PHILADELPHIA – Students like Brady Acton are becoming the norm on college campuses: He's already an entrepreneur with one product on the market, soon to be followed by another, and he's only in his sophomore year at Villanova University.

Which partly explains why he has spent a fair amount of time in the health center since returning from the Christmas break.

"I don't sleep," said the 20-year-old double major in business and philosophy, who also plays third base on Villanova's baseball team and was named to the Big East All-Academic Team.

In an interview from the family's home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his mom, Tracy Acton, said that she and husband Kipp, a former professional hockey player who is now a sales executive at Victorinox Swiss Army, had urged their oldest son to get the most out of his college experience — or, as she put it, "Don't sleep it away."

So Brady Acton is also a kid who listens to his parents.

His entrepreneurial immersion began last year as so many do: on the back of an envelope. He was on a plane traveling between school and home, where troubling medical news involving three relatives and a friend had Acton searching for something other than that and his studies to occupy his mind.

"As an escape or distraction, I created this app," he said. "I had no intention of doing this. It was just the thing I did that took me away from reality."

With two serial-entrepreneur friends from Florida as partners, Acton formed Aegis Tech, which launched the Fish Feast 3-D phone app in late October, going "viral" with 1,000 downloads in two to three days, Acton said. Users — generally age 12 to 22, an equal split of males and females — describe it as a highly addictive game that, like Candy Crush, hooks players with the lure of advancing to the next level.

Fish Feast is following the "freemium" business model, where the game itself is free, but there are charges, about $1 to $4, for character upgrades, to unlock hints, or to skip to another level. Acton said those charges are expected to provide 80 percent of the income from Fish Feast; the rest will come from advertising. He's hoping to raise $15,000 from area investors to help with marketing, which up to now has been mostly through social media.

Aegis (Greek for shield) has used about 20 contractors, mostly in China, India, and the United Kingdom, to help with marketing and product development.

Acton said he's already turned down some investment offers because the equity demand was too high.

Acton is also chief marketing officer and holds an equity stake in TriviaNote, a platform that turns notes into games and other study tools. Founded early last year by Villanova graduate Paul Santolla, 22, it is scheduled for a Villanova-focused pilot launch March 7 at Trivia Note.com. Santolla's best friend since middle school, Evan Megill, 22, a senior at St. Joseph's University, is CFO and the other equity investor.

"I just kind of want to make a difference," said Acton, a Harvard Business School aspirant — after he graduates from Villanova, slated for 2018.

"I might graduate late," he added.