A few days ago, I had the opportunity to interview @RickyTheFishy and ask some questions that give us a good insight into the developer behind some very popular games. For those who do not know him, RickyTheFishy is the developer behind Shark Fin Studios, the studio responsible for games such as Fish Simulator, which has been played more than 17 million of times, and 
TRADING:smiling_imp: Texting Simulator 
which has been played more than 20 million times in only three months. RickyTheFishy has managed to expand his studio and employ four developers: @FamedChris, @yRingo, @Zooleos and, @nic10telf.
What caused you to start developing?
Generally, when someone reaches success it is because that person has worked extremely hard to achieve it, and despite the issues that may have appeared, that person had the determination to continue. This led me to ask him what caused him to start developing, and his response suggested another prerequisite to success. Even though his answer was very straight forward, I realized that his learning process hid an endless passion. @RickyTheFishy confessed that he began to develop after his first experiences as a player: he was caught on the idea of creating a world in which the only limitation would be his own imagination and ended up finding Roblox Studio. After much dedication, practice and studying, he managed to open his own studio and become one of our most successful developers.
RickyTheFishy said that he loves that the community is composed of such a diverse group of people, individuals from all parts of the world that all share a common characteristic: the love for developing games on the Roblox platform. In addition, he answered, “despite how different the roots or experiences may be, everyone can join and create content that any player could enjoy”.
At Roblox, the opinions and advice that developers provide to improve the platform are extremely important for us. For this reason, we pay especially close attention to Ricky’s answer to the question “What would you like to change about the Roblox community?”…RickyTheFishy admitted that he would like to see the community engaging in more collaborative projects to develop things that we have not seen before in Roblox. He loves special events and cross-platform content because it is not only enjoyable for the players, but it also serves as an opportunity to meet and work with other members from the developer community. His favorite event was Halloween 2018, for which one of his games was featured.
Ricky had the chance to work with other developers in the Accelerator program as well. According to him, “working as a Roblox Accelerator with some of the most prominent developers on the platform was a wonderful experience. This exposed me to unique perspectives for the Roblox game development process. I would recommend it to every single person that wants to witness the game development process in a professional environment and who wants to work closely with a heavily experienced game producer (2blox2quit)”.
I am certain that every developer would agree with me when I say that the creation of content in Roblox has influenced the lives of all developers, and RickyTheFishy is no different. He told us about how Roblox has changed his life:everything began as a game, transformed into a hobby and ultimately into his passion. He has been forced to combine Roblox development with college and his personal life, to which he said that even though it has not been easy, it is absolutely worth it, and he has no regrets.
Finally, we asked Ricky to tell us about his Roblox toy and his own appearance in the book “Into the World of Roblox". Here’s what he said:
“I had the incredible opportunity to work with the Roblox Licensing team to bring my virtual content into the houses of people that enjoy my games, to be part of their collections, toys, and books. You can play with the “Stylz Salon Makeup Mix & Match" to polish your toy style or jump into the water with the action figure "Fish Simulator Diver". And lots more incoming! You can also read about me in the new book “Into the World of Roblox" which tells my story as a developer and shares some of my favorite games.”
So, where is Ricky headed with his Roblox career? Right now, Ricky is focus on Shark Fin Studios: “I hope to see my developer career grow with my games studio to produce a bigger amount of games every year and create more content in Roblox”. His objective is to generate more content and profit in order to employ more developers from the community to work with him on his projects.
Wrapping up the interview, I wanted to know what advice he would give to new developers- those people that, like him, feel a great passion for Roblox content developing and want to find their place inside this community. According to him, the first step that any new developer should take is to explore the community, take time to know it and learn as much as possible about the platform. He considers that one must learn the new technologies without ignoring the oldest one, as they will both make your developing experience much more pleasant.
“A content creator who is part of the most free and creative game platform of the world”
Personally, I would like to thank RickyTheFishy for collaborating with me to bring you this interview. I am sure that everything will keep working smoothly for him because he has the passion and determination needed to keep growing and expanding his studio into something bigger than it already is.
If you want to know more about @RickyTheFishy latest projects, you can follow him on Twitter or Roblox!
