Pizza Pursuit: Level Setup for Time Trial

Ready to turn your island into a high-stakes delivery service? In this tutorial, we’re building the foundation for Pizza Pursuit, a time-trial game where you race against the storm (well, a timer) to grab pizzas and drop them off before time runs out.

Think of this as setting up the map before the match starts. We aren’t writing the logic to move the player or count the seconds yet—that’s for later. Right now, we’re laying the track, placing the items, and ensuring the game knows what pieces are on the board. If you’ve ever built a race track or a capture-the-flag map, you know that if the flags aren’t in the right spots, the game doesn’t work. Let’s get our props in line.

What You'll Learn

• How to organize your island with the right Props (things you see) and Devices (things that do stuff).
• How to use Item Spawners to create infinite pizzas.
• How to set up Capture Areas to detect when you’ve grabbed or dropped off a pizza.
• The importance of Tags (labels) so your Verse code knows which pizza is which.

How It Works

In Fortnite Creative, you have two main tools: Props and Devices.

• Props are the visual stuff: walls, trees, pizzas, cars. They look cool but don’t do anything on their own.
• Devices are the invisible brains: triggers, timers, scoreboards. They react to things happening in the world.

For Pizza Pursuit, we need a specific setup:

1. The Pizza: We need a pizza that spawns, waits to be picked up, disappears when grabbed, and can be delivered.
2. The Pickup Zone: A specific spot where the pizza spawns. We need to tag these spots so the game knows they are "Level 1" pickups.
3. The Drop-off Zone: A specific spot where you deliver the pizza to get points (and time).
4. The Spawner: A device that creates the pizza prop at the pickup zone.

We aren't writing code yet. We are just placing the furniture and labeling the boxes so the programmer (you, in a second) has everything ready to go.

Let's Build It

Open UEFN and create a new island. Clear the map if you have to. Now, let’s place the hardware.

Step 1: The Pickup Zones (Tags)

We need multiple spots where pizzas can spawn. In Verse, we will use Tags to group these spots. A Tag is like a sticker you put on an object to tell the code, "Hey, I’m a Level 1 pickup zone!"

1. Place 8 Item Spawner devices around your map. Spread them out so the player has to run.
2. For each Item Spawner, open its properties.
3. Look for the Tags section. Add a tag called PickupZone.
4. Pro Tip: In the full game, we’ll have "Level 1," "Level 2," etc. For this setup, just tag them all PickupZone for now. We’ll sort the difficulty in the code phase.

Step 2: The Pizza (Item Spawner Setup)

The Item Spawner is the device that creates the pizza prop.

1. Click on your first Item Spawner.
2. In the details panel, find the Item section.
3. Click Add Item and select the Pizza prop (or the pizza item from the Creative inventory).
4. Set the Spawn Count to 1. This means one pizza appears at a time.
5. Set Respawn Time to 0. Why 0? Because when the player picks it up, we want it to disappear instantly so it doesn’t clutter the map. The Verse code will handle bringing it back later.
6. Repeat this for all 8 Item Spawners.

Step 3: The Drop-Off Zone (Capture Area)

This is where you deliver the pizza.

1. Place a Capture Area device in a central location. Make it big enough to be forgiving.
2. Name it something obvious in the editor, like "DeliveryZone."
3. In the Capture Area properties, set the Capture Type to Single Player.
4. We will use Verse to detect when a player with a pizza enters this zone.

Step 4: The Game Controller (End Game & Spawner)

We need a way to start and stop the game.

1. Place an End Game device. This will tell the game when the timer hits zero.
2. Place an ATK Spawner (or another Item Spawner if you prefer) if you want to spawn a vehicle or a start point for the player, but for this specific level setup, we’re focusing on the pizza logic.
3. Optional: Place an Item Remover device near the pickup zones. This is a safety net. If a player somehow keeps a pizza and the zone resets, this device ensures no "ghost pizzas" float around.

Step 5: Map Indicators (Visual Feedback)

Players need to know where to go.

1. Place a Map Indicator device.
2. This will later point to the next pickup zone. For now, just place it in the center of your island.

Step 6: The Scene Graph (Hierarchy)

In Unreal Engine, everything exists in a Scene Graph. Think of this as a family tree for your objects.

• The World is the parent.
• The Island is a child of the World.
• The Props and Devices are children of the Island.

When you place an Item Spawner, it’s just a static object in the editor. But when the game starts, Verse will "instantiate" (copy) these devices into the active game world. By tagging them correctly now, you’re making sure that when Verse looks for "all objects with the tag PickupZone," it finds exactly the 8 spawners you placed.

Let's Build It (Code Preview)

We aren't writing the full game logic yet, but here is how the Verse code will see the setup you just built. This is a simplified look at how Verse interacts with your tags.

# This is a simplified representation of how Verse reads your level setup.
# We don't run this yet, but it shows why your Tags matter.

# Verse looks for all devices with the tag "PickupZone"
pickup_zones := World.Get_Objects_With_Tag("PickupZone")

# It then picks one at random to spawn the next pizza
next_pickup := pickup_zones[Random.Int(0, pickup_zones.Count)]

# Verse checks the Item Spawner inside that zone to spawn the pizza
next_pickup.Spawn_Item()

See how clean that is? That’s because we took the time to tag the devices in the editor. If you hadn’t tagged them, Verse would be looking for ghosts.

Try It Yourself

Challenge: Add a "Red Zone" and a "Blue Zone."

1. Place two more Capture Areas on your map.
2. Tag one RedZone and the other BlueZone.
3. Place an Item Spawner in each.
4. Tag the spawners with their respective zone tags.

Hint: In the next tutorial, we’ll write the Verse code to check: "If the player is in the Red Zone, spawn a Red Pizza." For now, just make sure your tags are unique and your spawners are ready.

Recap

• Props are what you see; Devices are what make things happen.
• Tags are labels you assign to devices in the editor so Verse can find them easily.
• Item Spawners create the pizza props.
• Capture Areas detect when players enter specific zones.
• Proper setup in the editor makes the Verse code simple and bug-free.

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/uefn/time-trial-pizza-pursuit-in-verse
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/time-trial-pizza-pursuit-in-verse
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/pizza-pursuit-1-setting-up-the-level-for-time-trial-in-verse
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/pizza-pursuit-5-improving-feedback-and-player-experience-for-time-trial-in-verse
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/create-your-own-device-in-verse