Game Developer Launches Walking Dead Experience in Fortnite: A New Era for Studios

The games industry has been facing significant challenges, with layoffs, studio closures, and funding issues creating a turbulent environment. Enrique Fuentes, CEO and co-founder of Teravision Games, felt this turbulence acutely when his team released Killer Klowns From Outer Space, an asymmetrical horror game inspired by the 80s film. Despite positive reception, with IGN awarding it a 7 and praising its entertainment value, and its trailers amassing hundreds of thousands of views, Teravision found itself struggling post-launch, a sentiment echoed across the industry.

“As you know, 2024 was a pretty tough year for the whole industry. So it was a little bit slow for us to close our next project,” Fuentes explains. Despite collaborations with major players like Disney, Nickelodeon, and Xbox, securing a follow-up project proved challenging. With time running out, the studio, boasting developers with over two decades of experience, pivoted to a novel approach: creating games within Fortnite. In less than a year, Teravision launched three games using Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN), and today marks the release of their fourth, Courtyard King, leveraging the official The Walking Dead content pack in UEFN.

Developed in partnership with Skybound, the company co-founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Courtyard King is a King of the Hill-style multiplayer PvPvE game set in the iconic prison location from the series. Players battle each other and NPC zombies for control of territory, utilizing official assets like character models of Rick Grimes, Negan, and Daryl Dixon. Teravision worked closely with Skybound’s writers to develop the game’s narrative and dialogue, enriching the experience.

“Instead of a multi-year project like Killer Clowns From Outer Space, these are projects that we could put together in weeks or months,” says Fuentes. “We have worked with big brands in the past… and UEFN was something that we were experimenting with… but we never imagined that was going to be the root where we’re going to be engaging with a company like Skybound. But I mean, UGC, it’s one of the biggest things in gaming right now.”

User-generated content (UGC) is a driving force in current gaming trends, with platforms like Fortnite and Roblox leading the way. While UGC traditionally refers to content created by players, the concept of professional studios developing UGC is newer. Fortnite’s Unreal Engine 5-based tools have provided a perfect platform for experienced developers like Teravision to experiment with less risk.

“It made sense because we come from an engineering background and it was a platform where we could experiment in and assume some of the risk,” Fuentes elaborates. Teravision’s first foray into UEFN resulted in Havoc Hotel, a roguelike shooter set in a hotel where players earn currency to upgrade weapons. The series gained traction, with Havoc Hotel 3 becoming one of Fortnite’s most popular games.

Martin Rodriguez, Teravision’s game designer, notes that the transition to UEFN was seamless for the team, given their prior experience with Unreal Engine. “For us, it just removes some of the work that we would’ve done otherwise and allows us to focus on just making better games and explore different new creative ideas,” he states.

While the engineering team adapted easily to UEFN’s tools, the game design team faced unique challenges. LD Zambrano, Teravision’s creative director, highlights the differences between traditional game design and UEFN games. “A traditional experience we have had designing other [non-UEFN] games is where players relate through objectives that entice cooperation and competition, right?” Zambrano explains. “In [UEFN’s] case, we have found that even though those objectives are still relevant and we still can use that game design sensibility and bring them there, I found that there are a lot of experiences that are very popular within the Fortnite ecosystem that are kind of just context. They’re weird situations and interactions that don’t necessarily translate into a very clear competition, but they still work.”

Zambrano likens UEFN games to schoolyard play, where spontaneous, sometimes nonsensical games foster engagement and friendship. This philosophy is reflected in Courtyard King, which operates as an infinite game with no final winner. Players can join and leave at will, even switch teams, creating dynamic and unpredictable scenarios reminiscent of The Walking Dead’s themes of betrayal and survival.

For game developers, UEFN presents both opportunities and challenges. While it positions studios within the ecosystems of larger entities like Epic Games or Roblox, it offers a platform to experiment with less financial risk and access to a vast player base and significant IP. “We can actually assume the risk as an indie developer in [UEFN]. Because last year, we couldn’t even think about starting a three-year project. We could do something in a few weeks with a smaller team and that completely changes the paradigm for a new developer. This is now a viable model where you can actually support an 80-person studio like we do, and we can assume the risk,” Fuentes concludes. “It’s something that if you have the right ideas, the right creativity around it, if you understand the market well enough and you have the right thinking, execution becomes possible and it doesn’t take years, it actually takes weeks, maybe months. I think this is a dream come true for indie developers.”