Unlike traditional game design, which often adds social features as an afterthought, we start with community elements like guilds and profiles, then incorporate gameplay.

The social-first approach addresses the challenge of retaining player attention by fostering friendships within the game, which keeps players engaged long-term.

Pocket Worlds is looking to enhance this architecture by developing more social-first experiences and games.

Highrise is a social-first game, built on an architecture that combines a smooth user experience with the capabilities of a real game engine.

Building a community around a game is crucial; minimizing the friction for players to join and enjoy the game fosters growth and engagement.

When we launched, we discovered that players were forming friendships based on shared interests, which was a unique aspect of our game.

We maintain a dual philosophy in our product design: everything should feel integrated while also being composable, allowing users to utilize services independently.

We learned from early experiences that players would leave Highrise for other platforms once they exhausted the game's content, highlighting the need for a strong social component.

In game design, the most compelling experiences arise from the gaps between reality and simulation, allowing players to reflect on their actions and decisions.