How to make a Roblox game

What you need

• A Roblox account. The same one you play with works.
• A Windows PC or a Mac. Roblox Studio, the free app almost every Roblox game is made in, runs on computers, not on phones or tablets. (Roblox is testing Build, a way to make a game from a description in the Roblox app, as an alpha in a few countries. This guide is about Studio.)
• Some time. A first obby can be ready in an afternoon. A game with a shop and saving usually takes a few weeks of evenings when you build every part yourself.

You don't need money. Studio is free, and publishing a game is free.

Pick an idea you can finish

Most first games never get finished because they're too big. Pick one game loop: the thing players do over and over. Good first loops:

• Obby: jump from platform to platform, reach the end. (Obby guide)
• Tycoon: buy machines that make money, buy bigger machines. (Tycoon guide)
• Simulator: do one action to earn, upgrade, unlock new areas. (Simulator guide)
• Horror: find the way out while something hunts you. (Horror guide)

Write your loop in one sentence, like "players collect gems in a crystal cave to buy faster pickaxes". If you need inspiration, browse 1,736 Roblox game ideas sorted by genre.

Install Roblox Studio and start a place

1. Go to the Roblox Creator Hub, sign in and download Roblox Studio. Install it and sign in with your Roblox account.
2. Studio opens on a page of templates. Pick Baseplate: an empty grey floor and a spawn point. It's the cleanest place to learn. Roblox also has ready-made templates (like an obby or a racing game) you can open to see how they're built.
3. Find the main windows: the Explorer (everything in your game, as a tree), the Properties window (the settings of whatever you've selected) and the Toolbox (models you can insert). If one is missing, turn it on from the View options.
4. Save early with File > Save to Roblox, so your work lives in the cloud.

Roblox keeps an up-to-date tour of Studio's windows in its Studio docs. The buttons move around now and then, so if something here doesn't match your screen, the docs win.

Build the map

Everything in a Roblox world is made of parts (blocks, spheres, wedges), models (groups of parts) and terrain (grass, water, rock you paint on).

• Add a part with the Part button, then move, scale and rotate it with the Move, Scale and Rotate tools.
• Anchor it. Tick Anchored in Properties, or your platforms fall when the game starts. This is the number one beginner bug.
• Colour and material are in Properties too. A few colours used everywhere look better than every colour once.
• Group parts into a model (select them, then Ctrl+G) to keep the Explorer tidy.
• Terrain: the Terrain Editor paints hills, water and paths, and can generate land for you.
• Spawn: players appear on a SpawnLocation. Put it somewhere safe and obvious.

Build for the players' size: a Roblox character is about 5 studs tall, so doorways need 8 or more studs and paths should be wide enough for a crowd.

Add scripts (the rules of your game)

Scripts are written in Luau, Roblox's version of Lua. Two kinds matter most:

• Script (runs on the server): the rules, money, saving. Players can't change it. Put these in ServerScriptService.
• LocalScript (runs on each player's device): the camera, the UI, input. Put these in StarterPlayerScripts or inside a ScreenGui.

Almost every game starts with leaderstats, the numbers on the player list. Add a Script to ServerScriptService:

local Players = game:GetService("Players")

Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local leaderstats = Instance.new("Folder")
	leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats" -- this exact name shows it on the player list
	leaderstats.Parent = player

	local coins = Instance.new("IntValue")
	coins.Name = "Coins"
	coins.Value = 0
	coins.Parent = leaderstats
end)

Now a coin to pick up. Add a part, put a Script inside it:

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local coin = script.Parent
local cooldown = {}

coin.Touched:Connect(function(hit)
	local player = Players:GetPlayerFromCharacter(hit.Parent)
	if player and not cooldown[player] then
		cooldown[player] = true
		player.leaderstats.Coins.Value += 1
		task.wait(1) -- one coin a second, not one per touch event
		cooldown[player] = nil
	end
end)

That's the pattern for most game rules: something happens (a touch, a click, a timer), the server checks it, a value changes. Never trust the player's device with money or items: change them on the server.

