox. Now in my other game, “Sunset City”, I have multiple teams players can play as, including Police, Criminals, and FEAR. For players to join the FEAR team in-game, they have to be in the group. FEAR plays a big factor in the game, aiding the Police, and defending the city from the Criminals team. Involving the group in the game has had a huge impact, recruiting over 130,000 new members since last year.
How do you organize your development group? How do you organize payments, etc?
For organizing my development group, I like to use Trello to set up the the games features and structure, so our team knows everything that needs to be worked on with the project. Now I have two teams, “Armacham Technology Corporation”, which focuses purely on FEAR related projects, and “HEDGEHOG GAMES”, which focuses more on mainstream games. I pay developers with contract work, completing sections of the game for payment. The prices can vary depending on the difficulty of work. I will also negotiate with the developers and ask them what they think is a fair price for the project.
Have you learned any lessons from leading this group? Is there anything else you’d like to tell developers?
Leading The First Encounter Assault Recon has taught me perseverance; pushing through thick and thin, and never giving up on your goals. I have met so many great people through FEAR. I don’t think I would’ve stayed on Roblox for all this time if it wasn’t for FEAR and its community. I am grateful to be a part of it. Roblox is a amazing platform- just create something that inspires you, don’t try to be something you’re not. There will be bumps on your journey, but don’t ever give up and keep pressing forward. If you are critiqued about your game, try not to take offense to it; learn from it. Don’t be afraid to ask people for help: there’s a massive community here willing to aid you with whatever information you lack. Never did I expect to make a living here, but I’m now making money doing what I love, on a platform that I love. Just know that any of you out there can do the same. I want to give a huge thanks to creators of ROBLOX David Baszucki and Erik Cassel and the rest of the team that keep improving this platform. You seriously benefited the lives of many including mine. Thank you!
