For as long as there have been PC games, the line between developer and fan has been fluid.
Gamers have been creating their own content since the dawn of computer games, as evidenced by the many mods and game modes created from other titles. While this used to require a lot of technical knowledge, in recent years new platforms have emerged that make it easier for players to create their own games. Some of the most impactful games in the world, like Minecraft and Roblox, focus almost exclusively on this type of content.
The latest platform to join this fight is Singapore’s CliCli.
The company was invested by gaming multinational NetEase and launched an alpha in July 2022.
“Our guiding philosophy focuses on simplifying game creation,” says Kun Li, operations director of CliCli.
“With years of experience in the gaming industry, our team greatly appreciates the input from our developers. As we observe the progress of the modern gaming and entertainment sector, we recognize the need for advanced technology and efficient tools to effortlessly implement developers’ concepts. The underlying value of gaming should not be obscured by technological barriers and every individual has the right to enjoy the joy that gaming offers. The act of creating games is essentially the process of bringing joy to others. So we created CliCli, an efficient and easy-to-use tool that empowers our users to generate a diverse spectrum of gameplay, spread and share ideas through their unique game work, and foster a thriving user-generated content ecosystem.”
While many of the new PC platforms have been competitors to Steam, CliCli is closer to Roblox instead.
“Our vision is not limited to creating a traditional game store, but rather we strive to develop a thriving gaming community with user-generated content,” explains Li. “Existing platforms are already well established in terms of commercialization, and it is It is widely recognized that game development requires significant investment. CliCli, on the other hand, wants to provide a comprehensive game creation and distribution platform where developers can use the CliCli editor to produce and easily distribute games. In addition to publishing games on the CliCli platform, developers will eventually be able to independently package and publish their games on other gaming platforms.”
Why CliCli chose to focus on user-generated content is easy to answer: making game development accessible to as many people as possible.
“Our team members have extensive professional experience at leading game companies and share a genuine passion for the art of game design,” says Li. “We believe everyone should have the right to experience the joy of making games. For those working in large gaming corporations who aspire to develop their own games, it can often be a lengthy and arduous process involving rigorous project evaluations and consideration of various commercial factors. Occasionally, the end result might not be a fun game.
“As such, we believe every game developer deserves the opportunity to showcase their work to their audience. The process of developing games can be both rewarding and inspiring for individuals, whether they work in the games industry or not.”
Currently, CliCli’s developer base consists of a global community. They range from those who work in the gaming industry – including programmers – to beginners with no experience at all.
“They all share a passion for game development and possess the skills to create unique and immersive gameplay,” says Li. “This is the essence of games with user-generated content, where the charm lies in the variety of gameplay created by can be created by passionate and talented individuals.”
She continues, “CliCli offers a range of built-in and easy-to-use features designed specifically for people who lack extensive technical skills or game development experience. They could control events, conditions and actions (ECA) to implement their creative game ideas efficiently. CliCli will continue to expand its ECA library to present accessible and user-friendly methods to personalize the gaming experience. Creators with coding experience can use a Lua API and plugins to quickly adapt to the CliCli editor and generate fascinating content. CliCli offers them a new and innovative platform to present their ideas and to network with like-minded people.”
“Although CliCli may not currently offer all the features required for mid-tier or AAA game development, we are very interested in partnering with other studios to continually push the boundaries of CliCli.”
To support its platform, which focuses on user-generated content, CliCli also has thousands of assets. This includes models, particle effects, decorations and music that users can use for free and without risk.
“Our ever-expanding resource library significantly lowers the barrier to entry for developers and reduces the risk of IP breaches,” explains Li. “Our asset library is safe for creators to use. In the near future, CliCli will launch a fair trade marketplace for game artists to create value through their own creations.”
At the moment – during the alpha phase – CliCli offers a 70/30 revenue split, but plans to innovate the way money is shared in the future.
“CliCli employs a creator-preferred revenue sharing model,” explains Li. “We regularly evaluate our content ecosystem and may introduce a more comprehensive, tiered revenue sharing model in the future. However, we will always adopt a revenue share model preferred by creators Revenue Share Model.
CliCli was introduced in Alpha in July 2022. In the eight months since then, it has evolved significantly based on user response to the platform.
“Developer feedback helped us identify and fix issues with our editor, allowing us to continuously refine and improve our product,” Li explains.
“Designing specific features requires more than simple product research. These features need to be tested by creators from different backgrounds, and we need to communicate with them to understand their concerns and priorities.
“We are grateful for the continued support and feedback from our developer community. Their input enabled us to release CliCli Editor Alpha 2.0 ahead of GDC. This updated version includes a number of new and exciting features including: ECA profiling, a particle editor, LUA plugin extension and more.
“In the future, we will continue to refine and improve the functionality of our product to better serve the needs of developers.”
CliCli doesn’t just build a platform; It also makes games that users of the service can play and add to. The first of these is Game of Rollink, a competitive PvP card game with elements of the auto-battler genre.
“We’re not solely focused on casual games, as demonstrated by the forthcoming release of Game of Rollink,” Li says and are looking for innovative ways to improve the gaming experience for our entire community.”
She continues: “The concept for Game of Rollink came from one of our in-house collaborators and was refined along with the development of CliCli. This is just one example of the many innovative games we offer and while there is still room for improvement, its existence is consistent with CliCli’s central tenet – to encourage creativity. Game of Rollink is a brilliant demonstration of what developers can achieve with CliCli and we hope this will lead to increased activity and awareness of other games.
She concludes, “The games officially released by CliCli could be open source in the future and we hope to encourage UGC developers to join us in building a growing ecosystem.”
You can meet the CliCli team at GDC Expo
Sales stand: #S1332
Time: 22nd-24th March 10am – 6pm (PST)
E-mail: [email protected] to make an appointment
