How to make a game on Roblox

Your dream, since childhood, has always been to make your own video game. However, the “barriers” to becoming a programmer in this field have always been high and in the end you have never faced this challenge. Recently, however, you discovered the existence of Roblox , an MMO title that allows everyone to create their own virtual worlds, made through the proprietary graphics engine developed by the Roblox Corporation. In short, your time seems to have come.

Of course, we are not talking about an advanced engine like Unity or Unreal Engine, used by professional developers, but it is certainly an interesting and accessible possibility even to those who are beginners in this world. For this reason, today I will explain in detail how to create a game on Roblox starting from the installation of the necessary tools and arriving at the creation of a complete minigame. I almost forgot: there will also be a way to explain how to publish your first title.

Come on: Why are you still standing there in front of the screen? All you have to do is take some time off and follow the quick instructions below. That said, there is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and have fun!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to make a game on Roblox
• How to publish a game on Roblox

Preliminary information

Before going into the details of the procedure on how to create a game on Roblox , I think it may interest you to know more about this possibility.

Well, Roblox is an MMO title developed by the Robox Corporation and originally released in 2005 . Its peculiarity consists in allowing users to create their own adventures , which can then be shared with the community of enthusiasts.

Put simply, any user can potentially create 3D worlds and allow everyone to play with them. The feature that has made many users fall in love with this title is therefore creativity , since fans are able to give life to their ideas and share them with others.

Every single experience Roblox offers is created by the players themselves using Roblox Studio , a program that leverages the company’s proprietary graphics engine and Lua Script programming language to allow users to build their own game.

The world of Roblox is actually much larger than that. In fact, there are users who create virtual objects and even manage to sell them , but in that case you need to have a Premium account , which costs from € 4.99 per month , and that’s not the focus of today’s tutorial. . If you want more details on the experience offered to players, I recommend that you consult my guide on how to play Roblox .

Today we will go, instead, to make a creation, totally free , for pure fun, learning how to use the basics of Roblox Studio . Don’t worry, therefore, if you don’t have any programming basis, as I will guide you step by step in the realization of your game, without getting too much trouble with advanced technical aspects.

How to make a game on Roblox

After showing you how Roblox works, I would say that you are ready to install the Roblox Studio program , which is necessary to start creating your game. First, let’s see the minimum requirements together .

• Operating system: Windows 7 or higher, macOS 10.10 or higher;
• RAM: at least 1GB;
• Other: Internet connection required.

In short, as you can see, a good computer is not required to run the program. To download it, connect to the official Roblox website and click on Start Creating and Download Studio .

Then wait for the download to finish and, if you are using Windows , start the RobloxStudioLauncherBeta.exe file obtained, then press Yes and wait for the setup to complete by itself. When the latter is finished, Roblox Studio should start automatically.

As for macOS , once you press the Download Studio button , you have to open the RobloxStudio.dmg file . At this point, double-click the program icon , press Open and wait for the installation to complete. You may be prompted to enter your local account password . Once the installation is finished, you will find the Roblox Studio icon in the Launchpad .

Once Roblox Studio is launched, you will need to login with your Roblox account or create a new one. In the latter case, just click on the Sign up link and fill in the form that appears on the screen. In particular, you will be asked for your date of birth , username , password and gender .

Then press the Sign Up button and click Verify . You will be required to prove that you are not a robot by performing the operations described on the screen. For example, I was asked to rotate images correctly and press the Done button . At this point, your account will be created and you will enter the Roblox site.

To make your profile safer, I suggest you press on the gear icon at the top right, select the Settings item and move to the Account Info tab . Then click on Add Email and type the e-mail address you want to add and the password of your account, then click on Add Email to confirm.

At this point, a confirmation link will be sent to you by e-mail : simply click on Verify Email and log in to associate your e-mail address to the Roblox account.

Now, go back to Roblox Studio and log in , entering the username and password you created earlier. The main program screen will appear: well, it’s time to create your first game!

The program, at this point, should invite you to choose a template , via a screen containing the Theme and Gameplay tabs . Well, what you see are nothing more than presets , with worlds already made, from which you can start to get familiar with the game engine. You can in fact change these presets from top to bottom.

