Roblox (partially found builds of online game; 2003-present): Difference between revisions

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'''''Roblox''''' is a massive online multiplayer platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of different types of games created by other users. Before the game became open to the public, it was originally named ''Dynablocks'' up until early 2005 that David Baszucki and Eric Cassel ''(the founders of Roblox)'' decided to rename Dynablocks to ''Roblox'' because of complications with the name of ''Dynablocks''.
''Roblox'' is a massive online multiplayer platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of different types of games created by other users. Before the game became available to the public, Roblox was originally titled ''GoBlocks''. It was also changed to ''DynaBlocks'' for unverifiable reasons but it was ultimately changed to Roblox afterwards because of the name being too hard to remember. <ref name="robwiki">[https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/DynaBlocks "DynaBlocks"]. Roblox Wikia. Retrieved September 17, 2019.</ref>


Although the current version of the game is still up and playable, the clients from 2005 and 2006 have been lost in the sands of time. The only builds ''(from pre-2010)'' that have been uncovered so far are from 2007, 2008, and 2009. While there has been only a handful of pictures and information from 2005 that have been discovered by the community, there has been no gameplay footage featured from this time period ''(nor an archive from the Roblox servers)''.
Although the current version of the game is still up and playable, the clients from 2005 and 2006 have completely disappeared with no archive in site. The only builds predating 2010 that have been uncovered by various communities are the 2007 build (partially), 2008 build, and a 2009 build.


==Development==
==Background==
[[File:David_Bazsucki2007.png|thumb|300px|David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.]]
[[File:David_Bazsucki2007.png|thumb|300px|David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.]]


In 2004, programmers and developers David Baszucki and Erik Cassel created a game called ''Dynablocks''. Dynablocks was an online building toy that was meant for the sole purpose of allowing users to create and design their own game. In 2005, David and Erik decided to rename ''Dynablocks'' to ''Roblox'' – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks", and the launched a beta version that same year. In 2006, ''Roblox'' was officially released to the public.
In 1984, David Baszucki founded the company "Knowledge Revolution". Around this time, he developed general-purpose software for physics and mechanical-simulation, which were intended for educational purposes. According to an interview with David, he recalls creating three pieces of software that were all physics based. These being Interactive Physics, Working Model, and The Incredible Machine. <ref>[https://blog.roblox.com/2011/12/a-brief-history-of-physics-in-video-games/ "A Brief History of Physics in Video Games". Roblox Blog. Retrieved September 17, 2019.</ref> He also met Eric Cassel and Keith Lucas around this time.


==2005 Google Patent==
Around 1998, he stepped down as the CEO and became the Vice President. Later on, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software for 20 million dollars followed by both David and Eric leaving the company. They were soon joined by other employees as well. Soon after, development for a brand new game began. Though the year development began is not specified or known. By December 2003, the pair bought the domains for GoBlocks.com and soon after Dynablocks.com.
On May of 2017, a user named '''WIiPlay123''' uncovered a Google patent abstract titled "Online building toy" that was released in 2005 by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel.<ref>[https://www.google.com/patents/US7874921 Online building toy abstract.] Retrieved 10 May '17</ref> The patent contains information detailing the thought process behind the creation of ''Roblox''. It also included screenshots that were taken from the game itself and flowcharts and diagrams detailing the functionality of certain methods.


[[File:RobloxPatent_1.png|thumb|300px|A screenshot of the old Roblox used from the patent.]]
By 2004, David Baszucki and Eric Cassel released the beta version of a game entitled ''Dynablocks''. It was an online building toy that allowed users to create and design their own games. In 2005, they renamed ''Dynablocks'' to ''Roblox'' – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks". It was changed due to ''Dynablocks'' being a hard name to recognize. <ref name="robwiki">[https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/DynaBlocks "DynaBlocks"]. Roblox Wikia. Retrieved September 17, 2019.</ref> In that same year, ''Roblox'' was officially released to the public.
 
==Client Discoveries==
Despite being released around the time when the internet became a bigger household staple, many builds predating the 2010s are lost. The cause being Roblox moving their servers or removing old content from the main servers. Though many haven't really tried to archive these clients.
 
According to the tumblr blog "clientsearch", an installer for the 2008 build of Roblox was discovered around 2012. This began with people on the now defunct Roblox forums to speculate if there were any more older builds on the site's servers. Sadly in the following year, Roblox removed all older versions from c5.roblox.com.
 
