Interview with Summer Games Winners, Part 3

Welcome to the third article in our five-part series where we interview top players from each of the ROBLOX Summer Games. In this particular interview I caught up with OneWithEvil, a top daily player at ROBLOX Hiking and we discussed his feelings on the event and tips for users attempting to get the much-valued Player Points. He had a daily score of 3,987 Player Points and held first place for daily score on Thursday. Check out his responses to the questions below. 

Interview with Summer Games Winners, Part 2

Welcome to the second article in our five-part series where we interview the top players from each of the ROBLOX Summer Games. In this particular interview I caught up with Iryzee, the top weekly player at Call of ROBLOXia 5 and we discussed his feelings on the event and tips for users attempting to get the Adurite prizes. He has a weekly score of 9,563 playerpoints as of writing which is almost 1,000 more than the individual in second place. Check out his responses to the questions below. 

Interview with Summer Games Winners, Part 1

Welcome to the first edition to a new five-part series where we interview the top weekly player from each of the official Summer Games. In this particular interview we spoke to TheShaun - an avid player of Paintball! 2 by daxter33. He is currently at the top of the weekly leaderboard for this game, with a total of 18k+ playerpoints - 3k more than second place! Check out his responses below.

Summer Games: Quick Tips

Greetings all! My number one tip to you would be to give up trying to get in the top 20 and do something with your life; I'm just joking of course, your life is already a lost cause, and it is indeed possible to get in the top 20! Who needs sunshine, when you have the Summer Games where you can sit on your computer for an entire day and drink vast quantities of caffeinated drinks?

This Summer; why go to the beach when you can enjoy screaming obscene things at people across the internet?

Irony.

On a serious note, I hope you are all having fun in the Summer Games. I know they are difficult, but valiant effort is rewarded and exploiters are being dealt with by the Summer Games' creators, server admins employed by developers, and of course the ROBLOX moderation team. It might leave you with a severe case of jaw-drop when I say it is indeed possible to get in the top 20 on the daily leaderboards despite what the community is saying, especially for games which don't just require point hoarding (grinding) and luck, but rather skill and expertise. For each game in the Summer Games official ROBLOX event I will be detailing a number of tips that will help you shoot up the leaderboard and battle for supremacy with the top dogs and no-lifers (like myself). So, get the blood pumping, the adrenaline racing, and the profane language at the ready; it's time to enter the ROBLOX Summer Games.

Game Building: How to Entice Players

Hello readers, unfortunately I will be inactive for the next month due to summer camp. I also apologize for the mistakes I made on my previous article, reviewing The Sith Empire // Hoth.  The reason I made those mistakes was because of personal issues, forcing me into an anxious state which made me rush the review, without being careful, and considerate of proper grammar.

Hello, I am xLando and I will be writing about hooks in places, and how to keep players playing. As a game journalist, I have gotten the chance to experience multiple games, with different genres, yet some are similar in some very distinct ways. This article should give you a decent look at how to add a "hook" into your places.

Lobbies
Most lobbies are personalized to fit the place, for example, say you had a place all about the Mad Murderer, it would be in your best interests to possibly add in some murder-themed artwork, as well as murder themed- props to your lobby.

For this Paintball game, the lobby is on the sidelines, giving players who are waiting for the next round something to do (watch the ongoing match), and keep themselves busy.

There is also a "Shop" icon on the bottom right, as I said, this also gives people something to do whilst they wait.


In lobbies, make sure to have some activity, whether it is housing a shop there, or even showing a small menu of who won last round, and player statistics. The lobby could have a short obby, players do not want to sit around, waiting for the nest game/round.

You want to always make sure that the lobby is aesthetically pleasing (looks good) ways you can do this are:  nice looking  floors and walls, good textures, and  use of proper c-framing and building tools. Making it non-aesthetically pleasing deters new visitors, lowering your visit rate.

Best place to win Player Points

Hello guys, this is just a short article to take you to the best place to earn Player Points, unfortunately it is BC only though the owner does make it NBC often.

The game is Swordfight for Points 2, created by 1waffle1. At this moment in time, it only has roughly 4,700 place visits, though I am sure it will gain more.

Christmas Rush Quick Guide

Hello guys :D This is my latest post, and I am sorry for taking soooo long!
I am sure all of you are excited for Christmas, looking forward to waking your parents up at 6 in the morning to look in stockings, running upstairs or downstairs to the Christmas tree for the presents, eating Christmas dinner and maybe celebrating it all with family and friends that aren't normally around!

The Christmas Rush is an amazing game where you make, paint and wrap gifts. All the while you are dressed as an Elf, and you deliver the gifts to Santa's Sleigh and gain Cookies. Christmas Rush has been around since 2011 I think, although I started to play it in 2012. I think it is an amazing game,  because to see the young children talking about Santa, and Christmas, it makes me feel happy to know people still believe in him.

The clip below is my way to make cookies quick:

Steps:
[1] Buy the Exclusive VIP Game Pass
[2] Buy the Half-Speed VIP Game Pass
[3] Join the game
[4] Go to the Storage Room, and get 3 Strings
[5] When you get 50 cookies, go in the Workshop
[6] To the left of the workshop, there is a little room, go in
[7] To the left hand side of the little room, there will be 2 potions, buy the blue one - You will be faster at walking
[8] When you get 100 cookies, go back and buy the red potion - You will get +3 cookies per gift
[9] Now you just get 3 strings, go to Magic Infusers (Near Plastic Modeling) to make them into Gravity Coils
[10] Then head into Gift Wrapping and make them into Presents
[11] Then go to the back of the Sleigh, and click it - then click all the presents
[12] Do this over and over

I have all Badges, except the Beta Tester ones. It took me roughly 3 hours maybe a bit more. Everyone starts of with a Crafting Book. This tells you how to make everything, and for people with Exclusive VIP you just get a finished item (Only Guitars, Swords, Skateboards, String, Sleighs and RoPeds) and put it in a Magic Infuser.

Hope this helps you guys :D

To go to the game, Click Here.
To go to Tiger12289's Profile, Click Here.

-Prolixen

The Witching Hour Battle and Travel Tips

#ThanksBloxhilda

 Hello Readers, today I will give you some "tips and tricks" of the new Witching Hour game. I have myself a few Bloxikins under my belt, the latest being the Hallo-Bot. I have a couple rules laid out for you.

Rule #1: If you have money, spend it.

This is, in my mind, the almost greatest machination roblox has come up with to take money away from the Economy. I am never against these: they are housekeeping issues so no one can overthrow or rule Roblox (Did you think the admins hired Merely just because he was a great scripter and builder?). Anyway, if you really want to get all the bloxikins, the Motorcycle is the best way to go, since warp spots are now obsolete.

Rule #2: Use the map

The map is always the best way to go for directions to a POI. They are already marked out, and some are right next to other Admin Houses, Like Reese and Tarabyte (Just go South from Reese). Warps are awesome, in use with the map as well.

Rule #3: House Farm

Now getting into some battle techniques. Once you get a quest, don't stray far from the admin's house. Usually the Houses are in clusters of four, and with the new update, you can't stay at the same house. Just go to the houses in a circle and you will be still close to base.

Rule #4: Check The Obiter Dictums

The biggest mistakes I have made in this game were not checking for last comments, namely, the bloxikin quests. Usually the admin will have something good for you if you button bash his dialogue and himself. 

Rule #5: Always on Fire

The pumpkin, right now, is one of the best attacks in the arena. it is devastating because of its hard blow and burn. I know we all have to deal sometimes with three monsters at once, so simply light them all up and ride your brown dog to victory. Usually freezing helps, too. The ram is useful, but tricky to use against spiders. Also, since most of you are upgrading, use the bomb: the enemies always follow you, so why not kill them for it?

Rule #6: Plan Your Own Chartered Course
This is a definite must. This rule means to do things your own way. If you like to use ram more than the bombs, then go for it. It also means to never partner with someone; it slows you down greatly. Lastly, rule 6 makes sure you know where to go. Never wander aimlessly; the map allows you to find an admin's name. Happy Hunting!

I died, but spawned exactly where I left off, no damage, and I didn't pay anything. #ThanksBloxhilda

-RayMan36

Halloween 2013: The Witching Hour Guide

Halloween 2013: The Witching Hour

Hello! Recently, ROBLOX release their Halloween Event, The Witching Hour. The goal of the Event is to explore through a GIANT map (20,000 x 20,000 Studs), collecting loot in houses and completing quests by admins. Once you completely finish the admin's quest, you will get their "BLOXikin," once you have all of the BLOXikins, you will then harness the power to defeat the evil Bloxhilda and save Bloxburg. So, for this post I'm going to be going over some of the major aspects of the game; Admins and their Quests, The Shop, and The Map.

Ads - Making Sure Yours Run The Best

Greetings Roblox News readers! I'm here today to give you some hopefully appreciated help concerning ads. There are a lot of different things that affect how well ads run. These include your tix bet amount, the size of the ad, the quality of the ad, and much more. We will focus on each of these specifically throughout this article. Lets start with just explaining how ads work.

An Introduction
Ads are a way for Robloxians to advertise his/her place, clothing, model, or group. To run an ad, you have to choose a position for it to be displayed (banner, skyscraper or rectangle), details of the ad, upload the ad to ROBLOX, and then bet money on the ad. The more money you bet on the ad, the more times it'll be shown to a ROBLOXian. Note: Only TIX can be bet on an ad.

So this might not seem like a big deal to some people, but that's what I'm here for. I'm here, to explain how big of a deal it is to run an ad, and how important it is that you do it right.

There are many determinants that (guess what they do)...Determine - duh...That determine how well your ads run...They include...

