Fortnite to debut Unreal Engine 4 in 2013

Epic Games has confirmed that Fortnite will be the first game to use Unreal Engine 4. While speaking at a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Cliff Bleszinksi, head of Epic Games confirmed that Unreal Engine 4 would debut on Fortnite and the game will also be a PC exclusive. However, he later noted that they "wouldn't rule out the possibility of other platforms later".

Epic Games has also confirmed that Fortnite will be released in 2013. According to the company, gameplay revolves around players exploring, foraging and collaborating to build a structure by day, using scavenged materials "to quickly build and renovate structures of varying materials and complexity." At night, players will work together "to defend their prized fortress from the forces of darkness."

Fortnite was originally revealed at the VGAs in December and features gameplay inspired by Minecraft. This is the first time that Epic has discussed what platforms the game will be released in.

A very pleasing cartoony aesthetic

During the VGAs, Epic spent the majority of their time explaining how Unreal Engine 4's lighting system works, most of which is centered upon the use of real-time reflections, pinpointed lighting and shadowing that works at a pixel level. All of this can be seen in play thanks to the Unreal Engine 4's fully deferred renderer and use of global illumination, which allows reflective decals on each pixel to interact correctly with environmental lighting in real time. This makes every surface reflect or absorb light as it should, even with multiple or moving light sources, and variant surface values.

Epic unveiled Unreal Engine 4 by showing a video of live gameplay of their tech demo Elemental. The video had amazing lighting, which seemed to be the focus of the latest iteration of Epic’s Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine has been one of the most popular and versatile game engines to be released. It has powered many games, some of the more popular ones being the Gears of War series for the Xbox 360, the BioShock series, and the Batman Arkham series, among others.

Some upcoming games using the Unreal Engine other than Fortnite, which will debut Unreal Engine 4, will be Borderlands 2, BioShock Infinite, and Devil May Cry, among others.

In addition to game development, Unreal Engine 3 has had many other uses. Jace Hall pushed the boundaries of traditional filmmaking by using a computer game engine, UE3, to meet the challenge of animating Alex Pardee's, Chadam. Another example is the popular children’s TV show, Lazy Town, used Unreal Engine 3 during filming to generate virtual sets for real-time integration with footage of actors and puppets performing in front of green screens.