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 New... option from the Director's menu.

Creation/Editing Workflow

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.
  

Some of the important properties that will affect all objects in the workspace are the gravity and boundary rules. These (and others) can be found in the World->Properties... menu within the Director.

• AccessPhysics communityproperties resourcesdetermine bythe gravity in the searchingWorld. You can control whether gravity is on or off, its direction, and draggingits intostrength. (the latter two are controlled by the single vector property,Gravity. The default (0,-981) canvaspoint down.
• InterfaceWorld drivenBoundaries bycontrols charactersthe behavior of objects when they reach the perimeter of the world. (seeBy tutorial)default, object are destroyed.

Workflow

Users 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

The Explorer character in the lower right-hand corner is the primary interface to the assets shared throughout the Sharendipity community. Use this gallery to search for game characters, graphics, sounds, behaviors, and complete applications created by other users.

Use the horizontal tabs to apply filters to the search results. This will help narrow down the results by type.

*The Allsearch assetsresults can be used in your application either through drag and drop or clicking on the search result and (entities,selecting triggers)the desired option to load the item or insert it into your gallery.

Any asset within your Sharendiptiy creation (objects, behaviors, images, functions, etc.) can be addedshared toback using the Sharendipityshare galleryoption throughon the '''Share'''respective option.asset's menu. If ana complete application is saved, it too will be available in the community gallery for others to access.

Application Gallery

ThisThe galleryLibrarian ischaracter intendedin tothe lower center portion of the application will help you manage the objects in your current application. ItUse '''doesthe not'''local managegallery to store images, sounds, and objects acrossthat differentyou applicationsreference sodynamically bethrough carefulbehaviors. For example, if you loadcreate anothernew applicationenemies fromperiodically, theyou community.can reference Toobjects stored preservein the contentsgallery

The ofapplication thegallery gallery,does alwaysnot savemanage yourobjects applicationacross usingdifferent theapplications ''Save''so buttonbe atcareful theif topyou ofload theanother appletapplication window.from Eachthe timecommunity. youThe reloadcontents yourof application,your theapplication gallery will populate withbe thepreserved assetseach thattime wereyou added.save.
Drag-and-Drop