5 Easy Tips to Improve Your Creative Discovery Submission!
In September 2021, with the release of update v17.50, Fortnite Creative launched Discovery. It provided a new way for players to discover new experiences and games from creators around the world. Players can search through a variety of map categories from role-playing to 1v1's.
This opened the gateway much wider for smaller creative creators, giving them a chance to compete alongside top creators who already are established within the Fortnite Creative Community. However, that launch also presented a few unexpected obstacles. For instance, the time of approval, getting the promotional content (i.e, thumbnails, trailers), and properly scheduling times to update your map.
Epic has stated that Discovery is a work in progress and is sure to improve in time. And I believe that is true! I'm looking forward to the progress and I hope you are too!
For now, what we can do is learn as we grow! And that's why I created this easy tip list guide in hopes of helping you improve your Creative Discovery Submission!
#1. Make Sure your Map is Fortnite Compliant
Before the thought of even creating your map, your map's theme and the information within must be compliant with Fortnite Creator Content Rules and Guidelines. Your island should appeal to the audience age, which for Fortnite is on average an age range of 8 and up, and be considerate of sensitive issues and topics. If you are not familiar with Fortnite Community Guidelines, be sure to check out the guidelines on EPIC here: Fortnite Creator Content Rules and Guidelines.
#2. Play-test Regularly & Check for Mechanical Issues or Design Flaws
Having your map play-tested before Discovery submission will save you a lot of time and hassle. You will know that your island is working properly, plus be able to see if it's something that will appeal to the audience you are marketing towards. If your island has a lot of instructional text, play-testing can help with pointing out any spelling errors that may be present as well as to measure story comprehension. If you are seeking consistent play-testing for your map, consider submitting your map for Feature Friday. Your map will be play-tested by Epic featured play-test Team Leaders. And you will receive valuable feedback and can use that advice to get a chance to see if your map is prepared for Discovery Submission!
#3. Develop a Promotional Package for Your Island
Before Discovery, thumbnails and trailers were not as important as they are now. When you go to the Discovery tab in Fortnite, you will see that having a good thumbnail stands out. It gives you a huge advantage compared to regular image shots and can help increase the chance of a player clicking and then playing your map. In addition to this, pairing a good thumbnail with a trailer increases the impact your island can make overall. Now even though trailers are not mandatory at the moment, it is still good to think of creating one when it comes to submitting your map to Discovery. This is because, if or when they do become mandatory, you will be prepared. If you require graphic design services for your map, be sure to reach out to some of the amazing designers in the FCHQ Graphics Team! They produce amazing work and when available will be able to assist you with your project needs!
#4. Set a Reasonable Update Schedule
Once you have submitted your map to Discovery, and it's been approved, that's not the end of the process! You have to actively update your island to compensate for any changes or bugs that may be present due to the weekly updates. Of course, if you have a large portfolio of islands, this can become extremely time-consuming. That is why it is best to set up a reasonable update schedule to meet these requirements. Pay good attention to your map stats to see which maps are performing best for you. Prioritize maps that consistently receive the most gameplay and then schedule those maps to be updated first. Maps that are not receiving as much gameplay, may need to go through a re-developed stage. This means that you may have to go through stages of re-design and play-testing to get it up to par. Any map that is going through re-development, do not need to be prioritized as far as scheduling and can be pushed to the bottom of the list. That way you have time to focus on testing and re-developing them for re-submission later on.
#5. Use Proper SAC Device Practices
On November 23rd, 2021, Fortnite Creative released the Support-a-Creator Device to all Fortnite Creators! Giving every creator access to the SAC device that was once challenging to obtain! Creators are allowed to place the device anywhere on the island to encourage the use of their creator code! Within the article were some very important SAC Rules. To start, one of the main rules emphasized in the Support-a-Creator Device article was:
1. Do not force usage of the Support Device for players to proceed in the game.
This means that when a player starts your game, no where should the player have to accept your code before they can proceed with playing your game - in any form.
Things like -- Accept my code to play round two, or Accept my code for XP Points, or even Accept my code to skip or proceed to next level are all examples of breaking the rules set by Epic when it comes to using the SAC Device. So be sure to avoid this practice.
In addition to the main rule, there were some best practices mentioned. For instance, you can place a Billboard device using a medium font to draw attention to the Support Device, decorations are ok as long as you do not use arrows, hearts, or other obvious work to encourage or create an advertisement of the support and you should not make advertisement a player’s first experience, as per the Fortnite player experience best practices documentation. (info reference from EPIC Support-a-Creator Device)
Those are your top 5 easy tips on improving your Discovery submission! If this article helped you, be awesome and share it to help others!
Happy Creating!