Creator Roadmap - AMA with Nick and Tian [Oct 4, 2023]

[Dekkonot]

Howdy!

What are the plans if any for more concise and open communication between developers of tools like Rojo and Roblox? I’m one of the maintainers of Rojo and while we’ve been getting more clear communication from engineers over the last few months, it’s been off-platform and not strictly in an official capacity. Is there a future where developers of 3rd party tools are given a more proper seat at the table, so to speak, so that we can talk about things that impact us while the features are in development rather than just being given notice by an engineer if they happen to know how to contact us/want to?

Also, I know that this is violating the rule for multiple questions per response but hopefully you’ll forgive me: Would it be possible to have more concrete release schedules for things in the future? It’s difficult to respond to weekly updates as-is, but when things are announced and happen either days or months later it makes it stressful for everyone.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

We don’t currently have plans to allow for this. Our philosophy is that users should not have to worry about these details. Roblox will automatically pick the ideal lighting based on a user’s device and various other factors.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

Great question – we’re scoping it out and building it right now. We’d love to hear what you’d like to see included.

[SilentFish20 (rolbloxbro73465)]

Is there any chance we will ever get a skybox update? Skybox as it is right now is not very customisable. Here is a nice thread stating changes that could be added: Skybox Overhaul

Another thing that would be nice is an update to water. Water hasn’t been updated for a longgggg time (Not including the shorelines beta). And it would be nice to see water AND TERRAIN get an update. Here is another nice thread: Overhaul Smooth Terrain Water

[skywise84 (NickT)]

We’ll soon be releasing controls to let you change grass height and density. In the future, we plan to offer ways to make these controls per-region, and we’re looking at additional possibilities to customize grass (and more). We’ll have more information to share on this soon.

[NotRapidV (Rapid)]

@skywise84

Roblox will automatically pick the ideal lighting based on a user’s device and various other factors.

Is this a current feature or a planned feature?

[skywise84 (NickT)]

We don’t have any current plans, but we will take this suggestion into consideration while we continue to make a better experience for all creators. Thank you for the feedback!

[skywise84 (NickT)]

I’m assuming you mean making the impact of the normal map more visible? Have you tried adjusting the Environment*Scale parameters? If so, could you share an image of the lighting setup you’re struggling with and information on what you’d expect to see?

[skywise84 (NickT)]

While we don’t currently have plans to offer these specific options, we’re always looking for ways to improve our tooling. Could you share more about what you’re trying to do, and where you’re facing challenges today?

[HKcat5100 (HKcat)]

You said something like adding ai movement and animations does this mean motion matching, and are you planning to make plugin creation lower level or adding more features such as the ability to edit built in UI and tools like the animation editor rather then making new ones from scratch.
Because I want to have a ton of features added buts it’s impossible so maybe giving power to creators rather than having to do it yourself is a good idea?

[NotRapidV (Rapid)]

Are there plans to hide models under the Creations tab of profiles? This was asked in a previous AMA, but nothing was done since. There is no option to hide the models section currently which can lead to leaked assets and updates.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

Improving testing in Studio is one of our key objectives for 2024, and we are planning to improve our emulator workflows so that creators can have a more representative idea of how the experience will run in a broad spectrum of devices in production. If you have specific bugs (and it looks like a few of these that you mention are) feel free to direct message and we will get on it.

Network Speed/Ping can be simulated via Studio settings > Network > Diagnostics > Incoming Replication Lag.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

Hyperion is coming to Windows UWP shortly, which will make a major dent in current exploits. After release, we’ll continue to work to improve Roblox’s anti-cheat solutions so that everyone has positive, exploit-free experiences.

[Reditect]

@lowercasecreator

there will be a post on discovery soon that should give more detail on how the algorithm works.

Respectfully, we don’t need or want a post talking about the algorithm. There are many sources like this by Roblox already. (Documentation, the forum, and RDCs.)

Edit: To reinforce my point, I have created the following resource: My Current Research on the Roblox Algorithm

We need responses to what’s been said by the community. We want to see what we are saying is not just heard, but actually listened to. (That means responded to effectively.)

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Larger point, but also an aside.

There is a lack of communication from a variety of teams and individuals at Roblox. Maybe that’s the goal or idea, I don’t work at Roblox, but I’ve been studying the company structure and whatnot for a while. I’d like to see more of a democracy, one where the community has more of a say in where this platform is going.

Roblox would benefit, in my mind, expanding Developer Relations and/or the Creator team. The idea here is to include representatives, those who advocate for the community, on every other team at Roblox. Maybe that’s too much, but we need something.

Another idea would be to have monthly meetings or AMAs or something that resembles the investor meetings. Of course, we have RDC, but I mean something more casual and online. I’m not sure what specifics should be in place, and I wouldn’t want to make anyone’s job harder, but what we have right now isn’t working from what I’m seeing. I’d love to do that btw, advocate for the community inside the company of Roblox.

None of that all matters though if not all teams at Roblox listen to the community. (again, that means responding to us.) If there’s no response, if there is nothing publicly available to see, then who’s to say someone even saw it?

[skywise84 (NickT)]

We don’t have any current plans, but are considering what we could do.

We are increasing visibility creators have of their experiences in production through Creator Analytics, and client-side memory usage is a good one for us to consider. The Microprofiler in engine should be helpful for more detail of memory consumption, and we are interested in doing more. Please let us know what sort of tools you would most like to see.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

We’re aiming to have a beta out before EOY and can’t wait for you to try it.

[MightyDantheman (Fate)]

Before this thread gets locked, here’s a summary of the thread:

Summary of the Creator Roadmap AMA (Oct 4, 2023)

At the time of posting this, I’m still editing in more replies.

[DVDsarestillcool]

Hey All, thanks for the great questions. We’re locking down the post to new questions now but will be working through and replying to more of the existing questions.

[lowercasecreator]

our goal is to enable developers to use whatever tools and workflows make them effective. we intend to provide an immensely powerful and innovative toolset in our Studio, but are also opening up our platform to make integrations with 3rd party tools easier.

[skywise84 (NickT)]

Could you let us know what capabilities you’d like/what you’re struggling to achieve now? We’re not actively working on it but happy to listen to requests and reassess.