We’re taking a look back at all of the major events that took place within ROBLOX this past year. 2012 was big–between the release of water, the shattered 100K concurrent user benchmark, RGC 2012 and our recent launch to mobile, we’ve kept the pace of development moving at breakneck speed. We wanted to share some interesting stats we gathered from our company blog and list of some of our biggest stories of 2012.
User Nytraulics is on a quest to change the way shooter games both look and play using our platform, as evidenced by Underscore, a recently submitted work in progress that looks unlike anything we’ve ever seen on ROBLOX. Though Underscore is more of a tech demo than an actual game (you can move around, utilize the camera system, fire your weapon, etc.), the possibilities that this sort of advanced system could bring about are endless. The user interface is polished–it looks like something from a triple-A console game. The weapons he’s created feel unique, a combined effect of custom animations and sounds coupled with detailed weapons constructed using individual parts. He’s also intentionally writing “engine” code, meaning he will be able to use it to power additional maps and game play styles in the future. We thought we’d catch up with Nytraulics to discuss how Underscore was created and where he hopes it’ll go.
Nytraulics’ idea to create a game with an over-the-top perspective came from tower defense games, though his vision included another layer of complexity: he wanted the user to be able to move the camera, in real-time and on the go.
Continue reading 
We’ve asked our Content Team and Web Team what video games they’ve been playing when they’re not immersed in the world of ROBLOX, so we decided to ask our Client Team (and one member of our QA Team) what they’ll be playing over the upcoming holiday break. We told them that no games were off limit–until Kevin started talking about a game on Commodore 64, at which point we politely asked him to stay in this generation. Check out their picks!
I’ve sunk 50 hours into Borderlands 2, and I’m not even close to being done with it. The levels are huge and the character dialogue is really funny. I’m also really into the overall look of Borderlands 2–it’s got its own unique design aesthetics that really sets it apart from other first person shooters. Oh, and the guns. So. Many. Guns. They become insane after a while. I keep coming back just to see what kind of bizarre ulti-weapon I’ll stumble across next–I have no idea how Gearbox was able to come up with so many ideas for weapons. Maybe they have a room full of monkeys with typewriters…
As the seasons change, ROBLOX users have found many ways to slightly alter their places and games to reflect the spirit of the season. With Christmas just around the corner, some users have updated their places to spread holiday cheer, while others are making brand new games just in time for the holidays. Check them out!
User spyro372 re-decorated his popular place, which features a mall, stores, parks and a few fast food joints, for the holiday season. Wreaths decorate doors of houses, candy canes shoot out of the ground, and there’s a sleigh with a bunch of reindeer in front of the mall. Aesthetics aside, spyro372 did something tricky to the snow on the ground: if you sit on the slide (it’s in the center of the map) and slide down, once you hit the snow, you’ll just keep right on sliding, all the way across the map if you choose.
Continue reading 
ROBLOX Mobile has been available in the iTunes App Store for almost a week now, and we’ve been keeping a close eye on which games users gravitate towards. We’re interested for several reasons, the main one being that we want to know which games work best with our touch controls. As time goes by, users will begin developing games that will be optimized to work specifically for mobile devices. For now, we’re curious to see what existing games are most popular among our mobile audience.
Continue reading
A few weeks ago, ROBLOX launched a promotion to raise awareness of its impending mobile app release: at random times throughout each day, we put an extremely limited virtual ROBLOX Tablet on sale in the Catalog. Users who own one of these rare tablets when ROBLOX Mobile officially debuts will receive brand new iPad 3s from ROBLOX.
Since we released the tablets, we’ve been monitoring trade activity to see which users purchased them. We were curious to see how many users would simply keep them (to win an iPad), and how many would leverage them to trade for other rare items. Though not every user who got a ROBLOX Tablet chose to flip it, some did–and for some valuable virtual items.
Continue reading A few weeks back, we asked our Content Team what video games they’d been spending their time playing. From platformers to RPGs, their answers were as varied as the types of games you’d find here on ROBLOX. This time, we decided to ask the Web Team what games they play after work and over the weekend, and the answers were pretty surprising. Check it out.
Wing Commander Saga is a free game that is actually a fan remake of a series from the late 80s. Basically you have dog fights in space with disgruntled aliens. It’s always great to see games that keep the spirit of their predecessors alive while adding new and unique features, and that’s exactly what this fan-made game does. It’s a single player campaign with a story arch that is epic and deep. And little touches, like the realistic and often hilarious banter between pilots keeps me super entertained.
