Tips for Submitting a Successful Film Fest Entry

By Andrew Haak - May 17, 2013

The submission phase of the ROBLOX International Film Festival is in full swing! During the first two weeks, ROBLOX builders have submitted more than 200 films, and many of them are undoubtedly capable of earning a coveted BLOXY Award. But don’t let that dissuade you; there are still two more weeks to submit and the weekend is imminent. It’s a perfect time to get started on your own film.

Those of you who didn’t swoop in and enter right away actually have an advantage: you can see what categories are stacked with competition and what categories remain thin.

A Day in the Life of the ROBLOX Client Team

By Alan Fackler - May 16, 2013

ROBLOX is about 70 people strong, with teams specializing in everything from web and client development to customer service and marketing. While each team executes starkly contrasting projects, we’re united by our shared values and the ultimate goal of making ROBLOX the best digital-creation experience. We’re going behind the scenes with teams across ROBLOX to provide some insight into the tasks and challenges associated with achieving that goal. So far, we’ve dissected the day of a ROBLOX web developer and Content Team member. Today, we shift our focus to the ROBLOX Client Team.

Builders’ Tips for Beautiful Uses of Dynamic Lighting

By Andrew Haak - May 15, 2013

Dynamic lighting has been available on ROBLOX for almost one week, meaning intrepid builders have had time to explore the depth of the feature and devise tips, tricks and techniques for harnessing its beauty. In this article, a pair of winners of our dynamic lighting video contest and a pair of builders who have demonstrated an understanding of dynamic lighting describe what they’ve learned in week one. If you’re an up-and-coming dynamic lighting aficionado, you shouldn’t miss these 100% builder-provided techniques.

We recommend you read our introduction to dynamic lighting to learn how to manipulate basic dynamic lighting variables before going deeper into this article. Here, we’ll gradually move from beginner techniques to more advanced practices. Ravenshield, one of the winners of our dynamic lighting video contest, kicks things off with a foundational consideration: the overall level of brightness in your place.

Build and Battle with the ROBLOX Team This Weekend at Maker Faire

By Andrew Haak - May 14, 2013

The time is nigh! This weekend – the 18th and 19th of May, to be exact – the entire ROBLOX team will be descending upon the San Mateo County Event Center for one of the Bay Area’s biggest events of the year: Maker Faire Bay Area. The Maker Faire figures to draw more than 100,000 attendees and hundreds of Makers — ROBLOX builders included. We will be showcasing the digital side of Maker culture right in the center of the Expo Hall and we’d love for you to join us at Booth 338.

Spotlight: KlamKnights City, by Aaronstone4real & Klamman

By Alan Fackler - May 13, 2013

Klamman and aaronstone4real brought me to a place that was unlike anything I’d ever seen on ROBLOX before. KlamKnights City is filled to the brim with creativity, and looks like a whacky, gigantic theme park from afar. This is not an insult–to the contrary. The reason each section of the city looks different is because each of the sections were built by different users. Klamman and aaronestone4real are selling digital “plots” of land, and encouraging buyers to build big. I got the chance to chat with the two of them about the creation and the future of their massive virtual world.

Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: May 12th, 2013

By Andrew Haak - May 12, 2013

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: a whole bunch of dynamic lighting coverage, a day in the life of the Content Team, the development of Strobe (one of ROBLOX’s hippest games), a game-design showdown between competing FPS developers litozinnamon and Spookyfox, free gear bundled with ROBLOX cards for May, The Old Town by Aonux, and other bits and pieces. Enjoy.

Crossfire: Litozinnamon and Spookyfox Talk FPS Development

By Alan Fackler - May 11, 2013

Creativity and sharing are two qualities that fuel ROBLOX, and it’s in that spirit that we created Crossfire, a series where we chat with ROBLOX game developers about their game design choices. For this outing, we interviewed users litozinnamon and Spookyfox to compare and contrast design decisions made in their games: Call of ROBLOXia 5: ROBLOX at War, and Authority, respectively. Both are massively popular first person shooters on ROBLOX, so we jumped at the chance to discuss game design, dynamic lighting, and more with the two developers.