v21’s avatarv21’s Twitter Archive—№ 69,730

  1. on the Roblox editor: the thing is, it doesn't just make games that run on your computer/phone. it makes games with a persistent, authoritative server backend. with arbitrary Lua scripting. usable by kids. with a collaborative editing environment.
    1. …in reply to @v21
      working at Niantic is the first time I've worked on videogames with authoritative multiplayer server stuff. here's my opinion on it: it sucks. it's a huge pain in the arse. and Roblox makes it... not straightforward, but very much possible.
      1. …in reply to @v21
        of course, the flipside of that is that that accessibility (and Roblox's entire business model) depends on stuff only ever running on the Roblox servers. same tradeoff as Cheap Bots, Done Quick. it's easy, it's free - but you hand over control to a platform.
        1. …in reply to @v21
          I keep thinking of the Faustian bargain the Dreams devs made: make a beautiful, accessible, playful, groundbreaking creation tool, spending years building it from the engine up. but the things people make can only be played within a tiny Sony sandbox.