Hello, I’m DDR8, an independent developer and Founder of Variant, Roblox’s first near-complete recreation within itself. Variant imitates much of Roblox’s modern aspects, however all gameplay and characters are based off of Roblox’s old style. I’m requesting feedback on Variant as I’d like to get the point of view of fellow developers.
Because I don’t think pictures do justice in explaining this game, you can play Variant here for yourself. Alongside that, I’d instead like to elaborate on core features of the game to explain what “Roblox inside of Roblox” means.
Upon first playing Variant, you are prompted to “Join” with a permanent unique alias.
From there, the possibilities arise;
Customization of your own profile
Design your own avatar with items from our Catalog
Friending system
Variant Studio (for creating your own place, duhh)
Play your own, or other users’ places in multiplayer servers
Create your own, read, and reply to posts
Message other Variant players
Participate in events
I’m curious in ways to further expand the game to appeal to a more general audience, or just ask questions as you please. Any feedback is appreciated.
It’s very good, I can see myself spending some hours playing this. But is there any way to return to the ‘main menu’ from a game without having to close Roblox itself?
Also, I don’t understand why the UI is so small compared to the rest of the screen, it makes me feel claustrophobic.
Yes. When in a game, directly right of Roblox’s menu button that is always at the very top left, are three buttons- one says Exit. Clicking it twice will bring/teleport you back to the main game.
I do agree its pretty small. Its mainly for versatility and fitting the frame on all device displays including mobile, but I’ll still look into enlarging it for large displays.
Not particularly hair accessories- Roblox didn’t have hair accessories in its infancy- but I still try to keep the Catalog as diverse I can and I’m open to adding some.
This looks really cool!
I don’t know how long it takes to load or whether I’ve encountered an error whilst loading but I’ve been on “Loading content” for 5 minutes, you should consider adding a progress bar on the loading screen or some other form of animation to confirm everything’s working. Also on the signup screen, after you press the sign up button it takes a while to begin loading, you should show the loading screen before you start whatever process the button does.
I actually like this game a bit, this would in someway appeal to the older generation of Roblox. But there are already games that already simulate that type of style, especially with Retrostudio which you are able to create your own old Roblox games.
Variant Studio Suggestion Lower the time it takes to access “Variant Studio”, it would be more intresting and fun, instead add a “moderation” firewall, so that when you publish your game in Variant Studio you’ll have to wait for it to be approved.
Game Suggestion Altough this seems a pretty cool project you could utilize Roblox’s Physic Engine, as remaking it could be really hard and even if it works there are limitations.
Overall this seems a pretty cool concept and if it continues to be well developed it could result in something really cool! Keep up the good work.