Lego fans of a certain age had a moment last month when a new video game trailer featured a kid’s pizza delivery boy Pepper Roni – yes, from the 1997 classic Lego Island.
Last seen over two decades ago, the red-haired hero has been resurrected by the Lego Group for a great cameo in Lego Tycoon: Tilted Towers – a game made for a very different generation of Lego fans, but one that this Lego Island veteran has. he had fun too.
Lego Tycoon is the latest licensed experience for the brick-and-mortar building brand to launch in Fortnite, following the arrival of Epic Games’ main Lego Fortnite mode last year and a series of smaller, more experimental minigames since then. It was made by Beyond Creative, a Dublin-based development studio dedicated exclusively to creating Fortnite games.
A mix of the popular tycoon genre, Fortnite’s most iconic location and millions of virtual Lego bricks, Lego Tycoon: Tilted Towers is the most complete Lego experience yet outside of Epic’s own mode – helping to raise the bar of what can be built. in the powerful UEFN Fortnite creative toolset.
It’s also just a clever concept. Tilted Towers is notorious for being knocked down and rebuilt many times in Fortnite history, with more apocalyptic near misses and outright coups than any Fortnite fan can count. So the idea that you’re rebuilding a city is clever – and the fact that you’re seeing it faithfully recreated in Lego for the first time is also fun. It’s very different from Lego Island, of course, but as a small island full of digital Lego bricks and characters – not least Pepper Roni – its vibe isn’t a million miles away.
“It’s been about a year, it’s been a long time coming,” Beyond Creative boss Kasper Weber told me during a video call when discussing the origins of the project. “But it was fun working with the Lego group. And we got to see that.” [UEFN] tools that build alongside the game.”
Beyond Creative is one of several development studios focused entirely on creating games for Fortnite and has previously worked on experiences for brands such as Nike, Nvidia, Balenciaga and the NFL.
“We’ve only been working on Fortnite for the last three and a half years, so we’re very specialized,” Weber noted.
“[Tilted Towers] is one of the most iconic places,” he continued. “We brought back one of the most popular POIs in Fortnite and thought it would be fun to build with Lego bricks. We predicted that the tycoon genre would be popular and they are really good in the Fortnite gaming ecosystem.”
The whole game takes around three hours, depending on how efficiently you manage your time, resources and money. Are you happy to let the game run casually, or do you rush to optimize your income wherever possible? (The latter.) Do you invest in hiring miners who get resources for you? (Yes.) But how much money should you spend upgrading them versus buying new buildings for passive income? (It’s a good balance.)
There are moments that are rewarding when your setup is working, money and resources are pouring in, and all you have to do is wait a few minutes, feet up, to advance. It’s at these times that I dare to let the game run while I go make some tea and hope nothing goes wrong. But I used to feel compelled to patrol, or maybe make some extra cash by visiting one of the businesses I just built to pick up a side quest. For example, you can stop at Pepper Roni’s Pizzeria and earn an extra crust or two by going for delivery.
From time to time, the entire sim grinds to a halt as Lego Tycoon recreates one of Fortnite’s own apocalyptic events – a major flooding of its map. Alternatively, you might have to fend off a wave of zombies Fortnitemares style. Or on a more positive note, drive off a llama loaded with loot for a good reward.
“I’m from Denmark myself, so I grew up with Lego sets all over the house. And we planned some fun Easter eggs there,” Weber says when I ask about Pepper Roni’s inclusion. There are now even more references to Lego Island in the game, it turns out, with the addition of an XP award with more references to the video game classic.
How has Lego Tycoon fared against expectations in Fortnite – a game that is now as much a platform as a battle royale? Of course, the experience was boosted by Epic Games at launch, although player numbers have dropped since then.
“The success of this experience is especially to do something new with Lego in Fortnite,” Weber replies. “It’s a playground where you learn what games will work in the Fortnite ecosystem and what games won’t. And we’re excited to see our game, so early, have such great player engagement and player reaction and comments.” – how happy and excited they are about this game.”
More updates for Lego Tycoon are on the horizon and I’m curious to see what will be added next as I wait for the inevitable but still unannounced physical Lego Fortnite sets. What was the Brickster doing now?