Roblox Lua Scripting Essentials : A Step-by-Step Guide / by Christopher Coutinho.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coutinho, Christopher.

Series:

Professional and Applied Computing Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games--Programming.

Video games.

Game Development.

Local Subjects:

Game Development.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (346 pages)

Edition:

1st ed. 2023.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : Apress : Imprint: Apress, 2023.

Summary:

Embark on a transformative journey through the exciting world of Roblox Lua scripting with this comprehensive hands-on guide. Tailored to game developers, both seasoned and new, this book serves as your roadmap to mastering the art and science of Lua scripting within the dynamic Roblox Studio environment. You'll explore a wide spectrum of foundational concepts, including variables, functions, loops, tables, arrays, and more. Delve into advanced topics like raycasting, object-oriented programming with humanoids, and intricate leaderboard systems. Each chapter is crafted with real-world examples and step-by-step tutorials, empowering you to create engaging and interactive gameplay experiences. You'll gain profound insights into modularization, efficient coding practices, and techniques to optimize your scripts, paving the way to elevate your game development to an entirely new plane of creativity and complexity. You'll also discover sophisticated scripting concepts, such as custom events, and client-server communication. Invest in your future as a Roblox developer today, and let this book be your guide to crafting extraordinary gaming experiences. Roblox Lua Scripting Essentials provides the insight, tools, and guidance needed to shape your unique path in this thrilling domain of game development.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

About the Author

About the Technical Reviewer

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Introduction

What Does This Book Require?

About Lua

Installing Roblox Studio

Roblox Studio Templates

Exploring Roblox Studio's Editor

Scene View: Camera Movement

View Selector

Setting Up the Coding Workspace

Creating Your First Lua Script

Saving and Publishing Your Project

Reopening Your Project

Summary

Chapter 2: Working with Parts

Part Primitives

The Transform

Pitch, Yaw, and Roll

Global vs. Local Coordinate Space

Translating (Moving) a Part

Scaling a Part

Rotating a Part

Studs: Roblox Unit of Measurement

Translation Snapping

Rotation Snapping

Collisions

Anchoring Objects

Commenting Your Code

Chapter 3: Variables, Scope, Arrays, Operators, and Conditionals

Basic Lua Data Types

Variables and Literals

Naming Variables in Lua

Variable Declaration and Initialization

Variable Scope

Tables, Arrays, and Dictionaries

Creating an Array

Two-Dimensional Array

Creating a Dictionary

Operators (Unary/Binary) and Operands

Assignment Operator

Arithmetic Operators

Compound Assignment Operators

Relational Operators

Length Unary Operator

Concatenation Operator

String Coercion

Escape Sequences

Conditionals

Logical Operators

Operator Precedence and Using Parentheses

Chapter 4: Loops

While Loops

Infinite Loops

Repeat…Until Loop

Numeric For Loop

Generic For Loops

Nested Loops

Breaking Out of a Loop

Continue Statement of a Loop

Chapter 5: Objects, Data Types, and Properties

Roblox Parts and Objects

Object Hierarchy Navigation

Roblox (Luau) Additional Data Types

Manipulating Parts: Vector3 Data Type.

Changing the Position of a Part

Scaling a Part Using Multiplication

Moving a Part Using Lerp

Computing Distance Between Parts

Manipulating Parts: Cframe Data Type

Offsetting a Part

Moving a Part in a Specific Direction

Part Rotation to Face Another Part - (1)

Part Rotation to Face Another Part - (2)

Parenting a Part to Another Part

Color3 Data Type

Instance Data Type

Enum Data Type

Random Data Type

Properties of Parts (Objects)

Chapter 6: Functions and Events

Functions

Invoking a Function

Function Parameters

Function Return Values

An Arbitrary Number of Parameters

Anonymous Functions

Events

Touched Event

Changed Event

ClickDetector.MouseClick Event

MouseButton1Click Event

PlayerAdded Event

ChildAdded and DescendantAdded Events

Other Miscellaneous Event

Event-Driven Programming

Script vs. LocalScript

BindableEvent

RemoteEvent

RemoteFunction

BindableFunction vs. RemoteFunction

Chapter 7: Roblox Services

Roblox Services

Workspace Service

ReplicatedStorage Service

Players Service

UserInputService

Tween Service

ProximityPrompt Service

RunService

SoundService

Lighting Service

ContextActionService

TeamsService

TeleportService

PhysicsService

Chapter 8: Task Library and Module Scripts

Threading in Roblox Luau

Task Library and Threading

The Task.delay(time, function) Method

The Task.spawn(function) Method

The Task.wait(seconds) Method

The Task.defer(function) Method

The Task.cancel() Method

Module Scripts

Chapter 9: Understanding Players, Characters, and Humanoids in Roblox

The Roblox Player

Player Properties, Methods, and Events

Connection to Characters

Common Use Cases

The Roblox Character.

Character Components and Design

Character Properties, Methods, and Events

Character and Humanoid Relationship

The Roblox Humanoid

Humanoid Properties, Methods, and Events

Integration with the Character and Player

Hierarchy Structure

Relationships: Player, Character, and Humanoid

Chapter 10: Raycasting

Definition and Purpose of Raycasting

Common Applications in Game Development

Overview of Raycasting in Roblox

The Ray Object

Basic Raycasting

Calculating Intersection Points

Raycasting with Filtering

Creating a Proximity Sensor for NPCs

Pathfinding in Roblox

Chapter 11: Tables and Object-Oriented Programming

Tables

Object-Oriented Programming

Encapsulation

Inheritance

Polymorphism

Abstraction

Meta-Tables

__index

__newindex

Classes

Afterword

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9798868800269

OCLC:

1410591908