The Advanced Roblox Coding Book: An Unofficial Guide, Updated Edition

Learn How to Script Games, Code Objects and Settings, and Create Your Own World!

Heath Haskins

• Publisher: Adams Media
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781507217887
• eBook ISBN: 9781507217894
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming Games
• Index: Computer Science

Make the most out of your Roblox experience with The Advanced Roblox Coding Book—now updated with new content, including updated avatar customization, movement and animation updates, and more!

The Advanced Roblox Coding Book provides next-level, beginner-friendly guidance for middle-grade readers using Roblox Studio and Lua code to create interactive games. Players will learn where and how to use scripts, how to introduce variables and customize graphic elements, and then how to put these skills together into fun and interesting games and experiences. With examples, step-by-step instructions, and game creation walkthroughs, this book has everything a Roblox creator needs!

This chapter will go over how to use the Roblox Studio program to manage scripts, and how to recognize and write some very basic coding. I know, I know, this beginner information is not always the most exciting, but we gotta get it under our belts before we can move on to the fun stuff.

A quick note about Experiences. Roblox officially changed the word “Game” to “Experience.” I will use both “Game” and “Experience” when referencing what we develop in Roblox Studio. You can refer to what you create in Roblox as either one. The main reason Roblox removed the word “Game” is because not all of the Experiences that are created inside Roblox follow the definition of what a game is.

LOADING STUDIO

I’m going to assume that you already have a Roblox account. (If you need a rundown of how to set one up, grab The Ultimate Roblox Book: An Unofficial Guide, Updated Edition.) Log in, and let’s get step 1 out of the way: Open Studio.

Roblox Corporation

LOOK FOR THE NEW BLUE ICON TO OPEN STUDIO.

There are two ways you can open Studio:

1. From Windows go to Start, then Roblox. You should see two or three icons, depending on if you have the Windows Store version of Roblox installed. Click on the blue icon labeled Roblox Studio.
2. Go to www.roblox.com, log in, and head to the Create tab. Click on Create New Experience and select either a template or baseplate option, then click Create Experience.

Roblox Corporation

THE CREATE NEW EXPERIENCE SCREEN.

(You can also open Studio by selecting Edit from a game you have already created.)

KNOW YOUR GAMESETTINGS

BY DEFAULT YOUR GAMESETTINGS ARE PRIVATE, MEANING THE GENERAL PUBLIC CAN’T SEE THEM UNLESS YOU INVITE THEM. YOU CAN CHANGE THESE SETTINGS LATER.

Roblox Corporation

EXPERIENCE’S LIST WITH EDIT BUTTONS.

Now that the experience has been created, it will appear in your list of My Creations. Click on Edit to start up Studio.

Roblox Corporation

THE STUDIO SETUP SHOULD LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

Your Studio may have a different layout. I have changed mine around to the way I like to use it. You can leave the windows in the default layout or customize the layout to make it easier for you to use. Most windows can be dragged around inside the Studio environment or pulled out completely. If you would like to hide or show a window, you can do so from the View tab at the top.

WHAT IS A SCRIPT?

A script is a set of instructions to perform specific tasks in a certain way. For example, you may want your character to drink a potion that makes them regain hit points or hit a dragon with a sword so the dragon loses hit points. Those things happen thanks to a script that the Roblox creators wrote and embedded in the program. Before I explain more, here are a couple of terms you should know:

• Server: A server is the central place an online game is stored and runs from.
• Client: A client is the program that allows you to connect to the server. Through it, you can see and interact with the server and other players.

When you play a Roblox game, a server at Roblox is responsible for running the game. When you connect to the game server, your computer opens up a client to show you what is actually a copy of the game. The server and each client talk to each other to keep the game running smoothly for everyone.

SCRIPT LOCATIONS

There are three kinds of script:

• A local script will run on a user’s client (meaning, on their computer).
• A server script (usually just called a script) will run on the Roblox server that is running the game (meaning, in a remote location).
• A ModuleScript works more like a “class” and can be initiated by either a client or server script, depending on its use.

The script location is important because where the script is located will determine what the script can change. All games in Roblox used to be required to enforce something that used to be called Filtering Enabled or Experimental Mode. This is no longer the case, as it would lead to many problems. Instead, all games require filters now.

STARTING A SCRIPT

First, let’s add a script into your Workspace, which is the first object you’ll see in the Explorer window on the right side of the screen. For example, say we have a door that we want to open and close when someone clicks on the ha...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Introduction
• Part 1: Noob
• Part 2: Lead by Example
• Part 3: Expert Mode
• Conclusion
• About the Author
• Appendix: Infinite Knowledge
• Glossary
• Index
• Copyright