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Important
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In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a simple Meta Horizon Worlds game. The tutorial consists of two parts. Part 1 shows you how to place an asset in your newly created world from the Public Asset Library, manipulate the asset using the editor’s UI, preview your world, and play the world on a mobile device.
Part 2 takes a step further, where you’ll import custom models to your world and write your first script to create entity behavior. The tutorial ends with playing the simple game in virtual reality.
The key learning objectives of part 1 are the following:
Click Library and under Apps, navigate to the Meta Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor Early Access tile.
Hover over the desktop editor tile and then click Start.
On the Creation Home page, click New World.
Your new world opens in the desktop editor.
You can rename the new world anytime by navigating to the dropdown menu on the menu bar in the editor.
Note: Meta Horizon Worlds automatically saves your progress and it’s part of your online save flow.
Section 2: Place assets in the scene
In this section, you’ll learn how to place an asset from the Asset Library to your scene. The Scene pane is the large window located in the middle of the desktop editor screen. It displays the scene that you’re currently working on, letting you see what it looks like so far. When you add objects to a scene, this is where they appear.
Note: To learn more about the panels and tabs of the desktop editor, see Panels and tabs in the desktop editor. This tutorial uses the Hierarchy, Properties panels, and the Scene pane.
Select Asset Library > Public Assets. Search for “Unfinished Graveyard” in the search field.
Drag the asset into the scene. On the left, with the MyFirstWorld object selected in the Hierarchy panel, go to the Properties panel on the right and enter (0,0,0) for its position and rotation values.
Note: When an asset is dragged into the scene, it is linked to an asset template.
The Hierarchy panel shows you the list of objects in the current scene. You can use this panel to sort and group the objects as needed for selection or filtering. See Hierarchy panel overview for details.
The Properties panel displays the properties of the objects that are selected in the Hierarchy panel or in the Scene pane. See Properties panel for details.
Next, maneuver the camera to get a better view of the scene.
Note: A list of the keyboard shortcuts for navigating the scene when you’re in Build Mode can be found in the dropdown menu on the left of the menu bar.
Adjust the camera by using keyboard shortcuts to get a better view of the scene.
After you’ve maneuvered the camera to get a better view of the scene, you may see something like this:
Note: For more details on the desktop editor’s UI, see User interface.
Select the SpawnPoint gizmo in the Hierarchy on the left. This selects the player avatar and where the player appears in the scene. You can change it to a new position of your choice. The following steps shows you how.
Note: In Meta Horizon Worlds, a “spawnpoint” refers to a designated location within a virtual environment where players appear or “spawn” when they enter the world. These spawn points are important for managing player entry and movement within the game.
Focus the camera on the avatar by pressing the “F” key.
Move and rotate the SpawnPoint into an initial position to spawn. The “W” key activates the Move tool and the “E” key activates the Rotate tool. These tools can also be accessed through your viewport toolbar.
In the following image, the Move tool is activated. To change the position, click and drag the handles along the axis or go to the Properties panel on the right and enter its position.
In the following image, the Rotate tool is activated. To change the rotation, click and drag one of the rotation handles that appear around the object or go to the Properties panel on the right and enter its rotation.
Note: You can adjust the camera to get a better view of the scene.
Orbit the camera around the avatar by holding Alt + left mouse button, then clicking and dragging the mouse.
Pan the camera by clicking and dragging the mouse scroll wheel or the mouse’s middle-click.
Zoom-in and out by rolling the mouse scroll wheel.
If you prefer, you can press the right mouse button and use the “W”, “A”, “S”, and “D” keys and mouse movements to navigate, similar to the way you move in a first-person shooter game.
Use the Move and Rotate tools to adjust the player avatar’s starting position so that he or she faces the front of the tombstones.
Enter Preview by clicking on the Play icon. See User interface for more information on Build and Preview controls.
Exit the Preview mode by pressing Escape twice.
Section 3: Complete the graveyard
Select the back walls leading up to the gate. You can select multiple objects in the Hierarchy panel in the following ways:
Select an object, then hold the Ctrl key and click another object to add it to the selection. You may repeat this until all the desired objects are selected. You can also use this method to deselect individual objects.
Select an object, then hold the Shift key and click another object to select those objects and all objects in between them.
To preview your world on mobile, select Mobile as your preview device by going to Preview Configuration on the menu bar. In Preview actions, send a preview build link to your Meta Horizon app.
Note: If you don’t have the Meta Horizon mobile app installed, you can enjoy the published world in the browser on your desktop or share the web link to the world with friends. Preview actions have multiple options for you to enjoy the world on your preferred Preview device. See Preview device for more details.
Play it on mobile.
Open the Meta Horizon app on your mobile device, find the build link under Notifications to play in your world. For more related information, see Testing worlds on mobile.
Congratulations! You’ve completed creating your first world and shared it with your friends.
What’s next?
To learn more about Meta Horizon Worlds, try the following:
on the menu bar in the editor.