In 2015, there were more discoveries of older clients. Roblox developer ''CloneTrooper1019'' released a Github repository from a late 2009 client build. <ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2009-Client 2009 Client Github Repository]. Github. Retrieved October 26 2017.</ref> In 2016, a broken installer for the 2007 build of Roblox was discovered. The year after that, a broken installer was discovered alongside with screenshots from 2006. <ref name="history">[https://clientsearch.tumblr.com/post/163540178183/history-of-the-clientsearch "History of the Clientsearch"]. Tumblr. Retrieved September 2017.</ref>


''"The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for building online games. In one embodiment, the method may include providing a user interface that facilitates user selection of parts and placing a set of parts selected by a user in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The method may also include joining parts within the set based on their proximity to each other in the 3D world to form one or more models for a game, and sending a model file for each of these models to a server via a network for use by various users."''
[[File:Roblox2007Installer.png|thumb|300px|2007 Roblox installer.]]


''- David Baszucki, 2005''
===2007 Build Discovered===
On October 25th 2017, Finobe user ''ReDZ'' found an anonymous user who played ''Roblox'' back in 2007 and held onto a hard drive containing handful of clients on their hard drive. Later on, user ''Kallus'' later contacted the unnamed user for the August 31st, 2007 client and leaked it upon getting given it. <ref>[https://fi.nobelium.xyz/forum/post?id=6348 A forum post detailing information on the clients that were found. Includes an almost complete list of what was found apart from January 2008 actually being February 8th, 2008.] Finobe. Retrieved October 26 2017.</ref>


The patent abstract is still being updated to this day, but the information still remains the same as it was back when the patent was first published. Also, if one was to look closely at the client's icon, it matches the R from the old logo used from mid-2004 till mid-2005.
Hours after the build got leaked, user ''CloneTrooper1019'' published the leaked vanilla build with permission from Finobe onto a Github repository. <ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2007-Client 2007 Client Github repository.] Github. Retrieved October 26 2017.</ref> The repository contains all the files necessary for the build to run properly since some of it was originally missing (such as fonts, textures, sounds, music, and animations which were borrowed from a 2008 build).  


==Brief History of the Discovery of Older Builds==
Later that year, it was advised by ''CloneTrooper1019'' and many others that people should be safe while using this multiplayer functionality of the 2007 build due to major security flaws. Finobe however released their version of the client containing the necessary patches to fix the major security issues.
In 2012, a 2008 client installer was uncovered within ''Roblox's'' servers on "c5.roblox.com". The discovery of this installer started to spread on Roblox's forums like ''Roblox'' Talk and Off Topic. Thanks to this, many users began to speculate whether older clients could be found using the same method that was used to uncover the 2008 installer.


In 2013, all old ''Roblox'' builds were removed from the c5.roblox.com link. Despite this unfortunate inconvenience, a mid-2010 client build was uncovered.
As of 2019, there hasn't been any major discoveries.  


In 2015, user CloneTrooper1019 released a Github repository that contains a late-2009 client build.<ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2009-Client A Github link to a 2009 ''Roblox'' build.] Retrieved 26 Oct 17</ref>
===2005 Google Patent===
[[File:RobloxPatent_1.png|thumb|300px|A screenshot of the old Roblox used from the patent.]]


==Discovery of Previously Lost Builds==
On May of 2017, a user named '''WIiPlay123''' uncovered a Google patent abstract titled "Online building toy" that was released during 2005 by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel. <ref name="patent">[https://www.google.com/patents/US7874921 "Online building toy abstract."] Google Patent. Retrieved May 2017.</ref> The patent contains information detailing the thought process behind the creation of ''Roblox''. It also included screenshots that were taken from the game itself and flowcharts and diagrams detailing the functionality of certain methods.
On September of 2017, an installer from February 2nd, 2007 was uncovered.<ref>[https://clientsearch.tumblr.com/post/163540178183/history-of-the-clientsearch History of the clientsearch blog.] Retrieved Sept '17</ref> Although it isn't possible to download the client anymore ''(as the original 2007 files have since been deleted from the Roblox servers)''.</ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20070202170622/http://roblox.com/setup/roblox.msi An archive of the ''Roblox'' site where the 2007 file can be downloaded.] Retrieved Sept '17</ref>


[[File:Roblox2007Installer.png|thumb|300px|What the installation wizard looks like.]]
''"The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for building online games. In one embodiment, the method may include providing a user interface that facilitates user selection of parts and placing a set of parts selected by a user in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The method may also include joining parts within the set based on their proximity to each other in the 3D world to form one or more models for a game, and sending a model file for each of these models to a server via a network for use by various users."''


