Take the clicker from a Studio test to a live Roblox experience, and handle the settings that matter.
Everything so far ran in Studio's little sandbox. Now you take the clicker and put it where people can actually play it. Publishing is a few clicks — but the settings matter, and this is also when your DataStore finally starts working for real.
The place is now uploaded. Players could theoretically join already, but not yet — you haven't told Roblox it's public or shared a link to it.
What's the difference between playing in Studio and playing a published game, for a DataStore?
In the Game Settings (top bar → Game Settings, or the config button on the experience page):
Activated.The single most important habit: write down the Experience ID (on the experience's page under the name). It's your game's permanent license plate — you'll need it for settings, data, and debugging.
The permanent number that identifies your published game is the ID.
Publishing is not a bigger Studio — it's a different world, in a few specific ways:
| Studio test | Published game |
|---|---|
| You are the only player | Real players, real connections |
| DataStores don't persist | DataStores actually save |
| No lag in your city | Server latency matters |
| You start with studio tools | Players start in the game |
Most code runs identically. The lessons that do change — data stores, latency, security — are exactly the ones you've built properly, so they'll be the differences you don't have to debug.
With the remote security you built, the game is safe to share — the economy is server-side. That was the point of the whole data section.
A friend wants to test your game. Which two Game Settings do you touch first? Write the permission choice and the share action as two short steps.
-- how do you let a friend in safely?
Next: who can play — permissions and sharing.