The resources available to Fortnite developers have expanded! You can use some or all of these tools to bring your own vision of the next great game or experience to life — and each resource dovetails into the next to create great games in Fortnite.
The tools include:
This page gives you a quick view of each layer of game development, and how to broaden your skills as you go.
Ready to get your game on? This Epic adventure is powered by your imagination!
First Stop: Fortnite Creative!
Your island, your game, your rules!
Fortnite has a sandbox where you can create, modify, or experiment with the environment and mechanics for a game using the Creative toolset. What you create persists in Fortnite, so your work is still there, waiting for you, the next time you log on.
The Creative toolset is designed to be simple and intuitive. With it, you can use a constantly expanding library of assets to create a fun environment, design engaging gameplay, and invite your friends to play — then use their feedback to make it even better!
A Little Fortnite History
Fortnite started as a game where teams of players could build forts to protect themselves from monsters, then grew into a Battle Royale experience, with players battling to the last person standing on the BR island.
Fortnite evolved again to offer tools to players who wanted to make their own islands with their own rules. This became Fortnite Creative.
Today, Fortnite still has Epic-made games like Battle Royale and Zero Build, but Fortnite developers now publish their own games in Fortnite, where players can pick their favorite games and game makers.
Yours could be that next favorite.
Discover Cool Games
The Discover UI in Fortnite is a way to see some of the best games that have been published by people like you.
Explore the Discover UI, search for new game modes, save your favorites, and see firsthand what other developers are doing.
Fortnite and Education
But Fortnite doesn’t stop with games.
Educators around the world are finding ways to bring Fortnite into the classroom. Whether exploring computer programming concepts through Fortnite Creative devices, building medieval villages for history lessons, or working out how to prevent storm surge damage on coastal cities with a Fortnite island, the Creative toolset can support classwork on virtually any subject through hands-on student engagement.
Got an idea for an interactive 3D lesson? Look here for inspiration!
Be an Island Developer!
To get started, download Fortnite if you don't have it already.
Learn to Speak Fortnite
If you're new to Fortnite Creative, here are a few useful terms to help you get started.
island — In Fortnite, a map (or level) is called an island. When you make an island with the Creative toolset, that island is your gameplay area. You can add things to your island that make for interesting, fun, or even educational gameplay.
hub — When you first enter Creative, you’re in a hub, which, like the name suggests, provides a point for jumping to somewhere else. The hub contains a golden rift — your portal to your own personal islands (and yes, you can make more than one!).
prop — A prop is something that you can place on your island that makes it more interesting visually and helps build a theme. A prop can be a structure, furniture, plants, or any of hundreds — possibly thousands! — of other things available in the Creative inventory.
device — A device, like a prop, is something you can place on your island. But devices are different from props because you use them to create player interactions or schedule timed events. Different devices do different things, but they all do something. You can customize devices to do things the way you want them to. Devices are the building blocks of game mechanics — and how you control and direct gameplay.
island developer — If you create your own island, you are a Fortnite developer. A developer is someone who combines a passion for games with this powerful collection of Fortnite developer tools to build unique, shareable games.
You’ll find lots more terms defined in the Fortnite Glossary, with new entries added regularly.
Take Advantage of Multiple Learning Paths
The Fortnite Creative documentation provides great resources for learning more about making fun, engaging islands.
Follow step-by-step tutorials on building games, or look over the device pages for inspiration. Watch a video, explore a sample game mechanic — find tons of info for mastering Fortnite Creative!
Next Up: Unreal Editor for Fortnite!
Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) is a PC application for designing, developing and publishing games directly into Fortnite.
Whether you’re new to making games, coming from Fortnite Creative, or Unreal Engine (UE), you can use UEFN to expand your game design and development to a whole new level.
UEFN is currently available on PCs only.
UEFN for Fortnite Developers
You’ve been using the Creative toolset to build your games, and getting a great response from players and followers. So why take the time to learn a new way to work?
If you’re already a Fortnite developer, you’ll recognize many of the same devices that power your Fortnite experiences, but with more “under the hood” access that you can use to make things look and perform exactly the way you want. Fortnite Creative and UEFN are complementary toolsets.ndefined
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With UEFN, you can:
Import custom props and other assets.
Customize devices.
Create animations and special effects.
Make unique materials and textures.
Use existing materials in new ways.
Add sounds.
Sculpt your own unique terrains that include rivers, lakes, and mountains.
Make live edits that show up in UEFN and Creative simultaneously.
Changes you make in Creative when in a live edit session are also saved in UEFN.
Playtest your work in Fortnite Creative from UEFN, and save edits from UEFN directly to your Creative island.
And so much more!
This means that once you learn the UEFN workflows, you can develop more customized gameplay in environments that look exactly like you want them to, and you can do it even faster!
UEFN for Unreal Engine Users
What can you expect if you’re already an Unreal Engine user?
Now you can bring your imagination to Fortnite and its millions of players using the power of Unreal Engine. With UEFN, you get a version of the Unreal Editor that can create and publish experiences directly to Fortnite.
UEFN has taken many proven tools and workflows from the Unreal editor and combined these with the toolset found in Fortnite Creative. You’ll find a modified workflow, but you should be able to pick it up easily.
