I think it's safe to say that the game that this year will be remembered for will probably be "Fortnite." The game has already attracted a following of over 45 million players on the Playstation 4, Xbox one and Pc platforms, and it shows no signs of slowing down, due in part to its recent release on mobile devices. "Fortnite's" success is without a doubt due to its Battle Royale mode, but what if I told you that the original idea for "Fortnite" wasn't at all the "Battle Royale" shooter it is today?
The inception of 'Fortnite'
The year is 2011. Epic Games has just finished its work on the third "Gears of War" game and are looking for a breath of fresh air.
This leads them to start their passion project which became known as "Fortnite." This was supposed to be a survival game where players would scavenge for supplies, build bases, and survive on a large map, together or alone.
Epic employees described it as taking influence from "Minecraft" and "Terraria." The theme was also supposed to be much darker instead of the light-hearted shooter we know and love. The color scheme was planned to be much more bland, with greys and light browns being used constantly due to their use of that selection in the "Gears of War" series. Later, however, Epic opted for a more vibrant and colorful interface, as well as a much more light-hearted tone, compared to their previous game, effectively laying the foundation for what would eventually become the game we know today.
The first public announcement
Later in 2011, Epic Games officially announced "Fortnite" at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards. The announcement, however, was extremely early and was later confirmed by Donald Mustard, the Creative Lead at Epic, to have taken place a mere three weeks after the studio had originally started development of the game.
Fans were disappointed when they learned how long they would have to wait to get their hands on the project. The game lost public interest soon and went relatively silent until the game's release date was announced in early 2017.
'Fortnite' pre-release
"Fortnite" had a rough and long development process. Many changes were made to their original concept of "Fortnite," with Epic ultimately deciding to make a mission-based, tower defense game that evolved into what we know now as "Fortnite Save the World." After six years of development, Epic announced that they planned to release their new game in July of 2017.
The game garnered an immediate following, though not nearly at the scale it has today. Players were excited to see a big developer such as Epic attempt such a unique and interesting game.
The release of 'Fortnite' and the introduction of Battle Royale
"Fortnite" had a relatively smooth release, reaching expected sales numbers and ultimately was considered a moderate success. The game was praised for its functional controls and comedic theme. No one, however, could've known what happened next. The employees at Epic Games were huge fans of the "Battle Royale" genre and thought it would be a relatively simple and fun project to add it to their new game, "Fortnite."
Early in the development of this mode, they decided the "Battle Royale" mode should be free to play, in order to bring as many people into their game as possible.
On September 26th, 2017, "Fortnite Battle Royale" released on the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC platforms, quickly garnering a large following. Each week this Battle Royale mode brought in exponentially more players until eventually becoming the in-depth and unique mode we all enjoy today.
"Fortnite's" success seems to know no boundaries and is expected to increase even more in the future. Epic has nearly limitless opportunities with this gem of a game and we all can't wait to see what comes next. For all things "Fortnite," be sure to check out my page, as well as the fantastic community of gamers at Blasting News.
