Swipe Beasts was built as a mobile-style beast battler for Meta Horizon Worlds, a platform primarily known for VR experiences. I was the primary developer on the project, responsible for building the gameplay systems and turning a deliberately simple interaction model into a playable world.
The core combat idea was deliberately direct. Each beast had two card options, and the player could swipe left or right to choose between them. During combat, the player could also use an item or swap beasts, keeping the game readable while still giving battles some tactical texture.
Challenge
The biggest design and technical challenge was making a mobile-first interaction pattern work inside Horizon Worlds. The platform was not really built for the style of simple swipe-driven inputs and 2D combat presentation the project needed.
On top of that, the implementation was written in TypeScript, and I came into the project without prior experience in either Horizon Worlds development or TypeScript. The timeline was tight, with the project needing to come together in roughly five to six months.
Approach
I focused on learning the system quickly, then turning the interaction constraints into a small, readable battle loop. The goal was not to make the most complex beast battler possible, but to make each decision understandable: choose a path, meet a biome-specific opponent, read your beast's options, and make a quick strategic choice.
The work involved building confidence in an unfamiliar stack while developing gameplay systems that had to feel simple on the surface. Party management, items, beast swapping, health, level progression, and encounter flow all needed to support the swipe-first combat idea rather than fight against it.
Outcome
Swipe Beasts became a strong example of rapid technical adaptation under production pressure. I was brought onto the project because another developer trusted that I could figure out difficult, unfamiliar systems quickly, and the project proved that out.
The result was a playable beast battler world with biome encounters, turn-based combat, simple inputs, party/item decisions, and a progression loop, built in a constrained environment that was not naturally designed for that kind of game. The project was accepted by Meta and still exists in Horizon Worlds as a playable world.
Breakdown
The shipped experience was built around a compact loop: path selection, biome encounter, turn-based combat, reward, and progression. Each screenshot below shows one part of that loop, from the battle presentation through to the systems that supported longer play sessions.
