Every month, over 115 million people share Roblox massive multiplayer online game experiences built by a community of more than two million Roblox developers worldwide. Now, there's an official Roblox guide to building your own games and sharing them with players everywhere. Perfect for beginning game development students, Sams Teach Yourself How To Code in 24 Hours: The Official Roblox Guide teaches you all the skills and techniques you'll need, in just 24 lessons of one hour or less. Each short, easy lesson builds on all that's come before, helping you quickly master all of Roblox's essentials. Step-by-step instructions walk you through common questions, issues, and tasks; Q&As, Quizzes, and Exercises build and test your knowledge; "Did You Know?" tips offer insider advice and shortcuts; and "Watch Out!" alerts help you avoid pitfalls. By the time you're finished, you'll be ready to share your Roblox creations with the world!

Hour 1: Coding Your First Project

Installing Roblox Studio

Lets Take a Tour

Opening the Output Window

Writing Your First Script

Error Messages

Leaving Yourself Comments

Hour 2: Properties and Variables

Object Hierarchy

Keywords

Properties

Finding Properties and Data Types

Creating Variables

Changing the Color Property

Instances

Hour 3: Creating and Using Functions

Creating and Calling Functions

Understanding Scope

Using Events to Call Functions

Understanding Order and Placement

Hour 4: Working with Parameters and Arguments

Giving Functions Information to Use

Working with Multiple Parameters and Arguments

Returning Values from Functions

Returning Multiple Values

Returning Nil

Dealing with Mismatched Arguments and Parameters

Working with Anonymous Functions

Hour 5: Conditional Structures

if/then Statements

elseif

Logical Operators

else

Hour 6: Debouncing and Debugging

Dont Destroy, Debounce

Figuring Out Where Things Go Wrong

Hour 7: while Loops

Repeat Forever, while true do

Some Things to Keep in Mind

while Loops and Scope

Hour 8: for Loops

How for Loops Work

Nested Loops

Breaking Out of Loops

Hour 9: Working with Arrays

What Are Arrays?

Adding Items Later

Getting Information from a Specific Index

Printing an Entire List with ipairs()

Folders and ipairs()

Finding a Value on the List and Printing the Index

Removing Values from an Array

Numeric for Loops and Arrays

Hour 10: Working with Dictionaries

Intro to Dictionaries

Adding and Removing from Dictionaries

Removing Key-Value Pairs

Working with Dictionaries and Pairs

Returning Values from Tables

Hour 11: Client Versus Server

Understanding the Client and the Server

Working with GUIs

Understanding RemoteFunctions

Using RemoteFunctions

Hour 12: Remote Events: One-Way Communication

Remote Events: A One-Way Street

Communicating from the Server to All Clients

Communicating from the Client to the Server

Communicating from the Server to One Client

Communicating from Client to Client

Hour 13: Using ModuleScripts

Coding Things Just Once

Placing ModuleScripts

Understanding How ModuleScripts Work

Naming ModuleScripts

Adding Functions and Variables

Understanding Scope in ModuleScripts

Using Modules in Other Scripts

Dont Repeat Yourself

Dealing in Abstractions

Hour 14: Coding in 3D World Space

Understanding X, Y, and Z Coordinates

Refining Placement with CFrame Coordinates

Offsetting CFrames

Adding Rotations to CFrames

Working with Models

Understanding World Coordinates and Local Object Coordinates

Hour 15: Smoothly Animating Objects

Understanding Tweens

Setting TweenInfo Parameters

Chaining Tweens Together

Hour 16: Solving Problems with Algorithms

Defining Algorithms

Sorting an Array

Sorting in Descending Order

Sorting a Dictionary

Sorting by Multiple Pieces of Information

Hour 17: Saving Data

Enabling Data Stores

Creating a Data Store

Using Data in the Store

Limiting the Number of Calls

Protecting Your Data

Saving Player Data

Using UpdateAsync to Update a Data Store

Hour 18: Creating a Game Loop

Setting Up Game Loops

Working with BindableEvents

Hour 19: Monetization: One-Time Purchases

Adding Passes to Your Experience

Configuring the Pass

Prompting In-Game Purchases

Hour 20: Object-Oriented Programming

What Is OOP?

Organizing Code and Projects

Making a New Class

Adding Class Properties

Using Class Functions

Hour 21: Inheritance

Setting Up Inheritance

Inheriting Properties

Working with Multiple Child Classes

Inheriting Functions

Understanding Polymorphism

Calling Parent Functions

Hour 22: Raycasting

Setting Up the Function to Raycast

3D Math Trick: Getting the Direction

Setting Raycast Parameters

3D Math Trick: Limit Direction

Hour 23: Plopping Objects in an Experience: Part 1

Setting Up the Object

Creating a Plop Button

Tracking Mouse Movements

Previewing the Object

Hour 24: Plopping Objects in an Experience: Part 2

Detecting Mouse Input

Sending a Message to the Server

Getting the Message

Appendix A: Roblox Basics

Keywords

DataType Index

Operators

Naming Conventions

Animation Easing

Possible Solutions to Exercises





9780136829423 TOC 10/19/2021