Fortnite Creative Mode is now available to the public, after a week-long closed beta to test out the new crafting tools being offered to players in Fortnite Season 7.
The previous week has seen growing curiosity in the potential of Fortnite's budding forge mode, which allows players to create and design their own 'islands' with a variety of creation tools.
The beta was originally limited to players with a Season 7 Battle Pass, though it's now opening up to any and everyone playing the cartoonish shooting / crafting game.
Crafting and building has always been part of Fortnite's DNA, with the ability to build structures out of crafting materials mid-game - for cover or navigation - proving a crucial part of any player's battle royale strategy.
Creative Mode takes this to its natural conclusion, with a 'Private Island' players can shape and populate with buildings, furniture, and obstacles, and have a crack at somewhere to either trade bullets or just share your creative output. Double-tapping the jump button will also let your character fly freely around the level to appreciate in all its glory.
There are limits to how much you can build in one area, but once you've made something your happy with, up to 16 friends can join you in the fray for a variety of match types, or just let them wander and tweak your designs.
Islands can then be shared with the wider community, or submitted for consideration in the main Fortnite Battle Royale map, in a 25x25 tile area known as 'The Block'.
Beginning to look a lot like Minecraft
Fortnite gets a lot of updates, with a new Season launching every 10 weeks and numerous smaller changes and tweaks paced throughout that period. Creative Mode, however, is essentially a whole new gameplay experience.
Fortnite very much has its own identity, and has managed to become the definitive battle royale experience, despite determined opposition from PUBG (PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds), which is where the current trend for 100-player free-for-all matches really started.
But the Creative Mode seems to take inspiration from another source. Minecraft, the equally massive sandbox game led entirely by the pull of user-generated content, where players can build and craft to their heart's content.
Creative Mode as it stands is basically a blueprint, and could well develop into a serious rival to Minecraft if done right.
Fortnite certainly has the infrastructure - and the solid 125 million player base - to make Creative Mode a force to contend with.
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