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Roblox for Unity Developers
If you're an experienced Unity developer, use this page to get oriented with Roblox.

This page includes information to help experienced Unity developers get started with Roblox: basic orientation, conceptual comparison, and key differences.

Getting Oriented

Overview of Unity

Overview of Roblox Studio

Unity's hierarchy view and Roblox Studio's Explorer are the primary windows for organizing elements in 3D scenes:

  • Both allow you to manage and organize objects (for example, characters and environmental assets).
  • Both use a tree structure for the parent-child relationships between objects.

However, Hierarchy view has no predefined structure, whereas Explorer has a strict structure. It might help to think of Explorer as a combination of Unity's Hierarchy view and Project window, with the Workspace folder as the most recognizable element.

Similarly, the Roblox Studio Asset Manager and Toolbox overlap with the Unity Project window. The Asset Manager lets you manage all assets within your experience, whereas the Toolbox lets you access any assets you've published. The Toolbox also lets you search the Creator Marketplace for assets from Roblox or the community, similar to the Unity Asset Store.

Philosophical Differences

Roblox is a "simulation engine" rather than a traditional game engine. Unity GameObjects and Roblox Class.Part|Parts both serve as the fundamental building blocks for creating objects in a 3D environment, but in practice, the two are quite different:

  • Representation: GameObjects in Unity are a higher-level concept for any object in a scene, whereas Parts in Roblox are designed to represent physical objects like wooden blocks and plastic spheres, rather than abstract geometry like primitive objects in Unity.
  • Physics: To perform physics simulations in Unity, you attach components like Rigidbody and Collider to a GameObject. In Roblox, physics are built into the Parts data type; the engine handles interactions automatically.

You can see the difference immediately if you create a GameObject and a Part. The GameObject has nothing more than a position, rotation, and scale. The Part has that same information—plus a material and color, values for reflectance and transparency, mass and shape, and much more. Turning a Part into something more akin to an empty GameObject means removing a lot of built-in properties.

In that sense, you might consider Unity development as additive and Roblox development as subtractive. GameObjects are generic containers for any number of components. You mix and match components as necessary to achieve your desired appearance and behavior. Roblox handles things like physics and lighting by default, so modifying its systems means removing or overwriting functionality rather than just adding it where it didn't previously exist.

Another useful comparison is the Unity GameObject to the Roblox Class.Model. Models act as a container for a collection of interconnected parts in the same way that you might establish a parent-child relationship between many GameObjects in Unity. You specify one of the model's parts as its primary part to define the pivot point. Models also hold scripts, animations, sound effects, prompts, constraints, particle emitters, and more.

For example, a Unity GameObject might have components for ParticleSystem, Physics3D, SpringConstraint, and a script. In the Hierarchy window, you see a single GameObject named SpringyFireball. The Inspector window shows the collection of components and properties.

In Roblox, a comparable SpringyFireball model in the Explorer might look something like this:

Model
|- Fire
|- MeshPart
|- SpringConstraint
|- ClickDetector
|  |- Script

Roblox's physics-by-default philosophy extends to the process of building 3D models. In Roblox, welding multiple parts together into an assembly is an excellent way to quickly build things, because Roblox treats the welded parts as a single rigid body. In Unity, a similar approach might cause performance issues or odd physics interactions.

Location Matters

Roblox experiences are multiplayer by default, so Roblox Studio includes many different storage locations with specific behaviors. For example, a script might run when you put it in Class.ReplicatedStorage, but not when you put it into Class.StarterPlayerScripts. For more information, see Client-Server Runtime and Object Organization.

Location Description
Workspace Represents the game world and contains all parts, models, and other objects in the game. You can put scripts into the Workspace, but only server scripts and module scripts run when parented to it. This location works well for scripts that control object behavior, since they can attach directly to the object.
ReplicatedStorage Contains objects that are replicated to both the client and the server, including scripts. This location is ideal for scripts that share data or functionality between the two, such as game settings, player data, and events.
ServerScriptService Contains server scripts, including module scripts. This location is ideal for scripts that need to access server-side functionality or objects, such as game logic, data storage, and AI behaviors.
ServerStorage Contains server-side objects and settings. This location is ideal for large objects that don't need to be immediately replicated to clients when they join an experience.
StarterPlayer Contains player-related objects and settings. This location is primarily used for setting up player properties and initializations. Client scripts can run from this location, including module scripts. This location is ideal for scripts that set up player-specific features, such as player models, starting inventory, and camera settings. Of particular note, StarterCharacterScripts and StarterPlayerScripts are subtly different. For more information, see Client.
StarterGui Contains GUI elements that display when the game is loaded. Client scripts can run from this location, including module scripts. This location is ideal for scripts that modify the game's user interface, such as adding buttons, menus, and pop-ups.

Scripting

Roblox experiences support three different types of Luau scripts:

  • Client scripts

    These scripts run on the client, and the server has no visibility into their behavior. For legacy reasons, these scripts can take the form of LocalScripts or Scripts with a Class.BaseScript.RunContext|RunContext value of Client. Client scripts typically live in Class.ReplicatedStorage, Class.StarterPlayerScripts, or Class.StarterCharacterScripts.

