One Year Ago In Fortnite

In a game that is ever-evolving, sometimes it’s hard to keep up. When we look back a month ago in Fortnite we find things that are no longer with us such as some map changes, and maybe some different weapons.

But when talking about going as far back as a year in Fortnite, the changes become astounding. So, let’s take a look through the crystal ball to Feb 2018, and see if we even recognize the game we have all come to love.

Fortnite in February 2018

Players were approaching the tail-end of Season 2, and hadn’t yet seen the exciting turn of events that set the tone for the current state of Fortnite. There had been no visitor, no meteor, no missile, no Kevin the Cube, no floating island…. you get the point.

It’s hard to imagine the same amount of hype that Fortnite sees today given that the in-game mysteries and events were non-existent. Yet there were still around 50 million players thanking the bus driver… well not really since that neat little feature was only introduced during season 6.

This just proves that Epic Games created something that was good right down to the bare bones state. This had been a topic of debate for quite a while now with some players claiming that the game has lost touch with the original concept, and ultimately what made Fornite great.

Frame Rates

The current state of Fortnite allows for uncapped frame rate settings, but a year ago the announcement had just been made that an optional mode would be released for console players. This mode would give players a smoother experience at 60fps, which would ultimately be stretched a lot further by the end of 2018.

Cosmetics & Item Shop

A very noticeable difference in the game during February 2018 was the lack of cosmetic items, and the item shop in general. Players had responded well to the Fort Knights skin and Disco Heroes skin (called characters by Epic at the time) and Epic’s art team was just starting to play around with customized glider designs. They were only just starting to figure out the popularity of such items, and were completely unaware that these micro-transactions were about to soar into the billions.

Matchmaking & Parties

Can you fathom Fortnite being absent of friends? Imagine playing purely solo matches with 99 other random players. The invite feature was only just being added to console, and was previously done through Facebook for PC players.

Limited Time Modes

Solos, Duos, and Squads were all seeing the light of day but the big picture was being formed behind the scenes. Epic announced their plans to begin running alternative playlists such as Blitz, Sniper Shootout, and Sneaky Silencer. This was a very rough area of Fortnite which was being used mainly as a test platform for future shooting mechanics and refining matchmaking services.

Thank the Llama Gods, for this added a whole other level of entertainment to Epic’s young sandbox and I for one would not still board the battle bus if there wasn’t a rotating roster of game modes to spice things up.

Footsteps & Audio Cues

That’s right, this time last year players were only able to hear an audio cue when an enemy was walking at the same level, and close by. The addition of above and below footsteps changed the game in huge ways by allowing for a much more strategic and competitive environment for players.

Attenuation was added to particular audio locations, making it possible to pinpoint the direction a sound was coming from while panning the camera around. And lastly, the cues for building placements were redesigned to give the actual placing of each structure a definitive sound. This meant a more accurate audio cue when tucked away inside your fort, something that made it a lot more likely to hear an enemy building up on you.

Challenges & Battle Pass

While the Battle Pass had already been created for Fortnite, the challenges were limited. Weekly challenges for Battle Pass holders were anounced, and subsequently introduced for the start of Season 3.

PUBG Left For Dead

Prior to February 2018, PUBG was still drawing in more players, and more viewers than other games. After only a few months of releasing the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite the player numbers had sky-rocketed and surpassed that of PUBG. Not just in terms of concurrent, or even overall players, but also in regards to viewers across various streaming platforms.

PUBG held the previous record for the highest number of concurrent players, which was broken when Fortnite achieved 3.4 million people playing at the same time. This record has been broken almost weekly since then.

It is extremely interesting and exciting to see the game being developed essentially right in front of our eyes. Epic has been able to make changes to their creation on the fly while gathering valuable feedback from players, and implementing change as often as possible.

I should point out that the in-game changes listed in this post are only related to the state of Fortnite during February, and there are a lot of other changes that occurred throughout the year. This article was intended to highlight the key differences from exactly one year ago.

Let’s see how many new changes have occurred within Fortnite by February 2020.