• Template Size
• Page Positioning
• 'Moneh' bet
• Quality
• Originality

Template Size and Page Positioning
First off, lets talk about size. There are 3 ad sizes that are conveniently named, Rectangle (300x250 Pixels), Skyscraper (160x600 Pixels), and Banner (728x90 Pixels). Now each of these sizes are important to consider when running ads. Why? Because certain ad sizes only run on certain pages. Below I've made a list of the different places each ad shows...

Skyscraper

Rectangle

Banner

Rectangle: Games Page (Main one, NOT on individual games pages'), Profile Page
Skyscraper: Home Page, Build Page, ALL pages concerning the forum, Groups Page, Money Page, Advertising Page
Banner: Catalog Page, Build Page, ALL pages concerning the forum, People (Browse) Page, Profile Page, Character Page, Friends Page, Groups Page, Inventory Page, Sets Page, Trade Page, Money Page, Advertising Page

As you can see, there is an OVERWHELMING difference between the amount of pages each type of ad could be viewed on. What can we learn here? Banner seems to be the best choice of all! It shows up on almost every page of Roblox! This leads us to our second point, positioning.

One major determinant of how well your ad(s) run is there positioning. For example, notice how rectangle ads are shown near the bottom of profiles? Where a banner ad is ALWAYS at the top? ROBLOXians who are quickly skimming a player's status will with no doubt see the banner ad, however, if they do not scroll down the page, they may not ever see your rectangle ad. A poor waste of money if your ad isn't even seen! Other ads that might be definitely seen when you open up a page are sometimes ignored, depending on the ROBLOXian and what the page is. Forum Pages fall directly under this category. On the forums, people don't usually look at the ads, they want to cut to the chase and post, post, post. They're so used to seeing ads on the sides that they are ignored by the majority of forumers. But then again, it depends on who it is.

Money Bet
Now lets look at yet another determinant of how well your ad(s) run. The determinant is called moneh. Yesh, good ol' fashioned moneh. I would've said 'green stuff' but since you bet on ads with tix, which are yellow, I couldn't.

Anyway, the amount of money you bet can really change how well your ads do. If you bet 50 (the minimum) your ad will show less than 300 times probably, coming up with a pretty ineffective use of your tix. However, if you bet the opposite extreme, 49k tix...You're looking at every user seeing the same ad MULTIPLE times. When a user sees the same ad multiple times, his innards keep saying, "I wonder what is behind that ad" The first time they see it they might glance over it...The second time they're like, "Hey, I've seen that before" The third time they're going to be like, "I really want to click it, but I must resist." And man...That fourth time knocks them down and they are like, "Right, I've GOT to click it now". Then they click it. So yeah, don't say, "No you, I don't do that." I know you do.

Quality
Next lets look at quality...Quality is one of the more important determinants that you'll have to learn to cope with. Well, quality or failure, one...When a Robloxian sees an ad, he's not really going to click it unless you find it interesting/cool. The way you make something 'cool' is by designing it well. This is such an important determinant that people make a living on Roblox by making quality ads for people. So this really isn't hard to understand, its just hard to do. Basically, want your ad to do well? Design the ad to where most Robloxians will want to see what's behind it. For example, if i just see a picture of a noob and it says, "before it clicked." And underneath it is a picture of an 'epic looking' Robloxian with the caption, "after he clicked." The background is whitish.

I think everyone here knows that this is simply a badly designed ad. The maker probably put less then 3 minutes into it. Now lets imagine you create an epic ad with the graphic design based around a motorcycle with flames coming up around it and a glowing sword, you might be like, "Heh, that is cooool...Its a glowing sword with a flame car...I wanna see what that game is!"

Yeah, no sword, but heh, the motorcycle on the left is definitely well designed, right?

That ad might take approximately 15 minutes to make...Alot more work, with alot more results.

Originality
Lastly, lets take a few quick seconds to go over originality. Remember the fail ad I mentioned before? That format and design has been used over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Yes, the extra emphasis on the 'over and' was purposeful. It's originality has become a whopping 0. Now, lets take into consideration my sword/car ad...I think we can all agree that it is what I call..."o-riginal" Has anyone ever seen an ad with a car in it and a sword that glows? If you have, then it was only once or so because I certainly haven't. This ad (if it was real) would have a 100 on originality. If it had been used before, then maybe a 95, which is still pretty good.

Alright, now that I've gone over most of everything about running ads and probably confused you backwards, forwards and zigzagwards...Let me do a quick summary...Remember that...

1. Is your template size reaching out to the audience you are trying to grab?
2. Will it be in an easily viewable position or will it be hidden or ignored?
3. Did you bet enough money?
4. Is your ad of quality design?
5. Is your ad original?

Thanks for reading and I hope to elaborate on some of the ideas here. Cya guys later and I hope you were able to learn something!

Oh and, forgive me if you find the article to be badly written or not '---blank---'. This is my first article and I'll continue to improve each time.

Making Your Code Professional

Good Coding Practice

Hello, my name is Cameron Stickley ( LOLFUNNY12345 | @roblox_tweeter ). You probably don't know me but I was a Roblox Builder and was very active but rarely use Roblox now. I have turned my head away from building and now spend my spare time using code to do complex maths algorithms and make programs to test my abilities. I know Pascal, Python and some RBX.Lua. 

