Interns: Purple vs. Green

We're all looking forward to meeting our interns, and possible future staff. When you saw the intern post you probably thought 'same old same old' - but actually, this year there is a twist! Intrigued? You should be..

Roblox News: Summer Interns 2014

It's that time of year again; Summer! For the past three years Roblox News has run a successful internship programme. We select a handful of promising applicants and introducing them to the world of gaming journalism. Last year we had a fantastic batch of fresh writers - some of which stayed on at Roblox News to perform full-time roles on the blog. Roles include site journalism, game journalism, and catalog analysis! The scheme has harbored some great accomplishments for Roblox News, and through this method of recruitment we are able to better develop the skills of future employees and better tailor them to our blog than we would through a simple recruitment process. 

How do they work?

Each intern will be assigned to a specific member of staff called a 'mentor' to 'shadow' them. They will observe the staff member's role on the blog; learning about the articles they publish and how they can produce articles of the same high quality. From the staff member, the intern will learn job specific skills. The intern will be focussed on one section of RN's site, whereas a staff member may be performing several different roles at the same time. This gives the intern the ability to study their area closely and develop experience relevant to it. It will be the mentor's responsibility to private message their shadowing intern after each one of their posts with four positives points and one target to improvement in the next. This is important so the intern can build on their skills, but mentors can also practice responsibility and leadership skills through the programme.


How do you apply? *Deadline 12:00am PST Monday 4th August*

This year we are running the exact same programme (with the exception of the mentor's new duty) and will hopefully be accepting even more interns! Anyone who wishes to take on an internship here at Roblox News must send an application via private message to arbirator on ROBLOX. Applicants should have fairly good experience and knowledge of the ROBLOX site, including the games, catalog and forum sections, and should have competent English skills.

The application should include:

• Your favourite aspect of the ROBLX site
• Your ambition on ROBLOX
• Why you want to become a summer intern at RN
• Which staff member you wish to shadow and why

Optional:

• A sample article of your choice - anything to do with ROBLOX. Place reviews and item reviews are  a favourite among applicants, but you could try something more adventurous! 
• What new type of article you would like to see on RN, and why. 

Internships are a great way of helping people deepen their knowledge as well as giving them experience with other staff members and developing social skills. RN interns are likely to be asked to stay on as full time staff after the programme finishes.

Thanks, and good luck!

-Arb

Editor of Roblox News 

Roblox News: Youtube Channel

Our YouTube channel has now been completely rearranged and reorganised. It is now a lot more firm, smooth, and we produce high-quality YouTube videos on it.

All of our previous Live Streams will henceforth be archived on YouTube and Twitch now. This is going to be something so that anybody who misses our Live Streams due to the random timing or the absence of time to do so, you can always watch them on YouTube.

Click here to get our YouTube Channel!

Click here to view our Twitch Channel!

Also, we will be allowing the public into the live stream, however you will have to complete a sign-up poll if you wish to be included in one of our live streams.

The 2014 Roblox News Egg Hunt

Hello all,
Some of you may know me, some of you may not. I am Josh (TechTeam911 on Roblox, previously zinc707), and I am the lead project designer + programmer + web developer for Arbirator's Roblox News. In my free time (When I'm not running my business & working in college), I love to create games on Roblox. I've been programming with Lua for over 6+ years now, and it's one of my favorite languages.

As many of you know, here at Arbirator's Roblox News, we always host a yearly Easter Egg Hunt event for the community to enjoy. Last year was the best egg hunt we've ever had (Over 30K visits, and tons of positive feedback), but of course, we always have to do better every year. That being said, on behalf of Arbirator's Roblox News, I am proud to introduce the Roblox News 2014 Egg Hunt.

This year is going to be one of the most sophisticated (And enjoyable) egg hunts that Arbirator's Roblox News has created.

