Developing the Art of Fortnite

[@Monsterbwoi]

it's honestly sad to see how fortnite went from this cool horror experience, to a fun cartoony world, and then having all that evolution phased out and replaced with this soulless, boring "style" we have nowadays

[@59FPSgame]

It's actually great, a mix of 'american gothic' in the style of Norman Rockwell and modern illustration. It's timeless and functional

[@Monsterbwoi]

It really isn't, it's just a washed down, soulless version of what it used to be that lacks any of the individuality it used to have

[@59FPSgame]

There are plenty of Gritty games on the market like Rust, PUBG, Warzone, Tarkov and so on, but every game wants to be Fortnite. I love how Donald Mustard describes it as "playing toys with other kids on the front porch" . You decide on how much 'washing down" or soulless you need Cancelar Responder

[@Monsterbwoi]

ok the fact you mention grittyness makes me think we might be on a different page just to be clear i'm talking about the art style during chapter 1 (Specifically the early days of it)

[@parispc]

Im actively making a video on this. I personally think the oversaturation of collaborations ruined the games artstyle. They stripped the game of its unique nature, and made it more boring in order to leave it as a canvas to copy paste any collab content. If your interested I would love to send it over when I finish.

[@gatex33d74]

Crazy how most of this doesnt apply to fortnite anymore they really butchered their own art style after chapter 2... chapter 3 seemed like a nice "back to the roots" but it barely lasted less than a year, now we are in the realistic 4k era with chapter 5... really sad...

[@JuhoSprite]

yup its sad. look at all the weapons and cars now. boring and too realistic

[@DoingMahBest]

All this work, and now all the guns are meant to look as robust and tactical as possible with no flair and personality. Same with the skins with how much they're going to a different artstyle wuth more realistic faces and no cartoonish eyes etc

[@SuperStarK1n]

We lost such an awesome visual style. Soon we may get it back... but it might not be authentic. It really is a shame.

[@gryzlaw]

Seeing this 2023 is such weird time capsule with how the IP has evolved

[@carl5939]

devolved

[@kequa1011]

its kinda sad seeing that now fortnite isn't doing this cartoon style anymore they are doing them more realistic not funky and cartoony even do that style is what made it differentek I like here 19:15 look at those boxes they are not just plain square like now they are funky like the point was he even said it to make them look interesting to look at not all boring,i really wonder why they stop doing this type pf art style the color Is still there but its not the same

[@drakubro5577]

I find it quite interesting that a majority of the assets and textures from the older images were still in the files, like you can see those pieces in Creative and UEFN, and how 7 to 9 years of that went into falling apart in the span of a few years

[@oak7741]

blame it on tencent. fortnite got too big for its shoes and the shareholders got involved, hence the cybertruck in fortnite

[@SergeantNooob]

fortnite did a whole ass 180 😭😭😭😭

[@DoctorDex]

I love the cartoony look of Fortnite. The style makes it stand out from the countless realistic games.

[@lightningandodinify]

opposite for me. I'm tired of seeing the same old pixar/dreamworks look for all these games. I've seen so many games give up on elements of realism in favor of less detailed cartoony abstraction. This was a breath of fresh air several years ago (remember the gen 6 gritty trend?) but now its rebounded to the opposite trend.

[@Colt100]

1 year later the only cartoony thing is the older skins.

[@johnstewart4679]

@@Colt100 2 years later and nothing cartoony left

[@TheOminousBlade]

@@johnstewart4679 I think the cartoony artstyle has remained the same, the crossover skins all ways are tried to add a cartoony look to it and the new props still look exaggerated

[@sugxi]

@@TheOminousBlade it's lost that sort of lived in world look and the character of Fortnite had. Now it's a mashup of cartoony and more realistic bits but without the wear and tear and the soul which makes the game seem almost corporate and clean

[@fahadsaeedx]

What I really like about GDC is that they aren't promoting their games so they can talk freely about the problems they face and educate people about the art of game development

[@husnainijaz1546]

true

[@wt9m]

hello 2024

[@ChristopherCameron]

I actually really like the old concept of dark and scary for another game, even a battle royale style game. Imagine a battle royale in a silent hill world!

[@coldhotpocket8226]

Like a zombie survival style aswell, dealing with hostile zombies and players.

