Creator Roadmap - AMA with Dan and Manuel

ramdoys · June 7, 2023, 6:45pm

Hey Dan and Manuel,

I’m curious about what could be the future of UI Design using the Roblox Engine. I feel that we don’t have much options, especially for UI built directly on Studio to really be created into something we want, apart from the cool things we can use (like UIGradients and Strokes which are both amazing in their own regard.) Do you think UI will be more customizable at some point?

Second, do you think support of third-party code editors could become easier to connect and optimal. The current Roblox script editor is great, and the recent updates such as multi-cursor have been phenomenal, but what do you think we can do for developers who prefer to use other code editors where they feel they’re workflow can be improved.

Thanks, Ramdoys.

Guestdere · June 7, 2023, 6:46pm

Hi Manuel and Dan,

First of all, Thank you for taking the time to do this AMA, and I hope to see many more in the future!

As Roblox continues to invest in AI in the coming years, how can artists on the platform be sure our creations won’t be used in training these tools without our permission and compensation?

and if, in the future, you allow users to create their own trained datasets for various Roblox AI systems, how do you intend to regulate the same issue as above? For example, even if I say no to having my content used in AI, if another user were to steal it and then allow it to be used, what would happen?

Thank you

MrChickenRocket · June 7, 2023, 6:46pm

Hello again!
What are your thoughts on things like toon shading?

TheArayeus · June 7, 2023, 6:48pm

With the advertising changes to under 13 accounts, are there any plans in the works that will help developers reach that target audience of under 13? Right now the only way under 13 will realistically see new games is on the front page.

LowPolys · June 7, 2023, 6:48pm

Hey Dan and Manuel,

Will groups ever receive a long overdue update? Being unable to break down revenue by game, or even viewing all-time historical stats is impossible, we’re still limited to the past year. I could figure it out with a bit of manual effort, but it seems like data that Roblox definitely has and I don’t see why it can’t be provided. The exile user feature is also pretty useless as they can just rejoin, making the group wall very cluttered. Both of these have been developer complaints for a long while.

It seems Roblox gave up on groups when they bought Guilded, which is really unfortunate. There was some discussion years back about updates, but nothing seems to have come of them.

dvdko · June 7, 2023, 6:50pm

I’d like to extend on this post, specifically regarding price floors/ceilings adjustments, to include information that was provided in the guidelines about UGC avatar bodies:

It is mentioned in the guidelines that upon launch that UGC bodies will have a “minimum price of 0 and a maximum price of 10,000 Robux.”

Will there be any changes to this price floor of 0 robux when avatar bodies and animated faces launch in Mid 2023 or when UGC becomes public? Avatar bodies and animated faces are extremely tedious and complicated to create compared to normal accessories and layered clothing, so a price floor of 0 robux is extremely demotivating for those of us that want to make them. People would be able to undercut prices or release something similar for free which is already happening in the current market with face accessories.

Salemwarde123OMG · June 7, 2023, 6:50pm

Assalamu alaikum @TheKingsHappyFool and @Aelarix, i have one suggestion

Can you guys please add C++ integration for Studio? (For expert devs to code more complex games)

Rexuret · June 7, 2023, 6:51pm

and what do you want to add this year 2023 to Roblox Studio and what updates will there be?

TheKingsHappyFool · June 7, 2023, 6:52pm

So really two questions here and I’ll take each in turn.
First, how are we looking at anti-cheat beyond Hyperion? It’s an area of heavy investment for us (we heard you at RDC last year)! We’re approaching this through client-side security like Hyperion, server-side systems (as you mention), and APIs for you to provide custom anti-cheat systems for your experiences. We have more client-side solutions we’re actively working on and will be releasing soon. We’re working on server-authoritative physics, which will take longer. We released the Verified API in beta recently to help you provide more custom solutions for your experience.

Second, how are we handling alt accounts to make sure cheaters don’t just switch accounts and continue cheating? In the past year, our ability to detect alt accounts has gotten significantly better, and we’ve seen the impact of that as we look to ensure a safe and civil platform. We see opportunities to make another set of impactful improvements in detection in the coming year. We expect — over the next year — consequences of violations will flow across alt accounts of the same user more often. What we’re looking at now is how we give creators the right level of access to this information without at the same time making it too easy to circumvent our detection mechanisms.

Dekkonot · June 7, 2023, 6:52pm

Howdy!

I’m the current maintainer of the backend parsing libraries used by Rojo. It’s involved a lot of work on our end to reverse engineer Roblox’s file formats and I was wondering if going forward we can expect more support on that front.

One of the main issues has been that historically, Roblox operates as if they are the only consumers of files. This has caused us a lot of stress over the years because it means we have to quickly react to unexpected and breaking changes in the file formats that directly impede the ability of our users (which include the teams behind Adopt Me! and Jailbreak). This has happened before but happened recently with the new font system and model scaling. Had it not been for an engineer touching base with us outside of his work, we would have had no warning and models would have broken for all of our users. Fonts did break.

While I know Roblox’s policy has been to develop things in house to make things easier for their users, that solution is a ways off still. I’d like to know if Roblox would be open to engaging with a more friendly dialog with Rojo and it’s maintainers than it has historically (I’m more than open to discussing this in DMs if you don’t feel comfortable commenting publicly, as I know there are some complex feelings towards Rojo at Roblox).

