Today we sit down with Jessica Cheuk, also known as @Jastra, Product Manager of TOWER, to dive deeper into the TOWER ecosystem and its latest updates. First off Jessica, congrats to you and the team for pushing Wreck League Versus to the top of the Social leaderboard on the Base app! It's a huge milestone.

Q: If you don’t mind, we’ll start from the beginning. TOWER has been building since 2021, but for anyone just discovering it now, how would you describe the ecosystem in your own words?

Jessica: I like to think of TOWER as a person. Constantly evolving, learning, and exploring new technologies alongside the community. We began in 2021 with Crazy Defense Heroes, our first tower defense game, and launched the $TOWER token on DEXs without any pre-sales or investors. Since then, we’ve expanded across Polygon, BNB Chain, Solana, and most recently Base. Each step has been about experimenting, adapting to new trends, and finding ways to grow with our players. This year, we’re doubling down on Base with Wreck League Versus, which is already trending on the app, and we’re also bringing over several titles from other chains.

Q: TOWER has roots in free-to-play gaming, but is also pioneering Web3 features. How do you strike the right balance between making games approachable for casual players while leveraging on-chain dynamics?

Jessica: Wreck League Versus is a good example. It began as a proof of concept. We wanted to see if players were excited about mech fighting, about owning mechs, and even about features like wagering on battles. From there, we built out the game, starting with core functionality first. Now we’re upgrading the UI and overall experience.

Our philosophy is to make the game approachable before anything else. Players don’t come because it’s a Web3 game, they come because it’s fun, social, and engaging. That’s why we minimize the friction of on-chain elements. Things like wallets and gas fees are hidden behind the scenes with embedded solutions, so players can jump in without worrying about transactions. Even when you send a mech into battle, the game uses an off-chain replica so it feels seamless, while still being tied to on-chain ownership. The game and user experience comes first, and then we integrate the web3 part into it seamlessly.

Q: You’ve now launched a couple different mini apps on Farcaster and Base. Congrats again! Which mini apps have you built? How do TOWER mini apps stand out amongst the growing crowd of new mini app experiences?

Jessica: My first mini app idea had been on my mind for a while, but I finally acted on it when I saw a 24-hour Base Quest challenge posted by the Base team. Even though I was in the middle of moving, I sat down and built the app in one stretch. I already had a game ready; it was mostly about integrating it properly with Farcaster and the Base app, making sure the share functions and manifests worked, and cross-checking everything against the SDK and docs. I submitted just before the deadline and didn’t expect much, so it was a big surprise when I got tagged the next day as one of the winners.

For TOWER, we launched 4 mini apps on Farcaster before Wreck League Versus. They are MysticMeow, CatAura, CatifyMe and PetMe. Building mini apps and integrating social mechanics to involve users has been fun. It’s given me hands-on knowledge building on Farcaster and Base. It’s been rewarding, and I’m excited to help more colleagues experiment and create their own projects on Base!

Q: After launching on Base and gaining active mini app users, what has player feedback been like? Any insights that surprised you or made the team rethink priorities?

Jessica: Alongside Wreck League Versus, we also launched a lighter mini app called PetMe. It’s a simple tap-based game where you pet cats or dogs, but you have to be careful because they might bite back.

Despite not being heavily promoted, PetMe consistently ranks in the top 20 games on the Base app, while Wreck League Versus often stays in the top three in the social category. The contrast between the two has been insightful because it shows how different styles of gameplay, casual or competitive, resonate with different audiences.

What’s surprised us is how much engagement comes from the social layer. For example, players prefer fueling a mech tied to a real user profile rather than a bot. That type of interaction has made us think about experimenting more with social mechanics in Wreck League Versus. Instead of outcomes being determined only by mech stats, we could explore ways for community support to influence results. These kinds of insights are shaping how we prioritize future updates and how we think about blending gameplay with social dynamics.

Q: Animoca Brands is known for driving digital property rights forward. How does that bigger mission tie into TOWER’s community-driven culture and games you’re building?

Jessica: I think the TOWER token itself already shows that. It’s on multiple chains, tied to different games, and people use it in all kinds of ways. Just in Wreck League Versus we’ve got over 11,000 players holding TOWER, and from earlier collaborations the number’s even higher. I’ve even used TOWER to tip on Noice, a tool allowing users to pair coins with social interactions, so this approach extends beyond our own games.

That’s really the essence of digital property rights. You actually own something, and because of that, it can flow into other projects and ecosystems. We’ve seen it happen recently during our 2-week collaboration with Inflynce, an onchain attention marketplace that rewards users for onchain activity. Players from Wreck League Versus got curious about Inflynce just because of the way TOWER connected the two. That’s the kind of network effect we want to keep building across all our games, apps, and partnerships.

Q: Looking ahead, what’s next for TOWER? Are there any games, events, or new mini apps in the works that players should anticipate?

Jessica: Oh yes, plenty. We’re bringing a new game over to Base, and I’m pretty confident it’ll get traction since we haven’t really seen anything like it on Base or Farcaster yet. It’s more engaging and different from PetMe or Wreck League Versus, so definitely stay tuned.

We’re also exploring new mini apps. Some may start as standalone experiments, and if they work, we could integrate them into existing titles like Wreck League Versus. It’s all about sharing learnings, creating cross-promo opportunities, and making sure mechanics can live across different apps. That said, we’re being mindful about timing so we don’t spread ourselves too thin.

On the events side, I’ll be at TOKEN2049, so if anyone’s interested in TOWER, Wreck League Versus, or even just building on Base and Farcaster, come say hi! Whether you’re a builder, a creator, or a supporter, there’s really a place for everyone in the TOWER ecosystem. We’ve already seen creators designing custom mechs and even recreating the TOWER logo from scratch, which has been amazing to watch.

Thanks so much for your time today, Jessica. It’s been great to hear the story of TOWER’s momentum and the vision driving it forward. We’re excited to see how TOWER continues to innovate, and we’ll be following along as you grow!

For more insights on TOWER, visit https://towerecosystem.com/.

Follow Jessica:

Farcaster: @jastra
Base: @jastra
X: @adJAstra 

Keep up with TOWER:

Farcaster: @towerecosystem
Base: @towerecosystem
X: @TowerToken
Website: https://towerecosystem.com/
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/towerfranchise

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