Summary:

• Numerous universes where eggs rain down simultaneously (Universes are all connected to a central hub, pictured above).
• Central hub is used to teleport to other universes - hub is also used for socializing, purchasing items, viewing the leaderboards, and more.
• Universes are created by both Arbirator's Roblox News staff and the community (Will get into details later on about that.)
• Very few eggs are going to be recycled from last year to be reused this year, the majority of the content is going to be completely new and innovative.
• The egg hunt will be much more challenging than last year's egg hunt. That being said, certain universes will exclusively drop easy-to-get eggs for the people who are having difficulty with some of the other universes.)
• Each universe has exclusive eggs (Ie: Magma egg only drops in volcanic map, beach ball egg in beach map etc.)
• In place of game-passes, there will be currency packages.
• No, we're not going Candy-Crush on you guys, the currency purchases are completely optional.
• The two types of currency are as follows:
• Cash
• Gold
• Cash can be earned in-game through unlocking eggs.
• Gold can be earned only through currency purchases.
• Gold is completely optional, it's used to purchase certain assets that are locked for normal users.
• Buying in bulk gives bonus currency (Ie: 25% more cash if you buy y package vs. x package).
• Egg hunt should (Hopefully) be iOS compatible.
• That being said, there will be no eggs that are exclusive to iOS users.
• No eggs require you to pay for an item to unlock them, the items are purely optional.

So this year, we've decided to do something different. Instead of having just Arbirator's Roblox News builders do the maps this year, we've decided to reach out to the community for submissions. Yes, that's right - your map can be featured in the egg hunt this year!

Details for map submissions:

• Map submissions should be sent to RNEggHunt with the subject 'Egg hunt map submission'
• Maps must have a specific theme (Can't have water-theme in one area, and then volcanic-themed in another area.)
• Maps may not have hidden areas (Except without the explicit consent of RNEggHunt).
• All map submissions will not have scripts - if you want a specific effect to be added, talk to RNEggHunt about how it can be incorporated into your map.)
• Maps should be unique, free-model use is discouraged.
• Regular terrain is preferred over triangle-terrain.
• Maps should be medium to large in size.
• Deadline is April 10th.

If we like your map submission, we'll put it in the egg hunt for everyone to play! You will also receive credit for the map, and you will receive in-game currency as a reward (and possibly an extra prize).

We're also looking for egg property ideas, PM RNEggHunt with your ideas for the egg hunt.

More details to come soon :)

Screenshots of the hub (Created by Demjot), still waiting on map submissions.

Roblox News Streaming LIVE!

With the emergence of  Twitch as a popular livestream medium for ROBLOX gameplay, we thought we ought to join in on the fun! Starting from today, Roblox News will be hosting regular livestreams (a couple times a week) with Zakkeh - our Community Manager hosting the streams.

Announcing the new additions to the Roblox News team!

Back in January, we announced we were looking to refresh the Roblox News team with some fresh talent! The day has come for us to finally announce the lucky four individuals joining our team. Whilst I know this announcement is long overdue, please bear in mind that I (arbirator) have been extremely busy lately, and have had little time for ROBLOX, or indeed Roblox News. Apologies! 

An Update on Due Articles

Dear ROBLOX News -

It's been about three weeks since my return. I spoke briefly with some admins before posting this rather irregular message.

I want to apologize to RN for several things, among the first is an article I promised to have out this week which I will not have time to immediately work on regarding to "The Most Anticipated Games of 2014."

I also want to apologize for a more than less informative 'teaser' (hardly informative and for decent reason) for a new series i'm working on via YouTube called 'choices' - and while I am still going to go ahead with it, I have recently decided to add more things, more additions to the film's composition.

I'm going to be soon writing a set piece of series on 'getting organized' not only on ROBLOX, but everywhere. It could have the potential to give some insight to your potential and work from someone who does a lot of it on a professional basis with hundreds of people daily.

With that said, most of the reason for this less than predictable delay is Averate, my online internet communicate for creatives, gamers, content producers, and more. It's a serious work in progress right now, but we've reached 50 registrants in a little under 48 hours and we're heading forward to get 100 very soon.


With all said and done, I won't promise a precise date of release for anything. But if you have any questions regarding my 'getting organized and creative' series, I will write it here and publish to other places.


Thanks and sorry again,
^Noah (itsfutur)
noah@studioare.net
+FUTURTOPIA
@futurtopia on Twitter

64-Bit Gift of Roblox News!

Happy New Year everyone! As my gift-giving season comes to a close, I'd like to give out one more special gift as a way of showing my appreciation to the fans and Roblox News staff. 

