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A collaboration is when two or more users work together to make a project. This can be done through the backpack tool or the remix feature.
This page is a guide telling users how to start collaborations.
 Caution: | Shared accounts are not allowed (see Collaboration (group)). |
Planning
The first part of starting a collaboration is when one user thinks about what one would like the topic of the collaboration to be.
Project-Based
First, one needs to create a project to collaborate on. One should think of a project which has these characteristics:
- Creative
- Unique
- Not a subject which is highly debated
- Able to be developed indefinitely, like how an app is constantly updated
A good idea often can be to create a very basic example of what the collaboration's finished product could look like to the members of that collaboration.
Service-Based
A service-based collaboration involves multiple users working to provide some sort of service for others. Usually a shop of some description.
The Collaboration
One should think about these questions:
- What will the collaboration be called?
- Will the collaboration be studio-based or forum-based?
- What will potential members be seeing?
- Will the collaboration be focused on one project or many?
Step Two: Starting the collaboration
Once one has figured out the details of the collaboration, why not get started?
Forum-Based
A majority of collaboration are usually forum based. These types of collaborations have a front page. Some of the parts that are important are:
- It is very important that one spells and capitalize properly otherwise when another user sees it they may think it looks messy and won't look further into what it is about.
- The main page should be spelt and capitalized correctly to look professional and encourage people to join their collaboration.
- If one is currently ‘hiring’ or asking for new people to work on the collaboration, one should add "Now Hiring!" to the title of the forum thread.
Some other features included in some collaborations are:
- A banner that includes the collaborations name
- A basic description about the collaboration
- A list of the features of the project or services
- A list of the jobs that are currently available (if any are available)
- A list of current members (if there are any)
- An ending statement (this might include some notes or a quick sentence to convince people to join)
Studio Based
A studio-based collaboration is in some ways easier than to do a forum as the members can hand their part of the project in with ease but in other ways it can be more difficult to work on. Studio collaborations can be harder because you don't get notified through messages when someone comments, but rather every day of activity if they are a curator. One starting the collaboration must remember if they create a studio it should include a professional thumbnail, engaging description and most importantly invite all the Scratchers in the collaboration to be curators or managers of the studio.
Step Three: Waiting
Usually one must wait for a while before people begin to sign up. Bumping the forum topic or advertising the studio may help shorten this period of time.
Step Four: Running the Collaboration
Once several people have signed up, one needs to get going on the project so that the members don't get bored and leave. A good idea is that one gets on Scratch every day and continually updates the front page or studio description. One should give one's collaboration members an assignment each, and give them a reasonable deadline. If they fail to finish it in time, one should remind them. If they continually fail to turn in their assignment, one may have to threaten them with being fired, but this should only be used as a last resort. And, if they still are failing, one may have to fire them, but one should be kind and polite when doing this. This part of making a collaboration is not really able to be guided by anyone but the owner, so this part of the guide will end here.
Closing the Collaboration
Eventually, it may become necessary to close the collaboration, because a project was finished, people left the collaboration, or simply because the owner was no longer interested. If this occurs, one needs to make sure that everyone has finished their assignments. It could make someone annoyed that they worked so hard on an assignment just to have the collaboration close when they were almost done. After it has been closed, if the owner is still interested in it, the owner could invite their best workers to help continue developing the project without the collaboration or even begin a new project.
