Epic Games

Quantum Builds

Shortnitemares Theater

Epic's official film festival for Fortnitemares 2021, a working cinema inside Fortnite, commissioned by Epic Games.

Fortnite presents Shortnitemares key art

The brief

Fortnitemares 2021 included a short film festival, and Epic needed somewhere inside Fortnite for it to happen. Quantum Builds was commissioned to build the venue, not an island advertising a festival, but the festival itself.

What we built

Players spawned in a cinema lobby lined with eight theater doors, one for each short film, plus the festival room. The doors were not set dressing: each was a matchmaking portal that moved the player onto a separate island for that film.

Inside the festival island the central door stood open, so players could walk in and watch the whole program back to back. The seven film islands were duplicates of a common shell, each set-dressed to a different Halloween trope so arriving at one never felt like arriving at the same room twice.

A ninth island, the Dark Forest Theater, was hidden (reachable through a tunnel behind a toilet) and screened previous fan favorites.

The Shortnitemares lobby: a red-walled cinema foyer under a lit SHORTNITEMARES sign, numbered theater doors either side and posters between them
The lobby. Every numbered door is a matchmaking portal to its own island.
  • The lobby from inside: chandeliers, red damask walls, film posters between the numbered doors and a carpet running to the festival room Standing in the lobby, looking at the festival room door

Theaters built with Puzzler, Skttlz and Distortion.

The program

Nine islands shipped. The festival room alone took 1,059,796 visits, the most visited of the set.

The festival room: a raked auditorium under lanterns and a domed ceiling, facing the Shortnitemares title card on the screen
The festival room, where the whole program ran back to back.

Seven short films, each on its own island, plus the festival room that played them all and a hidden eighth theater.

  1. Poster for But Milk is Important 1 But Milk is Important
  2. Poster for Inn 2 Inn
  3. Poster for Alma 3 Alma
  4. Poster for The Eye 4 The Eye
  5. Poster for We Will be Monsters 5 We Will be Monsters
  6. Poster for Nightmare in the Morning 6 Nightmare in the Morning
  7. Poster for Mon Ami Qui Brille Dans La Nuit 7 Mon Ami Qui Brille Dans La Nuit

In game

Inside the theater. Footage posted by @Fortnite.

The reward

Epic gave the team the call on which cosmetic players would earn inside the theater. The pick was Spray Matter, an Uncommon spray from the Universal Monsters set.

Spray Matter: a brain in a jar, sprayed onto a brick wall
Spray Matter Uncommon · Universal Monsters · 12 Oct 2021 “Watching 30 minutes of Shortnitemares” The unlock condition, as written in Fortnite

The venue, the routing between nine islands, and the reward attached to it. That is a different order of trust than being paid to advertise on the platform. Announced on Xbox Wire, Epic's newsroom, and by @Fortnite.