The issue at hand
If you have not seen already, Roblox is making changes to the way audio uploading functions.
‘Removing barriers,’ and then putting a different and worse one. Roblox is implementing an audio upload limit of 100 assets per month, with no way of raising this.
Introduction with examples
As a developer striving to create professional work, this is a detrimental blow to my experiences. For example, let’s consider what it takes to add a weapon to a first person shooter (at bare minimum):
- About one firing sound
- Mag out and mag in sound
- Foley inspect sounds
- Other inspect sounds
- Equip sound
- Bolt back and bolt forward sound / pump sound
This ends up being about 10 sounds per single weapon. If I make an update to my game by adding, let’s say… 3 guns?.. I’ve already used 30% of my limit.
When applying for the Accelerator program, just one game demo had dozens of sounds, including footsteps, game sounds, etc.
It impacts our games
This is an awful change that will 100% impact not only my development workflow, but the quality of my experiences. No matter how much is added to the public library, there simply is not always something for everybody.
Video games stimulate two senses primarily: sight and sound. If we cannot have proper sounds to match our own visuals, then we lose quality in half of the sensory input, which leads to an overall less immersive experience.
It removes many developers’ jobs
A developer of mine that does both SFX and Music is considering leaving the Roblox platform over this change. Simply put, there will be almost no way to get any contract work when a.) the platform over-saturates and over-advertises free stuff, and b.) imposes a limit of 100 sounds per month, which in turn, limits how much contracting work I can deliver at a time.
Imposing a limit like this is destructive to countless sound designer and music composer jobs, and will hurt those people financially.
It fuels toxicity around price tags
I don’t quite understand where Roblox is going with their marketplace. On one hand, they are planning on allowing developers to sell any development content, such as models and plugins; on the other, they implement changes such as this.
This may lead to intensified toxicity around putting prices on our assets, and in turn, make Roblox less of a place for us to freely market our value.
@boatbomber makes a fantastic statement on the current environment of the plugin marketplace, stating:
And finally, it pushes us away from the platform.
I seek to have video game development be my career. I’m passionate about programming, music design, art, and more. Roblox has been, in the past, a great outlet for me, and has given me a number of opportunities and respect I could have never imagined.
And yet, I’m not happy. As both an event organizer and developer, I’m becoming increasingly tempted to leave the platform for good, and moving my studio’s assets to alternative game engine and platform.
In short, changes have consequences for all of us developers. Poor choices DO chase us off.
Don’t like the limit? Let’s do something about it.
If you’re a fellow developer who is also irritated with these changes, then please, by all means, reply below with your own testimony, and please share with us how this affects you. If not, please spread this topic.
I hope that this limit can be removed, because at the end of the day, it hurts us all.
