Fortnite was pitched by its developers Epic Games as "Minecraft meets Left For Dead,”
which alone should make those of you watching this want to immediately stop to download
the game for yourself.
Before you leave do, though, let's take a look at 10 Facts You Might Not Know About
Fortnite, the game that is quickly becoming the most popular game on the market right
now.
A joint venture between Epic Games, and People Can Fly, Fortnite is so popular that it's
number one streamer, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is suddenly the most popular streamer on platforms
like Twitch.
So, let's delve into the Top 10 Facts about Fortnite!
Some of these facts apply to the general game, while others are specifically about the Battle
Royale version.
Either way, let’s do it.
Copycats are Coming
Fortnite was announced way back in 2011, which is an eternity in video game time, and it
could've been released much earlier but when Player Unknown's Battlegrounds was released
and became popular the developers behind Fortnite felt like they
had lost their opportunity to strike first and decided to go back to the drawing board
to ensure that their game didn't end up looking like a cheap copycat of Battlegrounds, a game
that was extremely popular on its own merits and came out of the games as such (as its
Beta was one of the more popular PC games of its release year).
Speaking of cheap copycats, the massive success of Fortnite has spawned a few upcoming copycats,
with titles like The Darwin Project, Crazy Justice, and SOS, picking up where Fortnite
has left off in the battle royale genre.
Only time will tell whether or not those games will be able to knock either Fortnite or Player
Unknown's Battlegrounds from their thrones, but it's looking like the real winners will
be the video game players, as competition is always a good thing for the consumer and
from the look of those games (and the upcoming DLC/expansions that are coming for Fortnite),
that's true here as well.
Before we get any deeper into this little battle royale, take a second to hit that subscribe
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It’ll help keep us in fighting form.
Let’s get back into it.
Fortnite is Always Changing
While some of the details in terms of what that free play model will look like are still
unknown, what is safe to say is that Fortnite appears to be constantly looking for ways
to alter the gameplay in order to keep its players engaged and rewarded.
Originally it was a basic, "every man for himself" game where people were pitted against
one another in a gigantic map.
Since its alpha and beta versions, the game has expanded to make changes to the game maps,
lootboxes, and in-game dynamics.
Basically put, the game is constantly evolving.
After a 50v50 mode took the game by storm a while back, it was announced that a 5x20
mode was on the horizon too.
That'll include new maps and hopefully weapon types, which should help Fortnite continue
its reign as one of the top games through 2018 and into 2019.
So, if you've ever wanted to get into it, there's really no better time than right now.
Battle Royale Might Have Saved Fortnite
The early access to Fortnite let people pay to play the game starting in July of 2017.
While that version of got decent to good reviews, it didn't seem to be doing anything all that
different from what a lot of other free to play games were doing at best, and at worst,
it was called menu-heavy, repetitive—even boring.
Luckily for the people behind Fortnite, the release for the Battle Royale expansion was
only about two months behind the initial release of the early access version of the game.
That opened up the game to its now super famous and popular multiplayer version, and the game’s
popularity exploded.
It's funny how things work out sometimes, but considering that the Battle Royale expansion
was sort of an afterthought, it means that the future should be pretty bright now that
the developers know where to spend their time and energy.
Epic has a Full Separate Development Team Working on Battle Royale
The Battle Royale mode of Fortnite wasn't the initial or planned sole crux of the game.
It was actually meant to mainly be a PvE, free-to-play game with a general multiplayer
like most games have had for years.
However, with Battle Royale taking the entire world by storm seemingly overnight, Epic had
to basically restructure its business and its teams to both handle the capacity of players
who are playing the game at any given moment and to also ensure that they're fully taking
advantage of their current popularity.
So with that in mind, it was announced that Epic had split off a separate development
team from the main Fortnite devs to solely focus on multiplayer.
This team’s mandate is to both work on improving existing gameplay and put together DLC, like
new maps, new weapons and new characters, and new game modes.
That means that Fortnite Battle Royale should consistently be releasing new content on a
pretty regular basis for the next few years!
The Game Used to be A LOT Creepier
According to FortNite’s Wikipedia entry, the original game design aesthetic was actually
a lot "darker" and "creepier" than what we ended up getting, at least in terms of what
the enemies looked like.
The design of the husks and other enemies were meant to be a lot less PG, it seems,
at least according to the former design director of the game, Cliff Bleszinski.
