How to make a Roblox survival game
A survival game makes players want to last one more night. It needs a world worth exploring, something they're always running out of, and a night that's worse than the day. Keep the crafting small until the loop is fun.
What it needs
Players gather what they can by day, craft what they need, and try to stay alive through the night.
- A world to explore. Forests, ruins, empty roads: the map tells the story for you.
- Something running out. Food, water or warmth, so standing still isn't safe.
- A dangerous night. The day is for gathering, and the night is when things come.
- A little crafting. Five recipes that matter are better than fifty nobody uses.
1Start on a map
Ruins, forests and empty roads. A world worth exploring tells the story for you. A finished map means your first weeks go into the game itself. Open it in Roblox Studio with File, then Open from File. Here's how, and there are free maps too.
Maps for a survival game
Ready to open in Roblox Studio.
2Add the scripts
These are free to copy and paste, each with where it goes:
- Roblox day and night cycle scriptThe clock everything else runs on.
- Roblox tool giver scriptAn axe or a torch to pick up.
- Roblox save data scriptKeep what they've gathered for next time.
- Roblox coin pickup scriptThings to pick up that come back later: change coins to wood or food.
For what's particular to your game, ask the script generator. Press one of these to start from it:
3Make it feel right
- Tie danger to the clock. When
ClockTimepasses 18, more enemies come out and the light drops. - Scatter what they need just far enough apart that going to get it feels like a decision.
- Show what's running out with a bar and a sound, not a number they'd have to keep checking.
What goes wrong most often
- Fifty recipes on day one. Nobody reads a crafting list.
- A night that's only darker. It has to be more dangerous.
4Test it and publish
- Press F5 to try it alone. To run several players at once, pick Server & Clients in the test menu and press Play. Then invite up to 10 friends to preview it, without any help from you.
- Got a model or a script from somewhere else? Run it through the free backdoor scanner first. Hidden code can take over your game.
- Choose File, then Publish. You'll need an icon and a thumbnail. It stays private until you release it, and releasing it takes an age check: here's how publishing works now.
5Earn from it
You keep 70% of the Robux players spend in your game. Start with one game pass or developer product. The tax calculator works out what to charge, and the DevEx calculator what it's worth in dollars.
Questions
Should it be alone or with others?
With friends is easier to make fun: people make their own stories, and don't need as much content from you. Add a way to play in small groups early.
What should I build first?
One day and night, one enemy, one thing that runs out, and three things to gather. If surviving one night is fun, the rest is worth building.
How do survival games make money?
Cosmetics, extra storage and private servers are common. You keep 70% of the Robux spent in your game.
Other kinds of game
Maps
Survival maps
Ruins, forests and empty roads. A world worth exploring tells the story for you.
Browse mapsFree tool
Roblox script generator
Say what you need in plain words and get a working script, checked for backdoors.
Write a script