I’ve only recently begun my journey: learning about the Roblox platform and how to develop a gaming environment. Over the past few months, I have worked my way through the Roblox tutorials and the Developer Resources, as well as following various online YouTube tutorials.
I would appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, regarding my first gaming project: 1890.
One of my main interests is the Victorian era. This is why I based my first game in the 1890s.
My first project was the construction of a suitable Victorian Urban environment, in which to base the game. I chose to start with a single terrace unit and then adapted it slightly to build a row of Victorian terrace housing and corner shops. I wanted to adopt a realistic style of building, as I worked but I was keen to use as few parts as possible for each build. Here is an image of one of the terrace units, that was adapted into a corner shop. To be honest, although I am fairly pleased with the overall look, I do not like the shaping of the keystones above each window. I thought that the angle of the slopes was too acute. You might notice that, in the end, in my game, I deleted all the window lintels and keystones from each building. If you want to look at these constructions in more details, they have all been placed with the free library of the Roblox Studio toolbox.
My next project was to add street furniture to complement the gaming environment and to add a dated atmosphere. As you may understand, the Victorian-themed content of the Studio’s toolbox was sparse and so I built many minor additions, such as the post boxes, the bollards, a costermonger’s barrow and so on. Here is an image of one of my favourite projects: a Victorian funeral bier. (Again, you are free to look at their construction by taking them from the toolbox of the Roblox Studio too.)
This is an image of the items, after being added to the basic terrace units.
Luckily there were some suitable items in the toolbox that I was able to employ too. I found some great-looking cats, barrels, gas lights and so on. This certainly helped in reducing my overall workload.
Finally, I was able to start on the construction of my game. I wanted to create a night-time experience and so I was keen to explore the overall lighting effects, as well as how to add lights to random terrace houses’ windows. I sometimes wonder whether the lighting is too dark. What do you think? I also wanted to recreate the dreary tedious monotony of Victorian terrace housing. Strangely, you might say, I think that it’s a look that is rather appealing and attractive. These are images of the finished gaming environment.
The purpose of the game is to explore the streets and pick up coins. The coin tally is recorded in the upper right of the screen, as a GUI. My own personal criticism of this aspect of the game is that the coins can only be picked up by pausing over each one. I would have preferred it if the avatar was able to run at speed over the coins and collect them more efficiently. I also would have preferred my game to maintain a running tally count, upon exit of the game. If you do decide to visit the game, you will note that the tally resets upon each visit. I need to develop my scripting skills and develop this area.
I thought that the game lacked excitement and so I introduced two moving ‘danger’ characters into the game. (These are actually zombies that I found in the toolbox.) I edited their appearance to make them look more Victorian (I have included an image of one of them in the previous image, above.) I also added an eerie sound track, to heighten the tension, as well as various screaming sound effects that are activated around the streets.
I also thought that the game lacked variety: there was little else to do other than chase around the streets. Therefore, I placed a badge-earning activity within the experience too: find a model of my avatar. Even still, I think that there is more that could be done, to extend the game and add more variety – even I find that, after five minutes, the game’s activities are exhausted and there is little to keep a visitor occupied. This is another task that I need to work on.
Anyway, please do give your thoughts on my efforts. I am open to all criticisms, whether positive or negative, as I would love to gain feedback on pointers that I could adopt to improve my skills.
Thank you in anticipation for your time and replies.
