Unreal Editor for Fortnite

Overview

UEFN's graphical user interface resembles that of Unreal Engine. It differs by allowing a live edit session where developers can playtest a project in Creative 1.0 while editing simultaneously. Creative 1.0 tools permit object movement and simple changes during playtesting, while UEFN edits apply in real time; changes by collaborators update automatically, but UEFN changes must be pushed through the content service, taking from thirty seconds to several minutes. The most prominent feature is the Verse programming language, enabling scripting for players, objects, game logic, and the spatial environment. Verse is the only scripting method in UEFN. Projects made with UEFN are called Creative 2.0, while those in the original Creative gamemode are Creative 1.0.

Fortnite Discovery

Discovery is an in-game browser in Fortnite that lets players search for and play published creator-made games. Each game in a row shows a thumbnail, title, and current player count. The algorithm uses total clicks per view, player engagement, player retention, and V-Bucks spent after visiting a user-generated experience. The public player count metric drew backlash from less popular developers, who argued it makes building a player base harder when potential users see no players, compounding algorithmic bias.

Epic aims to let better games succeed, but creators making addictive, low-effort copied games that exploit the algorithm have allowed low-quality games to thrive while good games struggle, a major criticism. Epic continuously updates the Discovery algorithm, but efforts have been somewhat unsuccessful, with many UEFN developers complaining about low player counts for their published games. With UEFN's release and custom content importing, Discovery saw a wave of intellectual property infringement in thumbnails and in-game assets.

These experiences thrived due to poor internal content review policies. A tweet from the official Fortnite Creative account on February 23, 2023 addressed the issue, and such content has been drastically reduced, though it may still appear.