Connect@Connect - MHCP Competition Submission

Inspiration

During a Zoom call about Meta Connect, someone posed the question: "Will I be able to connect with everyone at Connect?" The response was something along the lines of "Let's see you try" - and that playful challenge sparked the entire concept for this world. I thought, why not actually build a space where people can literally try to connect with everyone? The idea of turning that casual conference conversation into an interactive experience felt like the perfect way to capture the spirit of connection that these events are all about. It seemed like a fun way to gamify networking and human interaction in the virtual space.

What it does

Connect@Connect is a remixable template system that creates persistent player connections within Meta Horizon worlds. The core mechanic revolves around two players simultaneously pressing buttons to establish a "connection" between them. Once connected, this relationship is tracked and stored persistently throughout the world experience.

The system features a comprehensive leaderboard that ranks players by their total number of connections, creating a friendly competitive element around social interaction. Additionally, each player can view their personal connection history - a list of everyone they've successfully connected with during their time in the world. This creates both individual achievement tracking and community-wide social dynamics.

The template is designed to be easily adaptable for other creators who want to implement similar social mechanics in their own worlds, whether for networking events, social gatherings, team building, or any scenario where tracking player relationships adds value to the experience.

How we built it

The entire system was developed using TypeScript within the Meta Horizon desktop editor. I wrote the majority of the code myself, leveraging Meta AI as a coding assistant to help troubleshoot specific technical challenges and optimize certain functions. The development process involved creating persistent data storage for player connections, implementing the button interaction system, designing the leaderboard functionality, and ensuring the connection tracking worked reliably across multiple player sessions.

The architecture focuses on modularity and reusability, making it straightforward for other creators to implement and customize for their specific needs. All the core systems are built using publicly available Meta Horizon tools and follow the platform's best practices for multiplayer interaction and data persistence.

Challenges we ran into

The development process wasn't without its hurdles. There are still some persistent bugs in the system that I'm working to resolve - the button interactions don't always register on the first press, requiring players to sometimes hit the buttons multiple times before a connection is established. This creates some friction in what should be a smooth, instant interaction.

The world's visual design is currently quite basic and frankly looks pretty rough around the edges. While the functionality works, the aesthetic presentation needs significant improvement to create a more engaging and polished user experience. Balancing the technical implementation with creating an appealing visual environment proved more time-consuming than anticipated.

Additionally, ensuring reliable data persistence across different player sessions and handling edge cases where players might disconnect mid-interaction presented some technical complexities that required multiple iterations to get right.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The most significant achievement was getting this entire system functional and working within a single evening of development. Going from concept to a working prototype with persistent data, multiplayer interactions, and leaderboard functionality in such a short timeframe felt like a major accomplishment. Despite the bugs and rough edges, the core mechanics work as intended and demonstrate the potential of the concept.

Successfully implementing the persistent connection tracking system was particularly satisfying, as it required solving several technical challenges around data storage and player identification. Getting the real-time leaderboard updates working smoothly across multiple players was another technical milestone I'm proud of achieving.

What we learned

The biggest lesson learned was definitely the importance of starting development earlier in the competition timeline. Trying to build a complete system in one evening, while exciting and adrenaline-fueled, didn't leave adequate time for proper testing, debugging, and visual polish. The technical functionality came together well, but the user experience and presentation suffered due to the time constraints.

I also learned a lot about the nuances of multiplayer interaction design in Meta Horizon - understanding how to make button presses feel responsive and reliable, how to handle simultaneous player actions, and how to design systems that feel intuitive even when the underlying technical implementation is complex.

Working with TypeScript in the Meta Horizon environment taught me valuable lessons about the platform's capabilities and limitations, particularly around data persistence and multiplayer synchronization.

What's next for Connect@Connect

The immediate next step is taking this world to Meta Connect and actually testing it with real people in the networking environment it was designed for. I'm excited to see how the concept performs with actual conference attendees trying to connect with each other - it'll be the ultimate test of whether the original inspiration translates into a fun, engaging experience.

Beyond that initial real-world testing, I plan to iterate based on user feedback, fix the existing bugs with button responsiveness, and significantly improve the visual design to make the world more attractive and engaging. I'd also like to add additional features like connection challenges, team-based connection goals, or integration with other social mechanics that could enhance the networking experience.

The template nature of this system means other creators could adapt it for different contexts - wedding receptions, corporate team building, online community events, or any scenario where tracking social connections adds value. Making the system even more modular and customizable for other creators is a key priority for future development.

Built With

• copilot
• desktop
• editor
• vscode