Fortnite (partially found unreleased/lost builds of the massively multiplayer online game; 2011-present)

Image of Fortnite from 2012-2013.

Status: Partially found

Fortnite Splash (Found in Online Test 6.5)

The Online Tests:

Anyone who wants to provide information or anything related to this or just to see the discoveries faster, can join our public Discord server dedicated to the search for the Online Tests: https://discord.gg/wpYPdK2AFj

Fortnite inventory (Online Test 6.5)

The Online Test versions are the earliest publicly released builds of Fortnite. In order to participate in one, you had to receive an invitation or redeem a code, however either way they were completely free. The players who participated in these versions received exclusive banners within the game. In addition, many players have confirmed that they had direct contact with the developers to give them feedback.

Currently, only OT6.5 has been fully found, along with a portion of OT10, included in the files for OT6.5.

Project Fortress menu

Fortnite early prototype shown off at GDC 2013 (Project Fortress)

There were 11 total Online Tests.

Project Fortress:

A while ago, a build of the game from 2012 was found under the name of "Project Fortress." The build was created in Unreal Engine 3, and is not public (An anonymous user provided us with information and media of this build, so technically this version is still lost and the user will probably never release the build sadly). You can see two gameplays of this build here and here.

The Limbo: In this build, Limbo's home to the mist creatures. Players could enter under certain conditions. Rare minable resources are found everywhere, and a giant center obelisk fuels the gate to Earth. Closing the gate is the endgame.

Stronghold: These great structures were called Strongholds. Strongholds were massive mist monster fortresses that represented one of the major challenges for players to work towards conquering. Players who managed to retake all 3 Strongholds in the game world would "beat" the game.

Limbo:

The design document states that periodically, non-player-created buildings in the world would be enveloped in a mist creature storm. When this happens, all players in the building are killed, and when the storm finally passes, the building will be replaced with a brand new building (thus keeping a steady stream of new loot opportunities introduced into the map)

However, if the players place their power generator in the building before it's consumed by the storm, then all the players inside the building instead get transported to Limbo, the mist creature's home world.

Because it's nighttime when this happens, Limbo is mostly empty of monster creatures so that the players can explore and mine unique resources from Limbo. There is a giant obelisk at the center of Limbo which is the gateway between their world and our world. The player's ultimate goal in the game is to destroy or "plug up" the obelisk.

Players are eventually pulled out of Limbo and kicked back into the real world. If they happen to be inside another "sucked into Limbo" human building, then they ride that building back into the real world and end up in a completely different map in the human world. In this way, Limbo serves as a sort of hub allowing players to transfer between different human world maps.

Fortnight logo

The original name of the game:

In the "Project Fortress" build of the anonymous user an early version of the Fortnite VGA trailer from 2011 was found.

You can watch the video of the early version of the trailer here.

Project Fortress EXE icon

At the end of this version of the trailer, instead of "Fortnite" appearing, "Fortnight" appears, which was probably the original name of the game, now a curious fact if you search for "fortnight.com" it will redirect you to "fortnite.com".

The music in the "Project Fortress" era:

The tracks used in the "Project Fortress" build of the anonymous user have been found, they are the following:

• Breathing Trouble
• Death by Drowning
• Descent
• Eon
• Gas
• Low Flow
• Luma
• New Combat ("Or" in Spotify)
• Torul
• Unlighted

All the tracks have been compiled into this Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5hq37IvKnK5hA57KVj5jzt?si=e84c47abbfa5459f

Project Fortress era builds:

Project Fortress versions	Differences	Engine version	Build date (yyyy/mm/dd)	Status
"Internal gamejam"	The first Fortnite build of all, there is not much information other than the first two Fortnite screenshots of the entire story (sec. 2:32).	Unknown	2011	Lost
"Billy Bramer build 1"	This build presented at the 2013 GDC has the minimap already showing the roads and has an extra object whose functionality is unknown (a teddy bear), plus some icons are different, in addition, the construction system is different.	Unknown	Unknown	Lost
"Billy Bramer build 2"	In this build the inventory bar was introduced.	Unknown	Unknown	Lost
"Billy Bramer build 3"	In this build you can see that the minimap is not finished, and the icons of the structures to build are different.	Unknown	Unknown	Lost
"Anonymous user"	We got to know much more about this era of the game thanks to this build, apparently this build has several things that were not yet finished, such as the minimap, in addition, the font of the letters is different from the other builds.	3.9.8-1298812 (Probably)	2012-06-03 (Probably)	Lost
"Early Prototype Trailer"	This build is probably the most finished of all of the PF era, we think so since the bars in the upper right corner do work (the health bar of the generator seems to work in this build).	Unknown	2012	Lost

Due to the paucity of information on this era, this is the best we could do to try to figure out which build was before or after another.

The PvP Tests image

The original Fortnite PvP mode:

In these versions there was no "Battle Royale" mode, so everything was about the original game mode, which was later renamed to "Save the World." In these versions, a PvP mode was being developed, and some tests were done with players.

The difficulty of finding an Online Test:

The vast majority of users who played in the Online Tests have not saved images, videos or files of the versions, making it very difficult to find someone that still has Online Test files. People have tried to contact users with the role "Alpha Explorers" on the official Fortnite Discord server, but all have already said that they no longer have any files from any Online Test.

There is little knowledge of these versions and little information on the internet, as players were required to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) to participate in the Online Tests.

To find an Online Test the best way to do it would be to spread the word that these versions are lost, so we will attract more people interested in contributing to the search or find some old alpha player who has not been contacted yet.

