Getting a functional roblox computer terminal script up and running is one of those projects that looks way harder than it actually is. If you've ever played a game like Entry Point or any sci-fi horror title on the platform, you've probably seen those glowing green screens where you have to "hack" a system or read through old logs. It adds so much atmosphere compared to a boring, standard GUI menu.
The cool thing about making a terminal is that it's basically just a conversation between the player and a script. You type something in, the script looks at it, and it spits something back out. But if you want it to feel "real"—with that retro, clunky computer vibe—there are a few tricks you need to pull off in Luau.
Why Bother With a Custom Terminal?
Let's be honest, most players are used to clicking buttons. Clicking is easy. But typing commands into a terminal makes a player feel like they're actually interacting with the world. It's immersive. Whether you're building a fallout-style bunker or a high-tech spaceship, a roblox computer terminal script acts as a gateway to your game's lore.
You can use them for keycard overrides, reading secret emails, or even controlling physical parts of the map like doors and lights. Plus, it's a great way to practice string manipulation and table logic, which are huge parts of coding in general.
Setting Up the Visuals First
Before you even touch a script, you need a place for the text to live. You have two main choices here: a ScreenGui (which sits on the player's HUD) or a SurfaceGui (which sits on a Part in the 3D world). For a terminal, a SurfaceGui is almost always the better choice because it feels like an actual physical object.
- Create a Part: Make it thin and black, like a monitor screen.
- Add a SurfaceGui: Stick this inside the part and make sure it's facing the right way.
- The ScrollingFrame: This is the secret sauce. You want your terminal history to scroll up as new lines are added.
- The Input: Put a
TextBoxat the bottom. This is where the player will actually type. Make sure to setClearTextOnFocusto true so they don't have to backspace every time.
Pro tip: Use a monospaced font like Courier or Roboto Mono. Standard fonts look weird in a terminal. You want every letter to take up the same amount of space to keep that "code" aesthetic.
The Core Logic of the Script
Now for the actual roblox computer terminal script. You'll want to handle the input through the FocusLost event of your TextBox. This event fires whenever the player hits "Enter."
When they hit Enter, you don't just want the text to disappear. You want to take that string, check if it matches a command, and then print the result to the screen. A simple way to do this is to have a "history" label inside your ScrollingFrame. Every time a command is run, you append the new text to the old text using \n for new lines.
But wait—if you just keep adding text to one giant string, it eventually gets messy. A better way is to clone a template TextLabel for every new line. This lets you change the color of specific lines (like red for errors and green for success).
Handling Commands Like a Pro
You could use a bunch of if/elseif statements, but that gets ugly fast. If you have twenty different commands, your script will be a mile long. Instead, try using a table of functions.
Imagine a table called Commands. Inside, you have keys like "help", "open_door", and "clear". When the player types a word, the script just looks for that key in the table. If it finds it, it runs the associated function. If it doesn't, it prints something like "Unknown Command: Type 'help' for options." It's much cleaner and way easier to add new features later on.
Making It Feel "Retro"
A terminal that just snaps text onto the screen feels a bit cheap. To get that authentic feel, you need a typewriter effect. Instead of setting the Text property all at once, you use a for loop to iterate through the string and add one character at a time with a tiny task.wait() in between.
It's a small detail, but it makes a massive difference. You can also add a subtle flickering effect to the UI or a green "scanline" overlay to make it look like an old CRT monitor. Some developers even add a "clicky" mechanical keyboard sound effect that plays every time a character appears. It's satisfying as heck to listen to.
Dealing with Player Input
One thing that trips people up with a roblox computer terminal script is capitalization. Players might type "HELP", "Help", or "help". You don't want your script to break just because of a capital letter. Always use string.lower() on the player's input before checking it against your commands.
Also, think about arguments. If a player types "teleport Lobby", you need to split that string. The first word is the command ("teleport"), and the second word is the argument ("Lobby"). Using string.split(input, " ") is the easiest way to break the message down into a list of words you can actually use.
Security Concerns
If your terminal is just for show, you don't need to worry much. But if your roblox computer terminal script actually does things—like opening a door that leads to a high-tier loot room—you have to be careful.
Never trust the client. If the script that processes the command is a LocalScript, a slacker exploiter can just trigger the "door open" function without even typing anything. Always use a RemoteEvent to tell the server: "Hey, this player typed the right password, please open the door for them." The server should then double-check if the player is actually standing near the terminal and if the password is correct.
Adding Advanced Features
Once you have the basics down, you can get pretty creative. Here are a few ideas to level up your terminal:
- Login System: Require the player to find a username and password hidden in the map before they can use the terminal.
- Directory System: Let players type "dir" or "ls" to see a list of files, then "cat [filename]" to read them.
- Progress Bars: If a player is "downloading" data, show a visual bar made of brackets and hashes like this:
[#####-----] 50%. - Color Coding: Use
RichTextso that your terminal can display multiple colors in the same line. This is great for highlighting keywords or warnings.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
One big mistake is not handling the CanvasPosition of the ScrollingFrame. As more text gets added to the terminal, the new lines will appear at the bottom, out of view. You need your script to automatically scroll to the bottom every time a new line is printed. You can do this by setting the CanvasPosition to a very high Y value whenever the content size changes.
Another issue is the "Enter" key behavior. Sometimes, hitting Enter will lose focus on the TextBox, but the player has to click it again to type another command. That's annoying. You can use TextBox:CaptureFocus() to immediately put the cursor back into the box so they can keep typing seamlessly.
Wrapping It Up
Building a roblox computer terminal script is really a rewarding experience because it touches on so many different parts of game development. You're doing UI design, sound implementation, string parsing, and server-client communication all in one go.
It might take a bit of tinkering to get the scrolling and the typewriter timing exactly right, but once it clicks, you'll have a versatile tool that you can drop into almost any project. Just remember to keep your code organized—use those tables for commands—and always keep an eye on security if the terminal controls important game mechanics. Now go make something that looks like it came straight out of a 1980s mainframe!