BUCK: Roblox Worlds

2023

New Tool = New Worlds

As a creative technologist, I'm always looking for new tools to experiment with and push the boundaries of what's possible. Fortunately, the technology industry is always evolving and new tools are being created all the time. When Roblox announced that they were releasing Roblox Studio, I knew I had to try it out. Many of us have Roblox already installed on our computers or knew someone who did, so it was a no-brainer to create something with it and share it with everyone.

Stomping Grounds is an ongoing opportunity at BUCKfor shared immersive experiences during our Company Meetings. The first installment was an experimental sprint through RoBUCK, a multiplayer wonderland built in Roblox and inspired by our past VR adventures. The second installment was a revisit to Phase Rider, a mysterious world originally built in Unity as a single player experience.

Stomping Grounds is a series of experimental sprints using Roblox Studio to bring our past interactive experiences to life in a new way.

Stomping Grounds Ep.1 | RoBUCK

Back in 2020, I helped BUCK release its first VR experience, BUCK Holiday Party with AltspaceVR, where we built an immersive Buck-themed world for the company to explore and interact in together. In 2021, I was asked again to help develop elements for Dream Stream, BUCK’s second VR experience for the annual holiday party. Each world was completely unique, yet both captured the Buck spirit and company vision.

With RoBUCK, I set out to merge those two worlds into something new. Using Roblox Studio, I was able to re-use assets and characters from both VR experiences while building a fresh environment tailored for multiplayer play. I developed custom scripts for interactive features like interactive balls, a scavenger hunt, drivable vehicles, and avatar customization. I pushed into advanced materials and lighting to create a magical, immersive atmosphere, created a separate alternative world that users can portal into, and configured Roblox’s networking framework to support hundreds of simultaneous users while optimizing performance for smooth gameplay.

Explore the world of RoBUCK in Roblox here!

Stomping Grounds Ep.2 | Phase Rider

Years ago, BUCK worked on a single player game called Phaserider but it was never released. The detailed assets and magical environment design was left collecting dust.

As an effort to explore Roblox Studio further and revive some old assets from a previous Buck game, Phaserider, I created a demo of the world where users can openly explore in. I worked on pushing materials, lighting to bring the environment back to life.

Explore the world of Phase Rider in Roblox here!

Roblox Phaserider Demo

Some breathtaking stills:

Year: 2023
Client: BUCK
Role: Lead Creative Technologist, Roblox Studio Developer