Online Tests era builds:

Version name	Important changes	Engine version	Build release date (yyyy/mm/dd)	Build end date (yyyy/mm/dd)	Status
Online Test 1	Beginning of the era of Online Tests.	Unknown	2014-12-02	2014-12-19	Lost
Online Test 2	Supply Drop (the first gadget) and the dance function were added.	4.7.0-2479600	2015-03-24	2015-04-14	Lost
Online Test 3	Was added the feature to invite a friend to your game, the world map, being able to select the hero you want to use in the mission lobby, the daily reward system, the personality and bonus of survivors and several new weapons.	4.8.0-2604755	2015-06-29	2015-07-21	Lost
Online Test 4	Launch the rocket and Retrieve the data missions, Encampments Anomaly and Siphon, BluGlo, more privacy settings, more new hero models (Jess and Kyle), F.O.R.T. stats and more gadgets were added.	4.9.0-2671876	2015-08-24	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 5	Power the reactor (Refuel the homebase) mission, new HUD, llamas, v-bucks, new hero model (Ramirez), the shield function, patrols and gnomes were added. The first PvP test was made.	4.9.0-2682676	2015-09-29	2015-11-10	Lost
Online Test 5.5	Health trap and instructions on loading screen were added. The second PvP test was made.	4.9.0-2760281	2015-11-10	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 6	Outposts (Storm Shields), new tutorial, over 50 buildings/landscapes, new art for survivors and Bull Rush, T.E.D.D.Y., Phase Shift, Shockwave and Goin’ Commando abilities were added.	4.11.0-2801990	2015-12-09	2016-12-15	Lost
Online Test 6.1	Bug fixes.	Unknown	2016-12-15	2016-12-15	Lost
Online Test 6.2	Bug fixes.	Unknown	2016-12-15	2016-01-26	Lost
Online Test 6.5	Added Deliver the goods mission and a new hero model (Penny).	4.12.0-2870186	2016-01-26	2016-03-01	Found (PC)
Online Test 6.6	Upgrades to Power the reactor mission and visual effects for elemental ranged weapons were added.	4.12.0-2898795	2016-03-01	2016-03-22	Lost
Online Test 6.7	When you die your items no longer drop to the ground, new hero model (A.C.), grass and legal screen in options menu were added.	4.12.0-2919741	2016-03-22	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 7	New hero model (Sarah), survivors on missions, survivors squads, hero perks, Launch the balloon mission, and new melee weapons were added and changed the name of the mission "Close the gate" to "Fight the storm".	4.12.0-3012530	2016-06-14	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 8	Defenders, wind and cinematic introductions for enemies were added and all hero cards now have a unique appearance.	4.13.0-3062755	2016-07-25	2016-09-06	Lost
Online Test 8.1	Upgrades to the husk texture and new explosion VFX were added.	4.13.0-3114236	2016-09-06	2016-09-28	Lost
Online Test 8.2	Destroy the encampments and Rescue the survivors missions and new character (Lars) were added and changed the name of the mission "Launch the balloon" to "Ride the lightning".	4.13.0-3151232	2016-09-28	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 9	Night of the Jack-O-Launcher event, Spooky Scary Sad Llama, new heroes for the event, Jack-o-launcher and Grave digger weapons, head with pumpkin in husks and new survivors for the event were added.	4.13.0-3169630	2016-10-19	2016-11-08	Lost
Online Test 10	Unknown, release notes are lost.	4.14.0-3234896	2016-12-22	2017-02-09 (Probably)	Partially found (PC)
Online Test 10.1	Unknown, release notes are lost.	4.14.0-3240987	2017-02-09 (Probably)	Unknown	Lost
Online Test 11	Changed the entire UI of the game and Collection book, Expeditions, Repair the shelter and Evacuate the shelter missions and Decoy, War Cry and Crescent Kick abilities were added, and was replaced the "Deliver the goods" for "Deliver the bomb" mission.	4.16.0-3472679	2017-05-24	2017-06-02	Partially found (PC, PS4 and XBOX ONE)
Online Test 11.0.3.1	Bug fixes.	4.16.0-3481499	2017-06-02	2017-06-22	Lost
Online Test 11.0.5	Unknown, release notes are lost.	4.16.0-3484806	2017-06-22	2017-07-07	Lost
Online Test 11.1.0	Unknown, release notes are lost.	Unknown	2017-07-07	2017-07-15	Lost

In case you want to see the websites of the alpha era of the game but since the Wayback Machine takes a long time to load them, you can see them in this Google Drive that includes the release notes of the Online Tests and important websites, including the Online Test 11 release notes! (these were not saved in the Wayback Machine but we were able to recreate the website!):

Fortnite Alpha Websites

Official Fortnite Alpha streams:

The official Fortnite Twitch account streamed Online Tests 2-10, you can watch the streams with these links:

• OT 2 - An introduction of Fortnite
• OT 2 - Basics of building
• OT 2 - Weapons, Traps, and Bullet Snacks 1/2
• OT 2 - Weapons, Traps, and Bullet Snacks 2/2
• OT 2 - Candied Bacon!
• OT 3 - Do it!!!
• OT 3 - Husk Party!
• OT 3 - K.L. vs Natalie: The Rematch 1/2
• OT 3 - K.L. vs Natalie: The Rematch 2/2
• OT 4 - OT4 Begins, Plus CODES!!!
• OT 5 - OT5 Begins!!!
• OT 6 - Massive OT6 Update!
• OT 6.5 - Female Constructor & Deliver The Goods
• OT 6.7 - Playing With the Community!
• OT 7 - Big Changes Coming to Fortnite!
• OT 8 - OT8 is Here!
• OT 9 - Night of the Jack-O-Launcher
• OT 10 - OT10 and Holiday Celebration!

Videos:

Fortnite Welcome to Online Test 2!

Fortnite Early Prototype Trailer (2011).

Fortnite Interview - Gamescom 2014.

Fortnite - Preview from GameSpot.