A huge thank you is owed to the fans for supporting the blog for yet another year! In 2013 we smashed our pageview records are closing in on one million (we are currently at 950,000)! A massive thank you is also owed to the staff at Roblox News who have been tirelessly producing quality articles for everyone to read and enjoy! Our top articles this year have racked up thousands upon thousands of views, which is a great achievement for us. 

So, please take this gift to commemorate another great year of blogging! The Roblox News gift boxes are somewhat collectable as I release one every year - owning the gifts shows to others when you first started following the blog, giving you some form of bragging rights. 

Sparkly

Thanks for reading and Happy Near Year! 

-Arbirator 

Editor of Roblox News

Roblox News Festivities: Giftplosion, Site Logo, Group Logo

Image kindly provided by Sporeman15

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you ROBLOXians out there! This month has already been a blast; with the successful ROBLOX 2013 Giftsplosion, the excellent gamecard items and of course the stylish seasonal themed items (both new and old) available in the catalog. The Siege of Quebec added an extra surprise to budding ROBLOX gamers and even rewarded the vigilant among them with cool virtual hats. Roblox News has joined in with the Christmas cheer and has festivities of its own to bring to the blocky table.

Roblox News Giftsplosion 2013 

May I present to you the Roblox News 2013 Giftsplosion - an annual seasonal event where I (Arbirator) release a set of gifts (in model format) which I make available at specific points between now and the end of the month. In previous year's I have released gift boxes with encoded descriptions, that when deciphered reveal the exact time they will be put on sale on the catalog. Some I release as freebies, but some are more cryptic as mentioned above. On top of the puzzling gifts, I release a Roblox News themed gift to celebrate the achievements of the blog in that calendar year and as a special thanks to the thousands of fans that support the blog on a daily basis. Without the readers, this blog would never have reached this far. These boxes are regarded by myself as quite collectable and serve as a staple as to when a reader started following the blog.

Three of the gift boxes have already been uploaded to my models, with keen gift collectors already owning one of them. The uploaded gift models are as follows:

Bedazzling Orange Retro Gift 

"Bedazzling is the design, but in what respect is it retro?"  This gift was available on two separate Retro Hours. From 10:30-11:30 AM Central on the 16th December and from 4:00-5:00 PM Central on the 18th December. It will be opening soon!

Beautifully Vibrant Gift of Bubbles

"I'm forever blowing bubbles Pretty bubbles in the air They fly so high, nearly reach the sky Then like my dreams they fade and die". I'll give you a clue with this one; it's to with blurbs, well, one blurb in particular...

The Wonder Gift 

"Creating content admired by the community. You are a wonder". Ok, I'll admit it, this one is going to be pretty exclusive, but hey, that's life. 

More gifts are to come, including the collectable yearly RN themed gift - so look out for that!

Festive Site Logo and Group Logo

By TheInnovative

To bring about the Christmas cheer we have decided to make use of two themed logos to accompany our blog and our official group over on ROBLOX. The site logo was created by our very own Catalog Analyst: TheInnovative (previously known as Chubbs21). I particularly liked his design choice of the piled ROBLOX gifts from 2012 with different sizes to reflect the reality of Christmas items buried beneath the tree. I loved the addition of Santa and an Elf which really reflects the Christmas cheer and plays on the traditional mindset we have of the holiday. The old style background and font really cemented this traditional feeling, completing the RN Christmas site logo.

By Chris7198

The group logo on the other hand was created by long time fan of the blog: CYNICALCHRIS. Chris managed to captivate the feel of our default group logo (devised by none other than Assistant Editor IBarrageI) whilst adding a traditional Christmas theme. The blend of the snowman, elf and Santa Claus really presents the seasonal theme well, with players easily identifying its purpose. I also applaud the font style in which it captures a more seasonal theme than our default logo, with a more 'fun' look to it that you might seen on promotional Christmas material.


 Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

 -Arbirator
 Editor of Roblox News

RN: Black Friday Giveaway Winners!

Greetings! Today I bring you the winners of the Black Friday weekend giveaway we hosted last week. I have compiled a video showcasing the winners being drawn out one of the ROBLOX Fedoras that is ready to ship to one lucky user. Check out the content below:



Please note there have been some changes to the winners because two individuals have rejected their prizes due to the impracticality of me sending to them.

