Spawn tiles are used to designate where first-time guests will spawn (appear) when they visit the link to your Space. Admins and Builders can place Spawn tiles anywhere in a Room within your Space. Most often, Spawn tiles are added directly near the entrance door of a Space to simulate entering a physical room.
There are two types of Spawn tiles: default and custom.
- Default Spawn tiles are locations where new participants will arrive when accessing the general link to your Space for the first time.
- Custom Spawn tiles are locations with unique URLs that teleport the participant directly to a designated spot in a Room. These custom Spawn tiles are designed to use with calendar integration so that you can create a meeting and add a link to the meeting location within Gather. Participants can then view meeting info and click to directly teleport to the designated meeting Space.
This article addresses how to add and manage default and custom Spawn tiles and overall spawning best practices.
Add Default Spawn Tiles
In the Mapmaker, select Tile Effects in the Top Nav Menu. In the Tile Effects panel, select Spawn. All Spawn tiles are highlighted in green. If it is not already active, select Stamp in the Left Nav Menu.
Open the Mapmaker and click Tile Effects in the Top Nav Menu. Select Spawn in Tile Effects. Click on any tile(s) you'd like new participants to appear on when they enter your Space for the first time.
Note: Because you are creating default Spawn tiles, leave the Spawn Tile ID field blank.
Click on any tile on the map where you'd like guests to appear when they first enter your Space. We recommend spacing out your Spawn tiles (see more Best Practices below). Select Save in the Top Nav Menu.
Note: When a guest leaves a Space and then rejoins it again while signed in, they will respawn in the location they were when they left the Space.
Add Custom Spawn Tiles
In the Mapmaker, select Tile Effects in the Top Nav Menu. In the Tile Effects panel, select Spawn and enter a name for your custom Spawn Tile ID. (This name must be 16 or fewer characters.)
Click on any tile on the map where you'd like guests to appear when they click the custom link to enter this Space. Select Save in the Top Nav Menu.
Enter a name for your Custom Spawn location, then use the Stamp tool to place the Custom Spawn tiles where you want guests to spawn in the Room.
Access Custom Spawn Location
Once you've added custom Spawn tiles, you can grab the link to the custom location you've made.
Note: At this time, you can only access the custom Spawn location link through the Calendar feature. If you do not see the Create new event button, you need to add a Space-wide calendar from Space Settings > Space Preferences. Read more on calendar integration.
From your Space (not the Mapmaker), select Calendar in the toolbar. The Schedule (may be labeled Events) pane opens.
To find your custom Spawn location link, from your Space, click Calendar in the Left Nav Menu. In the Events panel, click Create new event.
Select Create new event. In the Create new calendar event modal, click the Select location drop-down. The name you entered for the Spawn Tile ID (e.g., "keynote") displays, with the room name in parentheses.
Note: If you do not see the Create new event button, you need to add a Space-wide calendar in Space Settings.
In the Create new calendar event pop-up, select your custom Spawn location in the location drop-down.
Click Create in Google Calendar to open your Google Calendar and add event details like date and time. The Location field for the event is populated in Google with the link for your custom Spawn location.
Note: If you just want to grab the link for the custom Spawn location, select Copy location link. You can then share the link however you wish.
When the scheduled event takes place, participants in your Space can open the calendar to see the event and easily navigate to the meeting location by selecting Locate, to follow a dynamic line to the meeting spot, or Teleport, to directly spawn in the meeting spot.
Events in Gather that use a custom Spawn location provide options to easily visit the Custom Spawn location.
Note: Read our article on iCal integration for info on connecting your calendar to Gather.
Spawn Tile Best Practices
- Don't put a Spawn tile on an Impassable tile.
- Unless you're opting for humor or a specific scenario, place your Spawn tiles in open areas, rather than spawning your guests into a tree or in the middle of a pond.
- For large events, we recommend creating multiple Spawn tiles within your entrance area. You should estimate how many people will arrive at once (say, within a 5-minute window) and create that many tiles.
- Think of it as opening the doors for an event. If the concert starts at 8 pm and you expect 500 people, you don't want to open one door at 7:50 pm to let them in. Instead, you want to provide multiple entrance points and some extra time to enter the space.
- Spawn tiles should not be directly adjacent. This is because Gather's video and audio streaming connects by proximity. Place the Spawn tiles at least every other tile so that guests can enter the Space without trying to connect to 50 other people's video streams.
- Want to see the process in action? Check out What is a Spawn Tile ID?