Meta Horizon
Role: Lead Designer
Engine: Horizon Engine
Company: Meta
Team Size: 750
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Meta Horizon is a social platform and game engine designed for persistent multiplayer experiences and live events across VR, MR, mobile, and web. As a Lead Designer for seven years, I oversaw the design and development of the following projects to expand the platform's creative and competitive capabilities.
Reference Material
Defined the product vision and led a 21-member XFN team, managing a $2M budget and 3 external studios to deliver Horizon game engine educational content. I increased Horizon editor retention by 100% and tripled creator publishing rates through the delivery of these high-impact learning materials. In 2025 we made 10 titles across three categories of content, an example of each is below:
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Genre Sample Worlds
Worlds that accelerate the creative process by offering 'remixable' foundations for popular genres. Each world features a modular block-mesh design, allowing users to clone the logic and seamlessly integrate their own custom 3D assets. Below is an example of a Sim Tycoon Genre World with a mining theme.
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Feature Sample Worlds
Immersive educational environments designed to showcase specific engine capabilities through practical application. Each world acts as a living technical demo, supported by comprehensive documentation to help creators implement complex features—such as the custom UI system shown below—into their own projects.
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Tutorials
I spearheaded a large cross-functional team to develop interactive, in-engine tutorials designed to streamline the onboarding process for new creators. The 'Welcome Walkthrough' featured below demonstrates our step-by-step approach to teaching complex engine features through immersive, hands-on learning.
Wingstrikers
I led the creation of this original, competitive VR e-sport that blends the high-speed thrill of Rocket League with aerial combat. The game features an innovative "hand-steered" locomotion system that allows for intense 360-degree flight while virtually eliminating motion sickness. Players grab a flag, pass it to teammates and fight off opponents with weapons.​​
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Trailer
Tutorial
Press
Ars Technica
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"The app already includes one incredible Trojan horse to usher people into social VR: a dogfighting-meets-soccer game in which your handheld Oculus Touch controller becomes a fighter plane. Use your hand's position to manually steer the plane in relative space, and the third-person camera around you will move in kind, as opposed to magically warping a fighter plane around.
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The effect might sound uncomfortable as described, but I was floored by how remarkable this "paper plane" flight model felt and worked in action. The connection I felt to a plane in my hand arguably helped my brain translate how much a VR battlefield moved around me. Between my hand's position and a joystick, I was able to smoothly and carefully maneuver a plane through cave doors and under other large objects while aiming weapons and items in a two-on-two "plane soccer" game."
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CNET
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"My final demo wasn't: it's a game Facebook's putting in Horizon, a dogfighting mini-plane sports game that's as fun as most VR games I'd pay for. I grab my plane and control it like a toy with hand, making it dive and rise. The plane flies through a massive arena, where I can pop into tunnels and grab missiles and other power-ups. We're trying to play a 2-on-2 game where I toss a flag to my teammate and he flies through a hoop before the other team can shoot us. It reminds me of the game RIGS for PlayStation VR: it's a weirdly fun little team sport. I don't get nauseous."
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Tiny Castles
Tiny Castles showcases hand-tracking capabilities through simple god-like actions like punching, grabbing, and casting elemental spells (fire, lightning) to protect followers and destroy evil obelisks, acting as a proof-of-concept for future hand-tracked games. I came on to the project to help them finish and then had to take on lead responsibilities during COVID.​
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Trailer
Below is an Ice Temple Level that I made with an artist and engineer:
Consulting
For nearly two years, I served as a strategic bridge between internal engine developers and external studios to ensure a seamless translation from in-VR development to traditional 2D level editor development. In this role, I translated creative needs into usable technical features by partnering with external producers to oversee studio-led projects.
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This was a challenging time for the engine because we were switching from in-headset VR development to having a 2D editor and typescript capabilities. Tight communication with all teams as these changes occurred was key. Below is what VR development looked like in Horizon, everything from scripting to world building was done in VR.​​​
An example taking a project to ship was VR sports game Giant Mini Paddle Golf, where I designed the original internal prototype and then collaborated with 2P Studios to scale it into a full release. During this process, I worked closely with the engine team to unlock critical new physics capabilities and performance improvements that benefited the entire creator ecosystem.
Below are videos of 'Giant Mini Paddle Golf' to exemplify how I worked with studios at various stages of development:
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First Playable
An initial pass at the layout and rough pass at mechanics.
Fully Functional
We replace the block mesh with ow poly shaped meshes to capture the feel but still have room to make adjustments. Mechanics are all there but missing polish.
Polished
Final assets are added. Gameplay is iterated upon and polished. Experience is playtested, QA'ed, bug fixed and sent out the door.
Another example is the Bobber Bay fishing game I consulted on. 'Bobber Bay' became our 1 game for more than a year.
Horizon Mixed Reality
During Meta’s 2023 Mixed Reality initiative, I led the game design for a suite of ten social MR experiences within a specialized 15-person team. While the project was ultimately sunset due to a company-wide shift toward mobile in 2024, our launch successfully demonstrated innovative multiplayer mechanics in the MR space. ​
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Trailer below: