Make Your Island Movie Magic

Do you want your Fortnite island to look like a movie trailer? You can make screens fade in, doors open slowly, and cameras swoop around. This is called a cinematic. In this tutorial, we will make a cool opening movie for your game. You will use Verse to tell the camera what to do. It is like directing a film!

What You'll Learn

• How to add a special camera to your island.
• How to play a cinematic sequence with code.
• The difference between a "Cinematic Sequence" device and Verse code.

How It Works

Think of your island like a stage. You have actors (players) and props (objects). A cinematic is like a video recording of that stage. It shows a specific view.

In UEFN, we use a Cinematic Sequence device. This device holds your camera moves. It is like a DVD of your island. But the DVD does not play itself. You need a director. That director is Verse.

Verse is the script. The script says: "Start the movie now." The Cinematic Sequence device is the screen. It shows the movie. We connect them together. When the game starts, Verse tells the screen to play.

We also need a Camera. A camera is the eye of the player. By default, the player sees the world from their character's eyes. We can change that. We can make the player see a top-down view. This is like a bird looking down. It looks very cool for introductions.

Let's Build It

We will build an intro scene. The game will start. The camera will switch to a top-down view. Then, a cinematic will play. The cinematic will show a barrier rising up. This gives visual feedback. It tells the player the game is starting.

First, place a Cinematic Sequence device in your world. Name it OpeningCinematic. Inside this device, add a camera move. You can keyframe a camera that moves up and around.

Next, we write the Verse code. This code lives in a Script device.

# This is our main script.
# It runs when the game starts.

using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }

# We define a variable for our cinematic.
# A variable is a box that holds a value.
# Here, the box holds our Cinematic Sequence device.
OpeningCinematic: CinematicSequenceDevice = CinematicSequenceDevice.Create()

# This function runs first.
Start<public>(): void =
    # Add a camera to all players.
    # This makes the camera follow the player.
    Camera.AddToAll()
    
    # Play the opening movie.
    # This tells the device to start animating.
    OpeningCinematic.Play()

Let's look at the code line by line.

Camera.AddToAll() is a command. It adds a camera to every player. Without this, the cinematic might not show. It ensures everyone sees the view.

OpeningCinematic.Play() is another command. It tells the device to start. The device will now move the camera and objects. It will play the animation you set up in the editor.

You can also use Verse to change the camera view. You can set it to top-down. This is a common trick for intros. It makes the player feel like they are watching a map.

Try adding a Prop Mover device. Make it move a wall up. Link it to the cinematic. When the cinematic plays, the wall moves. This is great visual feedback. It shows the player something is happening.

Try It Yourself

Now it is your turn to direct!

Challenge: Add a Timer device to your island. Set it to wait for 3 seconds. Then, use Verse to play the cinematic after the wait.

Hint: You can use Timer.Wait() in Verse. This pauses the script. It lets the player see the island first. Then the movie starts. This builds suspense!

Recap

You learned how to use Verse to play a cinematic. You used Camera.AddToAll() to show the view. You used .Play() to start the animation. This makes your island feel like a movie. Keep practicing with different camera moves. You are becoming a director!

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/40-00-fortnite-ecosystem-updates-and-release-notes
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/uefn/30-00-release-notes-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-starter-02-defining-boards-for-the-game-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-starter-07-final-result-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/uefn/verse-starter-template-2-defining-boards-for-game-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite