World Creator Spotlight Interview 🌟

Meet the Creators Tounni & Community - Creators of Reef Rendezvous

These questions are in reference to the Reef Rendezvous created by Tounni & Community in the Highrise Studio.

Can you tell us about yourself and how you got started with virtual world building?

C- Hiya! I am Community and I have been floating around the HR Metaverse for almost 9 years now! I’ve been part of many projects over the years so when Tounni asked me to collab on a world project I jumped at the opportunity to experience something new and exciting!

T- Hey! I’m Tounni, I’ve been on Highrise for 5 and a half years. I’ve been on a search to find something to do on HR to be more involved in the community. When I saw this Game Jam, I was drawn to the idea of creating something for my friends and I to enjoy!

What inspired you to create your virtual world in Highrise?

T- I like the 2D feel HR already has and was very hesitant to try out worlds in the first place. This Game Jam showed me that you can make a world in 2D as well, but I knew to bring all my ideas to life it would be a long and tedious task. I met @Community recently and being able to collaborate with him to bring this vision to life was an incredible experience. For about a week straight, I was woken up to 10-20 assets daily to start animating and working with. We made insane progress daily, and were able to upload our first working version of our world in just a week of dedicated time. We continued to add small details to it over the next couple weeks as well, by showcasing our friends that supported us along the way. Adding these unique custom assets drove us to finish the project and turn it into what it is today.

Can you describe the theme or concept behind your world?

T- I originally made a post trying to grasp what the community would want for a world. I received a comment from @tom stating simply “make a submarine” and some other users liked the comment. I then thought “Do I want it to be a platformer inside the submarine or out in an ocean?” We then started experimenting with fish that represented staff as well as us and I knew I wanted it to be an under the sea adventure.

What sets your world apart from others in Highrise?

C/T- Every single asset in the world was completely hand-created by @Community. We both agreed from the start we would not use any pre-made assets, because we wanted our world to be truly unique. We wanted our world to be somewhere our friends could hang out and enjoy.

Is there a world made by another creator that you really love? What do you look for in other people's world experiences?

T- Yes! We both absolutely love @RavingRiley’s ‘Adventures of Creature Island’ world as well as @Drewsifer’s ‘Creature Club Express’ world. When looking at other people’s worlds, we look for creativity and uniqueness.

How do you approach designing and building within the virtual environment?

T- I personally am more used to drawing and making art for things. When I had asked @Community to collaborate, I expected I’d be doing more of the artwork and he’d do more of the code. This project definitely pushed both of us out of our comfort zones in a fantastic way and we created something wonderful. In the beginning, I had absolutely zero knowledge on Unity and everything was all so new to me. The tutorial videos by @iHsein helped get me rolling and I hope everyone loves the world as much as I do!

C- Tounni had asked me to partake in the project and I’m pretty sure I've never actually showcased any of my pixelated work on the app in any way. I really had to step out of my comfort zone here and spend about 2-3 weeks in my studio placing every single pixel and sending them over to Tounni to be added to the world. We pretty much had the basis of the world down such as the boat, island and major walking paths then focused on jump pads, fish, and small underwater details. After that, we made a list of all the assets needed to make the island and I got to work on creating a color scheme that would flow with the background and all other features of the world. Towards the end, we focused on making little mementos to things we cared about and we added one final attraction, the big balloon ride!

What do you hope players will experience or take away from exploring your world?

T- I hope that players will come in and see all the unique aspects of our world and what potential Highrise has. I want them to enjoy the atmosphere, and walk away with a sense of belonging.

C- I’d hope that any player can see what two people can accomplish together in a short amount of time while trying to live their lives outside of the app as well. Not only was this our FIRST time making a world, it was also the first time my personal pixel art has been featured ANYWHERE on ANY platform. I was extremely nervous but our friend group and support structure got behind us and reassured us that what we had made is truly special.

What advice would you give to players who want to start creating worlds?

T- One piece of advice I’d give is it’s okay to ask for help. There’s a great team and a community of helpful players to ask when you need it. It also takes determination and hardwork as world building is a continuous learning experience. When I ran into a problem, I noted it down in a notebook and when I fixed said problem, I added notes on how to fix it so that I could assist other users with similar issues.

Are there any unique features or hidden gems within your world that players should look out for?

C- When Tounni first asked me to partake in the project, we came up with the idea of an ocean themed map with a hangout spot and unique features like an outdoor theater and some really nice custom assets. We got started pretty quickly mapping out a world we would enjoy and an experience we could deliver to our friends and supporters that would leave a lasting memory. While creating assets, I knew I wanted to represent many aspects of my time on Highrise and show a genuine representation to both of our friend groups and things we partake in! It all started with fish modeled and designed around our avatars which are featured towards the dock near the island! Next, we agreed to show some support to well known staff in fish form so @tom and @jj10 (Jimmy) were added as fish early on in the level! Later on we added @KittyPow who runs the HRLive program to the island in the form of a Kitty in a box with a HRLive branded computer! Next, you will see various named assets such as a Duck for @SourPatchSid, who is a wonderful friend and HRLive host for various events around HRLive. There is another fish in rainbow form for @ranboobutnot who is the host of #ASafeSpace which is another HRLive event! After making major named assets, we asked our friends if they wanted to be represented in the world as small assets. This led to cheese being added to represent @Chunkshatesyou, a purple boba drink for @7ragonz, and some clouds for @cloudko. We added other small effects such as hot air balloons with HR Themed logos such as HRLive and Creature Club, a photo frame featuring a pair of our friends and a large movie screen that shows a small film of us and our friends dancing!

How do you engage with the Highrise community to promote your world?

C- During the initial RUSH of players we didn't do much promoting because we got our world uploaded fairly quick! At the time of initial upload the list of worlds for this GameJam was not long and you could spend an afternoon looking through them. After a while, the Unique Visitors challenge was initiated and we knew that was something we wanted to go for and started to develop a plan on promoting the world through posts and scavenger hunts! After a while, @Community started to DJ live music in the room and take requests from people that came in and stuck around the fire pit we have on the island! There were many times we had upwards of 15-20 people sitting around the fire chatting, requesting music, and overall having an amazing time getting to know each-other more and enjoy some nice tunes!

What challenges have you both faced during the creation process, and how did you overcome them?

T- Many of the challenges we faced were on the coding side of things. Thankfully, we were able to get support for the most part from the awesome studio team, namely @iHsein and @Azalearei!

What do you think users will find most exciting about creating their first world?

T- I think one of the most exciting things about world building is launching it and seeing what you did in game for the first time. It is a truly rewarding experience!

Lastly, do you have any upcoming projects or plans for the future you would like to share with us?

There are a few projects that we have in talks right now, but details will be shared at a later time once we’ve worked it out in more detail! Very excited to reveal these later!

Thank you for sharing your insights with us, Tounni & Community! We can't wait to see what you create next. 🌟