When you learn computer science and research code structures you start to take on the ideas which go with them, these ideas being Code Structure. There are 4 main ideas I want to describe how to use properly.

Indentation

Some languages (inlcuding Python) don't use "end" to end a function or procedure instead they will use "white space". This means that the compiler will check to see if the next line of code has been indented to a same or greater distance and then skip over it. If it's not indented as far it is "out of the function" this means that the compiler thinks it is the continuation of the code. Indentation also makes your code look neater, cleaner and more organised, it helps with cleaning up or removing errors that occur in the code and mean you can edit code more simply.

Comments

You may be used to people occasionally placing comments in code as jokes, for instance as you read through "Person299's Admin Commands V2" wrote in RBX.Lua on the Roblox platform you will see him commenting just about a bug on his computer screen. This is not a useful use of comments, they are meant to be used to explain what is going on in that section of code and why. This means that you can debug the code easier and not affect the rest of the source code.

Functions/Procedures

Functions and procedures allow you to call a predefined set of code with certain parts of information entered to affect the code, you don't always need a parameter in a function but most do require one. For instance in RBX.Lua the most used function is probably wait([number]) not many people think of this as a function but it is, it stops the code for a selected amount of time and when there is no parameter or argument entered ( wait() ) the value is set to the default you can change in roblox studio settings (I think it's 0.0333333 seconds). Functions also make it easier to debug as you only have one line to change with an error rather than as many times as it appears. This allows easier debugging and neater code.

Variables

The 2 main variable problems are you need to define variables at the start of code to reset the value to prevent errors due to dividing by zero etc. The next problem is sensible names; you may think good coders use "for i = 1, 3 do" in RBX.Lua (sorry if code is incorrect syntax, been using varying languages recently) but this is the sign of an amateur. "i" is not a sensible variable name and does not help. Try using "count" rather than "i". 

Following these rules should help you become a better coder, thank you for reading.

Strategizing: TheGamer101's Sword Fighting Heaven

                                              (Now with more awful homemade logos!)
"Strategizing" is a new series of sorts I'll do once in a while, in which I pretty much give you the run-down on a certain game, and give the best possible advice on what to do to stay on top. The first game we'll be taking a look at is TheGamer101's Sword Fighting Heaven, which is pretty much your run of the mill sword fighting game with a twist, featuring about 100 swords to use. There are 10 tiers in the game, in which you need to buy every sword, and get a kill at least once too, then you will move onto the next tier. Simple enough? Good.

While there isn't exactly much "strategy" to the game besides the generic swordfighting tactics, there are a few weapons that are pretty broken and stand out, and obviously I will be listing them! Also yes the links to the actual gear will be provided so you may go anger everyone you know with these lovely items!


7. Chief Gaurdsman Spear

I know what you're thinking; "chief gaurdsman spear? that item's foor noobs!" No, not really, the main advantage this item has over a good majority of the other swords in the game is that it packs a killer range. Someone running towards you with a short-ranged sword? Thrust out the spear, watch them get bloxxed. (if their sword doesn't have some sort of ranged attack)


 6. Skeleton King's Sword


If anything, the Skeleton King's Sword makes it onto this list for one reason, the spin move. (tap "w" twice and left click) Once you accomplish this, your character will pull out two swords and start spinning at an uncontrollable speed, and thanks to the sword having a 20% chance to break joints, it's going to get some work done if you time it correctly.


5. Ice Breaker

The Ice Breaker is arguably one of the most fun to use swords to use in the game, press Q to go stationary and send out a stream of chilling, deadly frost at your foes to freeze them into an ice cube, and then finish the job with a smash to the good 'ol plastic cranium. Although please note that if you attempt to freeze an enemy it will freeze your teammates to try to refrain from doing that, unless you're evil or something then go ahead

4. The Break Up

At first glance the Break Up may look like a re-skin of the normal crowbar, but you'd be mistaken, oh so very mistaken. The difference here? An entirely different animation, and possibly even deadlier than the original. But the main kicker to this sword is the animation can be spammed several times just by rapidly clicking, which results in pretty much any foe walking up to you losing their hats, their sword, and their dignity. Yes this weapon also breaks teammate's hats/and or swords..

3. Darksteel Katana of Ancient Illuminators

The Darksteel Katana is a controversial weapon, mostly due to it's hidden ability, upon pressing "a", "w", and "d" rapidly, you release a long range explosion from the sword killing anything in-front of you. It also works on your teammates, if you're a troll or something but we won't get into that. It also features a dash which is cool I guess, but what could possibly be better than a sword that explodes? Also please note that this sword does not count explosion kills for points. So if you wanted to farm with this then you're kinda outta luck.

