Over the past couple of months, a small crew of us here at Soma Games have been secretly developing a Roblox adaptation of The Wingfeather Saga, called Adventures in Glipwood! For those that don’t know, The Wingfeather Saga is a book series by Andrew Peterson that has recently been adapted into a full-length animated show.
Adventures in Glipwood is an old-style collectathon platformer with an emphasis on exploration and beauty. The player is set loose with a goal to collect 50 books, but there are plenty of easter eggs strewn about for you to discover. It is set live to the public today, on March 24th, 2023!
In the past, I (Sammi, our head game designer and leader on this particular project) avoided Roblox assuming it was a knock-off LEGO game for a much younger demographic. Imagine my surprise when I found out Roblox actually isn’t a game at all, but an enormous platform where anyone can upload custom 3D worlds to play and explore! And it’s not just children and hobbyists—there are entire professional studios built around creating experiences exclusively for Roblox.
As I looked deeper into the platform, I started to be won over by what seems to be a wonderful starting place for young developers. Coming off of years with Unity and Unreal, I wasn’t keen at first. The “Roblox Studio” engine seemed clunky and foreign and the default art style wasn’t much to write home about. But, given the enormous store of drag-and-drop user-generated content, the wealth of online tutorials, and the ease of playtesting, I would now recommend it as a good training ground for anyone looking to dip their toe into game development.
I think Roblox’s strongest suit though, is the fact that the entire platform is built with multiplayer in mind. All the troublesome code and server management is done for you, and it’s literally one click to publish and invite your friends in to the world you created. Even the Roblox Studio editor itself is built for multiple developers to work collaboratively in real-time.
Now, Roblox isn’t perfect. Moderation is left to the game makers, and when they’re mostly minors it’s easy to see how things can get a bit unruly. Yet, this to me is the very reason proper studios should get involved to create safe, wholesome spaces for the millions of players that pass through.
Want to know more? Read this article from our friends over at Angel Studios: What You Need to Know About The Wingfeather Saga Roblox Experience