Your digital fashion in Fortnite UEFN
With Fortnite pioneering the way with UEFN we, as developers, get new opportunities to customize the avatar users play with and explore
Introduction
Fashion and digital identity go hand in hand in this dawn of the Metaverse. Platforms like Roblox have been thrived with a strong apparel marketplace that allows users to choose what they want to wear during playtime.
This trend isn’t new; Roblox isn’t the first to build a marketplace for digital fashion and character customization. Others like Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and similar platforms have explored similar concepts, and have brought deep character representation through cosmetics.
With Fortnite pioneering the way with UEFN we, as developers, get new opportunities to customize the avatar users play with and explore new opportunities for representation, brand placement and more.
What is UEFN?
The Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) is a game extension launched in March 2023, designed to rebuild and reuse Fortnite assets for different maps, game modes and gameplay mechanics. It introduces a new coding language called “Verse” and allows creators to use the whole Fortnite asset library or incorporate external resources from their preferred modeling software or FAB.
It’s a leap beyond the creative mode,offering enhanced accuracy to level designs and deeper development layers. UEFN enables the scripting of cutscenes, events and gameplay mechanics, enriching your creations with dynamic elements.
Community modes are introducing fresh vibes to the game, featuring different gameplay styles such as Murder Mystery, Among Us-inspired games, Red VS Blue deathmatches, pit fights and many more.
We’ve showcased the versatility of UEFN with multiple experiences, each boasting different styles, art directions and gameplay mechanics. From time challenges like Tomb Chaser 3, to cooperative arenas like Escape from VIPE City, and our latest addition, Banana Fever, an exciting adventure where players must to protect a truck loaded with bananas from the evil monsters that emerge from the jungle.
Fashion and customization in UEFN
Customization is the heart of UEFN experiences. Through simple modifications, we can create environments where users can wear custom hats, shoes, tiaras and any accessory you can imagine attached to their avatars.
With hundreds of thousands of active players engaging daily in Fortnite, developing a sponsored experience featuring branded digital apparel and accessories holds the potential to reach a vast audience of potential consumers.
Furthermore, since the launch of the UEFN modes and all the official new modes (Lego, Music, Racing), Fortnite has witnessed an increase in the player base, although not definitely in the Battle Royale daily players. These new modes target new audiences that share the ecosystem, including base gameplay, characters, and customization, thus fostering a common platform for socializing and thriving.
Fashion is a center piece of the experience, offering not only a different look for your avatar but also granting superpowers or player buffs/nerfs to enhance the fun factor!
But how does attaching items to a player actually work?
Getting to it
If you're new to the Fortnite Content Editor, you can learn everything you need to know before diving in by following this link: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/es-es/uefn/launching-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite
Once you are familiar with the editor, attaching clothing to an avatar is as follows:
- Begin by creating a scene using one of the base scenes provided in the editor.
- Press on the Content Drawer
1. Open the Fortnite folder, then Device.
2. Use the search tool to find "VFX."
3. Select "VFX PowerUp" and place it within your scene.
- Select the “VFX PowerUp” in your scene and search for the "Visual Effect" option in the User Options. By default, it's set to "Glow"; switch it to "Custom Effect."
- After selecting “Custom Effect” navigate to the “Niagara System” option.
- Choose a name for your new “Niagara System” and select the folder where you want to save it. Then, click the "Save" button.
- After clicking "Save", a popup will appear with four options. Make sure to select "Create empty system" and then press the "Finish" button.
- Before proceeding, make sure you have your static model and its corresponding material ready.
For this test, we used the Cool Chili Hat, available here.
- Next, a new window will appear. Press the “E” key to ensure it's the active window, then select the "Empty" option. This action will display the Node in the editor.
- Click on the model's gizmo to open the "Mesh Renderer/Mesh" submenu, then click on "S_Gnomon" to replace it with your model. Afterwards, adjust the lifetime to 0.1 in the "Initialize Particle" submenu.
- If you need to edit the transform of your model (offset, rotation, or scale), return to the "Mesh Renderer" submenu and refine it until it fits best.
- If you need to edit the transform of your model (offset, rotation, or scale), return to the "Mesh Renderer" submenu and open the index to access the submenu options.
At this point, your new item is ready for use, and we can proceed with integrating it into the level editor. Let's tidy up the attached asset by creating another power-up. Clone the one you created earlier and make the needed adjustments.
To do this:
- Scroll down in the "Details" submenu until you find the "Advanced" option.
1. Within "Advanced", find the "Disables Effect On Pick" option.
2. Additionally, use a color type with the color red for differentiation.
Once you've cloned it, it should be ready, but the crucial step is to ensure that the "Custom Effect Exclusivity Index" matches the one you created earlier.
Once set, you have a cool hat in the scene ready to be worn during your playtimes.
Wrapping up
In conclusion, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) offers creators and brands an opportunity to leverage the potential of digital fashion within the Fortnite ecosystem. UEFN empowers creators to craft immersive experiences that boost brand visibility and engage players with fresh, customized and sometimes unique content.
The advent of digital fashion in UEFN helds new possibilities for collaboration and promotion within the game, requiring less effort than building a whole game level. This marks the beginning of the editor’s journey, and we anticipate how these features will evolve, adding further layers of possibilities for everyone to enjoy.
Stay tunned for more exciting developments!