On October 25th, 2017, user '''ReDZ''' found an anonymous user who played ''Roblox'' back in 2007 and was able to find a handful of clients<ref>[https://fi.nobelium.xyz/forum/post?id=6348 A forum post detailing information on the clients that were found. Includes an almost complete list of what was found apart from January 2008 actually being February 8th, 2008.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref> on their hard drive with builds dating from mid-2007 to mid-2008. User Kallus later contacted the unnamed user for the August 31st, 2007 client and leaked it upon getting given it. Hours after the build got leaked, user '''CloneTrooper1019''' published the leaked vanilla build with permission from Finobe onto a Github repository.<ref>[https://github.com/CloneTrooper1019/Roblox-2007-Client Github link to the vanilla build.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17</ref> The repository contains all the files necessary for the build to run properly since some of it was originally missing ''(such as fonts, textures, sounds, music, and animations which were borrowed from the February 8th, 2008 build)''.
''- David Baszucki, 2005'' <ref name="patent">[https://www.google.com/patents/US7874921 "Online building toy abstract."] Google Patent. Retrieved May 2017.</ref>  


As of October 25th, 2017, there is absolutely no security within this particular build in its vanilla state. It is advised by CloneTrooper1019 himself that people should be safe when using this build. Finobe did however on October 29th, 2017 release their version of the client onto their site that has the security issues patched and has Finobe branding for the purpose of competition.
Despite the patent being consistently updated by David Baszucki, the older versions of the patent abstract still exist.


==Videos==
==Videos==
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   |description4 =Original gameplay trailer from 2009.
   |description4 =Original gameplay trailer from 2009.
}}  
}}  
==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery mode=packed heights=61px>
[[File:Goblocks logo.png|thumb]]
Pirate.jpg|Screenshot of the 2005 client.
<gallery>
Pirate.jpg|In-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.
File:Dyna castle.jpg|Another in-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.
Old roblox studio.png|An older version of Roblox Studio.
Dynablocks_Website.png|Early homepage when the game was called Dynablocks.
Dynablocks_Website.png|Early homepage when the game was called Dynablocks.
Goblocks logo.png|Alleged logo for GoBlocks.
DynablocksLogo_v1.png|A recreation of the Dynablocks logo.
DynablocksLogo_v1.png|A recreation of the Dynablocks logo.
RobloxLogo_v1.png|The 2004 rendition of the Roblox logo.
RobloxLogo_v1.png|2004 version of the Roblox logo.
RobloxLogo_v2.png|The 2005 rendition of the Roblox logo.
RobloxLogo_v2.png|2005 version of the Roblox logo.
RobloxLogo_v3.png|The 2006 rendition of the Roblox logo.
RobloxLogo_v3.png|2006 version of the Roblox logo.
</gallery>
</gallery>
==External Links==
==External Links==
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*[http://roblox.wikia.com/wiki/DynaBlocks A Roblox Wikia page on ''Dynablocks''.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17
*[http://roblox.wikia.com/wiki/DynaBlocks A Roblox Wikia page on ''Dynablocks''.] Retrieved 26 Oct '17


==References==
===References===
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Lost video games]]
[[Category:Lost video games]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]

Revision as of 03:34, 18 September 2019

ROBLOX 2004.png

An old logo that dated back to 2006. Dubbed the "second generation" logo.

Status: Partially Found

Roblox is a massive online multiplayer platform that allows users to create and design their own games and play a wide variety of different types of games created by other users. Before the game became available to the public, Roblox was originally titled GoBlocks. It was also changed to DynaBlocks for unverifiable reasons but it was ultimately changed to Roblox afterwards because of the name being too hard to remember. [1]

Although the current version of the game is still up and playable, the clients from 2005 and 2006 have completely disappeared with no archive in site. The only builds predating 2010 that have been uncovered by various communities are the 2007 build (partially), 2008 build, and a 2009 build.

Background

David Baszucki at Valley Rekindled, 2007.

In 1984, David Baszucki founded the company "Knowledge Revolution". Around this time, he developed general-purpose software for physics and mechanical-simulation, which were intended for educational purposes. According to an interview with David, he recalls creating three pieces of software that were all physics based. These being Interactive Physics, Working Model, and The Incredible Machine. [2] He also met Eric Cassel and Keith Lucas around this time.

Around 1998, he stepped down as the CEO and became the Vice President. Later on, Knowledge Revolution was acquired by MSC Software for 20 million dollars followed by both David and Eric leaving the company. They were soon joined by other employees as well. Soon after, development for a brand new game began. Though the year development began is not specified or known. By December 2003, the pair bought the domains for GoBlocks.com and soon after Dynablocks.com.

