Refresh publishing, permissions, and data store testing before the final stretch.
Your game went from a Studio sandbox to a live experience — with settings, permissions, and proof that the saves actually survive. Before the leveling-up section, a quick lap over what changed when it went live:
Publishing (File → Publish to Roblox As…) turns your place into an experience. Almost everything runs the same — except the things that matter: DataStores actually persist live, latency is real, and real players are connecting. The Experience ID is your game's permanent license plate; write it down.
What's the biggest difference between Studio and a published game for saves?
Permissions control the door: Public is anyone, Friends is safe testing, Private is invite-only. The safe order is build → test with friends → widen when it's solid. You share the experience link to get testers in.
A friend wants to test your new game before strangers. What do you set first?
Studio refuses to touch real data stores until you tick "Enable Studio Access to API Services" in Game Settings → Security. With it on, the full loop runs: earn, Stop (which fires PlayerRemoving → SetAsync), Play again, and the leaderboard shows the exact coins you left with.
In Game Settings, the checkbox that lets Studio tests use real data stores is 'Enable Studio Access to Services.'
Your game is published, shareable, and its saves are proven. Next section: turning the debugging habits you've been using all course into an actual skill set.
