Basically, if you want your roblox ice skating script physics to feel authentic, you have to throw out the standard movement model and start thinking about momentum. Most developers think they can just slap a low-friction material on a part and call it a day, but that usually results in a player who feels like they're sliding on butter rather than actually skating. There is a specific "weight" and "glide" that you only get when you balance your scripts with the engine's built-in physics constraints.
If you've spent any time in games like Sno-Day or even some of the more niche figure skating sims on the platform, you'll notice that the movement isn't linear. It builds up, it has an edge, and most importantly, it doesn't stop the second you let go of the keys. Achieving that feeling requires a bit of a deep dive into how Roblox handles vectors and friction.
Why Default Friction Just Doesn't Cut It
When you're dealing with roblox ice skating script physics, your biggest enemy is the default Friction property on parts. If you just set a floor's friction to 0, the player's character will slide, sure, but they'll have zero control. They'll just spin around like a top and won't be able to turn or stop effectively.
The trick is actually to keep a little bit of friction but manipulate the LinearVelocity or VectorForce of the character. Real ice skating works because a blade has very little friction when moving forward, but a ton of friction when pushed sideways (the "edge"). To mimic this in a script, you have to constantly calculate which way the player is facing versus which way they are moving.
The Modern Way to Handle Skating Momentum
A few years ago, we all used BodyVelocity, but that's deprecated now. If you want your roblox ice skating script physics to be future-proof and smooth, you should be looking at LinearVelocity constraints.
The goal is to create a "glide" effect. When the player presses 'W', you shouldn't just teleport them or set their speed to 16. Instead, you want to apply a force that gradually increases their velocity. When they stop pressing the key, you don't clear the force immediately. You let it decay. This is the "momentum" part of the physics that makes it feel like the player is actually on ice.
Think about it this way: when you're on skates, your legs are the engine that provides the initial push. After that push, the physics of the ice takes over. In your script, you can use a Task.heartbeat loop to check the player's current speed and slowly dampen it over time if no input is detected.
Handling the "Edge" and Turning
Turning is where most roblox ice skating script physics fall apart. If you turn too sharply on ice without losing speed, it looks fake. If you lose all your speed the second you turn, it feels clunky.
A good script will take the player's LookVector and try to align their current velocity with that direction. If the player turns, you can calculate the "slip." If the angle between the movement direction and the facing direction is too wide, you should apply a small amount of "braking" force. This simulates the skate blade digging into the ice.
I've found that using AngularVelocity to handle the character's rotation helps a lot here too. It prevents that snappy, instant-turn feeling that Roblox characters usually have. You want the turn to feel a bit more deliberate and heavy.
The Importance of FrictionWeight
One thing many people overlook in their roblox ice skating script physics is the FrictionWeight property. In Roblox, if you have two parts touching, the engine decides how they slide based on a mix of their friction values.
If you want the ice to be the dominant factor, you need to set the ice part's FrictionWeight to something very high (like 100) and its Friction to something very low (like 0.05). This ensures that no matter what kind of shoes or "skates" the player is wearing—even if their character's feet have high default friction—the ice's physics properties will win the battle.
Scripting the Glide Logic
Let's talk about the actual logic behind the "glide." In a typical roblox ice skating script physics setup, you'll want a local script that detects input and a server script (or a high-priority local script with network ownership) that applies the forces.
- Input Detection: Instead of just checking if a key is down, track how long it has been held.
- Acceleration: Apply a force in the direction of the
HumanoidRootPart.CFrame.LookVector. - The Coasting Phase: If no keys are pressed, check the velocity. If it's above a certain threshold, keep applying a tiny bit of force to counteract the natural air resistance of the Roblox engine.
- Stopping: To stop, the player has to turn their "blades" (their character) perpendicular to the movement. In your script, you can detect this angle and, if it's near 90 degrees, apply a much stronger opposing force to simulate a "hockey stop."
Adding Visual Polish to the Physics
You can have the best roblox ice skating script physics in the world, but if the animations don't match, it'll still feel "off." You need to sync the speed of your skating animation with the actual velocity of the HumanoidRootPart.
If the player is moving fast but their legs are moving slowly, the brain registers it as a slide, not a skate. Also, consider adding particle effects. A little bit of ice spray when the player turns sharply or stops goes a long way in making the physics feel like they have an actual impact on the world.
Another trick is to tilt the character slightly when they turn. If you use an AlignOrientation constraint, you can make the player lean into their turns. This doesn't just look cool; it actually makes the physics feel more grounded because we expect to see lean when someone is moving at high speeds on ice.
Dealing with Latency and Network Ownership
This is the boring technical part, but it's super important for roblox ice skating script physics. If you handle all the physics on the server, the player will feel a delay between pressing a key and actually moving. It'll feel like they're playing from another planet.
You should give Network Ownership of the HumanoidRootPart to the player. This allows the physics to be calculated on their client instantly, which is then replicated to everyone else. It makes the skating feel responsive and snappy. Just be careful, because high-speed physics calculated on the client can sometimes be a target for exploiters, so you'll want some server-side checks to make sure nobody is "skating" at 500 miles per hour.
Finding the Sweet Spot
Ultimately, nailing the roblox ice skating script physics is all about trial and error. You'll spend hours tweaking numbers in the LinearVelocity properties. You'll find that 500 force is too little, but 1000 makes the player fly off the map.
Don't be afraid to experiment with CustomPhysicalProperties. Sometimes the best results come from a weird combination of low friction on the floor and high friction on a "skate" part attached to the player's feet.
The best skating games on Roblox feel good because the developers didn't just write the script and leave it. They played it, felt the "jerkiness," and smoothed out the curves. It's all about that curve—the way you accelerate, the way you glide, and the way you eventually come to a stop. If you get those three things right, the rest of your game will feel ten times more professional.