Call of ROBLOXia 5: ROBLOX At War is one of ROBLOX’s most popular games of all time. Prolific scripter litozinnamon is constantly adding to the title, and ROBLOX gamers just can’t seem to get enough. That’s why we were thrilled to hear that litozinnamon has been spending the last six months completely overhauling the game, and will be releasing it soon. What’s changing? A one-word answer would be: everything.

“A big debate I’ve been having is whether or not I should actually replace COR5 with this new game, or just make the new game a separate place. A lot of players still really like the current version, so I’m not sure yet,” he says.

His new version of Call of ROBLOXia is in beta and can be played by paying 25 ROBUX for Paid Access. The differences are immediate and dramatic–it looks like a completely different game. He’s revamped almost every visual aspect of the game. What will jump out at you immediately is the look of the guns, each of which has at least doubled in part count. He tells me that the original guns were usually comprised of 20 to 40 parts, while the new guns are typically comprised of close to 100.

“My partner Shaylan007 rebuilt every one of the gun models from scratch,” he says. “He also added brand new types of attachments and a camouflage texture system. We’ve come up with all sorts of awesome attachments, including flashlights, drum mags, grips, aperture sights, telescopic sights, silencers, and more.”

Players are already using these attachments to strategic effect–in a game of lito’s beta, one person was scoring massive amounts of KOs by shining the flashlight in the faces of other players, obscuring their vision, before firing.

The camouflage system he’s implementing will allow players to customize the look of their guns in a way that’s similar to what you’d find in the latest Call of Duty game. Litozinnamon has also been busy altering the sounds of the weapons so they make the same noises as their real-world counterparts.

“Most of the sounds I’ve collected came from recordings on YouTube. I cut and edit the sounds I capture on Sony Vegas Pro,” he says. “I don’t have any professional sound software, but movie-making software works surprisingly well, as long as I render the file as an MP3.”

The new version features all of the maps from the original Call of ROBLOXia, each with a dynamic lighting facelift that makes it feel much more grounded in reality. He has also been hard at work on two brand-new maps–titled Espionage and KirzHeinenBurg–and two new game modes, including Domination and Elimination.

“In addition, maps like Vendetta and Bridge Ruins have been remade completely in order to feature larger layouts that will reduce spawn killing and flanking routes,” he adds.

If updating Call of ROBLOXia sounds like a massive undertaking, that’s because, well, it is. The game has such a loyal and stable fan base that I couldn’t help but ask: Why update? Why now? Litozinnamon had a very interesting answer to these questions:

“Pressure and competition,” he says. “I need to show the world of ROBLOX that I’m capable of making a FPS that’s up to date. When I saw Borderline, I was blown away. The animations were amazing.”

“This sense of competition is what drives me to make a better game,” he adds.

Making a better game hasn’t been without challenges to overcome. Litozinnamon wants everyone, regardless of the machine they’re using, to be able to experience Call of ROBLOXia smoothly. This means developing workarounds while also being mindful of just how far he can push his updates.

“Since I began using _G variables, the new gun system that incorporates new animations needed a ton of debugging,” he tells me. “I also realized that a lot of the running animations I had initially scripted couldn’t run properly for players with slower computers or laggy internet connections. I scripted dynamic movements and breathing, but I had to remove them as they were too costly on performance.”

“It’d be awesome if there was a way to reduce the 100-part gun models into a single mesh. That would really help me reduce lag,” he adds.

Many of these updates can be experienced by playing the Call of ROBLOXia beta, though there are many more planned for the future release, which will be free-to-play. Litozinnamon tells me that he’ll be adding several minute details, including a new radar GUI, new functions for weapon attachments, and even flags for each team that historically represent the actual war that took place in each map.

We leave you with this bit of advice to consider, from one of ROBLOX’s biggest and most prolific game makers:

Making ROBLOX games is a different process for everyone. For me, I focus on one area generally until I feel like I can’t make any more progress. Then I just let it sit there for awhile, and return to it later. This process just keeps moving forward. Some times I’ll devote an entire weekend to focus on one specific thing, and get it done the best I can.