Epic is adding Unreal Editor to Fortnite next week on Wednesday, March 22, enabling players to design and publish their own content à la Roblox.
Unreal Editor will bolster Fortnite’s existing Creative mode with a suite of new tools and workflows including custom asset import, modeling, materials and VFX, Sequencer, and Control Rig. What this means for creators is that they’ll be able to publish their own islands directly into Fortnite for millions of other players to explore and interact with.
Equally exciting is what this all means for players, who will inevitably see an even more diverse and bottomless array of user-created content to enjoy in Fortnite. Although this will undoubtedly yield a greater array of custom content in Creative mode, Epic has clarified that users won’t have access to the full range of Unreal Engine tools.
“For example, unlike Unreal Engine, UEFN uses the creation tools from Fortnite Creative known as Devices as the primary building blocks for authoring game mechanics, and these Devices can be used in tandem with a new programming language called Verse,” reads the description (opens in new tab) on the Epic Games Store.
Epic says the PC-based editor will allow creators to build custom content with modeling and material tools, import meshes, textures, animations, and audio, “build landscapes to to create and flesh out the environment,” and more. You’ll also be able to collaborate with other creators in real-time, and that includes between PC and console in tandem with the existing Creative mode.
Fortnite’s Unreal Editor is launching in beta, and Epic says it’ll “continue to evolve” and “add more functionality creators are familiar with from the Unreal Editor, give creators control over even more aspects of their Fortnite experiences, and expand the capabilities of the Verse API and framework.”
Epic will reveal more about Fortnite’s Unreal Editor during its State of Unreal talk (opens in new tab) at GDC 2023.
In case you missed it, Epic was recently ordered to pay $245 million to Fortnite players tricked into making “unwanted” purchases.