Get out your flight gear and discover the secrets hidden in this mysterious floating island.

Theory Studios is excited to announce the release of AIRBORNE EXPLORERS, a brand-new flying adventure for the Horizon Worlds VR platform (https://www.oculus.com/vr/5209287072499414/).

Chosen out of a select group of metaverse developers, Theory Studios and Meta (formerly Facebook) collaborated on a new comfortable flying system for virtual reality.

"Flying movement is one of the biggest challenges in VR, and we spent weeks refining the code through numerous playtests," remarked Jason Strong, lead developer on the AIRBORNE EXPLORERS project for Theory.

Jason went on to reflect, "What started out as an early prototype quickly ballooned into hundreds of lines of code and numerous playthroughs to get the right balance of movement, magic, and comfort."

Announced at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Builder Track with Horizon Worlds is a program that allows game developers and Meta experts to build and unleash their imaginations in the metaverse.

Theory Studios was selected out of a group of applicants to participate and turn around a full Horizon World in under two months.

The experience, AIRBORNE EXPLORERS, takes place in a fantasy land floating high above the clouds. The world is cold, having been devastated by a strange power. Players are encouraged to explore the world and discover its secrets. Soon, the mystery starts to unravel, with a grand finale that is sure to surprise and delight all explorers!

As the Horizon Worlds platform encourages shared virtual reality experiences, Theory Studios decided to focus on game mechanics that allow players to explore and work together. Hidden puzzle pieces, achievements, and narrative are scattered around the island waiting to be discovered.

AIRBORNE EXPLORERS is rated E for everyone, though some might consider it an intense experience due to the flying mechanic. To alleviate this, there are numerous Comfort Assistance options available in the menu to reduce motion sickness. AIRBORNE EXPLORERS is a free experience, about twenty minutes in length to complete. Theory Studios was responsible for all concept, design, and coding.

WORKING WITH META

One of the benefits of working through Builder Track with Horizon Worlds was the ability to work with experts at Meta and share immediate feedback with their team. Horizon Worlds is Meta's flagship metaverse/virtual reality experience that invites both developers and players to share in a creative experience.

"Working with Meta was incredible. They were interested in weekly feedback and took all of our detailed notes to heart," says David Andrade, Co-founder and Executive Producer of Theory Studios.

The most novel experience of building in Horizon Worlds was the fact that all of the coding and development happened inside virtual reality. This led to rapid prototyping and creativity; the team at Theory Studios could jump into a world and be physically, in a virtual sense, next to each other coding.

"It's a game changer for game development and early prototyping. To be able to work together, literally next to each other virtually, was a real benefit in connecting creatives in this remote working world," remarked Andrade.

PROTOTYPING & BUILDING FOR FUTURE METAVERSE PROJECTS

Already Theory Studios is looking at ways at combining the rapid prototyping and creativity of Horizon Worlds and future metaverse branded projects. Speaking at SATE Europe in 2022, Andrade remarked how rapidly the virtual reality world is taking shape.

With Minecraft, Fortnite, and now Roblox dominating the landscape with hundreds of millions of young players, it only makes sense for brands to consider how the metaverse might impact their business.

Nikeland, built in Roblox, is one of the largest examples of a successful metaverse project by a big brand. In just six months 6.7 million players visited Nikeland, with superstar NBA players like LeBron James visiting and coaching them in the virtual world.

Andrade's thesis during SATE Europe was simply that the metaverse today is where early social media was in 1999. Ten years later the internet became dominated by giants like Facebook, and now twenty years going it is one of the largest businesses in the world.

The metaverse is coming, and with the launch of Theory Studio's AIRBORNE EXPLORERS, we're ready to jump in and discover it together.