When BS in Computer Science and Game Design student Gryphon Mclaughlin started his Roblox internship in the summer of 2024, he quickly tapped into a role helping develop communication and messaging services for the online game platform. Now a senior, Mclaughlin is continuing to connect Roblox with communities a little closer to home — this time as a Roblox campus ambassador.
Prior to his internship, Mclaughlin was no stranger to Roblox and its massive community of over 88 million active players and creators. The online gaming platform offers a single space for developers to create games and for users to play those experiences, all across different servers within the Roblox engine. For Mclaughlin, this style of play was a mainstay of his childhood, particularly with one experience tasking players to build and design a restaurant with different cuisines.
When Handshake, DigiPen’s career-focused job and event portal for students and alumni, posted a listing for a Roblox internship in the San Francisco Bay Area, he knew he had to apply. “I worked with Career Services to polish up my resume and have my portfolio reviewed,” says Mclaughlin. “At that point I had been working in and on games for three years, and I was proud of the mix of stuff I had worked on, like creating game AI and preparing to launch my game DREAD IT on Steam.”
After additional interview guidance from associate professor Ellen Beeman, Mclaughlin landed the internship. “They were really surprised that I already knew C# and C++,” says Mclaughlin. “That programming experience was very helpful.”
Mclaughlin joined the Creator Services Communication team where he supported behind-the-scenes programming that helped server clients transmit data to one another. “If a developer or creator wanted to create some sort of matchmaking system where they have players in one server and they want to join another server, then those services have to talk to each other to figure out how to facilitate that transfer. My job was making sure that that communication tunnel was more reliable with fewer disconnections and missed messages,” says Mclaughlin. “It was all pretty hard because I had never really done computer networking before, but it finally clicked, and I was able to work quicker!”
There was a lot to learn when it came to Roblox and their internal systems, but the internship also provided perspective on his continuing educational journey. “Much of my work involved traditional programming problems with right and wrong answers, which gave me an extra appreciation for scripting games where the way the code is written is driven by artistic decisions,” says Mclaughlin. “Additionally, it changed how I approach starting new projects. At Roblox, I didn’t write a line of code before writing up a document describing what I’d do, how I’d do it, and why I’m doing it that way. After getting into that practice and seeing its benefits, I’ve started doing this more in my education, especially on game teams.”
As the summer wrapped up and the internship came to an end, Mclaughlin was offered a unique opportunity. Taking on the role of Campus Ambassador, Mclaughlin helps create a wider bridge between the Roblox team and DigiPen students. Like his internship where he sharpened communications between players, Mclaughlin stays in contact with his Roblox team to provide DigiPen students with news on upcoming positions, application links exclusive to students, and support on the application process.
Most recently, Mclaughlin helped host two separate DigiPen Company Days with Roblox on campus. All students were invited to attend as members of the Roblox team virtually tuned in to chat about what it’s like to work at the studio and discuss their recruitment process. Mclaughlin was the star of the second Company Day as he was able to directly share his internship experience with his game teammates and cohort.
“Career Services mentions this was the first time one of these events was driven and planned by a current student,” says Mclaughlin. “It was a great experience catering this Company Day to something that I think DigiPen students will really enjoy and find helpful.”