The five winners' ROBLOX usernames (they are twitter usernames in the vid) are as follows:

- ForeverFashion
- Woot3  (replaced TheStormMajor)
- flycarl23
- twintowers4u92
- waffle03 (replaced sweegghh)

Congratulations to all the winners! I will be aiming to post the items as soon as possible once we have postage, packing and addressing all finalised!

Look out for more giveaways and contests in the future and thanks for reading!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News

Last Chance to Enter the Black Friday Giveaway! (UK and EU only)

There is just one day left to enter the RN Black Friday giveaway in which will be giving either a t-shirt or fedora to five lucky users! In addition to the item won, you will receive a signed ROBLOX postcard by yours truly (Arbirator). This giveaway comes as a first in a string of future of draws and contests bristling with ROBLOX goodies from Roblox News! All you have to do to enter the giveaway is retweet the tweet below.

RT for a chance to win 1 of 5 ROBLOX T-Shirts and Fedoras in the #RobloxNews Black Friday giveaway this Friday! (UK and EU players only)
— ROBLOX News (@RBLXNews) November 26, 2013

UK and EU players are only allowed to enter this giveaway as the shipping costs to America are extremely expensive and I still have to work out the logistics of postage, pacaking and delivery. If you are from another continent such as North America and really don't mind paying the large excess in postage, then retweet and contact me afterwards.

Prize winners within the UK and EU may have to pay shipping on their items - although this will be worked out at the time and shouldn't be very expensive at all within the EU - the items themselves will of course be completely free. All winners will be contacted by a member of the Roblox News team by Monday 2nd December. Roblox News reserves the right to alter the terms and conditions of the giveaway at any time.

Good luck and make sure you retweet!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News 

Roblox News: Black Friday Giveaway! (UK and EU only)

Yes, that's right. This Black Friday Roblox News will be giving away two official ROBLOX Fedoras and 3 official t-shirts to UK and EU players (sorry American's, huge postage costs and all that). In addition to the item won, you will receive a signed ROBLOX postcard by yours truly (Arbirator). This giveaway comes as a first in a string of future of draws and contests bristling with ROBLOX goodies from Roblox News!

All you need to do to be in with a chance to win one of these five fantastic pieces of merchandise is to retweet the prize draw tweet below posted by the ROBLOX News Official Twitter Account.

RT for a chance to win 1 of 5 ROBLOX T-Shirts and Fedoras in the #RobloxNews Black Friday giveaway this Friday! (UK and EU players only)
— ROBLOX News (@RBLXNews) November 26, 2013

Prize winners may have to pay shipping on their items - although this will be worked out at the time and shouldn't be very expensive at all within the EU - the items themselves will of course be completely free. All winners will be contacted by a member of the Roblox News team by Monday 2nd December. Roblox News reserves the right to alter the terms and conditions of the giveaway at any time.

Thanks for reading! And remember to retweet before Friday 29th November!

-Arbirator 
Editor of Roblox News

SF Tourny 2013 Clarifications

Now, you're probably wondering, "What the heck is going on? I signed up for a Sword Fighting Tourny and never heard anything back." Well, it's time I clarify that instead of assuming that all of you can read my mind. Unfortunately, I tried to host it right when BLOXtober came about, and realized "Wait a minute. I should probably put this back to November, after all of this Halloween Hullabaloo is over." This really isn't a complicated post, nor is there too much to include here.

Just one other thing. If you are interested in building a map for the Tourny, then make the map and PM me. I'm not looking for the most amazing thing ever, just something better than an empty baseplate. Size restrictions are 140x90 studs. Remember, I'm looking for creative and interesting, not complicated and boring.

Well, that wraps it up, nothing more to say. Stay tuned and watch your inbox when November rolls around.

RN Swordfighting Tournament 2013

Welcome to the RN's 2013 Swordfighting Tournament!
Sponsored by TheGamer101

     This year, I'll be hosting two different tournaments, and details are as follows:

          Single Elimination

           -Will be played like a normal tournament, consisting of 1v1 duels building up to the finals. If you win your duel, you advance to the next round. Each round has a different map.

