Cory Williams makes hit children’s YouTube channel featuring Silly Crocodile
Cory Williams has his dream job: creating entertaining content for his wildly popular Just For Kids YouTube channel.
Cory’s videos feature Silly Crocodile, an energetic cartoon reptile who lives life much like his audience—playing Hide and Seek with friends, enjoying story-based play, and navigating challenges like losing a baby tooth. In every story, Silly Crocodile converses with a wise and friendly offscreen narrator who helps him along on his adventures.
With nearly 900,000 subscribers, more than 80 videos (some with millions of views), and new content being added regularly, there’s no question that the Just For Kids channel is a success.
This success, says Cory, is largely due to him having the freedom to bring new ideas to life quickly in real time, all by himself, in Unreal Engine.
Cory’s videos feature Silly Crocodile, an energetic cartoon reptile who lives life much like his audience—playing Hide and Seek with friends, enjoying story-based play, and navigating challenges like losing a baby tooth. In every story, Silly Crocodile converses with a wise and friendly offscreen narrator who helps him along on his adventures.
With nearly 900,000 subscribers, more than 80 videos (some with millions of views), and new content being added regularly, there’s no question that the Just For Kids channel is a success.
This success, says Cory, is largely due to him having the freedom to bring new ideas to life quickly in real time, all by himself, in Unreal Engine.
Fast solo pipeline
The Silly Crocodile character was inspired by a simple wooden toy that Cory created for his kids. ”I saw the magic in this character, and I thought it would be really cool if I could tell really fun stories with it,” he says, “but as somebody who doesn't have a background in animation or any of that, I was looking for simpler ways to be able to do that.”
Cory worked out a pipeline where he writes the story, provides voices, and animates Silly Crocodile in Unreal Engine with what he calls a “cheapo” controller. Each episode takes Cory just a few days to produce, and he can do it all solo, which is much faster and cheaper than a traditional pipeline.
Courtesy of Cory Williams
Courtesy of Cory Williams
Connecting with kids
Beyond the speed and ease of content generation, Cory appreciates a real-time workflow for the sense of immediacy and freshness it brings to the finished content. “What I really like about creating kids’ content in Unreal is this different connection that you get with kids,” he says. “Being able to do it in real time, there's this realness where you get to sort of live in this world. That's so powerful.”
As the narrator, Cory is in constant conversation throughout each episode with Silly Crocodile, who also happens to be him. Speaking to himself in real time, he says, adds an element that you couldn't get with a long, traditional pipeline.
“I'm having real conversations with the character, and I think that's what makes Silly Crocodile different,” Cory says. ”You can see and be that character right there and then, and I love it.”
Courtesy of Cory Williams
He’s also able to lean into trends much faster, where he can hear about a popular kids’ search on a Monday morning and wrap up a video on that topic by Friday afternoon. “Unreal Engine is what allows me to create things in real time, and real time is real time,” he says.
Using a real-time workflow gives Cory control over the entire process, making it both satisfying and impactful. “Everything I'm doing,” he says, “I'm doing on my own, and I'm telling my own stories the way that I want to tell them.”
Using a real-time workflow gives Cory control over the entire process, making it both satisfying and impactful. “Everything I'm doing,” he says, “I'm doing on my own, and I'm telling my own stories the way that I want to tell them.”
Courtesy of Cory Williams