Learn a few tricks for using the Creature Manager to add dimension to your gameplay!
Basic Custom Creature
The Creature Manager, at its most basic level, is a way to create creatures with unique stats. In this first example, you’ll make Fiend enemies move much faster than normal!
Devices Used
- 1 x Creature Manager device
- 1 x Player Spawner device
- 1 x Item Granter device
- 1 x Creature Spawner device
Set Up the Devices
By itself, this device does nothing. To spawn unique creatures, pair a Creature Manager device with a Creature Spawner or Creature Placer device.
For more general info on devices, see Using Devices.
- Place a Player Spawner device.
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Place an Item Granter device and register a Tactical Assault Rifle to it.
See the Fortnite Weapons Primer for how to register items.
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Customize the Devices as follows:
Option Value Description Receiving Players All All players will receive the registered weapon. grant on Game Start On Players will get the weapon registered to this device at the start of the game. - Place a Creature Manager device.
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Movement Speed Very Fast The creature's speed will give your players a challenge! - Place a Creature Spawner device.
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Creature Type Fiend Select this creature type (or any other type that appeals to you!).
You now have the basic functionality for a custom creature!
Design Tip
Creature movement speed is a great way to give a creature a different feel from its default configurations. Faster creatures feel more threatening than slower ones, but sometimes a slower movement speed is exactly what you need for a big, lumbering creature!
Heavy Boss
The Creature Manager device is also very useful for tweaking a creature's health. In this example, you'll raise the health of a Major Ice Brute to make it into a formidable boss!
Devices Used
- 1 x Creature Manager device
- 1 x Player Spawner device
- 1 x Volume device
- 1 x Timer device
- 1 x Automated Turret device
- 1 x Heavy Turret device
Set Up the Devices
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Start with the Arctic Island starter island.
For how to find this island, see Building Your First Island.
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Create a small structure for the player with assets from the Ice House Gallery and Ice and Snow Castle Floor Gallery.
See Using Prefabs and Galleries for more info.
- Place a Player Spawner device on top of the structure.
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Customize the player spawner as follows:
Option Value Description Visible in Game Off This hides the player spawner once the game starts. -
Place an Item Granter device, then register a Tactical Assault Rifle to the device.
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Customize the item granter as follows:
Option Value Description Receiving Players All All players can receive the registered weapon. Spare Weapon Ammo 999 This setting provides enough ammo that it's unlikely the player will run out. Grant on Game Start On Players will receive the weapon at the start of the game. - Place a Creature Manager device.
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Creature Type Major Ice Brute This will give you a good boss creature. Health 3,000 This much health takes a lot of work to eliminate this formidable boss. - Place a Creature Placer device away from the structure,
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Creature Type Major Ice Brute This matches the Creature Manager device setting. - Place an Automated Turret device on top of the structure to help the player fight the boss.
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Customize the turret as follows:
Option Value Description Can Target Players False This prevents the turrent from being used on other players. - Place a Heavy Turret device on top of the structure to give the player even more firepower.
You now have the basic functionality for a Heavy Boss!
Design Tip
The Creature Manager can help when you want a specific enemy to match your environment but need more control over their balancing. There is a different high-health creature (the Megabrute), but using the Creature Manager, you can use a creature that feels more authentic to the arctic environment!
Build a Brute Rush Game!
You can use multiple creature managers for the same creature type to create the effect of creatures getting stronger in different phases of the game.
In this example, you'll use this functionality to create a wave survival game where brutes get more dangerous on each wave.
Devices Used
- 3 x Creature Manager devices
- 1 x Player Spawner device
- 1 x Item Granter device
- 3 x Creature Spawner devices
- 3 x Trigger devices
- 3 x HUD Message device
- 1 x End Game device
- 1 x Post Processing device
Set Up the Basic Gameplay
- Begin with the Black Glass Island starter island.
- Place a Player Spawner device.
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Customize the player spawner as follows:
Option Value Description --- --- --- Visible in Game Off The player spawner will not be visible once the game starts. - Place an Item Granter device and register a Tactical Assault Rifle to the device.
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Receiving Players All All players can receive the registered weapon. Spare Weapon Ammo 999 This setting provides enough ammo that it's unlikely the player will run out. Grant on Game Start On Players will receive the weapon at the start of the game.
Configure the Different Waves
- Place a Creature Spawner device at a distance in front of the player spawner, and name it Wave 1 Creature Spawner.
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Customize the this device as follows:
Plus:
(w:600)Option Value Description Creature Type Brute The creature that will spawn each time. Limit Spawned Creatures Yes Creatures do not spawn indefinitely. Total Spawn Limit 3 How many times this wave can respawn. Activation Range 15.0 Tiles This means the spawner will trigger when a player gets within 15 tiles.. Spawner Visibility Off Players can't see the spawner's location. Spawn Effects Visibility Off Players will see visual effects when a creature spawns. Max Spawn Distance 4.0 Tiles Sets the maximum distance a creature can span from the spawner. Preferred Spawn Location Random Creatures will spawn in random locations, adding tension to the play. -
Duplicate the Creature Spawner device two more times for Waves 2 and 3, and name them accordingly so you can keep track of how you're using them.
Using consistent naming conventions makes the rest of this setup much easier!
- For the Wave 2 Creature Spawner, set Number of Creatures to 3 and Total Spawn Limit to 4. Also set Enabled at Game Start to Off.
- For the Wave 3 Creature Spawner, set Number of Creatures to 4 (the default value) and Total Spawn Limit to 5 and set Enabled at Game Start to Off.
