The games industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, with layoffs, studio closures, and funding issues becoming all too common. Enrique Fuentes, CEO and co-founder of Teravision Games, experienced these difficulties firsthand after launching Killer Klowns From Outer Space, an asymmetrical horror game based on the iconic 80s movie. Despite the game receiving positive reviews, including a 7 from IGN, which described it as "as silly and entertaining as the movie that spawned it," and garnering hundreds of thousands of views on trailers, Teravision found it challenging to secure their next project in the tumultuous landscape of 2024.
"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 reflects. Despite their previous collaborations with major companies like Disney, Nickelodeon, and Xbox, securing a follow-up to Killer Klowns proved difficult. With time running out, Teravision turned to an innovative approach: developing games within Fortnite using Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN). In less than a year, they released three UEFN games, and their fourth, Courtyard King, launched today, capitalizing on the official The Walking Dead content pack.
Courtyard King, developed in partnership with Skybound, the company co-founded by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, is a King of the Hill-style multiplayer PvPvE game set in the series' infamous prison location. Players battle each other and NPC zombies for control of territory, utilizing official The Walking Dead assets, including character models of Rick Grimes, Negan, and Daryl Dixon. Teravision also collaborated with Skybound's writers to craft the game's story and dialogue, adding depth to the gameplay 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," Fuentes explains. "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 route 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) has become a driving force in the gaming industry, particularly through platforms like Fortnite. While UGC typically refers to content created by players, professional studios like Teravision are now leveraging tools like Fortnite's Unreal Engine 5-based UEFN to create unique gaming experiences. This approach allowed Teravision to manage risks while exploring new creative avenues.
"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 notes. Their experimentation led to the launch of Havoc Hotel, a roguelike shooter set in a hotel where players earn currency to purchase weapons. The success of Havoc Hotel paved the way for subsequent releases, with Havoc Hotel 3 becoming one of Fortnite's most popular games.
Teravision's game designer, Martin Rodriguez, highlights the ease of transitioning from Unreal Engine to UEFN, a modified version of Unreal Engine 5. "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," Rodriguez states. This streamlined process enabled Teravision to quickly adapt and innovate within the UEFN ecosystem.
The game design team faced unique challenges in adapting to UEFN's environment, as creative director LD Zambrano explains. "A traditional experience we have had designing other [non-UEFN] games is where players relate through objectives that entice cooperation and competition, right?" Zambrano says. "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."
Zambrano compares UEFN games to playground interactions, where players engage in spontaneous, sometimes nonsensical games that foster friendships and unique experiences. Courtyard King embodies this philosophy as an infinite game with no final winner; players can join or leave at any time and even switch teams, creating dynamic and unpredictable gameplay scenarios.
"Players can drop in and drop out whenever they want. They can even change teams whenever they like, which generates situations for betrayals. Maybe you enter a party with your friend, but then in the middle of the match you don’t tell him and change teams. Which is very Walking Dead-like," Fuentes describes.
This approach to game development offers a viable model for indie studios like Teravision. "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," Fuentes asserts. "This is now a viable model where you can actually support an 80-person studio like we do, and we can assume the risk. 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."