[@Ozzianman]

Christopher Cameron Spaceman 1256 Dark and Scary? Dealing with hostile zombies and players? then you have Hunt: Showdown.

[@PasscodeAdvance]

Fortnite should have been a cartoony horror game.

[@spacexploration4947]

@@PasscodeAdvance save the world

[@varianttombstones]

@@spacexploration4947 But that isn't scary at all.

[@Em-mn4xh]

I really thought this would be boring but I was intrigued the whole time and didn't get bored once. This was so interesting and I love how much effort and hard work they've put into the games style and it definitely gives me more respect for save the world in itself. Everything about the design and the process was just so amazing, and I particularly loved the early game clip and its grungy, unfinished style. I would love to see that in some type of add-on in the future or something; I thought it was so cool.

[@Armchair]

The art of this game is great, they took the time to design something that looks unique to that world. So glad it evolved away from that brown and grey shooter origin.

[@Plexi.T]

@Declan Taylor I might know a thing or two about there amazing character designs

[@JackTrahanOfficial]

It went back to the brown and gray shooter origin.

[@zoinksscoob5077]

I wonder if this guy is still on the development team and what his reaction might be to adding Ariana Grande and Peter Griffin to his carefully crafted class-based zombie shooter...

[@Joker-dd9nk]

If you go to artstation and search for his name, you'll see that he's labeled as a former art director. The last FN project that can be found on artstation related to him stays at C3S2

[@zoinksscoob5077]

@@Joker-dd9nk Very interesting, glad to have gotten an update on this. Thanks

[@SupernoobCv]

​@@Joker-dd9nkinteresting. It's also the last Fortnite season before they released the break season (C3S3), which was also the last season before the game's direction went pretty much downhill because of the metaverse... just pointing that out û_u

[@WarjoyHeir]

I am not a big fan of the Fortnite artstyle but this is one of the best talks on game art on youtube. One of few that is with complete information, really insightful. I loved it and it also made me appreaciate Fortnite a bit more.

[@astroevada]

2:26 This, this right here, technically being the first ever "build" of Fortnite, is insane. I doubt this was even a playable game, just a bunch of assets thrown together in UE3

[@MrMiniMeister]

One of the key take aways here is to keep iterating if you're not truly happy with something. Too many developers settle for "good enough" when trying to get something out the door.

[@coldhotpocket8226]

3:30 "Concept of creatures that come out of the mist" So THATS why they are called mist monsters!

[@karlsnilsson]

Super interesting hearing about all the refinement and iteration for creating a character design language, knowing now what they could never have known then - that this style would have to work in a way that can be applied to nearly every IP in existence through crossover character skins

[@asbi2022]

basicly the firsts collabs before they had to make them like the movie or the show (1rst black widow Nfl skins star lord marshmellow)

[@VladdyDaddy45]

i love how they threw this all out the window for an extra 20 dollars per year!!!!!!!

[@trevyn421]

Excellent presentation from an excellent artist. Congrats on all the success!

[@TupacsStepSisterlocoman]

The building system is a game changer, pun not intended...

[@RorenX]

really do think id prefer that 2011 build but more polished

[@ddxniels]

same

[@NeonGrillz]

Durrburger skin confirmed since 2011

[@Cyancat123]

Vehicles confirmed since 2011

[@xNARCx]

This is fascinating! Amazing to see how much the game has changed since its conception and how long it took to make a game that would change the world of gaming years later.

[@benjaminbeltran7004]

I admire the sincerity of admitting they completely ditched their aesthetic vision in exchange of success. Personally I don't like the cartoony artstyle but i do love colorful palettes.

[@galacticwarlock2271]

I think the cartoon style is amazing. It is clean, you can see into the horizon and it adds to a fun asthetic. I don't think they sold out at all.

[@ap4702]

Games don't always have to be realistic looking

[@emikochan13]

selling out just means you're making what people want.

[@Maarten2142]

He says he personally doesnt like the cartoony artstyle so does that mean he is saying games have to be realistic looking? nope. Another short sighted response that isnt even a response to his comment.

[@supreemcourt9181]

the cartoony designs are perfect, it embraces the fantasy side of gaming where if it was more realistic you'd stress over the logic of quick onsite building

[@andraw4003]

Where did it all go, Epic?

