Fortnite Season Three has now officially begun. The third season of the hugely popular multiplayer and crafting game introduces new skins, new weapons, and several big gameplay changes as well. However, these aren’t the only differences that players may notice the next time they play the game.
Fortnite Season Three also introduces a new musical score and Epic Games creative director Darren Sugg explains that “Music is so important in setting the tone for the players’ emotional experience.” As a result, it is “extremely important” that the game has a high-quality score. To put together the game’s new music, the Fortnite development team worked with famed movie composers Marco Beltrami (Logan, The Hurt Locker) and Pinar Toprak (Krypton, Justice League).
Creating the new score was not an easy task says Beltrami, because of the preconceived ideas about the game and its post-apocalyptic, zombie storm setting. The game seems like it could be “dark” but the composer says that Fortnite actually has “more of a family-type of feel to it” and “you’re not just defending yourself, but also trying to save other people.” Since the “music is the emotional undercurrent of the story,” the player has to hear all of that in the score, adds Beltrami. Meanwhile, Toprak calls their work on Fortnite’s score “glorious” and says that hearing it is like “euphoria.”
It’s quite an ask of a composer to make a euphoric piece of music that conveys gameplay elements across two different game modes (Fortnite Battle Royale and Fortnite Save The World are both affected by the music update). But as Sugg notes, the game’s music plays a huge part in what players experience. The thrill of getting an impressive kill in Fortnite Battle Royale or the exhilarating feeling when a play is completed successfully or a team secures a Victory Royale are all feelings heightened by the music.
Fortnite has millions of players and people enjoy the game because of the sense of awe, wonder, surprise and scales, all of which are filmic qualities. Therefore, players will expect the game’s music to have a filmic quality to it as well, making the new musical score all the more important.
The new music is just one of several quality of life changes that developers Epic Games and People Can Fly are planning to make to the game. Other upcoming improvements including changes to building gameplay and changes to shooting gameplay have also been in testing and look to make a significant impact on how the game feels.
Fortnite is currently available in early access for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Glixel