  • Server scripts

    These scripts run on the server, and the client has no visibility into their behavior. Server scripts have a RunContext value of Server and typically live in Class.ServerScriptService, the contents of which are not replicated to the game client.

  • Module scripts

    These scripts are reusable pieces of code that return exactly one value, typically a function or table (or a table of functions). Rather than duplicating code in client and server scripts, use module scripts to share code and data between the two. Module scripts often live in Class.ReplicatedStorage, but can live elsewhere if you want to share code between scripts on the same side of the client-server boundary.

Unity doesn't have the concept of different script types. If you choose to make a multiplayer game, Unity uses its networking libraries to indicate when a GameObject (and its scripts) should be exclusive to the server.

In Unity, much of the engine's functionality is available through the methods of MonoBehaviour. For example, to run code during the render loop, you add code to the Update() method. To handle physics collision events, you add code to the OnCollideEnter() method.

Roblox scripts are more event-driven. You access similar functionality by subscribing to services and listening for updates.

C# and Luau

For scripting, Unity uses C#. Roblox uses Luau, a scripting language derived from Lua 5.1.

Compared to C#, Luau is gradually typed and generally has a less verbose syntax. In larger projects, however, gradual typing can introduce categories of bugs that strongly typed languages like C# avoid, so consider enabling --!strict type checking in Roblox scripts.

For basic syntax differences between the scripting languages, see Luau and C# Comparison.

Luau Code Sample

The following Luau code sample demonstrates how to, after a player equips a fishing pole, listen for user input (in this case, the E key) and call additional functions:

-- Get the necessary game services
local ContextActionService = game:GetService("ContextActionService")
local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage")

-- Get a module script from ReplicatedStorage that returns a single function
local performSomeAction = require(ReplicatedStorage.performSomeAction)

-- Assumes that this script is a child of the fishing pole
local fishingPole = Script.parent
local ACTION_CAST = "Cast"

-- Check that the key is down, then call another function
local function castLine(_actionName, inputState, _inputObject)
    if inputState == Enum.UserInputState.Begin then
        performSomeAction()
    end
end

-- Only enable the action when the player equips the fishing pole
fishingPole.Equipped:Connect(function()
    ContextActionService:BindAction(ACTION_CAST, castLine, true, Enum.KeyCode.E)
end)

-- Disable the action when the player unequips the fishing pole
fishingPole.Unequipped:Connect(function()
    ContextActionService:UnbindAction(ACTION_CAST)
end)

The Roblox script can be relatively concise because Roblox has many built-in assumptions: a Class.Player with a Class.Humanoid character connected to the server and can equip Class.Tool|Tools. These assumptions don't exist in Unity, so the implementation would be very different.

Assets

Unity and Roblox both support importing custom meshes and models in FBX format. Certain types of assets may require specific configurations and export settings from your third-party modeling software. For more information, see the following pages:

In Unity, objects import into your Assets directory, visible in the Project window. In Roblox, objects import as a Class.Model into your Workspace and into the Inventory section of the Asset Manager or Toolbox.

Transforms

Unity's transforms and Roblox's Datatype.CFrame|CFrames serve similar purposes in representing 3D transformations of objects:

  • Both transforms and CFrames represent the position and rotation of an object in 3D space. Transforms also include scale, whereas Roblox uses a Class.BasePart.Size property that isn't part of the CFrame.
  • You manipulate transforms and CFrames to change an object's position and rotation.
  • You can combine transforms and CFrames with other transforms and CFrames to create complex transformations.

Key differences between the two include:

  • Transforms in Unity are abstractions, where position and rotation are represented as a matrix and quaternion. In Roblox, CFrame is a custom data type that contains vectors for position and rotation.
  • In Unity, you manipulate transforms using functions, whereas most CFrame manipulation involves multiplication (i.e. composition) with other CFrames.
  • In Unity, child transforms are relative to parents. CFrames are not.

Collaboration

In Unity, you collaborate with standard version control systems or paid services like Unity Version Control.

Roblox files live in the cloud (although you can export copies), so Roblox Studio provides built-in tools for collaborative editing: group management, permissions, script drafting, and more. See Collaboration.

Plugins

Similar to Unity tools, Roblox Studio supports plugins, which can simplify or give you additional control over various aspects of the development process. Plugins are available in the Creator Marketplace, just like assets, many for free.

Glossary

Unity Roblox Notes
Scene Place
GameObject Class.Part or Class.Model See Philosophical Differences.
Prefab Package
Transform Datatype.CFrame CFrame doesn't include scale information. See Transforms.
Hierarchy window Explorer window
Inspector Properties window
Scene view Viewport
Game view Viewport The Viewport transitions into a gameplay view when you test your experience.
Project window Asset Manager or Toolbox
Terrain Inspector Terrain Editor
Spawn point Class.SpawnLocation
Console Output
Asset Store Creator Marketplace
Overlays Menu bar
Tool Plugin