Retro Rendering in Roblox

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#1

Hi.

After reminicisng over the older Playstations, it inspired me to create my own inspired rendering! Hence, I have decided to open source my own module to help with this. It is no where near perfect, or do I think it should be used in a production game, however, there’s a lot of code in there which someone might find useful.

(new Baseplate with ambience set to 255, 255, 255)

You can grab the module here

API sorta

Objects

Renderer →

  • ViewportFrame: ViewportFrame (the viewport everything is being rendered in)
  • WorldModel: WorldModel (the world model)

Functions

function pxl.new(resolution: Vector2?, fps: number?, defaultLighting: boolean?, skybox: Sky?)

Parameters:

  • resolution: Vector2? (defaults to 320x240)
  • fps: number? (defaults to 64)
  • defaultLighting: boolean? (Dictates whether it should update its lighting from, Lighting, set this to false if you want custom lighting. Defaults to true).
  • skybox: Sky? (Use this if you want a custom skybox, otherwise it’ll use the first one it finds from Lighting)

returns Renderer

function Renderer:Update()

returns void

function Renderer:Destroy()

returns void

Example

local RunService = game:GetService("RunService")
local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage")

local pxl = require(ReplicatedStorage.pxl)
local renderer = pxl.new()

RunService.RenderStepped:Connect(function()
	renderer:Update()
end)

Caveats

  • Anything you put in your map is then subject to the limitations of WorldModels and ViewportFrames (i.e: particles won’t render)

Depending on the reception this gets I might turn this into an actual library – but who knows what will happen.

Thanks for reading

thank you to XAXA for the cubemapped skybox

19 Likes
#2

This looks like interesting way to make Roblox look “old” on purpose.

Do particles render properly or is that still a no?

7 Likes
#3

Very cool.

I maybe might consider using it for a retro project if I ever start one

Thanks for sharing!

3 Likes
#4

I am confused as to how to set this up.

1 Like
#5

Yeah sorry I wasn’t v clear.

Grab this model, insert it into ReplicatedStorage, then use the example script

1 Like
#6

Particles unfortunately don’t render in neither WorldModels nor ViewportFrames

In the future I might have a crack at circumventing this

1 Like
#7

I am still doing something wrong

Screenshot (67)
Screenshot (67)1641×809 56.8 KB

1 Like
#8

You need to have it as a LocalScript in somewhere like StarterGui
(as in, the code running the module)

1 Like
#9

Thank You this is how it looks

RobloxScreenShot20230902_181747564
RobloxScreenShot20230902_1817475641374×802 201 KB

2 Likes
#10

For anyone wondering, this creates a SurfaceGui, makes a viewport frame, fakes the skybox, and lowers the PixelsPerStud.

An interesting implementation.

2 Likes
#11

I’m looking into converting this into an entire library, with support for non-Viewport native instances (e.g: particles) :+1:

2 Likes