ROBLOX: Built for Cross-Platform Play

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Mac computer

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 compatible with Mac OSX 10.5. Making matters worse, our plans were destined to fail, as Aspyr’s Mac port doesn’t allow Mac and PC players to join the same online game.

Game development is littered with these sorts of porting blunders, but my experience with Civilization V got me thinking about how we approach compatibility at ROBLOX. Our engineers are committed to building ROBLOX in such a way that works well on many platforms, including Macs (and soon, mobile iOS devices).

ROBLOX is Mac-compatible because the core C++ code – the nuts and bolts behind your games – is platform-independent. Our engineers take that core code and add tweaks and interface changes using special Mac tools to ensure it runs just as smooth as it does on the PC. Think of it like putting on a pair of running shoes before going for a jog: same feet underneath, but optimized for a unique situation.

Whether you’re playing ROBLOX on a PC or Mac, there’s no difference in appearance or experience. You can even join games with a blend of PC and Mac players, a type of cross-platform play that troubles online gaming services and triple-A game developers to this day. Just look at my experience with Civilization V.

Mac OS popularity among ROBLOX usersROBLOX is available to all Mac users running Mac OSX 10.5 Leopard and up. We decided to work from 10.5 because our web data on Mac users show that 28% use 10.7, 54% use 10.6, 15% use 10.5, and just 0.24% use a pre-10.5 version with the PowerPC processor.

Our doors are open to both Mac and PC users – and more platforms in the future, thanks to our flexible core code. That’s just one of the many reasons we see, on average, more than 21 million hours of game time per month.

112 thoughts on “ROBLOX: Built for Cross-Platform Play”

  5. I have been having lots of problems with ROBLOX on my Mac Book Pro on Mac OS X 10.7.3.
    Every time i go on a game it tells me the game has shut down.
    Does anyone else with mac have the same problem and have they figured out how to fix the problem? If you have can you please message me (djboy130) with any information.

  6. What about Linux? It’s kinda inconvenient to have to switch OS’s every time I feel like an hour at the Crossroads.

  8. it would be cool on the iPod/iPhone but…
    it would probs take up loads of my space…

  9. Roblox, on possibly an iPod Touch?

    Whoa. Talk about tons of space being taken up…

  10. I think this is a great ALPHA breakthrough for ROBLOX and now all we need is for it to go on android and OIS which is possible considering they already have a beta for IOS and android devices use similar platforming.

  11. thats too bad.. it reminds me of segregation (Jim Crow Laws) i learned from school. people couldnt go to the same schools or drink the same water fountains… now, Macs and PC’s cant join the same online game! its so similar! :(

  13. it would be awsome if it was on 3ds because well da you could play it in 3D!!!!!!!!!!!

  16. I cant wait for ROBLOX to come out on Ipod, Ipad, Iphone, kindle fire, etc.

  18. Can’t wait for mobile Roblox, I will sooo be getting it when it comes out! :D

  20. Yes. Good, Good. How about you start making ROBLOX For Linux after you finish The IOS Version?

  21. It would be good if they could make games for players in a room only (you make the name of the room and then when you play it starts a room only sever, players will have to enter the name of the room if they want to join it)

  22. I suggest the ability to host Roblox servers offline yet amongst computers in a network.

  23. why dont you send out a roblox game which you complete levels and if you have a internet connection you can go on roblox for the real thing

    • I think he means some kind of “offline mode” in case you have internet problems. That would be a good idea, I’m tired of n00b spammers. Please make an offline mode!

    • Thanks will be awesome if they made a warfare roblox game that your a soldier and you have to escape this place and regroup with teammates on missions like black Ops I would call it Campaign for roblox

  24. Heh. I wonder if it would be possible to play Roblox on and iPhone. Anything is possible, we’ll just have to wait and see how this turns out.

    • Most likely. Due to the low amount of children using linux though,it may be a while.

  30. ROBLOX on the new high-resolution iPad would be awesome. Looking forward to that. :)

  31. Hay i have a question will roblox be avalable on the nook color by barnes and noble because I own one and no ipads and my computer is slow so will it be avalable to nook color users? Please respond roblox.

  32. Hehe… I have Linux and Windows on my laptop, but I still use Linux every now and then, so please make a Linux platform soon! But first finish the iOS versions and put it on iPod/iPhone as well as iPad.

  33. Port Roblox to Linux and it’ll be the greatest thing Roblox devs done in their life. I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy. I’m just telling you to force VMProtect to port their system to Linux somehow. c:

  35. @Emy I have the same problem on my old Compaq. I already downloaded it but everytime I want to play it says I have to download it. Then it doesn’t even let me play. Makes me mad.

