In December 2022, we hosted our annual Hack Week. Throughout this week, Robloxians put our values into motion by pursuing initiatives that drive speedy innovation. This was our largest annual self-organized occasion up to now, with over 400 workers throughout 225 groups competing for a spot within the prime three in every of 4 classes.
Unleashing Curiosity and Driving Innovation for Our Platform
Hack Week takes place throughout our annual code freeze, which provides everybody throughout Roblox time to pursue a various set of initiatives. We take no matter has piqued our curiosity all year long and act on it. A number of previous initiatives have gone on to grow to be fully-implemented merchandise or options on the platform.
So, what’s the key to lining up an superior Hack Week mission? It’s all about taking massive dangers and asking massive questions. “We’re speaking about reimagining the way in which individuals come collectively,” shares Dave Baszucki, Founder & CEO. “We’re speaking in regards to the evolution of communication expertise, all the way in which from telephone to video to immersive 3D. I believe one of many largest issues that this week does is validate our imaginative and prescient. It’s not 20 years away. It’s one thing that we’re making progress on yearly. Hack Week is the final word definition of innovation at scale.”
This yr, initiatives reached all components of the platform and technical stack. Listed here are a few of this yr’s initiatives to point out the breadth of what groups labored on:
- Supporting reside performances in Roblox with the creation of an open-source plugin that enables streaming of audio and movement seize knowledge to drive avatars within the expertise.
- A picture filter part that may permit our builders to control their pictures so their experiences have a particular fashion.
- A framework to carry out frequent debugging and testing actions that can be accessible on all consumer platforms.
- A dashboard to investigate the official Creator Documentation and supply details about learn how to enhance its protection and high quality.
Including a New Degree of Competitors
“Hack Week is unquestionably not every week off. It’s a week on for the people who find themselves collaborating,” says Claus Moberg, VP of Engineering and Hack Week organizer. “We work arduous at Roblox, however this can be the toughest that any person works all yr. You’ve got a really quick time interval to get your mission executed. And it’s aggressive.”
In previous years, senior leaders evaluated and hand-selected initiatives that had been significantly progressive to share out with your complete firm. This yr, we developed a judging and scoring course of to establish the perfect of the perfect. Throughout registration, groups chosen one of many 4 firm values for his or her initiatives, which additionally decided the judging classes. To submit, groups created a three-minute-long video that showcased their work. A panel of over a dozen judges – senior leaders from throughout Roblox – evaluated every submission, narrowing down the initiatives to finalists. On the yr’s final City Corridor, the finalists offered, answered questions, after which awaited last placements.
As one of many judges, Claus seemed for a few attributes in every mission. “I’m actually excited to see every thing from huge long-term innovation to near-term tactical options. Total, I’m on the lookout for initiatives that talk to our core firm values and have affect on our customers, workers, and on Roblox as an entire.”
The Winners
Hack Week closed with an awards celebration the place the finalists discovered about their placements of their respective classes and claimed their Hack Week trophies. Stef Corazza, Head of Studio Engineering – Creator, was a member of the group that took dwelling the 2nd place trophy within the Take the Lengthy View class. His group’s mission centered round bringing reside performances to Roblox. Whereas successful was nice, his favourite half about Hack Week was, “… actually in regards to the group and the way we got here collectively. All six of us had totally different talent units with very totally different backgrounds.”
Two highlights caught out for first place winners of the We’re Accountable class Kevin Koleckar and Nicholas Choi. “Attending to collaborate with somebody that I’m not often collaborating with was my favourite half,” says Kevin. “Nick and I’ve been on the identical group up to now, however over the past yr, we’ve labored on various things. Hack Week gave us the prospect to come back again and work on one thing collectively.”
For Nick, Hack Week created house to pursue one thing he’s been inquisitive about. “Our mission has been one thing I’ve been fascinated about doing for a extremely very long time, so it was simply actually thrilling to see it come to fruition.”
Based on Claus, it’s not all about successful. “There are such a lot of initiatives which are unbelievable and that actually are the way forward for the platform. The entire work that folks have put in is being acknowledged by leaders on the firm and goes to be shared with the groups which are accountable for these areas. Each single mission has the potential to tell how our product is constructed shifting ahead.”
Claus continues, “Hack Week at Roblox is de facto core to our tradition of innovation. Yearly, we see initiatives that blow our minds. The way in which our groups assault these massive questions and discover options to issues no one has constructed earlier than… Hack Week is among the best examples of Roblox’s method to innovation.”
Try a spotlight reel of the successful groups and their initiatives:
