The Big Rig Rampage: Build a Vertical Madness Course

Forget the battle bus for a second. We’re talking about the other bus—the one that smells like diesel, has more horsepower than a small country, and can drive up walls if you’re brave enough. In this tutorial, we’re building a "Vertical Madness" challenge where players spawn in a Big Rig, fight gravity, and race against a ticking clock to hit a finish button. It’s Mario Kart meets Mount Everest, and it’s going to be glorious.

What You'll Learn

• The Scene Graph: How Fortnite sees your island as a hierarchy of objects (like a folder structure for your game world).
• Spawning: How to make vehicles appear out of thin air using Spawners.
• Events & Triggers: Connecting devices so one action (hitting a button) triggers another (stopping the timer).
• Timer Logic: Creating urgency by counting down to zero.

How It Works

Before we touch a single device, let’s talk about how Fortnite Creative actually "thinks." When you place a prop or a device, you aren't just putting it in the world; you’re adding it to the Scene Graph.

Think of the Scene Graph like your inventory screen, but for the entire island.

• The Island is the main folder.
• Props (walls, ramps) are files inside that folder.
• Devices (spawners, timers) are special apps installed on your phone that can interact with those files.

In Verse (and the visual device system), we don’t just say "put a truck here." We tell the Big Rig Spawner: "When the game starts, look at this specific spot in the Scene Graph, and spawn a Big Rig entity there."

Then, we need rules. Rules are Events.

• Event: "Player presses Button."
• Action: "Stop Timer."

We are going to chain these together. The Spawner creates the vehicle. The Timer creates the stress. The Button creates the victory condition. Let’s build it.

Let's Build It

We need four main devices. If you’re using Verse, you’re essentially writing the code that connects these devices. Here is how that logic looks in Verse.

Note: In modern UEFN, much of this "gluing" is done visually in the Device Browser, but understanding the Verse structure helps you debug when things break. Here is the conceptual Verse code that represents the logic of our "Big Rig Rampage."

# 1. Define the "Game State" (Variables)
# A variable is like a scoreboard that changes.
# Here, we track if the game is running.
is_game_active := false

# 2. The Main Game Loop / Initialization
# This function runs once when the island loads.
# It's like the "Start Game" button on the battle bus.
OnStart := func() -> void:
    # Spawn the Big Rig at the start line
    # We tell the spawner device to create a "Big Rig" entity
    big_rig_spawner.Spawn()
    
    # Start the timer counting down from 60 seconds
    # This is your storm timer, but for the whole match
    timer.Start(60.0)
    
    # Update our scoreboard variable
    is_game_active = true

# 3. The Victory Condition (Event Handling)
# This code runs ONLY when the button is pressed.
# It's like an elimination notification popping up.
OnButtonPressed := func() -> void:
    if is_game_active:
        # Stop the clock!
        timer.Stop()
        
        # Calculate score based on time left
        # (Imagine this adding points to your XP bar)
        final_score = timer.GetRemainingTime() * 10
        
        # Tell everyone they won
        print("RIG MASTER! Score: ", final_score)
        
        # End the round or reset
        is_game_active = false

# 4. The "Game Over" Condition
# This runs if the timer hits zero.
OnTimerFinished := func() -> void:
    if is_game_active:
        print("TIME'S UP! You flipped.")
        # Maybe spawn a trap here?
        is_game_active = false

The Walkthrough

1. OnStart: This is your "Deploy" phase. In the editor, you place a Big Rig Spawner. In Verse, we define that when the island starts, this spawner fires. We also grab the Timer device and set it to 60 seconds.
2. is_game_active: This is a Boolean variable (a true/false switch). Think of it like the "Is Alive" status of a player. If it’s true, the game is on. If it’s false, the game is over.
3. OnButtonPressed: This is an Event Handler. In Fortnite, you might link a Button to a Timer to stop it. In Verse, we write a function that listens for the button press. When the player drives up your crazy ramp and smashes the button, this code executes.
4. OnTimerFinished: This is the Fail State. If the player is too slow, the timer hits 0.0. This event triggers, and we can decide what happens (maybe the Big Rig explodes, or they just get a "Game Over" screen).

Try It Yourself

You’ve got the logic. Now, let’s get your hands dirty in the Creative toolset.

The Challenge: Build a "Staircase to Heaven."

1. Place a Big Rig Spawner at the bottom of a hill.
2. Build a ramp that is too steep for normal tires (make it at least 45 degrees).
3. Place a Button at the very top.
4. Place a Timer set to 30 seconds.
5. The Twist: Add a second Button before the finish line. If they press it, the Timer resets to 30 seconds.

Hint: In the Device Browser, look at the Timer device. Does it have an "On Finished" event? Now look at the Button device. Can you wire the Button to the Timer's "Start" or "Reset" input? (In the visual device system, you drag a wire from the Button's output to the Timer's input).

Recap

You just built a vertical driving challenge. You learned that the Scene Graph is the hierarchy of your world, Spawners create entities, Variables track state (like time or health), and Events are the triggers that make things happen. You didn’t just place props; you created a system with rules, stakes, and a win condition.

Now go make those Big Rigs fly. And maybe add some explosions. Always add explosions.

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/big-rig-device-design-example-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/big-rig-device-design-examples-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/using-big-rig-spawner-devices-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/device-design-examples-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/device-design-examples-in-fortnite-creative