GUIDE: How to get more plays on your level.

[wexfordian]

OK. This is just a few tips I have learned from my experience with LBP. My main reason for posting this here is because I've seen too many good levels get lost in the sea of mediocrity and the average person who is likely to be reading this is a better creator than the average person publishing levels at the moment. So by doing this hopefully the standard of levels on the main pages will improve.

First off just to explain about my current situation with plays.
I have 4 levels in total, all of which are in the Cool levels section. Now there all they're for very different reasons and I'll explain why.

My first level
This was achieved by simply republishing the level, A lOT! Now I know people have moral dilemmas about this but the fact is if people don't know your level exists they won't play it. You can post your level in forums like Showcase that we have here but the most you can expect from that is 100/200 plays? Now don't get me wrong I think it's a great idea as the people on this forum give much better feedback than you will ever receive in the comment section of your level but it won't get thousands of people playing. Now when it comes to republishing you can make the most of it in certain ways.

The first time you publish it, play it straight after - Strange as it seems people like playing levels that other people are playing. Call it herd mentallity if you will. When you play your level other people will see it because it will have the little bubble above it saying how many are playing.

Once you have a few people playing it publish it again. - The reason for doing this is because every time you publish your level gets posted at the top of 2 sections, the cool levels and the newest. Every time somebody else publishes a level, yours in turn gets pushed down the line and inevitably gets lost. Now publishing it again while people are playing does two things. a - it puts it back up the top of the pile and b increases the amount of people playing your level at any one time. Now the reason this is a good thing (apart from the obvious) is that getting a lot of people playing your level at the same time gets you onto another list, the "busiest rankings" Getting onto this can be self fulfilling in that all the people searching through the busiest levels will see it and play it keeping it in the busiest rankings longer.

My second level
This was simple because it was a level that you only had one life and when you died you were put straight onto the scoreboard. Also this level was hard so you died a lot! So basically all the plays came from people retrying the level (not to be confused with restarting as restarting doesn't count towards plays) Actually this level is a good example that if your level isn't very good it will never reach high rankings as this level is only three stars its much further down the rankings than a level with the same amount of plays with 4 stars.

My third level
This level seemed to take off like wildfire. Now I think this happened for several reasons.

1 - Custom badge: I really can't put enough emphasis on how important this is. It is the first thing anyone sees about your level. I first realised what a big difference this makes when I changed my first level from having you know that weird pink guy as the icon to just a photo of a devil. The level went from having 300 plays a day to having 500 plays a day (it was already in the cool levels section by then) and I'm talking immediately! Nothing else was changed but the icon sticker.

2 - Title: Back to my third level, another reason is the simple fact it was called Littlebig Matrix. The title appealed to a lot of people. Who knew so many people liked the Matrix

3- I already had some traffic from my other levels.

My fourth level
Now on this I tried something a little different and it seems to be working in a great way. Note: This will only work if you already have a busy level. I published new versions my first 3 levels as copyable but locked them. I then put a key to these levels at the end of my newest one. I then simply put a magic mouth at the end of all 3 of my older levels explaining that if they want a copyable version of the level they have just played, go play my new one. Now as my older levels are already in the top few pages they get a lot of traffic so this was enough to get these people to my page to play my newer level. The last time I checked there were 56 people playing it at the same time and the only time I have only ever published this is to fix bugs etc.

Bear in mind this is only how you get your level played, how it gets ranked (how many stars) is completely out of your control

If your level is complete tripe it will never get to the top pages. The way MM rank the levels is not just down to the amount of plays it has. A major part of it is its star ranking. You will notice that levels with 3 stars needs a hell of a lot more plays to make it up the ranks than a level with 4 or 5.

Some other general tips:
- If you publish a level that has a lot of bugs in it to begin with but you fix after your better off just deleting the level and starting fresh. This gets rid of all the bad ratings because of the bugs that no longer exist.

- Take photos of your level and upload them as soon as you publish. A lot of people really like flicking through the pics of a level before deciding whether or not to play it.

Feel free to add to this as this is only my opinion and I'm sure other people have other tips.

I hope this helps people...

[Wyth]

Nice guide, Moral problems with republishing are quite reasonable though but not being discovered while having a great level sucks too... It's just a bit of a dilemma.

You might want to add something on good naming. A level with a name like: LittleBigChallenges I won't be playing because it's not likely to be much fun (or most likely: it will have bad art). Your names are great except I'm a bit bored by the "little big xxx" stuff.

[RangerZero]

That's nice tips but it's also work imo. You clearly see how the game's system is broken when you have to take REAL EFFORT AND ALOT OF TIME to promote your levels if you want any plays.

By the way, a small forum like here will give you like 30-50 plays, not 200.
200 plays and more is if you go on a major forum like NeoGaf, IGN, etc

Also, I would suggest a creator to not focus too much on the number of plays. It is really cool but not THAT important. You should harvest the love of creating first. I personally think that some 500-1000 plays really is awesome. And this can be achieved with minimum pimping.

.

[Gilgamesh•]

Wow, those are some good tips I'll have to keep in mind.

I haven't published a new level since the "Cool Levels" changes, but I suppose the thing about the "Busiest" pages makes sense.

Myself, I don't mind not getting 1'000 plays, but I do mind only getting 5 to 10 plays. Making levels takes a long time, and I feel every level *should* get more than just a handful of plays. The game won't make this happen for us, so we're left with having to push our levels onto the masses instead.

