ISLEFORGE

Inspiration

I’ve always loved survival and sandbox games like Forager and Minecraft, where you can interact with and reshape the world around you. Most mobile games feel too casual or limited, so I wanted to make something that captures that deeper, more immersive feeling while still being easy to play on a phone. I’ve always been drawn to sci-fi and steampunk themes—machines, robots, floating islands—so that became the core of Isleforge. Sky islands are both beautiful and practical: they give the world lore, clear structure, and help performance by keeping things focused and contained.

What it does

Isleforge is a cooperative world-building experience where players harvest, craft, and power a giant “World Engine” to pull new islands from the sky. The world is persistent, meaning player-built progress lasts between sessions, and the controls are designed for smooth one-thumb mobile play. Players work together to rebuild a shattered world, unlocking new areas and possibilities over time.

How we built it

The world was built in the Horizon Worlds Desktop Editor. I used AI tools to help generate code and prototype meshes, then refined them in Blender to create flat-shaded, vertex-painted models optimized for mobile performance. I focused on modular scripting, making it easier to expand systems like persistence, harvesting, and UI.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenges were mobile optimization, learning how Horizon Worlds handles persistence, and building UI systems that perform well. I had to constantly balance visuals, performance, and complexity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I’m proud of creating a mobile-first Horizon World with persistence, modular systems, and interactive mechanics that push what’s possible on the platform.

What we learned

I learned a lot about Horizon’s API, custom UI bindings, and organizing large projects for scalability and performance.

What's next for ISLEFORGE

Next, I plan to add home islands that players can build together, along with crafting, structure placement, and an expanded cooperative economy. The goal is a living, persistent world that players rebuild piece by piece—together.

Built With

• ai
• blender
• gimp
• github
• horizon
• typescript
• vscode