So I had this question for a while because i feel like rojo is just glorified Roblox Studio Features.
You can edit scripts live with the new features, so that cannot be it, if anything wouldnt rojo slow down simple tasks?
I dont really have too much experience with Rojo but I dont understand why people think its a good idea to just use VSC just to write something you can at studio
You can reverse versions of a game and so, reverse scripts
orginizing scripts are never an issue as whatever you use on VSC and Rojo, you can do using folders and other things similar to it (configurations, model, etc.)
Because VSCode is superior to Roblox Studio’s editor. VSCode is an IDE, it’s made to write code, unlike Roblox Studio, which is a game engine, it’s primary focus isn’t writing code, it has other things for building, Ui, animating, etc. etc. It’s like UI designers that use Photoshop then import to Studio, why don’t they just stick to Studio? Photoshop is better!
Using Rojo allows you to use version control, like github, which makes it very easy to switch code back without switching the whole game, say, you made an asset that took a whole day, but deleted a script by mistake in the process, you can save the asset, then change game version (and reload the whole game!) then load the asset again from the saved file, or just
git reset --HARD <hash>
With Rojo. Simpler, isn’t it?
Rojo also allows using of programs on your computer, like wally. I personally have made a couple of handy CLI tools that help me which I wouldn’t have been able to do with Roblox Studio.
I think that’s enough reasons? No?
Well, VSCode allows you to use extensions to make your code less error-prone, things like linters, like selene, which I personally don’t use, but it’s still a reason to use VSCode.
This point isn’t very Rojo-specific, but more of a reason to use VSCode.
Away from all of that: offline! Sometimes I want to test performance between 2 pieces of code which aren’t always Roblox-specific but more Luau-specific, usually the online website is good enough, but when doing large tests (especially with a lot of memory usage and/or looping - which increases test accuracy), it just can’t hold! So I use the luau.exe file with code that I wrote in VSCode, it would take me way longer to open Studio, wait, then open a game, THEN start writing code, where in VSCode, I can just run it on my machine, which also excludes factors from Roblox Studio’s performance!
Autofills, doesnt require Wi-FI connection, proper Intellisense and many more, VS code is better
Roblox has auto-saves…
Plugins exist for a reason
But again my question still is standing, is there something you can do in Rojo that you normally cannot on Studio or something? Unless your game is 60 MB, it wont take THAT long to actually open up your game to try your scripts, plus, Studio has “Run” feature that you can run a game without players, which makes it somewhat faster
Adding on to the above, it also allows you to use typescript with roblox-ts (making OOP with intellisense hundreds of times easier). Linters like eslint and prettier are also a godsend for me because they make the stuff I write readable. You can have stuff like github workflows which automatically test committed code.
Essentially it makes large projects a lot more manageable and efficient if you use it right.
I guess the biggest benefit is for teams, if you’re all by yourself then probably not much other than VSCode.
Oh no… Don’t compare Roblox plugins to VSCode extensions, please don’t.
Where is the .rbxm selene? lol
It is not an IDE rather just a code editor in which you can add your own extensions.
Roblox Studio isn’t a game engine, it’s an IDE by Roblox to make games on the Roblox platform which is itself a game engine.
Read the rest. My point was in the difference between getting the files back. A separate version control system for code and assets makes life so much easier.
Can a plugin add advanced snippets like those in VSCode? Can a plugin show you some “might-be-errors” in your code (lints)? Can a plugin add documentation comments on hover? Can a plugin add clickable links on hover? Can a plugin show you errors more clearly (like the Error Lens extension)? You get the idea.
My point for tests still stand. It’s just faster.
Actually bad wording from me there, I’m sure I edited “IDE” into “code editor” before sending. But VSCode is (somewhat) an IDE, it’s just not language-specific, so to make it an actual IDE you’ll have to install extensions (like debuggers, lsps, etc.). For some cases it wouldn’t be fit as an IDE (mainly game development as you need 3D stuff) but for others, it pretty much is.
Surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet:
VSCode allows for an overall cleaner workflow.
It also allows you to use third party tools (i.e. GitHub Copilot), which can increase productivity.