By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
Gamefam and Wind Sun Sky Entertainment have made metaverse history, producing the first animated series produced entirely inside Roblox.
The new show Twilight Daycare is based on the Roblox game of the same same, which has posted an incredible 2 billion visits for its unusual roleplaying experience.
Twilight Daycare is pretty much what the title says, with players have fun role playing as babies, toddlers or caretakers, touching off a lot of craziness while feeding their virtual charges, changing diapers, playing with toys, learning, and going on excursions.
Now, Wind Sun Sky and Gamefam have combined their talents to transform Twilight Daycare into a wacky animated series that is also viewed in Roblox, and the show is already a hit.
Debuting in July 2023 during an exclusive 5-day in-game window, Twilight Daycare: The Show debuted with an episode centered around a first-of-its-kind interactive roleplay experience, engaging an impressive 1.6 million viewers.
Based on the overwhelmingly positive response, WSS and Gamefam are now releasing five additional episodes of the show, released every other week starting on Friday, January 19, 2024.
Twilight Daycare: The Show is filled with off-the-wall baby antics and follows three teenage caretakers Lani, Miles and Tee working at Twilight Daycare. Under the watchful eye of their overbearing boss, Ms. Magdelin, the three go head-to-head with a gaggle of scheming, pranking, goofball babies – leading to ridiculous situations, more than one mix-up and a lot of diaper changes. It’s a storyworld extension of the craziness happening in real time on Twilight Daycare on Roblox.
Last summer’s pilot showcased the innovative possibilities for Roblox series content where players, following the viewing of the first 11-minute episode, “Baby B or Not to Be,” immersed themselves in the interactive roleplaying that has made Roblox so successful as a metaverse platform
Users role played what they had seen within the show and went on a hide and seek quest through Twilight Daycare to find a missing baby. Participants then received exclusive virtual items as a reward. Engagement was strong with over 580,000 players watching the complete episode and 350,000 completing the entire quest which included watching the episode, finding Baby B in the daycare and returning to the cinema to find Baby B again.
The show is a joint project combining the storytelling expertise of the Vancouver-based Wind Sun Sky studio, with the industry leading experience of Gamefam, which has been extraordinarily successful in creating branded metaverse experiences.
Wind Sun Sky is led by former LucasFilm executive, Catherine Winder, and is a new type of studio that works at the intersection of storytelling and technology to build franchises for the global marketplace, producing in all mediums including interactive, film, series (live action and animation), Roblox and mobile apps. The team has some impressive hits in its resume, including the global hit series Invincible, an animated dramatic adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book for Amazon Prime.
WSS recently produced the adult comedy animated series Psi Cops for Adult Swim Canada in partnership with OddFellows Entertainment with Skybound Galactic distributing. In the kids’ space, WSS launched Camp Bonkers, an original first of its kind multi-platform property that includes a Roblox Game, an app, a kids’ variety show. For the buggy robot makers at HEXBUG, WSS adapted their award winning toyline JunkBots into a web series and Roblox game.
“Wind Sun Sky is always looking to find new mediums and technologies to tell compelling stories and build exciting brands such as Twilight Daycare,” said Winder. “Our partnership with Gamefam allowed us to bring our creative storytelling expertise to the unique genre of Roblox roleplay games – creating an innovative immersive format that we believe will be a huge hit not just with the game’s fans – but with global audiences who appreciate fan-tailored “metaverse” experiences.”
Gamefam is equally innovative, and has been featured in several TLL articles over the past two years thanks to its success in licensed collaborations on the Roblox platform.
Gamefam is the world’s leading metaverse game developer, publisher and strategist, that specializes in creating connected experiences with gaming communities and well-known brands. The company is also building the next generation of pop culture franchises that are born from the metaverse itself, as opposed to bringing brands into the metaverse.
“Our mission is to create dynamic experiences for an amazing community while we grow the next generation of super hit gaming and entertainment franchises in the metaverse,” the company says. Gamefam operates the largest network of games on Roblox with over 28 million daily game sessions and 168 million hours of engagement each month across 30+ live games in the company’s portfolio.
Gamefam’s top franchises include Sonic Speed Simulator, Twilight Daycare, Tower of Misery, Funky Friday, Ultra Power Tycoon, Starving Artists, Hot Wheels Open World, Easy Obby and Weapon Fighting Simulator. The Gamefam experience also extends into other metaverse destinations including its operation of the three leading Minecraft servers and development of several of Fortnite’s top 40 maps.
“At Gamefam, we believe the next mega franchises will be born from the metaverse,” said Alli Guglielmino, Senior Vice President of Growth at Gamefam. “With Twilight Daycare, and in partnership with Wind Sun Sky, we’ve flipped the script by developing a crazy cast of characters and a fun storyline that will be enjoyed by millions both on Roblox and far beyond. The fan reaction to the animated series exceeded expectations and we’ll continue to listen to the 600,000 daily Twilight Daycare users on what they want to see and do next.”
Twilight Daycare: The Show is the first series from a Roblox experience to be adapted into a narrative franchise by WSS, but there’s already more content in the pipeline. WSS is also developing scripted content for another collaboration with Gamefam, in which it’s adapting Creatures of Sonaria into a rich narrative universe through a hybrid approach of traditional animated production techniques and game engine technologies.
In the meantime, Twilight Daycare is showing what’s possible in the metaverse, as its ability to attract and entertain Roblox users is being transformed into a brand both in the metaverse and in the real world, and it’s the precursor of a trend that licensees and licensors will want to keep track of. In addition attracting over 2 billion visits since it launched in 2021, the Roblox experience has already resulted in 82,000 virtual merchandise purchases and an average engagement time of 12.3 minutes per session.
With the animated series, massive social media presence, and successful toy product line, the franchise’s footprint has transitioned far beyond the metaverse and into many forms of entertainment,” the partners say.
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