[@fairdiscussion8258]

I'm just pointing it out because he didn't really clarify, but I'm pretty sure that first and second Fortnite screenshot was of one of the warehouses next to loot lake outside Pleasant Park. That is one awesome fun fact honestly.

[@BrattierIce]

Modern save the world could really use the open world and darker nights...

[@ANJROTmania]

Damn, my boy Jonesy was basically the genesis of Fortnite characters.

[@ANJROTmania]

And Civ VI too. The artstyle shift was still so divisive among the fans, as even the characters themselves are separated, some of them are campy, and some are slightly more realistic. Hate it or love it, this stylized style is really a gamechanger.

[@AllWithinReach91]

Does anyone else get reminded of The Sims, more The Urbz spinoff in terms of the art style? A lot of skins/costumes too

[@galacticwarlock2271]

I'm glad they made the game colorful. But it would be cool to see those creatures in action.

[@G5im7]

36:47 Jonesy and Ramirez 🥲

[@MrNinjaRope]

This is a fantastic presentation thank you for sharing Peter.

[@ChuggaChug]

I don’t mind how the game looks in Chapter 6 at all, but I will say it’s awesome to see this art style continue to live on (and even get updated with lumen/nanite graphics) in Reload and OG to this day

[@jerryquicken5182]

I’ve always been similar when he said the thing about how he knows the rock is gonna move because it’s different shade or whatever I’ve been like that since I was a kid I could always tell in the Disney movies and cartoons I would watch what would move based on what it looked like

[@georgieboat]

I would like to see there design process and ideas for some of the later battle royals events, like the cube and the rifts, maybe even some of the events like with the vault and the zero point

[@leroygolatt5490]

CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME: What are those arm straps (nearby the wrist) on characters? The red knight has it, but the screen is red, the default skins have them, but the screen is blue. The straps have 3 switches and one little twig on the front

[@Leo_8753]

i’ve always assumed they’re supposed to track the storm or something like that

[@qigong1001]

@22:41 Doesn't he mean increase depth of field? Looks like more is in focus with the the new fortnite landscape.

[@jinxthesweet]

Wonder why they never released all those survivor models :?

[@jacquesbermonwebster]

It’s so interesting seeing how fortnite was originally meant to be and how it is now (chapter 2, Season 8) and how the battle Royale story has totally strayed away from how it was originally developed.

[@mmcc2852]

i would like to play the original concept

[@Anti-Nerf]

In the end they massacred their identity and artistic style.

[@p.s.9991]

What is that 4th material at 20:10 ? Did it come ingame?Cause would be cool to have a unbreakable material ^^

[@Shooshed]

you can upgrade materials in the Save The World mode, and that is where it is from.

[@kjowl-3]

yea it is upgraded brick in stw

[@FrostZTX]

@@kjowl-3 actually upgraded metal to level 2

[@DanielEidi]

The number of revisions you guys had to do sounds absolutely nightmarish. And yet, they all had to be done for Fortnite to become what it is today. Perfecting and daring to ditch the work is one of the two biggest takeaways for me from this video. The other one is to not stick to the style everywhere like you did with the characters. I've started to notice that tendency amongst professional illustrators too. I thank you very much, this was very interesting and useful. Good luck with your future endeavours!

[@jl6723]

So much assets, really hope they get released to the UE4 asset store eventually, especially unused ones, would love to use them for playtesting reasons.

[@sabriboughanmi2435]

I do not believe that nobody asked this question !! What are your best practices for improving performance when creating your assets? Like sharing material between assets ...

[@zeon3d755]

Do you know if EPic will ever release some of the unused assets from Fortnite into the UE4 marketpace?

[@culturedonnanoko]

So before Fortnite was Fortnite it was Silent Hill??? Love it

[@mica-yl4bj]

is there a name to this art style?

[@brunoob-1]

only catroonish is the most/very popular word used by the community

[@tmeers3461]

They should add some of the old character models as heroes in STW

[@cosmotect]

I am amazed at the ability to look at art that keeps getting better, and even after 5 years of development say "It's not quite right" and redo it.. Makes a lot of sense that the game blew up when the right game mode was applied to art so meticulously created.

[@ghosthunter790]

So true

[@UrbanFoxGamer]

what is stylized shape language, expressive shape language?? what is shape language at all?

