Open Roblox Studio, start one empty place, drop in a single part, and run it once so you know the whole test loop works before you build anything.
This is the before-the-tutorial slice: no scripts, no coins, no leaderboard, no publishing, just one part and one working playtest. If you can press Play, walk around, and press Stop with everything back where it started, you are done with this page.
Roblox Studio changes its layout often. The toolbar has been reorganized more than once, and button labels move. When a step below does not match your screen, hover over icons to read their names, or look up the task in the current Roblox Creator Hub documentation.
Step 1: Install Studio and sign in
Download Roblox Studio from the official Roblox Creator Hub and install it. Studio uses your regular Roblox account, so sign in with that.
If Studio asks to update the first time it opens, let it finish. Starting on the current version keeps your screen closer to the official docs.
Step 2: Open one empty place
When Studio opens, it shows a set of starting templates. Pick the plain Baseplate template.
You get a flat gray floor, a sky, and a SpawnLocation, which is the pad where your avatar appears when you test. That is all. There is nothing to break and nothing to clean up.
Resist the urge to open one of the themed templates. They are fun to explore, but they come with dozens of objects you did not make, and you will not know which part does what.
Step 3: Learn to move the camera
You need to get around the world before you can put anything in it.
In the 3D viewport, hold the right mouse button and drag to look around. While holding it, use W, A, S, and D to fly. Scroll to zoom. Q and E move the camera down and up in the default controls. If any of these do not work on your setup, look up the Studio camera controls in the current documentation.
Fly up, look down at the baseplate, and find the SpawnLocation. Then come back to eye level near it.
Step 4: Open Explorer and Properties
Two windows matter most. Explorer lists everything in your place. Properties shows the settings of whatever you select.
If either is missing, open it from Studio’s window or view controls. The exact location of that control has moved between Studio versions, so check the docs if you cannot find it.
In Explorer, expand Workspace. You should see the Baseplate, the SpawnLocation, and a Camera. Click Baseplate and watch Properties fill with its settings. Click SpawnLocation and watch it change. That select-then-inspect habit is most of what Studio work is.
Step 5: Insert one part
Find the Part insertion button. Current docs say it is on the Home and Model tab toolbars, but use the current docs if your layout differs. Click it once.
A gray block appears in the world, and a new entry called Part shows up under Workspace in Explorer.
Click the new Part in Explorer, then rename it through its right-click menu, or by double-clicking the name, to FirstBlock. Good names cost nothing now and save confusion later.
Step 6: Move it and make it yours
Pick the Move tool and drag the colored arrows to slide the block a few studs away from the SpawnLocation. You want it close enough to walk to, but not on top of the spawn pad.
With FirstBlock selected, look in Properties. Change the Color to something bright so you can spot it easily. You can also change Size to make it a little bigger.
Now find the Anchored property and turn it on. Roblox’s documentation recommends anchoring most parts, because an unanchored part is affected by physics as soon as the game runs. An anchored part stays exactly where you put it.
Step 7: Save a local copy
Before your first test, save the place to a file on your computer through Studio’s File menu. Name it something like first-place.rbxl.
This is not publishing. Nothing goes online. It is just a copy you can reopen if you get lost.
Step 8: Press Play
Find the playtest controls. The current Roblox testing docs describe a dropdown of test modes with a Play button beside it. The default mode, called Test in the current docs, has the shortcut F5. Older layouts may simply show a button named Play.
Press it. Studio loads for a moment, then your avatar appears on the SpawnLocation.
Walk around with W, A, S, and D. Press Space to jump. Walk up to FirstBlock and bump into it. It should not move, because you anchored it. Jump on top of it.
That is your first playtest. The world you built is now running.
Step 9: Learn what Stop does
Before you stop, try one experiment. While the test is running, select FirstBlock in Explorer and change its color to something different.
Now press Stop. In the current docs, the shortcut is Shift+F5.
Look at your block. It is back to the color it had before you pressed Play. The Roblox documentation says Stop resets all objects and instances to how they were before the playtest.
This catches almost every new Roblox developer at least once. Changes you make during a test vanish when you stop. Build and edit while the test is stopped. Test only to look.
If Play does not work
Most first-session problems have plain causes.
Your avatar falls through the world. Check that the Baseplate still exists in Explorer and is anchored. If you deleted it by accident, press Ctrl+Z, or reopen your saved file.
Your block falls over or slides away. Anchored is off. Stop the test, select FirstBlock, and turn Anchored on.
You spawn somewhere strange. The docs say the default test mode inserts your avatar at a SpawnLocation, or at a point high above the world if none exists. Make sure the SpawnLocation is still in Workspace.
Nothing happens when you press the shortcut. Click inside the 3D viewport first so Studio has focus, then try again, or use the on-screen button.
Studio asks you to sign in or update. Do that, then reopen your saved file.
Stop here
You opened an empty place, inserted one part, named it, anchored it, saved, played, and stopped. You also learned that Stop rewinds everything you changed during a test.
That loop is the foundation of every Roblox project. Close Studio, reopen your saved file, and press Play once more to confirm it still runs. When it does, this page is finished.