Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: July 29, 2012

By Andrew Haak - July 29, 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: how ROBLOX has inspired young entrepreneurs, robust hinges, motors and vehicles, the inspiration and making of Apocalypse Rising and more.

ROBLOX inspires young entrepreneurs

Sure, ROBLOX users create a lot of impressive games — that’s why our site exists. But there are a few users who have gone above and beyond, and it’s been hard for us not to notice. Brandon LaRouche, otherwise known as CowBear16, is one such example; he harnessed his own motivation to write a book about scripting with Lua and create mobile ROBLOX apps. Now, it’s paying off, as he sells hundreds of books and delves deeper into iOS development under his LLC, Double Trouble Studio. Read about Brandon and two other young entrepreneurs in this blog article.

Follow in their footsteps, and maybe you will be the future subject of a Spotlight article.

Improving ROBLOX vehicles with physics

The further you dig into the inner workings of ROBLOX’s physics engine, the more you realize just how complex it is — how far-reaching each and every tweak can be. Kevin He’s recent physics article brings some of the complexity to light. While the ultimate conclusion is better, more realistic boats, the path to get there included advancements in our water physics and fine-tuning the variables that determine the strength of hinges and motors. If nothing else, it’s fascinating to see just how closely connected seemingly disparate parts of a physics engine are.

The inspiration and making of Apocalypse Rising

ROBLOX user Gusmanak has one of ROBLOX’s most popular games on his hands. He built it using very specific inspiration and, as our blog post says, the desire to “make a full blown game—something with ambition, scope, replayability, and, most importantly, zombies.” You can hear all about his experience, and the ins and outs of the eerie survival/shooter crossover in our recent feature.

Feedback, feedback, feedback

We have nothing but appreciation for our community’s perception and ideas. In fact, we’re still digging through the hundreds of comments you left on our April user-feedback survey and responding to some of the best thoughts. In this, the sixth edition of our user-feedback series, we cover making money off your ROBLOX creations, dynamic “loading” of levels and content, Linux support, multiplayer ROBLOX Studio and more.

Bits

ROBLOX users, trading up with the trading system.
You can experiment with some test animations, which use 14 motors, for ROBLOX characters at this place, or just watch this very fashionable video.

Interesting stuff from around the web

The gaming industry never stops moving. Here’s some interesting stuff from the last week.

The game Portal, which has coincidentally been recreated several times in ROBLOX, is now being used in select classrooms for educational purposes. If you’ve played some Portal, you can predict its benefits: spatial reasoning, physics, problem-solving — the list goes on. ROBLOX offers many similar benefits, but quite a few more, including opportunities to learn programming skills and even marketing.

If you’re skeptical of video games being used in education, a recent Gamasutra feature goes in-depth on video games research and spends some time covering cognitive and real-world benefits that have been recorded in video-game players.

You can stay in the loop on updates to the ROBLOX blog — and more, of course — by following us on Facebook and Twitter. If you just have to stay plugged in, you can also sign up for our email list, which automatically sends stories directly to your inbox. If you’re feeling ambitious, try them all.

65 thoughts on “Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: July 29, 2012”

perry7254 on August 4, 2012 at 4:54 am said:

y do bc ppl get so lil roboux pls reply to perry7254
perry7254 on August 4, 2012 at 4:52 am said:

y do bc ppl get so lil roboux? reply to perry7254
Lukervol on August 2, 2012 at 7:44 am said:

I think there should be something that shows you how to do stuff in game, like a script list e.g to teleport a brick you use you this script: ********* on brick A and this script: ********* on brick B!
MADGUY24 on August 2, 2012 at 6:56 am said:

I have an idea.How about we make somthing were you can do like realistic dances moves,Spin and do a good pose when fighting with swords with some one,arms with elbow joints,And you now.Nice animations for the charecter.Great Idea?Reply to this!
mister frimen on August 1, 2012 at 7:46 pm said:

zombie map :D
boomshockalaka3 on August 1, 2012 at 9:28 am said:

I wish roblox cards were cheaper
boomshockalaka3 on August 1, 2012 at 9:27 am said:

buiding needs to be easier for some people
Adis12 on July 31, 2012 at 11:53 pm said:

I don’t no what hes saying catalog heaven Open!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kaos on July 31, 2012 at 12:47 pm said:

They can’t patch the DLL, it’s injected into the game with a program.
What about exploitation issues... on July 31, 2012 at 2:37 am said:

What about Roblox’s DLL exploitation issues? Not fixing? .-. Do something about it already!
- Sporeman15 on July 31, 2012 at 12:46 pm said:
  
  do you really think they’re not?
  - maey11 on July 31, 2012 at 5:57 pm said:
    
    maybe
  - helkeekwins on July 31, 2012 at 8:06 pm said:
    
    some users are trying to fix it they made anti dll scripts
zoidberg656 on July 30, 2012 at 8:40 pm said:

I play this game all the time! A good update to his game was saved data!
CoolKidGuy1 on July 30, 2012 at 5:12 pm said:

I just wanna comment because I feel like it… .-.
Fluffyson on July 30, 2012 at 4:40 pm said:

once i first saw things changing, i started to get mad, but now, its starting to get better.
Ownage boy, Without love on July 30, 2012 at 2:41 pm said:

Yeah,I guess it’ll be good.
snoopydog12 on July 30, 2012 at 10:52 am said:

I like the games shown. It is cool. I like the dead riseing game.
Jacob478 on July 30, 2012 at 9:58 am said:

the new animations rock! EVERYDAY I”M SHUFFLIN”!
dustykiller965 on July 30, 2012 at 9:42 am said:

