Setting up a functional roblox shop gui script is a huge milestone when you're building a game, mostly because it's the first time many developers have to deal with how the client and the server talk to each other. It's one thing to make a pretty menu pop up on the screen, but getting it to actually take a player's "Gold" and give them a sword or a speed boost without a hacker ruining the economy is where things get interesting.
If you've been poking around Roblox Studio for a while, you know the drill. You can spend hours making a UI look perfect with rounded corners and fancy gradients, but it's just a picture until you write the logic behind it. Let's break down how to actually build one that works, from the basic button clicks to the back-end security.
Getting the UI Ready
Before we even touch a script, we need something for the player to look at. In the Explorer window, you're going to head down to StarterGui and toss in a ScreenGui. I usually call mine "ShopMenu" or something simple. Inside that, you'll need a Frame to hold everything. This is your main window.
Don't forget a toggle button! You don't want the shop taking up the whole screen 24/7. Put a TextButton directly under the ScreenGui so players can open and close the menu. Pro tip: name your buttons clearly. If you have ten things named "TextButton," you're going to have a massive headache later when you're trying to figure out which script goes where.
Inside your main shop frame, you'll likely want a ScrollingFrame if you plan on having more than three or four items. It makes the whole thing feel more professional. Inside that, you can add individual frames for your items, each with a "Buy" button and a label for the price.
Making the Menu Open and Close
This is the easiest part of the roblox shop gui script process. You'll want to put a LocalScript inside your open/close button. We use a LocalScript because the UI only exists for the person playing—it doesn't need to happen on the server.
The logic is pretty straightforward. You just want to check if the frame is visible or not. If it's visible, hide it. If it's hidden, show it. Something like this:
```lua local button = script.Parent local frame = button.Parent.ShopFrame -- Change this to your frame's name
button.MouseButton1Click:Connect(function() frame.Visible = not frame.Visible end) ```
It's simple, it's clean, and it works. You can get fancy later by adding sounds or making the window slide in from the side using TweenService, but for now, just getting it to toggle is a win.
The Secret Sauce: RemoteEvents
Here is where a lot of beginners get stuck. You might be tempted to put a script inside the "Buy" button that just subtracts money from the player's leaderstats. Don't do that.
If you handle the money subtraction in a LocalScript, it only happens on the player's computer. The server (the "brain" of the game) won't see it, or worse, a savvy player can exploit that script to give themselves infinite items.
To do this right, you need a RemoteEvent. Think of a RemoteEvent like a walkie-talkie. The player (the client) sends a message saying, "Hey, I want to buy the Super Sword," and the server receives that message, checks if the player actually has enough money, and then gives them the item.
- Go to ReplicatedStorage.
- Add a RemoteEvent.
- Name it "ShopRequest".
Writing the Client-Side Buy Logic
Back in your item frame, find that "Buy" button and drop another LocalScript in there. This script's only job is to tell the server what the player wants to buy when they click the button.
```lua local button = script.Parent local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage") local shopEvent = ReplicatedStorage:WaitForChild("ShopRequest")
local itemName = "SuperSword" -- Make sure this matches what the server expects
button.MouseButton1Click:Connect(function() shopEvent:FireServer(itemName) end) ```
We aren't sending the price or any sensitive info here. We just send the name of the item. The server will handle the rest because we can't trust the client.
Handling the Sale on the Server
Now for the heavy lifting. You need a regular Script (not a LocalScript) inside ServerScriptService. This script will listen for that "ShopRequest" event and do all the math.
The server script needs to check a few things: 1. Does the player exist? (Always a good start). 2. Do they have a leaderstats folder with "Coins" or "Gold"? 3. Do they have enough money for the specific item they asked for?
Here's a rough idea of how that logic looks:
```lua local ReplicatedStorage = game:GetService("ReplicatedStorage") local shopEvent = ReplicatedStorage:WaitForChild("ShopRequest")
-- A simple table to keep track of prices local items = { ["SuperSword"] = 100, ["SpeedCoil"] = 50 }
shopEvent.OnServerEvent:Connect(function(player, itemName) local price = items[itemName] local leaderstats = player:FindFirstChild("leaderstats") local money = leaderstats and leaderstats:FindFirstChild("Gold")
if money and money.Value >= price then money.Value = money.Value - price -- Give the player the item here! print(player.Name .. " bought " .. itemName) else print("Not enough money!") end end) ```
By doing it this way, it doesn't matter if a player tries to hack their local script to say the sword costs 0 Gold. The server refers to its own "items" table, sees the sword costs 100, and denies the transaction if the player is broke.
Adding Visual Polish
Once you've got the core roblox shop gui script working, you'll probably notice it feels a bit "stiff." In modern Roblox games, buttons usually change color when you hover over them, or the menu bounces slightly when it opens.
You can use TweenService for this. Instead of just setting frame.Visible = true, you can change its position or size over half a second. It makes the game feel way more expensive than it actually is. Also, consider adding a "Purchase Successful" or "Insufficient Funds" text label that pops up briefly. It's frustrating for a player to click a button and have nothing happen because they're 5 gold short and didn't realize it.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
One thing I see a lot is people forgetting to use WaitForChild. Roblox loads things in a weird order sometimes. If your script tries to find the "ShopRequest" event before it has finished loading into the game, the whole script will crash. Always use game.ReplicatedStorage:WaitForChild("ShopRequest") just to be safe.
Another big one is not checking if the player already owns the item. If it's a tool or a permanent upgrade, you should probably add a check in your server script to see if the item is already in their backpack or startergear. Otherwise, they might accidentally click twice and waste all their hard-earned currency.
Wrapping Up
Building a roblox shop gui script is a fantastic way to learn the ropes of game development. It forces you to think about user experience (the UI), client-side interaction (the buttons), and server-side security (the RemoteEvents).
It might feel like a lot of steps the first time you do it, but once you get the hang of the "Client-to-Server" workflow, everything else in Roblox development gets a lot easier. You can use this same logic for level-up systems, trade menus, or even just a simple button that heals the player. Just keep your logic on the server, your visuals on the client, and you'll be set. Happy building!