Update, 2/1/2013: the ROBLOX Studio 2.0 beta has ended and this blog post is now completely, totally, utterly out of date! For information and download instructions on the latest and greatest build, ROBLOX Studio 2013, please see this article.

ROBLOX is pleased to announce the upcoming release of ROBLOX Studio 2.0, the application that lets you create, test and publish ROBLOX games. While Studio 2.0 features a cleaned-up and polished interface, we’re especially excited about the platform-independent framework on which we built it.

We currently maintain separate versions of ROBLOX Studio for PC and Mac. With Studio 2.0, we’re transitioning the PC version from a five-year-old, Microsoft-based framework to the modern, platform-independent framework we use for the Mac version. This not only means the user experience will be consistent across platforms, but also that, going forward, it’ll be easier for us to implement new features and maintain Studio 2.0’s functionality and usability standards. In short, we’ll be able to deliver features faster and wrap them in a better user experience.

The interface will feature new buttons and let you dock tools easily. Studio 2.0 also opens the doors to a number of other features we’ll be implementing in the future:

• Improved script editor
• New part- and model-editing tools
• Powerful game builders

Stay posted for a beta announcement, where we’ll tell you how to install and test Studio 2.0 alongside today’s production version. The initial release of Studio 2.0 will work on PC and Mac, but we expect the process of porting it to LINUX and other operating systems to be relatively easy.

For information on the cross-platform compatibility of ROBLOX games, check out this March blog post. To learn more about ROBLOX Studio and how you can create games for free, read its ROBLOX Wiki page.