Written by Peter-Phu Do, Co-Founder, Ember Coding Lab

More than ever before, consuming has become easier than producing for the everyday individual: TV, movies, games, phones, and now chatbots. So from the start, we wanted to inspire kids to create and resist the future of pure consumerism. One of the most accessible mediums of creation is coding. Next, we chose a platform that best aligns with the constructionist principles of the MIT Media Lab and captures the curiosity of the kids: Roblox. Although Roblox can be seen as a distraction from learning, Roblox Studio provides highly motivated kids an outlet to create and share experiences inspired by the very games they play through an accessible programming language and 3D creation tools to explore and master, ultimately completing the producer-consumer cycle that is essential for creativity.

Kids love playing Roblox, motivating them to learn. In 2023, Roblox had about 130 million monthly active users under 13 years old. This enthusiasm can carry over to Roblox Studio when kids find out that they can create their own games. When kids come in with a bunch of ideas, they are more excited to engage in the creative process and come out with a deeper appreciation for the games they play on Roblox.

 Even if they don’t have prior experience with Roblox, Roblox Studio has the depth and breadth that makes it an excellent platform for creating because of its low skill floor. Generally, there are two skills in making games: modeling and scripting. To get started with 3D modeling, add a part. Then, move, scale, rotate, and duplicate it until you get your structure. For scripting, Roblox uses (a dialect of) a programming language called Lua, which reads a lot like English (and Python). After a bit of guidance, these tools make it easy to get started and form a tight loop from inspiration to building 3D games, which is unique to Roblox and Roblox Studio.

Additionally, Roblox Studio has a high skill ceiling and wide walls, allowing growth in many directions. As one of Roblox’s most popular games sitting at over 38 billion visits, Adopt Me! is constantly hiring for programmers, artists, product managers, and other roles you’ll see in a tech company. Roblox Studio shares a lot of terminology and concepts foundational to web and mobile development such as events and networking. Similarly, Lua is just as powerful as any other programming language. The higher ceilings increase the size and complexity of games, while the wide walls diversify creations.

Perhaps most importantly, Roblox allows you to publish and share your experience on a platform with millions of users every day. One of the most wonderful feelings you can have is sharing your creations with others. Roblox has millions of others to share your experiences with. Not only that, these users are a source of inspiration and feedback for the creative process. If we lived in a world where only Roblox Studio exists and not its platform, it’s likely that I wouldn’t be here creating content today. When I was eight, I created my first account and proceeded to play the entire “front page” of Roblox games and more. Eventually, I found out that if you kept scrolling down through the hundreds of games, you would see repeated game suggestions. Roblox “ran out” of games. At that point, I decided to learn how to make my own games.

I am confident that my story isn’t unique. Kids wonder how else they can “play” with their favorite toy. With so many things to consume, I don’t want to wait for that next kid to scroll through what may be thousands of games now, just so they ask the question “how can I create my own game?” Our mission is to empower the kids to be creators, and we believe our course does just that.

Roblox is the website that users primarily interact with and it’s where you can find games and change your avatar. Roblox Studio is the game engine that Roblox provides for its users for free.