Now, I'm not very good at writing discussion topics, but I just wanted to share this.

I recently got back into the game Roblox and decided to try it's game engine, Roblox Studio. Well testing its features, I realized how useful it may be for aspiring game creators.

You see, unlike most easy-to-use game engines (like Gamemaker Studio or Dreams) Roblox Studio is completely free. Although Studio isn't as easy to use as the engines listed before, it still allows for simple game creating, especially since you can submit and use assets created by the public, allowing for easy asset creation.

All in all, I think Roblox Studio is a very good game engine for aspiring game creators who use Scratch, but what are your opinions on it?

It's great for anyone on any level of video game development! I learned some 3D skills with it.

I highly disagree. Yes, the ROBLOX platform does inspire creators, similar to Scratch, but it's functionality is SOO limited, when there are better free game engines out there.

Studio really does lack some things. The 3D modelling capabilities aren't worth it, and how many lines of code you need to write just to create a block that kills you? Ugh. There are much better game engines, in my opinion, and with those you won't get stuck with players having 6 joints. 15 joints in later versions. I don't think it's worth it to invest so much time when you don't own your game completely. You can't even download a .exe file of your game and publish it elsewhere! With ROBLOX Studio you're stuck with ROBLOX, and that's that.

Some good free game engines:

Unity (there is a free version, though the splash screen is annoying. I only use Unity if I really have to)
Godot (open source! you own your own game, no big companies stealing it from you. I personally use Godot)
GameMaker (there is a free version, great for non-programmers or people used to block coding, too.)
CryEngine (a bit advanced, but there is still a free version)
Blender (open source, mainly used for making 3D models, but has a game engine attached to it, I use this to create my 3D models)
RPG Maker (free version, great for making RPGs)
Unreal Engine (used by Epic Games to create Fortnite. is free and is almost as good as Unity)

You don't have to limit yourself to just one game platform. And yes, all of I have proposed have some free version or another, Godot and Blender are completely free, no strings attached. In my opinion, ROBLOX Studio isn't worth investing in. I didn't learn a thing out of it.

ResExsention wrote:

I highly disagree. Yes, the ROBLOX platform does inspire creators, similar to Scratch, but it's functionality is SOO limited, when there are better free game engines out there.

Studio really does lack some things. The 3D modelling capabilities aren't worth it, and how many lines of code you need to write just to create a block that kills you? Ugh. There are much better game engines, in my opinion, and with those you won't get stuck with players having 6 joints. 15 joints in later versions. I don't think it's worth it to invest so much time when you don't own your game completely. You can't even download a .exe file of your game and publish it elsewhere! With ROBLOX Studio you're stuck with ROBLOX, and that's that.

Some good free game engines:

Unity (there is a free version, though the splash screen is annoying. I only use Unity if I really have to)
Godot (open source! you own your own game, no big companies stealing it from you. I personally use Godot)
GameMaker (there is a free version, great for non-programmers or people used to block coding, too.)
CryEngine (a bit advanced, but there is still a free version)
Blender (open source, mainly used for making 3D models, but has a game engine attached to it, I use this to create my 3D models)
RPG Maker (free version, great for making RPGs)
Unreal Engine (used by Epic Games to create Fortnite. is free and is almost as good as Unity)

You don't have to limit yourself to just one game platform. And yes, all of I have proposed have some free version or another, Godot and Blender are completely free, no strings attached. In my opinion, ROBLOX Studio isn't worth investing in. I didn't learn a thing out of it.

How to make a block kill you in Roblox Studio? Look on the asset store for a block that kills you. Not to mention the fact that you can actually make money off of games you create. All valid points besides that though.

improvise
adapt
overcome

Unity has an asset store, and in my opinion it is 1000000 times better than that of Roblox Studio. If you limit yourself to Roblox studio, you get stuck with people with cylinder heads and who get dismembered upon death. If you try a different engine, you can customize your game however you want, no strings attached (maybe make them blow apart and fly 10000 kilometers). Also once you finish making your game you can also publish it on itch.io or something (or build your own website) or publish it through Steam and make money anyway.

Plus, with Roblox Studio they throw you straight into libraries and functions when you should only be learning more basic things. It took a while for me to figure it out, that was only because I had experience with C#, C++, Python, and Lua (Roblox Studio uses Lua).

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

PrincessPandaLover wrote:

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

Consider it a hard-written opinion piece, then. I'm not here to make Roblox bad, I'm here to provide critism to the idea. I don't agree that it is a good place to start learning coding outside of Scratch, since they throw you into intermediate Lua, Quaternions, and 3D physics that fast. Yes, I know you can do that stuff advanced stuff with the rigging and joints, but it's so limited.

ResExsention wrote:

PrincessPandaLover wrote:

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

Consider it a hard-written opinion piece, then. I'm not here to make Roblox bad, I'm here to provide critism to the idea. I don't agree that it is a good place to start learning coding outside of Scratch, since they throw you into intermediate Lua, Quaternions, and 3D physics that fast. Yes, I know you can do that stuff advanced stuff with the rigging and joints, but it's so limited.