He stated that they initially wanted to make the game scarier but changed their mind and
went with the more "cartoonish" approach because they found that people were finding the game
too grim, that the environment felt too “exhaustive," and also because they felt like it just opened
them up to even more competition than they already had by having their game then compete
with horror games like DayZ.
That doesn't mean that the game still doesn't have some creepy baddies in it, just that
they're not the type of creepy baddies that would make you not let your 10-year-old brother
or sister play.
The Game Design Used Pixar, Tim Burton and Looney Tunes as Inspiration
Once they decided to move on from the more adult, scary aesthetic for the computer generated
and controlled characters the developers had to find a new aesthetic to work with and that's
where they decided to really commit to the cartoonish nature of the graphics by looking
at some of the top cartoons in the history of the Western World.
The first company these days that you'd think of when you think of animation might be Pixar,
which was a major influence.
However, had you asked that question in the late 20th Century you would've gotten a totally
different answer, with the Looney Tunes most likely being a top one for most children
and Tim Burton's creepy aesthetic in films like The Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before
Christmas also most likely getting placed on that list.
Burton is maybe the best example of what ended up in the game, or the one that you most recognize
of those three, as he found a way to make scary palatable for small kids, and that's
the kind of balance that the people at Epic were clearly going for when they were developing
Fortnite, especially in terms of it's PvE gameplay.
It Almost had a PvP, Central Target, Base Building Mode
According to sources, while the game was in development there was a player vs. player
mode where "each side attempted to build up a base around a central target while trying
to attack the opponent's target after breaking through their base."
It isn't clear why that didn't make it into the final game, but it sounds like the best
example of a weaponized Minecraft that we've heard so far.
While that's not dissimilar to some of the objectives that other games have had in their
multiplayer modes, like Capture the Flag in Halo, for example, it takes the concept to
another level by adding the construction of a base—and the destruction of an enemy base.
That sounds amazing, and you'd have to think that it'll be included in a DLC in the future,
especially now that Epic has a full team working on stuff like that.
It has PlayerUnknown to Thank
We’ve already mentioned the fact that Fortnite originally wasn't going to have a Battle Royale
mode, but we haven’t yet gotten into just how and why the Battle Royale mode was added.
The fact that this mode was released about two months after the initial paid release
of Fortnite implies that it was part of the plan all along, but it turns out it was actually
a bit of a spur of the moment thing.
Apparently, the idea first struck the team very close to the initial release in mid-2017.
Following the release of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in March of 2017 and its rapid growth, Epic
Games saw the chance to create a battle royale mode out of Fortnite.
That means that the plan wasn't always to release Battle Royale and that PlayerUnknown
had a major influence on the game.
While it may not be the best thing for PlayerUnknown, it seems to have benefitted everyone else,
so we should all thank our lucky stars that Epic was able to basically copy their gameplay
openly and without restriction!
Fortnite Will Be Free...
But it’s Still Selling like Hotcakes
Like "Freemium" mobile games, there are more PC and Console games that are actually called
"Free-to-Play" games because the developers have to compete with one another and end up
making their money in-game purchases to compensate for the typical $50 or $60 fee that they'd
get up front.
Fortnite is going to be one of those games too, as it hasn't fully launched yet, and
once it does, it'll join the category of free to play games that are dominating the industry
right now.
Despite the fact that it'll eventually be free, over half a million people have purchased
the game in some form since it became available.
There's the $40 version that comes with access to the game as well as loot packs and cosmetic
items, the $60 Deluxe version, the $80 Super Deluxe version and $150 Limited Edition version
that includes additional heroes, weapon packs and more.
Despite all of the changing release dates and the fact that people have to pay for a
game that'll eventually be free.
The hype behind it seems to be getting bigger and bigger.
Fortnite is Coming to Your Mobile Device
With the success of Battle Royale seemingly coming out of nowhere, it shouldn't surprise
you to learn that Epic Games, the people behind the game are sort of playing catch up in terms
of everything.
As we've seen in this video, the initial plan wasn't for Fortnite to be a Battle Royale
game, so we're really only now beginning to scratch the surface as to what the game is
and what it will be in the coming months and years.
Part of that is porting the game to mobile phones — assuming you have an Android or
iOS device.
That's something that a lot of us older Millenials could've only dreamed of when we were in school,
and it's definitely only going to help Fortnite Battle Royale continue its explosive growth
unabated.
The beta version is actually available right now for iOS, and the Android version is on
its way!
Before heading into your next Battle Royale, take some time to hit that subscribe button
and notification bell, so you always find out when we put up a new video.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll catch ya next time.