‘Fortnite: Battle Royale’ Developers Working On Controller Revamp, Cosmetics, Performance, And More
The rapid rise of Fortnite: Battle Royale to over 10 million players across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC has called attention to current bare-bones states of the online shooter two weeks after it was released for free. Epic Games shared a post Friday to let fans know the studio is working on various updates from console-specific improvements to gameplay tweaks to progression to performance.
There is currently no timeline on what will be released when in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Epic Games’ vice president of engineering explained the studio is attempting to get “a decent percentage” of the more than two dozen items into the game over the course of the next four to six weeks. While the list is categorized, it does not appear to be prioritized.
Console Improvements
Players on the PS4 and Xbox One are familiar with the somewhat cumbersome nature of switching between weapons and items on Fortnite: Battle Royale’s hot bar. It requires pressing a single button to cycle through the weapons and items, and the cycle goes in only one direction.
It’s unknown how Epic is going to revamp the use of the controller, but alternate configurations are listed as well. Hopefully, this includes the ability to move back and forth through the hot bar with the D-pad or bumper buttons. A method to directly select items on the hot bar would be even better.
Other console specific enhancements include input latency improvements, aim assist improvements, and an update to the UI to provide a better “10-foot console experience” with the HUD while playing Fortnite: Battle Royale. The studio is also working on making console performance better with stability and memory enhancements.
Gameplay Improvements
There’s not much new in the gameplay improvements category that Epic Games has not mentioned before for Fortnite: Battle Royale. Shooting and weapon balance tweaks are at the top of the list for many players, as most weapons are hitscan-based and accuracy still feels more random than skill-based.
The Fornite: Battle Royale development team is going to continue to polish the Squads and Duos experience. This includes team communication with voice chat in-game versus using a console party or third-party app.
Progression Improvements
Stats were added to Fortnite: Battle Royale in an update earlier this week, but the leaderboards did not make the cut. That will be coming soon, along with a progression system to earn in-game rewards. Presumably, these rewards will include cosmetic items, but Epic also lists “loadout” as a new feature. This is likely a cosmetic loadout for your character versus a pre-defined weapon loadout.
Epic also mentions “Compendium/mission logs” in the notes. This is perhaps the least defined, but it sounds like it could be lore-related or something based on accomplishing certain tasks.
Performance Improvements
A smoother running Fornite: Battle Royale is on the top of everyone’s wishlists. In addition to the aforementioned console improvements, server optimizations to reduce hitching are being worked on along with level streaming to support cosmetics and better support for low-end PC hardware.
A Public Test realm is still in the works for Fortnite: Battle Royale players to test updates before they hit the main servers. Epic Games is also attempting to set up more data centers to reduce overall ping times.
[Featured Image by Epic Games]