2. Dreamwalker's Dagger

Besides looking insanely cool, the Dreamwalker's Dagger isn't all looks, it features a thrust/dash which you'll primarily be using to get around with, and if you press "q", a bunch of mini-versions of the dagger will come flying out, possibly 1 hit killing enemies, or just making "z"s appear above their heads. What I recommend you do with this sword, is thrust toward the enemy, or enemies, and hit Q as soon as you're close enough to them, the swords should fly right into their face killing them, and leaving you with only a few scratches or none at all.

1. Towering Inferno Sword
Okay, okay, before you go about preparing to call me whatever names you can come up with on short notice, just listen, the Towering Inferno sword deals mediocre damage, but when you lunge with it, it creates a column of fire right in-front of where it was pointing, which will burn anyone to a crisp that walks near it. Also yes, this sword does count points and is by far the best one to farm points with next to The Break Up.


Honorable Mention
Dagger of Shattered Dimensions

The Dagger of Shattered Dimensions features one main reason to pick it up, upon pressing "q", you will release a shock-wave that will freeze enemies for a few seconds, which results in easy picking. If you could use the ability more than once though, this dagger would've made it onto the list, but alas, you cannot.



So there you have it, I've pretty much told you how to "win" TheGamer101's Sword Fighting Heaven, while of course there are many other interesting swords these are just the ones I found most effective while playing, and yes all of these can be found as real gear, and bought. Although I'd like to note a few things about the game;

• The Sorcus Sword of Judgement does not have the "sphere" ability anymore, making it sort of mediocre.
• You cannot summon "zombies" or whatever with the Telamon's Foe Hammer, making it slightly above average.
• Tier 10 pretty much consists of the Spartan Sword and Shield, the Scimitar, Dual Darksteel Katanas, Foe Hammer, a bunch of SFOTH Swords, and the Dreamwalker Dagger (which is the only one worth using to be honest).

If this post does get enough traction I will do a review for this game, and while it won't be sugar coated, it will be fun to get my opinion on all of TheGamer's games out in one review. But as I said, I'm going to save it, I will be going back to regular schedule this week, with two reviews, one including LegoBlock Adventure 4, and another featuring, well, you'll have to see, and possibly a spotlight if I can fit in the time. Thanks to the Steam Summer Sales I'm kinda more occupied with the games I have atm, but do not worry I am not going anywhere. As always, good day, and have a nice week. Also, if you care enough leave a comment down below on what game you'd like to see reviewed/spotlighted soon, or heck even a strategy guide.

ROBLOX Egg Hunt 2013 Guide!

Greetings fellow egg hoarders! Today I bring you a comprehensive eggsponential guide of every egg that is currently available within the ROBLOX Egg Hunt 2013, which was beautifully crafted by the ROBLOX content team. The spawn areas, special abilities and tips to obtaining each egg will be detailed below along with important information about the map. (I promise - no more egg puns).

The Egg Hunt is a game published by the staff account named 'Games'; being joint-created by Tarabyte, Sorcus, Stickmasterluke and Brighteyes to name a few. The place has been visited a total of 1,367,732 times and has experienced 17,000 concurrent players making it easily the most popular ROBLOX event EVER. There are a total of 24 eggs that can currently be collected by players and all can be worn as hats. As of writing there are three unreleased badges which are all likely to be eggs that can be only be obtained on certain days of the hunt. These exclusive eggs will be added to the guide as the hunt progresses.

Egg Hunt Map

So without further ado, here is the ROBLOX Egg Hunt 2013 guide: 
(use CTRL-F to find the specific egg you are looking for)

                     
                       Watermelon
This egg spawns in the grassland area very close to the ring of teleporters. It is a common egg with several appearing on the map at once and can be easily obtained with the player simply walking over it. Once the egg is collected, pieces of melon scatter around the player's feet - a juicy touch.

Roblox pushes out new "featherweight" update, new era of Roblox?

As everyone who has ever played games on Roblox knows, the lag from a large amount of parts will drop your FPS like a brick dropping off of a building (get it?). However, that is all about to change as Roblox recently pushed out the new "featherweight" update which will render bricks much faster, giving a 10 to 20 time increase in performance.

The featherweight was recently hinted by ZolarKeth, co-creator of the famous zombie-survival RPG Apocalypse Rising, in a recent interview done by Roblox. If you remember a while back, Apocalypse Rising sported a larger map for a couple of weeks, however, the map was shrunken due to complaints from players not being about to handle the enormity of it. In the interview, ZolarKeth mentioned his plans for version 4.0 of his game: a better inventory system, vehicles, and "new scenery and points of cover to get behind, as well as more detailed trees and buildings."

What surprised me about that statement was that Gusmanak previously mentioned that he will not develop vehicles into the game due to lag issues, and that the only way for this addition to happen, Roblox had to dramatically decrease lag cause by parts. ZolarKeth's statement, however, mentions the addition of parts to add detail to buildings and terrain, in addition to vehicles. This hinted that the "featherweight" update was quickly approaching.

Preview of Apocalypse Rising Vehicles

Soon after on December 4th, Shedletsky (formerly Telamon) posted a thread on IronNoob (a Roblox forum) that showed his major FPS improvements when playing EBR's Block Town, all the way from 20 FPS to 300 FPS. A demo was also available to download.