To get started, I recommend that you press on the City preset box . At this point, you will see an editor appear on the screen that may, at first glance, “scare you” a little. Don’t worry: in reality, I can assure you that professional graphics engine editors are more complex than this and Roblox Studio is simple to use : you just have to “study” it a bit.

Well, on the right, in the Explorer tab , the objects present in the scene are indicated . For example, if a 3D model of a machine is present , it will be listed under Workspace . Obviously, there is no shortage of Camera (the camera that manages the view of the game) and Terrain (the ground on which all the models are “resting”).

In the center, there is the window through which you can see the game world , while at the top there are all the buttons to manage the models and the creation of the game in general. For now, focus on the central window: you can zoom with the mouse wheel , while to rotate the view you have to hold down the right mouse button and move it.

To understand the potential of Roblox Studio, I suggest you press the Play icon at the top. In this way, the preset will start and you will see that you can move your character with the classic WASD keys , while to jump you can use the space bar . To drive the car , just get on the driver’s side and use WASD . You can go down by pressing space bar . In short, as you can see, the game engine is already ready to welcome your creations, even if at the moment only the elements of the preset are present.

Come on, the time to play is over: press the Stop icon at the top and start giving life to your “creature”. To explain the basics, I’ll give you a concrete example. This isn’t anything incredible, but so you’re going to tweak the setting to create a different map than the preset. You can obviously use your imagination to create the gaming experiences that suit you best, even if you deviate from the ideas I am about to suggest to you.

To start, change the time of day by clicking on the Lighting item on the right and taking a look at the options available in the Properties – Lighting tab , which appears at the bottom. In particular, the TimeOfDay entry must be changed , which you have to move from 14:00:00 to 03:00:00 , in order to make the game “nocturnal”  (but still visible and with a starry sky). Once this value is changed, you will immediately see the changes appear in the center of Roblox Studio.

At this point, select the car in the center of the map and move it to the place of departure that you think is more appropriate. To move an object , simply hold down on it with the left mouse button . To rotate it , however, you have to press the Rotate button at the top left and use the “spheres” of the three axes . Once the rotation is finished, press on Rotate again , to leave the object where it is.

If you make a mistake , you don’t have to worry – just press the key combination Ctrl + Z to go back one change. In any case, it’s time to customize the car : if that red color doesn’t convince you too much, select the car and press the down arrow just below the Color button . Then press on the color that best suits you and you will see that the changes will be applied instantly.

Perfect, now you’ve got the coveted car in the color of your choice. However, there is another detail you could change: the wheels , which have also been set to the same color. Press, therefore, on the arrow to the right next to the Car item  and select the Non-powered wheel element .

You will see that one of the front wheels will be selected . At this point, use the Color item again to change the color of the wheels, selecting the front (Non-powered wheel) and rear (Powered wheel) wheels one by one. Great, you should now have your yellow car with orange wheels on hand, in case you chose the same colors I suggested.

Of course, you can use this method to change every single component inside the map. Now, it is therefore time to seriously modify the preset provided by Roblox Studio. Let me guess: you don’t like all those stop signs at all and you think they shouldn’t be in an arcade game? No problem: expand, using the panel on the right, the 4-way Intersection All-Way Boulevard elements , press on the Stop sign items and use the Del key on the keyboard. This way, you will eliminate the signs from the game.

If you want to do some other retouching, for example by eliminating some floors of the highest building in the center and all the superfluous elements introduced by the preset, try to delete the elements you want: you simply have to use the method you used earlier to eliminate the signs, selecting other items .

If, on the other hand, you are going to copy and paste an object , such as a piece of road, just select it , right- click on it and click Copy . Then, from the central editor window, you have to right click on the place where you want to place a copy of that object and select the Paste item . It could also happen that an object is copied on top of the original , so maybe try to move it . This way, you can modify the map to your liking. Of course, you can use the editing and rotation options that I explained to you earlier.

