FXFX Studios is an Estonia-based game & VR/AR development studio and has so far developed tens of giant broadcast AR projects and games on various platforms. The studio’s one of the largest projects, Exodus of Souls, drew a lot of attention worldwide as an AAA visual and has already been shown on game shows.
FXFX has been mostly focused on UGC games for the last 1.5 years and already brought some big brands and Turkiye’s most popular cartoon, “Kral Şakir,” onto the Roblox platform. Currently, while working on its own IPs on Roblox, it is getting ready to take another one of the most known big cartoon IPs on its pipeline to bring onto Roblox this year.
Today, we sit down with Caner Atas, Managing Director of FXFX Studios, and talk about their latest hit on Roblox.
UGC technology has taken the entire industry by storm, especially considering the substantial rise it has experienced. With platforms like Roblox and Fortnite boasting 100 million daily active players, could you share some insights into this trend and how your studio fits into the picture?
Absolutely. UGC is a very hot topic right now. All the big brands are just jumping in. UGC means “user-generated content,” so anybody can create content for it. Roblox is a platform for 77 million active players daily. It is like the YouTube of games. Right now, our habits are rapidly changing with social media and everything. We don’t have time to download, and we don’t have time to watch something for too long. Everything should be in 5-10 seconds maximum. That’s why UGC games are so important and popular: anybody can create content in it and watch or play it, and if you don’t like it in 10 seconds, switch to another one. Millions of games are added to Roblox every year. Last year, if I am not mistaken, it was around 20 million games.
That’s a crazy number.
Yeah, it is! This number resonates so well with our current habits and preferences, which is why UGC games are immensely popular. Regarding our position in this landscape, our initial foray into Roblox primarily involved providing services. Recognizing the shift in audience behavior, especially among the younger generation who are no longer glued to traditional media like TV or radio, we advised brands to tap into the gaming and influencer-dominated social media space. We emphasized that to reach their target audience effectively, they needed to be present in the gaming realm where their audience was most active. This led to our initial involvement in bringing brands onto the Roblox platform, like Kral Shakir. We have also started to develop our own games, and we are developing our own IP.
On Roblox, your studio recently launched Kral Shakir, a well-known Turkish mascot IP. Can you share the response to this release? Additionally, could you elaborate on the process of bringing an existing IP into this new gaming medium, especially considering the ever-changing trends in the gaming environment where children are actively engaged, such as Skibidi Toilet?
That’s an excellent question, and it delves into a crucial aspect of our approach. Given that Roblox operates as the “YouTube of games” and is heavily influenced by trends, navigating this dynamic landscape is vital. Take Skibidi Toilet, for example; it’s a trend on YouTube, showcasing the impact of popular content outside traditional gaming mediums. On the other hand, Kral Shakir is the most recognized and beloved cartoon IP in Turkiye and even premiered a movie in theaters on February 16th.
By intertwining the game with the movie’s narrative, players can discover elements from the film, sparking curiosity and potentially leading them to watch the movie afterward. This cross-marketing approach is integral for us, as it creates a symbiotic relationship – the movie enriches the game, and the game, in turn, promotes the movie. We’re thrilled to have achieved this synergy with Kral Shakir, Turkiye’s most popular cartoon IP.
An investor from Sony Ventures shared on LinkedIn that a distinct industry trend is emerging, emphasizing a shift in audience preference from being passively touched by media to actively engaging with it. Considering this trend, how does it play into the scenario surrounding Kral Shakir? Given the sequential release of a movie and a game tied to the IP, what’s the dynamic relationship between these two elements?
The primary connection lies in the characters, particularly Kral Shakir and his friend, the elephant Nejati, who are popular among the Kral Shakir audience. With eleven well-known characters, these two stand out as the most beloved. While creating Roblox advertorials, the IP owners emphasized showcasing King Shakir and Elephant Nejati prominently, recognizing them as key assets due to their immense popularity. The audience, especially kids, has a strong affinity for these characters, prompting the inclusion of a feature in the game where players can transform into King Shakir by acquiring his costume. This allows players to engage and play with their favorite characters actively.
Additionally, the development team immersed themselves in the Kral Shakir universe by watching 60 to 70 cartoon episodes. While it was an enjoyable experience, watching it from a professional standpoint did pose some challenges. However, this in-depth viewing allowed the team to grasp the mindset behind the cartoon, which consistently delivers messages to its audience. Understanding the characters and the underlying messages became pivotal in translating the essence of Kral Shakir into the game, ensuring a cohesive and engaging experience for players.
How do you give a message in the interactive medium?
In the interactive medium, conveying messages is seamlessly achieved through gameplay. For instance, within our Kral Shakir universe, there’s a minigame where players work in a restaurant, cleaning tables and earning money from the owner. This seemingly simple task carries a deeper message – by cleaning up the environment, players gain new skills, promoting the idea of nurturing nature. Through these small, interactive tasks, the game subtly imparts meaningful messages.
The cartoon is like this. For example, there is a war between the food groups; the bad side is hamburgers, and the good side is vegetables like broccoli. The hero says something like, “We don’t like Broccoli, but he’s a good guy.” This is the kind of message it gives, and by the end of the episode, they’re very good friends with Broccoli. It’s changing some small stuff in children’s minds and giving this kind of indirect message.
It’s a Turkish IP, so I’m a little curious, does kebab take place in that fight of foods at all?
Kebab is definitely fighting the broccoli!
Another part of Roblox is that many children may eventually start making their games. I have a nephew who also made his own game in Roblox. What I want to get onto is that there are a lot of games on Roblox, Fortnite, and other UGC platforms. How do you make a game that stands out within so much competition?
I think this is a big advantage and a little bit of a disadvantage because when you have that much competition, it is very difficult to stand out. It is tough to expose your game there. So that’s why I said in the beginning that you either need to find a unique or addictive idea or go with some trends. You will perform well if you follow trends. When something is viral on social media, it’s also viral on UGC platforms. So you should also always keep this in mind. It’s getting popular in Roblox or Fortnite. Yes, it is difficult to stand and expose your game, but the good thing is you have so many sources to get the idea for your game.
I’m randomly playing tens of Roblox games. Sometimes, I play a game made by a seven-year-old kid. But sometimes they have very good ideas. 90% of them are mimicking each other. But sometimes, because of their instinct, they are finding very good ideas. This may actually save companies thousands of euros in audience testing. The good thing is that on the UGC platforms, you can play these eight-year-old’s games and understand their mindset. You can understand what they want to see and what they want to play because everybody’s making a game, and everybody’s making a game how they want to play it. So that’s why the good side of this UGC platform is that it’s great to understand the generation mindset when seeing the virals, and sometimes Roblox has its own virals as well.
Are there any new things you’ve learned by playing those games, some of which were made by four-year-olds or seven-year-olds?
A lot, actually, specifically when designing parkour levels. What do you think when you think about parkour? At first, it was just jumping block to block, and you had to memorize where to jump left and where right. Right now, parkour in Roblox is crazy. Everybody mimicked each other, and everybody found some new ideas. These new ideas actually came from regular players. These players just discovered these weird things because they realized jumping left or right is boring.
And again, it’s about the trends. They even made a Squid Game reality show. By the way, when it was big, the whole Roblox was about Squid Game. They made hundreds of thousands of Squid Game games. It was unbelievable. When everybody is mimicking each other, they add something new as well. And some of the games were giant. We even made one Squid Game game with a twist. We asked why we are not using red lights and green lights with cars. You can just put 20 vehicles and then have everyone drive. We did cars because, with cars, you can block each other. You can have more fun instead of regularly running.
We saw that sometimes people are trying to block each other, just having fun with it, but of course, when they’re blocking each other, they move, and then they die every round. And then they need to wait for three minutes. We saw that waiting for these three minutes in a small room is also very boring. For children, even this is okay. I saw some games that were only two blocks long. There is one line between the blocks. And you can shoot bazookas at each other. That’s all. And even right now, this game has about 10,000 concurrent players. So, okay, instead of just letting them wait in a small room, why are we not making them watch the race after they are eliminated? Players are spawning in the small room. Why are we not putting a glass in front of the room so they can watch the other cars and guess who will win? And if they guess the right one quickly, they can get some extra points. By just adding small different ideas, it became a new game. We turn the Squid Game meta into something else. This is happening a lot in Roblox. They start with a trend or a small idea, and they keep evolving, and it’s another game. And even it creates some other genres. This is the good side of UGC platforms.
With the ease of entrance into this technology and the rapid surge of different projects, a lot of game developers will inevitably look into building a game on Roblox. What advice do you, as people with experience in porting an entire IP into Roblox, give to other game developers looking into doing their UGC-centric project?
UGC is definitely something that upcoming game developers should take a look at. It is easy to learn and easy to make. To understand the gamer mindset, UGC is perfect because it is relatively easy to start. Most developers start with a parkour game. It is a very popular genre and easy to get into. Roblox is the home to many difficult parkours, and everyone tries to one-up with each other.
I can also say that it is always better to split the load between professionals. Of course, a game can be designed and developed by just one person, but working with a team is better. Just do more, don’t make one game, and then complain about how nobody is playing it. No, try another one. Mimic your previous games, and try to make another copy of it. Adopt Me, for example, is one of the most played games. Ask yourself, “How can I make the same game?” Work on it, add new twists, and then you will find your game.
And as I said, if you somehow can split the jobs in a team, if you can find, let’s say, your three friends, or you’re one guy developing, then maybe you can convince another friend. Then, when you have one or two years of experience, you’re ready to port some brand IPs onto Roblox now. So that’s why it’s a tremendous opportunity, a very nice opportunity to have.
