Description
Epic said no to the Go Goated skin pitch three times.
TheBoyDilly tells me how a Fortnite Creative map's mascot eventually made it into the Icon Series.
Dylan Johnson, better known as TheBoyDilly, is the founder and CEO of Good Gamers. He joins me on The Creative Juice Podcast to talk about the work behind Go Goated, building a Fortnite studio, and keeping several games moving while taking on something much bigger.
Dilly started learning Creative around his night shifts as a nurse. We talk about recreating a live event on a PS4, working on official concert experiences with Alliance, and the contract work that helped him move into game development full time.
Then we get into the decisions behind Good Gamers:
- Why Go Goated took time to grow, and how he kept testing changes after it found an audience.
- What happened when he reinvested Go Goated's income into a team before the next hits arrived.
- How an older Bed Wars concept became a UEFN rebuild, and how Murder Mystery found its community.
- Why the Go Goated skin pitch went from a slideshow to concept art to game-ready models before Epic eventually said yes.
- How the team balances updates, community feedback and brand deals across its games.
- Why Fort Fruits has taken years of development, and what happens when the team's standards keep rising.
Dilly recalls Go Goated passing one billion plays by the time he was pitching the skin. We talk about the work behind that scale and the choices that helped the game last.
If you had one successful map, would you keep building around it or put the money into a second game? Let me know in the comments.
Subscribe for more conversations with the people building in Fortnite Creative and UEFN.
PLAY THE GAMES
Go Goated: 3305-1551-7747
Bed Wars: 7048-8422-2298
Murder Mystery: 5253-8468-3364
Official game links: https://www.goodgamers.com/our-games/
Dilly's Fortnite creator page: https://www.fortnite.com/@theboydilly
Fort Fruits updates: https://x.com/FortFruits
MORE CREATIVE JUICE
Full episode playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeEdFBJesf6Ruqlpktj13hOdTdA7UHRQS
Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2464294
CONNECT WITH DILLY
X: https://x.com/TheBoyDilly
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-johnson-9ba129257
Good Gamers: https://www.goodgamers.com/
More socials: https://linktr.ee/TheBoyDilly
#FortniteCreative #UEFN #GoGoated
Don't hate, create
Subscribe to my channel: https://bit.ly/3pv1V2q
Follow my Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImmatureGamerX
Follow my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/immature_Gamer
Join my Discord: https://discord.gg/PecfY77
Contact: xximmaturegamerxx@gmail.com
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro and Episode Preview
0:54 Meet Dilly from Good Gamers
1:46 From Nursing to Fortnite Creative
4:05 Recreating Travis Scott and Fortnite Live Events
6:03 The Origin of GOATED
10:44 Turning GOATED into Good Gamers
14:22 Building the Good Gamers Team
16:59 How Bedwars Was Created
19:15 The Success of Murder Mystery
22:28 How Analytics Doubled GOATED's Playtime
27:00 Keeping Multiple Hit Games Alive
30:05 How GOATED Got Its Own Fortnite Skin
37:38 Working with Major Brands in Fortnite
40:50 Battle Arena and Taking Bigger Risks
43:25 Fort Fruits: Three Years in Development
51:20 Dilly's Advice for New UEFN Creators
55:27 Final Thoughts and Shoutouts
56:49 Outro