Astronomical was conceptualized and developed over several months (both before and during the early months of the pandemic), with three core goals:

-- Celebrate an immersive, social music experience by creating a global, “can’t-miss” cultural phenomenon via in-game hype build-up, worldwide social campaigns, and triple-A star power to drive a massive spike in player engagement

-- Position Fortnite as the number one social platform for culturally significant moments and partnerships in entertainment; demonstrate how major talent can reinvent how they interact with their fans and culture on a global scale

-- Work with an artist who is bigger than music -- someone who is already part of the Fortnite journey, can seamlessly integrate a digital experience with exclusive physical memorabilia, and most importantly can authentically build and command a fantastical world for millions of fans.

Astronomical helped showcase the nature of realtime media and gaming at its best -- something that provided a shared experience in a fantastical, unique world and series of settings. Our goal was to honor Travis’ music and vision while simultaneously creating something that felt true to Fortnite and a world-scale social experience, all using Unreal Engine.

This started with the creation of a stage inside the game, as well as posters found around the in-game world. Player speculation was rampant, and we designed Astronomical to surpass the expectations that we set via digital creative inside the game. Each part of Astronomical was designed to reinforce the next -- with music supporting in-game animation and cosmetics, which in turn parallel environmental storytelling, which then blends with choreography, etc.

The same cyclical and self-reinforcing approach was taken in the design of the Astronomical player experience. We reviewed tons of Travis’ media and found consistent themes that could be stitched together into exciting and cohesive player experiences, despite being in wildly divergent settings -- on the core Fortnite Battle Royale island, underwater, in space, etc. Anchoring the start of the experience on Fortnite’s most popular “Battle Royale” Island helped establish brand relevance for tens of millions of players on entry, before showcasing the true power of realtime media and gaming by delivering worlds that no Fortnite player (or candidly anyone) had seen before the event.

On the technical side, Astronomical was developed thanks to the power of Unreal Engine and the diverse range of talents at Epic Games. The Engine allowed Epic’s teams to use virtual production for quick visualization of key moments and ideas -- adding quickly to what worked, and allowing teams to leave ideas on the cutting room floor without significant cost.