For example, in my case, I decided to remove many unnecessary elements of the scenario and to create a single track , which passes behind the building on the right and arrives at its destination . I also resized the building on the left in height, eliminating some floors and moving the roof down. To create my route, I made some copy and paste of the pieces of road present on the map, repositioning and rotating them properly.

Once you have created a road route, you can also select the individual elements together, using Ctrl + left button , right clicking and selecting the Group item from the opened menu. This way, all items will be listed under a single entry in the right panel. In any case, to be able to correctly position an object, for example a road that does not want to “match” with the others, I suggest you use the Move button at the top left. In this way, you will be able to move the element on the three axes more precisely.

If you want to add some objects, just click on the Toolbox item at the top, select one of the models that appear at the bottom left and drag it onto the map . For example, I added a Treehouse , some Pine Tree and an Apartment to embellish the map. Also, behind the building on the right, or at the end of the path, I have inserted a rocket , so that the player can see it in all its beauty.

Then, to make it easier to move, I went to the MODEL tab at the top and selected the gear icon on the right (the one inside the Gameplay box ). In this way, a square appeared inside the central window . Well, that’s the spawn , which is the point from which the user starts within the game. In my case, I placed it next to the car.

Finally, to give the player more options, I also placed a motorcycle to the left of the car, so that two vehicles can be driven, and a rocket launcher , so that there are some explosions (feel free to use it against the bike) . Perfect, now you just have to click on Play , to play within your world. In this way, you will be able to explore the map and carry out activities related to the objects you have inserted. Congratulations, you have successfully created your first Roblox game !

Obviously, we are talking about a very limited title , since there is no real objective and the map is rather narrow and with few objects. However, already like this, it is possible to have fun for a few minutes. Clearly, I have only touched the tip of the iceberg of the possibilities offered by Roblox Studio and we have not even touched the code .

From here you can start creating your virtual experiences. If you want to create more advanced games , I suggest you press the Learn now button on the left, in order to access the tutorials made directly by the developers (in English). In general, I invite you to start from the guide to create a simple platformer , and then take a look at the other basic tutorials . Ultimately, your goal will be to master the code if you want to create top-notch experiences.

How to publish a game on Roblox

How do you say? Are you satisfied with your creation and want to publish it so that everyone can access it? No problem, I’ll tell you how to do it right away!

Well, once you have finished creating your game, simply press on the FILE item in the top left and click Publish to Roblox As . At this point, complete the fields Name (Name), Description (Description), Creator (author / creator) and Genre (Genre) and check the boxes relating to the platforms from which you want to allow access to your game. You may be asked to confirm that your game does not contain some types of content . Always remember to use common sense, since you are the creator of the game and respond to its contents.

Once everything is set up correctly, you just need to simply click on the Create item to publish the game. The program will upload the adventure you have created and will confirm that it has been published . To make it accessible to other players as well, you need to press the Game Settings icon at the top, move to the Permissions tab and enable the Public option , remembering to apply the changes using the Save button . Perfect, that’s all you need to do: now anyone can access your game via Roblox .

From now on, to edit the game already published, just click on FILE and select the Publish to Roblox item . If you want to add an icon , screenshots or videos to your game, simply press the Game Settings icon at the top and load the right files , following the program’s instructions . For example, for icons it is recommended to stick to a resolution of 512 x 512 pixels and the supported formats are jpg , jpeg and png .

To verify that your game is actually public, just go to the official Roblox website and search for it by the name you have chosen. Perfect, now you have successfully published your game and anyone can play it simply by searching for it, like you did, and then pressing the Play icon . I would say that here we are, you have successfully achieved your goal!

In case you have changed your mind about your game and no longer want to leave it public, just open Roblox Studio , press the My Games icon on the left, click on the three dots icon that appears at the top right of the box of the game and select first Make private and then Yes . In this way, the game will no longer be accessible by other users , not even via search.

Great, now you have all the information you need to create and manage your games with Roblox Studio . I gave you the basic details to give life to a short experience, but now the ball is up to you: you have to study the documentation properly to be able to make and publish serious games . So I can only wish you a big good luck for your creations! I am sure you will enjoy!