Karin and her team are building Imagine Island, a spiritual successor to Club Penguin. For many of us, Club Penguin brings back memories of waddling around snowy towns after school and chatting with friends. Imagine Island is more than nostalgia. It is a modern take on kid-first game design, created specifically for six- to thirteen-year-olds. It is not a watered-down version of a teen game. It is an entirely new foundation built with young players in mind.

As Karin put it, “We want a space that we would feel good putting our own kids in.” That hit home. There is a big difference between kid-friendly and kid-first. Most games claim to be appropriate for children simply because they turn off chat or avoid mature themes. Karin’s team flipped that script. They are building from the ground up with content, systems, parental trust, and community design at the core.

Compliance Is a Design Decision

Kieran created k-ID after years of helping studios retrofit compliance after their games launched. That approach is often expensive, messy, and reactive. Karin took a different route. Within her first week at Magic Potion, she was already wireframing the account creation flow with compliance as a core element. She sent mockups to the ESRB long before code was written. Their reaction was one of surprise. “No one has ever done this.”

By baking in compliance from day one and partnering with k-ID, Karin’s team avoided the all-too-common scramble to fix systems after launch. Regulations are constantly evolving, and they differ dramatically across regions. For example, Indonesia recently introduced laws requiring online platforms to segment experiences into two- to three-year age bands, all the way up to eighteen. In Korea, monetization laws are tied to revenue thresholds, and agencies scrape thousands of games each year to enforce compliance. These are not corner cases. They are the new normal.

When teams start early and stay close to regulatory partners, they do not just avoid fines and PR issues. They build stronger, safer foundations that scale globally. Kieran described this as a philosophical shift. Developers are no longer seeing compliance as a check-the-box exercise. They are seeing it as part of their creative responsibility.

Designing With Kids, Not Just For Them

One of the most impactful parts of the conversation was hearing how Magic Potion involved kids from the very beginning. Before they even had a playable version of Imagine Island, they were running Zoom calls with small groups of children. They asked questions like, “What games do you play? What do you wish you could do in games? What frustrates you?” Once playtests were possible, the team would sit back and watch how kids explored, where they got stuck, and what made them laugh.

Sometimes the biggest insights came from unexpected places. In one test, the kids discovered an unfinished development room filled with placeholder assets. They turned it into a parkour course and became obsessed with a random garbage can. The designers were shocked. This barebones space was not even meant to be seen, but the kids treated it like a hidden treasure. It reminded everyone that real fun is not always in the scripted moments. It is often in the freedom to explore.

Karin also emphasized that they do not want to pander to kids. They are not talking down to them or overexplaining every feature. Instead, they focus on enabling self-directed play and peer learning. A six-year-old and a thirteen-year-old need different things, but they can still exist in the same world if it is designed with intention and care.

When Compliance Helps You Grow

One of the most surprising themes was how proper compliance planning can actually drive growth and engagement. Kieran shared how integrating k-ID has helped games reach younger audiences that are often ignored. Once safety measures are in place, studios can confidently serve players under thirteen or under sixteen, opening up a massive part of the market.

It also builds trust with parents. When parents know their kids are safe, they are more willing to allow in-game purchases. They are also far less likely to request chargebacks. That kind of transparency benefits everyone. Kieran also mentioned how their infrastructure is now linked across multiple platforms, which has created an unexpected bonus — discoverability. As kids and parents talk about these systems and share videos, awareness spreads organically. In fact, they recently saw a spike of over nine thousand percent in web traffic in a single day tied to this ripple effect.

So instead of seeing trust and safety tools as a cost, more studios are starting to see them as levers for monetization, retention, and community engagement. When kids feel safe and heard, they stay. When parents feel informed, they support.

What Legacy Looks Like

Magic Potion is preparing to launch Imagine Island on web-based platforms like Poki and Crazy Games. This decision comes down to accessibility. Many kids cannot install games on their devices or do not have permission to make downloads. A lightweight browser experience means more kids can click and play without friction.

Both Karin and Kieran made it clear that building games for kids is not about chasing trends. It is about designing for impact. Today’s developers are often young parents themselves. They know what it means to grow up online. And they want to create something they would actually let their own children play. That is what makes this new wave of kid-first games feel so meaningful.

Karin wrapped up our conversation with a line that says it all. “If we can give today’s kids what Club Penguin gave to ours — something magical, safe, and full of memories — that is legacy-level stuff.”

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