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The Making of Lunar Horizons in Fortnite: An Immersive Reimagination of a Mission to the Moon
The Fortnite Team
Lunar Horizons is an immersive, 3D reimagination of a future European Space Agency (ESA) international lunar mission to the Moon’s south pole. As a player, you must collect resources to build up the Hassell Lunar Habitat as you learn more about the wonders of space exploration.
Lunar Horizons isn’t all about winning — take a moment to talk to the astronauts and interact with Info Points around the lunar landscape to learn more about this real life planned mission and our journey into space. Lunar Horizons was created by Epic Games, ESA, and Hassell, in collaboration with Buendea and Team PWR.
Play the Lunar Horizons experience using code 3207-0960-6428 or by searching for “Lunar Horizons” in Discover.
Lunar Horizons gave the Epic team the opportunity to show how real ideas and data can be used to make something fun and interesting in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), and to educate players on the wonders of space science.
We learned a lot about space science throughout the development of this experience, such as how you can’t actually see the stars from the Moon’s surface, how big a problem lunar dust is, and how some areas at the lunar south pole have been dark for billions of years. We hope that you can learn something too by playing the experience and reading through this developer blog. Let’s get into it!
Because of Nanite, we are able to use very detailed models on next gen consoles and PC, and then automatically generate a lower detail version for other platforms like mobile. ESA already uses Unreal Engine for recruitment, simulation, and training, meaning some assets could be brought quickly and easily into UEFN.
In addition to the existing models, we worked with a dev consultant, Buendea, to create other custom assets for the project. Buendea approached this in a way we’ve never seen before: by scanning rocks and photographing real surfaces that are similar to the Moon to create realistic textures.
One asset we are really proud of is the xEMU space suit that was accurately recreated using this Extravehicular Activity public domain guide. This space suit was originally designed for use in the upcoming ESA Artemis mission.
What’s more, we released many of the assets used in this project on FAB for free, so you can use them in your own UEFN project. Just follow these instructions to access these assets:
For more information on importing custom assets into UEFN, check out the “Import Content and Islands” documentation.
When a Scanner Pole is placed, Verse code first finds the nearest resource point (which are custom Props placed by designers in UEFN). It then moves the pole into position, points the beam in the correct direction, and manages resource production. Each pole has its own Verse device and a number of other Fortnite devices (like for displaying text or allowing interaction to pick it up).
Verse is used to create a custom HUD in Lunar Horizons, which lets the player easily know what they are carrying and be warned of impending solar storms. It also helps players know what to do next by triggering nearby “Beacon” devices.
For more information on using Verse in UEFN, check out the “Verse Language Getting Started” documentation and “Programming in Verse” documentation.
For more information on using Sequencer in UEFN, see our “Sequencer and Control Rig” documentation. If you want a broader understanding of how to implement Animation and Cinematics, head to our general Animation and Cinematics page.
We also utilized the Control Rig to animate the Scanner Pole inside Sequencer. In addition, Control Rig performs a collision test to make sure that the pole is placed exactly on the surface of the Moon.
For more information on using Control Rig in UEFN, you can read the aforementioned “Sequencer and Control Rig” documentation. For a broader understanding of how to implement Animation and Cinematics, check out the parent documentation page here.
For more information on how to build your own custom environment in UEFN, see our “Environments and Landscapes” documentation.
We hope you learned a thing or two about space exploration and how it was reimagined into a UEFN experience. If you’d like to learn more about the real life Artemis mission to the lunar south pole, check out this ESA article on the Artemis V Moon mission. You can also learn more from the Unreal Fest 2023 panel ”Bringing the Moon into Fortnite”. 🌙
Lunar Horizons isn’t all about winning — take a moment to talk to the astronauts and interact with Info Points around the lunar landscape to learn more about this real life planned mission and our journey into space. Lunar Horizons was created by Epic Games, ESA, and Hassell, in collaboration with Buendea and Team PWR.
Play the Lunar Horizons experience using code 3207-0960-6428 or by searching for “Lunar Horizons” in Discover.
Lunar Horizons gave the Epic team the opportunity to show how real ideas and data can be used to make something fun and interesting in Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), and to educate players on the wonders of space science.
