How to configure your Universe
Who can configure a new Universe?
Admins can configure a new Universe. Devs are able to make changes to some Universe settings. A full list of who can and can’t edit specific elements is included below.
Where can I configure a Universe?
Click “Pages” in the “Manage” menu.
The “Manage” menu is pictured above. “Pages” is highlighted in purple.
First, locate and click on the linked Studio. The Universes linked to that Studio will be listed on the Studio page.
You can access the “Configure” window by hovering over a Universe. Hover over the Universe card and click on the three dots that appear in the top right. Then choose “Configure” from the dropdown menu.
A Universe listed on a Studio page is highlighted in purple above. The three dots to click to access “Configure” are highlighted in yellow.
How do I configure a Universe?
How a Universe is configured can be updated at any time. However, some elements have consequences that affect access. As a result, updating those elements is limited to users with the Admin Restriction Level only. Check the table below to see that you have the required Restriction Level and necessary information to configure a given section.
Section | Restriction Level | Required |
General | Admin only | What you want the Universe to be called
|
Visibility | Admin only | Know who should be able to see what in the Universe on the front end |
Assets & personalization | Admin and Dev | A 32x32px SVG icon and three hex codes for the Universe color scheme More information on how to format the icon is included in the section below |
SEO | Admin and Dev | A 1200x1200px image and details on how you want the Universe to appear in search results and social media shares |
External links | Admin and Dev | A short title and the full web address of the link you want to include in the Universe menu |
Developer hints | Admin and Dev | A list of what your team can and can’t talk about publicly on the platform |
Delete Universe | Admin only | Certainty that you will never want to recover any data associated with this Universe |
When you open the “Configure” window, there is a menu on the left-hand side that lists six sections. Click on a section name to navigate directly to that section.
Note: If this is your first time configuring the Universe, make sure to edit the first four sections at a minimum. “External links” and “Developer hints” are optional.
After configuring a section, click “Apply Changes.” The button will be greyed out until one of the fields is edited. Then, a confirmation window will pop up. Click “Apply Now” to confirm.
Note: You must hit “Apply Changes” after editing any one section. Edits are not saved when you move between sections.
The above dialogue window appears when you apply changes to a Universe. The “Apply Now” button that confirms changes is highlighted in yellow.
General
Under “General,” you can change the Universe name and set the Navigation highlight.
To change the name, click the “Universe name” text field. Enter a new name.
Below the Universe name are two read only fields: “Linked Studio” and “URL.” The linked Studio is set when the Universe is first created and cannot be edited. The Studio name is used in the web address in the “URL” field. The URL cannot be edited directly, but changing the Universe name will change the URL. Previous links back to any pages or content on the Universe will no longer work if you change the Universe name.
To change the Navigation highlight, click the “Navigation highlight” dropdown. Select either “Recommended” or “Legacy.” The “Recommended” section is always visible in the front-end Side Navigation. The “Legacy” section is collapsable.
An expanded Side Navigation. The “Recommended” section is highlighted in purple.
The “Legacy” section is highlighted in yellow.
After making changes, click “Apply Changes” at the bottom of the window. Click “Apply Now” in the window that pops up to confirm.
If you close the window or move to another section before clicking “Apply Changes,” your work will be lost.
The “Configure” window is shown above. The editable fields, “Universe name” and “Navigation highlight” are highlighted in purple. The “Apply Changes” button is highlighted in yellow.
Visibility
Under “Visibility,” you can set the Restriction Level that a user needs in order to view the Universe.
Click the “Universe visibility” dropdown. Select a Restriction Level from the link.
Note: A Universe inherits the visibility of the linked Studio. If the Studio is more restrictive, the Universe will share the same restrictions. For example, if the Studio is set to “Admin” and the Universe to “Mod,” only Admins will be able to access the Universe. If the Studio is less restrictive, the Universe will retain the more restrictive visibility. For example, if the Studio is set to “Public,” but the Universe is set to “Admin,” only Admins will be able to access the Universe.
Set all features to inherit the Universe visibility by clicking the “Features visibility” toggle. When set to the right, all of the Universe features will be accessible to the same users as the Universe itself.
In the “Configure” window above, the “Universe visibility” dropdown is highlighted in purple. The “Features visibility” toggle is highlighted in yellow.
If you leave the “Features visibility” toggle off, you will need to set each feature’s visibility separately. This is useful when, for example, you want logged in users to be able to see more features than anonymous visitors.
Note: You can set the full feature list to the Universe visibility setting at any time by toggling on “Features visibility.”
Use the dropdown next to the feature name to set a feature-specific visibility.
After making changes, click “Apply Changes” and confirm.
The “Feature visibility” dropdown for one feature is highlighted in purple above. The “Apply Changes” button is highlighted in yellow.
Assets and Personalization
Under “Assets and Personalization,” you can add an icon and define a color palette that differs from the Studio palette.
