??? stay tuned... 🛠️ Former Creative Tools Designer for @FNCreate @EpicGames
Eugene, OR
Joined April 2010
- Tweets44.7K
- Following1K
- Followers3.5K
- Likes131K
RayBenefield retweeted
The next 12 months of gaming and game development will be insanely cool and empowering!
RayBenefield retweeted
I asked my boss if I could work four longer days instead of five. Monday to Thursday, 10 hours a day.
He was busy. He didn't look up from his phone.
He said, "Fine, do whatever you want."
I said, "Can I get that in an email?"
He sent it. One line: "Fine. Do whatever you want."
So I did. For six months, I worked Monday to Thursday, 7am to 5:30pm. Fridays off.
My numbers went up. My sick days went to zero.
Then last month, HR ran an attendance report. Twenty-six Fridays. Blank.
The HR manager called me in. My boss was sitting next to her.
She said, "Where have you been on Fridays?"
I opened my email...
RayBenefield retweeted
We’ve updated the Unreal Engine EULA so devs can now choose to train AI models on their UE and MetaHuman projects, and benefit from AI models that understand their code and content.
This change does not give Epic any rights to your content or code.
Check out the blog for the details: epic.gm/ue-eula-updates
RayBenefield retweeted
Built a small diffusion model that generates images from prompts in Verse, using a limited set of objects and relations. Trained offline in PyTorch, with 121k parameters and about 107M MACs per image. Just a little test to see what's possible with the VVM
#UEFN #CreatedInFortnite #Verse
RayBenefield retweeted
If you make games without AI, you're wasting your time.
Here's how I build Ladder Knight. I leave a note right on the map and keep working. A minute later, the change is in the game.
From small things like basic decor or a slightly higher jump, to entirely new mechanics like a block that moves on any path and connects to any buttons. Each one is just a note.
I test it right in the editor. The editor is made completely by AI too. Even this video was made with a feature AI added, because I didn't want to waste time cropping it.
Years ago I spent more time making editors than making games (I worked on mobile games in 2020). Now the tools grow with the game.
If you ever dreamed of making your own game, there was never a better time to start.
RayBenefield retweeted
All of us at Marvel Studios are deeply saddened by the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart. Sir Patrick brought Professor Charles Xavier to life with extraordinary grace, intelligence, and humanity, defining the character for generations of fans, from "X-Men" to "Logan" to "Avengers: Doomsday." He was a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman. Our hearts go out to his wife Sunny, his children, his friends, and the countless fans around the world whose lives he touched with his art.
RayBenefield retweeted
for ~8 years I made solid living solo developing software for a niche group in the film industry
it was too small for bigger companies to care about AND the friction to learn 3D, Unreal, Marketing etc. too high for basically any other solo to come in
NOOOW however I think each even smaller niche of the industry can have its own solo or small team that makes their software
I don’t see YET everyone using Claude/Codex/Gemini to make their own custom software AND continue to support it and build a business around it. Financially it won’t make sense
I think this is true for game development and linear content.
The question is what is the new PLATFORM. The new YouTube, the new WWW, the new Steam.
something we can’t quite grasp will be born soon
Any job performed on the computer has this risk now: one smart person using AI can perform the work of 10 people.
The risk is getting ever more real.
This does not mean 90% of people working on a computer will have no work at all.
Industries that previously could not afford to hire software engineers or digitial marketers could afford them now, for example.
What it does mean is a rebalancing across the economy and that is painful when we go through it.
The only thing we can do is to accept that it is coming and be prepared for it.
RayBenefield retweeted
Track your island’s performance across platforms and Fortnite servers with new dashboards on client crashes, hitch rates, CPU usage, and more.
Spot stability and performance issues earlier, correlate them with releases, and use UEFN's profiling tooling to tune up your island.
🔍 Find it under Projects > Technical: fn.gg/fne-tech-perform
RayBenefield retweeted
🚨 DEV LEAK: STICK OPS
Doodle stick figures. COD-style gunfights. Inside Fortnite.
✏️ Classes: AR · Pump · SMG + pistol secondary
🧱 One build per life
🚫 No ground loot
Still in development. Coming soon to Fortnite Creative.
#StickOps #FortniteCreative #UEFN
RayBenefield retweeted
Been working on a fully custom bike system for our RP map @SurpriseCityFN!
The bike reacts to terrain, handles slopes and jumps, while the rider’s animations are blended in real time using Control Rig.
Here's how it works and a few things I broke along the way lol
#UEFN #FortniteCreative
RayBenefield retweeted
RAGDOLL PLINKO in UEFN 😭
Apparently ragdolls weren't enough, so we added Plinko to the included demo map. Watch your Fortnite skin bounce through a wall of pegs.
Completely unnecessary. Too much fun.
Ragdoll System 1.1 is out now with fixes and optimizations. 25% off ends in 3 days 👇
#UEFN #FortniteCreative @FNCreate
RAGDOLLS in UEFN? Say less.
Smooth, natural ragdoll physics on your own Fortnite skin. Built for multiplayer.
💥 Dynamic impact SFX + VFX with Scenegraph
🦴 Body impact visualizer + live HUD
⚡ Ragdoll on damage, player hits or on command
🚀 Charged launches + predicted aim arc
🌀 Launch pads, bumpers, wind, trip, get-up & hoop zones
🎮 Seamless recovery from Ragdoll -> Character
100% configurable. Verse interfaces for every part of the system, ready to be built on.
No experimental features. Publishable today.
1.0 is out NOW. The most feature complete, polished, and versatile Ragdoll system EVER made in UEFN. Free updates, fixes, and features as they release.
#UEFN #FortniteCreative @FNCreate
RayBenefield retweeted
We actually started working on this over 2 years ago but every time we got close to launching, the gameplay just didn't feel up to our standards. Finally with custom player anims and the new VM it's feeling good!
RayBenefield retweeted
Here's a breakdown of the time and investment in Break and Steal Eggs, along with the additional investment we had planned before the game was removed from Discover tabs.
- Sponsored row: $5,400
- Asset costs: $1,100
- Total spent: $6,500
- Time invested: 20 days of work (13 updates)
Additional investment planned: $4,000
Throughout this period, we've done live events and boss fights, built an active community, and achieved strong metrics. We were committed to improving this game but discover completely kicked us out with no support.
We also planned a streamer campaign to attract more players to our game and Fortnite. However, after the game was removed from Discover tabs, we decided to stop further investment and time.
We are sharing our experience to show how challenging it has become to gain and maintain exposure in discover, even with consistent updates, investment, strong metrics, and an engaged community. We've concluded that it's more so of a luck based system rather than meeting expected metrics or we're not getting enough data. #UEFN
RayBenefield retweeted
Apparently #AI doesn't understand the loading mechanism on a Colt Revolver...
That said, solid first pass.
I really dislike when people say "I ONE SHOTED X" because its either bullshit or not production ready results. Like this one. Not there, but solid first pass.
RayBenefield retweeted
Played around with Unreal Engine this weekend.
I always thought Unreal was for the AAA gamedevs but turns out UE is pretty vibe-code friendly once I got the set up done. This prototype is done entirely from Claude Code with CLI, so I didnt have to open up the UE editor at all.
I also found a lot of nice assets from the Fab store (like the ones used in this prototype) and the quality is actually pretty good!
RayBenefield retweeted
This morning I saw a post by @DanFessler. It was so damn awesome that I had to start working on this literally while still lying in bed.
Finally it is working. It actually makes a difference and keeps things clean in UE5.