This June, ROBLOX will be hosting Virtual BLOXcon 2014, a live online event that promises to attract tens of thousands of people from all corners of the gaming world. While we’re not giving away too many specifics at present, know that Virtual BLOXcon 2014 is going to be bigger and better than any live event we’ve done in the past. Why are we so confident? Well, in part because it’s going to feature BLOXY-quality videos from our talented, creative and often hilarious film-making community.

The BLOXY Awards are rare trophies, given to the best of the best ROBLOX filmmakers. Last year, there were 19 winning videos. This year, we hope to match that number. While we’re not collecting submissions just yet, we want to make sure you have ample time to come up with a brilliant idea, make it into a real video, and put on all the polish it needs. After all, we’re going to screen the winners in front of a large audience, viewing from all around the world.

Here are this year’s four categories of submissions.

Long-form Machinima: arguably the most celebrated of categories. Tell a story – any story you can dream up, from comedy to suspense to action – using the ROBLOX engine (or ROBLOX assets in 3D graphics software) as your visual medium. Build sets, hire actors, incorporate music, script action sequences, narrate with spoken dialog, etc. The sky is the limit. Go nuts. Length: 2-5 minutes.

Short-form Machinima: tell an original short story, convert a movie trailer into ROBLOX, write a bizarre comedy skit, or do something else entirely. The only rule is the short must be filmed within the ROBLOX engine (or using ROBLOX assets in 3D graphics software). Again, feel free to build sets, hire actors, incorporate music, script action sequences, narrate with spoken dialog, etc. Use your imagination. Length: 45-90 seconds.

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This “Builderman” trailer is a great example of ROBLOX machinima.

Music video: create a music video for a song using ROBLOX as the visual medium. You can write your own original music (about anything, including ROBLOX) or make a music video for an existing song. This has the potential to be the coolest BLOXY category yet. Length: 1-4 minutes.

Major league (ROBLOX) gaming: record yourself playing ROBLOX and capture those epic streaks, unimaginable acrobatics, and high-octane moments of excitement. Take your most dramatic clips from any variety of games and edit them together with exciting music and whatever other effects you deem fitting as a montage that shows how cool ROBLOX gameplay is (and how skilled you are). Length: 30-60 seconds.

If you’re looking for inspiration or just need an idea of what constitutes an award-winning entry, visit our YouTube channel. We have a playlist featuring all of last year’s BLOXY winners.

Start creating as soon as you feel inspired! You can work in teams. We’ll be back with submission instructions in the near future. Remember, all winners not only receive virtual BLOXY Awards, but will have their award-winning video featured as part of Virtual BLOXcon 2014. It’s going to be a veritable who’s-who of ROBLOX film-making — the premiere ROBLOX film event; our own version of the Oscars. We can’t wait.

[Updates since original publication: yes, you can work in teams and yes, you can create ROBLOX machinima using 3D modeling software. You should discuss your project on our video forum. Also, coincidentally, JohanSKruger has just posted a useful tutorial about posing and green-screening ROBLOX models that may be useful in your video creations.]