We'd designed these figures for the younger playerbase of 2006, based on the style and proportions of elementary-school toys like Imaginext.īy the time Roblox introduced physical toys in 2017, the player base and avatars had aged up and gone in a different direction, leading to the Robloxian 2.0 and Rthro avatars instead - a much more satisfying all-ages product line. We put a lot of thought into designing the figures to give ourselves the opportunity to sell LEGO-compatible action figures further down the road. I was really fond of this early style, but as the players and engine matured, it gradually became obsolete. Roblox targeted a much lower age group when it was still developing its userbase and functionality. The badges above are the best example of the direction we were pushing: sticking to simple shapes and solid primary colors to sell the kids' construction angle, but with dynamic starbursts, fisheye distortion, and a glossy candylike shine. (A few years after Roblox, I'd end up going back to LEGO again to jazz up their dynamic as well, but they have a lot more history behind them and changes that might take a day or two at Roblox took multiple years instead.)

Roblox was irreverent, freeform, and action-focused in all the ways that companies like LEGO weren't in 2005.

In 2005-2007 we were working on developing a visual style for Roblox, a construction game engine that gave kids a level of control over its content that was, at least at the time, unprecedented.įorcing any kind of unified aesthetic onto the Wild West of online gaming was probably impossible, but we wanted to create a style that would distinguish the game from the staid and stodgy style associated with construction toys at the time.

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