Remix Etiquette — the unwritten rules

Learning Goals 3 min

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

1. State the four etiquette rules Scratch remixers follow: visible credit in Notes & Credits, a substantial change (not just colour), no idea-claiming, and crediting the whole remix chain.
2. Tell apart a good remix (adds a new behaviour or fixes a bug) from a cosmetic-only remix (just recolours sprites) and explain why the community frowns on the second.
3. Write a one-paragraph Notes & Credits entry that names the original creator, names any previous remixer in the chain, and lists what you changed.

Warm-Up — three projects, one shelf 7 min

Imagine you're scrolling Scratch and you find three projects in a row — all of them remixes of the same original game, "Kelantan Kite Flyer" by @kakak_aida. Same code, same kite, same wind. Three different remixers. Here's what each one did:

• Remix A by @hafiz_2014 — changed the kite from red to blue. Nothing else. Notes & Credits is empty. Title: "Kite Flyer".
• Remix B by @nurul_codes — added a wind-strength slider, a high-score, and a night-time backdrop. Notes & Credits says: "Remix of Kelantan Kite Flyer by @kakak_aida. I added a wind slider, high score, and a night mode. Original kite physics is all hers."
• Remix C by @ali_remixes — changed the kite to a dragon sprite. Title: "Dragon Flyer by Ali". Notes & Credits: "This is my new game, hope you like it!"

Which two have an etiquette problem, and what exactly did each one do wrong?

Today's lesson is the four rules behind those judgements. None of them are enforced by Scratch's software. All of them are enforced by the community noticing.

New Concept — the four etiquette rules 15 min

Back in L04-04 we met the Remix button and the technical credit it gives you automatically — the banner at the top of every remix that links back to the original. That banner is the floor of remix etiquette. Today is the rest of the building: the four habits that turn a technically credited remix into a genuinely respectful one.

Rule 1 — Credit the original visibly in Notes & Credits

The auto-banner is small and lives at the top of the project page. The Notes and Credits box is bigger and lives where readers actually scroll. Use your own words. The community standard is one sentence, in this shape:

"Remix of [project title] by @[original creator]."

It takes ten seconds. An empty Notes box on a remix looks like you forgot — or worse, like you're hoping no-one notices.

Rule 2 — Change something substantial

The community's working definition of substantial: something a reader can see or feel in the first 30 seconds of play. Examples that count:

• Add a sprite with its own behaviour — an enemy, a collectible, a second player.
• Swap the theme — a forest game becomes an underwater game, with new backdrop and matching sprite swaps.
• Add a feature — a high score, a pause menu, a sound effect on collisions.
• Fix a bug in the original. (Yes — this counts and is genuinely useful.)
• Add a whole new level using the original's level-loading pattern.

Examples that don't count on their own:

• Recolouring sprites with the colour-effect block. Two-click change, no new behaviour.
• Changing the project title. Zero gameplay change.
• Renaming a variable. Invisible to the player.
• Moving sprites slightly on the Stage. Invisible after one second of play.

"Substantial" doesn't mean "huge". A single sprite with five new blocks of behaviour is substantial. A two-hour rework with no actual new feature isn't. The test is always: could a reader spot your change without you pointing it out?

Rule 3 — Don't claim the original idea as yours

This is the rule Ali broke in the warm-up. You can be proud of your remix. You should be proud of your remix. But the original idea — the kite, the physics, the basic gameplay — belongs to the person who thought of it. Your additions are yours. The rest isn't.

A simple Notes & Credits language pattern that separates the two cleanly:

"Original [thing] by @[user]. I added/changed [things]."

Two sentences, one for them, one for you. The community knows what to attribute to whom in three seconds.

Rule 4 — Credit the chain

Here's where it gets interesting. You don't always remix the original — sometimes you remix somebody's remix. Maybe @nurul_codes added the wind slider to @kakak_aida's kite game. You see Nurul's version, like it, and remix that. Now your remix is a remix of a remix.

