Base Wars: The Land is the hugest game to ever hit ROBLOX. User d4rk886 created a game that is universally cherished, as evidenced by the 21 million (and climbing) visits the game has received and the RGC 2012 Users Choice Award it received for Best Game. Though many of our Spotlight articles are about users who are just beginning to pave their paths through ROBLOX, we universally agreed that talking to the creator of Base Wars: The Land was a must. Getting in contact with d4rk886 wasn’t easy–he has a busy schedule and lives in Hong Kong. We finally got the chance to talk with him via Skype, where we talked about future plans (hint: he’s working on a new game, and it’s awesome), and of course, Base Wars: The Land. 

D4rk886 is humble about his success on ROBLOX–he notes that Base Wars: The Land, was an educational experience, and that he was learning how to program during the three month period it took to create the game.

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They say it’s roughly 10% finished. It might see the light of day this spring. It’s already been scrapped and restarted a few times. The quality standard is insanely high. They call it Borderline, an upcoming ROBLOX first-person shooter, and you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Yet, after talking with two of the game’s three developers, it’s clear they have their ducks in a row. The team, known as StudioMM, uses a Skype hub to discuss and review building progress – everything from altering the engine to creating a new logo – and has clear direction: a balanced play experience where the user controls their game experience. There is reason to believe one day, you’ll be playing this.

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User GollyGreg is known in ROBLOX as a camera wizard of sorts–evidenced by his direct involvement with one of our television commercials two years ago, and more recently in his game Choices. Choices is an interesting title for numerous reasons, and the name of the game certainly doesn’t mince words.

From the onset, you’re asked a series of questions–though your answers don’t really matter, as the game is programmed to do the opposite of your response. So here’s a hint before you jump in–if you’re a guy, say you’re a girl, unless you want to be rewarded with “good girl” every time you complete a task.

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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.

The Tech 

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.

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Part of our performance and memory optimization for ROBLOX Mobile was a transition from drawing graphic user interface (GUI) elements individually to in batches (read the details in this previous article). This change dramatically reduced the number of rendering commands sent from ROBLOX to your graphics chip, but in a small fraction of ROBLOX games it caused user-created menus to render in an undesired order. Today, Game Engineer Ben Tkacheff and Content Team Lead Deepak Chandrasekaran (Sorcus) help owners of existing games fix their menus, in the rare instance it’s necessary, and provide useful guidance and best practices for new GUI designers.

What changed?

In the past, we rendered user-created GUIs according to the hierarchy of individual elements in your ScreenGui object. It often worked out that the order you built each piece of your GUI was the same order ROBLOX rendered it, and your layers of buttons and text just fell into place.

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With the release of ROBLOX Mobile, you have the power to distribute your creations – whether character clothing, models, virtual worlds or hardcore games – on a new platform and potentially to a new audience. We’re only a few days into the release and, at the moment, the mobile ROBLOX gaming and game development scene is a bit like the Wild West. Everyone is still observing and learning about what makes a game work on mobile, and there’s an opportunity for you to help define those qualities.

What we do know is that what works on a desktop computer doesn’t necessarily translate one-to-one to a touch screen device. That’s the nature of different screen sizes and input methods. Still, there are a few things you can do today, in addition to your own experimentation, to design your game to adapt to multiple devices.

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If you’re a gamer on ROBLOX, chances are you’ve heard of a little title called Apocalypse Rising. It’s been played nearly four million times and is one of the top games on ROBLOX, and for good reason. Emulating a formula created by the ever-popular ArmA mod Day Z, Apocalypse Rising throws you into a desolate world filled with zombies. Supplies and ammo are extremely limited, and the only chance you have against the undead is to band together and fight them off. We spoke previously with co-creator Gusmanak about what it took to create a game of such huge scale. Recently, we caught up with scripter/coder ZolarKeth about some of the exciting changes for the near-future.

The Map and Inventory System

Users ZolarKeth and Gusmanak have created one of the largest maps ever in ROBLOX–it’s made of 22,000 parts and is 8,000 x 8,000 studs. At standard walking speed, it takes more than eight minutes to walk across the entire thing, and they’re planning to make it even bigger.

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