World Creator Spotlight Interview 🌟

Meet the Creator Drewsifer - Creators of Open Mic Night

These questions are in reference to the Open Mic Night created by Drewsifer in the Highrise Studio.

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

Hello, my name is drewsifer or Drew, and I work professionally as a software engineer outside of my virtual life. In college, I did an internship for a year working with a team of game devs to build virtual reality flight training simulators for pilots. This is where my journey with Unity and building games started. When Highrise first announced Highrise Studio, I was fortunate enough to be invited as part of the beta testing group, and I instantly fell in love with the idea, and the possibilities that could be created.

What inspired you to create your virtual world in Highrise?

My inspiration really came from wanting to create something no one has ever seen before on Highrise. I wanted to try pushing the limits of Worlds and bring something new to the community. I grew up enjoying First Person games and the idea of creating a fully immersive experience, where you feel like you become your avatar was something that really excited me.

Can you describe the theme or concept behind your world?

The theme of “Open Mic Night” is a dive bar with a main stage for users to perform on. Before Highrise introduced the concept of Worlds, I always found myself enjoying going into different “Karaoke Rooms” where users would take turns being given mic and they would sing for everyone else in the room. I wanted to bring this experience into Worlds but open it up for not just singers, but for any type of entertainment, whether it be someone wanting to do a stand-up comedy bit, or reciting a poem they wrote. “Open Mic Night” is a place where users can go and show off their talents, while other users can join their friends to enjoy the entertainment.

What sets your world apart from others in Highrise?

Originally, “Open Mic Night” was the first of its kind. It was the first “First Person Perspective” room on Highrise. This really set it apart at the time and a lot of people really enjoyed having this fun new perspective and expiring within Highrise that they had never had before. I think the atmosphere of the World also feeling very real and relatable attracts a lot of user as well. It’s a very immersive experience feeling like you are in the same bar as your friends, sitting across the table from them. Or standing up and performing on the stage, looking out into the faces of all the avatars watching.

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

There are so many talented creators out there right now! It’s been incredible to see everyone’s unique style and ideas come to life. I specifically really like “BACKROOMS” by aprilcat. She put together a really fun and immersive horror world based on a very well known concept of the Backrooms. I also really like the way she integrated her UI design a well as the in-game microtransactions for a more engaging user experience. Another World I am a big fan of, is “DeskScape” by RavingRiley! I may be a bit biased on this one though since I actually helped collaborate with her on this world. But her Unique Desk Designs that you are able to switch between in this world are extremely creative and fun to explore. I love the Highrise references throughout some of the desk designs like Tom’s Desk, iHsein’s Desk, the Creature Club desk, or even some of the Crew Specific Desk designs. I love when user’s build worlds that offer something new and never before done on Highrise before that really push the limits and capabilities of what’s possible with Stuido.

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

My process is honestly a bit all over the place as I don’t really follow any specific approach. I am definitely not a very experienced artist or 3D modeler, so I use premade assets that I am able to find online. I will oftentimes just explore various assets online hoping that an Idea for a world sparks just from seeing an asset.

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

I always hope everyone comes out of my worlds having a good experience, and if they don’t, I always highly encourage feedback so that I can work to make it more enjoyable for all users. I also hope that my worlds can bring inspiration to other users who are interested in building worlds and experiences of their own in Studio. I always enjoy sharing how I built something with other creators interested in taking inspiration from something I’ve built.

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

My biggest piece of advice to new users who want to start is to start small and take your time. I’ve watched so many aspiring creators try to jump right in and rush to build the next big viral world and very quickly become overwhelmed and eventually give up. Highrise Studio uses an application called Unity to create these worlds. Unity is a very big and powerful tool that is capable of building AAA games in the gaming industry. Start by learning the basics of Unity and how to use it, and follow along with the many tutorials available on Unity’s website. Once you find yourself comfortable with Unity, then I would suggest exploring the Highrise Create website to familiarize yourself with the documentation and follow along with some of the tutorials available on there. After that, have fun with it! Start building small things to explore and get used to building worlds!

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

Not all users may be aware, but you can actually walk through a few of the doors in the world to reach other areas. I also plan to add some new hidden features soon, so make sure to follow the world for future updates!

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

Community engagement is definitely not my strong suit. I sort of just rely on word of mouth to let the world grow organically.

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

When I was building this World, a First Person Camera perspective did not exist yet. Which means I had to write a custom script to achieve this look. I ran into many issues when trying to write the code for this camera script. A lot of debugging and print statements in my code to figure out what was going wrong. Thankfully after enough debugging and help from the HR Studio discord channel, I was able to get it working!

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

I think the freedom and flexibility to really build anything you can imagine is a pretty exciting concept. There’s a lot that can be done with Studio and Highrise, that users have yet to really even scratch the surface with yet.

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

I have quite a few different new projects in the works right now along with some fun new features in some of my existing worlds that I don’t want to spoil too much for yet. But, to leave a few hints, the idea of playing a card games with your friends has been a concept I have been exploring.

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