Key Moments
MMOs in the Instagram Era: Highrise (S18) - YC Gaming Tech Talks 2020
Y CombinatorKey Moments
Highrise achieves high player retention by prioritizing social features over core gameplay, using a hybrid app-game architecture to mimic native mobile UIs.
Key Insights
Highrise has surpassed 5 million downloads and is generating over $1 million in monthly revenue.
The 'social first' design philosophy starts with community features, then adds game mechanics, contrasting with traditional design that sprinkles social elements later.
The app leverages native iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin) for UI, and C++ for the game engine, to achieve a smooth, app-like user experience that game engines like Unity cannot match.
This hybrid architecture allows Pocket Worlds to create new social-first games and experiences by swapping out the mini-game and meta-game components.
Pocket Worlds is a fully remote company that has raised Series A funding to build more games and worlds.
Social connections drive long-term player attention
Highrise, developed by Pocket Worlds, is an MMO (massively multiplayer online) game available on iOS and Android, boasting over 5 million downloads and generating over $1 million in monthly revenue. The game's success is attributed to its 'social first' design philosophy. Unlike traditional game design, which often develops a core game loop and then adds social features as an afterthought, Highrise prioritizes community aspects from the outset. This includes building systems for messengers, news feeds, guilds, profiles, and a vibrant in-game economy. The core game mechanics, such as a fashion contest where players design outfits, are then integrated into this social framework. The company's contention is that while players may initially join for the game itself, they ultimately stay for the social connections and friendships they forge within the world. This focus on social engagement is critical for retaining players in the long term, addressing a common challenge in mobile gaming where players often move on once they've exhausted the game's immediate offerings.
Mimicking native app interfaces is crucial for retention
A key challenge Highrise identified was preventing players from leaving the app for more established social platforms like Snapchat or Instagram once they had formed connections. To combat this, the development team realized that Highrise needed to feel more like a native application than a traditional game. This necessitated leveraging the sophisticated UI capabilities inherent in iOS and Android, which have benefited from decades of refinement in areas like typography and animation. The belief was that game engines like Unity, while powerful for game development, could not replicate the seamless, polished user experience that native mobile platforms offer. Therefore, the app's design intentionally mirrors the fluidity and intuitiveness of popular social applications to keep users engaged within the Highrise ecosystem.
A hybrid architecture balances app-like UI with game engine power
To achieve the desired blend of native app feel and robust game functionality, Highrise employs a unique hybrid architecture that is described as 50% app and 50% game. The application layer, responsible for the user interface and its smooth, native performance, is built using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. Complementing this is a C++ component that handles the core game engine, world rendering, avatar logic, and business rules. This C++ module is shared as a submodule across both platforms, facilitating cross-platform development and code reuse. The two components are integrated through a system of 'bridges,' separated by feature sets, which the team likens to a microservices architecture. This modularity allows components to be swapped in and out as needed. On iOS, these bridges are implemented using Objective-C++, and on Android, JNA/JNI is utilized. This architecture not only ensures a high-fidelity user experience but also offloads heavy computational tasks to the core C++ engine, optimizing performance and enabling efficient cross-platform development.
The architecture enables future social-first game development
The unique hybrid architecture of Highrise is not just a technical solution for one game; it represents a foundational platform for Pocket Worlds' future ambitions. The company plans to leverage this architecture to create a variety of new social-first games and experiences. By swapping out the 'mini-game' and 'meta-game' components of Highrise, they can develop entirely different game genres. For instance, they envision a hero collector game where players explore a virtual world to gather monsters for battles, or an adventure fishing game, all while retaining the core avatar, world, messenger, and guild systems that define the Highrise experience. This approach positions the social experience itself as the primary draw, with various game mechanics serving as engaging activities within that social fabric.
Pocket Worlds is a growing, remote-first company
Pocket Worlds operates as a fully remote company, a model they have embraced for the past four years, positioning them ahead of current remote work trends. The company recently secured Series A funding, which will be directed towards expanding their game development capabilities and building more virtual worlds. To support this growth, Pocket Worlds is actively looking to expand its team across various roles. Interested individuals are encouraged to reach out directly to the co-founder and CTO, Jimmy, at j@highh.rs or explore opportunities on their website, pocketworlds.com.
Mentioned in This Episode
●Software & Apps
●Companies
Common Questions
Highrise is a social-first design MMO available on iOS and Android. Players can design avatars, build apartments, and explore a user-generated world, participating in challenges like fashion contests.
Topics
Mentioned in this video
The mobile operating system for Apple devices, on which Highrise is available.
Java Native Access, a library used for bridging components on the Android side in Highrise's architecture.
A programming language used for Android development, integrated into Highrise's architecture.
A programming language used for iOS development, which handles the UI component of Highrise's architecture.
The mobile operating system developed by Google, on which Highrise is available.
A game engine mentioned as a platform that Highrise does not rely on for its UI capabilities, due to limitations compared to native iOS and Android UI development.
A programming language used for the game engine, world, avatars, and business logic in Highrise, shared as a submodule across platforms.
A social-first design MMO available on iOS and Android, featuring avatar customization, player-built apartments, user-generated worlds, and fashion contests.
A language used for bridging components between the UI and game engine on the iOS side in Highrise's architecture.
Java Native Interface, used for bridging components on the Android side in Highrise's architecture.
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