Hello There!
I’m going to start creating a Bullet-Hell game with the environment of 2007-2009 ROBLOX, aka, Old Roblox. Although, I’m kinda stumped on some aspects when recreating one, for example, should I use the current ROBLOX Studs, use textures to recreate those old ROBLOX studs (the studs that look like LEGO Bricks), or both? Thanks in advance.
Well, if we were to look at the past Roblox site, you’ll get the gist of how building is like in 2007-2009. Think old Roblox studs would fit better.
So like the LEGO Studs? (I know, I’m “Funny” am I right?)
Yes, in a way, that’ll be more fitting of a 2007 game.
Alright, thanks! Also, mind if you give me more characteristics of 2007-2009 ROBLOX games please?
Retro studio (the game) nails a lot of the details I recall from back then very well, I’d use them as a good style reference
Alright, thanks. By the way, what do I use to make the lighting similar to those games?
Just download the application and try it yourself. It has many quirks to it. You should use that as a reference as it is literally the actual application.
For an easy way to get it running, install Novetus, which is a bootstrapper for these older clients.
The “LEGO Studs” and inlets were used until late 2009. Character parts had studs as well as the old face and default T-Shirt decal. The “Weld” surface type was used on the sides of the torso. The character did not have bevels.
It was really hard to climb ladders in some older versions. This is because the arms collided with them.
Cylinders had a white cross on the two flat sides (I think).
The default brightness was 1. Lighting.Technology must be set to Compatibility. You can add a skybox. GlobalShadows were off. Turn off fog (not sure if it existed back then). In some cases, adding an artifical ColorCorrectionEffect and increasing the contrast (like 0.2) might make it more realistic. I highly recommend having it side by side with a Roblox client at the time.
Parts that connected together were joined with either:
If your parts do not have this, they will not join logically. Studs and inlet are typically used on the top and bottom of parts, but they are never used on the sides. I hate it when so many people just make everything have studs and call it “oh yeah it’s old roblox loll”.
What I recommend you do for a game themed like classic Roblox is to actually make it in the older client. Then, you move it to the modern game engine and replace the deprecated stuff with new ones. Mind the FilteringEnabled not existing back then.
It is up to you to decide whether you want your parts to be retextured to use the classic studs or not. I personally think that the newer ones are better, but they tend to make me think that the game’s aesthetic is themed more towards 2014-18, or that it’s an old game that was just abandoned without updates.
If this game is for pure showcase, then I wouldn’t have any particular comments about the idea, but if you’re going to attract some players eventually, consider a blend of retro aspects with some hyper modern aspects of Roblox. Retro aspects include stud blocks, no animation, plain lighting and everything unrralistic. It can be interesting to see, but not fun at all. However, if you make a hyperrealistic racing game or a detailed spectacular duel game in a retro map, that makes it much more playable. Just my thoughts.
Did the white plus on Cylinders look similar to this?
Plus - Creator Marketplace (roblox.com)
Well, kinda, but it was less thick and not rounded.
I think is what you might be referring to:
white cross - Creator Marketplace (roblox.com)
Too bad it’s blurry
Yes, but it has visible artifacts.
Just make it a surface GUI with two frames that cross each other.
How exactly do I do that?
{Filler filler, Roblox won’t send me this without filler.}
Actually, never mind. I tried it and it’s so aliased that it looks bad.
Just use the first decal. It’s okay, but it’s not identical to the original.
Alright then.
{FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER FILLER}
Oh and also, mind if you tell me, how much studs did a part move? What I mean is that in Roblox Studio, in ‘Model’, and in the section ‘Snap to Grid’, there is a setting that allows you to change how far a part moves using the ‘Move’ tool. And for rotation, whats the degree of rotating a part back then?
You could change those, but you had 1-stud grid, 1/5 stud grid, and no grid. Parts were no bigger than 512,512,512 and no smaller than 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, but people used block meshes back then for building.
Auto-join is locked to the one-stud grid (as far as I’m aware).
Here are the grid sizes for different form factors (for the one stud grid):
People typically used the advanced dragger for building things like vehicles, and the auto-join move and resize tools for building landscapes and terrain.
Parts that are spawned in have a size of 4, 1.2, 2.
Some more things:
For a hole effect, use the hole instance. Many games used these back in the day for exhaust pipes on cars.
SetNetworkOwner to the server on the players. Players were server controled (I think).
In my opinion, it’s quite complicated to do this in modern studio because of all the quirks so I recommend building your map in a 2009 studio version. It helps a lot and will be a huge time saver.
Question, what are “Symmetric” and “Custom” parts and how about parts with Weld/Glue?Do they also follow the size of a brick or part?
The symmetric and custom parts are a form factor that resizes by 1, 1, 1 on the one-stud grid.
Parts with weld/glue resize the same way.