Metallica:
Music Experience in UEFN

Step 5: Kick it up a notch with spatialized sound

Make the music feel like more than just a soundtrack by bringing it into the environment. Use spatial audio and reverb to give that live, stadium feel. Extract sounds and tie them to in-game elements, pulling the player right into the music. Take time to play, play, play; to balance the attenuation correctly so you don’t have any thin spots. Ask not for whom the bell tolls – it tolls for you!

Step 6: Throughout, use Creator Mode in Fortnite for rapid prototyping. 

Make something in UEFN. Get your team together to play it in Fortnite. Action their feedback live in Creator Mode. Repeat until awesome.

Step 7: Spice it up with effects 

Use Niagara for dynamic effects. Think fireballs, volumetric light shafts, and torches (mimicking the visuals of a physical concert). Throw in fantastical elements like flying squids, gigantic hypnotic eyeballs, and lightning bolts…and all synced perfectly to the music. (But watch out for consistent strobing that might trigger health and safety issues!)

Step 8: Turn up the heat with Verse

Add 7,322 lines of Verse code (UEFN's custom scripting language) to push the experience to the max. Connect the existing suite of creative devices in new ways to deliver gameplay elements that’ll leave fans cheering and devs scratching their heads. 

Step 9: Add a climactic boss fight

Create a monstrous, Lovecraftian foe. Make it destroy scenery and players in time with the music. Juice it up 'till your eyeballs explode. Emphasize teamwork strategies, and balance the UI player feedback so everyone can discover them. Attack its weak point for massive damage.

Step 10: Frost the cake with surprises for the super fans

Reward repeat players for looking around and exploring. It’s easy to fill the world with those little details that make fans (and band members) happy that this experience rewards them for being a part of the club. A secret appearance from the band's unofficial mascot. A nod to the lead singer's favorite hot rod. Demonic gargoyles from classic album covers, and Justice For All.

Step 11: Serve hot in Fortnite

Squeeze every drop of designer blood, engineering sweat, and player tears into quality assurance. Test your island, crush your bugs, hurdle your blockers...and hear the exclamations of the players! Before going live, make sure there's nothing that can derail the experience on the way in, out, or during transitions. If in doubt, leave it out! When you're sure you have a silky smooth experience (on all Fortnite platforms) you're ready to unleash the beast.

Step 12: Learn from mistakes: 

The first time won’t be the best time. Success is built on failure – if you’re not failing a lot in the process, you’re making boring stuff. What matters is how you recover and keep moving. 

Here are some mistakes we made, and lessons we learned from them:

• The rail grinding section was intended to be a crazy, rollercoaster ride across arcing lightning with players shooting flying squids (which you can still see in the background). We had to massively simplify it because the rail jumping wasn't robust enough to support the initial concept. By stripping it down to a rhythm game on straight rails, we learned the importance of flexibility and simplicity in game design while retaining the fun.

• We aimed to include bouncy mosh gameplay during the concert sections, but everything we tried made players feel sick! Ultimately, we left it out so players could focus on the band, which was the right decision. Player comfort is crucial. 

• Initially, during Lux Aeterna, we had rocks that players could smash through. However, these were removed the day before we went live because 1 in 50 testers found that hitting the rocks destroyed their car and booted them from the experience. With a million players, 1 in 50 equates to 20,000 people…some things just aren’t worth the risk. 

Read more about the making of Fuel. Fire. Fury. in this blog article from Creative Director, Dan Taylor.