[@Gensis]

I remember watching this when It came out, so interesting

[@YTRingoster]

33:40 Interesting that the stuff they pulled back from in this chart, the planar faces, small wide-set eyes, and somewhat less-attractive faces, all became hallmarks of Sea of Thieves' character designs. Also, wannabe character artists take note; that chart is a goldmine.

[@borisfeinbrand8937]

It didn't work for their aesthetic, as they wanted to keep the characters traditionally beautiful, while Sea of Thieves went for a more rugged edge style of characters. Same starting point with different end goals and both were executed very well. Now, wether someone likes one result over the other is completely irrelevant outside of ones own taste. The important part is if it worked, and it did in both cases.

[@YTRingoster]

ロボット鳥山 Fair enough, it's application might be limited to newcomers in the stylized field, but it's still a nice little graphic. And please don't go around saying who is and isn't a professional.

[@cloudsweater]

22:04 to 22:06 “ah fuck” What every game developer metaphorically says.

[@gnightrow4020]

*Who designed The ...* ~~Default Dance~~ ?

[@MegaKaaber]

Scrubs

[@Atheist_1940]

gNightrow craig

[@BenExell]

This is an Art talk, not animation. Two completely separate teams.

[@thelunn]

Turk

[@SpaceCat01]

me

[@Yura-Sensei]

I'd say about half of the games utilise similar style in their games since about 2013

[@GabToons1]

The new epic art employees should be made to watch this because the new game style has lost all this and completely disregarded the janky odd style and have instead followed the rest in the bland mundane parallel lines of the real world

[@GamerManNathan]

i need a glass of water after hearing this guy talk for 12 seconds

[@sharklygoldman4040]

Early stages look a lot like Zombie Playground from Kickstarter. What happened to that game?

[@smejes1]

"How do you feel about being in charge, right now, of what the Battle Royale genre means to gaming?"

[@dynomitenation2554]

Can they work on this too because this looks like the coolest game I don’t really like save the world much

[@kayrosis5523]

Really cool to see how the game developed into what it is today, but their original game idea looks really cool and since they now have ALL the money, they should go back and make it :D But still, it's almost always the stylized art that makes a good game stand out from the crowd, and simultaneously makes it timeless. Even 10-20 years later, TF2 still looks great, Crash Bandicoot still looks great, Spyro Still looks Great, Kingdom Hearts still looks great.Yes, they added some more polys and higher res textures to the older games, but their distinctive art style will ensure that even in another 10-20 years, they will look great, and Fortnite will join that crowd.

[@diadsalies]

Nice, I really enjoy hearing GDC talks on game art design and aesthetic direction.

[@DylanBrady1]

very dope

[@TheStarBot]

100 Gecs x Fortnite when?

[@makthemaniac1]

I’m glad fortnite doesn’t have any blood in it thanks to all the style directors cus they made it so fortnite has no blood and is kid friendly (Kind of)

[@PasscodeAdvance]

It should have blood. StW needs it

[@tomjue5128]

For some reason I forgot you can fight zombie in fortnite

[@Cloud-Yo]

This was an amazing journey..great talk!

[@x.Ghost_]

I dont rly play fortnite, but this was very interesting

[@BebxOfficial]

Something something, colour and style is for children therefore game is bad, I want muddy graphics and can't let go of CoD 4's art style. This game also has stupid mechanics, because they are new, and I don't understand them. There's about 1/4 of the comments summed up in one easy post. Enjoy.

[@IGarrettI]

So true...

[@Maarten2142]

What about wanting gunfights without having to deal with making and building fortifications. I just want GUNfights. Because I dont like the oversaturated colors and simple geometry (I know its the artstyle) I automaticly want grey games? That stereotype is getting old. Blackout is really colourfull and the age of muddy shooters is long gone. The same goes for BFV. Yes the snow map from the beta is dark (cuz its nighttime) and snowy but the Rotterdam map is bright and colorfull so It kinda depends on the setting.

[@BebxOfficial]

Oh no, I wasn't suggesting that because you disliked this art style that all games are dark and muddy, but a surprising amount of commenters think that dark and muddy graphics look nice. I mean, if you don't like the game, don't play it, it's just annoying at how many people are _bashing_ the game for having a fresh and unique art style.

