Syncnite - Game and Music Experience in Fortnite
Client - Epic Games

Time: Sep 2024 - Dec 2024
Roles: Game Designer, Producer
Tools: UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite), Verse Scripting, and Harmonix’s Patchwork (music synthesis system)

Project ‘Syncnite’ is a groundbreaking multiplayer music concert experience built in Fortnite aiming to deliver an immersive replay experience that captures the essence of live concerts. This project showcased the creative potential of its sound ecosystem and gameplay integration. The experience combines a dynamic boss fight, level and narrative design, and music-driven systems into one immersive event.

Main Contribution:

Level Design: Designed a multi-phase concert arena that evolves with the music and gameplay, enhancing player immersion and progression.

System Design: Developed music-driven gameplay systems that sync player actions, environmental changes, and boss mechanics with dynamic audio cues.

Narrative Design: Wrote and structured a story arc that ties the concert performance to player objectives, creating emotional stakes and narrative flow.

Production: Coordinated and lead cross-functional collaboration, managed timelines, and ensured the seamless integration of design, art, and audio elements into a cohesive experience.

Game Design

Syncnite immerses players into a four-stage parkour and two-phase boss fight where they encounter with the transformed piano boss, The Cacophony, a once-humble piano that lost itself while chasing perfection. As players dismantle its excess, they help it rediscover its true identity and find peace in simplicity.

Level Design

These stages also reveal that the initial invitation was a subconscious plea for help, as the piano's identity was fading.

This journey is presented as a four-stage platforming sequence that reveals the narrative of the boss's transformation. Each stage represents a key memory, symbolized by a musical instrument, and highlights the piano's descent as it absorbs instruments in a yearning for talent. Guests navigate these distinct environments before reaching the boss fight:

Dreamy Maze – The piano's childhood, a whimsical and disorienting environment.
Drum Castle – A rhythmic fortress, emphasizing timing and pattern recognition.
Strin

g Slider – A fast-paced challenge requiring quick reflexes. Players react and switch sliders to collect points.
Cyberpunk Skate Zone – A futuristic, electronic music-infused skateboarding experience.

Combat Design - The Boss Fight

Culminating this journey, players confront The Cacophony in a two-phase boss fight:

Phase One: Players on the main stage contend with rhythmic Sonic Attacks (requiring synchronized jumps) and rotating Spinning Lasers (demanding constant movement).
Phase Two: Players ascend to a higher platform to destroy instrumental attachments, ultimately restoring the piano to its original form. The piano expresses gratitude for the restoration of its true self.

System Design and Scripting

To test the mechanics of the Harmonix Patchwork system, we developed a gym level and scripted custom devices in Verse. Using built-in and custom gameplay devices, we created rhythm-triggered interactions to enhance the music game experience. In the video, objects on the left move in sync with the rhythm, showcasing how these mechanics can shape gameplay.

Production

As the producer and coordinator for this project, I built connection among client, instructor and team through scheduling meetings and communications. Also, I helped with developing multiplayer music concert on stage experience under scrum workflow that published in Fortnite in twelveweek design sprints in a seven-person cross-discipline team.

Throughout the project whole life cycle, I created a project development plan using microsoft project: Project development pdf ︎

This plan includes: