As a Roblox developer, it is currently too hard to customize the new TextChatService in the same way we could with the legacy chat—specifically, applying UIGradients to the entire message text rather than just the prefixed text, and the inability to animate them. Our current workflow requires us to utilize hacky workarounds, like setting the actual message to " " (setting an empty string "" causes it to render the default text) and moving the intended content into the prefix just to apply a UIGradient. This not only complicates our chat setup but also feels unsustainable long-term, especially for projects that rely on vibrant, visually engaging chat displays.
If this issue is addressed, it would improve my development experience because it would allow us to more cleanly and consistently customize chat visuals without having to rely on complex or brittle workarounds. Having direct UIGradient support on the entire message text would enhance game feel, player immersion, and overall aesthetic coherence across our various UI designs.
Use Cases / examples:
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Animated Gradients for Special Events: We use global messages to announce rare events (such as an item being obtained), where the chat messages use animated UIGradients to, for example, have an animated rainbow gradient, to further mark it as something unique and rare.
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Aesthetic & Immersion: Some of our equippable player titles rely heavily on stylized UIGradients to match a game’s design ethos (e.g., futuristic or magical themes). The inability to apply gradients throughout the message without hacky solutions limits this creative freedom.
Although there may be multiple ways to address this, having full UIGradient support on all text elements of TextChatService (including the ability to animate them) would be an ideal solution.