Well, I mean, you can't very easily make a clone of Fortnite (Strucid) and CS:GO/Call of Duty (Phantom Forces) in Unity.

oblanman wrote:

ResExsention wrote:

PrincessPandaLover wrote:

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

Consider it a hard-written opinion piece, then. I'm not here to make Roblox bad, I'm here to provide critism to the idea. I don't agree that it is a good place to start learning coding outside of Scratch, since they throw you into intermediate Lua, Quaternions, and 3D physics that fast. Yes, I know you can do that stuff advanced stuff with the rigging and joints, but it's so limited.

Well, I mean, you can't very easily make a clone of Fortnite (Strucid) and CS:GO/Call of Duty (Phantom Forces) in Unity.

Yeah, making 3D games is difficult, Roblox or Unity or any other 3D game engine you can think of, however, have you ever heard of Game Jams? They are competitions where people have to make a game in a very short amount of time using an engine, usually 48 hours on the Ludum Dare. I've seen some epic productions out of that, some of which were actually 3D.

About making game clones, it actually is not very hard. Let me compare Unity and Roblox Studio for measure (just a short one):

Unity:
- Realistic physics
- Very good rendering
- Exports to most operating systems
- Programmed in C#, which is similar to C and C++.
- Throws you into intermediate C# right away
- Allows you to customize everything (except that splash screen)
Roblox Studio:
- Realistic physics up to a point
- Rendering quality depends on how the game is made
- Exports only to Roblox (this is a major limitation)
- Programmed in Lua, which is similar to Python.
- Throws you into intermediate Lua right away
- You get stuck in a framework that you have to abide by

I'll leave you to decide which one you think is better, as both Unity and Roblox Studio throw you into intermediate programming and 3D vectors extremely quickly. They also both have an asset store.

Now, this is just my opinion here but I would pick Unity over Roblox Studio any day. Roblox definitely does have some young creators, so I really don't use the asset store for anything. Unity, however, has a larger sized asset store since it is more well known. Of course, there might be some sloppy assets there but since the people are older, I can trust them. I really didn't like how the Roblox wiki taught me how to code in Lua but didn't really explain anything. It told me what the Lua code did but it didn't explain any more than that. Unity has great video tutorials, and the narrator is some guy with a mono tone, so you don't get distracted by his voice, and can focus on making your game. I also like how you can start your game from scratch, and make the heads of people anything but cylinder.

Now, what you said about clone making. Also this is still my opinion but making a clone of phantom forces is quite easy. All you need to do is pull out a camera component, and then look in the asset store for a firearm. Then, position the firearm in a way that makes it look like the user is holding it, even though there is no body, and make the gun a child of the camera. Script the camera to move when the keys are pressed, and the gun to shoot if the mouse is clicked, and voila, you have a very basic shooter. A week later you can have a decent menu, a basic AI to fight with, basic models of soldiers, maybe you modeled more guns, and Unity's physics engine handles the ragdolling. On Roblox, they don't introduce you to cameras (which is an industry standard) at all and you have to completely rescript the deaths and code some guns, which can be limited. Overall, you really need to completely rescript a large part of the engine just to get a “clone” of some shooter in Roblox, but Unity lets you start from scratch, so I prefer it more.

I think this is just a matter which engine gets you more out of the box, but again, I'd pick Unity over Roblox Studio any day.

And yes. This was just an opinion.

ResExsention wrote:

oblanman wrote:

ResExsention wrote:

PrincessPandaLover wrote:

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

Consider it a hard-written opinion piece, then. I'm not here to make Roblox bad, I'm here to provide critism to the idea. I don't agree that it is a good place to start learning coding outside of Scratch, since they throw you into intermediate Lua, Quaternions, and 3D physics that fast. Yes, I know you can do that stuff advanced stuff with the rigging and joints, but it's so limited.

Well, I mean, you can't very easily make a clone of Fortnite (Strucid) and CS:GO/Call of Duty (Phantom Forces) in Unity.

*snip*

C# is actually more of a mix between Java and C++.

Yeah. The way you always have to create a class reminds me of Java and the style of C++, well, reminds me of C++.

ResExsention wrote:

oblanman wrote:

ResExsention wrote:

PrincessPandaLover wrote:

If you're here just to criticize Roblox, you can leave.

(Also, you can change the players from Lego-like people to any model you choose, rig, and script. You can reprogram their deaths.)

Consider it a hard-written opinion piece, then. I'm not here to make Roblox bad, I'm here to provide critism to the idea. I don't agree that it is a good place to start learning coding outside of Scratch, since they throw you into intermediate Lua, Quaternions, and 3D physics that fast. Yes, I know you can do that stuff advanced stuff with the rigging and joints, but it's so limited.

Well, I mean, you can't very easily make a clone of Fortnite (Strucid) and CS:GO/Call of Duty (Phantom Forces) in Unity.

Yeah, making 3D games is difficult, Roblox or Unity or any other 3D game engine you can think of, however, have you ever heard of Game Jams? They are competitions where people have to make a game in a very short amount of time using an engine, usually 48 hours on the Ludum Dare. I've seen some epic productions out of that, some of which were actually 3D.

