Skyfruit Express

Trade fruit between floating islands using your trusty hot air balloon,

unlock new balloon styles, and become the ultimate sky merchant!

Name of the world	Skyfruit Express
Meta Horizon Worlds username of world owner	@Dw320
Meta Horizon Worlds usernames of teammate	@twinintwinkle
Genre	Roleplay / Simulation
Recommended number of players	3-10 players

🎮 How To Play 🎮

Explore vibrant floating islands

Each island grows its own special fruit! Like Orange Island, where you can buy oranges and complete missions from the village head for extra rewards.
Fly your hot air balloon across the skies

Visit distant places like Apple Island, where certain fruits are rare and sell for higher prices. Smart trading is key!
Master the fruit market

Plan your routes, watch price trends, and ride the wind to earn big profits through clever trading.
Customize your balloon

Use your hard-earned money to unlock stylish new balloon styles and make your journey truly your own.
Steal or help from others deliver their cargo

Decide on whether to make friends or enemies as you venture out on the islands. Throw fruits at others to make them drop their cargo!

💡 Inspiration 💡

We were inspired by Mark Rober’s YouTube video “Testing What Happens If You Jump On A Moving Train”, where he explains how hot air balloons work. That got us thinking...What if we turned that mechanic into a game?

🚩 How We Built It 🚩

We are a two people team consisting of a game programmer and a 3D artist.

Douglas Wong (Game Programmer) : Implemented the entire gameplay system using Meta Horizon Worlds’ desktop editor in combination with Visual Studio Code.

Tiphanie Chong (3D Artist) : Created 3D assets using Houdini and Substance Painter, then imported them into Meta Horizon Worlds and combined with public assets available in the Meta Horizon Worlds desktop editor to build the entire environmental setting.

🚨 Challenges 🚨

This was our first time using the Meta Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor, and we definitely hit a few bumps along the way, but each one taught us something new.

Issues	How we overcome
The editor froze or crashed often (maybe our computer?)	Honestly… we just kept restarting the editor 😂
Models with multiple materials and UDIM textures didn’t import correctly.	Reorganize materials and textures to ensure they mapped correctly
When a model was parented to another scripted object, it received shadows and light reflections improperly.	Revised the parenting setup and cleaned up the asset hierarchy to restore proper lighting behavior.

There were more challenges for sure, but these ones stood out the most, and we learned a lot from them!

🎉 Accomplishments 🎉

Ridable Hot Air Balloon

Created a ridable hot air balloon feature that enabled players to explore the open world from the sky, adding verticality and enhancing the sense of adventure in gameplay.

Dynamic Economy System

Designed and implemented a dynamic economy system that updated item prices daily, incentivizing players to return regularly and increasing daily engagement by promoting strategic trading.

Wind System for Gameplay

Integrated a real-time wind system into the game world, introducing dynamic elements that affected balloon navigation and island access, enhancing immersion and gameplay variety.

Island Generation System

Developed a modular island generation system that allowed for easy addition of unique islands, significantly improving scalability and enabling designers to expand content rapidly without code changes.

🤩 What's next for Skyfruit Express 🤩

We had big plans when we started this project 😅

But due to time constraints, we had to scale back and cut several features from the game. In the future, we’d love to bring these ideas to life if we have more time and resources:

Village Backstories and a Full Quest System
We have implemented a basic quest system, but we didn’t have enough time to fully develop it. Our original vision was to create a rich open-world narrative, allowing players to uncover the unique stories of each village.

Completing quests would reward players and deepen the world-building experience.
More Fruity Islands!
Right now, the game features two core islands - Orange Village and Apple Village and two mini islands - Banana island and Berry island. We hope to add more islands, each with its own look, resources, and character, giving players more to explore and trade.
More Customizable Hot Air Balloons
Who doesn’t love a stylish hot air balloon? We’d like to give players more customization options to personalize their balloons.
Unique Island's Minigames
We envisioned each village to have their own minigames allowing players to gather at each island and participate in the social event. Player would then compete with one another to win rewards.
Photo Corner
With each islands showcasing their unique styles, we want players to have the chance to share their photos on the media board.

We hope you enjoy our game!

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment below. We’d love to hear your thoughts and use them to make the game even better in the future.🧡