Inspiration
Inspired by match-3 classics like Candy Crush Saga and word favorites like Boggle, Swap Drop Words combines fast-paced puzzle action with the satisfaction of word creation. To achieve a welcoming space for quick sessions, the game is set in a cozy wizard’s library filled with ancient tomes, flickering candles, and floating magical letters. Players swap letters on a 5x5 grid to form 2–5 letter words horizontally or vertically, then swipe to clear them and rack up points within 90-second rounds. Quests, Powerups, and leaderboards encourage players to experiment with new strategies, push for higher scores, and share their results with friends.
How we built it
The game is built using Meta’s focused interaction, local scripting, GenAI audio generation, public vfx assets, sprite animations, quests and leaderboard systems. Leveraging our experience from a previous Horizon project aided the rapid delivery.
Challenges we ran into
The primary challenge was achieving a polished and performant casual game in Horizon Worlds under a tight production window of just a few weeks, while balancing accessibility, performance, and visual charm.
What we learned
-Workflow for VFX that can be generated using publicly available tools/assets
-Workflow to leverage Meta’s GenAI tools for SFX
-Refined our UI and UX pipeline, enabling faster iteration between design and scripting
-Improved cross-disciplinary collaboration within the Horizon Worlds editor compared to the previous Horizon project
What's next for Swap Drop Words
Future plans include daily and weekly challenges, new power-ups, refined FTUE, and cosmetic rewards such as themed board skins and alternate NPC hosts and wearables. Seasonal content drops will infuse novelty and foster community engagement.
Built With
- horizon-worlds-editor
- typescript
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