Starting a roblox pet system script project can feel like a massive undertaking, but it's actually one of the most rewarding things you can build for your game. If you've spent any time in popular simulators, you know that pets are basically the lifeblood of the experience. They aren't just cosmetic; they represent progress, stats, and a whole lot of playtime for the users. But how do you actually get those little cubes or high-poly animals to follow a player without it becoming a laggy nightmare?
Honestly, the biggest mistake most new developers make is grabbing a random free model from the Toolbox and hoping it works. Those usually come bloated with old code or, worse, backdoors that can ruin your game. Writing your own script gives you total control over how the pets move, how they're saved in the database, and how players interact with them. Let's break down how to actually build one that doesn't break every five minutes.
The Core Logic: Making the Pet Follow
The most visible part of any roblox pet system script is the movement logic. You want the pet to hover or walk behind the player, but you don't want it colliding with them and sending the player flying across the map. This used to be done primarily with BodyPosition and BodyGyro, but since those are technically deprecated, many devs have moved over to AlignPosition and AlignOrientation.
The "glue" of the follow system usually involves a RenderStepped loop or a Task.Wait() loop on the client side. Why the client? Because if the server handles the movement of every pet for 50 players, your server heartbeat is going to drop faster than a rock. You want the player to see their own pet move smoothly, so you handle the physics locally and just tell the server where the pet should be if you need to sync it for others.
A cool trick is to use a simple offset. You don't want the pet inside the player's torso. You calculate a position slightly behind and to the side of the character. If the player has multiple pets, you'll need a bit of math (usually some sine and cosine stuff) to arrange them in a nice circle or arc behind the player. It sounds fancy, but it's really just basic positioning.
Handling the Backend and Data
Once you've got a pet following you, the next hurdle is making sure that pet is still there when the player logs back in tomorrow. This is where DataStoreService comes into play. If your roblox pet system script doesn't save correctly, your players will be furious when their "Legendary Omega Dragon" disappears into the ether.
Most experienced devs use a wrapper like ProfileService or DataStore2 because they handle "data loss" much better than the standard Roblox service. When a player hatches a pet, you aren't just putting a folder in their character; you're adding a string or a table to their saved data.
Saving the Right Way
When you save pet data, don't just save the name of the pet. You should save a unique ID for each specific pet instance. This allows players to have three "Cats," each with different levels or nicknames. Your table might look something like this: a unique UUID, the pet type, its level, and maybe even a custom name. When the player joins, your script reads this table and clones the corresponding models from a ServerStorage folder into the game world.
The Inventory UI
You also need a way for players to see what they own. A good roblox pet system script always includes a clean inventory system. This usually involves a ScrollingFrame and a bunch of ViewpointFrames. ViewportFrames are awesome because they let you show a 3D model of the pet inside a 2D UI button. It looks way more professional than just using flat icons.
Making the Hatching Experience Feel Great
Let's be real: the reason people love pet games is the "gacha" mechanic. The excitement of clicking an egg and seeing a rare pet pop out is what keeps people coming back. To script this, you need a weighted random table.
You can't just use math.random(1, 100) and say "If it's 100, give them a legendary." Well, you can, but it's hard to manage. A better way is to give each pet a "weight." For example, a Common pet has a weight of 70, a Rare has 20, and a Legendary has 1. You add all the weights together, pick a random number between 1 and the total, and then iterate through your list to see where that number falls.
The actual hatching animation is where you can really flex your creative muscles. Use TweenService to make the egg shake, maybe some ParticleEmitters for some "poof" effects, and a big UI splash when the pet is revealed. It's all about the "juice"—those little polish details that make the game feel high-quality.
Client vs Server: Who Does What?
Understanding the boundary between the client and the server is crucial. You never want the client to tell the server "I just bought this pet" without the server checking if they actually have the money. Your roblox pet system script should follow a strict workflow:
- Client: Player clicks the "Hatch" button.
- RemoteEvent: Client fires an event to the server.
- Server: Checks the player's balance. If they have enough, deduct the currency.
- Server: Runs the math to see which pet they get.
- Server: Saves the new pet to the player's data.
- RemoteEvent: Server tells the client "You got a Cat!" and the client plays the animation.
By doing it this way, exploiters can't just fire the RemoteEvent to give themselves free pets. Well, they can try, but your server-side check will see they have $0 and just ignore the request. Always trust the server, never the client.
Polish and Optimization
If your game gets popular, you might have hundreds of pets moving around at once. This can tank performance if you aren't careful. One way to optimize your roblox pet system script is to hide pets that are far away from the local player. If a player is 200 studs away, do you really need to render their three tiny pets in high detail? Probably not.
Another tip: use CollectionService to tag all pets. This makes it super easy to run a single loop that manages pet behavior across the entire game rather than having a separate script inside every single pet model. Individual scripts inside models are a nightmare to update once you have 50 different pet types.
Also, think about collisions. Pets should generally have CanCollide set to false. There is nothing more frustrating for a player than trying to walk through a doorway and getting stuck because their pet's hitbox is hitting the frame. Use CollisionGroups to make sure pets can pass through players but maybe still interact with the ground if you're using a raycast-based walking system.
Wrapping Things Up
Building a roblox pet system script is a big project, but if you tackle it piece by piece—movement, data, hatching, and UI—it becomes much more manageable. Don't be afraid to experiment with different movement styles. Maybe your pets don't fly; maybe they hop like frogs or roll like balls. The logic remains mostly the same, but those small tweaks are what will make your game stand out from the thousands of other simulators on the platform.
Just remember to keep your code organized. Use ModuleScripts for your main logic so you don't end up with a 2,000-line long script that's impossible to read. If you stay organized and keep the player's experience in mind, you'll have a system that's not only fun to play with but also easy to expand as you add more pets and features later on. It's a lot of work, sure, but seeing a player get excited over a rare pet you scripted is a pretty great feeling.