1. What do you want to achieve?
I’m trying to build a Rust⁺-inspired remote camera system for a horror game. The idea is to let players check simplified in-game camera feeds (like motion alerts, position markers, etc.) from an external website or app by sending data from Roblox to a backend using HttpService:PostAsync().
2. What is the issue?
Right now, I’m not sure how far this concept can go within Roblox’s limitations. Since we can’t stream live video, I’m exploring how much useful or creepy player-facing data I can push externally without breaking ToS or hitting rate limits. The goal is to give the illusion of real-time surveillance without actually needing video.
Here’s a rough concept of the idea:
Cameras placed in-game (real or dummy Viewport setups).
Position/motion/alert data gets collected and sent to a server.
That server could render something like a schematic feed, heatmap, or basic icons on a floorplan.
This is more about abstraction than realism like low-res visuals, almost like LIDAR or top-down surveillance.
3. What solutions have you tried so far?
I’ve tested sending basic camera position and movement data via HttpService, and I’ve gotten that to log on a local server. Haven’t yet started rendering the data externally, but I plan to visualize it using a web interface. I’ve read through the Developer Hub, especially on rate limits and HttpService, but examples on this kind of use cases are rare.
More context
The system wouldn’t be used for anything super sensitive just letting players peek into game areas while they’re not actively in the session (like checking for movement or alerts). This could be used for tension in horror games or light companion app stuff in ARGs.
My questions:
Anyone tried something similar with external visualization?
Is there a smarter way to serialize and send lightweight data for this kind of system?
Would this fall within Roblox’s API use rules, especially for companion apps?
I don’t believe this has been tried before, I know games have been able to make the same thing using MemoryStoreService to view other servers but as for Roblox → Website you may come across quite a bit of issues?
I also do not believe it is inherently against roblox ToS, Aslong as you aren’t “exploiting” roblox apis / abusing them then you should be fine
I think the best way to go about this would be sending CFrame/Position data to your website (obviously) and reconstruct the view on the website using a 3D Engine using the data received.
You should also incorporate a render distance to it, simply just get all the blocks that the camera can see → less data sent
You will face the issue of:
Delay
Poor FPS
Limited data being sent (i believe)
On the serializing part of it I think you’ll simply just have to try a few different methods, to find which is best.
Thanks for the detailed response, really appreciate you breaking it all down.
I think I’ll stick with a LiDAR-style camera system for this. It seems like the most practical approach, especially when it comes to reconstructing the environment without trying to fully replicate Roblox’s rendering on the web side. That just sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
My plan was to send minimal CFrame/position data and then reconstruct the view on the site using a 3D engine, probably with some depth-based sampling or raycasting mixed in. It’s definitely more scalable and keeps the data flow under control.
I’ll definitely implement a render distance and some basic occlusion logic so I’m not sending unnecessary data. As for serialization, yeah — I figured it would come down to trial and error to see what performs best.
I’m also not expecting buttery smooth FPS or anything, more like a live “viewer” feed with interpolation to smooth out the delay. Kind of like a security cam footage style.
Really appreciate the insight, definitely helped clarify the direction I want to go.