Fortnite Developer Reveals How Generative AI Assists in Creating Concept Art and Skins

Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, has provided a rare behind-the-scenes look at how it designs new character skins and in-game locations, revealing that generative AI tools are used at certain stages. In a video on the Unreal Engine YouTube channel, Epic demonstrates how a new Fortnite character is initially hand-designed and iterated upon, then modified using an AI prompt to resemble a 3D model more closely. The video distinguishes between the ideation stage and later AI-driven changes, all within the concept art phase before any asset is created in-game. However, it also shows that AI generation can introduce unwanted elements or errors, which must be identified and corrected by human artists in subsequent design passes. An Epic staff member states, "The design is king, AI can generate generic stuff all day, but that's not what we're doing here. It just skips ahead in the timeline so [the artist] can focus on honing in on the design and crafting it exactly how he wants it to be." This release follows repeated questions from Fortnite fans about potential AI use for certain in-game assets, such as a poster depicting a nine-toed character in a hammock, which the company had previously avoided addressing. While the video clarifies that AI is not used for ground-up character design, it confirms that generative AI is now part of Epic's workflow, raising the possibility that mistakes could slip through human checks. A similar process applies to concept art for in-game locations: hand-drawn sketches in Photoshop are recreated in 3D using Blender, then adapted in Photoshop with AI prompts to explore alternative versions, such as day or night scenes or meteor strike damage. Epic states, "At every stage of the design, artists continue to polish and refine, but now teams can revise faster, so artists have more opportunities to explore. All along the way there are continual reviews, before anything makes it into our games, and artists are careful to respect originality, track providence of their work, and ensure the finished product meets Epic's high quality standards." Epic Games has previously used generative speech technology to reproduce James Earl Jones' Darth Vader portrayal, which sparked controversy despite Disney's approval. Last year, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney argued that Valve should remove its AI Generated Content Disclosure label for games, suggesting AI use will become so ubiquitous that such warnings are redundant. He wrote on social media, "Why stop at AI use? We could have mandatory disclosures for what shampoo brand the developer uses. Customers deserve to know lol. It doesn’t matter any more. The AI tag is relevant to art exhibits for authorship disclosure, and to digital content licensing marketplaces where buyers need to understand the rights situation. It makes no sense for game stores, where AI will be involved in nearly all future production."