The global creator economy is shifting as young Indian developers transform their passion for gaming into international careers. A prime example is 18-year-old Hriday Agrawal, an NYU Digital Design student who went from a casual Roblox player to a global 3D environment designer during the COVID-19 lockdown. Armed with YouTube tutorials and Blender, he moved from basic solo projects to collaborating with international teams, earning nearly $20,000 along the way.
In this developer spotlight, we sit down with Hriday to discuss the real mechanics of moving “from player to creator” and how accessible platforms are democratizing game development for beginners. He also opens up about balancing freelance demands with his NYU coursework, offering essential advice for aspiring Indian creators looking to build a sustainable path in the digital landscape.
Here is our full conversation with Hriday Agrawal:
Q: Every creator starts as a player. Can you walk us through the moment you decided to transition from just playing games on Roblox to actually building your own 3D assets and environments?
I first got into Roblox around age 12, mostly playing Jailbreak. A few years later, during the COVID lockdown, I came back to it after finding my old account, and a friend happened to mention he’d made his own game. It was basically the default Obby template, and seeing it completely changed how I thought about the platform. I hadn’t known you could build things in Roblox at all before that. So, I opened Roblox Studio out of curiosity and started experimenting. My first project was an obstacle course built mostly from free toolbox models. I still have the files, though I’ve made it private because it’s rough to look at now. Still, finishing something I could share felt significant at 14.
The more time I spent in Studio, the more I noticed other developers had made their own custom assets rather than just using existing ones. That led me to Blender. It felt like a natural fit. I’d spent a lot of time building with LEGO growing up and had done some CAD work at school, so the idea of making things from scratch wasn’t foreign to me. I never took formal courses. Like most people, I started with the Blender donut tutorial, then learned mostly through YouTube and a lot of trial and error, genuinely just pressing buttons to see what happened. Eventually, I gravitated toward low-poly modeling because it made sense for Roblox development specifically.
None of this was deliberate planning. I wasn’t thinking about skills or careers. I was just genuinely curious and had time during lockdown. Looking back, that’s where most of it started.
Q: You started collaborating with global developers at quite a young age. How did Roblox specifically help you discover your passion for digital design and game development?
My first real collaboration came through Discord. A friend connected me with a developer named Leon Kaladija, and I ended up making 75+ assets for his simulator game. I was still new to the ecosystem at the time, so moving from experimenting on my own to delivering work for an actual project was a big shift. I learned more from that one job than from months of solo work.
After that, I started posting on Twitter, which changed things considerably. Developers from other countries started finding my work, reaching out, and some of those conversations turned into projects. I was also experimenting with graphic design around the same time and posting that too, so things slowly built into a portfolio.
My first paid commission was at 14, in Robux, which just felt like a cool bonus at the time. It wasn’t until I learned about DevEx, Roblox’s program for converting earnings into real money, that I understood there was a career path here. What I didn’t expect was how much the non-technical side of things would matter. And how much you learn from it. You figure out how to coordinate with teams across time zones where most communication is asynchronous. None of that comes from any tutorial; you pick it up through experience.
The design side crept up on me. I was making assets and enjoying it, and at some point, I realised the part I cared about wasn’t just finishing a model; it was whether it worked in context, whether it felt right. That’s when 3D modeling became the main focus for me rather than one of several things I was trying. It also pointed me toward NYU for Digital Design. Being around products where design decisions clearly mattered made me want to understand the thinking behind them more formally. Though I’ll be honest, I didn’t have a clear plan; it just felt like the right direction.
Q: India has a massive and rapidly growing gaming audience. How do you see young creators in India leveraging platforms like Roblox not just to learn and create, but actually to earn and build a sustainable career?
What excites me isn’t just the size of the gaming audience here; it’s that more young people are starting to treat platforms like Roblox as something you can build through, not just play on. One thing I always point out is that there are a lot of different ways in. Not everyone needs to make a game that goes viral. Programming, 3D modeling, UI design, animation, and community management- the platform exposes you to a wide range of skills, most of which translate directly into broader careers in tech and design.
The biggest misconception I see is expecting it to happen quickly. The stories of games blowing up overnight almost always leave out the years of work that preceded them. Even if freelancing is slow, you build skills, build a portfolio, gradually charge more as you improve, and build a reputation. That takes time, and I don’t think it gets said clearly enough. The other thing people underestimate is how much the work involves dealing with people. How you communicate, how you handle a difficult client, how you function in a team where everyone has a different role, I learned most of that through Roblox, through doing it badly a few times first. Soft skills matter as much as technical ability, probably more in the long run.
For anyone starting out: don’t lead with money as the goal. Find what you enjoy doing within this space first, get good at it, and give it time. Things tend to follow from there.
