The Sharendipity platform is feature rich, but can be confusing the first time you venture into the creation mode. At the core of it, however, there are just a few basic concepts, that once understood, provide a platform for quickly and easily making some very fun content.

Workspace Basics

The Sharendipity workspace is used for creating and playing applications. It's interface is driven through the character set at the bottom of the screen.


Clicking on each of them reveals a set of menus to access Sharendipity's features...

The director (currently a professor) guides the user through management of high-level applications and scenes.



The construction worker provides access to the basic building tools for creating circles, lines, joints, and other content.



The librarian provides access to the user’s collection of assets (the gallery) for the current application.



And on the right side of the screen, separated from the other characters, the Explorer acts as a gateway to the components and applications created by the community.



When the applet initially launches, you will be in one of two modes:

Editing Mode : You have full access to the configuration details of every application element, and have the ability to modify or add to them. You'll know you're in edit mode when the Builder and Librarian characters are present and/or theSave option is available in the Director's menu. There are a couple of rules for accessing the edit mode :

1. You must be logged in.
2. You must have been granted access to the alpha by Sharendipity (send a note here to ask for an invite).

Play Mode : This is the mode when launching an application directly from the web. It limits actions to read-only activities. The only options are pausing or restarting the application, and search. You'll know you're in play mode because only the Director and Explorer characters are present in the application.

You can transition any workspace into the edit/creation mode a few different ways (assuming you meet the above criteria):

1. Launching the application from the "Create Something New" link on the web page.
2. Choosing the Edit... option from the Director's menu.
3. Choosing the NewNew... option from the Director's menu.

EditCreation/Editing ModeWorkflow

Keep in mind that the workspace is ''alive'' by default. That is, application construction can happen while it is being executed. There is no compilation step! This can lead to lots of fun and even a few serendipitous moments. But it can lead to some confusion as well. If you'd like to get out of (or into) play mode, toggle the play/pause control located just above the Director character in the lower left-hand corner.

Everything is accessible regardless of the mode. For instance:

• You can draw new objects using the Builder's drawing tools while other objects are bouncing around.
• You can modify an object's properties as it is bouncing around.
• You can change the World's gravity, background color, or apply a background image
• You can drag in objects from the search results and they immediately interact with the objects around them.
  

• Access community resources by searching and dragging into canvas
• Interface driven by characters (see tutorial)

Workflow

play and construct are simultaneousdrag-n-drop interfaceutilize application-level galleryapp properties in edit dialogdefine object / define interactionsUsers have access to two distinct galleries that are intended to help manage assets within Sharendipity. The galleries can be accessed by pressing the ''Load'' button at the top of the applet window. This will open two dialog boxes within the applet.

Community Gallery

ThisThe galleryExplorer character in the lower right-hand corner is the primary interface to the assets shared bythroughout the Sharendipity community at large.community. Use this gallery to search for assetsgame characters, graphics, sounds, behaviors, and complete applications created by other users. You

Use canthe horizontal tabs to apply filters to narrow the search downresults. toThis applications,will triggers,help andnarrow entities.down the results by type.

* All assets (entities, triggers) can be added to the Sharendipity gallery through the '''Share''' option. If an application is saved, it too will be available in the community gallery for others to access.

Application Gallery

This gallery is intended to help you manage the objects in your current application. It '''does not''' manage objects across different applications so be careful if you load another application from the community. To preserve the contents of the gallery, always save your application using the ''Save'' button at the top of the applet window. Each time you reload your application, the gallery will populate with the assets that were added.

Drag-and-Drop