Domino: The Fall!

Inspiration

Domino: The Fall! was inspired by the simple, universal joy of building and toppling massive domino setups, combined with the playful chaos of being a small character in a giant room. We wanted to capture the anticipation leading up to a spectacular event, giving the player complete freedom to explore, prepare, or even mess with the setup before the audience (Dylan and his friends) arrives.

What it does

The world immerses the player in Dylan's bedroom, a massive playground filled with meticulously planned domino tracks. The core experience is open-ended exploration with a clear goal: ensure all tracks are standing and ready for the main event. Players can fly around, interact with the environment, and search for 10 hidden Gold Dominos.

How we built it

The project was built around player agency and control.

Free-Flying Exploration: Allowing players to 'fly' to reach every corner of the vast room.
Track Management Buttons: Creating a robust system where interactive buttons can instantly Rebuild (set upright) or Demolish specific zones, giving the player instant control over the setup's readiness.
Status Panel: A crucial UI element tracks the status of all zones, showing the exact count of standing vs. fallen dominos, directly linking player actions to the preparation goal.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was the tight timeline: this project marks my first experience developing for the Meta platform, having started just 15 days ago. Furthermore, development was hampered by significant hardware issues, including the computer shutting down unexpectedly multiple times during work. Despite these technical setbacks, our passion for the project and dedication to learning allowed us to deliver a stable product.

Accomplishments we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of the clean implementation of the Track Management Buttons and the visual feedback provided by the Status Panel. Achieving stable physics for thousands of dominos and delivering a polished, immersive world in just 15 days of first-time platform development, while overcoming major technical hurdles, is a massive achievement that the final product demonstrates.

What we learned

We learned the importance of scoping and optimization when developing for the platform. Specifically, we gained deep experience managing physics interactions at scale and rapidly prototyping custom UI and interaction systems (mainly the progress bars I developed). The process also reinforced my commitment to continue developing for Meta Horizon, regardless of the obstacles.

What's next for Domino: The Fall!

Originally, we planned to include an NPC (Dylan), complex Quests, Leaderboards, and a dedicated area for players to build their own setups and play the actual domino game with friends or a bot. Our goal with this contest is to gather resources to invest in stable hardware and tools that will allow us to continue development consistently. Our next steps are to integrate the planned features, expand the world, and further innovate the immersive gameplay.