Beyond The Ridge

The platforms as seen from the editor
Spooky Seamine
The main section of the submarine
The ocean views
Boom!
The main section of the submarine

Note: Due an unknown issue some assets used in the trigger platforms aren't rendered at all in the Mobile and Web versions (They are rendered when simulating Mobile or Web in the editor tho!). Despite our best efforts we weren't able to fix that issue. There's a screenshot of how its intended to look like in the pictures section.

Inspiration

What inspired us the most was the idea of creating a cooperative experience where using voice commands is essential to score points.

After teasing many gaming communities around us, we realized that what keeps some worlds and games alive is the fact that they are places where users can cooperate to achieve a goal—forcing them to socialize and creating lasting memories together.

What it does

Beyond the Ridge is a simplified submarine simulation designed to be easy to pick up but requiring a certain level of communication between players to operate successfully.

This world places you (and your friends!) inside a submarine in a deep-sea environment. You must avoid sea mines at all costs while trying to score as high as possible by traveling further and collecting points in the ocean.

The sea environment is technically endless and randomly generated in an optimized way to ensure world resources are used as effectively as possible. As you progress, the sea mines gradually increase in size, making the challenge tougher over time.

The game has no time limit, allowing players to set their own pace. This gives them the freedom to discuss and coordinate the best ways to maneuver the ship as a team.

Since this submission is aimed at Mobile + Web, we didn’t want to overwhelm players with (sometimes) unnecessary control mechanics. We envisioned this experience as a group of friends shouting and running around, just having fun while trying to control the ship. To accomplish this, the controls are intentionally simple: just step on the designated platform for each input type (going up, down, accelerating, etc.).

How we built it

We built it using only the default tools: Meta Horizons Editor and Visual Studio for coding. We made a point to understand and take advantage of all the limitations and features that Meta Horizon Worlds offers, striving to create a unique experience within those constraints.

The physics system and the random environment features were entirely custom-built from scratch, tailored specifically for Meta Horizon Worlds.

Challenges we ran into

We’d say our biggest challenge was time; real-life activities (Such as college and work...) have been tough on us over the past few months. Despite that, we managed to create an experience we’re genuinely satisfied with.

Our second-biggest challenge was definitely adapting to a new environment. We have extensive experience developing for Crayta and creating experiences for VRChat using Udon code. The fact that Meta Horizon Worlds relies on TypeScript was both a challenge and an adventure for us as we worked to get our code running in a way that felt safe and familiar.

We sincerely hoped we had more time to dedicate to this project!

Accomplishments we're proud of

We are really proud of the submarine's effects. It features a whole set of functions designed to make players feel fully immersed in the experience. Transmitting a sense of movement to the player was a huge achievement for us.

In fact, from a technical viewpoint, the submarine is always static at a fixed point—it’s the environment that moves around it. This design was intentional to work around Skydome effect limitations and other constraints (like rotating many assets at once). This, in turn, created the challenge of making players believe the submarine is actually moving! To solve this, we implemented a fully dynamic code system that makes the submarine react to player actions as they drive it.

This was also a critical goal for us, knowing that these features would play an important role if we enhance this world for VR.

What we learned

We learned a huge number of techniques that we can apply to future projects, including many optimization tricks and useful quirks of the Meta Horizon Worlds system.

Also we made of the development experience a funny and positive learning one!

What's next for Beyond The Ridge

Although this submission is aimed at Mobile + Web, we’d love to take this world to the next level and make it VR-ready. Adding things like levers, valves, and buttons that require physical player gestures, refining the interior design, and including more quests and challenges in the random oceanic environment would definitely elevate the experience.

Just imagine: driving a semi-realistic submarine with your friends, doing quick minigames to achieve repairs or actions, navigating the corridors, and feeling the submarine's movements in VR. That would be an incredible experience! So, as we said, we genuinely aim to convert this game into a full VR experience in the near future!

Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean we’re ending mobile support; we’re just branching it out and making it as accessible and engaging as possible.

Side Note

Despite this submission being intended only for mobile, we dared to test our game in VR! And we have to say, the experience is awesome and incredibly immersive. Just out of curiosity:

VR Test YouTube Video