Implementing Player Checkpoint Tracking

What are Leaderstats?

In many Roblox games, you've probably noticed a list in the top-right corner of the screen that shows all the players in the game and their scores, cash, or level. This is called a leaderboard, and in Roblox, it's created using a special feature called leaderstats.

Let's start by watching a short video that explains what leaderstats are and why they are useful.

Our goal is to create a stat called "Checkpoint" that will show up right next to the player's name.

Creating the Leaderboard Script

Just like in our last lesson, we need a script to make things happen. This script will have one job: to set up the leaderboard for every player who joins the game. Because this needs to work for everyone in the game, we will put it in a special folder called ServerScriptService. Scripts in this folder run on the Roblox server, which manages the whole game.

1. In the Explorer window, find ServerScriptService.
2. Hover over it, click the ⊕ button, and select Script from the menu. You can rename this new script to something like "LeaderboardScript" so you remember what it does.

Now, let's learn how to write the code for this script. We'll use the official Roblox documentation as our guide.

Understanding the Code

The code you just saw might seem a bit complex, but let's break it down. It follows a pattern we'll use a lot: Event → Function.

1. The Event: Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(...)
   This is the event. PlayerAdded fires every single time a new player joins your game. Think of it like a "When player joins" block in Scratch.
2. The Function: leaderboardSetup(player)
   This is the block of code that runs when the event happens. The player in the parentheses is a variable that automatically holds the information for the player who just joined.

Inside the function, we do two things:

• local leaderstats = Instance.new("Folder")
  This line creates a new, empty Folder object.
• leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats"
  This is the most important step! We name the folder leaderstats in all lowercase letters. Roblox automatically looks for a folder with this exact name to build the leaderboard.
• leaderstats.Parent = player
  This line moves the new leaderstats folder and places it inside the player object, making it part of that specific player.

Adding the Checkpoint Counter

Now that we have the special leaderstats folder, we need to put our counter inside it. For this, we'll create another new object called an IntValue. As the name suggests, it's designed to hold an integer, which is a whole number like 0, 1, 5, or 100.

Let's add to our script.

The Complete Script

Let's combine everything we've learned into one final script. Open your LeaderboardScript in Roblox Studio and replace the default "Hello, world!" text with the code below. I've changed the names from the examples to match our Obby game.

-- Get the Players service, which manages all players in the game
local Players = game:GetService("Players")

-- This function will run for each player who joins
local function setupLeaderstats(player)
	-- Create a Folder to hold the stats
	local leaderstats = Instance.new("Folder")
	leaderstats.Name = "leaderstats" -- Must be named "leaderstats"
	leaderstats.Parent = player

	-- Create an IntValue to store the checkpoint number
	local checkpoint = Instance.new("IntValue")
	checkpoint.Name = "Checkpoint"  -- This name will appear on the leaderboard
	checkpoint.Value = 0            -- Start the player at checkpoint 0
	checkpoint.Parent = leaderstats -- Put it inside the leaderstats folder
end

-- Connect the function to the PlayerAdded event
Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(setupLeaderstats)

This script now does everything we need: when a player joins, it creates a leaderstats folder for them, and inside that folder, it places a number value named "Checkpoint" which starts at 0.

Test Your Game!

It's time to see our work in action.

1. Click the Play button at the top of Roblox Studio to start a test session.
2. Look at the top-right corner of your game window. You should see the player list with your name, a column titled "Checkpoint," and the number 0 next to your name.
3. Click the Stop button.

If you start and stop the game multiple times, you'll see that the "Checkpoint" value always resets to 0. This is perfect for our Obby, as we want players to start from the beginning each time they play a new session.

To see how Roblox organizes this, you can even check the Explorer window while the game is running. Look for a folder named Players, expand it, and you'll find an object with your username. Inside that, you will find the leaderstats folder and your Checkpoint IntValue that our script created!

The video below quickly demonstrates the whole process, from creating the script to testing the result. It's a great way to confirm you've done everything correctly.

Conclusion

Great work! You've just written a script that directly affects the player's user interface. This is a huge step forward.

Here are the key takeaways from today's lesson:

• Roblox has a built-in leaderboard system that works with a special folder named leaderstats.
• We use a script in ServerScriptService to manage game-wide logic.
• The Players.PlayerAdded event lets us run code for every player who joins the game.
• IntValue objects are used to store and display whole numbers on the leaderboard.

In our next lesson, we will make our Obby interactive. We'll give each of our five gates a number and write a script that checks if a player touches them in the correct order. When they do, we'll update the "Checkpoint" value you just created