ROBLOX is working on a new feature that lets players change their character’s clothes and preview their appearance in-game. User Experience Engineer Ben Tkacheff is here today to demonstrate the interface he developed and offer some insider information on how he used ROBLOX’s tools to create it.

Part of the fun of ROBLOX is creating a persistent avatar and making it your own with the finest, most stylish ROBLOX attire. Traditionally, that customization happens on the ROBLOX website – outside the game engine – and requires you to enter a game to see whether the new look suits your fancy. Now, we’re polishing an interface that lets you change and preview your look in-game.

The in-game wardrobe change is a simple, intuitive feature. You’ll just press the tilde (~) key or click the backpack button at the bottom of the screen to open the menu, then click the wardrobe tab to start dragging hats, heads, faces, shirts, pants and more onto your character. You’ll be able to rotate your character so you can see how you look from every, important angle. Once you save your changes, we’ll automatically update your thumbnail image on the ROBLOX website.

frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>



Demo: In-game wardrobe change interface. We’ll be adding actual item icons for the official release.

We developed the feature using Lua, the same scripting language game creators use to write new gameplay and interfaces for their games. When approaching the design of the wardrobe interface, we wanted to ensure there were many ways for players to equip various wardrobe pieces to their character. For instance, drag and drop, right-click and left

double-click can all be used to adorn your character with an inventory item, giving all levels of users the best experience possible with the interface.

We also engineered the code as many small functions so we could re-use it for the various interaction methods; plus, it has the added advantage of better readability.

Game creators who don’t want players to change their appearance – for example, in a game where players have team colors or uniforms – can choose not to allow it. The rest of the time, we believe you’ll enjoy the convenience of changing your look on the fly.