Blog
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Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad, Part 4 (Control Design)
Thus far, our Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad series has focused on iPad development through a performance-optimization lens. It has seen us go into the trenches with several ROBLOX developers to learn about and document their roles in building a a, a mobile gaming experience with the unique challenge of user-generated content as the centerpiece. In the final installments of the series, we’ll stray from the path and look at the development of interactive components, starting with control design. ROBLOX Game Engineer Ben Tkacheff is an expert when it comes to iOS controls. He’s played a lot of iOS games and cites Gameloft’s titles as examples of consistently good, mobile-optimized controls. First-person shooter N.O.V.A. stands out to Ben; the game is unabashedly reminiscent of the Halo series, but it isn’t just a console game ported to iOS – it’s a ROBLOX Game Engineer Ben Tkacheff is an expert when it comes to iOS controls. He’s played a lot of iOS games and cites Gameloft’s titles as examples of consistently good, mobile-optimized controls. First-person shooter N.O.V.A. stands out to Ben; the game is unabashedly reminiscent of the Halo series, but it isn’t just a console game ported to iOS – it’s a mobile gamemobile game , in large part due to great controls. , in large part due to great controls.
| November 19, 2012 -
What Games Are ROBLOX Developers Playing?
‘Tis the season of gaming, so we thought we’d sit down with a handful of ROBLOX employees to find out what they’ve been playing this holiday season. We’re all gamers at heart, and this proves it. Enjoy. I’ve been playing Orcs Must Die 2–it’s so fun. You defend these massive dungeons against hordes of enemies, and you can place traps all around the map. It also introduces co-op, so you can slay orcs with your friends. From a developer’s perspective, I really get a kick out of the physics system. All the traps have physics parts built into them, and you can use them to send orcs flying off the edge of cliffs into a murky abyss.I’ve been playing Orcs Must Die 2–it’s so fun. You defend these massive dungeons against hordes of enemies, and you can place traps all around the map. It also introduces co-op, so you can slay orcs with your friends. From a developer’s perspective, I really get a kick out of the physics system. All the traps have physics parts built into them, and you can use them to send orcs flying off the edge of cliffs into a murky abyss.
| November 8, 2012 -
ROBLOX Launches Game Templates, Starting with CTF
ROBLOX’s Content Team has been hard at work as of late creating Game Templates, which are freely available starter levels with the nuts and bolts of a specific genre already in place. Our first template gives you the basic elements you need to b...
| September 15, 2012 -
Gusmanak Returns to ROBLOX With Apocalypse Rising
17-year-old Gus Dubetz, or a, started using ROBLOX in 2008, due primarily to a life-long fascination with physics. By 2010, Dubetz decided to take a short break to focus on clay and wood sculpting. It wasn’t until two years later, shortly after the release of Day Z, a hugely popular add-on to ArmA 2, that Dubetz, with long-time friend and scripter Ethan Witt (aka ZolarKeth) asked, “what if we went back?”It wasn’t until two years later, shortly after the release of Day Z, a hugely popular add-on to ArmA 2, that Dubetz, with long-time friend and scripter Ethan Witt (aka ZolarKeth) asked, “what if we went back?” That question lead to the birth of an idea—Dubetz and Witt didn’t just want to make another “generic shooter”, they wanted to make a full blown That question lead to the birth of an idea—Dubetz and Witt didn’t just want to make another “generic shooter”, they wanted to make a full blown game—game— something with ambition, scope, replayability, and, most importantly, zombies. That idea became something with ambition, scope, replayability, and, most importantly, zombies. That idea became aa ..
| July 25, 2012 -
The Future of Groups in ROBLOX
ROBLOX introduced groups in 2009, and, today, there are over 600,000 users in groups. While our community already uses them to organize, communicate, and battle, there are improvements we’d like to make and features we’d like to implement. At ...
| July 21, 2012 -
Emergence in ROBLOX: Hard to Define, Easy to See
In gaming, emergence happens when players use a game’s basic systems in a way that is unexpected, unpredicted and unique. It’s built into the entire ROBLOX platform; users have the freedom to create almost any type of game, experience games,...
| April 28, 2012 -
How We Built an FPS in ROBLOX
The ROBLOX Content Team is wrapping up version 1.0 of ROBLOX Base Wars, a competitive first-person shooter (FPS). The concept is familiar: up to 30 players join a game, and each player is randomly assigned to a team. Players contribute to their team’s score by taking out opponents and capturing control points. It’s a little like Team Fortress 2, but without the hats. We created Base Wars to show that an exciting first-person experience is possible in ROBLOX, as well as to give ROBLOX builders a resource they can draw upon for their own FPS creations. The source code for ROBLOX Base Wars is free, so The concept is familiar: up to 30 players join a game, and each player is randomly assigned to a team. Players contribute to their team’s score by taking out opponents and capturing control points. It’s a little like Team Fortress 2, but without the hats. We created Base Wars to show that an exciting first-person experience is possible in ROBLOX, as well as to give ROBLOX builders a resource they can draw upon for their own FPS creations. The source code for ROBLOX Base Wars is free, so aa ..
| March 28, 2012 -
ROBLOX: Built for Cross-Platform Play
Last weekend, a friend and I set aside a day to delve into the trenches of Civilization V’s multiplayer mode. She purchased her Mac copy via Steam, slogged through the two-gigabyte download and fired it up – only to find out it isn’t compati...
| March 16, 2012 -
5.4 Million Games Created in 2011
ROBLOX users created 5.4 million games in 2011. In addition to this, over 250 million hours of game-play were logged, and ROBLOX served over 9.6 billion page views. A couple of weeks ago, VentureBeat released an article about LittleBigPlanet...
| February 23, 2012