Fortnite facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fortnite |
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| Genres | Survival, battle royale, sandbox |
| Developers | Epic Games |
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| First release | Fortnite: Save the World July 25, 2017 (early access) |
| Latest release | Fortnite Ballistic December 11, 2024 (early access) |
Fortnite is a super popular online game and game platform made by Epic Games. It first came out in 2017. You can play Fortnite in many different ways. All these ways use the same game engine and look similar.
Some of the main games you can play are:
- Fortnite Battle Royale: Up to 100 players fight to be the last one standing.
- Fortnite: Save the World: You team up with friends to fight zombie-like monsters. You also build forts and traps to protect things.
- Fortnite Creative: You get to build your own worlds and game levels.
- Lego Fortnite: This includes games like Odyssey (a survival game) and Brick Life (a social game).
- Rocket Racing: A fast-paced car racing game.
- Fortnite Festival: A fun rhythm game where you play music.
- Fortnite Ballistic: A tactical shooting game, still being tested.
Most of these games are free to play. Only Save the World costs money to buy. Fortnite became a huge hit very quickly. It had over 125 million players in less than a year! It has earned billions of dollars and is known as one of the best games ever.
You can play Fortnite on many devices. These include computers (macOS, Windows), PlayStation (PS4, PS5), Xbox (Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S), Nintendo Switch, and even phones (Android, iOS).
Contents
Discover the Different Ways to Play Fortnite
Fortnite has many exciting game modes. They all share the same look and feel. Epic Games and its partners create and manage five of these main modes.
Fortnite: Save the World
Fortnite: Save the World is a cooperative game. This means you work with other players, not against them. Up to four players team up for missions. Your goal is to stop a big storm. You play as commanders of home bases. You collect items, rescue people, and defend equipment. This equipment helps fight the storm. When you finish missions, you get rewards. These can be new characters, weapon plans, or survivors. You can level up these items to make them stronger.
Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite Battle Royale is a player-versus-player game. Up to 100 players can join. You can play alone, with one friend (duo), or in a team (squad). At the start, you jump from a "Battle Bus" without weapons. You land on the map and search for weapons, items, and resources. Your main goal is to stay alive and defeat other players.
As the game goes on, a toxic storm shrinks the safe area of the map. If you are outside this area, you take damage. This forces players closer together. The last player or team standing wins! Besides the main game, there are other versions:
- Zero Build: This mode removes the building part of the game.
- Reload: You can respawn (come back to life) after being defeated for a short time.
- OG: This brings back the classic map and weapons from earlier seasons.
There's also "Party Royale," a social area where you can hang out and watch concerts.
Lego Fortnite
Lego Fortnite is a platform for games made with Lego. It includes two main types of games:
- Odyssey: This is a survival sandbox game. You play as Lego characters. You gather materials, build structures, and craft weapons. You also fight against monsters.
- Brick Life: This is a social game. It's designed to be a kid-friendly version of games like Grand Theft Auto.
Rocket Racing
Rocket Racing is a fast racing game. It was made by Psyonix, the creators of Rocket League. In this game, you race vehicles. You can get speed boosts by driving on special lanes or by drifting. You can also jump and race on walls or upside down! You need to avoid obstacles on the track.
Fortnite Festival
Fortnite Festival is a rhythm game made by Harmonix. It has three fun modes:
- Main Stage: You play popular songs and original music. You hit notes to the rhythm, like in Rock Band games. You can play lead, guitar/bass, drums, or vocals.
- Battle Stage: Sixteen players compete to get the highest score. You try to survive each round until only one player is left.
- Jam Stage: You work with other players to create remixes. You can use parts from any song in Festival mode. These remixes can also be used in Battle Royale and Creative.
Fortnite Ballistic
Fortnite Ballistic is a tactical shooter game. It's played with two teams of five players. It's similar to games like Counter-Strike. One team tries to plant and protect a "rift device." The other team tries to stop them and disarm the device. After each round, players can buy new weapons and gear. You earn money for this in previous rounds. Ballistic is the first Fortnite game made by Epic that lets you play in a first-person view.
