Save Your Friends: The Down But Not Out Device

Have you ever watched a teammate fall in a game and wished you could pull them back up? Usually, they are gone forever. That is sad! But not today. Today, we will build a system where players can fall, stay on the ground, and wait for a friend to save them. This is called "Down But Not Out." It turns a lonely loss into a team rescue mission.

What You'll Learn

• What "Down But Not Out" means in game design.
• How to make players fall without leaving the game.
• How to build a rescue mechanic using Verse.
• Why teamwork makes the game more fun.

How It Works

Imagine you are playing soccer. If you trip and fall, you are not out of the game. You stay on the field. Your friends can help you up. You keep playing. This is exactly what "Down But Not Out" (DBNO) does.

In most games, when health hits zero, the player leaves. The screen goes gray. Game over. With DBNO, the player stays in the world. They just stop moving fast. They lie on the ground. They are vulnerable. Other players can run over, press a button, and bring them back to full health.

This changes everything. It adds suspense. It adds teamwork. It makes players look out for each other. We will use a special device called the Down But Not Out Device. We will also use Verse to make the rescue happen. Verse is the code language for Fortnite islands. It tells the game what to do when things happen.

Think of it like a video game save point. You don't lose your progress. You just pause it. Your friend can unpause it.

Let's Build It

We will build a simple "Rescue Zone." When a player falls, they stay there. When a friend stands near them, they get healed.

First, place a Down But Not Out Device in your island. This device controls the rules. It tells the game: "When health hits zero, do not remove the player. Instead, put them in a 'downed' state."

Next, we need code to handle the rescue. We will use a script. This script checks if a player is down. If they are, and a friend is close, it heals them.

Here is the code. It is short and sweet.

using { /Fortnite.com/Devices }
using { /Verse.org/Sim }

# This is our main script. It lives on a device.
class RescueScript is VerseSimActor():
    # This is a list of all players in the game.
    # We call this a "Player List".
    Players := []

    # This function runs when the game starts.
    Initialize():
        # Get all players currently in the game.
        Players := GetPlayers()

    # This function runs every single frame.
    # A frame is one tiny moment in time.
    Tick():
        # We look at each player one by one.
        for Player in Players:
            # Check if this player is currently downed.
            if Player.IsDowned():
                # Find other players nearby.
                NearbyPlayers := GetPlayersNearby(Player, 5.0)
                
                # Look at each nearby player.
                for Friend in NearbyPlayers:
                    # If the friend is not downed themselves,
                    # we can revive the first player!
                    if not Friend.IsDowned():
                        # Heal the downed player to full health.
                        Player.Heal(100.0)
                        # Remove the downed state.
                        Player.RemoveDownedState()
                        # Show a happy sound effect.
                        PlaySound("HealSound")

Let’s break this down.

The Initialize function is like setting up your desk before you start homework. It gets ready. It finds all the players.

The Tick function is like a heartbeat. It beats many times a second. It checks the game state constantly. It asks: "Is anyone down?"

If someone is down, the code looks around. It uses GetPlayersNearby. This is like looking around a room to see who is close to you. The number 5.0 is the distance. It is about five meters away.

If a healthy friend is close, the code runs Heal. This brings the health bar back to 100. It also runs RemoveDownedState. This makes the player stand up. They are back in the action!

Place this script on a device near your spawn point. Now, when you play, falling down is not the end. It is just the beginning of a rescue mission.

Try It Yourself

You have the basics! Now, make it harder.

Challenge: Add a timer. Make the downed player slowly lose health while they are on the ground. If they don't get rescued in 10 seconds, they are out for real.

Hint: You can use a Timer device. Set it to fire every second. When it fires, reduce the player's health by 10. If health hits zero, then remove the player.

Recap

• Down But Not Out keeps players in the game after they fall.
• It encourages teamwork and rescue missions.
• Verse scripts can check player states and trigger heals.
• Your island is now a place for cooperation, not just competition.

References

• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/down-but-not-out-device-design-example
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/down-but-not-out-device-design-examples-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite/using-down-but-not-out-devices-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/using-down-but-not-out-devices-in-fortnite-creative
• https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/fortnite-creative/device-design-examples-in-fortnite-creative