Save progress with DataStores

Without saving, everything resets when a player leaves. Roblox's DataStoreService keeps data between visits. A simple version, added to the leaderstats script:

local DataStoreService = game:GetService("DataStoreService")
local store = DataStoreService:GetDataStore("PlayerCoins")

-- after creating the Coins value in PlayerAdded:
local ok, saved = pcall(function()
	return store:GetAsync(player.UserId)
end)
if ok and saved then
	coins.Value = saved
end

Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	pcall(function()
		store:SetAsync(player.UserId, player.leaderstats.Coins.Value)
	end)
end)

Two things trip people up: DataStores only work in Studio after you turn on Enable Studio Access to API Services in the game's settings (Security), and a real game also saves when the server shuts down (game:BindToClose). Roblox's docs show the full pattern.

Add the UI

Buttons and menus live in a ScreenGui inside StarterGui. Add Frames for panels, TextLabels for text and TextButtons or ImageButtons for buttons, and wire them up with a LocalScript.

• Size things with Scale (a share of the screen), not only Offset (pixels), so the UI fits phones too. Many Roblox players are on phones.
• Keep the screen clear: one main button, small counters at the edges.
• A shop button should open a shop that calls Roblox's purchase prompt (see game passes and developer products).

Don't want to lay out every frame by hand? The UI Designer designs a whole game UI (HUD, shop, menus) from a description and sends it to Studio.

Test with friends (and fake friends)

1. Press Play to walk around as yourself. Fix anything that falls, blocks you or breaks.
2. Use the Test tab's multiplayer test (a local server with 2 or more players) to see what other players see. Bugs that only happen with two players are very common.
3. Watch the Output window. Red lines are errors, with the script and line number.
4. After publishing, play with real friends on real devices, especially a phone.

Publish your game

1. In Studio: File > Publish to Roblox. Give it a name and a description and press Create.
2. New games start private. Before you can make one public, Roblox asks you to fill in the maturity and compliance questionnaire on Creator Hub, which sets your game's content label.
3. Make it public from the game's settings (Permissions) in Studio or on Creator Hub.
4. Add an icon and thumbnails on Creator Hub. They're the first thing players see, so they matter a lot.

Roblox's publishing guide has the current screens.

Monetization basics

Roblox games earn Robux in a few ways, all set up through Roblox:

• Game passes: bought once, kept forever (VIP, 2x coins, a special tool).
• Developer products: bought again and again (coin packs, a stage skip, a revive).
• Premium Payouts: Roblox pays creators based on how long Premium members play their game.

Our game passes and developer products guide shows how to create them and connect them with scripts. Be honest with yourself about money: most games earn little, and the ones that do earn it with fun gameplay, good thumbnails and regular updates. Roblox's monetization docs explain the official rules. If you're under 18, involve a parent or guardian before anything that touches real money.

The fast path: start from a playable game

Building everything above by hand is the best way to learn. It's also slow. If you'd rather start from something that already works and change it, BloxMaps can do the first part for you:

• Game Maker: describe a game in a sentence. It builds the map, the UI, a shop wired to Roblox's purchase prompts, and the gameplay scripts, all in one Roblox Studio file (.rbxl). You watch each step build and see the result before you pay anything.
• Map maker: describe a map (a pirate island, a city, an obby course) and build it in Studio. See the map generator page.
• UI Designer: a whole game UI from a description.

Then you do the same last steps as everyone else: open the file in Studio, press Play, publish, and set up your passes and products. Our How to publish page walks through it. Building and previewing is free: 3 previews a day on the Free plan (games, maps and UIs together), and the plans build more; exporting the finished file costs $14.99 once per game, or comes with the Studio plan. See pricing.

A generated game is a starting point, not a finished hit. It's yours to change: open the scripts, move things around, add your own ideas. That's how it becomes your game.