[Update] Collaborative Editing in Team Create will remain as an opt-in option

[Dekkonot]

Somehow I predicted that people would be complaining about the git-style commit system despite live editing being a mess to handle (do you want people overwriting you code as you write it? Because that’s what’ll happen).

My only complaint is that often projects consist of one scripter, and I can see it being annoying to have to commit every change you make when you’re the only person working on the game’s code.

I guess the obvious question that I don’t think I asked on the original announcement is why not just go all the way with git? It seems like it would be preferable to interface with the program instead of implement its features on your own.

[SaIamancas (Lalo)]

Come on now roblox we need REAL TIME COLLABORATIVE EDITING

[L_argo]

I’ve heard many scripters complain about how they dislike Collaborative Editing, but as a builder I don’t feel affected by this at all. I feel we should keep the default as it has always been, since it benefits everyone and not just builders. I’m not very informed on this though since i’m only a beginner in scripting

[EchoReaper]

@Dekkonot

why not just go all the way with git?

Probably because the community already thinks the concept of committing alone is too much of a hassle.

@xBeepBoop

Personally, I dislike collaborative editing. It just seems like so much of a hassle just to update a script.

@SnakeWorl

The main gripe is being forced to commit changes every time for every edit, and not being able to automatically commit on script close.

@NodeSupport

however after reading that it will be commits is a massive letdown.

@TecmagDiams

Collaborative Editing introduces the following disruptions to my workflow:

• I need to commit changes after every edit.

Git was designed by people who wrote the Linux kernel, which is partly why I’ve spent the last week watching even adults run around in circles with Git. Probably not the best pick for Roblox, and the replies so far seem to reinforce that.

[ziplocBag]

i dont really script, but i know how you feel about toggle able features that you don’t like, or don’t want in some places, be forced onto you later on anyway…

[PeZsmistic]

I’m not sure if this has enough UX polish to comfortably be an on-by-default or always-on feature yet.

Since December 13 there have been 4-5 bug reports in Post Approval about script changes not saving that were caused by users simply forgetting to commit their changes or not understanding the drafts widget. Since this measure is on the DevForum where users (hopefully) have some higher level of experience with Studio, it stands to reason that a lot of developers who don’t use the forum are getting confused about this too.

I’m paying attention to see if this number grows after Collaborative Editing becomes enabled by default. I’ll let people know if this happens.

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Currently, the drafts widget design does not clearly communicate important information.

When I start working in a script I tend to have tunnel vision on either my keyboard or what I’m typing onscreen, so I don’t notice the Drafts window opening automatically sometimes, and nothing about the widget’s interface communicates to me that I have pending changes that must be committed.

For example, what does “Saved” mean? To someone unfamiliar with the term “commit”, this suggests that nothing else needs to be done, but to those familiar with the term, it’s shown nowhere on screen and there’s no obvious indicator that a commit must be done other than the fact that the script exists in the widget, which does not communicate what needs to be done clearly enough.

I’d suggest adding a redundant “commit” button into the line item with an eye-catching color that changes into a grey confirmatory icon when clicked to commit changes. This would move the action the user needs to take somewhere visible and convenient and provide visible, reassuring feedback. Giving this button a “Commit changes” tooltip would further help improve understanding.

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Also, to address one of the big pain points of Collaborating Editing (needing to commit changes all the time), maybe consider adding a toggleable setting that automatically commits non-conflicting/non-merging script changes when scripts are closed. This would enable behavior similar to old TC script editing, which would help old TC developers adopt this feature.

I think this alone would be a pretty substantial QoL improvement.

[SSSpencer413 (SSS)]

Personally I love Collaborative Editing. My team actually knows how to use it and it helps us organize our own scripts.

However, I know that a lot of other people work with people who might not understand a commit structure. A lot of the community is used to live editing, and the commit structure has been taken care of by rojo. I’m not sure if it should be a default, but I do love the option.

I would like to see live editing/collaboration like Google Docs. I think having options with the type of collaboration would be very beneficial as it could best suit individual teams.

[thebentoast (Pancake)]

I love collaborative editing, but the number of times I’ve forgotten to commit a script change and published the game without realizing it has been more instances than I care to count. If this is going to be the norm and forced going forwards can we potentially get a warning about publishing or leaving studio with uncommitted changes? Obviously not prevent us from publishing, but a warning would be extremely helpful.

[mr_smellyman]

Please don’t remove the option to turn this off until there’s a way to auto-commit scripts. I turned this feature on for a day and had to turn it off after I forgot to commit scripts for a game update twice in a row. It’s really frustrating to publish an update, shutdown servers, then wonder why a bug somehow isn’t fixed until I realize the updated scripts didn’t get published.

[Enqrypted]

I personally feel like forcing Collaborative Editing by default isn’t a great idea. Having to commit a script to update it instead of just closing seems like an extra step that could cause a lot of people to forget to save their scripts. This will also over complicate Team Create for beginner developers. I can’t image how many scripts people will forget to commit.

