Flurite's Scripting Tutorials

Prologue

Hello new scripters! In this tutorial, you are going to learn the very basics of scripting! To start out, ROBLOX uses a language modified to their liking, known as Rbx.lua. Mastering this language will give you the ability to make planes, guns, and even a fun GUI-game for your place! Lets start off nice and easy right here. Just so you guys know, this beginners "tutorial" is not supposed to be read in a short amount of time. Scripting takes months if not years to become good at, so maybe take a section at a time.

Information you need to know

• First of all, you will need to know the ins-and-outs of ROBLOX Studio. If you don't already, visit this article:

ROBLOX Studio Info

• In this tutorial, there will comments, which are designated by using "--" characters. This text is just for you to understand what a specific part of my script means.

Inserting a Script

There are quite a few ways to insert a script in to your game, but since you are most likely a beginner, this is the easy way:

1. In the Explorer menu, click on Workspace

2. Go to ROBLOX Studio, and at the very top of the window, you should see a line of buttons which include "File", "Edit", "View", "Insert". Click the button "Insert" and you should see a drop down menu.

3. From the drop down menu, click "Object..."

4. You should see a small window pop up with a lot of options, find the option, "Script", and double click that! You should see an object in your Explorer menu called "Script"!

Congratulations, you inserted your first script!

About the ROBLOX hierarchy

If your new to scripting, you might not know what a hierarchy is. I'll define it for you:

"A system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority."

In ROBLOX Studio, the 'game' DataModel is the uppermost section of the hierarchy, and everything in the game is part of the 'game' hierarchy. It is the keystone of ROBLOX's structure. In this section you will learn two terms: 'descendants' and 'parents'. In Rbx.lua, a parent is what contains the object, so most objects have only one parent (besides the 'game' DataModel, which has known).

For example, when you insert a brick, it usually appears in Workspace. Therefore, the new brick's parent is Workspace! A descendant is the exact opposite of a parent.

For example, when a new brick is inserted in to Workspace, the new brick is a descendant of Workspace! There is also a term known as 'ancestor', which is similar to a parent, but goes higher up the hierarchy then the regular parent. It's kinda like a parent's parent's parent, or parent's parent's parent's parent, etc.

Getting through ROBLOX's hierarchy

Now that you know all the terms, I will teach you HOW to move through ROBLOX's hierarchy. It's actually quite simple, and all you need to do is use a '.' (period) character! Since you probably now know that Workspace is a descendant of the 'game' DataModel, then you can access Workspace by simply going like this:

game.Workspace

Simple, huh? Since ROBLOX realized that Workspace was so commonly used, they made shortcuts to it. So to access Workspace you can type any of these options:

• game.Workspace
• Workspace
• workspace

P.S. You cannot use these shortcuts for any of the other direct descendants of the 'game' DataModel, like StarterPack and StarterGui.

Now to access a brick in the Workspace, you can simply use another '.' (period) character!

game.Workspace.Brick

Make sure you use the name of the object, not the className. Now you can move anywhere through the ROBLOX hierarchy!

Variables

Most of our newer scripters who have not gone through math classes such as pre-algebra, may not know what variables are. Variables, also known as 'tags of an object', are simply a symbol or string of characters that represents a value! Even if you have not gone through pre-algebra, you probably know how to solve a problem like this:

a = 5

a + 2 = ?

And you would probably know that a + 2 is 7. But what you might have not known is that 'a' is a variable! In this case, 'a' is the variable, and as you may be able to guess, '5' is it's value! In Rbx.lua, variables are setup almost exactly the same! In fact, if you were to put a similar piece of code in a script, it would work! Here's an example of a code:

Example

a = 5 --This is similar to the variable I gave you. This is also an example of a comment.
print(a + 2) --when I say print(a + 2), I want it to print what's inside the parenthesis to the Output window. Check your output window to see what it says!


Output:
7 --see, how it prints the result of 'a + 2'?

If copy and paste everything up to the second line of the code, you will see the result in your own output!