- Place a Creature Manager device to set the Brute stats for Wave 1.
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Customize the device as follows:
Option Value Description Creature Type Brute The creature that will spawn each time. Health 200 Setting the health this high makes eliminating the Brute a challenge! Score 10 This determines the amount of score a player earns when eliminating a creature. Damage to Player 10.0 This is the amount of damage the creature can inflict on a player. Movement Speed Slow Slow down the speed this creature moves at. - Place another Creature Manager device to set the Brute stats during Wave 2.
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Customize it as follows:
Option Value Description Creature Type Brute The creature that will spawn each time. Health 300 Setting the health this high makes eliminating the Brute a challenge! Score 25 This determines the amount of score a player earns when eliminating a creature. Damage to Player 25.0 This is the amount of damage the creature can inflict on a player. Enabled On Game Start Off You don't want the second wave to start until it's triggered. Note that in this wave, the creature's health increases, along with score for eliminating and Damage to player. Also, you're not slowing the creature down on this wave, but using the default speed, which is in the middle.
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Place a final Creature Manager to set the Brute stats for Wave 3, and customize:
Option Value Description Creature Type Brute The creature that will spawn each time. Health 400 Setting the health this high makes eliminating the Brute a challenge! Score 50 This determines the amount of score a player earns when eliminating a creature. Damage to Player 40.0 This is the amount of damage the creature can inflict on a player. Moveement Speed Fast How quickly the creature moves once spawned. Enabled On Game Start Off You don't want the second wave to start until it's triggered. Now the creatures have even more health, wreak even more damage, and are moving fast!
- Place a Trigger device to count the number of Brutes the player needs to eliminate during Wave 1.
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Customize the device:
Option Value Description Visible in Game Off No need for the player to see this in-game. Triggered by Player Off This will be triggered by another device, as explained shortly. Trigger VFX Off No visual effects needed. Trigger SFX Off No sound effects needed either. Transmit Every X Triggers 3 Sets how many times the trigger needs to be activated before it does something. - Duplicate the trigger two more times for Waves 2 and 3. For the Wave 2 Trigger, set Transmit Every X Triggers to 4. For the Wave 3 Trigger, set the Transmit Every X Triggers to 5.
- Place a HUD Message device to tell the player that Wave 1 has begun.
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Customize the HUD Message device as follows:
Option Value Description Message Wave 1 Gives the player a heads up that the first wave of attacks is starting. Show on Round Start On Show at the start of the round. Time from Round Start Instant Starts with no delay. Text Color White You can use white or another if you prefer. - Add another HUD Message device to alert the player for Wave 2.
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Customize it:
Option Value Description Message Wave 2 Alerts the player when the second wave starts. Text Color White You can use white or another if you prefer. - Repeat placing a HUD Message device for Wave 3 and customize accordingly.
Set Up the Game End and Polish
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In a place that the player won't be able to see (such as underneath the ground), place an End Game device.
For tips on how to hide a device underground, see Hotkeys and Keybinding Shortcuts under Object Placement.
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Customize the End Game device as follows:
Option Value Description Custom Victory Callout You Survived! Will show at the end of the game. - Place a Post Process device.
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Customize the device:
Option Value Description Post Process Effect Retro This provides a cool visual filter.
Bind Functions / Events
Direct event binding is how you set devices to communicate directly with other devices. This involves setting functions and events for the devices involved.
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Configure the following event on the Wave 1 Creature Manager so that it activates the elimination trigger for that wave.
Event Select Device Select Function On a Matching Creature Type Is Eliminated Send Event To Wave 1 Elimination Trigger Trigger - Repeat for Waves 2 and 3, binding them to the appropriate devices (now you see why it's important to use good naming practices!)
- Configure the following event on the Wave 1 Elimination Trigger so that when it triggers enough times, it:
- Enables the Creature Spawner for this wave.
- Disables the Creature Spawner for the next wave.
- Enables the Creature Manager for the next wave
- Displays the HUD message for the start of the next wave.
Event Select Device Select Function On Triggered Send Event To Wave 1 Creature Spawner Disable On Triggered Send Event To Wave 2 Creature Spawner Enable On Triggered Send Event To Wave 2 Creature Manager Enable On Triggered Send Event To Wave 2 HUD Message Show You don't need to disable the currently active Creature Manager because enabling a different Creature Manager for the same creature type automatically disables any others.
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Configure the following event on the Wave 2 Elimination Trigger for the next wave:
Event Select Device Select Function On Triggered Send Event To Wave 3 Creature Spawner Enable On Triggered Send Event To Wave 2 Creature Manager Disable On Triggered Send Event To Wave 3 HUD Message Show On Triggered Send Event To Wave 3 Creature Manager Enable -
Configure the following event on the Wave 3 Elimination Trigger so that when the player completes the final wave, the game ends.
Event Select Device Select Function On Triggered Send Event To End Game Device Activate
Modify Island Settings
Make the following modifications to the Island Settings.
- Go to Island Settings > User Interface.
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Under HUD, change HUD Info Type to Score.
You now have a working wave survival game with creature upgrades for each wave!
Design Tip
The devices you've used here can easily be tweaked to make this mode work well in a multiplayer context.
The Creature Manager device has a Score Distribution setting that you can tweak so that players will receive different score rewards based on how they contribute to an elimination.
Consider whether you want your players competing to do damage or get eliminations for the most points, or just have them all receive the same point rewards when configuring this setting.