The feature itself feels like it could be a nice option, but I feel like the majority of people (including me) will not find any use in this feature. I’m not sure there are many teams that will have multiple scripters working on the same script at once. With all that said, maybe having it on by default isn’t such a good idea, but its definitely a nice option for those few who decide to use it.

[crabmeta]

Developing Adopt Me wouldn’t be possible without Git. The Rojo plugin allows us to sync externally with industry standard tools, we’d struggle immensely to support our game and its huge community if we had to exclusively use Roblox Studio. Git is industry standard for a reason, and I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it just because some people get confused when they first start out with it - it needs to always be available as an option for professional teams who need more than what Roblox Studio offers.

Additionally since almost every other software company uses Git or some equivalent form of source control, it’s of great benefit for Roblox devs to learn it as a transferrable skill if they want to go on to have careers in software dev.

[Hexcede]

This still really really needs hotkey support. It’s so much slower that I can’t just hit my apply Edits hotkey (or any other hotkey) and commit my scripts. There should be hotkeys for all of the drafts features because it’s honestly the biggest annoyance for me and it’s why I haven’t been using this feature much.

[BelowNatural (Below)]

Honestly I am not a fan of collaborative editing. It has always caused confusion in my dev team and even has caused us to accidentally override each other’s code, causing us to lose hours of progress! I would prefer for this to remain as an option.

[Phexonia (Phex)]

Collaborative Editing is such an amazing idea, and for scripters; it would be very nice to try helping them out together by editing scripts and for coding things by making and helping their games by doing a Teamwork!

Roblox goes on a great update, and I hope this goes in the Team Create!

[TecmagDiams]

Why bother using a commit structure in a team where one, maybe two people will be accessing and editing scripts? If I’m going to take the extra hassle of revision control systems I’d much rather use a tool like Rojo where I will be able to access code externally as well rather than still being locked to Studio.

Just because something is an industry standard doesn’t mean it’s a one-size fits all and commit structures are no exception. I’ve always preferred to forego revision control if working in on closed source and personal projects. The benefits of revision control become almost none in these situations and it just slows down development, especially in the prototyping phase.

Roblox’s core audience has always been people learning to make things. The experienced developers working in groups who actually see the benefits of revision control should be more than equipped to turn it on for their projects, and it just doesn’t make sense to me to see beginners who benefit from a low entry barrier have more high entry barrier tools enabled by default.

I think having revision control as an option is amazing. It provides more access to tools that will help developers grow and create larger group projects. I don’t think having it on by default in an environment designed to make creating and learning accessible to kids who have little to no experience is the way to go.

[tralalah]

I see where you are coming from, as someone who is somewhat active in the programming world.

However I think you are missing the point. No one is saying not to use Git. Just because it is industry standard doesn’t mean that people should be normalized to it, either. Yes, it opens a lot of doorways, but we’re limiting the creativity of developers to come up with their own solutions. We don’t progress if we are all looking at the same screen.

I like that Roblox is trying to implement its own version, but the audience is too modern and it seems as though live editing is a lot more popular. Some people here have voiced their view on how this can be messy, unorganized, and dangerous. But believe it or not, the new generation is using google docs and word on the cloud more than they do offline! If you don’t believe me, walk into any high school! It’s all chromebooks; even in university, I can only access my files via the cloud, and most of the collaborative work I do is done using either google docs or some online live-editing platform.

We are experiencing a shift in the way we collaborate online, and I think Roblox needs to account for this. This won’t make third-party resources useless, so I think the concern should be in consideration of the future for Roblox development.

[NATlONALSECURITY (TRU_MP)]

Wouldn’t it be easier to just script by yourself instead of having others work on it at the same time I don’t script but I would think that it would get pretty confusing.

[Chiefwaffles]

Live-editing is popular and is great (though I think it’s unfair to do “the new generation” thing here; plenty of schools have been doing it for a while and it’s popular amongst those out of school or in college), but comparing it to Git is just apples and oranges. In fact, live-editing is already very prominent in the professional area. GSuite, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Live editing of code could be useful in some areas, but unless there’s some radical innovation around the corner it’s definitely not a replacement for Git. Git has so many use cases that live editing just doesn’t – and can’t – cover. Equating live editing of documents and presentations to live editing of code like this just ignores the extreme differences between coding and the rest. They’re not the same beast and it’s unfair to see that live editing is obviously a superior solution for development since high schools are using live editing for documents.

Ignoring any potential issues or concerns in implementing it, I’d be happy to see live editing of code implemented in Roblox. But if I had to choose between a Git/Git-like implementation and live editing, I would instantly choose the former. Git is insanely useful for so many things, most of which Live Editing doesn’t even begin to make possible.

[Frqstbite (ashi)]

this ought to be a toggle in the team create window, potentially with a group setting (otherwise, being constrained to place owner) this wont work for everyone, and is a hassle for some. thanks

[Minstrix]

When it becomes automatically enabled there should be some sort of notification / explanation about how “committing” works, and that you must do it after every edit.

When this first went into beta, I enabled it by accident and couldn’t figure out why my edits weren’t working. Oops. Unless there’s some sort of explanation, I feel as if many more people will have a similar situation to myself.