Talking about the Indian ecosystem, I’ve worked with global teams, and the perception of Indian developers internationally has shifted noticeably. The talent in India is being recognised. I’ve personally made close to $20,000 through Roblox work, none of it from a single big break, just consistent effort over time. I think a lot more people here are positioned, equipped, and striving to do the same.
Q: As an Indian developer who has collaborated globally, what unique perspectives or design sensibilities do you think Indian creators bring to the global Roblox community?
The thing I notice most is adaptability. Indian creators on global teams tend to be good at adjusting to the requirements of a project and getting on with things. I think a lot of that comes from how most of us learned; I’m largely self-taught, and so is most of my circle. You get used to finding resources, working with what you have, and figuring things out independently. That builds a certain problem-solving instinct. There’s also a generational shift in how people here think about creative careers. The emphasis used to be very much on credentials: what did you study and where? That’s still around, but increasingly the questions are turning into what you have actually built. That’s a healthier frame for this kind of work.
Given that I have the opportunity to work with developers from across the world, something I’ve noticed about the Indian developers is that they aren’t staying narrowly specialised. People doing 3D work are also handling their own marketing, and people who code are also managing client relationships. That breadth becomes more valuable as projects get more complex. And India is just deeply diverse, with different languages, visual aesthetics, architectural traditions, and ways of thinking. You grow up absorbing all of that even without being conscious of it. I think it shows up in how you approach unfamiliar problems and how you communicate across cultures, which matters on international teams. Personally, I’ve always pushed toward projects a bit beyond what I was comfortable with. Some of my biggest growth came from taking on something I wasn’t sure I could deliver and then working hard enough to do it. That willingness to stretch, I see it a lot in Indian creators, and I think it’s one of the less talked-about things we bring to global teams.
Q: For beginners looking to get into game design, what makes Roblox Studio so accessible compared to traditional game engines?
The main difference is how quickly you get to something real. Unreal and Unity are powerful tools, but they have a significant setup cost, a lot to configure before you’ve made anything. Roblox Studio just lets you start building from day one. My first project was a basic obstacle course made mostly from toolbox models, and it was genuinely not impressive. But within a couple of hours of opening the program for the first time, I had something my friends could actually play. That early sense of progress matters more than people give it credit for; it keeps you going.
The practical side helps too: it’s free, there are loads of community tutorials, and publishing is fast, so you get feedback quickly. There are also events and workshops where creators teach each other, which I’ve been involved in on both sides. The feedback loop between having an idea and watching someone react to it is tight, and that’s what makes learning feel worth the effort.
Q: You mentioned that community programs shaped your journey. Can you highlight a specific Roblox creator initiative or community interaction that was pivotal to your growth as a developer?
The one that stands out most is my involvement with the Roblox Community Event Organizer program. It started through my friendship with AceDevArnav, a long-time development partner who was already an organizer. I began by speaking at workshops alongside him, 3D modeling, GFX, icons, and thumbnails, that kind of thing, and talking about my own path and what had been useful. What surprised me was how much I got out of it personally. Teaching forces you to actually understand what you know. It’s one thing to be able to do something; it’s another to explain it clearly to someone who’s never tried it. That process of articulating things properly improved my own understanding in ways I didn’t anticipate.
I eventually joined the program formally and helped organise workshops that brought in 150+ attendees. The consistent takeaway from those experiences was how much the community side of Roblox matters. Most of what I can point to, skills, opportunities, friendships, connect back in some way to someone who took the time to share what they knew. Getting to be on that side of it at some point felt like the right thing to do.
Q: You are currently studying Digital Design at New York University while actively freelancing and developing independent games. How do you balance the heavy academic workload with the demands of the creator economy?
My friends would say caffeine, and they’re not entirely wrong; there’s almost always a coffee or Red Bull nearby. The honest answer is that it works because there’s a lot of genuine overlap. Studying Digital Design at NYU means a lot of what comes up in class, web development, video editing, Photoshop, UX, sound design, I can apply directly to freelance work and personal projects. I built my own portfolio site, I’ve been working on GUI design for Roblox experiences, and I’m currently building an asset marketplace where I’m handling the promotional content myself.
It works the other way too. Freelance work gives me real projects I can reference in class, and a few professors have given feedback on things I’m developing outside of school, which I didn’t expect but has been valuable. Organisation is what holds it together. I rely heavily on Google Calendar to make sure nothing falls through. I’m still in my first year, so the balance is manageable, though I know that it scales. The main thing is that none of it feels completely separate. Design, development, freelancing, and building side projects, they all point in the same direction, which makes it feel less like juggling and more like working on one thing from different angles.
Q: Where do you see the future of digital creation and the metaverse heading in the next 3 to 5 years?
