Villager

Inspiration

We drew inspiration from popular tycoon-style games within various UGC communities. We also have a love of High Fantasy so we picked a theme that aligned with our interest and really leaned into it.

What it does

Our game is designed to retain players for extended periods by encouraging exploration through collectible items that players can sell for money while waiting for their generators to complete.

Generators become progressively more expensive, but players can also invest in upgrading generator storage. This feature benefits players who log off for the night, as they return to find more items awaiting them compared to those who don’t invest in storage.

“Shipments” allow users to spend their hard earned money to enhance their workshop. Each shipment comes with a randomized cosmetic that appears in their workshop. Each time they purchase a shipment, the price for the next shipment increases.

How we built it

We utilized our prior experience with UGC games and leveraged connections within different communities to develop a minimum viable product, which we then expanded upon.

To achieve a cohesive aesthetic, we incorporated Synty asset packs with UGC licensing.

Challenges we ran into

We encountered several challenges related to templates, particularly with screen-space widgets, interactability, and positioning.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are especially proud of the game's stunning world design. The environment came together beautifully, and we effectively utilized Horizon's AI capabilities to fill in any gaps.

What we learned

This project marked our first experience with Blender and external assets. We gained valuable knowledge about 3D graphics, which will not only enhance future Horizon World games but also serve as marketable skills in the field.

Even though we are currently unable to import animations, we were able to play with setting up rigs on our characters and positioning them in our scene. Some of them, we broke apart and imported separately so that we could animate them manually. We also learned a lot about textures, vertices, faces and optimization techniques.

What's next for 2025-03-11 Competition

Looking ahead, we plan to introduce additional features, such as expanding the number of generators, offering more customization options, implementing prestige levels and leaderboards, and hosting seasonal events with holiday-themed cosmetics.