From Player to Developer in One Year
I began developing on Roblox one day because there was nothing I felt like playing. Roblox Studio had been sitting on my computer, but I never opened it before. For a while, I had a really old laptop that I’d been using, but when I finally got a better device, I decided it was time to try out Studio.
To start, I tried using the free models that you can get from the Marketplace within Studio. Free models are assets ( items ) which are made by other people on Roblox; anyone can make something and upload it to Roblox for other people to use in their projects. Some creators prefer to make their own custom assets but I think it’s a great resource, especially if you’re just starting out.
I didn’t know how everything worked and I wasn’t ready to try to make my own models. As I grew as a developer, I found it to definitely be more enjoyable to create assets for my projects myself — that way the assets can better fit the world or environment I’m building. But I still believe that free models are important for starting out in Roblox Studio, it means you can get a look at some of the things you can make in Studio. For example, you could take a free model script and look through it to learn more about Roblox’s coding language ( Lua ). Or you could take a free model, use it as a base, and then edit it slightly… or a lot!
After many months of using just free models, I started trying to work out features in Roblox Studio, and tried getting used to how it worked. It was really easy to click and drag free models into my project and experiment from there. The more I used Roblox Studio, the more I learned about it and how it works.
Eventually, I started building my own things, which I found more enjoyable than simply taking a free model made by another developer. The more I experimented, the more I learned. At this point, I’ve learned so much since I started back in early 2020, and so far it’s been a wonderful journey.
When I was just starting to get comfortable with building, I found myself wanting my showcase projects to have a realistic, less blocky-like feel to them. I decided to look up to some other developers for inspiration.
One of my main sources of inspiration ended up being asimo3089, one of the creators of Jailbreak, as I always thought they did fantastic work! I wanted to learn how to do terrain like that so I started generating terrain from the Terrain Editor, and then editing it to add my own things. The Terrain Editor allows you to create realistic, custom terrain ( grass, mud, rocks, general land, etc. ) for games. It was easier to use than I thought, and it only took me about an hour to understand the basics of it.
If you’re just getting started with Roblox Studio or with building, I would recommend joining the Developer Forums and finding some YouTube videos. There are so many helpful creators in the Roblox community, like AlvinBlox or MuneebParwazMP, who are very good with Studio and do an amazing job teaching new concepts. If I were to give you any advice, I would just tell you to never give up. If you’re stressed in Roblox Studio, don’t give up, just take a break. Giving up never helps. There’ve been many times where I’ve wanted to give up, but I never once did. Now, after just one year of creating, I’ve already managed to get thousands of game visits across my many creations. And I’m super proud of it. I’m really glad people are enjoying my games and showcases.
I love creating because it means I can imagine something in my head, and then go and make it in Roblox! I find that so fun and enjoyable, just creating or trying to create anything I can imagine. If you’ve ever considered developing on Roblox, you should at least give it a try. Create anything you could imagine!
Hello, I’m ArchivesOfTime, a game developer on Roblox. I’ve been making games since early 2020. I got started because one day I was bored and wanted something new to do.
So far, in just under a year, I’ve managed to go from 0 to over 28,000 user visits across the many games and showcases I’ve created.
I am really proud of that and I am super glad that people are enjoying my games. When I’m not working in Studio, I am usually playing games instead of making them.
Join the millions of creators on Roblox and make your first experience with help from this page on getting started.
