How to make a battlegrounds game in Roblox Studio

What makes a battlegrounds game work

The loop in one line: spawn, find a fight, land a combo, use your moves, knock out or get knocked out, respawn. Roblox lists this under Action as the Battlegrounds & Fighting subgenre: games focused on combat between two or more characters, often with many different combat mechanics.

• Every second: the feel of a hit. Players judge a battlegrounds game in its first fight. A punch that lands with no sound, no pause and no reaction feels broken even when the code is correct.
• Every 10 seconds: a read. Is the opponent blocking? Is their big move on cooldown? Dash in or wait? Fights are decisions made at speed.
• Every fight: a combo that works. A punch chain that ends in a launcher, followed by a move that catches the target in the air. Discovering combos is the genre's skill ceiling.
• Every session: a new fighter or a streak. Unlocking or trying another moveset, or chasing a kill streak, gives a session its goal.
• An audience. Free-for-all servers mean others watch your fights and join them. Big, readable moves are part of the show.

Battlegrounds games that empty out usually have one of these problems: moves that cannot be escaped once they start, hitboxes that feel random to the player who got hit, a single fighter that beats everyone, or new players dying instantly to veterans with no way to learn. A training dummy and a practice area are cheap and help with the last one.

Combat design: the numbers that matter

Two design rules hold across most fighters. First, every strong move needs a weakness: a long start-up, a long cooldown, or a big recovery where the user is open. Second, the basic punch combo should end in something (a knockback or a launch) so that a full combo always separates the players and gives the target a moment to act.

Movesets: give each fighter a theme and a role. One fighter is strong up close and weak at range, another controls space with slow projectiles, another is fast with low damage. Four moves per fighter, mapped to the same keys for everyone, keeps the learning curve flat while still making each fighter feel different.

The systems a battlegrounds game needs

The combat system guide builds the punch combo with a server hitbox. This page adds the layer on top: named moves, stun that stops a player acting, blocks, and knockback.

Hitboxes, latency and fairness

This is the genre's hard technical problem. The attacker sees the target where it was a moment ago on their screen; the server sees it where it is now. A hitbox checked on the server is safe from exploiters but can miss a hit the attacker saw land. A hitbox checked on the attacker's client feels perfect for them but lets an exploiter claim hits that never happened.

• Start with server hitboxes, as in this page and the combat guide. They are simple and cannot be faked. Make the box slightly generous so the attacker's view and the server's view mostly agree.
• If hits feel unfair at higher ping, some games let the client report a hit and have the server check it: is the target within a sensible distance of the attacker, is the move off cooldown, was the attacker not stunned. Never trust damage or cooldown numbers from the client.
• Box queries use bounding boxes. workspace:GetPartBoundsInBox tests each part's bounding box, not its exact shape. For moves where precision matters more than speed, Roblox's docs point to GetPartsInPart.
• One hit per target per move. A box overlaps several body parts of the same character. Keep a table of who was already hit, or a move does damage once per limb.

Moves with cooldowns, stun, block and knockback

One server script owns every move. The client sends only the move's name. The server checks the move exists, that the player is alive, not stunned and off cooldown, then finds targets in a box in front of them. A blocking target takes a fifth of the damage and no stun or push; anyone else takes full damage, is stunned and is knocked back.

-- Script in ServerScriptService named Moves.
-- The client asks for a move by name. The server checks cooldown and stun,
-- finds who is in the hitbox, then deals damage, stun and knockback.
local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage")

type Move = { cooldown: number, damage: number, reach: number, size: Vector3, push: number, lift: number, stun: number }
local MOVES: { [string]: Move } = {
	Uppercut = { cooldown = 6, damage = 12, reach = 4, size = Vector3.new(5, 6, 5), push = 10, lift = 45, stun = 0.8 },
	Slam = { cooldown = 12, damage = 18, reach = 0, size = Vector3.new(16, 6, 16), push = 50, lift = 15, stun = 1.2 },
	Shove = { cooldown = 4, damage = 5, reach = 5, size = Vector3.new(6, 6, 7), push = 70, lift = 5, stun = 0.3 },
}
local BLOCKED_DAMAGE = 0.2 -- share of damage that gets through a block, with no stun or push

local useMove = Instance.new("RemoteEvent")
useMove.Name = "UseMove"
useMove.Parent = ReplicatedStorage
local readyAt: { [Player]: { [string]: number } } = {}

local function isStunned(character: Model): boolean
	local untilTime = character:GetAttribute("StunnedUntil")
	return typeof(untilTime) == "number" and untilTime > workspace:GetServerTimeNow()
end

useMove.OnServerEvent:Connect(function(player, moveName)
	local move = if typeof(moveName) == "string" then MOVES[moveName] else nil
	local character = player.Character
	local root = character and character:FindFirstChild("HumanoidRootPart")
	local humanoid = character and character:FindFirstChildOfClass("Humanoid")
	if not (move and character and root and root:IsA("BasePart") and humanoid) then
		return
	end
	local mine = readyAt[player] or {}
	readyAt[player] = mine
	if humanoid.Health <= 0 or isStunned(character) or os.clock() < (mine[moveName] or 0) then
		return -- stunned, dead or on cooldown: ignore the request
	end
	mine[moveName] = os.clock() + move.cooldown

