Space Jumpers

Space Jumpers
Space Jumpers Screenshot 1
Space Jumpers Screenshot 2
Space Jumpers Screenshot 3
Space Jumpers Screenshot 4
Space Jumpers Screenshot 5

Inspiration

Our earliest memories of playing video games involves arcades, spaceships, and PEW PEW nonstop action. The exhilarating fun of moving rather and farther and shooting down more and more alien spaceships is fresh in our memories. We wanted to bring the excitement of classic space platformer to Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

What it does

Grab a jetpack! We are jumping into space! In Space Jumpers you jump from platform to platform and avoid the constant barrage of incoming alien spaceships. It is impossible to avoid collision but fortunately, there are power ups, and health restore opportunities to get you going. And there are bosses! Oh yes! You can’t just breeze past them so I hope you have a good aim. PEW PEW!

SO SOCIAL! It’s fun to fly with a jetpack in space. But it’s 10X the fun to do it with your friends! And working as a team has some special perks. For one, if you fight the dangerous bosses as a team, you are more likely to succeed. And some of the powerups are designed where they need 2 or more players to be activated. The game is inherently social.

How we built it

The game was built using Blender, Adobe Substance Painter, Procreate, Meta Horizon Desktop Editor, and 100% TypeScript code. Using TypeScript with the Camera API was a game-changer for this project. We were excited to take advantage of the Camera API to make the game feel more dynamic, following the player in true classic arcade game fashion.

Our team consists of:  Metacrafters (art, 3d modeling, texturing, game concept, concept for level design) voytek.lorenc (Typescript, sound design, character rigging and animation, game concept, concept for level design) RandomGamesUniverse (game concept, concept for level design, testing)

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest hurdles was pulling off a 2D aesthetic using Horizon’s primarily 3D environment. Not exactly a walk in the park! It also took some trial and error to find the right balance—keeping the action constant without it becoming so chaotic that it’s impossible to play.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

At first, we honestly weren’t sure if building a 2D platformer in Horizon was even doable. But after a lot of experimenting and learning, we pulled it off - and we’re super proud of how it turned out!

What we learned

Diving into the TypeScript Camera API was totally worth it. It played a huge role in helping us nail that 2D feel. Now that we’ve got it under our belts, we’re hyped to explore even more Mobile/VR experiences in Horizon Worlds.

What's next for Space Jumpers

We’ve got big plans! First up: testing different difficulty levels to find that perfect balance of challenge and fun—to boost playtime and keep folks coming back. We’re also looking at adding new characters and kicking off speed-running tournaments to keep the action fresh and exciting.