[@Maarten2142]

I love BR and I like the artstyle but the building aspect really kills it for me. I have 900h in PUBG and it looks like trash graphicly. (havent played PUBG in 4 month's or so btw) I think Blackout will be the first cod in years that i will play and enjoy, the game surprised me with the colorfull graphics and the pc beta was running smoothly and played like a polished game. I dont hate Fortnite and it will stay big for a while just because of the unique building aspect. I hope Blackout will kill PUBG because the are not learning from their mistakes and they dont improve the game fast enough.

[@BebxOfficial]

I just wish there was another game similar to bioshock, another singleplayer shooter with nothing too fancy about it.

[@passalapasa]

amazing talk, amazing game

[@rellikpd]

Now abandon ALL that and just worry about building dances for battle royal

[@TxcGren]

"We really liked that Durr Burger head" Beef Boss

[@CaCriGuz]

Great talk !! Thank you so much :D

[@jan050375]

oh right, i completely forgot that fortnite used to be kind of a tower defense game.

[@michalski9141]

save the worldd

[@davidpinontoan]

this is so inteesting daym ll

[@DuckTheFinn]

So we seem to have a kindergarten visit here in the comments eh

[@galacticwarlock2271]

I'm so glad they fully developed the art style. That ancient sizzle reel was not it.

[@earthlybump4843]

55:00 "...getting all the crap and building a cool fort.." _..building a cool fort.._ *click oh yeah, FORTnite. I get it now

[@sharklygoldman4040]

"One of our guys came up with this amazing piece of art..." Sooo...that guy has no name? He gets no credit? Does he still work there?

[@Maarten2142]

Yeah giving some credit would be nice.

[@OzzyMoto2K10]

I doubt that it was an intentional slight. If you’ve ever spoken in front of a large audience one of the things you’ll find is that all of your best intentions and things you wanted to say don’t always come out, especially near the beginning when you are just getting warmed up...

[@taurus-ug3fp]

T POSE? MORE LIKE *A POSE*

[@cosmotect]

Took me 2 minutes into the video to remember that Fortnite in itself is zombie tower defense game lol

[@rootfelixfake6716]

I was expecting this video, I WANTED to see this video

[@froglol2922]

11:46

[@YTRingoster]

I freakin' love the art style of this game. This is gonna be good!

[@josepheapen7690]

its quite cool.. i cant wait for them to add more definition like they said and make it like a pixar movie.. then it would be quite amazing

[@YTRingoster]

@NeonOverdrive Oh don't worry, that happens to all my comments.

[@OceanLizaerd]

I like the way Fortnite is now because almost every game out now just looks like a Call of Duty clone

[@grasiano3d]

Awesome!!!!!

[@aarond9563]

Wait this is actually super interesting!

[@taylorswe]

Speaker: Has anyone played fortnite?? Me: Sadly...

[@jaionn]

Taylor Howell why sadly?

[@TheOminousBlade]

A year and he still hasn’t answered why it was sadly lmao

[@navaneethambati]

@@TheOminousBlade yes

[@ask4kobebeef]

55:21 Dont waste the guys time with a generic management question!!!

[@miner-xd7ht]

Man they really wanted to change gears a lot and then turned into a free game for 10 year olds

[@yumoee]

28:36 Tfue

[@OceanLizaerd]

Plus if they stook to the same idea of this post apocalyptic word where you fight zombies it would've gotten boring anyways

[@spokeydoke]

people in this comments section really think they can insult the art of fortnite lol..... have you seen how successful it is???? success with 12 year olds is still success lmao

[@davidwang1637]

Tabby G classic money=successful conversation again, I would rather die than become a shameless "creator"

[@sniperfuazo6495]

it success with everybody really...only not fit for those realistic sim guy..or those who want everything to tone down.. for me it was great because i dont have to worry about some guy that is RIGHT IN MY FACE..that i didnt notice because i it was hard to differentiate between background and the guy THAT SHOULD BE DEAD IF IT WAS NOT FOR THE ART STYLE...

[@anthonie7484]

Save the world is better than battle royale

[@benjiboyardee6955]

true

[@katinarodriguez3252]

True but I like batte royal more

[@Cyancat123]

Agreed

[@Cyancat123]

@Traffixcone So is BR

[@TheOminousBlade]

That one didn’t age quite well

[@Diego-fc1my]

I'm the only one who finds it kinda annoying how he makes this weird noises when he stops talking.

[@StarContract]

Fortnite is a really good game through and through.

[@Slavo20cm]

Man you are Epic ;)