At first, the demo of the "featherweight" update had many bugs, including disappearing meshes, not being able to work on some computers, headless Robloxians, etc. However, most have been ironed out for the live release of this update. The update works on all parts that are anchored, attached to an anchored part via welds, without meshes, are not made of the material "Corroded Metal." That means it will not work for meshed parts, but don't worry, Shedletsky confirmed the Roblox development team is working on it.

What Does This Mean for You?

Whether you like developing games or simply enjoying them, you can now do it more efficiently and at a higher graphical fidelity. Although the update did not directly improve the graphics by adding more shaders or better textures, it gives the content creator the option of using more parts. More parts = more detail = better looking games.

How Do I Take Advantage of the Update?

As a player, nothing much. But as a builder, there is much to do to optimize your place for the update. Here are a few questions I want you to answer.

1. Does your place primarily use bricks with "BlockMesh"?
2. Does your place use lots of "Corroded Metal" bricks?
3. Does your place have lots of unanchored parts?

If you answered "Yes" to question 1, I have a possilbe solution for you. You first need take out all the "BlockMesh" out of the bricks. Then, you can smooth out the ugly bevel edges using my tutorial and then even add a material to make it look better than before.

If you answered "Yes" to question 2, this is the solution. You could just replace the material to another material. Or you could make a texture of rust and put it on all your bricks, although it wouldn't be bumpmapped and wouldn't look so well. I recommend just sticking with it and waiting for an update to fix this.

If you answered "Yes" to question 3, there might be something you can do. If most of your unanchored parts are not moving and not attached to an anchored part, ANCHOR THEM! Quite simply really. If they need to be moving however, you have little you can do.

Have fun with a lag-free time playing the new Roblox update! And look forward to Apocalypse Rising v4.0 because it looks really fun.

-yomamadude6

Mango's Tutorials: How to create successful ads

Advisement's; some are good, some are bad. Some get lots of clicks, some don't. Today I'm going to teach you how to make good ones, that people will click.

Really, there are only 2 types of ads people will click:

• Humorous ads
• Very well made ads

If you have an ad that includes humor, it doesn't necessarily have to be well made. Because if you can get the person to laugh, that's all the matters.

So, since this isn't "Mango's Tutorials: How to be funny", were going to focus on well made ads. Beautiful hand crafted ads that show whatever they are advertising.

Since I don't really know what graphics program you use, I'm just going to tell you what people like to click, and hopefully you can re-create those effects on your program.

Here's one of my simple examples:

See how the text is nice and bold? This is a plus for ads. When your clicking around the Roblox site, your going to completely ignore the ads unless something really pops out at you.

Here's an example of a poorly made ad:

Sorry to whoever made this, but it's not something I, or probably you, would click anytime soon. It's to simple, bland and looks like a stop sign. You want to ad many colors and ambient into your ad, it doesn't have to look like a stop sign to pop out.

Here's another bad example:

Whats wrong with this one? Well for one, it doesn't pop out. Two, it looks like someone just cut out pictures of a magazine and pasted them onto an ad. This is another thing you don't want to do, copy and paste pictures to the ad, unless of course you actually have a nice background and have the ability to put drop shadows and ambient around them.

This is what a good ad should look like:

Clean. Organized. Pops out. Colorful. Ambient's. Drop shadows. Captivating text. All in all, you really want to include these in your ad, because if you don't, it will just get lost in the competition.

Thanks for reading! PM me any questions HERE.

Don't forget to comment and click the 'Helpful' button below the post!

-Mango

Community Article: Retexturing Guide 101 by nuke98

Okay, so I know there are a lot of retexturing guides out there on the internet, but there seems to be a lack of good retexturers in the basic ROBLOX community. So, I am making this thread if you do not know how to retexture, or if you do, and want other tips. I am going to combine tips from multiple professional retexturers (IBarrageI and the sort) to smooth out your skills.

