An "evolving world" done right, by... Fortnite!? (Gaming)

by Korny , Dalton, Ga. US. Earth, Sol System, Saturday, July 20, 2019, 13:01 (1735 days ago)

Fortnite is wrapping up its latest season this weekend, and boy are they ending it with a bang. Over the course of the season, players have seen two events unfolding slowly and simultaneously. On one side of the map, a frozen monster has appeared, thawed, and escaped into the sea. On the other, a giant mech has been under construction. Both of these events have been affecting the world in different ways, but this weekend, it all came to a head when the monster returned to shore and started wreaking havoc:

(The season's series of events are detailed in this Kotaku article.)

This massive battle takes place during a match in the game, and spans several locations, uses previous events as part of the unfolding action, and sets up a big change in the map for next season (giant monster skeleton, wrecked towns).

Season-long happenings and goings-on are the perfect way to engage your audience, as well as creating a sense of FOMO that doesn't punish others for not being there, and the devs use the opportunity to create lasting changes to the game world. The map has truly evolved over time, and there's a story behind a lot of it.

Say what you will about EPIC's overworked employees, ruthless crunch, and unreasonable content demands... But dang it if the results aren't impressive.

So I hope Bungie leans more into this with D3st3n3 3. You don't need massive seasonal events, but a steady evolution of content, enemy behaviors, or world state goes a long way towards adding a desire to return to the world often. Lord knows I've been wanting this kind of stuff for a while...