Hello! Welcome to Extra-Loop, a Fortnite newsletter dedicated to keeping all members of the community up to date on what’s fresh: both newcomers and veterans, as well as developers and players alike.
Inside our inaugural issue, you can:
GRAB A STORY SLICE…
…AND SOME CREATIVE COFFEE
Let’s dive in—and, please, don’t mind the bugs! 🐛
Shock ‘N Awesome (so far!)
The latest season of Fortnite: Battle Royale has fans springing into action due to its explosive marketing campaign.
Named after the military strategy Shock and Awe, in which overwhelming force is used at the start of battle (in our case, bugs are everywhere), a full-scale invasion has spread from the rotting tentacle that we cut up alongside Superman and the Supernovas (see the Super Showdown story event!).
While we’ve pushed back the overarching antagonist of Chapter 6 for now — The Dark Presence within the Spirit Realm — it lies in wait, sending demon bugs in the shape of Swarmers, Bombers and a Queen.
To fight back against these endless hordes, the O.X.R. has arrived with all the weapons we could need: The Onimorph eXtermination Rangers. Some of their goodies include the Leadspitter 3000 and the Swarmstrike rocket launcher.
Later this season…
As you might’ve seen above in the awesome live-action trailer, the Power Rangers and their Megazord will soon be joining the fight — as well as their Blade Blaster, the O.X.R.’s Hammerhead Choppa and the adorable Roly Poly, who’s got enough shells to protect us both.
Finally, to finish this issue’s Story Slice—the Story. Hope continues with her godly abilities of predicting the future through her art, and she worries about what these bugs might be preparing the Island for.
She believes that we will face the Dark Presence head-on sooner rather than later. The evil creature uses cosmic power, a Zero Shard, to teleport its insect forces from the Spirit Realm onto our Island.
Hope and our heroes wish to take the Shard from evil hands in hopes of freeing both the Realm and our Island: Jones, Kendo, Jade and Daigo — last season’s villain, who’s now abandoned by the force that had possessed him and is ashamed of his actions.
Recent updates to the Fortnite Ecosystem
As we’ve mentioned above, this season has quite a unique name: Shock ‘N Awesome. So unique, in fact, that other countries have chosen to translate it to everything but the original expression, as it can lose all meaning in different cultures.
An example of this is the Brazilian Portuguese title: Operação Explosiva [EN: Explosive Operation].
Now, Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) developers can also take the first step into customizing their games internationally with improved text localization options. Previously, only automated translations were available for all in-game content. Now, the only thing missing is for developers to be able to modify the game title and description themselves, as they continue to only be translatable automatically.
(Interested in translation? Give me a shout @timelessorder on Twitter! I can help set things up for you. Half of all gamers are in China, a market inaccessible to Fortnite—so, other languages can be equally as dominant as English, should you set them up.)
Meanwhile, Squid Game Islands are finally available. As part of my team Genesis Studios, we’ve developed our own take on the hit series: Genesis Squid Game. Let us know if you like it! Anyone with access to Fortnite Creative and UEFN can also develop their own officially licensed Squid Game experience in collaboration with Netflix. 15% of your revenue goes to the rights holder.
Last but not least, this bug-filled BR season brought changes to the Fortnite Island Creator Rules. Previously, no blood-like substances could be featured in your games—now, with the arrival of exploding filled-with-purple-goo demons, you too can create games with splatters that aren’t colored red; so long as the exploding Non-playable Characters (NPCs) aren’t human.
Appeler un chat 🐈 feat. Shiina!
As the cherry on top to our very first issue, what better way than to interview one of the community’s biggest creators? That’s what this newsletter is all about—uniting both players and developers you admire in one space we all share, where we can all grow together.
Appeler un chat is dedicated to asking questions that reveal the person behind your screens, whose life tips might just give you a new perspective.
Shiina started his Twitter account in July 2018, sharing updates to the global Battle Royale phenomenon we knew Fortnite to be. He’s since stuck with the game through thick and thin, giving away countless prizes to the community and information which, sometimes, we take for granted.
I asked him some questions to reveal to you the person I’ve known since 2021. Shiina motivated me to start my content creation career, and I have an endless debt to the kindest person I’ve known beyond the screen. Enjoy!
Since you began content creation, what was the most challenging year in your career?
Most likely in 2021, when I left school and turned content creation into my full-time job. As a kid who had just gotten out of school and didn’t know what he was doing at all, I definitely chose the most challenging and bureaucratic path I could have possibly picked. 😅
What's a part of content creation that you find people rarely discuss online?
That's hard to answer, but I’ve noticed that people often over-discuss things they don’t really understand, and they start using technical terms that either don’t make sense or are completely misplaced.
For example, when it comes to big Fortnite Item Shop updates that I post after downtime, people ask questions based on flawed logic or argue using technical terms they don’t actually know the meaning of. On today’s social media, it feels like a lost cause trying to explain [things] to everyone. Of course, people don’t have to know or understand everything, that’s obviously fine. But in this case, they shouldn’t start arguments regarding topics they lack basic knowledge of.
Lastly, what's your tip for staying energized during downtime? Are you a caffeine person at all?
You officially picked the worst person to ask. 💀
A small 1–2 hour nap before downtime, combined with Red Bull and prayers that you can very soon go back to sleep, is my favorite combo for every long downtime this game has [had].
Thank you for catching our first issue of Extra-Loop! This newsletter is especially curated for those always on the fly—who just can’t keep up with how fast the gaming world changes.
Please leave a comment should you have any feedback, and I will see you soon for Issue #2! Subscribe to get it sent straight to your inbox.
See you in the Loop. 🤍
To those curious, the name of our interview column refers to the French expression “Appeler un chat, un chat”, used to call things as they truly are.