@Ultraw always knew he wanted to build games. After discovering Roblox while at a summer film school, he naturally became obsessed with obbies and soon hopped into Roblox Studio. That was almost 15 years ago. Now, Ultraw is the founder and lead programmer at Ultraw Games, having created multiple tycoon series from Clone Tycoon to his newest game, Restaurant Tycoon 3.
Building Tycoons From the Ground Up
Ultraw has fond memories of coming home from school and immediately loading Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 on his dad’s PC. He played the game, studied the game, and eventually gained enough skills as a Roblox developer to create his own tycoons. In 2015, Ultraw released Clone Tycoon and the following year launched Clone Tycoon 2. His series picked up on the platform, and Ultraw fueled the hype with extra YouTube content like this.
Two years later, one of Ultraw’s longtime friends from the developer community, @DerpyMcDerpell, encouraged him to make a restaurant game, knowing he’s always loved food and shown interest in how restaurants work. He built Restaurant Tycoon, Restaurant Tycoon 2, and is now developing Restaurant Tycoon 3, currently in beta as a paid access game. He’s continuously reviewing player feedback and updating Restaurant Tycoon 3, sometimes multiple times a week.
As Ultraw has built and improved upon his tycoon games over time, he’s learned a thing or two about the genre. To create a more engaging, immersive experience in his tycoons, his key pillars are activity, creativity, and depth. He encourages active gameplay in his Restaurant Tycoon series by requiring the player to seat customers, take orders, cook, serve and manage staff. Ultraw also provides tools for creativity, encouraging emergent gameplay. Players can make their own custom food, like unique burgers and pizzas, or whatever else they imagine. He’s also made the building system as flexible as possible and has seen players build everything from castles and to Japanese temples as their restaurants.
Ultraw has also leaned into expanding the game’s world beyond just a player’s restaurant. Around the map of Restaurant Tycoon 3, there are places to buy organic ingredients including a farmers market, supermarket and butcher. Using organic ingredients in dishes allows players to upgrade the prices of their dishes and generate more revenue for their restaurants. This is designed as a late-game feature, adding depth for players who spend hours in the game.
Expanding the Menu: Restaurant Tycoon 3
It had been six years since the launch of Restaurant Tycoon 2, and Ultraw was feeling inspired. He had lots of ideas spinning in his head and felt that only a new game could do them justice. So he built Restaurant Tycoon 3.
Gaining Feedback During Paid Access
Ultraw launched the alpha for RT3 as paid access originally to garner early feedback, and was pleasantly surprised by its popularity and rise in Charts. Most of RT3’s new features have been community-driven requests, voted on through social media. Once deciding to move forward with a feature request, Ultraw and his team will balance certain aspects like whether to introduce the feature in the early-game vs. late-game, how the feature will affect performance, and whether the feature will make an enticing thumbnail or exciting event. Alternatively, if there’s a feature he envisions but seemingly no one from the community does, he takes it as a sign to reconsider and go back to the drawing board.
One standout request he’s received from his community is the desire to play with others. Building and running your own restaurant can often feel isolating, players shared. They suggested features to drive co-play, like owning a restaurant with your friend and including a friendship XP bar that rewards you with upgrades for helping out other players. This type of feedback has both influenced Ultraw’s development roadmap and brought him closer to his community.
Adding 50 New Features: From Global Cuisines to Plot Digging
Yes, you read that correctly. Ultraw shared a list of 50 brand new features he’s added to the new game. He, of course, is proud of all of them but a few stand out as the most exciting:
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New global dishes + world map menu: “Please add a dish from country” is one of the most common requests Ultraw gets. The previous installments of Restaurant Tycoon didn’t have the depth this third version does. With over 200 dishes from over 50 cuisines, more people feel represented, building a stronger connection. -
🌊 Plot digging: Players can excavate plots and add water and open space to their land, allowing them to get more creative with the environments surrounding their restaurants. Players can change the height of the plot, make terrain, and add in lakes.
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Milestones: The game also incorporates skill trees with 10 skills from baking to chopping to management. Players are tasked with getting all of the skills to the max level and are rewarded with trophies and upgrades for gaining these skills, ultimately providing more motivation for players to return.
With so many updates, Ultraw needs to strategically time and release them to players to keep them engaged and eager to come back. He favors releasing a “big” update or anticipated event, followed by 2-3 smaller updates. Even if players aren’t as interested in the smaller updates, the team can still supplement them with something special once a month.
Connecting with the Restaurant Tycoon Community
To build hype around the release of Restaurant Tycoon 3, Ultraw and his team post at least two short-form videos per week across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. His most engaging content has been a series on Ultraw approving and highlighting people’s restaurants. He also shares creations from his players as a way to engage with and celebrate his community, who in turn shares their feedback openly and respectfully.
Ultraw’s Developer Toolbox 
We asked Ultraw what’s in his developer toolbox (the tools and plugins he reaches for repeatedly when developing on Roblox), and this is what he shared:
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Tag Editor (
CollectionService): Useful for managing different item types (e.g., doors, kitchens) for easier organization -
Wireframe Rendering: Helps in assessing the detail of meshes and furniture items, aiding in low-poly builds
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Messaging Service: Facilitates server-wide announcements like global countdowns for content drops/updates, and aides in overall communication infrastructure between servers.
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Analytics: Uses to log events and analyze onboarding funnels to understand user progression and identify areas where users might get confused
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Regional Pricing: Implements for game passes to be set at region-specific prices for a global player base
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Thumbnail Personalization: Uses this feature to test and determine which thumbnails
perform best on Home
Advice for Aspiring Tycoon Builders
- Start simple and build gradually. For new developers, I would focus on creating a functional core loop with basic building and money generation before adding complex features. You can then iterate on your first version of the game, and keep adding to it.
- Create an engaging core loop. Ensure the core actions players take are satisfying and consistently reward their efforts, encouraging them to keep playing.
- Build what excites you. Your passion for a specific theme, like an aircraft factory or an ice cream shop, will shine through and make the development process more enjoyable.
Thanks so much to @Ultraw for chatting with us about his journey building tycoons! Be sure to follow him on Roblox and X to stay updated on his creations.
This guy is a legend! I remember playing his games all the time a few years ago when I was little. Ultraw definitely deserves to have his time in the spotlight after years of contributions to Roblox. 
