How to Make a Roblox Game: Quick Start Guide

Roblox’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, with major outlets like CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times releasing stories about the online platform. 

Roblox is not a video game — it’s considered an online game platform that includes a storefront where users can go to play games. Roblox is comparable to Steam, which is another video game distribution platform with millions of users. Another unique feature of Roblox is that players can make their own Roblox games, which is a fun experience in and of itself.

Whether you’re new to Roblox or a seasoned player, you may be interested in developing your own Roblox game. Below is a helpful quickstart guide outlining how to make a Roblox game.

How to Make a Roblox Game

Before you embark on the journey of creating your own Roblox game, you should know that Roblox now calls its games “experiences.” If you want to create a Roblox game, you’ll first need to create an active Roblox account on the Roblox website homepage. 

Once you have an account, go to the Roblox homepage and click Create > Start Creating > Download Studio. The Roblox Studio will begin downloading.

After completing the steps above, you’re ready to start creating your game.

1. Choose a Template

It’s a good idea to think about what type of game you want to create. Thankfully, Roblox comes with a huge number of game templates to start with. 

Some suggested templates are Obby, which allows you to build an obstacle course, or Baseplate, which gives you a blank slate to work with, one spawning ground and solid ground. Obby is considered one of the easiest templates to use if this is the first game you’re creating.

2. Learn to Use the Roblox Studio Controls

Once you’ve selected a template, you’ll need to spend some time learning the ropes of the Roblox Studio. For example, start by learning to move the camera in different directions, using the keys W, A, D and S. Move up and down using E and Q. You can move your camera by dragging the mouse while holding the right mouse button down at the same time.

It’s important to know that it will take time and practice to get used to these controls. The Roblox community offers plenty of online resources, including videos, step-by-step tutorials, troubleshooting information and useful articles. Learning new skills in the Roblox Studio will take time, but remember — it’s meant to be a fun experience, so don’t get discouraged if you struggle at first.

3. Play Around With Visual Components

After getting down some of the basic skills in Roblox Studio, now is the time to focus on your game’s visuals. The visual components of your game are just as important as its main objective, whether it’s completing an obstacle course or a line-runner game. No matter which template you start with, you can get as creative as you want with the visuals. 

4. Customize Your Game

The toolbox menu in Studio will be helpful as you try and customize your game. There are many pre-built objects to choose from — trees, spectators, chairs, you name it. As a beginner, try building small items and moving on to bigger items as you get better at working in the Studio.

If you want to dive deeper into advanced game development and customization, you’ll need to learn about Lua, the Studio’s programming language. Like any other programming language, it will take some time and experience to become familiar with Lua. 

You can find plenty of tutorials, guides and online coding courses (some available for kids!) to help you improve your knowledge of Lua so you can build even more Roblox games.

5. Publishing Your Game

After spending time developing your game and fine-tuning its visuals, you can share your creation to the world by publishing it. Here are the steps for publishing your Roblox game:

• In the Studio, click File > Publish to Roblox.
• Title your game and give it a creative description.
• Your game will be available for PC, smartphone and tablet users — check the Console box if you want to access it on Xbox. Roblox is not yet available on the Nintendo Switch or Playstation console.
• Click Create to publish it. Go to File > Game Settings and change the permissions from Private to Public. 

Once you complete these steps, your first Roblox game is published and ready to play.

Practice Makes Perfect

If you’ve successfully created your first game on Roblox, congratulations! Not many people can say they’ve built their very own video game. The ultimate goal in Roblox game creation is to learn, use your creativity and, most importantly, have fun. 

The majority of Roblox games take months to create, so take your time and be patient. The Roblox Developer Hub is an essential resource you should refer to often while building your game. It will answer many of your questions and guide you through the game development process. Enjoy making your own Roblox game, and good luck!