Fortnite State of Development Announcement
By Zac Cameron ·
Epic Games has released a State of Development post, outlining the planned improvements to the game going on behind the scenes.
Large scale multiplayer games are always undergoing improvements, whether it be new characters, engine upgrades, or just additions to various game types. In an announcement earlier today, Epic Games has outlined the changes they have been working on behind the scenes in order to make Fortnite Battle Royale a better game for everyone to enjoy.
Controller
Quite a few of the items being worked on involve making a controller feel much better when it comes to building. Epic Games has been working on bug fixes involving Builder Pro, as well as the Turbo Building feature, in order to make the modes feel better to use. Additionally, they have been working on the ability to turn off aim assist when it comes to building, while also working towards having custom bindings for the controller.
Limited Time Modes and Items
We’ve all seen the limited time modes recently, from the beloved 50v50 mode, to Solo Showdown. Epic have been using the modes as a sort of testing ground, because of the freedom offered that normal mode doesn’t allow. Additionally, Epic is working on a Sandbox mode, where you can practice exploring / looting, building, and even enable friendly fire so you can practice against your friends.
Performance
While not as exciting as a Sandbox mode, the fixes behind the scenes are potentially the most impactful, relating to tracking and fixing bugs, optimizing load times, and boosting server performance from 20Hz to 30Hz. These changes and more are designed less as features, and more as core game health upgrades to ensure better performance for everyone.
Quality of Life
Several QoL changes here will make playing the game easier in various ways. Introducing pop-ups that track your challenge progress, making the mini-map high resolution, improving the footstep and vertical audio, as well as spectator UI improvements and possibly changing the Victory Royale screen to be more impactful.
Replay
As Epic gears up for the Celebrity Pro-Am at E3, they been working hard to improve the replay system, including allowing the camera to orbit around a point, as well as an auto-track that follows the action, rather than just a player. We should see these changes and more in upcoming patches, so stay tuned.