Late last year, Epic Games introduced one of the most exciting multiplayer modes in Fortnite yet: Creative mode. Unlike Fortnite: Battle Royale, Creative mode focuses on building, tweaking, and messing around in an open-ended sandbox. Players can design their own deathmatch levels, kart races, and training sessions — or just goof around with their friends via the game’s vehicles and weapons.
For many Fortnite players, Creative mode is the game’s equivalent to Minecraft. Similar to the latter game, Epic even has a simple system for sharing levels. They’re called Island Codes and they let players exchange levels, as well as visit each others’ maps. You can check out their creations as soon as they boot up Creative mode.
If you’re interested in sharing a code with your online friends, here’s how to go about getting one.
What Is an Island Code?
Instead of forcing players to browse through a workshop system or download custom mods, the Fortnite Creative mode streamlines sharing through Island Codes. These keys are 12-digit numbers that can be used in the Creative hub’s rift portals. Copying and pasting an Island Code will immediately download another player’s island and add it into a “favorites” list that can be revisited any time.
In short, if you want to share any of your creations with other Fortnite players, you need to publish an Island Code. Unfortunately, you also need to find Island Codes separate from the game online, but you can check out some starting recommendations here.
How to Earn an Island Code
For the time being, Fortnite Creative mode players cannot simply publish any island and share it online. According to Reddit user ZooKeeperZak, an Epic Games designer, the studio is “testing the publish system out” for Island Codes at the moment. In the near future, Fortnite Creative mode players can expect an in-game Island Code system to publish any level they want. But for the time being, you actually need Epic’s approval to share your code first.
Epic is currently giving out Island Code permissions online to select players. If you’d like to create an island for other players to check out, you need to create something impressive enough to gain the studio’s attention. ZooKeeperZak recommends posting directly on r/FortniteCreative, where Epic Games regularly browses through users’ creations. YouTube and Twitter are also great choices if you already have a sizable online following. Of course, if your level is cool enough, it’s always possible a video of the creation will gain some viral attention. You never know!
If Epic likes your hard work and wants to contact you, you can most likely expect an employee to reach out to you over private message. “Block Party” winner inspectorkhan can attest to that. In that user’s case, Epic contacted the creator and worked closely with them to publish and share their Island Code. Inspectorkhan noted that there should be a “publish your island” option under the “Island Settings” menu in-game once the developer gives you the right to publish an Island Code.
Until then, you’ll have to share images and videos of your island online. Hopefully that it’s impressive enough (and you get lucky enough) to gain Epic’s approval! In the meantime, you can always have fun with your creations on your own.
