Roblox Platform High-Level Roadmap

Roblox Platform High-Level Roadmap

Welcome to the high-level roadmap for the Roblox platform. Here you can get insight into our plans for the next few months and get an idea of when you can expect new features on the Roblox platform. This is a living document and we will be updating it approximately quarterly.

Please note that our goal is to provide you with the best updates possible. Sometimes, bugs or technical complications may cause us to move the release dates to ensure that we're shipping reliable features.

2020 Roadmap

Targeted for 1st Quarter 2020 (January-March)	Status
Quick Open Quickly find and navigate to any instance in the Explorer.	LIVE
Plugin HTTP Permissions Control which domains plugins can make HTTP requests to.	LIVE
Collaborative Editing Work on the same script simultaneously with others, review conflicts, and merge. Commit multiple scripts at the same time.	LIVE
Packages – Sharing & Collaboration Share packages with users and add collaborators, plus package version history and auto-updating.	LIVE
Game Access Permissions Granular control over who can access a game.	LIVE
Premium Payouts Earn recurring revenue for playtime and engaging content.	LIVE

Targeted for 2nd Quarter 2020 (April-June)	Status
Enhanced Audio Search in Marketplace Find audio in the marketplace by specified time length.	On Track
Atmospheric Fog Creatively blends objects into the background instead of using a solid color.	On Track
Custom Materials Adds SurfaceAppearance object that enables PBR textures for mesh parts.	On Track
Dynamic Texture Resolution Dynamic texture resolution based on device memory usage.	On Track
Improved Terrain Level-of-Detail & Blending Smoother level-of-detail progression and improved material layer blending for terrain.	On Track
Skinned Meshes & Bone Instances Enables mesh deformation through skinned meshes and bone instances.	On Track
Mesh Level-of-Detail for Avatars Mesh level-of-detail that respects UV boundaries and skinning information.	On Track
Morph Instance (Mesh Deformation) Allows geometry to be deformed using a point cloud, forming the basis of layered clothing.	On Track
Pre-Streaming API API used to "hint" where the client will go to next.	On Track
Typed Lua Type checking and annotations for Lua in Studio.	Beta
Wireframe Mode Toggle a standard wireframe mode on/off inside of Studio.	On Track
Debugger for Plugins Studio debugger works for plugin development.	On Track
Expressive Output Window Output gets an upgrade — expressive UI, filter/search, and copy/paste becomes easier.	On Track
Plugin Script Permissions Control which plugins can access and edit the game data model in order to prevent malicious script injections.	On Track
Script Version History See detailed version history for scripts. Diff against older versions and roll back individual scripts or batches of scripts, if necessary.	On Track
Asset Manager – Universe Level Replaces the Game Explorer with a new widget that provides a refreshed design, deterministic sorting, and local filtering for assets.	On Track
Large Object Stores Store in-game player creations and other large objects with ease.	On Track
Screenshots & Video Trailers for Marketplace Assets Supply additional images and videos for plugins and models in the marketplace.	On Track
Automatic Translation for Games Top games are automatically translated to all supported languages, including gameplay and game listing.	On Track

Targeted for 3rd Quarter 2020 (July-September)
MaterialsService Ability to extend built-in materials with custom textures.
Model Level-of-Detail Make simplified, automatic geometry for models based on device memory usage.
Layered 3D Clothing First launch of 3D clothing that can be layered on body or other 3D clothing items.
Full Script Editor Upgrade Transition to new script editor based on Language Server Protocol — faster, better syntax highlighting, better auto-complete, native Luau support.
Shared Memory Store temporary data with high read/write speeds for items such as matchmaking.
Place Version History in Studio See detailed version history for places. Manage your place (publish, revert) right from Studio.
Audio Importing in Studio Ability to bulk import audio in Studio to improve overall efficiency.
Studio Asset Organization Provides an efficient way to organize assets at scale within the Asset Manager.
Developer Hub – Additional Locales Access the DevHub with the addition of more locales.

Targeted for 4th Quarter 2020 (October-December)
Procedural Skies Performant procedural clouds.
Future is Bright v3 Extends PBR calculations to other light objects.
Enhanced Terrain Vegetation Enables Custom Materials for terrain vegetation.
Facial Animation v1 First version of the facial animation system.
Faster Streaming Various streaming improvements to enable 200 player experiences.
Faster CSG Improves the performance of CSG by not redoing the entire tree during operations.
Game Content Ratings Take a questionnaire that generates a rating for your game.
Improved Audio Tooling Real-time parameter curves and complex sound events.
Script Review Workflow Review your scripts with your team members before committing.
Asset Iteration Iterate on assets such as meshes, no longer requiring re-uploading for changes.
Cloud Scripts Write and deploy code outside the context of any game server.
Creator Talent Hub Showcase your creations and find other creators to form teams and collaborate on bigger and better games.
Transactions Reliable in-game player-to-player trading and transactions.
Backup and Restore Backup data stored across all data stores with the ability to restore on demand.
Parallel Lua Enables Lua scripts to run on separate hardware threads.
Developer Analytics Insight into user behavior and game performance through analytics.

