14 DAY TRIAL // At the VGA show developer Epic Games, best known for their work on the long running Gears of War franchise, has shown off its new intellectual property, called Fortnite, which seems to mix team based action with a more cartoon like art style and with a lot of mechanics taken from tower defense.
Speaking about Fortnite Cliff Bleszinski, who is one of the main developers working at Epic Games, stated, “There’s no dudebros in it. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, right? Creatively for the team, Gears has been amazing for us. But it’s fun to kind of stretch our wings and do something that’s a little different from the usual.”
He added, “It was a project that was pitched internally. I was a staunch supporter of the idea, because the game is just like a no-brainer – I was like yes.”
Epic Games has abandoned the muscular, hunky look of the Gears of War series and has opted for a much more stylized character art, which has some connections to that used by Valve in their hugely popular Team Fortress 2.
The trailer suggests that players will need to work together and get signs and other base materials in order to then built fortifications and weapon systems that can repel attacks from a number of inhuman enemies, who again look nothing like the ones seen in Gears of War 3.
The developers have not announced any official information on the game mechanics and they have not mentioned on which platform Fortnite will be released, which might mean that they are finally free to launch on the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii in addition to the Xbox 360.
Epic Games has introduced some tower defense elements in the multiplayer mode of Gears of War 3, which launched in September and got solid sales and reviews.
Here is the first trailer for Fortnite:
