Welcome back to our weekly spotlight on the people building for Horizon Worlds and their amazing creations.
Last week, we learned the joy of making fries, flipping patties, and feeding hungry people at Baejing’s Welcome to Bad Burger.
This week, we sat down with Levfo, the creator of many worlds including his first, Cozy Cabin. In this immersive and relaxing world that takes you to a little cabin on a small plot of land, you can chill around a fireplace by yourself or with friends.
What got you interested in VR?
I’ve done graphic design, game design, and marketing. I’ve been heavily into video games since I was a kid, and I always dreamt of a time when the digital world would blend with reality. So as soon as I could get my hands on a VR headset, I dove right in, and now I’m here for the ride!
What do you draw upon for inspiration when building in Horizon Worlds?
A lot of my inspiration comes from nature. When I’m building a world, I try to create the most immersive space possible. And that means that the area itself and the physical objects around you must be beautiful and believable.
What do you want people to take away from their experience with your worlds?
My main goal is to have people leave my worlds feeling like they’ve traveled to a new place for a while, and that can happen through exploration or socially-interactive activities.
Are you a programmer/creator as your day job, or do you see this as a hobby?
I co-own a web and marketing agency and a game development studio. And for me, Horizon Worlds is both a passion and a creative outlet.
Do you collaborate with others, and if so, what’s that experience like for you?
I do. I collaborate with both my partner and my cousin. It’s an awesome experience because whether or not we’re close physically, we can hang out and create something together.
Having a creative outlet that my partner and I can share is really special because we can bond by building worlds together.
As for my cousin, he was in the Navy when I convinced him to get a Meta Quest 2, and that meant we could hang out and work together in Horizon Worlds before he returned home. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in person for a few years, it felt like we’d actually seen each other recently. That was really surreal, and it convinced me that VR is here to stay.
What’s your best advice for getting started on building worlds for Horizon Worlds?
If you’re someone without creative experience, then it can be really helpful to start out by finding a community to collaborate with. Ultimately, I feel like there’s no substitute for experience, so I’d recommend just diving in and creating a world that means something to you personally. The tools may seem intimidating, but once you get the hang of them, you can create anything.
What do you think the ultimate potential is for Horizon Worlds?
The ultimate potential is to change the world. While most young people today understand the value of digital spaces because they’ve been using them their entire lives, I was lucky enough to grow up watching the explosion of the tech industry and the internet. And that gave me a lot of perspective on where we are now and where we’re going.
It has the potential to completely change our lives, break barriers around the world, and dissolve the concept of physical distance between us.
How do you think VR fits into the future vision of the metaverse?
Whether it’s physically overlaying a digital world onto the physical world through augmented reality or the creation of whole new spaces in VR, it will be essential that the metaverse features physical immersion. We’re already used to observing the physical world in 3D space, and the metaverse should be no different. VR will facilitate this dynamic.
What’s your favorite VR experience?
Definitely Horizon Worlds. With interactive games, social gatherings, live concerts, and the amazing creative freedom it offers, Horizon Worlds can basically encompass the full range of VR experiences in the future.
