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Tim Sweeney on The Future of Fortnite and AI Game Development - IGN (www.ign.com)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

For the most part, I quite like Sweeney. He's one of gaming's quiet visionaries - almost the opposite to loudmouths like Peter Molyneux - and seemed to take a very "gamer first" approach to game development. CliffyB's autobiography gives a very positive account of him too.

His approach to business is quite concerning though. Whether it's complaining that the barriers to developing for Linux is too high while simultaneously cutting 10-12% of his workforce, to articles like this where Sweeney talks about the Fortnite ecosystem - it's just becoming increasingly anti-gamer. Fortnite is part of the ecosystem, not the ecosystem - no wonder we're being driven towards AI slop in games, because everything else is getting choked off.

Am I preaching to the converted? Probably. Maybe I'll just play the Epic Megagames series as far as Gears of War and pretend the last fifteen years or so never happened

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Epic has supported Linux via grants to platforms like Lutris and by promoting the alternative launchers, among other things, so its approach is not that dissimilar to Valve supporting Wine rather than funding or developing native Linux ports. Epic laying people off is very disappointing, but at least not worse compared to the other big corporations having done the same.

On AI, most of the time, yeah, I believe AI is used quite lazily to create soulless assets, especially for asset flips. It wasn't like that with Vader though, was it? The community mostly loved him and had fun. I typically don't use my mic when gaming, but him dynamically commenting on the world around him and the players got me to seriously consider connecting a mic. Vader's voice itself was also used with permission from the copyright holders.

Have you played Fortnite? It's not just a game anymore. It's more like a launcher in that it lets you play various games that are very distinct from one another, like Lego Fortnite or Rocket Racing, with the main shared components being the Unreal Engine and the shared economy (e.g. owning a skin for Fortnite Battle Royale granting you a version of the same skin in the Lego games).

I don't think Sweeney has ever claimed that everything has to happen in Fortnite though. My understanding is that he envisions more cooperation between game creators (similar to Epic's collaborations with Disney and many others), powered by open systems like EOS, which would allow gamers to interact and carry items over from game to game.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

I used to play Fortnite - I got fed up when they left StW to die when the money was clearly there to keep it pegged to the Battle Royale mode in terms of updates, even if the game wasn't exactly flourishing. I gave up playing often after Chapter Two.

I only really watch the live events and play the odd game with my son's now. I can see the whole "launcher" thing though, it seems like Roblox with it's crossovers and "experiences" made by third parties.

Fair comment on the AI. At least it was used in a new and entertaining way, even if the SAG have a fair point where it does harm living voice actors... though admittedly the VAs that have played Vader in the past have been a bit soulless.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

powered by open systems like EOS, which would allow gamers to interact and carry items over from game to game.

You mean carrying from one console to another, so long as they use the same account? Because carrying the same item across two different games (ie: a skin from fortnite over to hades) is not the same

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No, like in Lego Fortnite and the main Fortnite, which involves separate 3D models built around the same concept by separate teams.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Having an item applied to your account and it being valid for more than 1 game, even if the style is vastly different, isn't a new concept, nor is it something other online services can't do 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

There's no disagreement between us on that. Sweeney too tries to use not only Epic's own products but also others as an example of what can power that, though he calls out Valve's Steamworks for not being open to other platforms.

[–] sbv 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

AI Vader was a lot of fun. It was a great use of the technology.

You're right that Fortnite is sort of a launcher on its own now. The community developed games don't hold a lot of appeal for me, but some people like them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Right, I'm not a fan of the community-made ones either. I do love Lego Fortnite and Rocket Racing though. Festival can be fun as well.