Congratulations, you have learned what variables are! If you have trouble grasping variables or the print() function, see the following links:

Variables

Print Function

Operators

Here are some key operators that you may want to know when using ROBLOX. This can be used as reference, but if you read through the whole thing, you won't lose anything from it.

Math Operators

• '=': This operator is used to assign variables, as you can tell from the last section.

a = 5 --this is a variable

• '+': This operator is used to add number values.

a = 5+2
print(a)

>7

• '-': This operator is used to subtract number values.

a = 5-2
print(a)

>3

• '*': This operator is used to multiply number values.

a = 5*3
print(a)

>15

• '/': This operator is used to divide number values.

a = 6/2
print(a)

>3

• '%': This operator is used to divide number values with a remainder.

a = 5%2
print(a)

>1

• '^': This operator is an exponent operator.

a = 5^2
print(a)

>25

Comparison Operators

In this sub-section, I am going to be using 'if' statements. You will learn about those in the next section. For now, just read it like if it were a regular sentence. Ex: In the first example, read it like this: 'if a IS 5 then', and so on.

• '==': This operator states that one value is equal to another.

a = 5
if a == 5 then
print('a is 5')
end

>a is 5

• '~=': This operator states that the two values are not equal.

a = 5
if a ~= 2 then 
print('a is not 2')
end

>a is not 2

• '>': This operator states that the first value is greater than the second.

a = 5
if a > 2 then
print('a is greater than 2')
end

>a is greater than 2

• '<': This operator states that the first value is less than the second.

a = 5
if a < 7 then
print('a is less than 7')
end

>a is less than 7

• '>=': This operator states that the first value is greater than or equal to the second value.

a = 5
if a >= 5 then
print('a is greater than or equal to 5')
end

>a is greater than or equal to 5

• '<=': This operator states that the first value is less than or equal to the second value.

a = 5
if a <= 6 then
print('a is less than or equal to 6')
end

>a is less than or equal to 6

Logical Operators

In Lua, there are 3 logical operators, and, or, and not. Here is a summary of each one.

• And operator: This operator is used to check if both values are true.

a = "Pie"
b = 1

if a == "Pie" and b == 1 then --notice how I use two equal signs to designate that one variable IS this value.
print('a is pie, and b is 1')
end

>a is pie and b is 1

• Or operator: This operator is used to check if any of the values are true.

a = "Apple"
b = 123
c = "Banana"

if a == "Apples" or b == 123 or c == "Bananas" then
print('One of these is true, can you figure it out?')
end

>One of these is true, can you figure it out?

• Not operator: This operator is used to find the opposite of a boolean. The opposite of true is false. The opposite of false is true.

a = true

for i = 1, 5 do
a = not a --it changes a's value to it's opposite.
print(a)
end

Congratulations, you have completed the operators section! Now you can compare different values with comparison operators, make your code more efficient with all logical operators, and do some math with some mathematical operators! If you still don't get it, you can visit this article:

Operators

Conditional Statements

In some of the previous examples in the section before, you probably saw some 'if' conditions. Like when I did:

if a == 5 then
--code
end

In this section, you will be learning about 3 of the major conditional statements of Lua, the 'if' statement, the 'elseif' statement, and the 'else' statement. This is simple guideline on how you should use these, but I will go more in depth about them later:

• if statement -use this statement to execute some code only if a specified condition is true
• if...else statement - use this statement to execute some code if the condition is true and another code if the condition is false
• if...else if....else statement - use this statement to select one of many blocks of code to be executed

If condition

An 'if' condition simply does what it says: check if a value is another value. If conditions always need an 'end' statement to close the condition. This is the setup of an 'if' condition.

if (something == value) then

It's quite simple after you get the hang of it. Here's an example with an 'if' statement. Notice how I use two '=' signs as that designates that something IS another.

abc = 123

if abc == 123 then
print('abc is 123')
end

>abc is 123

And another example:

abc = 123
laugh = "lol"

if laugh == "lol" and abc == 123 then
print('It worked!')
end

>It worked

If..elseif Statement

Use the if..elseif statament to execute a piece of code if one of the given conditions is true. The format is much like the 'if' statement. Here's an example:

a = 3

if a == 1 then --I begin with my 'if' statement, because you can't use an 'elseif' statement if there is no corresponding 'if' statement.
   print('Hi')
elseif a == 2 then --See how the format of the 'elseif' statement is very similar to the 'if' statement's format?
   print('Hello')
elseif a == 3 then --You can use multiple 'elseif' statements in your piece of code.
   print('Hey')
end --notice how I only need one end to close all my 'if' and 'elseif' conditions.

