Brainrot Tycoon DEVPOST [HALLOWEEN]

Inspiration

Brainrot Tycoon was inspired by the rise of collector-style and tycoon games like Cookie Clicker, Pet Simulator X, and Adventure Capitalist—games that turn simple loops into deeply satisfying growth systems. Our goal was to fuse that addictive progression with meme-era humor and fast-paced social play.

What it does

Brainrot Tycoon is a fast, grab-and-grow tycoon with light PvP. A portal existing in the map that periodically spits out Brainrots. The objective is to grab one, carry it to your base, and deposit it on a pad. Each Brainrot has a rarity that sets its passive cash rate. You claim earnings and reinvest: buy more/rarer Brainrots or pick up gear (Speed Coil, Gravity Coil, Bat) to move faster, jump higher, defend your base, and raid other players' bases.

You can take Brainrots from other players’ bases by grabbing them off their pads and escaping back to your base. Brainrots that you take from other players only count once you deposit them at your own base, creating risky, high-energy chase moments and real counterplay with defense gear.

As you progress, you can Level Up. Leveling resets current holdings but grants permanent upgrades such as a higher offline-earnings cap, a global cash boost to all your future earnings, and extra base slots to place more Brainrots. The loop is simple and sticky: portal → grab/raid → deposit → claim → upgrade → level up → repeat. The best part is that all your progress saves between sessions!

How we built it

Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor, VS Code, Canva, Typescript, ChatGPT

Challenges we ran into

Saving and restoring brainrots was one of the hardest parts. We needed to persist rarity, cost, cash earn rate, name, and which base and pad each one lived on. We designed a JSON schema to hold all of that information. Meta Horizon's persistence variable API made this possible.

Balancing the economy was next. Each rarity needed to feel valuable without breaking the game. We tuned earn rates and costs, watched time to first purchase and time to next upgrade, and set floors and caps so brainrots never earn too little or too much.

Level up rewards were also tricky. A reset can feel bad if the payoff is weak. We iterated until the trade felt worth it. The offline cap goes up, a global cash boost speeds future runs, and extra base slots make growth feel faster after you level up.

Designing for both VR and mobile was another challenge. Selling was easy on mobile because the trigger gizmo highlights items and you can tap to interact. In VR there is no highlight, and we first required players to collide with the item, which caused accidental sells. We switched to a physical sell station in each base. You grab a brainrot and stand in the sell zone for five seconds. It is clear, intentional, and works well on both platforms.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a world that feels right on both VR and mobile. The core loop drops players into the action in seconds, which is great for retention. Performance is smooth across devices, so movement, grabbing, and deposits feel responsive whether you are on a headset or a phone.

What we learned

We learned how to leverage AI to speed up iteration times, how to design a balanced player economy, and how to design gameplay experiences that are fun and engaging, while also balancing runtime performance.

What's next for Brainrot Tycoon

Next for Brainrot Tycoon are live events that motivate people to work together instead of taking brainrots from each other, so everyone can earn cash rewards and unlock a limited event that spawns rarer brainrots for a short time.