Shoot the Dead

Increase your Speed to avoid Enemies!
Upgrade your Player and Weapon!
Don't get Hit!
Check out the Post Apocalyptic World!
Watch out for Zombies!
Get a High-Score!!

Inspiration

We got inspired by traditional wave shooters, we wanted to create something fresh for Meta Horizon that feels fast, responsive, and instantly fun. We also wanted to play with the idea to push a camera angle not yet seen in Horizon Worlds, a unique top-down view that gives players a new perspective and more control. From there, the focus became pacing: short 30-second waves that players can jump into and enjoy right away.

What it does

Shoot the Dead gives horizon players an experience to fight through timed waves of mutated zombies using their avatar in a post-nuclear wasteland. After each wave, they can upgrade movement speed or weapon fire rate to stay alive as enemies grow faster and tougher. We did a custom top-down style camera keeps to keep the action readable and the experience unique, and creating a fast arcade feel that we enjoy! We disabled some of the players controls like jump and sprint so the focus is on upgrading movement speed or your weapon!

How we built it

We worked as a team virtually using Meta Horizon Worlds, combining Meta-created and AI-generated assets for props, textures, and sound. It was great to be able to work collaboratively in the project and save backups as we progressed. The Meta AI Programming Assistant was used throughout development to refine scripting, balance wave logic, and speed up scene creation via asset generation. A key focus was optimising which assets run locally versus on the server to keep performance consistent during high demand moments with a lot of zombies and movement.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was balancing performance to keep responsive player movement and managing multiple zombie instances without dropping frames.

Keeping up with the scope within the short timeframe of the comp, there were a lot of features which we could not develop by the deadline that we would loved to have included!

Accomplishments we’re proud of

Creating a playable top-down shooter that feels smooth, balanced, and fun from the first wave. It’s really cool to play it on mobile and see what we have made in such a short time be so alive!

Share a screenshot of your high score with us on Facebook, Instagram or Threads! #Shootthedead