Fortnite Creative Mode
Fortnite Creative is a special sandbox mode. In this mode, you have total freedom. You can use any item from Battle Royale on your own private island. You can build anything you want! This includes battle arenas, race tracks, or jumping challenges. It also supports Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). This tool lets you edit worlds using Fortnite items. You can even create custom Fall Guys games in Creative and UEFN.
How Fortnite Makes Money
Most Fortnite games are free to play, except for Save the World. The games make money using something called V-Bucks. V-Bucks are an in-game currency. You can buy V-Bucks with real money. In Save the World, you can also earn V-Bucks by completing missions.
In other game modes, you use V-Bucks to buy cool cosmetic items. These include new character outfits or the game's battle pass. A battle pass gives you rewards as you play and gain experience. There are different passes for different modes. For example, there's a Music Pass for Fortnite Festival and a Lego Pass for Lego Fortnite. You can now earn progress for these passes by playing any Fortnite game mode. There's also a monthly subscription called Fortnite Crew. It includes the main battle pass and other special items.
Play with Friends Across Devices
All Fortnite games let you play with friends on different devices. This is called cross-platform play. You just need an Epic Games account. This account saves your progress no matter which device you play on.
How Fortnite Was Made
Let's look at how Fortnite was created over the years.
The Start of Fortnite: Save the World (2011–2017)
Fortnite began around 2011 at Epic Games. The idea was to mix building games, like Minecraft, with shooter games. This led to the first ideas for Fortnite. Making the game took a long time. They changed the game engine from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. They also decided to make it more like a role-playing game. The art style changed too, from dark to more cartoon-like.
Epic wanted to make games that would keep players coming back. They decided to release Fortnite as a paid early access game in July 2017. The plan was to make it free later, after getting feedback from players. When Fortnite Battle Royale came out, the original game was named "Save the World." Eventually, Epic decided to keep Save the World as a game you buy. It officially left early access in June 2020.
The Rise of Fortnite Battle Royale (2017–2018)
Around the same time Fortnite first came out, another game called PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds became very popular. This game was a "battle royale" game. Epic Games saw that they could add a battle royale mode to Fortnite. They quickly made their own version in about two months.
In September 2017, Epic decided to release this new mode for free. They called it Fortnite Battle Royale. It was supported by small purchases within the game. This game quickly gained millions of players! Epic then made separate teams to work on Battle Royale and Save the World. This allowed Battle Royale to come out on more devices, like phones and the Nintendo Switch.
Fortnite Creative Mode Appears (2018–2023)
A new creative sandbox mode was launched on December 6, 2018. It came out with Season 7 of Fortnite Battle Royale. In this mode, every player gets their own private island. On this island, you can build anything you want. You can also add and move objects. Players can invite friends to their island. They can then play unofficial games like race tracks or jumping courses. At first, only players who bought the battle pass got an island. But a week later, on December 13, it became free for everyone.
Fortnite Experiences and New Games (2023–Present)
In March 2023, Epic released the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). This is a special tool for Windows computers. UEFN lets creators use the powerful Unreal Engine 5 to make new game modes inside Fortnite Creative. This was called "Creative 2.0."
In October 2023, Epic changed the main Fortnite game. It now shows all of Epic's own game modes and many creative modes. It's like a platform for different games, similar to Roblox. Then, in December 2023, three new Epic-made games were added:
- Lego Fortnite: A survival game made with The Lego Group.
- Rocket Racing': An arcade-style driving game from Psyonix.
- Fortnite Festival: A rhythm game from Harmonix.
All these new modes are free to play. They connect to the game's battle pass system and offer new rewards. Epic plans to use UEFN to develop future Fortnite Battle Royale seasons starting in late 2025.
See also
In Spanish: Fortnite para niños