           -Want to make a map for the next round? Make it 140x90, make it a model PM me the link to it, and I will have a look at it and determine whether or not I will implement it.

           -To enter, PM me, DDude9091, that you would like to enter the Single Elimination competition. You MUST specify which one you are entering.

          Team Elimination

           -Will be played like a normal tournament, consisting of 2v2 duels building up to the finals. If you and your teammate win your duel, you advance to the next round. Each round has a different map.

           -Want to make a map for the next round? Make it 170x120, make it a model, PM me the link to it, and I will have a look at it and determine whether or not I will implement it.

           -To enter, PM me that you would like to enter the Team Elimination competition, and who your partner is. You MUST specify which one you are entering.

     Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the prize money (because I'm sure that it's all you guys care about). For Single Elimination, there will be a prize of 500 Robux. For the Team Elimination, each winner will receive 500 Robux. There is currently no prize for NBC players, due to the fact that it is pretty impossible to pay them. They can still participate, though. A prize may be devised at a later stage.

     I think that just about sums it up. Questions? Map submissions? PM me, I'll get right to them. There is currently no set date for the tournament itself, but you have to enter by the end of the month. An Q&A post will be created to answer common questions I receive before the end of the entering period.

Thanks for reading,

~DDude9091

Which Interns Made it as Permanent Staff?

Throughout the last month, as many of you know, Roblox News has been running a summer internship programme. The programme was highly successful in building skill-sets for our interns and providing them with much needed experience in the world of game journalism. Mentors and interns alike learnt from the experience, developing their team working skills and their ability to communicate well to both their target audience and members of staff. From intern feedback, and the sheer quality of articles produced, we have deduced that the interns thoroughly enjoyed their experience here at RN. For this reason we will be certainly continuing the programme next year!

So without further ado, it's time to present the newest permanent additions to the Roblox News blog team!


bennyhill44 will be working as a Site here at RN, producing ome place reviews, spotlights, and showcases on all the latest and greatest ROBLOX user generated content and ROBLOX groups. He will be joining our veteran team helping to contribute the articles you know and love. 





Darwin12 will be working as a Site Journalist specialising in articles discussing site news, ROBLOX developers and groups. Occasionally he will publish articles showcasing ROBLOX places displaying excellence in building and scripting too! So look out for a whole host of different articles from the talented Darwin12!






DDude9091 produced excellent, detailed place reviews during his summer internship, impressing me greatly. His talent in blogging will be captivated in his role as Game Journalist here on Roblox News. DDude9091 will be looking for the highest quality ROBLOX games to review, week in, week out. 




Elvinusa will also be working as a Game Journalist on Roblox News - focussing on producing detailed break-downs and reviews of the most popular ROBLOX games, revealing what really makes the games tick. Elvinusa joins our esteemed team of place reviewers!






Finally we have the elusive Robloxer032 who may have not produced a large quantity of articless, but produced them to a very high standard. Robloxer is a welcome addition to our Game Journalist department and will be working with Evilnusa and other esteemed reviewer to bring you the best user generated content ROBLOX has to offer. 



So there we have it: our five new permanent staff members at RN. Give the new team a warm welcome in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News 

A small Introduction to our new intern: bennyhill44

Hello guys, I am bennyhill44, the newest member of staff in Roblox News! I will be working here as a writer, and my dream is to get all of you reading my articles.

If possible, I will write up to 3 articles a day. They will mainly be about detailed places, but some will be about hats, models, gears and groups. If I drafting an article on your game, group, etc, I will need you to get what I need done for the article; e.g. quotes and pictures. I don't mind suggestions, but I run articles the way I need them, I won't allow you to decide what pictures I put on and what quotes go with what.

Things about me: I love writing and reading.  I love spending time with friends and just generally friendly people. I speak Spanish, French, English and German. I am trying to learn C++ and Lua. I am a complicated person and I would rather figure things out for myself. My future careers goals are; to work for ROBLOX as a writer and being a charity worker.

That's all really, my first article will be posted soon :D
See my profile: bennyhill44

A Short Introduction and an Exciting New Feature

Hello everyone, my name is Featherd and I am a new staff member here at RN. I will be working here as an Android developer, and I will be bringing the community a great RN app for a great mobile OS!