About making game clones, it actually is not very hard. Let me compare Unity and Roblox Studio for measure (just a short one):

Unity:
- Realistic physics
- Very good rendering
- Exports to most operating systems
- Programmed in C#, which is similar to C and C++.
- Throws you into intermediate C# right away
- Allows you to customize everything (except that splash screen)
Roblox Studio:
- Realistic physics up to a point
- Rendering quality depends on how the game is made
- Exports only to Roblox (this is a major limitation)
- Programmed in Lua, which is similar to Python.
- Throws you into intermediate Lua right away
- You get stuck in a framework that you have to abide by

I'll leave you to decide which one you think is better, as both Unity and Roblox Studio throw you into intermediate programming and 3D vectors extremely quickly. They also both have an asset store.

Now, this is just my opinion here but I would pick Unity over Roblox Studio any day. Roblox definitely does have some young creators, so I really don't use the asset store for anything. Unity, however, has a larger sized asset store since it is more well known. Of course, there might be some sloppy assets there but since the people are older, I can trust them. I really didn't like how the Roblox wiki taught me how to code in Lua but didn't really explain anything. It told me what the Lua code did but it didn't explain any more than that. Unity has great video tutorials, and the narrator is some guy with a mono tone, so you don't get distracted by his voice, and can focus on making your game. I also like how you can start your game from scratch, and make the heads of people anything but cylinder.

Now, what you said about clone making. Also this is still my opinion but making a clone of phantom forces is quite easy. All you need to do is pull out a camera component, and then look in the asset store for a firearm. Then, position the firearm in a way that makes it look like the user is holding it, even though there is no body, and make the gun a child of the camera. Script the camera to move when the keys are pressed, and the gun to shoot if the mouse is clicked, and voila, you have a very basic shooter. A week later you can have a decent menu, a basic AI to fight with, basic models of soldiers, maybe you modeled more guns, and Unity's physics engine handles the ragdolling. On Roblox, they don't introduce you to cameras (which is an industry standard) at all and you have to completely rescript the deaths and code some guns, which can be limited. Overall, you really need to completely rescript a large part of the engine just to get a “clone” of some shooter in Roblox, but Unity lets you start from scratch, so I prefer it more.

I think this is just a matter which engine gets you more out of the box, but again, I'd pick Unity over Roblox Studio any day.

And yes. This was just an opinion.

So I just got into GameMaker, and even though it's bad for 3D game creation, for 2D, it is definitley the easiest. And, I agree, Unity is great, but I am just too attached to Roblox Studio and know a little bit of Python (which, like you said is similar to Lua) but not C, C++ or C#.

If you have Lua and Python experience then I would highly recommend learning the Godot Engine. Godot uses a new language called GDScript, which is painstakingly similar to both Lua and Python. The 3D capabilities are really good, too, and I really like the rendering. Almost as good as Unity.

ResExsention wrote:

If you have Lua and Python experience then I would highly recommend learning the Godot Engine. Godot uses a new language called GDScript, which is painstakingly similar to both Lua and Python. The 3D capabilities are really good, too, and I really like the rendering. Almost as good as Unity.

I have an extremely basic understanding of python, but if I were to learn more, I would totally try.

And also, why did you reply at midnight?

oblanman wrote:

ResExsention wrote:

If you have Lua and Python experience then I would highly recommend learning the Godot Engine. Godot uses a new language called GDScript, which is painstakingly similar to both Lua and Python. The 3D capabilities are really good, too, and I really like the rendering. Almost as good as Unity.

I have an extremely basic understanding of python, but if I were to learn more, I would totally try.

And also, why did you reply at midnight?

A thing called Timezones
Also I was up until midnight as well so yeah

peeps chill
i do play roblox and sometimes the studio can be a pain but i have tried other ones and FOR BEGINNERS this is your best bet

JaiTee wrote:

peeps chill
i do play roblox and sometimes the studio can be a pain but i have tried other ones and FOR BEGINNERS this is your best bet

Studio only lets you publish to Roblox though, which is probably the biggest limitation to Roblox Studio.

CatsUnited wrote:

JaiTee wrote:

peeps chill
i do play roblox and sometimes the studio can be a pain but i have tried other ones and FOR BEGINNERS this is your best bet

Studio only lets you publish to Roblox though, which is probably the biggest limitation to Roblox Studio.

Yeah, you can't just download some exe, since Roblox games need the assets from the Roblox platform (like the player rigs). That's why I don't make with Roblox…

Roblox Studio is literally for platform Roblox. It isn't meant for to build Call of Duty or CSGO..

Like it's just for Roblox, stop criticizing over a stupid thing. Comparing it with others is stupid, because it's LITERALLY for Roblox. Roblox made Roblox Studio for its own style of game. They didn't make it for Call of Duty or Minecraft, like literally..

CatsUnited wrote:

JaiTee wrote:

peeps chill
i do play roblox and sometimes the studio can be a pain but i have tried other ones and FOR BEGINNERS this is your best bet

Studio only lets you publish to Roblox though, which is probably the biggest limitation to Roblox Studio.

a program designed to make games for another program can only publish games to that program? what a travesty.