• Fortnite - Could Epic Turn It Into An eSports Title?


    Back in 2014, there was an interview in which Epic Games spoke about the direction of the game, and how eSports were a factor in the design of the game. While the game itself is not actually marketed as an eSports game, it is more touted as an alternative to competitive play, where you play with your friends in a Minecraft or Tower Defense style of game. I find the game mechanics really interesting, but I do think there is a different direction the game could take, and that's where I would like to start.


    The Background Thought

    Take a game like Plants vs. Zombies. Zombies come in, you don't want them to get to the house so you put defenses in place to progress onward through more and more difficult Zombie types. Fortnite operates much the same way, only it is in a 360 degree space and the 'Husks' in this case are not linear in spawning. They randomly spawn, have an AI that goes towards a target and will change focus based on if they get attacked, get obstructed by players building and so on.


    Competitive Aspect

    So what I bring forth is an idea about what they did similar to Plants vs. Zombies 2. You have a team playing as Zombies, or a team playing as Plants. In this case, Fortnite could become player teams controlling or defending a base, where they build defense just like they do now. However, on the other side, you could have the players creating a Husk Storm Generator that the more they build the base up, the stronger it gets. They could add things like bonus structures to it to add new or different types of Husks to then attack.

    Players would then decide to attack the other base, defend their spawned Husks, or go collecting/harvesting to build bigger and better things or even defend their Generator.

    After playing 50+ hours of Fortnite already, I can tell you that this is something the game is missing. A Player vs. Player game. Even if there is no competition ranking going on, the ability to play against non-AI is what a lot of people crave. Just not everyone wants the hardcore hammer time judgement day end of worlds competition that is Dota 2, Overwatch, League of Legends and so on.

    The Final Thought

    I think it could definitely be an Expansion they could work on, even allowing players to collect new schematics in the game, that can be used for this particular game style. I don't think they will do anything like this, but maybe someone will see what Epic Games has done with Fortnite, and use it as a springboard to something even better. I honestly think that it could add something to the MOBA Genre that I personally feel is missing. There's only so many team fights you can do before you get bored. I think the building aspect and the gathering resource aspect of Fortnite would be an awesome inclusion to a MOBA style game, should anyone choose to make it.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Fortnite - Could Epic Turn It Into An eSports Title? started by Veritable View original post
    Comments 9 Comments
    1. D3Boost's Avatar
      D3Boost -
      Great article. My only concern with games similar to the one you've brought up is that you do tend to get bored very quickly as it is extremely repetitive. And these games are usually more enjoyable when played with friends.
    1. Veritable's Avatar
      Veritable -
      Yes. I don't log on much now, but most of the time spent was when my friends were on. We would spend hours online fighting together. It kind of breaks down the monotony a bit when you can banter with a live human being.
    1. Ashoran's Avatar
      Ashoran -
      I'm loving these times of threads, keep it up c:
    1. Ehnoah's Avatar
      Ehnoah -
      I wounder actually how long the game gonna be alive ^.^ I mean it was 4 years in Alpha and it is still very rough =/ You have a super crazy Cash Wall :X
    1. Scumstation's Avatar
      Scumstation -
      Highly doubt this game is going to go down in the hall of fame, or even be alive by the end of the year.

      Good article none the less.
    1. ^bE qUiEt's Avatar
      ^bE qUiEt -
      Quote Originally Posted by Yawnstar View Post
      Highly doubt this game is going to go down in the hall of fame, or even be alive by the end of the year.

      Good article none the less.
      since they released the battle royal part of the game and made it free2play i dug it out again and had hours of fun. i really like it much better than pubg.
      give it a shot!
    1. Veritable's Avatar
      Veritable -
      Heh, Considering this post was originally like 2 years ago... But thanks for the reply.

      Also, this post came out long before Battle Royale feature of the game came out and they did turn it into an eSports title. It's really crazy. I called it long long before
    1. burbigo1's Avatar
      burbigo1 -
      I totally agree, playing online is a whole 'nother level, it's way better
    1. EdwinGilbert's Avatar
      EdwinGilbert -
      yeah,why not