You’ll find familiar Unreal Engine features, such as:
Unreal Engine’s modeling tools for blocking out geometry
Control Rig and Sequencer to rig and animate in UEFN
The Niagara VFX system and Post Process Volumes for visual effects
Unreal Engine tools for sculpting and painting expansive terrain
The Unreal Engine Material Editor for creating a unique visual style
And so much more!
You’ll need to get familiar with devices (the primary building blocks for authoring game mechanics) as well as the Verse programming language, which you can use to customize those devices. But no worries, there's an array of learning resources to get you up to speed quickly.
UEFN Is for Everyone!
If you’re new to both UE and UEFN, again, no worries! From novice to sage, there's a level of learning to help you climb from where you are to where you want to be.
Build a Collective Dream
Got friends or teammates that spark your creativity?
You can set up collaborative teams to work on your UEFN projects, share access to your island between team members, and let different collaborators work on different aspects of a project at the same time.
Use live edit to test the quality of your work with multiple players in real time.
Together, you can build the game of your collective dreams!
Say It in UEFN
Use these terms to get up and running more quickly in UEFN.
asset — In UEFN, an asset is any element used to build a game. For example, an asset could be a prop, a material that changes the appearance (color, shininess, and so on) of the asset, or an audio sample file called a sound cue. Each asset is saved in its own file in UEFN.
project — A project contains a collection of assets. You can edit a project and its assets in UEFN, then test your edits in Fortnite Creative to make sure they work the way you want them to.
developer — A game developer is someone who develops games using the tools available in UEFN and Fortnite Creative. "Developer" is an umbrella term that includes Fortnite game designers, artists, programmers, and architects.
viewport — The viewport is a visual representation of your island in UEFN. The viewport contains a variety of tools you can use to see your work and control edits to your assets. Those edits are reflected in the asset behavior.
playtest — A way to test what you’re making in UEFN by using Fortnite Creative to see if it works the way you expect it to.
live edit — During playtesting, there is a live connection between UEFN and Fortnite Creative. Any changes you make in the viewpoint immediately show up in the island you've connected to in Fortnite Creative. Changes made to Creative are also propagated to, and saved in UEFN.
golden path — A golden path is a procedure that doesn't go off in unexpected directions. Think of it as the straightest line from point A to point B. This is how UEFN tutorials are written, to ensure that if you follow instructions, you’ll end up where you want to be!
There are also links to glossary definitions throughout the user instructions and reference pages, and you can always visit the UEFN Glossary if you’re not sure how a term is used in UEFN.
Where to Start
Start here to see how to add UEFN to your game-development arsenal!
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Follow the onboarding paths for UEFN, then jump right in to a tutorial or two to see how the pieces fit together.
Adding Verse to the Fortnite Mix!
As you familiarize yourself with the UEFN pages available, you’ll discover something interesting — which is all the places where the Verse programming language fits right in with customizing your gameplay.
Verse is a programming language designed with video games and interactive, 3D, realtime experiences in mind.
What UEFN is to Creative, Verse is to UEFN. But find out for yourself!
You could say that Verse is designed for the metaverse. (See what we did there? 😉)
Think Outside of the Island with Verse
Stepping into Verse makes many things possible.
Want to build complex interactions between players and your game world? Turn to Verse.
Need more precise control over when things happen? Verse can help.
Looking for dynamic interactions based on the player's state or position on your island? Program it with Verse!
With Fortnite Creative, you can construct gameplay rules using devices, but you can only connect these devices in specific, pre-defined ways. If you want to do something that no existing device or combination of devices can do, you can step up your game to UEFN to make it happen, and once you're in UEFN, Verse is just another step away.
Verse supplements UEFN with a programming language that bridges the gap between existing game mechanics and your imagination. With UEFN, Verse is ready — for both experienced programmers and for those who are learning to program for the first time.
So whether you're a programmer already, or know little to nothing about programming, there's instructional scaffolding that will transport you into the world of Verse.
So You've Never Coded
If you want to learn how to program, you’ve come to the right place.
Learning to write code can be intimidating for the beginner, but programming is inherent to game design, and sooner or later, if you keep progressing down the game developer path, you’ll want to learn to write your own custom game code.
Watch this fun video for some insight into how a programmer thinks, and don’t be surprised if you’re hungry for pizza when it’s over!
Follow the Verse onboarding checklist, learn how to modify and run a Verse program, or go through the lessons to learn the basics of writing code, with hands-on exercises for each lesson.
Like with UEFN, there’s an onboarding checklist for anyone coming to Verse for the first time, and it’s especially useful for someone who’s new to programming!
The Verse Glossary
This glossary covers both Verse terms and terms that are basic to programming. Chances are, if you come across a word in the Verse pages that you don’t get, there’s going to be a definition for it in the Verse Glossary.
Already Know How to Code?
Verse draws from the best features of other programming languages as well as bringing its own special ingredients.
For a quick overview of the Verse language, explore the Verse Language Quick Reference. This covers Verse features with brief descriptions of each.
For a better understanding, open the Verse Language Reference section, where different aspects of Verse are covered in depth.
Use the Verse API Reference for access to technical information, along with code examples and snippets.
Customize Your Devices with Verse
Can’t find a device to fit your needs? Or find a particular device too limiting? Do not fear, Verse is here.
Like UEFN, the Verse documentation provides gameplay tutorials that give you a hands-on look at how Verse works with UEFN.
With Verse, the sky's the limit!