A few things to know about me:

• I know five languages, including English, Albanian, C++, Java and Lua
• I am a Bloxy Award Winner 2013 in the commercial category
• I am a huge fan of Android
• I love to build with friends

More importantly, I am pleased to announce an official Roblox News App for Android. My hope for this app is, that I can please the android community on RN and set a high standard for Roblox apps to come.

Some important things to know:

• I am striving for a clean and beautiful interface while still having great functionality
• The app will be free up until 10 days after release
• If you would like to help out, contact me at Vatajmain@gmail.com

I feel that this is an important stride into RN's future as the #1 news group on Roblox.

I will try to keep everyone posted on the the progress of the app.

Thank You,

-Featherd

"Wait, you were gone?"

Ha, yes.
Hello everyone, tis' I, Darwin12 again.

I just wanted to hit up a quick hello. I've been gone due to some recent question and misunderstand (aheheheheh) and I will resume writing articles.
My reuploads and even two other stories will be uploaded in the week coming up.

Many thanks,
Darwin12.

Roblox News Building Contest

Roblox News Building Contest

The day has finally come! RayMan36 here to introduce our new contest. This is for all the expert (and novice) CFramers out there who want to win some serious cash!

Our contest will be somewhat of a hackathon; you have certain requirements to fill, and in a certain amount of time. We will have many different "challenges" throughout the next few weeks. You will have a certain amount of time to complete a certain challenge and tweet me (@Rayman36_RBLX), or Roblox News (@RBLXNews). If you win, you will receive 1,000 Robux from the Roblox News Staff ! Now, without further ado, let's move on the first challenge!

Challenge 1: A Gothic Dilemma

Arbirator was building a Gothic cathedral one day. He had all of the arches built, but he had no clue where to put them! Your job is to use arbirator's arches and build a suiting structure for the everyday Dark Sorcerer. All of the arches are in this set. Good Luck! All of the entries are due by the 10th September. The winner will receive 1,000 robux for having the most creative use of the arches.

Here's my example.

-RayMan36

Roblox News Interns: Second Roll-Call!

Here at Roblox News we have been receiving summer internship applications all throughout last week. In this post I'm pleased to announce our second three interns! As with every year, the applications were of the highest quality and many were added straight to the 'definite intern' list after being read. There is no set number of summer interns - and it changes from year to year; positions offered are totally dependent on the number of quality applications. This is our second roll-call; you can read about our first roll-call right here!

What is the intern programme? 

A number of applicants are chosen to become summer interns here at Roblox News. These individuals will shadow staff members who are currently in occupation on the blog for the period of the (British) summer holidays - the programme ends on the 8th September. Interns will draft posts relevant to the shadowed staff member's area of expertise and will receive guidance from their mentor. The intern will receive feedback after each post they make via the ROBLOX private messaging system; they will given 3 positive points outlining what they did well, and given a target to improve upon in their next publication.

The idea of the programme is to equip aspiring writers and journalists with greater literacy and communications skills. Interns continuously learn from their experience by building relationships with both Roblox News staff and fans. Once the internship programme is over, interns may be asked to stay on as full time staff members right here at Roblox News!

Here are the second batch of summer interns!

Elvinusa submitted an excellent application consisting of a clearly outlined skill-set and experience he has acquired over his time on ROBLOX. Boasting an intelligent writing style and interesting format; Elvinusa informed me of his ROBLOX career within clans and how he hopes to utilise his knowledge in his future articles. He also displayed an interest in creating some new themed articles regarding ROBLOX places and the building behind them. For this reason, he will be shadowing one of our lead place reviewers; Peerpants.




Darwin12's application screamed individuality and freedom of expression - something that is highly sought after in the world of gaming journalism, and journalism as a whole for that matter. His attributes and past experiences were documented as well as his current professions including his very own blog and his ROBLOX machinima project. Darwin12 will be shadowing nitro357; a talented place reviewer.







I look forward to working with these two fantastically talented individuals, and rest assured we will be reading their quality publications this week! The third, and final batch of Roblox News summer interns will be announced tomorrow in our last roll-call! Don't miss it! 

Thanks for reading!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News