The auto-banner only shows the project you remixed from (Nurul). It doesn't automatically credit Kakak Aida — the original creator. That's your job in Notes & Credits:

"Remix of Kite Flyer Night Mode by @nurul_codes, which is itself a remix of Kelantan Kite Flyer by @kakak_aida. I added a kite-eating shark sprite. The wind slider is Nurul's. The kite physics are Aida's."

You can find the chain by clicking the Remix Tree button on any project's page. Some chains are three deep. Some are thirty. The etiquette is: credit at least the original and the person you remixed from. Everyone in between is a bonus.

Good remix vs cosmetic remix — side by side

Imagine the original is a single bouncing-cat script. Here's what a cosmetic-only remix (rule 2 broken) looks like:

when flag clicked
set [color v] effect to (100)
forever
  move (10) steps
  if <touching [edge v] ?> then
    turn cw (180) degrees
  end
end
        

Now here's what a good remix looks like — adds a new sprite behaviour (a fish that the cat catches) visible to the player on the first second of play:

when flag clicked
set [score v] to (0)
forever
  move (10) steps
  if <touching [edge v] ?> then
    turn cw (180) degrees
  end
  if <touching [Fish v] ?> then
    change [score v] by (1)
    play sound [Pop v] until done
  end
end
        

Worked Example — writing the perfect Notes & Credits 12 min

Let's walk through a real-feeling remix end-to-end and write the credits the right way. Pretend you've found "Penang Char Kway Teow Cooker" by @cikgu_lim — a project where you tap the screen to flip noodles in a wok. @cikgu_lim made it from scratch. Two months ago, @aisyah_codes remixed it to add a timer that scores you on cook speed. You want to remix Aisyah's version and add an ingredient list the player has to add in order.

Step 1 — Find the chain

Open Aisyah's project. Click Remix Tree in the top-right. See the tree: cikgu_lim → aisyah_codes → (you). Two names to credit, not one.

Step 2 — Click Remix on Aisyah's version

Orange Remix button. Editor opens. The auto-banner at the top now says "This project is a remix of Penang CKT Cooker with Timer by @aisyah_codes." Notice — it doesn't mention @cikgu_lim. The banner only chains one step back. The chain memory is your job.

Step 3 — Make the substantial change

Add an Ingredients sprite. Add a list called ingredients-needed. Add scripts so the player has to add prawns, then noodles, then sauce in that order. That's a new feature — a player can see the difference in the first ten seconds. Rule 2 satisfied.

when flag clicked
delete all of [ingredients-needed v]
add [prawns] to [ingredients-needed v]
add [noodles] to [ingredients-needed v]
add [sauce] to [ingredients-needed v]
        

Step 4 — Test, then leave the editor

Click the flag. Tap prawns, noodles, sauce in order — score ticks up, original timer still works, original wok-flip still works. Your additions sit on top of Aisyah's, which sit on top of Lim's.

Step 5 — Open See Project Page

Top-right of the editor. Now you're back on the public-facing page with the Notes & Credits box visible. Empty by default.

Step 6 — Write the credits using all four rules

Here's a Notes & Credits entry that hits all four rules in three sentences. Read it carefully:

"Remix of Penang CKT Cooker with Timer by @aisyah_codes, which is a remix of Penang Char Kway Teow Cooker by @cikgu_lim. I added an ingredient-order system: you have to add prawns, then noodles, then sauce, or you lose points. The cooking-speed timer is Aisyah's. The wok-flip game is Lim's. Selamat masak!"

Rule 1 — original is named visibly. Rule 2 — substantial change described. Rule 3 — no idea-claiming, the original game is attributed to Lim. Rule 4 — both Aisyah and Lim are in the chain. The whole thing is under fifty words.

Step 7 — Title the project carefully

Default title from Scratch will be something like "Penang CKT Cooker with Timer remix". You can rename it, but keep the link to the original visible. Good: "Penang CKT — Ingredient Order Mode". Bad: "My Cooking Game".

Step 8 — Hit Share

Done. Now if @cikgu_lim or @aisyah_codes ever browse their own remix trees, they'll see your project, click it, and see their names credited properly. Some of them will leave a heart. Some will leave a comment. That's the social loop the etiquette protects.

