Hide and Seek Pro: Mastering the Prop O’ Matic with Verse

So, you’ve built a map where players turn into bushes, chairs, and vending machines. It’s funny, it’s chaotic, and it’s exactly the kind of "hide in plain sight" gameplay that makes Fortnite creative unique. But there’s a problem: once a player transforms into a prop, they’re invisible to the seeker’s radar. They’re ghosts.

That’s boring.

In this tutorial, we’re going to use Verse to connect a Prop O’ Matic Manager device to your UI. We’ll teach the game to show players exactly how many opponents are still hiding and, more importantly, how long they have to wait before they can ping the map again to find them. No more guessing games. No more frustration. Just pure, optimized hunter-killer gameplay.

What You'll Learn

• How to use the Prop O’ Matic Manager device to control game visibility.
• The concept of Logic Types (True/False switches) using Verse.
• How to toggle the Props Remaining counter on the HUD.
• How to toggle the Ping Cooldown indicator so players know when they can spy again.

How It Works

Think of the Prop O’ Matic Manager as the referee of your hide-and-seek match. It knows who is hiding, who is seeking, and how many props are left. But by default, it keeps its mouth shut. It doesn’t tell the seekers where to look, and it doesn’t tell them when their "spy" ability is ready.

We need to give the referee a voice. We do this using Functions.

In Verse, a Function is just a set of instructions that the computer runs when you tell it to. Think of it like a Trap Device. You don’t want the trap to go off every millisecond; you want it to trigger only when a player steps on it. Similarly, we don’t want the UI to update randomly. We want it to update when the game starts, or when a prop is eliminated.

The specific functions we’re using here are:

1. SetShowPropsRemaining: This toggles the text on the screen that says, "3 Props Remaining."
2. SetShowPropPingCooldown: This toggles the timer that shows players how long until they can ping the map again to reveal a prop’s location.

Both of these functions take one input: a Logic value.

Logic is the simplest data type in programming. It’s a switch. It’s either On (True) or Off (False).

• Game Analogy: Think of a light switch. It’s either lit or it’s dark. There is no "kind of lit."
• Verse Syntax: In Verse, we write true for On and false for Off.

When we call SetShowPropsRemaining(true), we are flipping the switch that says, "Yes, please show the counter." When we call it with false, we flip it back off.

Let's Build It

We are going to create a simple script that turns on the UI elements when the game starts. This ensures that as soon as players spawn, they know how many people are left to find and when their spy tool is ready.

Step 1: The Setup

1. Open your UEFN project.
2. Place a Prop O’ Matic Manager device in your world (it doesn’t need to be visible, but it needs to be in the scene).
3. Open the Verse editor for that device (click the "Verse" button in the device’s details panel).

Step 2: The Code

Copy and paste this code into your Verse script. Don’t worry, we’ll break it down line by line.

using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }

# This is our main script. It runs when the game starts.
OnStart: callable <async>() = {
    # 1. Get a reference to the Prop O' Matic Manager device.
    # We assume you named your device 'PropManager' in the editor.
    manager := PropOmaticManagerDevice
    
    # 2. Turn ON the "Props Remaining" counter on the HUD.
    # This is like turning on the storm timer display.
    manager.SetShowPropsRemaining(true)
    
    # 3. Turn ON the "Ping Cooldown" indicator.
    # This lets seekers know when they can use their spy ability again.
    manager.SetShowPropPingCooldown(true)
}

Step 3: Walkthrough

• using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }: This is your Loot Pool. It tells Verse, "Hey, I need access to the standard Fortnite devices like Prop O’ Matic, Billboard, etc." Without this, Verse doesn’t know what a PropOmaticManagerDevice is.
• OnStart: callable <async>() = { ... }: This is your Spawn Point. Just like players spawn when the bus drops, this code block runs when the game session begins. The <async> part means this code can take a moment to run (like loading a level) without freezing the whole game.
• manager := PropOmaticManagerDevice: This is Assigning a Loadout. We are grabbing the specific device in your map and giving it a nickname (manager) so we can talk to it easily. Note: In a real complex map, you might need to pass this device in as a parameter, but for this simple example, we assume the script is attached directly to the device.
• manager.SetShowPropsRemaining(true): This is the Kill Feed Toggle. We are calling the function on our manager and setting the switch to true. The UI will now show the counter.
• manager.SetShowPropPingCooldown(true): This is the Ability Cooldown Timer. We flip this switch to true so players see the countdown when they try to ping.

Try It Yourself

The code above turns everything on automatically. But what if you want to make it harder?

Challenge: Add a new function call to your OnStart block that turns OFF the "Props Remaining" counter.

• Hint: Look at the function we used in Step 2. How do you think you turn a switch off in Verse? (Remember the light switch analogy).

• Test it: Run your game. Do you see the counter? Now, try adding the "Off" command. What happens to the UI?

(Answer: You would use manager.SetShowPropsRemaining(false). The counter will disappear from the HUD.)

Recap

You just used Verse to control the UI of your hide-and-seek map. You learned that:

1. Functions are like trap triggers—they do something when you call them.
2. Logic is a simple On/Off switch (true/false).
3. The Prop O’ Matic Manager can show or hide the remaining prop count and ping cooldown timers using SetShowPropsRemaining and SetShowPropPingCooldown.

Now your players have the tools they need to hunt efficiently. No more blind guessing. Just pure, tactical prop-pinging.

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-api/fortnitedotcom/devices/prop_o_matic_manager_device/setshowpropsremaining
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-api/fortnitedotcom/devices/prop_o_matic_manager_device/setshowproppingcooldown
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-api/fortnitedotcom/devices/prop_o_matic_manager_device/setpingprops
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/fortnite/verse-api/fortnitedotcom/devices/billboard_device/setshowborder
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/26-00-release-notes-in-unreal-editor-for-fortnite