Jump into the world of Verse with the VKT - Verse Device Starter Games template and play Verse Commander, a minigame where you solve puzzles by sending commands to your character.
Minigames are short, self-contained experiences that can act as companion pieces to your main game. They can be as simple as a series of button presses, or as complex as a full game mode. You can use minigames to better pace the gameplay, explore new mechanics and ideas, or just because they're fun! Minigames are often highly scalable, as working from a simple list of mechanics gives you a lot of room to create variety within each game.
This template tutorial walks you through the creation of Verse Commander, a minigame where you guide an NPC character through a series of game boards to reach the end goal. You'll control the NPC using custom Verse commands, directly translating UI choices into character action.
Verse Commander shows how you can use Verse to manage your game, including:
Sending data between Verse device and NPC Behavior scripts.
Using a custom, dynamic in-game UI created and updated in Verse.
Coordinating VFX and cinematics in Verse for visual feedback of the game state.
And more!
There's a lot of Verse code in this example, but it's spread over multiple files and classes and designed to be easy to customize and drop into your own experiences. Separating your code into different files based on their responsibilities and designing your code with scalability in mind will not only help you quickly iterate on your core gameplay but also make it easier for you to implement your minigame in multiple experiences.
Getting Started
Before you can play the Verse Commander minigame, you'll need to do the following. Create a new project in UEFN from the VKT - Verse Device Starter Games template.
In the Outliner, search for the device Verse Commander Minigame and select the device to open its Details panel.
In its Details panel, select the VerseTagMarkup component to view its settings in the Details panel.
Under Gameplay Tags, edit the Tags property and add the Gameplay Tag verse_commander_minigame_tag.
Now launch the session and play the Verse Commander minigame!
Check out Gameplay Tags for more information on using tags in your project.
Overview
Follow these steps to learn more about creating this minigame.
1. Creating the NPC Behavior
Learn how to control the NPC through commands using Verse in the Verse Starter Template.
2. Defining Boards for the Game
Create modular levels that you can customize in Unreal Editor for Fortnite using Verse.
3. Designing Levels
Learn how to design levels for a top-down camera and controlling a character through commands.
4. Representing Command Data
Learn how to represent and use the character commands in Verse code.
5. Controlling the NPC with UI
Learn how to create and update a custom, dynamic in-game UI using Verse.
6. Managing the Game Loop
Learn how to define the core behavior of the minigame in the Verse Starter Template.
7. Final Result
Find all the Verse code used to create the Verse Starter Template.
