Movement and Camera Controls
Movement and Camera Controls
The controls for the player’s camera and character are defined in LocalScripts. By default these scripts are copied into a player’s PlayerScripts when the player joins the game.
Dev Setting vs User Setting
Roblox supports several different control schemes, both for the camera and for player movement. By default, which control setup a player uses is based on the setting they configure in the game menu. However, if a developer wants to enforce a certain mode in their game they can set the modes they want players to user in the Properties of StarterPlayer.
All of the override properties are prefixed with the word “dev” (e.g. DevCameraOcclusionMode). All of these properties are set by default to “UserChoice”. If left at this setting, then the control and camera scripts will use whatever the user’s settings are. If these properties are changed, then the control and camera scripts will use whatever is set in the property to determine which mode the players will use.
Default Control Scripts
articles/customizing game controls|Customizing Game Controls for guidance.
To see the default control scripts, launch studio and press the Play button in the Test tab. Roblox automatically inserts the scripts inside the PlayerScipts Instance in the Player. This contains the ControlScript which has several parts:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| ControlScript | Sets up controls based on user settings. |
| MasterControl | Interface to send controls from active control script to the player character. |
| DPad | Handles Dpad input on touch devices. |
| Gamepad | Handles input from gamepad controllers. |
| KeyboardMovement | Handles input from keyboard. |
| Thumbpad | Handles input from touch devices using virtual thumbpad. |
| Thumbstick | Handles input from touch devices using virtual thumbstick. |
| TouchJump | Handles input from jump button on touch devices using thumbstick and thumbpad. |
| VehicleController | Handles input for VehicleSeats |
Default Camera Scripts
To see the default camera scripts, launch studio and press the Play button in the Test tab. Roblox automatically inserts the scripts inside the PlayerScipts Instance in the Player. This contains the CameraScript which has several parts:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| CameraScript | Manages the Player's camera and checks for any camera setting changes. |
| ClickToMove | Handles camera and movement for the ClickToMove movement mode. Ensures the camera is in line with the player character and the destination. |
| Invisicam | Handles the Invisicam occlusion mode. Will make parts locally transparent if they are in-between the player character and the camera. |
| Poppercam | Handles the Zoom occlusion mode. Will zoom the camera if parts are in-between the player character and the camera. |
| RootCamera | Handles basic camera manipulation and listens for input from the player. |
| ClassicCamera | Handles the Classic CameraMode. |
| FollowCamera | Handles the Follow CameraMode. |
| ShiftLockController | Handles shift toggle of mouselock. |
Custom Control Scripts
You can overwrite these control scripts by using StarterPlayer > PlayerScripts. All scripts inside of PlayerScripts get copied to a player when that player joins the game. If you name these scripts the same as one of the default control scripts (CameraScript and ControlScript respectively), your script will overwrite the default.
Example
This example implements a simple side-scrolling camera and movement scheme. The camera stays locked following the player’s character side to side, and the player can only move left and right. The camera is controlled by a LocalScript called CameraScript, and character movement is controlled by a LocalScript called ControlScript. Both of these scripts are placed in StarterPlayerScripts so they overwrite the default scripts:
CameraScript
-- Declare variables
local player = game.Players.LocalPlayer
local camera = game.Workspace.CurrentCamera
local runService = game:GetService("RunService")
-- Wait a frame for camera to load
wait()
-- Update camera on RenderStepped to get smooth motion
runService.RenderStepped:connect(function()
local character = player.Character
-- Check if character and torso exist (in case character is dead)
if character and character.Torso then
local torso = character.Torso
-- Set cframe of the camera so the camera's X position matches
-- the character's
local newCameraPosition = Vector3.new(torso.Position.X, 5, 20)
camera.CoordinateFrame = CFrame.new(newCameraPosition)
end
end)
ControlScript
-- Declare varaibles
local userInputService = game:GetService("UserInputService")
local runService = game:GetService("RunService")
local player = game.Players.LocalPlayer
local moveVector = Vector3.new(0,0,0)
-- Handle inputBegan event (when player first presses a key)
userInputService.InputBegan:connect(function(inputObject)
if player.Character then
if inputObject.KeyCode == Enum.KeyCode.A then
moveVector = moveVector + Vector3.new(-1,0,0)
end
if inputObject.KeyCode == Enum.KeyCode.D then
moveVector = moveVector + Vector3.new(1,0,0)
end
if inputObject.KeyCode == Enum.KeyCode.Space then
player.Character.Humanoid.Jump = true
end
end
end)
-- Handle inputEnded event (when player releases a key)
userInputService.InputEnded:connect(function(inputObject)
if player.Character then
if inputObject.KeyCode == Enum.KeyCode.A then
moveVector = moveVector + Vector3.new(1,0,0)
end
if inputObject.KeyCode == Enum.KeyCode.D then
moveVector = moveVector + Vector3.new(-1,0,0)
end
end
end)
-- On renderstepped update the character's motion based on what keys
-- are currently being pressed
runService.RenderStepped:connect(function()
if player.Character then
player.Character.Humanoid:Move(moveVector)
end
end)