The Gauntlet
Platform: Unreal Editor for Fortnite
Responsibilities: All Aspects (Concept, Game Development, Video Production, Web Design, Copywriting)
What if starting in Fortnite wasn’t stressful?
I was playing Fortnite with my wife one day and she was super worried about starting. Being thrust into a Player vs Player environment can be intimidating to anyone who isn’t familiar or confident with the controls of a game. So I reflected on how I got my start in FPS games. I remembered the good ol’ 2009 days in my childhood basement, firing up the Xbox 360 and specifically a few Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Spec Ops missions my friends and I used to play. It was a match made in heaven. I had found relevant inspiration from my life, I could make such a map, and I was looking for new revenue streams to add to the division I worked for. But what was that process like?
6 Zones 32 Targets 2 Weeks and only 1 Tim
Building the Level
It all starts with the map. I had a vision for what the world would look like. Somewhat military, but with a Fortnite twist of fun. The entry area is like a small party with player’s weapons organized into four corners. Each zone gets progressively more complex with additional barriers and obstacles to overcome. Speed was essential with this project and the level only took a day to layout utilizing existing Fortnite assets
Teaching Myself
One of the skills I’m most proud of is being able to be resourceful and teach myself, with documentation and tutorials, how to do just about anything. For this project, I needed to learn Verse, the new language created just for UEFN. I added the game managing, target zones, custom UI, time management, and XP Awarding awarding functionality to the game.
Designing the Site
Of course the video needed to go on something, so what was this project’s page going to look like on Optic Sky’s website? It needed to fit within our style guide, but be unique to this project, and be informational and attention grabbing. So I put together a design in Figma (right) with video, images, and copy to pass to our web developer. This page can be seen here on the Optic Sky website.
Creating the Vids
Once I playtested the map and it was awesome…it was time to show the world how awesome it was! I knew I needed a 20 second spot that we could post on social media and utilize on our wesbite to get started. So I did my research, found some awesome music, and got to production. I shot all of the gameplay cinematics using Fortnite’s replay system, edited in Premire, added graphics in After Effects, et voilà.
Project Summary
This project allowed me to flex all of my muscles creatively. From concept to final delivery, I was able to produce across the entire pipeline and once again teach myself something new. I pride myself on that capability. I am not afraid to take on a new challenge. This project will be published and playable on Fortnite so if you have an account go check it out! Fortnite offers a great opportunity for brands to dip their toes into the world of digital experience with a tested platform that already has an audience. Often times, brands will balk at creating their own platform, and for good reason. It takes a significant amount of overhead to develop, market, and gain the following that makes a custom platform successful. With Fortnite, brands have the safety that 130 million monthly players provide and can take a calculated step into the future.
