Roblox game development tools are affordable enough that the next generation of game designers and entrepreneurs may leave the scene of its creators. However, Roblox is now quite successful that current the generation of developers and entrepreneurs look at this and think “we want to do that too”.
Example: Core, which you could and will describe as “Roblox, but with Fortnite graphics”, is now available in a timely manner in the Epic Games store.
Core is a “game creation and publishing platform”. It is basically a set of tools that facilitates the creation of games in Unreal Engine, with zero coding experience, and then easy distribution of these games to players. It has been in the alpha for the past year, and the developers of Manticore Games say that they had 1 million players and that there are over 20,000 free games that can be played today.
All these games are created by the user and, like Roblox, the creators can monetize their work. Core offers a 50/50 split of revenue between themselves and creators.
Manticore also claims in a press release that Core “introduced a level of interruption in the creation and play of the game, similar to the way YouTube revolutionized the video.” Daring! By the way, YouTube is the second most popular site on the planet. Like I run to the shops to buy a Freddo and then tell people I’m like Usain Bolt.
It seems inviting – especially given Roblox’s recent IPO – that more people will try to get a piece of that metaverse pie to create the game. However, I’m not sure there’s anything desirable in terms of Core’s greater visual fidelity.
Roblox’s blocked world, like Minecraft, is one of its strengths. Partly because it allows the game to run comfortably on cars with low specifications. In part, because it allows for insensitive creativity, which forgives the lack of experience of young creators with, say, creating texture. And partly because it discourages the same creators from making violent games, except in the most animated ways, thus providing a little comfort to parents who see their children clicking on random games on the Internet.
This does not mean that the Roblox ecosystem does not have all kinds of problems, but I wonder if the higher number of poles will condemn Core to a higher percentage of uninspired tariff like this. If I were extremely cynical, I would say that Roblox gives teenagers enough power to create anything, and Core gives teenagers so much power that they can’t help but create shabby recreations of triple-A games.
Of course, if I thought I could create something better, I could always try. Core is available for free download now from Epic Games Store.