| “ | Build games and experiences to play with your friends. Publish your creations to millions of Fortnite players. Earn money for creating games that your players love to play. Create the future of Fortnite, today.
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Fortnite: Creative is Game Mode in Fortnite that was released on December 6th 2018. It is a creation tool that allows players to create and publish their own experiences; anyone with Fortnite installed can access Creator-Made experiences from Discover. With each bi-weekly Fortnite update, Fortnite Creative continues to introduce new tools, items, and assets that can be used, frequently expanding creativity.
Fortnite Creative can be used separately, or in combination with UEFN (PC Only), which grants access to a wider range of tools and customisation, such as custom assets, Scene Graph for object manipulation, terrain editing, custom HUDs and user interface, mesh and material overrides, and more.
This section is a stub. Help the Fortnite Wiki by expanding it!Development History and Trivia
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This may contain speculation and/or fan interpretations.  |
| Due to lack of official information some information on this may therefore be partially incorrect. |
Fortnite Creative was planned from the beginning of Fortnite Battle Royale as part of Epic's idea to turn Fortnite into a "hub" of many different experiences. Creative was initially put together in a few months, and it was released in a very basic and limited form in December 2018 due to Epic's focus on speed over perfection.
Creative received consistent updates from December 2018 up until April 2020, when major updates and communication from Epic suddenly stopped, with the "what's new in Creative" release notes being renamed to "bug fixes in Creative." This situation caused massive outrage among the Creative community, with many feeling as if Creative's future was uncertain and as if Epic had abandoned them. While Epic never stated exactly why this happened, it was likely either due to the pandemic, which disrupted their regular workflow, or due to Epic's focus on developing UEFN (which was intended to release the following year).
Development resumed in December of 2020, with Epic focussing on converting all of their old trap-based devices into prop-based ones and implementing requested features. It was during December 2020 that Epic announced UEFN. In 2021, Epic launched Discover, their next big step into achieving the Fortnite Hub. During this time, Epic focussed on adding missing features to Creative. One highly requested feature was the inclusion of Mythic items, and while the Battle Royale team had originally prevented the Creative Team from releasing Mythic and Exotic items into Creative, the team backed down and Epic released past mythics daily into creative as "christmas presents" at the start of Chapter 3. Exotics were added at the start of Chapter 3: Season 2.
Meanwhile, UEFN, which was supposed to release in 2021, was subject to multiple delays. In December 2022, Epic tried doing a livestream in order to demo the engine, but had to cancel it as they could not get the editor to load. Tim Sweeney jokingly announced that the editor would be delayed until "January 90th." Following this, with the launch of Chapter 4: Season 2, an exploit occurred where players who loaded into Fortnite through GeForce Now loaded into UEFN instead of Fortnite, allowing them to preview the editor early; this was patched quickly. Eventually, the editor was released in March 2023 during GDC. During GDC, Epic revealed the first version of their Creator Roadmap, detailing their development plans for UEFN over the coming years.
At the beginning of Chapter 5, Epic began a "you want it? we've got it!" program, where creators could submit their most wanted missing items on social media or through Epic's forums, and Epic would add them if possible. This led to many long-time missing items, such as the Mythic Goldfish, the Icy Grappler and the Crossbow, being added.
In preparation for the State of Unreal 2024, the Creative Team was asked for preview footage of the First Person Camera, set to release at the end of 2024. However, no such device was in development, as it had been scrapped due to its difficulty to implement with Age Ratings. Over the next few weeks, the team reinstated the project, and scrambled to produce a prototype of the device, ready to be displayed in the livestream.
Update History
Chapter 1
- Update v7.00: Introduced Fortnite Creative. Monetisation and publishing is currently limited to Support-A-Creator Codes. Creators are also limited to 4 islands, each one a temperate island.
- Update v8.20: Introduced Channels, allowing Devices to interact with each other.
- Update v10.10: Revamped how Islands work. Creators can now create and delete islands, choosing which type to use instead of being forced to use a set number of each specific type. The island limit has been increased to 50.
Chapter 2
- Update v11.00: Introduced Featured Hubs.
- Updated all Creative islands to be surrounded by swimmable water, instead of the instant-elimination water.
- Update v14.40: Creators now have access to the Matchmaking Portal to use in their own islands, meaning that matchmaking is now available for all experiences.
- Update v16.20: Creative now supports the Chaos Physics Engine, allowing for modern Vehicles and Physics.
- Update v17.50: Introduced Discover, allowing players to browse and matchmake into published islands.
Chapter 3
- Update v22.20: Introduced Direct Event Binding, replacing the previous Channel system. Direct Event Binding removes the send and receive limit that channels previously had.
- Update v22.30: Introduced Creative Royale, allowing creators to make their own experiences on Artemis.
Chapter 4
- Update v23.00: Introduced v2 versions of Devices, compatible with Verse. Creators were able to opt-in to using these Devices for a limited time, until everyone's experiences were eventually automatically updated to use v2 Devices.
