If you're trying to build a roblox parkour movement script wall run from scratch, you probably know that the standard Roblox physics don't really give you that high-speed, gravity-defying feel right out of the box. You can jump and you can walk, but if you want your character to stick to a vertical surface and sprint across it like they're in a high-budget action movie, you've got to get your hands dirty with some Luau scripting. It's one of those features that separates a basic "obby" from a polished movement-based game.
Wall running is all about tricking the physics engine into ignoring gravity for a second while maintaining momentum. When you see games like Parkour or Mirror's Edge clones on the platform, they aren't just using default settings. They're using Raycasting and custom velocity forces to make the magic happen. Let's break down how to actually think about this script so it doesn't just work, but actually feels good to play.
Getting the logic straight
Before you even open a script editor, you have to think about what "wall running" actually means in terms of math. It isn't just touching a wall. If it were that simple, your character would stick to every lamp post or door frame they walked past.
A solid roblox parkour movement script wall run needs to check for a few things simultaneously. First, is the player in the air? You don't want them wall-running while they're standing on the sidewalk. Second, is there a wall to their left or right? Third, are they actually moving forward? If they're just falling vertically next to a wall, that's a wall slide, not a wall run.
To handle this, we use Raycasting. Think of a raycast as an invisible laser beam that shoots out from the player's side. If that laser hits something within a short distance (like 2 or 3 studs), the script says, "Hey, there's a wall here!" That's your green light to start the wall run logic.
Raycasting is your best friend
Most beginners try to use .Touched events for this, but honestly, .Touched is a nightmare for parkour. It's jittery, it fires multiple times, and it's just not precise enough. Raycasting is much more reliable.
In your local script, you'll want to shoot rays out from the HumanoidRootPart. You should probably send one to the left and one to the right. If the right ray hits something, you know the player is trying to run on a wall to their right. You can then take the "Normal" of that hit—basically the direction the wall is facing—and use it to orient the player's body so they stay parallel to the surface.
One little trick I've found is to make sure your raycast ignores the player's own character model. If you don't set up your RaycastParams correctly, the laser will just hit your own arm or leg, and the script will think you're constantly standing next to a wall. That's a quick way to break everything.
Managing the physics and gravity
Once the script knows there's a wall, you have to fight gravity. By default, Roblox wants to pull your character down at a rate of 196.2 studs per second squared. To wall run, you need to counteract that.
The "old school" way was using BodyVelocity, but these days, most people suggest using LinearVelocity or VectorForce. Whatever you choose, the goal is the same: you want to apply an upward force that cancels out gravity just enough so the player stays at the same height or slowly drifts down.
But you can't just kill gravity and call it a day. You also need to push the player forward. A lot of the "feel" comes from taking the player's current velocity and projecting it onto the wall's surface. This way, if they jump into a wall at a high speed, they keep that speed as they transition into the run. If you just set a hard speed (like 25 or 30), it feels robotic and clunky.
Making it look natural with animations
Even if the physics are perfect, a roblox parkour movement script wall run will look terrible if the character is just in their "falling" animation while sliding across a brick wall. You need custom animations.
You'll want at least two: one for running on a wall to the right and one for the left. The character should lean into the wall, and their feet should actually look like they're hitting the surface. Using the AnimationTrack object, you can play these whenever the wall run state is active.
Don't forget the camera, either! This is a huge part of the "juice" in parkour games. When the player starts a right-side wall run, slightly tilt the camera to the left. It's a subtle effect, but it makes the movement feel much more dynamic and fast-paced. You can do this by tweaking the CFrame of the camera in a RenderStepped loop.
Handling the exit strategy
The hardest part of a wall run isn't starting it—it's ending it. If a player just falls off the wall at the end, it feels like they failed. You want to give them options.
Most scripts allow the player to "Wall Jump." If they hit the spacebar while wall running, you should apply an impulse that pushes them away from the wall and up. This allows for that classic "zig-zag" jumping between two buildings.
You also need a cooldown. If you don't have one, players will just spam jump and "climb" a single wall by repeatedly sticking and jumping. To prevent this, you can create a simple variable like canWallRun and set it to false for a half-second after they jump off. It keeps the game balanced and prevents people from cheesing your level design.
Optimization and common pitfalls
If you're running raycasts every single frame (which you kind of have to for smooth movement), you need to make sure your code is efficient. Don't do heavy calculations inside the Heartbeat or RenderStepped functions if you don't have to.
One thing that often trips people up is "Wall Snapping." Sometimes the player will be just a tiny bit too far from the wall, and the raycast misses. To fix this, you might want to slightly pull the player toward the wall the moment the run starts. Not too much, or it'll look like they're being teleported, but just enough to keep them glued to the surface for the duration of the move.
Another thing to think about is what happens when the wall ends. If the player runs past the corner of a building, the raycast will suddenly return nil. Your script needs to handle that gracefully. Instead of just dropping the player like a rock, maybe give them a tiny bit of "coyote time"—a few frames where they can still jump even though they aren't technically on the wall anymore. It makes the controls feel much more forgiving and "human."
Putting it all together
Writing a roblox parkour movement script wall run is really a balancing act between math and art. You start with the math (Raycasting, vectors, and forces) and then you layer on the art (animations, camera shakes, and sound effects).
If you're just starting out, don't worry about making it perfect on the first try. Get the raycasting working first. Once you can reliably detect a wall, then try to fight the gravity. Once you're staying on the wall, add the forward momentum.
It's one of those features that provides instant gratification once it clicks. There's nothing quite like the feeling of sprinting down a hallway, jumping onto a wall, and flawlessly transitioning into a vault. It adds a level of verticality to your game that changes how you design every single map. Just remember to keep your code clean, use raycasts instead of touch events, and always, always focus on how it feels to the person holding the controller or keyboard. Happy scripting!