A 17-year-old Fortnite map creator recreated the world in Makoto Shinkai’s beloved film, Suzume.
As detailed on Otakumode, this map designer, known only as “Yanosu”, is no stranger to the profession, having previously used Fortnite’s Creative Mode to create maps for other Shinkai movies. , including 5 Centimeters Per Second and The Garden of Words. After seeing the first teaser image of Suzume, which depicts a wooden door standing upright amid flooded wreckage, Yanosu meticulously recreated the scene using a variety of creative tools from Suzume. Fortnite. The scene was eventually spotted by the film’s distributor, Toho and Director Shinkai, much to Yanosu’s excitement, as he said that he “felt like [he] will explode” when detected.
Toho helped facilitate the completion of the map, providing Yanosu with more valuable references. Yanosu described how he used these resources, as well as movie trailers, to highlight Suzume’s virtual world. “I did things like watch the camera roll around Suzume and count the windows,” Yanosu said. For the film’s sky, Yanosu created it using the aurora borealis and snow to help recreate its epic scale. “[It] makes you feel the space is really grand when rotating the camera 360 degrees,” said Yanosu.
Suzume’s Fortnite creation needs some creative twist
Sometimes, creators are forced to develop creative techniques to make up for the lack of certain options. For example, he had to figure out how to effectively mimic the look of the door from the original scene. “The marks on the door look like chips that have come off, but I made them by layering the pieces of wood,” explains Yanosu. “So when you look at it from the side, you can see they’re placed a bit above.”
Toho also gave Yanosu an invitation to an early screening of Suzume, where he had the opportunity to meet Makoto Shinkai in person. This has been a particularly stressful experience for Yanosu, who has said that he can “feel the weight of all the movies he’s made” when talking to him. However, the two did share a short chat, where Yanosu explained different things he liked about the movie. “I talked about the sounds used in the movie, how I felt like I was traveling, even though I was sitting in the cinema, how much I saw myself in Suzume, “Yanosu said. “He told me, ‘I’m glad I can represent modern high school students accurately.’ He’s also happy to hear from a real high school student.”
Fortnite fans can check out Yanosu’s Suzume map for themselves by entering 9546-3215-5606 for the Island Code in the game’s Creative Mode. Suzume is also currently showing in theaters across North America.
Source: Otakumode