Set yourself up for success: collaborator permissions

This is a how-to-think-about-it page. The mechanics are in Invite and manage team members and Share access on a game; here we answer the question behind them: which role should this person get, and which games should they see? It is for anyone bringing a new person into their team.

What this page helps you do

• Pick Member or Collaborator for each person.
• Decide which games a Collaborator should be granted.
• Keep the team tidy as projects end.

You'll start from Settings > Team Roles for roles and from each game's Permissions tab for grants.

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The two levers

You have two controls. The role decides whether someone sees the whole team: Admins and Members see every game, project, playtest and contact; a Collaborator sees nothing until granted. The per-game grant on a game's Permissions tab opens one game, with its playtests and projects, to a Collaborator.

Helpful details

• Key areas: Team Roles (role) and the game's Permissions tab with Save Permissions (grant).
• What you can do: grant or remove access to any number of games, one checkbox per Collaborator.
• Good to know: a grant is all or nothing and always includes editing. There is no view-only grant, so for a read-only look share a sell sheet or a Catalog link instead. Collaborators never see Contacts.

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A decision flow

1. Part of your inner team? Co-founders, in-house designers, permanent artists who should see the big picture: make them a Member (or an Admin if they also manage people and settings).
2. Working on one game? A freelance illustrator, a single-game editor, a consultant: make them a Collaborator and grant that one game.
3. Running playtests for you? A Collaborator granted the games being tested. They log sessions, read feedback and work on those games' projects, and see nothing else.
4. A publisher or manufacturer who should only look? Do not add them to the team. Share a sell sheet or the Catalog, because every grant can edit.
5. Not sure? Start with Collaborator and one game. Promoting later is one click; taking access back is awkward.

Helpful details

• Key areas: the role list in the invite dialog and the Permissions tab.
• What you can do: change a role later with Update Role on the Team Roles tab.
• Good to know: external playtesters who only fill in feedback forms need no account at all. See For external playtesters.

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Patterns that work

• One game per freelancer. Grant the one game they work on and never touch the rest.
• Co-designer equals Member. A real co-designer needs the whole picture; scoping them to one game creates friction every day.
• Game channels do the rest. On Oracle, a Collaborator joins a game's Team Chat channel only when granted the game, so conversations stay with the people who should hear them.
• A yearly cleanup. Walk through Team Roles and remove people whose projects ended, then open each active game's Permissions tab and clear old grants.

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Patterns that backfire

• Making everyone a Member to keep it simple. Easy today; awkward when an artist you parted ways with can still see the new game you never mentioned.
• Forgetting the grant at project end. A Collaborator who stays in the team keeps the game until you clear the checkbox.
• Separate teams to isolate games. One team with Collaborators and grants does the same job without a second subscription.

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What it looks like in practice

When Castle Project ships, the founder clears Artist A's checkbox on its Permissions tab, and perhaps removes them from the team. Their work stays; their access does not.

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Tips & common questions

Should I add a publisher as a Collaborator before they sign? No. Share a sell sheet or a Catalog link. A Collaborator can edit everything on a granted game.

Can a Collaborator see who else is on the team? They do not see the Team Roles tab. They see teammates where work happens: on tasks, in chat channels they belong to, on the whiteboard pages of their games.

Can I give a Collaborator view-only access? No. Every grant is edit access.

An artist I removed wants their work back. Their uploads live in your team. Send them the files as you would any deliverable.

Related articles

• Roles explained
• Invite and manage team members
• Share access on a game
• Your team's settings, tab by tab