Last weekend, Metallica graced the virtual stage of Fortnite, but the event was more than just a heavy metal concert. This was one part of a weeks-long rollout of modes and content, which really drove home just how large and complex the game has become. The battle royale gradually transformed into a complete ecosystem of games and experiencesand the Metallica crossover might have been the most complex yet.
The concert was the highlightand it was like walking through an interactive version of a heavy metal album cover. Players were whisked away in a hot rod to a pyro-heavy concert stage before moving on to a gothic bell tower and a fight with a menacing puppet master. Like previous virtual concerts featuring Eminem And Ariana Grandeit was about combining the feeling of watching a live show with something fantastical. “It couldn’t just be a crazy escape,” says Daryl Atkins, executive creative director at Magnopus, the studio that designed the experience. “So we imagined a journey that started with reality, then we went to an impossible place. »
Atkins says trying to make it feel like an authentic live show was the starting point. “They’re not a high-concept band like Iron Maiden, with big visuals that we could translate directly from,” he explains. “Metallica is very low-key, it’s all about the music and the performance.” Because of this, the band was involved from the very beginning of the design process, which included defining the set list and providing input on motion capture footage for the developers to work with. The studio presented the initial idea with concept art, but from there, Magnopus largely had to figure things out. “We were given a lot of trust,” Atkins says.
The Metallica event was also an attempt to build on past shows with more interactivity drawn from various Fortnite fashions. Players raced in a car before running through the tower, literally riding lightning and picking up a weapon for a boss fight. This led to some design challenges. Unlike a traditional video game, players couldn’t be left behind or they would miss being at the show with everyone else. “We have a dynamic respawn system that moves the spawn point with the music,” explains creative director Dan Taylor. “So if you die, you respawn in the correct place on the track. There are players behind who will be pulled forward, and those who are ahead will be pulled back. It balances everything in a pretty organic way.
The concert was the centerpiece of a busy period for Fortnite. The game introduced its current Mad Max-season inspired in Maywho teased the group’s appearance. But things really started in earnest in mid-JuneWhen a Metallica guitar was added as a battle royale weapon, a Metallica-themed race track appeared in Rocket Raceand the group took over for Billie Eilish as the main actor in the music mode Fortnite Festival. After the first concert, Epic launched a new mode called Reload, which had over 1 million players this weekend.
It’s a far cry from the simpler days of Marshmello appears on stage. Fortnite is now a more complex beast, and every element – whether it’s a character’s appearance or a new mode – seems to be carefully planned out. Emily Levy, director of strategic partnerships at Epic, says the goal is to “create moments that are impactful and meaningful.” The last concert was similar to how Eminem’s appearance was preceded by the throwback Fortnite O.G., which attracted many inactive players back. At this time, no time Fortnite exists in isolation.