	local params = OverlapParams.new()
	params.FilterType = Enum.RaycastFilterType.Exclude
	params.FilterDescendantsInstances = { character }
	local boxCenter = root.CFrame * CFrame.new(0, 0, -move.reach)
	local done: { [Model]: boolean } = {}
	for _, part in workspace:GetPartBoundsInBox(boxCenter, move.size, params) do
		local target = part:FindFirstAncestorOfClass("Model")
		local targetHumanoid = target and target:FindFirstChildOfClass("Humanoid")
		local targetRoot = target and target:FindFirstChild("HumanoidRootPart")
		if target and not done[target] and targetHumanoid and targetHumanoid.Health > 0 and targetRoot and targetRoot:IsA("BasePart") then
			done[target] = true -- one hit per target, however many of its parts overlap
			if target:GetAttribute("Blocking") == true then
				targetHumanoid:TakeDamage(move.damage * BLOCKED_DAMAGE)
				continue
			end
			targetHumanoid:TakeDamage(move.damage)
			target:SetAttribute("StunnedUntil", workspace:GetServerTimeNow() + move.stun)
			local away = (targetRoot.Position - root.Position) * Vector3.new(1, 0, 1)
			local direction = if away.Magnitude > 0.1 then away.Unit else root.CFrame.LookVector
			local velocity = direction * move.push + Vector3.new(0, move.lift, 0)
			targetRoot:ApplyImpulse(velocity * targetRoot.AssemblyMass)
		end
	end
end)

Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	readyAt[player] = nil
end)

• Stun is a StunnedUntil attribute on the character, in server time. This script refuses moves from stunned players. Make your punch combo and dash check the same attribute, or stun only stops half your kit.
• Block is a Blocking attribute. Set it on the server when the player holds the block key (a RemoteEvent with true or false), and refuse it while stunned. A common next step is a guard break: a move that ignores blocks but has a long start-up.
• Knockback uses ApplyImpulse multiplied by the target's mass, so heavy and light characters fly the same distance. Roblox's docs say a server Script may apply an impulse to a part a client owns through automatic ownership, which is the case for player characters.
• Slam has a reach of 0, so its 16 stud box is centred on the user: an area move around them, not in front.
• The client plays the animation and effects as soon as the key is pressed, for responsiveness. The server's answer decides the damage.

Build plan: from a baseplate to launch

1. An arena and a dummy. A flat map with some cover and height, plus a training dummy (a rig with a Humanoid) that respawns. You will hit it thousands of times.
2. The punch combo. Build it from the combat guide. Before anything else, make one punch feel good: animation, sound, a short hit pause, a small camera shake for the attacker.
3. Four moves for one fighter. Add the Moves script, a block key, and a dash with its own cooldown. Map moves to the same four keys and an ability bar on screen with cooldown timers.
4. First playable. Two players, one fighter, one arena, respawn after a knockout. Play many short fights and tune stun, cooldowns and knockback until neither player can lock the other forever.
5. First public test. Invite players who like the genre. Watch for the move everyone spams and the moment fights feel unfair. Fix those before adding content.
6. Second and third fighters. Each with a clear role. Test every fighter against every other one.
7. Launch features. Fighter select, kill feed and streaks, health bars, a training area, saved unlocks, and the Maturity & Compliance questionnaire, which asks how violent your combat looks.

Monetization that fits battlegrounds

Battlegrounds players care about fairness in the fight and about looking good while winning. Sell expression and access, and be careful with anything that changes the numbers.

A pass is a one-time purchase; a developer product can be bought again. Fighters and permanent cosmetics are passes. The game pass guide covers checking ownership on the server, which you need before giving anyone a paid fighter's moves.

What brings battlegrounds players back

• New fighters. The genre's main update. Each new moveset changes the meta and gives everyone something new to learn and counter.
• Balance patches. Small, regular changes to numbers keep the strongest strategy from going stale. Post what changed.
• Streaks and leaderboards. Highest kill streak this server, total knockouts this week. Short-term goals in a game with no end.
• Mastery. Per-fighter levels that unlock cosmetics for playing that fighter, so players keep playing the ones they already own.
• Daily quests. "Win three fights with a guard break" pushes players to try parts of the kit they ignore.

If your fighters use guns instead of fists, the FPS guide covers spawns and kill credit, and the RPG guide covers longer progression around a combat system.

Build it with RoCode

RoCode is an independent AI agent for Roblox Studio, not made by Roblox. You describe the game in a web chat and its Studio plugin writes the Luau and builds parts, scripts and UI in the place you have open. For a battlegrounds game it can write the combat, move, stun and block scripts with server checks, build an arena, and add an ability bar and health bars from its UI kits. It cannot make animations, meshes or particle art of its own, so you supply animations, and it cannot judge whether a fight feels good.

Build this in Studio ↗

RoCode does not create animations, publish the game or spend Robux. The free plan gives free credits every day, no card needed. How RoCode builds a game.

Questions

Sources and further reading

• Roblox Creator Docs: Genres. Battlegrounds & Fighting under Action
• Roblox Engine API: WorldRoot. GetPartBoundsInBox and GetPartsInPart
• Roblox Engine API: BasePart:ApplyImpulse. mass and network ownership
• Roblox Engine API: Humanoid:TakeDamage. respects ForceField
• Roblox Creator Docs: Content maturity and compliance. violence intensity and frequency
• Roblox Creator Docs: Paid random items policy. odds and restricted players
• RoCode guide: Combat system. the punch combo with a server hitbox

How the code was checked: every script on this page passes Luau's strict type checker against Roblox's API definitions (luau-lsp, 26 October 2026). A type check catches misspelt APIs and wrong types, not game logic, so playtest in Studio before you publish.