      • Actualy, it will let you, just go on Start > ROBLOX > Play ROBLOX. It wants you to use that feature. Coinsidentily, I also have a Compaq.

  38. They aready have it on Ipod. but it wont let you play games, just manage friends, and send messages, and buy BC. But at the moment, i wish they would go to The new ipad (Ipad3)
    Also, the ps3, and for everyone else, it seems, Xbox, (I personally, use PS3, but im not about to start a flame war between the two)

    • its not called the ipad 3 smartone >.>

      it doesnt have a name yet. and beside the new ipad isnt called an ipad 3 or an ipadHD, it doesnt have any real major updates to it.

  39. Food for thought: Make this available for consoles like the XBox 360 and the Wii.

  40. @Emy

    I remembered when I first joined Roblox, and we had an older laptop. I mean not super old, it ran Windows XP and everything, but in today’s standards, it was old. I remember I was unable to play Roblox back then as well, and had the same problems you did, even though I was running Windows. I’m not sure what it was, but when we acquired a new computer, it worked fine and has been working fine since. I have purchased a laptop for my grade ten studies, and it aswell works fine with roblox. I can’t seem to figure out what the problem ever was. I’m sorry I cannot help but you are probably (and weren’t) the only one with the problem.

  41. According to my other MAC, It says (when it says it won’t let me download roblox) Mac OS X. So could you guys fix that too? thanks.

  46. I have a Mac OSX and i’ve been searching all over the web for a solution to ROBLOX. Everytime I go on and I press play for a game, it makes me install it even when I already installed it! Is anyone else having this problem?

    Any solutions?

    • You do realize that by “mobile devices” they mean ipad/iphone/ipod? If it was 3ds/ds/ it would take a large amomount of money and time to get it on a device that big… then again, apple and nineno are equally famous… whatever.

    • Heck no. 3DS dosen’t have nearly a gigabyte of RAM. ROBLOX probaly uses a few gigabites of RAM.

      • A few GB OF RAM?! You gotta be kidding me thats impossible.. -_-
        the 3ds has only 128mb of RAM. A Iphone 4s and Ipad 2(i think it has) has only a 512mb of RAM.

      • Networking would be a nightmare on the 3Ds. The games themselves would be extremely laggy.

        It would be better just to do something like the IPod app.

  49. ROBLOX on Nintendo DS.
    ROBLOX on iPad 1/2/3.
    ROBLOX on Blackberry Playbook.

    All amazing ideas.

  50. Civilization 5 is slow on my computer. My graphics card is integrated, sadly.

  52. Not quite so. I have experiences playing with a user on a Mac-it lagged a ton. Although the system works, it needs a lot of fixing before ROBLOX is considered cross-platform.

    • I completely agree, my tablet may have a small battery life but it would be pretty awesome

    • Yes! There are some people that don’t own or like Apple products, like me, you know! Android pwns!

  56. It’s not really fair to call this a fail. If Civ V were cross-platform compatible, you might have been stuck playing Civ V, which is a horrible fate.

    Instead, you now have a bunch of hours free to delete Civ V and install Civ IV instead.

  57. Oh man. ROBLOX is just getting more awesome by the day! I wish I could use ROBLOX anywhere, but I don’t see phones or Nintendo DS’s anytime soon. But you guys look like you might be able to create something cool – you can really get people’s hopes up. I remember when Macs seemed like they wouldn’t work!

  58. Relly I just want to see roblox running on iOS my self. Man I just wish you guys would let us have a preview of roblox running iOS but if I was roblox I would submit it today and schelde it to come out the day of the roblox game conference (have plenty of time to fix it if they don’t accept it). Like make a video of it progress so far David.

    • Fyi – ROBLOX has posted a video!! You just have to look for it… The video shows a game run on the IPAD

    • I would love that roblox was sory was moble our on a syetem but that will take a lot of money and about three years.

  62. C++ is not “platform-independent”; the correct terminology is “cross-platform”, as referred to in the title.

  64. Hope it’s out for other iOS devices besides iPad, then roblox would be outstanding.

    • Yeah, he has a point. It can be laggy for me on PC, I’m afraid to imagine it on my iPod Touch. And wouldn’t it be a fairly large app to download?

      • No. It wouldn’t. Just like many of Iphone-Ipod-Ipad apps would have all their data over the internet. Other wise you would be play out of date games by yourself all the time.