What you just did: you turned a remix from a one-click copy into a polite contribution to a two-person chain. The etiquette took longer than the code change. That's normal — and that's why most cosmetic remixes are cosmetic. People skip the etiquette because the etiquette is the bigger part.

Try It Yourself — three etiquette drills 15 min

when flag clicked
forever
  if <key [space v] pressed?> then
    play sound [Boing v] until done
    wait (0.3) seconds
  end
end
        

Mini-Challenge — "Daniel's recolour storm" 5 min

The cosmetic-only red flag

Daniel finds a popular project: "Klang Banana Leaf Race" by @uncle_ravi — a side-scrolling race game with banana-leaf platforms. Daniel really likes it. Over the weekend, he remixes it six times:

• Remix 1: green banana leaves → blue banana leaves.
• Remix 2: blue leaves → purple leaves.
• Remix 3: purple leaves → rainbow effect.
• Remix 4: renamed project to "Daniel's Race".
• Remix 5: same as Remix 4 but with a different rainbow speed.
• Remix 6: same as Remix 5 but the title says "Pro Edition".

All six are shared. None have anything in Notes & Credits. Daniel is confused that he's getting no hearts and a few unfriendly comments. Using today's four rules, name every etiquette problem and suggest the smallest possible fix.

Recap 3 min

The Remix button gives you automatic technical credit. The four unwritten rules turn that into respectful credit. Rule 1: name the original creator visibly in Notes & Credits — your own words, your own sentence. Rule 2: change something substantial — a new behaviour, a new feature, a bug fix, a swapped theme — not just a recolour. Rule 3: don't frame the original idea as yours; separate your additions from the original work in writing. Rule 4: if you're remixing someone's remix, credit the chain — at minimum the original creator and the person you remixed from. None of these are enforced by Scratch's software. All of them are enforced by the community noticing — and the community notices.

Substantial change

A remix modification a reader can see or feel in the first 30 seconds of play. New sprite, new feature, new level, bug fix, swapped theme. Not a recolour, rename, or sprite move.

Cosmetic-only remix

A remix where the only changes are visual surface (colour effects, sprite recolours, title changes) with no new behaviour. Technically allowed, socially frowned on when shared loudly.

Idea-claiming

Framing a remix as if the original idea were yours — using language like "my new game" or stripping the original creator's name from the title. The most-called-out etiquette mistake on Scratch.

Remix chain

A sequence of remixes that each build on the one before. Visible via the Remix Tree button on any project page. Good etiquette credits at least the original and the immediate parent in your Notes & Credits.

Remix Tree

A clickable view on every shared Scratch project showing the whole family of remixes that descend from one original. Use it to find the chain before you write your credits.

Notes and Credits box

The text box below the Stage on every project page where remixers write the credit sentence in their own words. Empty Notes on a remix breaks rule 1.

Homework 2 min

The Four-Rule Audit. You're going to grade two real remixes — one of someone else's, one of your own — against the four rules from today.

1. Find any remix on Scratch (not yours). Open it. Open its Notes & Credits. Open its Remix Tree. Score it out of 4 — one point per rule satisfied. Write down which rules it satisfied and which it didn't.
2. Find one of your own past remixes — from this course or before. (If you've never remixed anything, do a quick small remix this week first.) Run the same 4-point audit on yourself. Be honest. Most first remixes score 1/4 or 2/4. That's normal.
3. For any rules you broke on your own remix, write the fix: a corrected title, a corrected Notes & Credits paragraph, an idea for a substantial change you could add. Don't actually fix it yet — just write the fix.

Bring back next class:

• Both audit scores with one-sentence justifications.
• Your written fix for your own remix (paper or digital).
• Your answer to: "Of the four rules, which one is the hardest for you to remember in the moment, and why?"

Heads up for next class: SCR-L04-47 picks the four projects you'll show off in your end-of-Level-4 portfolio — one project per major cluster (Pen, Music, Platformer, Animation/Trivia/Arcade), each with a short paragraph explaining what skills it demonstrates. Start thinking about which of your L4 projects you're proudest of.