People mostly stopped saying “metaverse”; it became a word you’d get eye rolls for, but the ideas underneath it didn’t disappear. Immersive spaces, user-generated content, virtual collaboration: those things are still developing, just without the hype attached. Honestly, that’s probably healthier for the actual work being done. My read is that the more interesting shift isn’t about any specific technology; it’s about the ratio of creators to consumers moving. More people making things rather than just experiencing them. Roblox already showed that you don’t need a studio or a budget to build something and reach a global audience. I think that keeps expanding.
Education is the area I keep returning to when I think about this. At NYU Tandon, I’ve seen projects exploring how digital environments can change how learning works, not just making things more visual, but genuinely interactive in ways a traditional classroom can’t be. Walking through something rather than reading about it. That’s an area I’d want to be more involved in at some point.
On AI, I think it’s primarily a tool, not a replacement for the work that actually matters. It handles repetitive tasks well and lowers the barrier to starting things, which is good for independent creators. But the judgment calls, what’s worth making, what a user actually needs, how something should feel, those still come from people. If anything, I think it makes small teams more capable, which I find genuinely exciting. Overall, I’m optimistic. The next few years feel less about new technology arriving and more about better tools reaching more people.
Q: What is the most important piece of advice you would give to a young teenager in India who wants to turn their gaming hobby into a digital design career?
Don’t lead with money as the goal, and don’t rush it.
When I started, none of this was strategic; I was just curious. I tried Roblox Studio, then Blender, then graphic design, and somewhere in the process, a real skill set developed without me deliberately trying to build one. Most of the opportunities that came later were a byproduct of following what interested me rather than aiming at a specific outcome.
A lot of young creators I talk to are impatient, which is understandable. But creative careers take time. You’ll make things that don’t work, spend hours on skills that don’t end up being that useful, and figure things out the hard way that seem obvious in hindsight.
That’s not a sign you’re doing it wrong; it’s just what the process looks like from the inside. Try different areas while you can. Programming, modeling, design, animation, give yourself room to explore before committing to one direction. And if something genuinely isn’t clicking after you’ve given it real time, move on. There are too many entry points to grind away at the wrong one. One thing that doesn’t get mentioned enough: keep records of everything. Old files, screenshots, early renders. It makes building a portfolio much easier later, and more than that, looking back at early work is a reminder that progress is real even when it’s too slow to feel in the moment. I still have some of my first Roblox projects, and they’re rough, but they’re useful to have.
The last thing is just patience. Progress in this kind of work compounds slowly and usually isn’t visible while it’s happening. You notice it when you look back. Keep going, stay curious, and don’t expect a straight line.
Q: Do you play retro games? Which is your favourite old school game you think the youth of today should definitely experience?
I should probably admit upfront that I’m still young myself, so my definition of “retro” is likely very different from most people in this industry.
That said, the game that’s always stuck with me is Pac-Man, across arcade machines, iPad versions, and various other ports over the years. It just holds up regardless of format. What I keep coming back to is how immediately it makes sense. Within a few seconds of starting, you know exactly what you’re doing. No tutorial, no setup, no onboarding. The game teaches itself through play, which, from a design perspective, is genuinely hard to achieve, most games require significant upfront learning before anything feels intuitive.
There’s also something satisfying about how the goal keeps regenerating. You’re not trying to finish it so much as trying to improve yourself. Each run becomes about lasting a bit longer and making fewer mistakes. That loop of self-improvement is simple, but it keeps pulling you back. I find myself thinking about Pac-Man when I’m overcomplicating something. A clear idea, executed well, can stay relevant for decades. That’s harder than it looks, and it’s worth remembering.
Q: Which are your top 3 favourite games and why?
Roblox, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Minecraft – though the order shifts depending on when you ask.
Roblox is the obvious one. Arsenal, Jailbreak, BedWars, Epic Minigames, those were the games I kept returning to growing up. During COVID, I was on it constantly, playing with friends, grinding ranked modes, falling into different communities. Looking back, it was less a game and more where a big chunk of my teenage years actually happened, and obviously where a lot of the career side of things started, though at the time it was mostly just where my friends were.
COD Mobile became a high school tradition. Every summer, a group of us would come back to it and push ranked together. I still remember the day we all hit Legendary in the same match; we’d been planning it for weeks, everyone on a call together. Bit silly in retrospect, but genuinely one of those memories that sticks. More than anything, it was a consistent reason to stay in touch when everyone’s schedules started pulling in different directions.
Minecraft is different from both. What I appreciate about it is that it just trusts the player. The visuals are simple, the systems aren’t complicated, and that’s kind of the point. There’s an enormous amount you can do in it, and it doesn’t make a big deal of that; it just gives you the tools and steps back.