________________________________________________________
Basics
Tools - 1A
Where to find the texture - 2A
How to retexture - 3A
Re-applying the retexture - 4A
Publishing the hat as a model - 5A
Advanced/Tips
Texture Mapping 1B
Hue and Saturation control 2B
Adding Realism 3B
Tips 4B
________________________________________________________
1A
The basic tools you will need to retexture is simple. ROBLOX studio, to access the hat files. You will need a image editing program, such as Paint.net or Photoshop, however the best program is determined by the user. Try different programs! These are all the tools you will need. Simple.
________________________________________________________
2A
To find a texture of a hat or gear, you first must open up your Edit (ROBLOX Studio). Next, is a bit risky. Go into free models, and search the hat you are wishing to retexture. This is risky because many models are infected with a virus. After you have found a non-infected hat, you select it, which highlights it in the explorer window on the right side of the screen. Next, press the plus button on the highlighted item. In the selections available, click "Mesh". Next, below the explorer window, in the properties, go down to the "TextureId" slot, and copy the numbers in the link. That is the ID number of the texture you are using!
________________________________________________________
3A
Okay, now that you have the ID number, you can go to any item in the catalog. Literally any. Now, once you are there, up in the URL bar, replace the end numbers in the current URL with the numbers you got from your texture. Press enter, and you will come to your hats texture! Once you are there, copy the image and paste it into your image editing program. Now, you can edit it however you wish. This is not something you can or can't do, so get creative! Save it to your computer in an easy to access folder or on your desktop, then you can close all your programs to clean up your workspace.
________________________________________________________
4A
Now that you have your texture, you must upload it as a decal. Go into your Stuff tab under My ROBLOX, and click on Decals in the left selection. Above all of the decals, you should find a "Create decal" link. Click it, then do as the instructions say to upload a decal. After you have done that, go to your freshly uploaded decal, and copy the numbers at the end of the URL in the URL bar. Next, go back to your place in edit mode, and insert the same hat. Follow all the same instructions up to the properties window. After you are there, simply replace the numbers at the end of the TextureId with the ID number of your decal and press enter. Admire the beauty of your new hat!
________________________________________________________
5A
Almost done! Now, to upload this hat to your models, you must search the top bar in edit mode for the File tab. Select your hat, then click the files tab and go down to "Publish Selection to ROBLOX..." then follow along those steps. After you click done, you've retextured your first hat!
________________________________________________________
1B
Now, something not covered previously, is texture mapping. The map of each hat is unique to only that hat. So, to start simple, if you have an egg that you want to retexture, it is simply like folding a piece of paper over a bowling ball. It will bend, and thus altering your texture. Some hats are easier to retexture. One of the most basic is the Red grind hat. One of the more difficult being a Present box, or the Ice Crown. So, just watch out for textures being altered by the shape of the hat, although most are easily identified on what goes where.
________________________________________________________
2B
Hue is the more sophisticated way to say color. However, hue also means the brightness of the color. You want to control this, because if your color ends up being too bright, or just the wrong color, your hat can end up looking extremely abnormal, and will not fit in. It won't be enjoyable to look at. Make sure to keep the hue dark, but not too dark, because if you do it will look dull and empty. Saturation is kind of like hue, but it is how much of a color is in the color itself. For an easy example, it is like the gradual build from color to black and white. Too much hue makes it look like the color was just poured onto the screen, and too little can make it look dry and dead. This can be used to an advantage, although can be a problem too.
________________________________________________________
3B
A problem with most retextures in the current state of ROBLOX is no realism. They draw black lines bordering colors, and make a dramatic shift from purple to red. A couple ways you can counter this is by using a color blend, smudge, or stitch effect. Also, try not to make the colors too bright, unless it is intended. Realism is especially important while making army caps, since they are supposed to be army. Most soldiers don't walk around in lime green camouflage. But hey, some might. Also, try not to make the colors on the hat too different. Again, unless it is intended.
________________________________________________________
4B
One of my biggest tips, from experience, is delete your decals after you have taken the ID number. This will help cut down on your texture getting copied if it is good enough. Yes, this shouldn't be a problem, but it is. Another, is while making your texture, think about how it will look on your ROBLOXian, not just how it will look on the hat. Another is if it doesn't look right, it isn't. Move some of the contents of the texture around and then try it again. Whether it be rotating, or simply moving. Also, start on easier hats. Such as the Red grind, or some sort of hair. Add-ons to the image program you use are suggested, since it will add variety. Last, keep your work space clean. Make sure ROBLOX, ROBLOX Studio, and your Image program are the only programs open. A messy work space makes for a confused person.

________________________________________________________

Follow all these tips and you are well on your way to becoming an accomplished retexturer!

This Community Article was kindly given to us by nuke98, a brilliant retexturer who was one of the 6 winners of Roblox News' first retexture contest: 'Radical Retextures'

Nuke98's entry was the 'Radioactive Man' and was published to the catalog. It was a glorious blend of colours which appealed to me as an extremely professional looking asset. 


The original thread with this retexturing guide can be found here. 

Caution!; ROBLOX Comments

Hello everyone! TheEasterZombie here, and in my first post on Roblox News I'll be taking a glance into the shadowy underworld of offsite links in comments.

The comments are a place where people can share their opinions on places, items and hats, right? Well, it was, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. ROBLOX commentry is filled with place advertising, phishing and plain ridiculous offsite links. All in the day of a comment stream.

Today I'm going to be looking at three offsite links I have seen in the past week in the comments page of some popular ROBLOX hats. But always excersize extreme caution when clicking an offsite link (unless you're absolutely crazy like me, and are willing to sacrifice your computer, your ROBLOX account and your soul to Korean gangsters. Who play ROBLOX. There are many).

3; Mediafire Links (A.K.A. Not even being subtle about it)

Mediafire links, I hear you say? Why would anyone click, even less, download these things? People do. Although anyone above the age of 10 should know that downloading things of questionable origin is a no-no. Here's an example I plucked from a comments page;

And there are a million reasons why you shouldn't click something like this. However I want to get this post done sometime this millenium, so here's reason #1; Do you like having a computer?

