Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad, Part 2 (Memory Optimization)

CrossroadsOne of the most important parts of developing a high-quality ROBLOX experience for the iPad is ensuring smooth, stable, steady game-play performance. iPads are not as powerful as almost any modern-day desktop computer or laptop, which means our developers have to dig deep into ROBLOX’s code, uncover problem areas and tune them to run more efficiently, while keeping game-play quality in mind. The end goal is to have quality and performance exist in harmony; the challenge is pushing performance optimization to its limit without noticeably degrading the experience.

For the past month, the Client Team has been neck-deep in ROBLOX’s source code, identifying inefficiencies and re-engineering them in exchange for quantifiable and positive impacts on performance. One of the best benchmarks for illustrating their collective progress is Crossroads, a classic level the team has been using as an iPad testing ground since September. When we first launched the ROBLOX code stack on an iPad, Crossroads with eight players ran at an unplayable five frames per second (FPS). Today, it runs at a cool 30+ FPS.

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Getting Your Games to “Stick”–The ROBLOX Way

Building a popular game on ROBLOX requires various elements to work together complete harmony. To put it simply: it’s not easy. A big part of this harmonious chemistry is getting your game to stick–meaning users want to play it again and again. We decided to take a look at the “stickiest” games on ROBLOX, and postulate theories as to how they keep getting users to come back. 

In order to determine which games on ROBLOX were the stickiest, we studied game return rates, including one day return rates and one week return rates. You can check out which games on ROBLOX have the highest return rates in the graph below.

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Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: October 28, 2012

Weekly ROBLOX Roundup logoEvery 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: see popular ROBLOX games running on an iPad, a deep dive on our fixes for character-motion stuttering, talking larger-than-life ROBLOX experiences with user Diddleshot, new game templates and more.

ROBLOX iPadPopular games running on an iPad (and a wall of sticky notes)

As we continue to develop ROBLOX for iPad, one of the things we’re doing is helping ROBLOX users optimize their games for play on a tablet. We produced a short video showing a sneak peek of our development effort and some of said games actually running on an iPad. Check it out in the blog post. We’ll have more information about our development progress in the coming weeks.

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Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: October 21, 2012

Weekly ROBLOX Roundup logoEvery 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: the first iPad development progress report, group items and funds, what happens in the ROBLOX cloud when you change your character appearance, the deep end of the ROBLOX Currency Exchange, Add Gear to Game statistics and more.

ROBLOX iPadThe news you’ve been waiting for: ROBLOX for iPad is under way

It’s not much of a secret that we’re working on ROBLOX for the iPad, but this article represents the first time we’re explaining just what’s happening. In this “progress report,” we uncover some initial engineering challenges we’ve encountered and tasks we’ve completed. Need I say more? Check it out, and get excited.

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Engineering ROBLOX for the iPad

ROBLOX iPadROBLOX isn’t your typical video game company. We’re unique in a lot of ways, one of which is our openness about what we’re working on and our plans for the future. Today, we’re happy to stop teasing and start going in-depth on our progress toward releasing ROBLOX for iPad.

ROBLOX for iPad will launch in a couple phases. First, we’ll update the existing ROBLOX Mobile app, which has been available in the App Store since 2011. The update will improve the visual style of the app and is optimized for use on iPad. It will allow us to test all non-game components of the ROBLOX app.

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Weekly ROBLOX Roundup: October 14, 2012

Weekly ROBLOX Roundup logoEvery 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: Add Gear to Game feature, connecting with ROBLOX, Spotlight on NXTBoy, developers’ picks, GDC Online and more.

Add Gear to GameAdd gear to your game, make money off sales

Last week, we launched a feature that’s beneficial to all ROBLOX game developers who want to allow gear in their games. Here’s how it works: you decide what gear you’d like to allow in your game — even if it’s just one weapon. That gear is then available for sale on your game’s page and anyone who purchases it can use it in your game. If they use the “Buy” button on your page, you get 10% of the sale. Not only do you have more control over what gear is allowed in your game, you stand to turn a profit. Read this post for more information on adding gear to your game.

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Developers’ Picks: The Content Team’s Favorite ROBLOX Games

Games PageFeeling nostalgic after posting an article about popular console and arcade titles re-imagined in ROBLOX, we got to wondering: What are some of our very own software engineers’ favorite games on ROBLOX? We asked four members of the Content team and, in spite of spending hours every day in close proximity, they all had very different responses.

Paintball! by daxter33

Paintball! is consistently among the front-running games on ROBLOX, and for good reason: it’s responsive and intuitive. The game simulates real paintballs, which, unlike traditional shots in first-person shooters, lose momentum and fall to the ground as they would in the real world. This adds a challenge to hitting targets, especially across long distances. Plus, the weapons are so responsive that Zach Lindblad, who chose Paintball!, describes them as “as close to a retail game I’ve seen” in ROBLOX.

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