Portalz: Into the Metaverse

Jungle Jumble
Crystal Caverns
Breezy Bridges
Volcano Valley
Portal Room North
Portal Room South
Loading Screen Minigame

Inspiration

The inspiration for Portalz comes from the fast paced and action packed platformers born from the fifth generation of video game consoles. Games like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Crash Bandicoot inspire many of the gameplay elements found in Portalz. One moment you are dodging arrows and dispatching enemies in over the shoulder follow perspective, and the next moment you are jumping across huge gaps and hunting collectibles high and low in a side scroll section. Smash crates, collect pineapples and gems, and complete the time attack to earn all 3 stars for each level!

How we built it

In order to support a total of 20 different unique levels, we made use of the World Streaming in the Desktop Editor. By dynamically spawning in each sublevel in at the player's request and back out upon level completion, every level and world has it's own unique personality and platforming experience, and it allowed us to jam pack a ton of content into the game. We also made use of the Camera API for seamless switching between follow camera, side scrolling camera, as well as custom rigged cutscenes. We made use of Custom UI in two different cases. The first is a simple mute/unmute button on-screen to control global BGM/SFX volume with a quick tap, and the other is a minigame loading screen that allows the player to tap to smash crates for a chance at extra lives while the sublevel loads in.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges after getting acquainted with the World Streaming system was coming up with a fun and rewarding way to stay occupied while the level loads in. We came up with the minigame loading screen idea to give the player a chance to farm a few extra lives before the level begins and it turned out to not only overcome the challenge but introduced an awesome minigame loop into the game at the same time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Having 20 unique 3D levels with tons of obstacles, enemies, collectibles, and intense platforming all throughout each one is something we are very proud of.

What we learned

We learned a ton about making use of various TypeScript APIs in the Desktop Editor including World Streaming, Camera, and Custom UI. On the 3D modelling and scene building side, the team learned tons about optimizing models and textures for mobile, and how to leverage the power of the new Meta Gen AI tools in the Desktop Editor.

What's next for Portalz: Into the Metaverse

We plan to add new obstacles and fully rigged enemies, and another biome with 5 new levels.

Built With

Submitted to

Meta Horizon Creator Competition: Mobile Genre Showdown
- Winner Second Place Obby / Platformer World

Created by

*Technical & Creative Lead*
I led both the technical development and creative direction of Portalz.
Using TypeScript I built and implemented the core game systems by leveraging the Core, Camera, UI, Unity Asset Bundles, and World Streaming APIs. I designed all 2D elements including HUD, how-to-play, results, and loading screens. I worked side by side with Dean on skybox design, enemy models, and sound design.

Austin Egge
XR Game Dev / Mobile Game Dev / Game Design / Project Management
I worked on the main layout and design of all the levels and biomes! Working closely with Josh to design levels that were stylized yet realistic with a cartoon like feel. Using Meta Ai Gen , Blender and desktop editor we were able to mix a nice feel to the scene with texturing that reflected the old school games we grew up with .

Aaron Heyman
Hello my name is Aaron I've been a 3d creator here at Horizon Worlds since beta. Looking forward to the growth weve been building for!
On this project my main focus was on modeling of the environment and texture design. I leaned heavily on Blender and Adobe Substance Painter to achieve the look and feel we were going for.

Josh Kaplan
Dean Venture