We learned a lot about space science throughout the development of this experience, such as how you can’t actually see the stars from the Moon’s surface, how big a problem lunar dust is, and how some areas at the lunar south pole have been dark for billions of years. We hope that you can learn something too by playing the experience and reading through this developer blog. Let’s get into it!
Custom Assets
An exciting aspect of this project was working closely with the leading architecture and design practice Hassell and ESA. Both groups graciously provided CAD (Computer Aided Design) digital models of the proposed lunar habitat and unmanned lunar lander, and we were able to bring those models into UEFN to use in the Lunar Horizons experience.Because of Nanite, we are able to use very detailed models on next gen consoles and PC, and then automatically generate a lower detail version for other platforms like mobile. ESA already uses Unreal Engine for recruitment, simulation, and training, meaning some assets could be brought quickly and easily into UEFN.
In addition to the existing models, we worked with a dev consultant, Buendea, to create other custom assets for the project. Buendea approached this in a way we’ve never seen before: by scanning rocks and photographing real surfaces that are similar to the Moon to create realistic textures.
One asset we are really proud of is the xEMU space suit that was accurately recreated using this Extravehicular Activity public domain guide. This space suit was originally designed for use in the upcoming ESA Artemis mission.
What’s more, we released many of the assets used in this project on FAB for free, so you can use them in your own UEFN project. Just follow these instructions to access these assets:
- Launch Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
- Open the project you would like to add the assets to.
- Click the FAB icon in the top bar (next to the Verse icon).
- Search for Lunar Horizons and select Lunar Horizons’ free asset pack.
- Drag the assets right into your level and start using them!
For more information on importing custom assets into UEFN, check out the “Import Content and Islands” documentation.
Verse
Code written in the UEFN programming language Verse controls all aspects of Lunar Horizon’s gameplay, including the Info Points, Scanner Poles, and lunar habitat construction.When a Scanner Pole is placed, Verse code first finds the nearest resource point (which are custom Props placed by designers in UEFN). It then moves the pole into position, points the beam in the correct direction, and manages resource production. Each pole has its own Verse device and a number of other Fortnite devices (like for displaying text or allowing interaction to pick it up).
Verse is used to create a custom HUD in Lunar Horizons, which lets the player easily know what they are carrying and be warned of impending solar storms. It also helps players know what to do next by triggering nearby “Beacon” devices.
For more information on using Verse in UEFN, check out the “Verse Language Getting Started” documentation and “Programming in Verse” documentation.
Sequencer
We used our cinematic and animation tool Sequencer extensively in Lunar Horizons, including for cinematics of the astronauts going about their mission, the deployment animation of the Scanner Poles, the movements of the robotic rovers around the surface, the solar storm effects, and smaller things like flashing buttons and icons.For more information on using Sequencer in UEFN, see our “Sequencer and Control Rig” documentation. If you want a broader understanding of how to implement Animation and Cinematics, head to our general Animation and Cinematics page.
Control Rig
Control Rig was used for many aspects of Lunar Horizons. For example, the two models of robotic rovers were set up so that their wheels would rotate automatically as they moved, and their suspension would move up and down in response to the lunar terrain. (You can see more details on this in the Unreal Fest talk by Chase Cooper from last year.)We also utilized the Control Rig to animate the Scanner Pole inside Sequencer. In addition, Control Rig performs a collision test to make sure that the pole is placed exactly on the surface of the Moon.
For more information on using Control Rig in UEFN, you can read the aforementioned “Sequencer and Control Rig” documentation. For a broader understanding of how to implement Animation and Cinematics, check out the parent documentation page here.
Landscape and Environment
The landscape in the game started as actual lunar elevation data (from NASA’s LRO), which was then adapted using the Landscape tools in UEFN. We used a custom material setup to create a distinct, realistic lunar terrain — inspired by reference photographs of the actual Moon’s surface. Decals were also used to add specific detail and blend features together.For more information on how to build your own custom environment in UEFN, see our “Environments and Landscapes” documentation.
We hope you learned a thing or two about space exploration and how it was reimagined into a UEFN experience. If you’d like to learn more about the real life Artemis mission to the lunar south pole, check out this ESA article on the Artemis V Moon mission. You can also learn more from the Unreal Fest 2023 panel ”Bringing the Moon into Fortnite”. 🌙