THATS A GREAT IDEA
n00b3746 on July 30, 2012 at 9:25 am said:

i got 123456 kills on base wars:the land
new characters on July 30, 2012 at 8:42 am said:

the characters that you are testing out are cool but 1. they are copid from lego hero factory and 2. gear doesnt work with them
- MartinE4321 on July 30, 2012 at 10:42 am said:
  
  That is really true.
  - BAnime12 on July 30, 2012 at 3:29 pm said:
    
    They’re still probably gonna update anyway.
- Qw3rtz on July 30, 2012 at 1:48 pm said:
  
  The new characters destroy the simplicity of Roblox. I hate it.
  - 74potions on July 31, 2012 at 9:45 am said:
    
    True. Everyone liked 06-08 becayse of it’s 1.0 only.
legoperson57 on July 30, 2012 at 7:58 am said:

Why was the Man face removed/changed?
TheProtigy143 on July 30, 2012 at 7:49 am said:

Lol this is ACTUALLY interesting
- BayBayinBoy222 on July 31, 2012 at 6:11 am said:
  
  C-C-C-Combo Breaker!
xXIcanthinkofanameXx on July 30, 2012 at 6:39 am said:

I am actually one of the ones who is still recreating portal 1! But still, trying to figure out the portal mechanics was a pain.
shadowXD310 on July 30, 2012 at 5:52 am said:

Epic!
- mastermage20 on July 30, 2012 at 10:48 am said:
  
  I totally agree with u. send me a friend request whoever is reading this
  - jakeman300000 on July 30, 2012 at 3:44 pm said:
    
    ok sure.when well there be an event like this in Florida??? we need some thing like this in florida!lots of pepole and roblox fans love theses events in my city.by the way i live in cape-coral florida!
MRMONEYMAKER69 on July 30, 2012 at 1:05 am said:

whould there ever be a big event in canada?
- kOronation on July 30, 2012 at 11:52 am said:
  
  Duh Canada Day!!!!!
John Gore on July 29, 2012 at 11:35 pm said:

Nice Idea!
thek00lkid on July 29, 2012 at 9:12 pm said:

I’m looking forward to the animations, I just hope that they don’t break every single tool on roblox. =/
fly10101 on July 29, 2012 at 8:01 pm said:

When will this be released? Now I can FINNALY make a Speedboat tour without having annoying paddnles on the side.
nicecooldude1h2 on July 29, 2012 at 7:57 pm said:

cool
jake10680 on July 29, 2012 at 7:37 pm said:

I’m ready for hinges and motors. Please hurry up!
timinator456 on July 29, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:

When can I expect some more Stamper parts? Before you lay that hack stuff on me, I have a Personal Server loving group, and our server has become quite bland. Underground UFO base here, Tesla Coil with lasers there. In conclusion, building parts are now as bland as a butterless bagel.
francol2 on July 29, 2012 at 5:43 pm said:

And by the way…. my Bearded Dragon Spiky is going to like this :)
francol2 on July 29, 2012 at 5:42 pm said:

And by the way…. my Bearded Dragon Spiky is going to lie this :)
francol2 on July 29, 2012 at 5:39 pm said:

I want the new motors and hinges! They are going to be cool!
noobnaper on July 29, 2012 at 5:35 pm said:

This is cool
Hdog679 on July 29, 2012 at 5:21 pm said:

When will we be able to do a “Top 3″ thing again? I had some really good ideas.
crazychum123 on July 29, 2012 at 4:56 pm said:

cool i guess
swordkill22l on July 29, 2012 at 4:44 pm said:

why are they not speaking of news about base wars the land???? it has been on the front page for some of the longest time
- youngpufflehomer on August 3, 2012 at 7:15 am said:
  
  Not as long as the ORIGINAL town of Robloxia.
djyo662 on July 29, 2012 at 4:13 pm said:

Nice. Can’t wait for the hinges and motors along with the new graphics that are coming out ;)
JAKETORREZ4 on July 29, 2012 at 4:10 pm said:

So i dont get it weres leraing scripting and roblox in the class romms so that mean’s were learnign how to scrupt and stuff at school o_o also add me :3
rainguy1213 on July 28, 2012 at 5:14 pm said:

Where is it going to be and what time???
PIES111 on July 28, 2012 at 5:05 pm said:

Nice. Great issue.
Thewsomeguy on July 28, 2012 at 4:56 pm said:

I can’t wait for the new motors and hinges to come out!Also,Add me on ROBLOX ;)
Cub on July 28, 2012 at 4:51 pm said:

LOL you put the wrong date Mr. Haak! xD
- Robloxian_Name on July 29, 2012 at 6:36 pm said:
  
  No he didn’t, today is the 29th.
Jack on July 28, 2012 at 4:46 pm said:

Please unban Seranok! There was no reason for Catalog Heaven to be removed!
fireman658 on July 28, 2012 at 4:42 pm said:

cooll
blaalman on July 28, 2012 at 4:37 pm said:

lol ok
Skipschoolyay on July 28, 2012 at 4:29 pm said:

My birthday is July 29th! :D
- francol2 on July 29, 2012 at 5:46 pm said:
  
  Skipschoolyay have a cool birthdat party!
- pippyamy on July 30, 2012 at 3:19 am said:
  
  mines 27 th july
yousef6789 on July 28, 2012 at 4:28 pm said:

1st :DDDD
coolguyhot3 on July 28, 2012 at 4:25 pm said:

Wow awesome :P
zerothree on July 28, 2012 at 4:21 pm said:

OK