The Game Awards has added a category for user-generated Fortnite maps, including Alliance’s Murder Mystery!

By Crypto Gloom On Dec 5, 2023

Above: Murder Mystery, Alliance’s Nominee for Best Fortnite Island (Island Code: 8513-2892-9361)

The first annual Game Awards were announced here in LA on December 7th. The show has drawn more viewers than the Oscars since 2018, but this year marks another milestone: the first award for user-generated content on the Metaverse platform. Specifically, for the best Fortnite island of the year, there were 10 nominees for community-created islands created in the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).

Created and hosted by Geoff Keighley, who worked with me on an editorial project about modding the gaming community. This is a great addition to the Game Awards, building on the recognition that UGC/Metaverse platforms are a growing force in the world. The entire gaming industry. We hope this will become an official category for the Game Awards across multiple platforms in the future. (User-created Roblox experiences cannot be overemphasized; they are as popular as many of the best AAA games, and have become incredibly ambitious in recent years.)

Among the best island candidates, there is one that really stands out to me: Murder Mystery (island code: 8513-2892-9361). The app was created by Alliance, a creative studio featured in my book for its innovative work creating branded Fortnite experiences for top brands like Doritos and Joe Biden’s 2020 Presential campaign. (Earnestly.)

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Alliance CEO/Co-Founder since launch of Murder Mystery McEnany Jackson (aka MackJack) said it was played more than 4 million times in the first two months.

"It surpassed 1 million players in its first week of launch." she tells me "Many players have participated and created fun content, and we have plans for more content updates in the future!"

As the name suggests, the gameplay is multiplayer and the plot is twisty.

"It’s a very simple gameplay that focuses on hide and seek or sorting, but the sheriff’s job is to find and eliminate the killer, and the killer’s job is to eliminate everyone without getting caught." she explains." If the Sheriff shoots the wrong person, the Sheriff’s weapon may run out and someone may become the new Sheriff. The player must say that he is alive until the killer is found and eliminated."

There are also some fun UGC elements for deceased players. "Players can choose the appearance of their ghost, and when a ghost is eliminated, a custom ghost is left behind so that other players can see where someone was eliminated."

Murder Mystery is part of the Epic Engagement Pay System, where user-created maps get a cut of revenue based on player engagement, but MacJack says payouts can vary significantly, even for maps that attract six or seven-figure players. "It’s so big that I’ve literally seen maps cost $30,000 to $50,000 one month and $1,000 to $5,000 the next month." As she said.

And another reward is participation in an award ceremony that is literally more popular than the Oscars. Check out our list of this year’s top 10 nominees as well as information on how to vote for your favorite Fortnite island.