- Update v24.01: Introduced UEFN and the Island Creator Program.
- Creators can now earn money directly from Fortnite Creative, based off their island's engagement. As a result of this, creators are now no longer allowed to promote their Creator Code in their islands.
- Update v25.00: Removed Featured Hubs to simplify the creator workflow.
- Update v26.30: Creators can now give their experience a custom lobby background.
- Update v27.10: Each Experience now has an age rating.
Chapter 5
- Update v28.10: Updated the logo for Fortnite Creative.
- Update v29.01: Introduced Brand Templates, allowing creators to use Collaboration Items in their experiences.
- Update v32.10: Upgraded Creative islands to support Lumen and Nanite through an upgraded TODM.
Chapter 6
- Update v34.00: Introduced Scene Graph in Beta.
- Update v37.00: Added Debug Commands, allowing creators to access a set of commands (such as adjusting their health) while playtesting.
- Update v37.40: Introduced Physics support to UEFN, in Beta, allowing creators to assign physics to any object.
- Added the ability for Creators to change which Brand Template their island uses after it is created, allowing creators to switch between different collabs.
- Update v38.00: Introduced Verse Fields, allowing creators to use Verse in custom User Interfaces.
Gallery
Accessing/Creating your Experience
When you enter Creative, you will spawn inside Hub. The Hub allows you to access your islands, and the islands of everyone in your party. Islands are accessed through Rifts, and your island will be highlighted with a golden rift, instead of a blue one, with a golden beacon. Your rift will allow you to access one of your islands at a time, and to change its destination you must interact with the screen beside it.
Upon interacting with the screen beside your golden rift, a list of all of your islands will appear. From here, you will have the option to select an island, or alternatively you can manage your islands by renaming them, duplicating them, or deleting them. You can also view and restore any of your recently-deleted islands. To create an island, click the "Create New Island" button. This will bring up a menu that contains a list of Island Templates.
Developing your Experience
Creators have access to a wide variety of tools while creating an Experience. The Phone allows creators to move, place, rotate, resize, and delete objects in the world. When the creator is placing an object with the Phone, a hologram of the object shows an outline of the object and where it will be placed. The Content Browser, accessed through the map keybind, contains a large library of assets, items, and mechanics that Creators can use while creating an experience. Creators can also fly by double tapping their jump button, allowing them to travel faster, and phase through objects that may otherwise obstruct their movement.
Creators are able to build and decorate their islands using a wide variety of provided assets. Players can access prefabs, pre-built structures that creators can use and edit, from the content browser. Creators can also mix-and-match galleries, which contain large libraries of assets relating to specific themes (eg indoor objects), when designing their islands. Prefabs and galleries can also be opened, allowing creators to select and place individual assets from them directly, instead of placing down the full prefab or gallery at once.
Creators can set up gameplay mechanics using Devices, accessed from the content browser, which can be placed in the island as holographic 2d sprites. Each device has its own function and purpose, for example the Reboot Van allows players to reboot their fallen teammates. Some devices work out-of-the-box, but others will need to be set up first. In order to set up a device's mechanics, press the interact button while facing a nearby device; this will bring up a settings menu that allows you to change a device's properties, alongside how it interacts with other devices.
Creators can customise many aspects of their experience using the Island Settings menu. Island Settings provide a wide range of options that allow creators to control the rules, environment, and gameplay mechanics of their islands. These settings include options to change the time of day, weather effects, and lighting, helping creators set the visual tone and atmosphere of their experience. Gameplay can be tailored through settings that adjust the maximum number of players, team sizes, and spawn rules, etc. Creators can also control player movement, including jump height, movement speed, and fall damage, allowing for unique mobility experiences like deathruns.
In order to ensure that all experiences work on every device, there is a limit on how many objects can be in one area at a time. Every experience has a maximum memory limit of 100,000 units, and each asset and device that is placed will use a small amount of memory. The first time an asset or device is placed, it uses more memory than any duplicates placed afterward. For example, placing a trigger for the first time uses 557 memory units, but each additional trigger will cost less. If the total memory usage exceeds the 100,000, creators won’t be able to playtest or publish their experience until they reduce the island’s memory usage.
Playtesting and Publishing
Once you are finished with building your island, or if you would like to test a mechanic, you can playtest your experience from the sidebar by pressing the "Start Game" button. Upon pressing the button, your island's current state will be saved, and you will enter the game as a player. You can enable debug options from the Island Settings in order to make playtesting easier; for example, Fast Iteration Mode will temporarily disable all player spawn pads and you will spawn in-game where you just were in edit mode, allowing you to test more quickly. Once they are happy with their experience, all creators that are part of the Island Creator Program can publish their experiences in the Creator Portal; they can also publish updates to their experiences at a later date. You can sign up to the Island Creator Program here.
List of Updates
Below is a list of all the Ecosystem Updates and Release Notes, documenting what has changed with each update in Fortnite Creative. Updates are released roughly bi-weekly, with the next update being planned for August 26th 2025.