Click “Upload” under “Assets Settings” to add an icon. The icon is used in the Side Navigation and other places where the Universe is identified. Browse your computer for an image and upload it.
The file must be a 32x32 pixel SVG. Your icon should be 24x24 pixels, with an 8px safety margin. The SVG must be vectorized and flattened (only one layer). It cannot contain more than one icon.
Note: You can use our Figma template to preview and validate your assets.
Below “Personalization” there are three text fields: primary, secondary, and tertiary. These are used to define your Universe’s color palette.
The primary color is the most prominent color on the front end. The secondary color is used to contrast elements. The tertiary color is used in subnavigation.
Color palette examples
To set your color palette, enter the respective color hex code in the primary, secondary, and tertiary text fields. A hex code is six alphanumeric characters following a hash symbol (#) that represents a color. You can find hex codes on various online tools and in the color picker of many image editing programs.
Then, apply changes.
The “Assets and personalization” section of the “Configure” window is shown above. The icon “Upload” button is highlighted in purple. The fields to set a color palette are highlighted in yellow. The “Apply Changes” button is highlighted in green.
SEO
You can configure the SEO (search engine optimization) to improve how your Universe appears in search results and shares on social media networks.
A search result is shown above. The “Title tag” text is highlighted in purple. The “Meta description” content is highlighted in yellow.
The “Title tag” field is the name your Universe is given when it appears in search engines. This is usually the name of your game.
Edit the title by clicking in the “Title tag” field and entering text. There is a 60 character limit.
The “Meta description” is the page snippet that appears in search results and lets users know what to expect. It should be short, informative, and use words that people are likely to associate with your game.
Type a short description into the “Meta description” field.
The “SEO” section of the “Configure” window is shown above. The “Title tag” field is highlighted in purple. The “Meta description” field is highlighted in yellow.
You can add an image to represent the Universe. The image may appear in search engines. It is also often used when a page share generates a link preview.
To add an image, click “Upload.” The “Upload” button is to the right of an image preview, if one has been previously added. Browse and upload an image from your computer. The image should be 1200x1200 pixels and cannot be more than 100KB.
Add alt text by writing a short image description in the “Alt Image” field. Alt text is used by screen readers and makes your content more accessible to all visitors.
Then, apply changes.
The “SEO” section of the “Configure” window is shown above. The “Upload” button is highlighted in purple. The “Alt image” field is highlighted in yellow. The “Apply Changes” button at the bottom is highlighted in green.
External Links
You can add external links to the Universe navigation. External links are useful for resources not hosted on G2G, such as game wiki or store link. These links will appear at the bottom of the Universe menu in the Side Navigation and on the right-hand side of the page menu across the Universe.
To add a link, type what you want to appear in the menu into the “Link text” field. This should be something short that fits in with existing menu items, like “News” and “Forums.”
Enter the URL the menu item should redirect to in the “Link URL” field. Make sure to start the web address with https:// so that users are securely directed.
Note: You can add more than one link at a time.
Then, apply changes.
In the window above, the text that will appear in the menu is highlighted in purple. The web address where users will be redirected is highlighted in yellow. The “Apply Changes” button is outlined in green.
You can add more external links by clicking “Add New Link.” New “Link text” and “Link URL” fields will appear. Enter the new link information and apply changes.
You can delete a link by clicking the “Delete” button at the bottom right of the URL of the link you want to remove. If the only edit you make is deleting a link, remember to apply changes before closing the window.
The button to add a new link is highlighted in purple. The button to delete an existing link is highlighted in yellow.
Developer Hints
Developer hints, or dev hints, are reminders for Devs and Admins when interacting with the community. When enabled, you can provide a list of points that team members should emphasize or should not speak about. Developer hints are not intended to communicate guidelines to the community as a whole. They serve as reminders for Devs and Admins representing the studio.
An example of dev hints on the front end
Click the toggle in the “Developer hints” section to display hints above each reply text field. These hints are only shown to Devs and Admins on the front end.
The toggle to show developer hints on the front end is highlighted in purple. It is currently toggled off.
When toggled on, fields to customize hints for the Universe appear.
Add a section title in the “Title of section” field. This text is what Devs and Admins see when the front-end dev hints section is collapsed.
Next, list what your team members should and shouldn’t talk about publicly. To add a topic, click “Add Topic” to the right of “Talk about” or “Don’t talk about.” Then, enter a hint in the text field. Repeat this process to fill out the “Talk about” and “Don’t talk about” lists.
You can remove a topic by clicking the trash can to the right of the hint.
Last, give your team somewhere to go for guidance. Provide a Teams channel link where team members can ask questions if they are uncertain about whether something can be mentioned on the platform.
Then, apply changes.
The field to add a Teams link is highlighted in purple. “Apply Changes” is outlined in yellow.