Sony Immersive Music Studios
Capture The Music: NITEWAVE

Overview

Brand
Epic Games

Client
Sony Immersive Music Studios

Industry
Entertainment

Release Date
13/12/23

Introduction

Sony Immersive Music Studios wanted to create an exciting and fast-paced concept for Fortnite. Through the innovative use of Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), we developed an unparalleled 'music-first' arena battle experience – the first ever Fortnite Creative Island with licensed music.

The brief

The experience needed to be visually unique, utilize licensed music from some of Sony’s incredible catalog, and above all else be fun to play. It also needed to be artist and genre agnostic to accommodate a playlist from a variety of renowned artists.

The solution

We started with our audience – Fortnite players – and immersed ourselves in the culture, trends, and creations of its fanbase. We knew we needed to keep it simple and authentic, but bring a fresh twist to music-based gameplay.

By creating excitement through fan identity and game-driven connection with artists and their music, we crafted a sonic showdown in a fictional music venue.

In CAPTURE THE MUSIC: NITEWAVE, the core idea is simple: compete to dominate the game’s soundtrack. Each player chooses a team and a playlist to fight for, and then the battle commences. Grab the flag to take control of the arena’s music. When players rush to seize the flag, immersive visuals and laser-light displays are triggered that synchronize with the rhythm of the music and the color of the dominating team. The team with the longest control over the soundtrack wins.

We wanted the environment and VFX to be tightly coupled to the music and players’ actions, but audio reactivity wasn’t supported in UEFN, so we developed in-house workflows to achieve procedural musical synchronization. This approach allowed us to create a stronger connection between the gameplay, environment, and soundtrack. And while we remained faithful to the Fortnite style and colors, we tried to build a unique visual identity through bold, dramatic, and contemporary design language throughout the gameplay.

You can play CAPTURE THE MUSIC: NITEWAVE using island code: 0400-8367-8548

The impact

Over the course of eight weeks, we broke new ground in UEFN by quickly learning how to build features in a clean and performant way using the many built-in devices, extensions, and entirely custom Verse devices where needed.

By pushing UEFN to new limits, we created a striking VFX centerpiece and built concert-style shaders and lighting techniques. We even added some easter egg moments including stage diving off the balcony through a wind tunnel around the venue.