Parents often wonder about their children’s excessive gaming, but for one Leachville teenager, his obsession may evolve into a career.

Lerato Mothato, who celebrated his 18th birthday this month, has been making games since he was a child and recently published a game on Google Play.

Rogun Army is a free local multiplayer party shooter game built around the idea that games should give people a reason to interact with each other, in addition to being entertaining.

It is designed for offline/local play, allowing up to 16 players to compete with friends in the same physical space rather than requiring an active internet connection.

With 167 downloads, the game had a monthly user base of 87 in May.

“I grew up playing a lot of games with my father and he always taught me to produce more than I consume, so during our gaming sessions I always wondered how exactly these games were made,” said Lerato.

“I already had experience using the computer at around six or seven years old, so diving into basic game development felt basically frictionless.”

He recalls that playing computer games forced him to learn to read and type at a very early age because a lot of the games had text that he had to read in order to play.

“Pair this with the entertainment value of playing a game and you’ve got yourself a steady foundation for a game dev passion,” he said.

“I distinctly remember me and my father playing an old GTA game and while it was my father’s turn to play, a seed of curiosity was planted in my brain, and this seed kept growing as time went on.

“I started by looking up how to make a game. The term game development wasn’t even in my vocabulary. Once I found a few YouTube videos about game development everything changed. My sessions with my dad went from just gaming to me dissecting the different pieces that made the game.”

The Grade 11 UCT Online High School learner explained that he started off using Scratch to create basic games which gave him a good foundation for problem solving and coding.

Scratch is a free, block-based visual programming language and online community. It is primarily used to teach coding fundamentals to children and beginners.

“As my needs grew, Scratch became more of a limitation which led me to switching to Unity at the age of eight,” he said.

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Unity is a game development engine.

“Between then and now I’ve created hundreds of projects, some more successful than others. Rogun Army is not my first application/game published on the Playstore. I actually created a messaging and a timer app, both of which were unlisted due to updates,” continued Lerato.

Describing himself as overly ambitious and a passionate person, adding “sometimes to my own detriment”, Lerato shared that he created Rogun Army to solve a problem.

“When I was a kid there was a game called Mini Militia – Doodle Army. It let you host a game and play with your friends without an active internet connection,” he said.

“This was great for me and my friends as it let us have fun while socialising with other groups. As time went on this game received a lot of updates that changed its core DNA, losing what made it so special.

“Fast forward to 2025 when I realised that I’m not the only one that felt this way, there were many other teens and young adults sharing the same sentiment. So my goal was to create my own game that satisfied that itch we all had.”

After a year of development and a lot of testing, Rogun Army became a hit among Lerato and his friends.

“I wish I had the platform to reach other people and tell them about this game I made. I genuinely would like to bring back that spark in my peers and the next generation,” he said.

“I want this game to become a reason people stop scrolling and actually interact with the people around them.”

While it is a shooting game, Lerato confirms there is no blood and gore, which can also be a concern to parents.

The game has a 3+ rating. The project was developed completely independently, including gameplay programming, networking, systems development, testing and iteration.

As for technologies and platforms, Lerato mainly uses Unity and C# as the programming language, and develops for mobile devices as well as PCs.

He told the Brakpan Herald his favourite game is Minecraft because it give players the foundation to be creative.
When he is not gaming or creating games, Lerato concentrates on school and enjoys other hobbies such as playing the piano and chess.

He has also mastered the Rubik’s Cube and is an artist who enjoys drawing and sketching. As for the future, his long-term ambition is to become an indie game developer.

“At the same time, I’d like to begin my professional career by working within an established game development studio, learning from experienced developers and contributing to larger projects,” he said.

He said that the game development industry in South Africa is small, which is something he would like to change.

“There are courses you can do, and I am interested in studying further, but I have 10 years’ experience and I’m self taught,” he said.

“I would rather build something first and then look at becoming an expert.”

His mom Cecilia and dad Katlego, as well as little sister Thandiwe (7), are supportive of his ambitions.

“It’s a good thing. I must admit that as a parent you become stressed when they’re in front of screens all the time, but you need to give them the opportunity to be themselves,” said Cecilia.

“It’s a different generation. They can’t be like us.”

Rogun Army can be downloaded on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.forbiddenbox.rogunarmy

Stay connected via social media:

• TikTok: @rogunarmy
• YouTube:@forbiddenbox
• Instagram:@rogunarmy

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