If that’s not possible, what does the future of Roblox’s own tooling look like and can we expect compatibility with Rojo at least?

dzgak102505DIO · June 7, 2023, 6:52pm

Hello Manuel & Dan! Since the announcement that Roblox will halt publishing Roblox-made items as limiteds, this sparks a concern for older items that are highly saught-after like for example the “Workclock Headphones” and “Workclock Shades” being part of the Clockwork series, and other items from past sales like the “Bigger Head” and many others possibly never coming back. I believe that these could either be brought back as regular items or limiteds as they don’t really pose a real threat to UGC limiteds.

Reditect · June 7, 2023, 6:54pm

Q1: Are there going to be more AMAs? What’s the future of communication between Roblox and its developers?

Q2: Why is fixing the forums not top priority?

Developers face issues with having the Member Trust Level, and not the Regular Trust Level. Feature Requests and Bug Reports. You can’t hear the community if most of them can’t reach you effectively.

I have far more questions, as I imagine many others do too, but I feel there’s not enough time for that.

CatalogEnthusiastic · June 7, 2023, 6:55pm

Really wish roblox would respond on this one , people have been asking for weeks.
it feels a little lazy that roblox turned blue clockworks limited but not the red and white ones ?
If roblox thinks there is “Competition” they should bring them back onsale in little promotional deals or something instead.

Wish roblox would listen to the negative feedback and respond to everyone who is asking.

MrChickenRocket · June 7, 2023, 6:56pm

https://devforum.roblox.com/t/isverified-beta-launch-announcement/2392199

Ooops this page is private.

Aelarix · June 7, 2023, 6:57pm

Long-term, we are building an economy where anyone can create, sell and earn on our platform. As we open up the ability to create to everyone, we want to be thoughtful in our approach.

With the launch of UGC Limiteds, we are improving our automated moderation, including duplicate detection.

We will be opening up creation only to creators that we can verify and are in good standing. With Limited items, we are also learning about the impact that upfront payments have on the legitimacy of the items that people are creating and we will use these learnings when we open UGC creation for all. If you believe that content on the platform infringes on your intellectual property rights, you can report that content to us. Learn more about IP reporting on Roblox here.

With our Marketplace vision and principles in mind, we intentionally leave room for iteration so we can listen to the community’s feedback. Each new feature is a step towards the long-term and we are excited to go on this journey with you.

MasterPlayerMind · June 7, 2023, 6:57pm

Have you guys been in the works of a standalone roblox vr app?

ShipooI · June 7, 2023, 6:57pm

I have some questions that expand on the Community-led Marketplace point in the road map.

With the release of UGC limited and the upcoming ability to sell them through groups, and the eventual public release, are there any plans for more functionality added to the marketplace system surrounding UGC?

Many creators are using free Limiteds to emulate a form of Award API, is this something the team at Roblox is thinking of making easier for both Limiteds and non Limiteds by releasing a proper API for it? This would allow for much more inventive uses of UGC on the platform and could allow for unique opportunities in this future that Roblox is pursuing.

Also, will place ID based sales be coming to regular UGC as well? It would allow a community-led group to easily collaborate and publish assets, as well as direct sales in a way more similar to a real economic system. I know both of these are features many UGC creators and Devs are asking for.

P.s. What is your favourite food? Mine is Salmon Nigiri

MightyDantheman · June 7, 2023, 6:57pm

Hello Dan and Manuel, I’m very happy to see an AMA like this.

Right off the bat, I’d like to say that there’s much more I’d like to discuss, but I’ll keep it to the main things for now. The rest can be found in this topic: “If you could make any service, what would it be?”

So here are a few things I’d like to see:

Pixel color at screen point
Invert/Mirror images/UI elements (via negative size) (Especially ViewportFrame)
UI render effects (such as blur)
More visual rendering effects in general (including different types of distortion)
Improved terrain functionality

One of my biggest question is if we’ll ever see shaders or otherwise have access to some sort of GPU API?

There are many features and mechanics that I’d love to see, but we’re forced to wait for them to be implemented by Roblox rather than being able to do it ourselves.

Another big question is if we’ll ever get more website API access?

The HttpService doesn’t allow requests directly to the Roblox domain. We know that this was to essentially prevent Roblox servers from DDoSing itself. However, with all of the API we already have, such as MarketPlaceService and some others, I feel as though there should be API for all parts of the website by now, with the appropriate rate limiting. Things such as more group information, more experience page information, etc. I don’t think developers should need to use a proxy for this sort of thing, especially when similar partial services already exist and work great.

Lastly, will see see AI integration with Roblox Studio?

We’ve seen some amount of AI for scripting, but obviously, especially with it being new, it leaves much to be desired. I’ve recently started trying out ChatGPT and it has been truly impressive. I’d love to see either a partnership with OpenAI, or an equal level of AI, of which can connect to Studio and use the current explorer as context for things.

Bit of a bonus one and not a question but, I’d love to see the road map show more of what’s being worked on. I know that not everything is shown for various reasons, but I’d love to at least see monthly progress updates on features that have already been anounced.

I have other questions, but I’ll leave it there for now. Thank you for your time.

MetatableIndex · June 7, 2023, 6:58pm

Hey, I have two really straight forward questions with probably not so straight forward answers.

1 - What happened to VideoFrames? When can we expect them to become available?
2 - Will we ever see the ability to create subscriptions within our experiences, to complement the Gamepass and Developer Product dynamic?

OneEDM · June 7, 2023, 6:59pm

Could we get elaboration on what this means?
Is this ID verification?
Manual review process?
Other metrics?