User:Downing.matt/sandbox

= An Overview of Fortnite Creative =

Fortnite Creative is a side sandbox-like game mode, developed and published by Epic Games and is included within the mainstream game of Fortnite. The mode promotes players to build their own worlds, maps, and game modes, as well as play with their friends on other creator's maps. The mode was first introduced on December 6, 2018 on Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in November of 2020 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Fortnite Creative has had a strong following ever since with a plethora of updates to the mode since its release date and given the unlimited amount of content it provides to the player.

How it Started
As said before, Creative was introduced in 2018, but the game mode was much more bare bones than what it is today. Epic Games was stoked to introduce the mode, bringing popular players to come show it off prior to release, such as Lachlan, Ninja, and Sypher PK, among others, who posted on their socials to promote to the masses. Epic Games was focused more so on releasing the game mode than making sure that it was complete, resulting in several bugs upon the start of players jumping in. It was a work in progress, as the main framework of the game mode was there, the execution had not been perfected.

The mode included a base island for players to build on, using prefabs of different structures from Fortnite's Battle Royal Mode, as well as prop galleries, creative-specific content/props, devices, and game settings for players to customize. It was all very limited though, not all of the prefabs had been included, devices could only use 5 channels to connect to each other, and the memory that each island could hold made large builds much more difficult to sustain. The player base as a whole knew that this was just the beginning, and were very accepting that updates would further improve the mode and help it reach its full potential.

How it Works
The premise of Creative Mode is to be able to build anything you can imaginable. The basics of building include structures for buildings, props, devices, and items. Buildings and props are very straight forward as you place them down to create buildings, environments, and areas for players to explore. Devices have much more a twist as they are all connected, like a system. Devices use channels to communicate with one another to carry out functions set by the player. Ex. When placing down a button device and setting "When Triggered" to channel 1, any other device, such as a HUD Device, that is set to show a message "When Receiving From" channel 1, will show the message on screen when a player interacts with that said button.

This type of system goes for any of the devices included in the game, and recently, Epic Games has updated their way of connecting devices to try and make it less complex and more straight forward. When it comes to items, it is also very simple, players can pick and choose from different weapons, consumables, and tactical items to place into their worlds for players to use.

Each island that a player creates has it's own "Island Settings" that the player can customize to fit their map. This ranges from the player count, to the environment aesthetics, to player movement, health, etc.

By combining all of these elements together, players can create worlds that others can interact with. They can tell stories, create fun game modes, or just build beautiful environments.

The Community
The Fortnite Creative Community is a very interesting one at that. The community has vastly grown over the years with its increase in popularity. Many creators have found places on Youtube, Twitch, Twitter (X), Reddit, Discord, and other social platforms to show off their work to others. Larger creators have had a heavy influence on the masses, when it comes to tutorials, trends, and popularity of game modes. A very popular mode that many creators were designing were "Red vs. Blue" maps, inspired by Halo. Other creators built a community based around Call of Duty Zombies, and creators that get the most credit are ones that develop something original, fun, and unique.

There are millions of maps that have been created by players in Fortnite, each one unique on its own, so it is interesting to see how the additions of content sway what is popular, what is fun, and what is new in the Creative Community.

The Creative Community peaked in 2020 over the COVID-19 Pandemic, seeing the most amount of concurrent players over that time period, along with every video game. Since then, there has been slightly less people interested, there is no definite reason but people speculate it is because of how complex the game mode now is, that it is intimidating to new players. That hasn't stopped people from playing maps made by other creators, but the amount of people making new content has dropped off.

Something else to take into account is the system of Epic's "Support-a-Creator" which is a way for players to support their favorite creators in Fortnite. Each creator has a specific code that their users can enter when purchasing anything from the Fortnite Item Shop. This has created some controversy, as some people in the community don't believe that others should be making so much money off of things that are just "popular" and not technically "Creative".

Certain maps in the mode are extremely popular but don't have nearly as much time and effort put into them as others that don't have nearly as much popularity. This has divided the Creative Community in some ways because of jealousy and what people value. Some creators say that others are undeserving of the wealth they have profited, while others think that if that's what people want, they're going to receive a product that is fun, easy, and less complex.

The Creative Community is still very strong, with large creators still showing interest, and some Creative maps having more players than Fortnite's main game mode, Battle Royale. The continual support that people give to other creators is something that will always keep people building and finding new ways to enjoy themselves.

Impact
Creative Mode has had a massive impact on people's lives, economically and socially. Some people have gained large followings on social media from it, while others have profited in staggering ways. And aside from that, players have been able to dig into the creative side of their minds to build things they never thought were possible. It has overall had a very positive effect on millions of people.

When it comes to the impact that it has had directly on Fortnite as a whole, it is also just a substantial. The main game mode of Battle Royale is successful, but it has fallen off compared to how popular it was after its release date in 2017. Creative Mode has kept players on the game, bringing them a variety of different content to infinitely consume. Creative Mode has also been a way for Epic Games to sponsor different events and make brand deals, such as with Nike, the NBA, Balenciaga, Honda, and others.

Creative Mode also lays out the groundwork for Epic Games to continue to bring news ways of fun to players. With the edition of the Unreal Editor, players, creators, and the developers can now use Unreal Engine 5 to develop anything they may desire and import straight into Fortnite. This makes the unlimited possibilities, more unlimited.

The Evolution
Creative Mode has gone from a very simple, underdeveloped sandbox game to the more heavily focused part of Fortnite as a whole. It has created its own ecosystem and is extremely intricate in its design. There are 1000's of new assets for players to use to build now than when the game mode first released and Epic Games has no reason to not keep focusing on the longevity of it.

There are 1000's of new props, devices, items, settings, and ways of building that players could have only dreamed of years ago as well. Creative has turned from not just a sandbox to have fun in, but into a platform for people to express themselves, as well as platform for brands, businesses, and self-starters.