Getting your roblox studio proximity prompt style just right can totally change how players interact with your world. We've all seen that default grey circle a million times. It's functional, sure, but it's also a bit of a giveaway that a game is still using "out of the box" settings. If you're trying to build something immersive—whether it's a spooky horror game, a sleek futuristic simulator, or a cozy RPG—you really don't want the default UI breaking the immersion.
The good news is that Roblox actually gives us a lot of freedom to mess around with how these prompts look. You aren't stuck with the basic floating bubble if you don't want to be. You can change the colors, the fonts, or throw the whole thing out the window and build a completely custom UI from scratch.
Why you should ditch the default look
Let's be real: the default proximity prompt is iconic, but it's also very "Roblox." When a player walks up to a door and sees that same white and grey circle, they're reminded they're in an engine. When you take the time to customize your roblox studio proximity prompt style, you're telling the player that you care about the details.
Think about games like Doors or The Mimic. They don't just use the standard prompts. They use custom visuals that fit their specific aesthetic. It makes the world feel cohesive. If your game has a medieval theme, a neon-blue futuristic prompt is going to look weird. Likewise, if your game is a gritty survival shooter, a bubbly cartoonish prompt will feel out of place.
Toggling the built-in style settings
Before you go diving into complex scripts, it's worth checking out what you can do just by clicking around in the Properties window. When you select a ProximityPrompt object in Roblox Studio, you'll see a few basic things you can tweak right away.
You can change the ObjectText (the name of the thing you're interacting with) and the ActionText (what you're actually doing, like "Open" or "Search"). You can also mess with the KeyboardKeyCode or GamepadKeyCode. But the big one for aesthetics is the Style property.
By default, it's set to, well, Default. If you keep it here, you can't do much visually. But if you switch it to Custom, the prompt basically becomes invisible to the player. It's still "there" in the logic of the game—it still detects when a player is near and when they press a button—but it won't render anything on the screen. This is where the real fun begins because it gives you a blank canvas.
Creating a custom prompt from scratch
Once you've set your roblox studio proximity prompt style to Custom, you need a way to show the player what to do. Usually, this involves using a ScreenGui or a BillboardGui. Most people prefer BillboardGui because it stays attached to the object in 3D space, which feels much more natural for a "proximity" interaction.
You'll want to create a template UI. This is just a piece of UI that you design exactly how you want it to look. Maybe it's a sleek minimalist square, or maybe it's a hand-drawn icon. You put this template somewhere safe, like ReplicatedStorage.
Then, you use a LocalScript to listen for when a prompt is shown. Roblox provides a service called ProximityPromptService that has events like PromptShown and PromptHidden. When a player gets close to an object, your script "wakes up," grabs your custom UI template, and sticks it onto the prompt's parent object.
Adding that extra polish
If you're going custom, don't just make a static image pop up. That feels a bit cheap. Use TweenService to make the UI fade in or scale up slightly when it appears. It's a small detail, but it makes the interaction feel "juicy."
One of the coolest things about a custom roblox studio proximity prompt style is how you handle the "hold" mechanic. If your prompt requires the player to hold a button for three seconds, the default style shows a circular progress bar. If you're making your own, you could do anything. You could make a bar that fills up from left to right, a shaking icon that gets more intense, or even change the color of the text as the timer goes down.
Common styles to try out
If you're stuck on what your prompts should actually look like, here are a few directions you can take depending on your game's vibe:
The Minimalist Look: This is super popular right now. Use a very clean, thin font (like Gotham or Montserrat) and a simple semi-transparent background. Keep the colors neutral—blacks, whites, or greys. This works great for modern simulators or high-end showcase games where you don't want the UI to distract from the environment.
The Retro/Pixel Style: If you're making an obby or a retro-style game, use a blocky font and maybe a thick black border around your UI elements. You can even use some pixel art icons for the keybinds (like a little pixelated 'E' key). It adds a lot of charm.
The Diegetic Style: This is the hardest to pull off but the most rewarding. Diegetic UI means the UI exists "within" the world. Instead of a floating 2D button, maybe a small physical screen on a door lights up when you get close. Or maybe the character's hand reaches out toward the object. While this still uses the ProximityPrompt logic, the visual "style" is handled through 3D models and animations.
Don't forget the user experience
While we're talking a lot about the roblox studio proximity prompt style, we shouldn't forget that it has to be functional. It's easy to get carried away making something look "cool" and end up with something that's impossible to read.
Always make sure there's enough contrast. If your game is dark, a dark-grey prompt is going to be invisible. If your game is really bright, a white prompt will get lost in the glare. Using a slight drop shadow or a semi-transparent background behind the text is usually a safe bet.
Also, consider the size. If the prompt is too small, players might miss it entirely. If it's too big, it's annoying. A good trick is to use the MaxDistance property on the prompt itself to control when the UI appears. You don't want a screen full of prompts if a player is standing in a room full of interactable items.
Performance considerations
You might think, "It's just a little UI, how much could it lag?" Well, if you have a game with 500 interactable drawers and each one has a complex custom script running its own UI, it can actually start to chug, especially on mobile devices.
The best way to handle a custom roblox studio proximity prompt style is to use one single LocalScript in StarterPlayerScripts that manages all prompts. Instead of every prompt having its own logic, the central script listens for any prompt being triggered and handles the UI creation and destruction. This keeps your game's memory usage low and prevents weird bugs where prompts stay on the screen after you've walked away.
Final thoughts on customization
At the end of the day, your roblox studio proximity prompt style is one of those small touches that separates the "beginner" games from the "pro" games. It's a relatively simple change that has a massive impact on the player's first impression.
Don't be afraid to experiment. Try out different fonts, play with some transparency, and maybe even add some sound effects when the prompt appears. Once you get the hang of using ProximityPromptService and BillboardGuis, you'll realize that the default look was just a suggestion. You have the tools to make your game look exactly how you imagined it, so go ahead and make those interactions feel special. Happy developing!