Friendly fire and multiple lives coming to Fortnite in new Playground Mode

THERE are some very big changes coming to Fortnite in the game's next major update.

Developer Epic games has revealed a whole host of things it's working on behind the scenes for the v5 update, ranging from minor "quality-of-life" improvements for players to whole new modes.

The biggest change is the promised introduction of the Playground LTM (v1) mode. This will load players into the normal Battle Royale map, but with a few key differences.

The timer will be extended, the rates at which players can gather resources for building and crafting will be increased, and friendly fire will be turned on to allow up to four friends to "scrimmage" against each other to hone their skills.

To help that practice, all players will respawn immediately on death.

"All treasure chests and ammo crates will be spawned" in Playground mode, so that players can "try droppin’ in different spots and scope out the loot." Epic has also said there will also be "Lloads of Llamas" -- in Fortnite the mountain-dwelling ungulates are stuffed full of loot, waiting to be smashed.

Epic has said that it heard about fan's "love" for the 50v50 team combat mode and are "currently evaluating keeping a larger squad mode live at all times."

The Solo Showdown mode, meanwhile, looks like it will form the basis of true competitive play, potentially leading to the format to be used in the competition Epic recently announced a £75million prize pool for.

Console players have controller improvements to look forward to, especially when building, while everyone will get their movement tracked faster and load times cut.

Tracking your challenges is also going to get easier--and you don't even have to wait until the full version 5 update -- it's coming in version 4.3. Rather than having to delve into the menu system, in-match pop-ups that highlight your progress are going to be introduced.

The Victory Royale screen will also be improved, so that the experience of being the last player standing is more memorable and rewarding.

There are also promised improvements to the spectator and replay options ahead of E3, where Epic are hosting a Celebrity Pro-Am event that will be watchable online. This will include bullet trajectories, an X-ray view, and improved outlines.

You will also be able to orbit the replay camera around any point you choose -- or have the game track the action for you "by focusing on a group of players, rather than just one person."

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