A new Fortnite creation tool is on the way
Epic is launching its Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and its arriving very soon. The creation application will let users design and publish content directly into Fortnite starting March 22, 2023.
This creative tool has been talked about before by Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, as a way for people to build in-game content and release it in Fortnite. Thanks to the new store page for the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), we’ve got details on what exactly that entails.
The UEFN will allow users to import meshes, textures, animations, and audio. Animation, gameplay design, custom content, and more are all in store. Plus, it will have a Live Edit tool for real-time collaboration and revision control, as well.
Epic plans to share more details next week, during its State of Unreal talk at GDC 2023.
Tap into the unreal
A few FAQs on the Unreal Editor for Fortnite page clear up a bit about how this differs from other creation tools, as Fortnite already has Creative mode. UEFN is a PC-only editor with a range of tools. Rather than Creative, where you’re controlling a character to build and edit islands, UEFN has more similarities with the tools and workflows used to develop Fortnite Battle Royale itself. It’s planned to be built out and evolve through its Beta launch.
The result could be a fair bit of user-generated content, a la Roblox. Which, given how massive Roblox is, makes sense. I’m curious to see just what people can do with these tools, but also very curious about what plans look like for publishing and potentially monetizing this new wave of Fortnite content. Hopefully we’ll learn a bit more during next week’s State of Unreal chat.
