Blog
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Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: November 11, 2012
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: we talk with Uuvinu, the creator of
| November 11, 2012 -
Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad, Part 3 (Performance Optimization)
If the first part of developing a well-performing ROBLOX experience for the iPad is ensuring stability through memory optimization, the second part is improving the frame rate to the point it’s as smooth as it is on a modern desktop or laptop co...
| November 10, 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 -
Spotlight: Uuvinu, the Web Developer Behind ROBLOXRanks
When I spoke to user Uuvinu over the phone, he seemed distracted. So much so, that I asked him if something was wrong. I had simultaneously noticed that his website, ROBLOXranks.com, wasn’t loading. This was his response:
| November 6, 2012 -
Spotlight: Uuvinu, the Web Developer Behind ROBLOXRanks
When I spoke to user aover the phone, he seemed distracted. So much so, that I asked him if something was wrong. I had simultaneously noticed that his website, ROBLOXranks.com, wasn’t loading. This was his response: “Sorry. Our servers in New York City were knocked out by the storm, and I’m working on migrating data to Dallas, Texas. Site should be live in an hour.” It was back up in thirty minutes. He’s 15-years-old.It was back up in thirty minutes. He’s 15-years-old.
| November 6, 2012 -
Responding to User Feedback, V11
Every so often, we ask our users to let us know what they’d like to see in ROBLOX, then respond to some of the most insightful comments and pertinent questions. This time, John Shedletsky, ROBLOX’s Creative Director, elaborates on a variety of topics, including your ideas for
| November 5, 2012 -
Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: November 4, 2012
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 ...
| November 4, 2012 -
Raycasting with Daxter33, Creator of Paintball!
Raycasting is a method of plotting the trajectory of in-game items, like bombs, lasers, explosions, and bullets. Though it isn’t entirely necessary to make a successful game, certain users have found ways to leverage the system to create innovative
| November 03, 2012 -
Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad, Part 2 (Memory Optimization)
One of the most important parts of developing a high-quality ROBLOX experience for the iPad is ensuring smooth, stable, steady game-play performance. iPads are not as powerful as almost any modern-day desktop computer or laptop, which means our de...
| November 2, 2012 -
Getting Your Games to “Stick”–The ROBLOX Way
Building a popular game on ROBLOX requires various elements to work together complete harmony. To put it simply: it’s not easy. A big part of this harmonious chemistry is getting your game to stick–meaning users want to play it again and again. We decided to take a look at the “stickiest” games on ROBLOX, and postulate theories as to how they keep getting users to come back. In order to determine which games on ROBLOX were the stickiest, we studied game return rates, including one day return rates and one week return rates. You can check out which games on ROBLOX have the highest return rates in the graph below.In order to determine which games on ROBLOX were the stickiest, we studied game return rates, including one day return rates and one week return rates. You can check out which games on ROBLOX have the highest return rates in the graph below. aa
| November 1, 2012 -
Photo Gallery: How ROBLOX Celebrates Halloween
Given today is one of the few days it’s widely acceptable to do — and be — something out of the ordinary, we thought we’d take a break from what we’re working on and show you what we dressed up as for Halloween. Plus, now that we’ve sp...
| October 31, 2012 -
Developers’ Tricks for Transforming Your Game into a Halloween Event
With Halloween right around the corner, we thought we’d chat with members of the ROBLOX Content Team to see if they could provide any insight or advice as to how to “spook” up your games for Halloween. Here’s what they came up with.
| October 30, 2012 -
Developers’ Tricks for Transforming Your Game into a Halloween Event
With Halloween right around the corner, we thought we’d chat with members of the ROBLOX Content Team to see if they could provide any insight or advice as to how to “spook” up your games for Halloween. Here’s what they came up with. Inte...
| October 30, 2012 -
Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: October 28, 2012
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 ...
| October 28, 2012 -
Smoothing ROBLOX Character and Vehicle Motion
When you see ROBLOX characters moving in-game, their motion occasionally appears to “stutter.” The problem is magnified in certain scenarios; for example, two characters standing in close proximity on a moving conveyor will appear to stutter dramatic
| October 27, 2012 -
Spotlight: Larger Than Life Experiences With Diddleshot
Ever since he was a kid, user Robert Wallbank (ain ROBLOX) has been interested in how things work on a fundamental level. He developed a fascination with physics and design work, as well as graphics. Though math wasn’t his strongest subject, it was this passion that brought him stumbling to ROBLOX in 2008, after watching videos of ROBLOX on YouTube. Robert decided that he wanted to make games, but wanted to shy away from simplicity. He wanted to make games that were total Robert decided that he wanted to make games, but wanted to shy away from simplicity. He wanted to make games that were total visual and audio spectacles–visual and audio spectacles– games that would put people in a state of awe. For Robert, immense scale was a must.games that would put people in a state of awe. For Robert, immense scale was a must.
| October 25, 2012 -
Video: Testing Popular ROBLOX Games on the iPad
As stated in last week’s a article, a significant fraction of ROBLOX developers are currently entrenched in porting the platform to iPad. Among the myriad engineering projects involved in completing this technical feat is one that’s unique to user-generated content platforms: making sure the games users have already poured hours into developing play well on a tablet. ROBLOX Creative Director John Shedletsky is currently working with a number of game developers to help them implement iPad-friendly design changes — like relocating graphic user interface (GUI) elements to more accessible parts of the screen and fine-tuning touch controls so they’re intuitive and don’t put mobile players at a huge disadvantage. We’ve put together a video demonstrating some of those games running on an iPad, along with an inside look at our progress toward finishing a high-quality ROBLOX app and submitting it to the App Store.ROBLOX Creative Director John Shedletsky is currently working with a number of game developers to help them implement iPad-friendly design changes — like relocating graphic user interface (GUI) elements to more accessible parts of the screen and fine-tuning touch controls so they’re intuitive and don’t put mobile players at a huge disadvantage. We’ve put together a video demonstrating some of those games running on an iPad, along with an inside look at our progress toward finishing a high-quality ROBLOX app and submitting it to the App Store.
| October 24, 2012