In this tutorial, you create a simple platformer-style game where players run and jump through a world as they collect gems.

This tutorial covers a reusable and flexible co-op game setup, in which all players work together to collect gems. This tutorial walks through the basics of using the Meta Horizon Worlds desktop editor application to build the world and the TypeScript required to power a game that works in VR and on 2D desktop screens.

Game development areas include:

If you haven’t done so already, please review the Getting Started section for tutorials, which includes information on:

See Getting Started with Tutorials.

You can follow along the steps of the tutorial content in a copy of the world of your own. After you have copied the world, you can compare the steps of the tutorial to the completed world.

Desktop editor: To create a copy of this tutorial on a tutorial world from the desktop editor, click Tutorials in Creation Home and then select Intro to Desktop Editor and TypeScript. For more information, see Access Tutorial Worlds.

VR headset: To build the world described in this tutorial, make your own copy of the Intro to Desktop Editor & Typescript tutorial world, by selecting it from the Tutorials tab in the Create menu. See below.

If preferred, you can jump into the completed world and review the script and systems that are covered in the tutorial. The finished TypeScript files from this tutorial are included in the project with filenames that end with: _COMPLETE.

Grab stuff from this world and use it in your own project! For more information on how to apply assets or scripts from this world to yours, see Use Assets from Tutorials.

To begin, open your copy of the tutorial world in the desktop editor.

In the above and when you first open the world in the desktop editor, the world is in Build mode, which is indicated by the deselected Play button in the toolbar:

In Build mode, you add, edit, and remove the entities that compose your world.

Preview mode:

To explore the world and playtest it, click the Play button, which opens Preview mode. When you are testing your TypeScript, you must press the Play button to start the simulation, which activates and executes your TypeScript scripts. Press the Stop button to stop the simulation.

By default, when you press the Play button, you enter Preview mode and start the world simulation, which means that all valid scripts in the world are executed. So, you can choose to launch Preview mode as if you were entering it like a player or, if needed, to disable the world simulation so that you can explore it without any scripted activity to interrupt.

In the toolbar, next to the mode controls, you can see the simulation playback controls. The Reset button restarts the simulation as if the world was launched from the beginning.

Note that exploring the world in Preview mode is not the same thing as playing the game experience. It should be used for debugging during development, but you should always test your worlds on all applicable target devices prior to publication.

Preview controls:

Note: You can also explore the world in VR mode from the desktop and through the VR headset itself.

In the desktop editor, you can see that a course for your game is provided. You are welcome to change the course to anything you like. This tutorial leaves the course layout as it is.

Let’s get started with the tutorial. You should see a single green gem on the course. Create four duplicates of the green gem asset provided in the template.

These gems all have the exact same position and rotation as the source gems. In fact, you cannot tell in the main panel that there are five gems!

So, you should move them around the course. Select each gem in the Hierarchy panel, and use the Move tool, shown below, to reposition it. Gems should be placed about chest high on an avatar, so that players can easily run into them. You can also edit the Position properties in the right-hand panel for more precise positioning.

Example course:

Make sure to drop into Preview mode to check out your course.

Done with Module 1! In this module, you:

In the next module, you start building scripts in TypeScript.