Chaotic Cavern (POI)

Type of Project: Personal Solo | Role: Level Designer | Size: Independent | Duration: 7 weeks | Software: UEFN, Fortnite Creative

Overview

Battle Royale POI Design

  • Designed a POI to seamlessly integrate with past Fortnite maps while providing a new and enriching player experience.

  • Applied single-player guidance principles, architectural design, and competitive multiplayer space design to create a visually appealing, balanced, and easily navigable location.

  • Expanded design skills by crafting a large-scale POI with multiple interconnected locations.

Work Summary

  • Made a significant design pivot to strengthen player experience and reinforce the POI’s thematic identity.

  • Designed traversal options to address the challenges of a large POI and maintain satisfying player movement.

  • Used ambient storytelling through prop placement, landmarks, buildings, and lighting to enhance immersion.

Planning & Research

  • Researched Fortnite POIs to inspire me and align Chaotic Cavern with Fortnite’s level design philosophy. POIs including:

    • Retail Row

    • Slappy Shores

    • Shifty Shafts

    • The Grotto

  • Studied lane structures to inform my own layout design.

  • Developed a top-down layout based on research findings.

  • Gathered feedback from peers and professors before moving forward.

Project Pitch and Planning Documents

©Fortnite. (2020) . Epic Games

Location Design and Player Traversal

  • Balanced loot distribution by concentrating high-tier loot in the central cavern, making it a high-risk, high-reward hot drop, while decreasing rarity and density in outer areas.

  • Designed three primary areas (Retail, Cavern, Radio Station) to support a 20-player lobby, ensuring dynamic combat and looting opportunities.

  • Developed a central hub interconnected by cave systems and zip lines for fluid movement.

  • Crafted locations using the modular kit that accommodate and reward different playstyles.

Environmental Storytelling

  • Used loot placement and props to draw players into the location’s narrative.

  • Utilized buildings to inform players about the POI's origins and the cavern's mystery.

  • Set dressed interior and exterior spaces to convey the POI’s story.

  • Placed the most visually interesting areas in high-loot zones to encourage exploration.

POI Pivot and Refinement

  • Problems:

    • The initial POI design lacked uniqueness and depth.

    • The central pit was not visible from a distance, reducing its impact.

    • Traversal to the cavern/pit felt uninteresting.

    • The lack of verticality made the POI visually and gameplay-wise unappealing.

Original POI

Early Version Of Current POI

  • Solutions:

    • Transformed the pit into a hollowed-out mountain for greater visibility from the Battle Bus and ground level.

    • Created distinct terraces (retail/suburbs, mining, cavern, radio station) to make the POI approachable from all sides.

    • Added tunnels, zip lines, and porta-potty teleports for fluid traversal to support the verticality of the new POI design.

    • Designed the cavern area as a parkour-friendly space to encourage movement-based gameplay.

Ending Notes

Learning Outcomes

I found with this project that playing it safe doesn’t foster creativity and makes levels lack an identity. Throughout building this space, I realized I was trying to do what I thought was safe and would be ‘guaranteed’ to work. I wanted to design a POI where I could lean more into the research of previously made spaces since the POI previously closely followed the layout of Retail Row.

With that realization, I realized my driving force was not wanting to mess up the feeling of a POI. It then pushed me to think of ideas with a stronger identity that could set themselves apart from previous POIs and be recognizable. Though it was my first time building a custom Fortnite POI I knew that if I wanted to make something that would stand out I needed to trust my intuition, do my research, and create something that would stand out.

Complications/Issues

I hit a creative roadblock early in this project. After giving my level pitch to fellow students and professors, I got a lot of approval. The idea of a city where all the buildings are connected to the pit via tunnels was fascinating.

After I started working, everything about my plan felt wrong. I knew at that moment the POI didn’t have the potential to have the bravado I said it could have. The reason… pit’s aren’t known for being able to be seen from afar. Which is a quality most Fortnite POIs have, so I decided to pivot.

The mountain was born. I decided to keep the idea of the pit and a town intertwined with it in the form of a mountain. That way it would be visible from multiple angles and provide verticality that didn’t sacrifice cover or mobility. It improved both of those for players, where my original idea couldn’t have.

From there, I quickly developed a POI that had bravado, visibility, and a multitude of areas that would work for any play style.

Presentation for pitching the level concept.

Apotheosis

Fusion