Xavier Agulló

In 2015 I started working at Socialpoint, a Spanish startup that was seeing quick growth after its success with “Dragon City” and “Monster Legends”. My first project there was “World Chef”, a wonderful crafting game where you had to manage a restaurant, cook and serve your clients. The game was originally inspired by “Hay Day” but the restaurant setting shaped not only the visuals but also the mechanics and soon the game got its own essence.

I joined mid development and I worked alongside another designer. He was very strong on balancing and excel skills and I took charge of the front-end of the game, including the design of systems, UI and content. All under supervision of the Product Manager. My biggest contribution was a content reorganization before world launch that increased day 30 retention by a big margin.

By working on a resource management game I leveled up my balancing and free-to-play skills compared to my previous project that, being more arcade, was more shallow in that regard. Socialpoint is also proud to be a “data-driven” environment and having access to its intelligence tools transformed and greatly enhanced the way I worked.

The game was very rich in content, with more than 30 chefs from all over the world and dishes ranging from the classic American “Cheeseburger” to more exotic dishes like Korean “bibimbap” or Vietnamese “Banh Xeo”. You also had to take care of home deliveries, a vineyard, the social market or a chillout area that celebrated weddings, birthdays and pool parties… never a dull moment! While some areas may look a little dated nowadays, I’m still quite fond of the game.

“World Chef” is not a super hit, but it is a solid title with good reviews and that keeps making money to this day with almost no maintenance. So everyone thought it deserved a second part, but that’s another, very different, story…