[Hamsalad]

very nice tips...i probably shouldve just deleted and republished my first one due to the bug issue but i didn't now last time i checked it was at around 300 plays and 22 hearts so it would hurt to republish now but i bet the rating would go up to 4 stars easy....which in turn would prob get it more plays / hearts so thats a delima im in right now...


also maybe you have a reason why this may be....i published my survival challange zombie onslaught the first time and it was 4 stars going strong (and I did notice if you have 4 stars it makes a huge difference in plays)

i had to delete it due to a bug that ruined the scoreboard and made it very easy... so i fixed that and republished and actually made some slight improvements and for some reasont he second time around it was riding 3 stars...idk why it was the same level as before but better...maybe because some of the first people playing gave it 3 and everyone stuck w/ that idk...but the heart ratio to plays is good its just no ones playing it hardly

[clank_860]

That's nice tips but it's also work imo. You clearly see how the game's system is broken when you have to take REAL EFFORT AND ALOT OF TIME to promote your levels if you want any plays.

By the way, a small forum like here will give you like 30-50 plays, not 200.
200 plays and more is if you go on a major forum like NeoGaf, IGN, etc

Also, I would suggest a creator to not focus too much on the number of plays. It is really cool but not THAT important. You should harvest the love of creating first. I personally think that some 500-1000 plays really is awesome. And this can be achieved with minimum pimping.

I agree with you for the first and third paragraphs, but this is a small forum? This website is probably the most popular fan site in LBP! And that's really saying something.

[OverWork]

very nice guide I just started to do these things with my level to see if it helps and it does a lot.

[OCK]

A lot of great tips here man. I republish my levels about twice a day and it usually results in about 10 extra plays, maybe a heart or two if I am lucky. I sometimes play my levels right after publishing and you are right about the "herd mentality" thing lol. If one person is playing the level then there is a good chance that someone else will give it a go. Now two people are playing and the level becomes even more appealing. The most I had playing at any one time was 16, it was a great moment of pride lol.

I also agree with the custom icons thing. I don't want to sound arrogant but when I first published Out of Africa there was no other level I had played - except Azure Palace - that had a custom icon. I think everyone should make a custom icon as it really makes your level stand out and shows you care so much about your creation that you went the extra mile to make one. My personal trademark is a symbol taken from the level on a black background but level titles with custom lettering (like Wex's last two levels) look really great as well.

Thanks for sharing this with everyone Wex. Hopefully it will result in a couple of more plays/hearts etc. One other thing I would suggest is leaving in-game comments on those levels you really enjoyed/hearted. Chances are the creator will repay the courtesy and at the very least check out your work (I always do for those that comment).

[Elbee23•]

Those are some good theories there. I don't know if I could live with myself doing the repost shuffle... I think I was doing it for the first 100 plays of the digestion level I have, but it just got too much for me morally. I slowed down by the time I got to 200, and now it kind of just self propels itself and I only repost it when I have genuinely updated it. It's up to I think 400 plays and 35 odd hearts off memory now. This site doesn't give 0 traffic to levels advertised, and it's far more than 50 or so.

Admittedly I worked hard to reward replays and to try and make it a fun overall experience. A few people have said they have gone back to the level 5 times or even more. That to me is enough reward as a creator, knowing that people have enjoyed it so much they will come back again, and not because of frustration or bugs but rather just for fun.

To each his own though. I guess I could republish the level as an identical version and republish it agressively as a social experiment. I'd have to think about it though, as at the moment I am happy where I am as a creator.

[shahchip]

Wow just what i needed thanks

The most plays ive gotten was 50 in beta but i had like 20 hearts to go with that

Now i cant even get more than 5

[Miglioshin]

Very kind of you to share theese dirty triks with us. (lol)

Maybe I will delete and republish Miglioshin's Fantasy Adventure ch.2 (now it's around 450 plays and 1/10 heart ratio, 3 stars but I think now it deserves also the fourth) because during the first 100 plays it was really bugged and harder than now, it has started with 2 stars ranking...

I'll let you know about the results.

[jjdragon]

ok i have some questions, but just a few , when you say republish do you mean just take the exact same level and publish it over the one online? or do u do something else? and if it is something else will you lose the stars and plays u already got? i just need a better explanation.

[RangerZero]

I would also need to know if this involves overwriting or not.

I republished my levels tonight and nothing happened. They weren't in the first 15 pages of the cool levels or new levels.

Same happened with my newly published level, SackCity.

Are you sure guys that the tricks here are working since they retouched the search like last week?

.

[wexfordian]

when you say republish do you mean just take the exact same level and publish it over the one online? or do u do something else? and if it is something else will you lose the stars and plays u already got? i just need a better explanation.

I republished my levels tonight and nothing happened. They weren't in the first 15 pages of the cool levels or new levels.

Yes, go to your level on the moon hit publish and overwrite the same level. All your stats will remain. The reason you don't see it appear in the cool levels or newest levels is because the game only uploads the current server stats every 10 minutes or so. So, when you publish and head straight to cool levels you may actually be looking at what the servers were like a few mintutes ago, its not real time. It will appear for other people who have just started up the game and went looking for cool or new levels. If you really wanted to see it for yourself you couold quit the game and restart it forcing the game to download new server stats. Even when you do this though, people upload levels every couple of seconds so your level is like to get pushed down the queue quite quickly.

The stars, plays, hearts, comments etc will all reamain the same.

[RangerZero]

All your stats will remain. The reason you don't see it appear in the cool levels or newest levels is because the game only uploads the current server stats every 10 minutes.

I know that buddy. I've been checking my level behaviors for at least an hour. They never seem to have appeared anywhere.

Oddly enough there was people playing SackCity the whole time.