Why we chose Roblox over Unreal Engine for Fortnite (UEFN)

As the world of gaming evolves, players are increasingly looking for more immersive and creative experiences. Metaverse platforms are emerging as a solution to this demand, providing players with virtual worlds where they can explore, create, and interact with others. While it isn’t a new idea, in recent years, the concept of a metaverse has become increasingly popular. When it comes to choosing a platform to build on, there are several options available. In this blog post, we will explore why we chose Roblox as a creative metaverse platform over the new Unreal Engine for Fornite (UEFN), the latter of which recently received its first public release.

Accessibility

One of the key advantages of Roblox is its accessibility. The platform is designed to be easy to use, making it accessible to players of all ages and skill levels. The user-friendly interface allows users to create their own games, virtual items, and even their own avatars, because of this, Roblox has helped create a whole new generation of young 3D artists, programmers and designers.

On the other hand, while it’s easy enough to kit-bash your way through UEFN by combining their premade catalogue of assets to create something pretty, you’ll have to get to grips with their editor and dip your toes into the new Verse programming language if you want to build more complex experiences.

While Roblox have kept their editor simple to use over the years, UEFN is geared up to become an expansive suite of features in the coming months as more and more of Unreal Engine 5’s features are merged in. It’s worth noting, however, that Unreal still provide Creative 1.0—their old map-building mode—which allows players to build maps without the use of the new (more complex) UEFN editor.

Extensibility

Roblox offers a wide range of creative tools which allow developers to design experiences and games. The platform also uses the robust scripting language Luau (a Lua fork) and an extensive set of APIs that enable developers to add interactivity to their creations. This means that users can build anything they can imagine, from simple games to complex interactive virtual worlds with hundreds of players.

We wrote an entire game framework for networking components between the server and clients on top of Roblox for our MMO-lite project, allowing us to build our game the way we want. Roblox allows us to create this ambitious game, which brings hundreds of players together, persists complex character data and is built entirely from our own custom assets. At the same time, UEFN’s first release provides a limited API that confines its creators into the realms of Fortnite, restricting the developer with limited UI modifications, a lack of custom player characters, and a feature set that will best serve developers who choose to build third-person shooter games for the time being—if you want to develop something that deviates too far from Fortnite’s roots, you’ll surely hit a few roadblocks along the way.

While UEFN will probably always excel with its visuals, purely because it’s built on top of Unreal Engine—one of the most visually impressive game engines in the world—its limited APIs are currently restricting the type of games its developer community can create, whereas Roblox allows us to create truly unique experiences which don’t inherit any of the platforms default behaviour.

Monetization

Roblox provides a variety of ways for developers to monetize their creations, including game passes, developer products, and virtual currency. This makes it an attractive platform for developers who want to earn money and build successful businesses from their creations. UEFN does not offer the same level of monetisation opportunities, making it less appealing to developers who want to make a living from their work.

Unreal are using a pooling system dubbed Creator Economy 2.0 which they say they will “Proportionally distribute 40% of the net revenue from Fortnite’s Item Shop and most real-money Fortnite purchases to the creators of eligible islands and experiences”, this sounds somewhat similar to Roblox’s Premium Payouts in functionality, however, UEFN developers can’t take control of their own monetisation strategy beyond this.

Programming Language

Roblox use their own fork of Lua called Luau, a programming language that’s been used in games development for years. Luau is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a popular choice for beginners and those with limited programming experience. 

In contrast, UEFN launched their Verse programming language recently and while we’re excited to see what's in store for the future, its documentation is currently lacking and community members have commented on how complicated its syntax is, making it hard to pick up for beginners.

A Bright Future Ahead

While Unreal Engine for Fortnite is a powerful tool which has created a lot of excitement among custom map builders, it may not be the best choice for those wanting to bring their own games and experiences to life, however, we foresee this changing in the future as their APIs expand and provide more opportunity for developers to create more complex projects.

Roblox's accessibility, extensibility, monetization opportunities, and massive user base make it an attractive option for those looking to create engaging and imaginative virtual worlds right now, however, we’ll have to wait and see how both of these platforms progress in the future and which one will end up being the best long-term investment for the metaverse developer community.