We’re consistently blown away by some of the creations our intrepid builders are able to create using ROBLOX. Their creativity inspires us, as well as those who get the chance to experience their vision in ROBLOX. This may come as a total surprise to you, but our office is home to some pretty hardcore sci-fi nerds (shocking, I know). So we thought we’d compile six of the most creative and detailed sci-fi themed places we’ve seen on ROBLOX. Enjoy!

Metro v0.68 by Zusik

Far and away one of the more subtle entries of this roundup, that certainly doesn’t make it any less impressive. In fact, this map requires close inspection and exploration to really appreciate the amount of work done here. We like that it scales–it takes place in the future, yes, but only 13 years from now. As such, nothing is way too out there. The trains still look relatively normal, and the screens you would normally find dotting the walls are now replaced by virtual projections (some of which blink GUI messages). Great detail, great concept, great execution.

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Building vehicles, both in real life and virtual worlds, is a complex process that involves many moving parts and an appreciation for physics. It’s easy to take the process for granted–most games feature them prominently and put you in control and on the road at the press of a button.

But ROBLOX is all about building and engineering, and and that includes vehicle creation. We stumbled across ManyFireman‘s awesome Ro-Scania Trucking Simulator, which features over a dozen trucks he custom built, and a nice, open world to drive them around. We were impressed not only by the vast array of mega-vehicles, but by how realistically they drove. The game plays like an old limerick would read: ManyFireman builds many trucks of many different shapes and sizes.

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We’re constantly searching for new ROBLOX creations that catch our eye–the recent advent of dynamic lighting has really altered the way many existing places look, and brought forth a wide range of new environments. We enjoy it when we get the chance to share some of the more awesomely detailed and creative places we find on our platform, and love giving credit to the intrepid builders who are pushing ROBLOX boundaries in new and creative ways. To the right, you’ll notice the (dynamically lit) facial expression that stayed on my face while discovering each of these unique levels. Check them out. 

The Fabric of Reality

The Fabric of Reality is a place that completely and dramatically displays our new dynamic lighting system–enter, and watch as cascading, individually lit framed cubes fall from the sky, lighting the area below before disappearing altogether. It’s ingenious in its simplicity, and looks like nothing we’ve ever seen in ROBLOX.

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UlrichStern25 has always had a fascination with pirates–like many of our intrepid builders, that passion eventually manifested itself in ROBLOX. Turns out he’s been hard at work creating some of the most detailed watercraft we’ve ever seen on ROBLOX, based primarily on his fascination with the high seas.

Pirates of the Caribbean Ship Showcase is a good place to start–this is where UlrichStern25 painstakingly recreated every major ship in the movie franchise, and the detail in each of the ships is mind blowing. Whether it’s from afar, or right there on deck, these massively detailed ships look like photographs of real life sea craft. Masts and sails shoot majestically into the air, cannons are tucked away in compartments in the decks below, some battle-torn and withered, some new and shiny.  Make sure to use the Teleport tool to move quickly between each ship, and to explore all they have to offer.

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Looking back, there are a lot of Maker Faire stories to tell. I talked with independent game developers about the potential of distributing a game on ROBLOX. I talked with parents who were looking to guide the play habits of their children down productive paths. I talked with former ROBLOX builders who, after witnessing dynamic lighting and other modern features, headed home to revive their dormant accounts. I saw a maker wearing a 3D-printer backpack buy a ROBLOX fedora before striking a pose for me (I was photographing the booth). But probably the most memorable story was that of aperson1890, a longtime ROBLOX builder, 2012 RGC 2012 Hackathon winner, and up-and-coming programmer who was in the booth all weekend.

It was hard not to be intrigued by aperson1890. On Saturday morning, he set up shop at a laptop on the build table. He pulled out a file folder of sketches and notes, thoughts and ideas. He turned on some K-pop via YouTube. He started building, his ultra-patient parents spectating from the booth’s fringe.

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Last month, we gave builders an opportunity to write for the ROBLOX blog. We received a wealth of thoughtful submissions and quickly started working with potential authors on articles that leverage their unique experience and expertise. MahPizzaIsHere has established himself as a premiere builder and level designer, and today discusses his techniques for designing stylized, but efficient first-person-shooter levels.

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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.

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