2019 Roadmap »

Targeted for 1st Quarter 2019 (January-March)	Status
Import Meshes as Multiple Objects Import split meshes as set up in the FBX or OBJ file.	LIVE
Cross-Server Messaging Game servers can communicate with each other to allow for real-time leaderboards, global trading, cross-server chat, etc.	LIVE
Modeling Improvements – View Selector & Camera Panning Use the middle mouse button to pan the camera and the new View Selector to move around in 3D space.	LIVE
Granular Memory Analyzer Fine-grained view of how assets use memory in games.	LIVE
Toolbox Improvements Split inventory and marketplace, detailed asset previews, and improved toolbox search.	LIVE

Targeted for 2nd Quarter 2019 (April-June)	Status
Saving Games to Cloud Games can be developed in the cloud and automatically synced across devices.	LIVE
Level-of-Detail for Meshes Automatic level-of-detail adjustment for meshes based on device performance.	LIVE
Packages – Update Controls Support for changing package copy versions, undoing local changes, and mass updating across places.	LIVE
Future is Bright – Sun Shadows Developers can enable and use sun shadows for any object in a scene.	LIVE
Streaming – Stability Improvements Reliably streams everything within the "StreamingMinRadius" to the Client.	LIVE
Localization – Auto-Capture Date & Time Detection Auto-detection of complex date and time formats.	LIVE
Localization – Cloud Table Support Cloud table support for popular languages beyond Roblox platform languages.	LIVE
Beta Features Ability to opt-in to new Studio features before they are released to everyone.	LIVE
Improved Character Importer Studio plugin that will import entire R15 characters (meshes, joints, and attachments), including support for non-classic joint positions.	LIVE

Targeted for 3rd Quarter 2019 (July-September)	Status
Advanced Terrain Tools Improved tools for bulk terrain editing, plus the ability to import heightmaps and colormaps.	LIVE
Animation Editor Upgrade Frame-based animation, performance improvements, universal IK, and a UI overhaul to increase the capability of the built-in Animation Editor.	LIVE
Terrain Vegetation Grass becomes procedurally generated on grass terrain surfaces.	LIVE
Script Collaboration Enable developers to collaborate efficiently at scale when scripting together.	LIVE
Faster Lua New and significantly faster Lua interpreter.	LIVE
Developer Analytics Custom metrics and events for top developers.	Deferred

Targeted for 4th Quarter 2019 (October-December)	Status
64-bit Servers for Large Worlds Ability to create large worlds that span tens of thousands of studs at high performance.	LIVE
Localization – Auto-Capture Improvements Improvements aimed at mitigating exploit text capture.	LIVE
Typed Lua Type-checking and annotations for Lua in Studio.	Deferred
Custom Materials Custom materials with custom specular reflectance properties and normal-map textures.	Deferred
Streaming – On By Default Streaming will be on by default for all newly created games.	Deferred
Fast Game Testing for Large Worlds Enable highly performant game testing for large worlds.	Deferred
Level-of-Detail for Models Automatic level-of-detail adjustment for models based on device performance.	Deferred
Ephemeral DataStores Store temporary data with high read/write speeds for things like matchmaking.	Deferred
Phased Game Updates Provide developers with a way to roll out new versions of their game at scale.	Deferred
Universe Script & Game Services New type of scripts that can run at a universe level to allow for matchmaking, leaderboards, etc.	Deferred

2018 Roadmap »

Targeted for 2nd Quarter 2018 (April-June)	Status
Dark Theme for Studio Allow developers to choose between dark and light themes while working with Studio. Plugins also have access to this information.	LIVE

Targeted for 3rd Quarter 2018 (July-September)	Status
Social Media Links Developers can specify up to 3 different social community links on the game page including Discord, Twitter etc. for 13+ users.	LIVE
Realtime CSG CSG operations can be performed in real time.	LIVE
Notifications to Players Developers can send update notifications for their games in the notification stream to players who followed their game.	LIVE
Animation Editor IK Support Physics inverse kinematics dragger support in Animation Editor.	LIVE
Automatic Image Transcoding Images in-game are automatically compressed based on device performance.	LIVE
100 Player Games Game servers can support up to 100 players in a performant manner.	LIVE

Targeted for 4th Quarter 2018 (October-December)	Status
Avatar Morpher More customization and control over how avatars are represented for developers such as scale, height, width, and other template options.	LIVE
Packages – Initial Release Scripts and other assets can be packaged and shared between multiple places/games.	LIVE
New Lighting System Future is bright for everyone!	LIVE
Level-of-Detail for CSG Automatic level-of-detail adjustment for CSGs based on device performance.	LIVE