Lightsabers and Force Powers

The Lightsabers and Force Powers template features a comprehensive tutorial that you can use to learn how to create custom lightsabers and add Force powers by using Scene Graph and Verse. 

Once you understand the concepts and have created your own weapons and powers, you can move to the training area to quickly test and iterate on your creations and truly become one with the Force!

To access this template:

1. Open UEFN.

2. Go to Brand Templates > Lightsabers and Force Powers. 

   

3. Create a new project.

The Lightsabers and Force Powers template in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) provides a detailed walkthrough of how you can create and customize some of the most iconic aspects of the Star Wars™ universe — lightsabers and Force powers!

The template has two sections — the workshop and the testing grounds.

In the workshop, you can learn all about the new features, such as creating custom lightsabers and Force powers using Scene Graph and Verse, augmenting player lightsabers with Force powers, and Force powers as items you can add to your Star Wars experiences. The template also features a lightsaber workbench built entirely with Verse that players can use to create custom lightsabers in-game!

In the testing grounds, you can test out Force powers like Heal and Throw, and see how they interact with the environment.  

Lightsabers in Fortnite

Previously, lightsabers only existed as items for players in Battle Royale. Now, all lightsabers previously only available to players are now available as items within the Star Wars  feature set. You can also create lightsabers as fully customizable entities in Scene Graph and Verse.

You can use custom lightsabers for scenarios like providing individuality to players to enhance roleplay experiences, color coding for team-based competitions, or a weapon progression system with more elaborate effects and stronger force powers attached for example.

In the template, steps 1–1.5  guide you through the process of making a lightsaber, and show how to use Verse to spawn custom lightsabers at the press of a button!

The Lightsaber Entity

The lightsaber entity has two related components, the lightsaber_item_component, and the kyber_crystal_[color]_component, such as kyber_crystal_yellow_component.

The lightsaber_item_component defines the appearance of the hilt of your lightsaber.

The kyber_crystal_[color]_component defines the color of the blade, the blade's stability, and the intensity of any energy arcs along the blade.

You can add lightsaber entities to your game with the following steps:

1. Add a blank entity using the toolbar: Place Actors > Entities > entity.

2. Right-click the blank entity in the Outliner and add a lightsaber entity as a child.The lightsaber entity will define the appearance of the lightsaber.

   The lightsaber entity also includes a default kyber_crystal_[color]_component that matches the lightsaber blade color of the weapon in lore, such as red for LightsaberRen. 

   

   1. Not happy with the default color of the lightsaber? You can remove the existing kyber_crystal_[color]_component to the color of your choice. With this component you can change the arc of the blade by adjusting its stability and intensity.

After creating your basic lightsaber entity, you can further customize it by adjusting two floating point values in the kyber_crystal_[color]_component, Arc Intensity and Stability.

• Both values range from 0 - 1.

• Both variables express the maximum effect at 1, with the maximum intensity of the arcing VFX at 1 and the maximum stability of the blade at 1, respectively.

For more information on the lightsaber entity and its components, see Lightsaber Components Reference.

Customizing Lightsabers Using Verse

Below is an example lightsaber spawner device from the template that takes some editable parameters to grant the player a specific lightsaber when a specified button is pressed.

using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }
using { /Fortnite.com/Items/Lightsaber/StarWars }
using { /Fortnite.com/StarWars }
using { /Verse.org/SceneGraph }
using { /Verse.org/Simulation }
using { /UnrealEngine.com/Itemization }
using { /UnrealEngine.com/Temporary/Diagnostics }
using { /Fortnite.com/UI }
using { /UnrealEngine.com/Temporary/UI }
using { /Fortnite.com/Items/ForcePower/StarWars }

The Lightsaber Workbench

Players can use the Lightsaber Workbench to build custom lightsabers and attach Force powers to them in-game. All of the Verse code is accessible in the template for your own projects. Once you understand how it works, try extending the workbench and make it your own.

You could extend the workbench functionality with:

• A button that generates a random lightsaber with randomly selected arcing and stability, and attached Force power.

• A quiz or personality test for players that decides the color of their lightsaber or even the entire thing!

• A shop or storefront that allows players to use in-game currency to unlock new customization options that you’d expect from a Roguelike!

The lightsaber workbench was built using Unreal Motion Graphics (UMG), with Verse fields to handle player interaction and real-time visual updates. Verse manages the state of the customization process and dynamically assembles the final lightsaber based on selected parts.

The workbench uses the following devices, which you can find in the Verse Explorer:

• menu_lightsaber_customization_device - Split into three parts within the device:

  • A device that handles triggers and camera/HUD overrides, and updates the player's inventory with their chosen items and components.

  • A session manager that tracks individual player UI states, and handles tab navigation and slider/grid inputs.

  • A UI helper that dynamically builds grids, buttons, and slider pages using Verse UI.

• ui_config - Handles the configuration for the UI and its layout, and links items to their IDs, along with any relevant text about them. It also handles granting the lightsaber to the player and attaching the specified Force power to the lightsaber.

