Fortnite (later named Fortnite Saves the World) is a co-op sandbox survival game developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly. The name is a spelling variation of fortnight, which is a U.S. period of time equal to 2 weeks. It was published by Epic Games. The game was released as a paid-for early access title for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with a full free-to-play version released in 2018. The retail versions of the game were published by Gearbox Publishing, while online distribution of the PC versions is handled by Epic's launcher. Mobile versions are also available.
Fortnite became extremely popular in 2018 with over 45 million players world-wide and over 3 million players using it at the same time[4]. The game mixes elements of Minecraft and survival shooting games, which may be part of its huge success.
The original mode of Fortnite had a group of players fight monsters together in a quest to save the world, but the most popular and simpler mode of play is Fortnite Battle Royale where 100 players fight each other and the last survivor wins the game. It can be played as a solo game, duo, or a four person squad. Battle Royale was also a well known Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku where middle-school students are forced to fight a violent battle until only one is left standing. The Hunger Games is another popular movie with a similar theme. In Fortnite, players are dropped from a flying bus on a randomly generated drop zone using a glider and float down to earth. Players have the ability to choose where they land. Picking a good location is important, such as getting access to more resources and weapons. However, more popular landing zones have more players in it, which increase the chance of getting killed early in the game. In general, remote areas are safer, but you need to survive longer without many good weapons during your exploration.
Once a player lands on their selected choice of the map, they must find loot before approaching storms hit. Players must also battle other players, which is especially challenging to early arrivals that may only have simple tools for defense, like a pick and shovel. The Fortnite playing field gets smaller and smaller as play progresses, forcing players to battle each other more often until only two players are left to fight each other. Only one team or player is crowned Victory Royale. In addition to avoiding attacks by the other players, just surviving is a big part of the game, since accidents in the rough terrain can kill off other players that are not careful.
In the Battle Royale version, players must scramble into houses on the island to find hidden weapons. The weapons are used to shoot other players. Players can play alone or in teams of up to 20 players at a time. A typical round takes about 20 minutes to play.
WEAPONS
Fortnite has a color scale, from worst to best weapons.
- Grey - Common (least powerful weapon)
- Green - Uncommon
- Blue - Rare
- Purple - Epic
- Gold - Legendary (most powerful weapon)
FORTNITE PLAYING TIPS
- Land in remote locations without many people. This is especially helpful if you are a beginner and need time to learn the game, since there are no training modes. However, it will be more difficult to get resources.
- If your friends are playing with you, crossplay with them or become allies. This will make it more fun and harder to get attacked by others.
- When gliding, have your character at a slight angle and not straight down while you wait for your glider to automatically deploy. This will get you down faster.
- Deploying over the ocean and gliding to land is one of the fastest ways of getting to your location.
- Find a good place to land by deploying your glider early. This will give you time to scope out the best spots.
- Guns and ammo can be found scattered in buildings, but the more valuable treasure chests are often found in the basement. You can hear treasure chests since they make an angelic choir sound, but you need to listen carefuly. Headphones are highly suggested, since sound is an important part of the game.
- Know your weapon color codes so you can find the best ones. Grey (lowest), Green, Blue, Purple, Golden (most power).
- Don't load up on too many guns. Just two or three loaded guns of the highest quality are good enough so you can easily find them for a battle. A trap and some healing items are also good to keep.
- Drink shield potions as soon as you get them. The only exception would be if your shield is already full.
- Get good at crafting, since you will use it often, such as to build walls and ramps. If you collect a lot of strong resources, you can build these into a shield to quickly protect yourself.
- Get to higher ground. It will give you an advantage when shooting other players. It also makes it more difficult for others to shoot at you. If you don't have access to higher ground, try building something, like a wall or bridge.
- Look for targets to help you take down structures. When you are picking at something, you will see a blue circle at the weak spot which will make it a lot easier to bring down.
- Don't forget to use your traps. Traps are an easy way to attack other players, but be careful to avoid them yourself.
- Pay attention to vending machines. There are 40 vending machines in the game that can be used to purchase weapons, but you will need loot to get them.
- Click on houses for loot, but avoid the Loot Lake since it does not have much to offer.
- Make use of jump tools. You can get to higher ground and jump high by using things like a Pulse Grenade thrown at your own feet. You can also use the Launch Pad Trap to propel yourself up once you intentionally step on it. Another tricky move to gain distance is to jump on a rocket fired by another player and ride on it, but it takes a lot of skill and practice.
- The anti-gravity crystals in the dusty divot will let you jump really high.
- When you enter a building, you might want to close the door so others don't know you are in it. This gives you a much better element of surprise when attacking.
- One tactic is to just hide and wait it out during the start of the game. If you hear a gunfight, run away. After a while there will only be a dozen or so people left in the game, so you have a better chance of winning.
- Build a huge base and wait to get people as they come in from the storm.
- Change your building keys from F1 to something that is easier to access quickly, like 'V' and 'E', or whatever you find best on the keyboard.
Your Sincerely
Alex Stewart
College Officer