2; rewards.roblox.co.cc (A.K.A. Looking professional and fooling the masses)

rewards.roblox.co.cc was perhaps the most sophisticated phishing ROBLOX site ever invented. Promising 10,000 R$ to anyone who spams thier link 10 times, and giving a real-time counter of users who qualified for this, the website really looked and felt legitimate.

They even listed off thier server providers and website information-- luring people even further into a sense of security. I tested this out with an alternate account. Without posting any spam, I entered my account name and password-- And then the page told me this account didn't have Builder's Club. Clever, clever.

The next day, I checked my alternate account; lo and behold, someone had logged on. But they didn't change my password, or even steal my money, they just bought the Mildly Disturbing mask and moved on. Some very nice phishers let the sprats back into the waters.

Overall over 500 accounts were compromised by this website-- until the ROBLOX admins got it shut down. And the user came back; rewards.robloxtmp.co.cc is live and collecting more and more accounts. You're very welcome to take a look around the site-- just don't pop your password in or start spamming. You get nothing for it.

1;medejong.com (A.K.A. not even ROBLOX related,  but hilarious for it)

medejong.com That is all.

Generally, you should avoid clicking anything in the comments that links offsite and you should probably be pretty cautious of anything on-site too. Believe me; A Roblox Browser which I forget the name of ended up killing my computer. Stabbed right through the system32. So in short, a list of what to click and what not to click on ROBLOX comments. Remember, it's a jungle out there.

What to click;

ROBLOX Links (generally)

What not to click;

Anything else

Google Chrome Roblox Hat Notifier.

Many users on Roblox want to know if they can catch the new limited before it goes out of stock or get the new headphones everyone has heard about. You'll be the first one to know!


I'll be interviewing the Roblox Hat Notifier!


Today I'll show you where to get it and how it works. It's 100% certified  trustable, meaning there are no keyloggers, spyware, or malware.


The Interface:

As you can see, at the bottom left corner there are notifications explaining the results of the new hat. At the top right it shows that Roblox is on, if the bar is red, it means Roblox is offline.


How It Works:

The extension constantly checks each new item for the class "Hat". The notifier will then supply a notification showing "It looks like a brand new item!" with it's name. When it shows "New Hat Changed", most of the time it is a limitedU item. You then go Roblox symbol in the top right corner. 

•DashBoard:

You are able to click the top three updated hats and loading is fast as a rocket. It takes you right to the page!

Problems/Downfalls:

There are a few problems that can cause this app to not function and things that it doesn't have.

It is Hat only

Depending on the amount of people using it, it can delay updating time

Causes erroring during the clicking

A possible KeyLogger (The Source is trusted, but must access your account to work. So...)

Ratings:

1. Scripting: 10/10 [Speechless]
2. Updating Speed: 8/10 [The amount of saved user data is quite low, making the speed slow and errors]
3. Design: 9/10 [Flashy enough, extra tabs to submit bugs should be added and maybe a texture]
4. Accessibility: 9.5/10 [It's small enough for easy access watch in games, yet buttons glitch]
5. Overall: 9.1/10 [It's good, too good and the best Roblox extension this year]

Get Yours Today: Click Here

Retextures: The common problems

When retexturing, many people get into that habbit; sticking to retexturing Fedoras, Headphones and shades.
Now... I'm not saying you shouldn't retexture that stuff, but those hats are lowering in demand, as they are now getting overused. But now you may be asking "What hats should I retexture?". My answer is... Find some.

It is simple to find hats to retexture. It's just about knowing where to look.

On the catalog, there is an easy way to look through hats to retexture.

You go to "Recently updated" "Hats" and go along one page.

Then the address should look like this:
http://www.roblox.com/Catalog.aspx?m=RecentlyUpdated&c=8&t=AllTime&d=All&q=&p=2&mn=-9223372036854775808&mx=9223372036854775807

The next thing you do now, is look for the first 2 in it, and change it's value to something like 25. This will transport you to the 25th page of hats. Now you can look at generally older hats to retexture.

The next problem many people have, is "How they should change it".
The main idea people get immediately is to give it a theme, i.e. Fire, water, snow etc.
A way to maybe get out of this habit, is to look at the mesh, and think, "What does this look like?" "How can I make it look like...?" Once you start asking those questions, then you are one step closer to an awesome retexture. Take this hat for example:

(source)
When I saw this hat, I though about the shape; It's cylindrical. What else is cylindrical? A clock.

Once you have that idea, take a look at the texture.


(source)

You then try and find out the different parts of it that fit the mesh. (For this texture it's easy)

Once that is done, you can put your idea to work.
For my clock idea, I added a clock face onto the texture, then added a gradient, and beveled it. The end product was this:


(source)

Now, I stuck the texture onto the mesh, and this was the result:


(source)

Not half bad right? It's about being inventive, and how you use the hat that is important.

Just remember. Break out of habits, be imaginative.

Got Questions? Ask me on Twitter: @IBarrageI