By 2004, David Baszucki and Eric Cassel released the beta version of a game entitled Dynablocks. It was an online building toy that allowed users to create and design their own games. In 2005, they renamed Dynablocks to Roblox – a portmanteau of the words "robots" and "blocks". It was changed due to Dynablocks being a hard name to recognize. [1] In that same year, Roblox was officially released to the public.

Client Discoveries

Despite being released around the time when the internet became a bigger household staple, many builds predating the 2010s are lost. The cause being Roblox moving their servers or removing old content from the main servers. Though many haven't really tried to archive these clients.

According to the tumblr blog "clientsearch", an installer for the 2008 build of Roblox was discovered around 2012. This began with people on the now defunct Roblox forums to speculate if there were any more older builds on the site's servers. Sadly in the following year, Roblox removed all older versions from c5.roblox.com.

In 2015, there were more discoveries of older clients. Roblox developer CloneTrooper1019 released a Github repository from a late 2009 client build. [3] In 2016, a broken installer for the 2007 build of Roblox was discovered. The year after that, a broken installer was discovered alongside with screenshots from 2006. [4]

2007 Roblox installer.

2007 Build Discovered

On October 25th 2017, Finobe user ReDZ found an anonymous user who played Roblox back in 2007 and held onto a hard drive containing handful of clients on their hard drive. Later on, user Kallus later contacted the unnamed user for the August 31st, 2007 client and leaked it upon getting given it. [5]

Hours after the build got leaked, user CloneTrooper1019 published the leaked vanilla build with permission from Finobe onto a Github repository. [6] The repository contains all the files necessary for the build to run properly since some of it was originally missing (such as fonts, textures, sounds, music, and animations which were borrowed from a 2008 build).

Later that year, it was advised by CloneTrooper1019 and many others that people should be safe while using this multiplayer functionality of the 2007 build due to major security flaws. Finobe however released their version of the client containing the necessary patches to fix the major security issues.

As of 2019, there hasn't been any major discoveries.

2005 Google Patent

A screenshot of the old Roblox used from the patent.

On May of 2017, a user named WIiPlay123 uncovered a Google patent abstract titled "Online building toy" that was released during 2005 by David Baszucki and Eric Cassel. [7] The patent contains information detailing the thought process behind the creation of Roblox. It also included screenshots that were taken from the game itself and flowcharts and diagrams detailing the functionality of certain methods.

"The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus for building online games. In one embodiment, the method may include providing a user interface that facilitates user selection of parts and placing a set of parts selected by a user in a three-dimensional (3D) world. The method may also include joining parts within the set based on their proximity to each other in the 3D world to form one or more models for a game, and sending a model file for each of these models to a server via a network for use by various users."

- David Baszucki, 2005 [7]

Despite the patent being consistently updated by David Baszucki, the older versions of the patent abstract still exist.

Videos

Original gameplay trailer from 2006.

Chaos canyon gameplay video from 2006.

A reupload of an old "ROBLOX Blooper" from 2006.

Footage from the August 2007 build.

A 2007 demo that introduced the explosion feature.

A 2008 demo that introduced the sparkles feature.

A 2008 demo that introduced the shirts and pants feature.

Original gameplay trailer from 2009.

Gallery

Goblocks logo.png
  • In-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.

    In-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.

  • Another in-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.

    Another in-game screenshot from DynaBlocks.

  • An older version of Roblox Studio.

    An older version of Roblox Studio.

  • Early homepage when the game was called Dynablocks.

    Early homepage when the game was called Dynablocks.

  • Alleged logo for GoBlocks.

    Alleged logo for GoBlocks.

  • A recreation of the Dynablocks logo.

    A recreation of the Dynablocks logo.

  • 2004 version of the Roblox logo.

    2004 version of the Roblox logo.

  • 2005 version of the Roblox logo.

    2005 version of the Roblox logo.

  • 2006 version of the Roblox logo.

    2006 version of the Roblox logo.

External Links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "DynaBlocks". Roblox Wikia. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  2. ↑ [https://blog.roblox.com/2011/12/a-brief-history-of-physics-in-video-games/ "A Brief History of Physics in Video Games". Roblox Blog. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  3. ↑ 2009 Client Github Repository. Github. Retrieved October 26 2017.
  4. ↑ "History of the Clientsearch". Tumblr. Retrieved September 2017.
  5. ↑ A forum post detailing information on the clients that were found. Includes an almost complete list of what was found apart from January 2008 actually being February 8th, 2008. Finobe. Retrieved October 26 2017.
  6. ↑ 2007 Client Github repository. Github. Retrieved October 26 2017.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Online building toy abstract." Google Patent. Retrieved May 2017.
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