Every week, we’re busy telling the stories behind our platform, our technology, and our place in the gaming and technology industries. For those of you who catch up with ROBLOX over the weekend, the Weekly ROBLOX Roundup collects the best stuff to hit our various avenues of publication in the last week. This time: ROBLOX users as indie game developers, the new Build page, an inside look at popular Catalog items and our thoughts on your feedback.

ROBLOX users as indie game developers

Independent game development hit its stride in the mid 2000s, when technology and distribution got good enough that small teams — even individuals — could develop full-featured games and get them in front of consumers without the help of publishers. In many ways, ROBLOX users function like indie game developers: creating unique, outside-the-box gameplay and distributing content via the web, all with the minimal resources of a small team (or less).

As an interesting aside, the Independent Games Festival is now accepting submissions for this year’s fest. What ROBLOX games from this year do you think are deserving of a submission? (That’s not to say we would submit them; we’re just curious what you think.)

Want more indie games content? Well, read our article first. Then check out some of these links:

• Independent Games Festival
• A previous blog post, ostensibly about independent game development in ROBLOX with Apocalypse Rising
• The Indie Game Development Survival Guide (book)

Build.

ROBLOX’s web team recently launched a new element to our site’s main navigation: the Build page. The page’s high-level goal is to help all ROBLOX users get started with creating games, clothes and models, but it also is a great way to organize the stuff you’ve already created, separate from your inventory, and track metrics. Chances are, you’ve already explored it. If not, check out the Build page today.

Look inside 10 of the most popular Catalog items

The ROBLOX Catalog is chock full of gear — it’s something like the virtual equivalent of those 400-page catalogs that arrive every holiday season. Our new Catalog will certainly help you navigate the content and find what you’re looking for when it releases soon, but we also pulled together a list of 10 of the most popular Catalog items and offered an inside look at the scripting that powers them. Not only can you see what gear ROBLOX users love to tote, but also how it works.

Your ideas, our feedback

If there’s one thing we can count on from ROBLOX users, it’s ideas. We gathered up some feedback and ideas late last week, and responded to them with our latest entry in the “Responding to User Feedback” feature. This time around, we talk dynamic lighting and high-volume part rendering, new character joints and animations, CFraming tools, in-game admin powers, group challenges and more. Check it out and be sure to join the discussion with other users.

Bits

• Double Trouble Studio, an app developer headed up by ROBLOX user CowBear16, has released an iPad app that lets you create ROBLOX GUIs, then export the Lua code for use in ROBLOX. Several ROBLOX developers have been chatting about it over the last week; you can check it out on the Apple’s App Store here.
• Here‘s another video demonstration of the stability of ROBLOX’s robust hinges and joints — the “current” hinges start to explode at about 1:05; “new” hinge demonstration starts at about 3:04. You can see how much better the parts hold together, even after bouncing around.
• We’ve started sending weekly email updates from the ROBLOX blog. To receive an email each Sunday, click here and sign up.

ROBLOX, elsewhere on the web

Our CEO and ROBLOX Founder David Baszucki will be speaking at GDC Online in August, Texas this October. You can see the initial announcement of the “Game Dev Start-up Summit” on Gamasutra. The one-day summit will include a “host of sessions that provide a step-by-step look at the issues, challenges, and realities of getting a new game company off the ground.”

Until next time.