• lightsaber_arcing_changer_device - Changes the arcing value of the equipped lightsaber.

• lightsaber_stability_changer_device - Changes the stability value of the equipped lightsaber.

• lightsaber_color_changer_device - Changes the kyber_crystal_[color]_component.

Migrating the Lightsaber Workbench Assets

You can copy the core functionality for the Lightsaber Workbench from the template into an existing Star Wars project, then reconnect the devices. UEFN has a Migrate tool to copy assets into a project, including any dependencies. 

To migrate the assets:

1. In the Content Drawer, navigate to your project folder and right-click the UI folder.

2. Click Migrate.

3. Leave all assets in the Asset Report checked and click OK.

4. Select the project location for where you want to move the assets. You must place the assets in the project folder for the new location.

Verse files are incompatible with the Migrate tool, so you will need to copy them manually into the new project.

To migrate the Verse files:

1. In the Content Drawer, navigate to your project folder and right-click on a folder or item that doesn’t contain Verse files.

2. Click Show in Explorer. This opens a File Explorer window.

3. Navigate to the content folder in your File Explorer window.

4. Ctrl + click to select  the following items:

   1. LightsaberWorkbenchCore - This contains items_utils.verse

   2. menu_lightsaber_customization_device.verse

   3. ui_config.verse

5. Copy the items and paste them into the content folder of the project you want to move them to.

To use the Lightsaber Workbench in your new project:

1. Drag the menu_lightsaber_customization device into your scene.

2. Add a trigger device to the scene to open the Lightsaber Workbench menu when a player steps on it.

   1. On the Details panel for the menu_lightsaber_customization device, set ShowTrigger to the trigger device you have added to the scene.

3. Add a HUD Controller device into your scene and set the Show HUD setting to OFF.

   1. On the Details panel for the menu_lightsaber_customization device, set HUDController to the HUD Controller device you have added to the scene.

4. Add a Fixed Angle Camera device into your scene.

   1. On the Details panel for the menu_lightsaber_customization device, set FixedAngleCamera to the Fixed Angle Camera device you have added to the scene.

Force Powers

Force powers were previously tied to iconic weapons, such as Darth Vader’s lightsaber. Now, you can create and customize Force powers in Scene Graph and by using Verse.

All Force power entities possess two main forms:

• A Force power weapon entity type - This appears as a pick-up item in the form of a Holocron that players can add to their quick bar.

• A lightsaber augment entity type - These can only be used when a lightsaber is equipped and granted to a player’s inventory. This is set up exclusively through Verse.

Force Powers as Items

Force powers either work with a lightsaber as a Force power augment, or as standalone items that don’t require a lightsaber. These appear in-game as Holocrons and occupy a slot in your quick bar.

These items can be customized versions of the Force powers you have created in Verse or the standard versions provided. Like any other item, you can also add standard Force power items to devices like the Item Granter device.

To learn more about registering items to an Item Spawner device, see Item Granter Devices.

The Force Power Entity

You can add Force power entities to your game with the following steps:

1. Add a blank entity using the toolbar: Place Actors > Entities > entity.

   

2. Right-click the blank entity in the Outliner and add a Force power entity component as a child.

   

After creating your Force power entity, you can further customize it by adjusting common properties to all powers, like Cooldown or Stamina, which govern how long before you can recast or how long you can sustain a Force power. 

Depending on the Force power, there are plenty of other values to adjust, such as how much you can heal with the Force, or how hard you can push things.  

You can also add Force power augments to a lightsaber entity by adding them as a child to the lightsaber entity.

For more information on the Force power entity and its components, see Force Power Component Reference.

Customizing Force Powers Using Verse

This snippet shows an example Force power spawner device. This grants the player a specified force power item when they press a specific button. You can extend this snippet to grant custom Force power items that you have defined yourself.

using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }
using { /Fortnite.com/StarWars }
using { /Fortnite.com/Items/ForcePower/StarWars }
using { /Verse.org/SceneGraph }
using { /Verse.org/Simulation }
using { /UnrealEngine.com/Itemization }
using { /UnrealEngine.com/Temporary/Diagnostics }

# Enum of Force Powers.
# Used as a shorthand for referencing a specific item entity.

The Training Grounds

The training grounds contain every Force power item available and a lightsaber workbench where players can quickly build custom lightsabers with attached Force powers.

You can also find physics-enabled objects in the center of the training grounds where you can test powers like Push or Pull.

Wanting to test out how your custom builds do in actual combat? Press the combat simulation button to spawn a squad of troopers to fight!

View the lightsaber and Force power component references here:

• Lightsaber Components Reference

• Force Power Component Reference

Want to see what else is in the toolkit to build your own galaxy far, far away? View the other templates here:

• Team Conquest

• Narrative and Roleplaying

To view the full package of what Star Wars can bring to you, see Working With STAR WARS™ Islands.