Glowing Maps, SLIM Tech & Safety Updates

Beyond The Blox

5 November 2025

Adam Whitney

Fedor and Anthony admiring the emissive maps demos from Roblox: A spacesuit with glowing controls, a jack-o-lantern with glowing details, and futuristic neon restaurant signage.

This week's episode saw Fedor and Anthony taking the reins while I was away, diving into a packed week of Roblox developer news. From visual upgrades that will literally brighten your day (and your games) to significant changes in how safety and chat are handled on the platform, there is a lot to cover.

Whether you are a builder looking to add some neon flair or a developer concerned about the future of community interaction, here is everything you need to know from this week's discussion.

Emissive Maps: Lighting Up Your World

First up is a feature that artists and builders have been waiting for: Emissive Maps. Now in Studio Beta, this update allows developers to add custom emission or "glow" maps to their games via SurfaceAppearance, MaterialVariant, and TerrainDetail.

Previously, creating glowing effects on specific parts of a texture required hacky workarounds—often involving duplicating meshes, separating the "glowing" parts, and applying a Neon material. It was tedious and performance-heavy. With Emissive Maps, you can now supply a texture where brighter areas indicate emission, along with an EmissiveStrength property to control the intensity and an EmissiveTint to colorize it.

One of the best parts of this update is consistency. Unlike some graphical features that disappear at lower quality settings, emissive maps appear at all quality levels and distances. This ensures that your artistic vision remains intact whether a player is on a high-end PC or a mobile device.

Roblox has provided an example place demonstrating these capabilities, featuring flickering neon signs, glowing lava, and futuristic props. It is a game-changer for environmental storytelling, allowing for everything from cyberpunk cityscapes to cozy Christmas villages with lighted windows.

SLIM: The Future of Optimization

Next, we discussed SLIM (Scalable Lightweight Interactive Models), a new technology also in Studio Beta. SLIM is set to be a massive upgrade over the existing Level of Detail (LOD) system.

For years, developers have struggled with optimizing massive worlds. The old LOD system would often render distant objects as vague, blocky shapes that looked unappealing. SLIM changes this by using cloud technology to automatically generate multiple high-quality variants of your models.

Here is how it works: when you upload a model, Roblox's servers create several versions of it, ranging from the full-fidelity original to simplified versions for medium and far distances. The engine then automatically swaps these based on the player's distance. The result? Distant objects look significantly better—retaining their shape and color—while still being optimized for performance.

This "set it and forget it" approach frees developers from manually creating low-poly versions of their assets, allowing them to focus on building immersive, detailed worlds without worrying about crashing low-end devices.

EuroJam 2025

For our European creators (and everyone else!), Roblox announced EuroJam 2025. This event is a spiritual successor to the Unite Developer Challenge, rebranded to spotlight the growing European developer community.

Running from October 31st to November 9th, teams of up to five developers will compete to create a game based on a specific theme. While the branding focuses on Europe, the event is open to participants worldwide. Winners can earn GoGift cards and exclusive virtual prizes.

This event highlights Roblox's push to cater to its global audience, moving away from a US-centric focus and acknowledging the massive talent pool across Europe and beyond. If you are looking to build your portfolio and network with other devs, this is a perfect opportunity.

Safety Analytics Dashboard

On the analytics front, Roblox has released a new Safety Analytics Dashboard. This tool gives developers insight into the volume and type of abuse reports occurring in their experiences.

The dashboard breaks down reports by category—such as bullying, cheating, or inappropriate content—and compares your game's statistics to the platform average. It also allows you to filter by source, distinguishing between reports from text chat, voice chat, or the experience itself.

While some developers might worry about "big brother" oversight, this tool is actually a positive step. It empowers developers to identify toxicity spikes—perhaps caused by a new feature or update—and take action to make their communities safer. Instead of reports "screaming into the void," developers now have data to help them improve the player experience.

Age Checks for Chat

Finally, the most controversial topic of the week: Age Estimation for Chat. Roblox is currently testing a system that encourages (and may eventually require) users to verify their age to access chat features.

The new system asks users to submit a video selfie or government ID to verify their age. This move aligns with global trends towards stricter online safety regulations, such as the UK's Online Safety Act. The goal is to ensure age-appropriate interactions and increase safety on the platform.

However, it raises valid concerns. Privacy is a major one—users are understandably hesitant to share biometric data. There are also accessibility issues; not every player has a high-quality camera or a government ID, especially younger users or those on certain devices like handheld consoles.

Roblox has stated that biometric data is processed by a third-party partner (Persona) and deleted shortly after verification, but the friction this adds to the simple act of chatting is undeniable. As this feature rolls out, it will be interesting to see how the community adapts.

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