Output:
Hey

Like the 'if' statement, you can use the 'and' and 'or' logical operators in your piece of code. Here's an example with that:

a = 3
b = 2

if a == 2 and b == 3 then
   print('Flourine')
elseif a == 3 and b == 2 then
   print('Flurite')
end

Output:
Flurite

If..elseif

Use the if....else statement to execute some code if a condition is true and another code if the condition is not true. Here's an example of using this:

a = 3

if a == 5 then
   print('"a" is 5')
else --there is no written condition for the 'else' part. If the 'if' statement isn't true, then it automatically executes the 'else' statement
   print('"a" is not 5')
end --notice how I use an end to close this type of statement

Output:
"a" is not 5

Combinations

All these types of combinations can be combined. Here's an example:

a = 3

if a == 1 then
   print("1")
elseif a == 5 then
   print("5")
else
   print('"a" is neither 1 or 5')
end

Creating objects via script

In Rbx.lua, you don't have to use the insert menu to get a brick on to your game, but instead you can always use a script. You can simply use the Instance.new method to create any object that exists in Roblox. The method has two arguments, the first being the className of the object you are setting, and the second being where the new object is going to be parented. Here's an example of using Instance.new:

Instance.new("Part", game.Workspace) --this creates a new brick (className is part), and it is parented under Workspace

If you run this script, you should see a new part in Explorer. You can also change properties of the new part you created by tagging it first.

brick = Instance.new("Part", game.Workspace) --I create the new brick and parent it under Workspace. I also, tag it as the variable 'brick'.
brick.Name = "Brick" --I change the newly created part's name to "brick".
brick.Anchored = false --I change the 'Anchored' property of the brick to false
--you can edit all it's properties if you wanted

Functions

Lets say you wanted a piece of code to be executed when an event is fired, or whenever you wanted it to. One of the most common ways to do this is to use a function. This is a mini-tutorial on how custom(not built in) functions work.

Defining a function

This is the syntax of what the typical function looks like.

function ''functionname''(variable1, variable2... variableX)
   --some code
end --all functions are closed by an end

That is the basic syntax of a function! Here are a few rules about functions you should know:

• Function names cannot have any spaces in them.
• Function names can have uppercase and lowercase letters in them
• The 'variables' are commonly known as arguments. Arguments are not mandatory, but if there are none, you still need the '()'
• All functions are ended simply by using the 'end' statement.
• The word 'function' must be spelled as it is (all lowercase letters).
• When you define a variable in a function, it can only be used in a function. This is called a local variable. For example..

Example

--this is the function and I define the local variable 'x'.
function Hi()
   x = "Hi"
   print(x)
end

--but you cannot do this after the function closes, it will print 'nil'
print(x)

Executing the function

To execute a function, you must call it by yourself, or have it connected to an event. Since you have not learned about events yet, I will teach you how to call it yourself. This is the basic syntax on how to call a function:

''functionname''(value of variable1, value of variable2....value of variableX)

Lets say you wanted to call the function 'Hi', which I defined in the previous subsection. This is how I would do it:

function Hi()
   x = "Hi"
   print(x)
end

Hi()

Output:
Hi

This is an example of calling a function with arguments:

--I'll define the function
function hola(x, y) --these are the arguments 'x' and 'y'
   print(x, y) --I will print the variables 'x' and 'y', even though they have no value. I will show you how to set their value's next.
end --I close the function

hola("Hello", "Hola") --see how I defined them? Now x = "Hello" and y = "Hola"

Output:
Hello	Hola