Crazy Pilots: From Setbacks to 24 Million Roblox Visits

The Setbacks That Led Bohdan Verteletskyi to Rethink Game Development

In this Fix Stories contribution, Crazy Pilots creator Bohdan Verteletskyi explains how repeated setbacks on Roblox changed his approach.

For another firsthand account of independent game development, read how a solo developer spent four years making A Simple Expurriment.

Watch Crazy Pilots Gameplay

Crazy Pilots — community gameplay video shared by Bohdan (YouTube)

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The following first-person story was submitted by Bohdan Verteletskyi. His words are preserved as submitted.

A Difficult Transition: From Traditional Game Development to Roblox

Bohdan Verteletskyi brought his experience in traditional game development to Roblox, but the transition proved far harder than he expected. After many unsuccessful attempts, he created Crazy Pilots. The game went viral and had reached 24 million visits at the time of writing.

I have worked in the games industry for years and have always wanted to make my own games. But I ended up spending most of that time running a studio that creates content for multiplayer games. I had little time or energy left for my own projects.

A few years ago, I decided to return to making my own games. I wanted a break from my usual work and a chance to create an entire game myself. I expected my experience to help, but one attempt after another failed to find an audience.

Those attempts were frustrating, mainly because each one took time and effort without delivering the results I had hoped for. I kept working and trying different ideas, but for a long time I could not get the response I was looking for.

I approached those first games with confidence, expecting to put together a good team and organize the work properly. I brought my usual approach to development into Roblox. I paid a lot of attention to the visuals, tried to make beautiful games, and expected players to appreciate that. Gradually, though, I realized I could not simply transfer my experience from other projects to a new platform and expect the same results. I needed to understand its players better and account for how quickly their interests could change.

Speed was another problem. By the time a game was finished, interest in its concept could already have faded, even when it was fun to play. The hardest part was acknowledging that I needed to reconsider my approach. When you have already put a lot of work into a project, you want to keep going, finish what you planned, and finally get a result. That can delay the moment when you actually start changing things.

After many attempts, I decided to make a game on my own. That became Crazy Pilots. The idea came about almost by chance, after a lot of trial and error: build a plane, load it with unusual cargo, and take off. I liked that it was easy to explain and quick to test.

A cargo-carrying aircraft on the runway in Crazy Pilots. Screenshot: Bohdan Verteletskyi.

I focused on a working version so I could release it as soon as possible and see whether people would play it. Development took a little over a month, I think.

People started playing, Crazy Pilots kept appearing in Roblox recommendations, and it attracted around 20 million visits in its first month. Creators with audiences in the millions made videos about it, and videos featuring the game received millions of views.

Crazy Pilots creator analytics, June 25–July 23, 2026. Screenshot supplied by Bohdan Verteletskyi.

It felt good to see the whole development cycle finally paying off. After the previous attempts, I could see that changing my approach had made a difference.

The main lesson for me was to recognize sooner when an approach is not working. Today, I am more comfortable revisiting my decisions rather than sticking to the initial plan because I have already invested in it. The goal can stay the same while the way I work toward it changes.

About the Creator

I am the sole creator and developer of Crazy Pilots, responsible for the concept, game design, art, development, and implementation. I also own Brrrr Pilots !, the Roblox group under which the game is published.

Play Crazy Pilots on Roblox, or read Bohdan‘s 80 Level interview about open-world design.

A city environment from Bohdan Verteletskyi’s previous open-world design work. Screenshot: Bohdan Verteletskyi.

Crazy Pilots

Release: Available now

Developer / Publisher: Bohdan Verteletskyi / Brrrr Pilots !

Platforms: Roblox

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