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.
ROBLOX: Thank you guys for doing this. We were digging around and noticed that Authority has a version of the game that includes dynamic lighting. Is Call of ROBLOXia planning on utilizing our new lighting system?
litozinnamon: I plan on utilizing the shadows, making dark places on maps where people could snipe from. Muzzle flashes are also an obvious thing to include. Flash grenades will look way different. Imagine what a night time battle would be like in Call of ROBLOXia. That would be interesting to watch. A ton of night time battles took place in World War 2.
Spookyfox: We’ve started to mess with it, but we didn’t go too deep because we didn’t know when dynamic lighting was going to release. We’re really excited to see that it’s out, and will be adding effects to Authority very soon.
ROBLOX: What kind of time investment did you guys put into each of your games?
litozinnamon: That’s a tough question. I started building it in 2010, but I wasn’t really focused on any one particular thing. I put a bunch of free gun models in it in the beginning. At that time, I was studying World War 2 in my history class, and found it fascinating. Of all the Call of Duty games, World at War was the best one in my opinion. Since then, I’ve spent two to three hours a day for three years.
ROBLOX: That’s many more hours than it took to build the actual Call of Duty. What about you Spookyfox?
Spookyfox: When I first started, the game took a lot of time and a lot of updates. People are always stoked more about major updates to the game than the game itself. So that’s what we began to focus on. Big, substantial updates. We’ve got a lot planned too: iron sights, new game modes, bigger maps, lighting effects. We’ve got a lot of plans for the future.
ROBLOX: You’re both expert level ROBLOX developers. If you were in charge of ROBLOX, what one thing would you add or change to make it a better platform for game developers?
litozinnamon: I would add ROBLOX Studio in multiplayer just to be able to see the explorer and de-bug it. I think it’d be way easier to debug scripts that way. I’d also add data persistence in all the test servers. A lot of my menu items eventually break when I test offline because there’s no data persistence.
Spookyfox: I would add more types of meshes in order to make guns with lots of parts stop your game from lagging. I’m always trying to find ways to reduce lag by making games out of as few parts as possible.
ROBLOX: Is lag a problem for you too, litozinnamon?
litozinnamon: Absolutely. I have to think about lag every time I make an update. When my partner makes the guns and sends them to me, they’re typically 50-60 parts. I have to work through each model and delete unnecessary details. It’s tedious, but it stops lag from happening.
ROBLOX: Animating a weapon with 50-60 parts is causing you lag? Hm. We’re going to do something about that. Here’s a gameplay design question: both of your games have a great deal of unlockable stuff that you earn as you play the game. What’s your take on creating unlockable weapons and gear?
litozinnamon: When I started designing Call of ROBLOXia I didn’t have unlockables in mind. I just didn’t have the high-level scripting know-how I do now. Now, I see so many possibilities with my new ranking system. I also want to add attachments to each gun, which is something my partner has been working on. He’s going to add different types of attachments, like scopes, bayonets, and grenade launchers. Each of these will be unlocked based on the amount of KOs a player is able to get.
Litozinnamon is in the early stages of adding Dynamic Lighting to Call of ROBLOXia 5
Spookyfox: I think unlockables make players come back, which is important. As a developer, you should reward those who invest time and continue to play your game. I made it so that the lower level guns are more versatile and generally easier to use. High level guns serve a very specific purpose in my game. That way it’s rewarding, but not needed to enjoy the game itself.
ROBLOX: Would you say that adding unlockable weapons caused more people to return to your game?
Spookyfox: When Authority first came out, all the guns were unlocked. There was a massive backlash when we added the unlock system. People didn’t like it at first. Think about it, all these users were using these massive high level guns with attachments and camos, and all of a sudden they couldn’t use them anymore. It took them awhile to understand that we were trying to say. The message wasn’t, “hey, we’re taking these from you.” It was, “hey, you can earn this weapon back. You’ve just got to keep playing.”
Was that the least popular update you’ve ever made?
Spookyfox: There was a pretty huge backlash, yeah. But the level system is a huge part of Authority now. In the end, it was one of the most important changes we made.
Freeze!
What’s the least popular update you ever made, litozinnamon?
litozinnamon: I had two really big updates that caused a lot of controversy. The first was when I implemented raycasting for bullet simulation. That made the hit detection very different than it was originally, and the feel of the game kind of changed. I got a lot of criticism from the community, who started to say that the hit detection got worst, which was simply not the case. I could hit way more things, and a lot faster, by using raycasting. Everyone came around eventually, of course.
There was a lot of controversy over my updated first-person view as well. Now, the arms follow your plane of site, in order to shoot more accurately. A lot of people thought it wasn’t a good look, and that it would cause more lag on top of that. This new perspective also forced players to aim through the crosshairs on their gun. It took a bit, but everyone eventually got used to these changes.
ROBLOX: As place and game builders, you have to believe in your vision, despite the criticism. As developers here at ROBLOX, we put out unpopular releases that require a short term adjustment period. But you just got to stay the course, and believe in what you’re doing in the long term.
litozinnamon: Right. Totally.
ROBLOX: Call of ROBLOXia is clearly somewhat inspired by Call of Duty. Are the names the only similarities, or did you try to capture the play style as well?
litozinnamon: I borrowed a few things. My game has over 140 weapons, a lot of which were from World War 1, and were in Call of Duty: World at War. I also borrowed some of the UI and HUD elements. I’m really pleased with the design of my HUD.
ROBLOX: What games do you borrow inspiration from Spookyfox?
Spookyfox: No game comes close to the smoothness of the first person experience in the Battlefield games. Walking around and aiming feels organic and responsive, and I try to emulate that feeling in Authority.
ROBLOX: Litozinnamon, your game has close to 20 million plays. Call of Duty was built with millions of dollars and a huge team of programmers. You’ve built this game on your own, and it’s gained an insane amount of traction.
litozinnamon: It’s pretty amazing, and I really didn’t expect that to happen. Over time I started to see the place visits grow, and it’s really amazing what my team and I were able to accomplish. [Laughs] Definitely something I’ll be putting on my college application.
ROBLOX: Spookyfox, your game is much newer, and already you’ve got, what, close to a million plays? What’s your strategy for making your game popular?
Spookyfox: We’re at just over 950,000 plays. I think releasing major updates is what gets people excited to replay your game. Like when I added dynamic movement. That update caused humanoids to behave much more realistically. We’re also always trying to add new weapons and upgrades to keep people playing.
ROBLOX: We got a chance to play your Call of ROBLOXia Zombies mod–we’re fans of the zombies mode in the Call of Duty games. What was really amazing to us, is how much it felt like the actual map. The escalating difficulty, amounts of zombies, focus on rebuilding–it was all there.
Call of ROBLOXia 5: The Zombies is just as crazy and frantic as the actual title
litozinnamon: Yeah. The really crazy thing is I don’t own any consoles, so I never actually played the game. I started by watching videos on YouTube to get a feel for how the zombie mod is played. Like in Call of ROBLOXia, I borrowed GUI elements from the actual game as well. The zombies were interesting to program. They know who to chase in differing elevations, so they learn to follow players up and down stairs as well.
ROBLOX: We’ve been making it a habit to close these interviews by asking this: What’s your favorite part of eachother’s game?
Spookyfox: The gameplay in Call of ROBLOXia is extremely smooth. It’s also awesome that there are so many guns to experiment with. People take it for granted, but it’s extremely difficult to make guns feel like they’re shooting realistically. When you shoot the guns in Call of ROBLOXia, you get a very satisfying feeling.
litozinnamon: Authority is just clean, through and through. The custom reloading animation and the movement in general is very tight and easy to control. I also really like the way the characters pull weapons out–I’ve found that I like to swap out to my pistol instead of reloading. It’s a very smooth experience.