Apex Legends: Level/Game Designer
Studio: Respawn Entertainment
Released (PC, PS4, Xbox One): February 4, 2019
My Role: December 2018 - March 2022
Every level shown is a product of the whole team, with other departments designing and implementing assets.
While I led the design of the following areas, ideas from other designers, artists, and other devs contributed to the final product.
About the Game:
Apex Legends is a Free-to-Play, FPS Battle Royal game that focuses on teamwork. With an emphasis on its Legends (characters), it combines FPS combat with character abilities. Takes place in and expands upon the Titanfall Universe.
My Contributions:
I have designed (in order of most recent releases):
I've been part of the design team since Apex Legends released in 2019, helping to pioneer and design future successful updates & events like Town Takeovers (TTs), Seasonal Map Updates, and Arena maps as I was the first designer to start designing and shipping TTs and Arena maps.
I've worked and talked with other designers to help shape the overall experience for Apex Legends (geo, characters, weapons, etc) and helped keep pushing the boundaries of what we could offer in Apex while maintaining it's balanced and fun engagements expected from a FPS BR.
Released (PC, PS4, Xbox One): February 4, 2019
My Role: December 2018 - March 2022
Every level shown is a product of the whole team, with other departments designing and implementing assets.
While I led the design of the following areas, ideas from other designers, artists, and other devs contributed to the final product.
About the Game:
Apex Legends is a Free-to-Play, FPS Battle Royal game that focuses on teamwork. With an emphasis on its Legends (characters), it combines FPS combat with character abilities. Takes place in and expands upon the Titanfall Universe.
My Contributions:
I have designed (in order of most recent releases):
- Olympus Map Update 2 (Season 12 Map Update)
- Overflow (Arenas 3v3 Map)
- Party Crasher (Arenas 3v3 Map)
- World's Edge Map Update 2 (Season 6 Map Update)
- Mirage Voy'age (Town Takeover POI)
- Wraith Labs (Town Takeover POI)
- Octane's Gauntlet (Town Takeover POI)
I've been part of the design team since Apex Legends released in 2019, helping to pioneer and design future successful updates & events like Town Takeovers (TTs), Seasonal Map Updates, and Arena maps as I was the first designer to start designing and shipping TTs and Arena maps.
I've worked and talked with other designers to help shape the overall experience for Apex Legends (geo, characters, weapons, etc) and helped keep pushing the boundaries of what we could offer in Apex while maintaining it's balanced and fun engagements expected from a FPS BR.
Map Updates
I designed 2 map updates for Apex Legends. Map Updates are the big seasonal changes to our BR maps, expanding the narrative and creating fresh new experiences for the maps.
Level Designers are fully responsible for the entire BR map when undertaking Map Updates, working with various departments to make sure the map ships at the highest quality possible.
Level Designers are fully responsible for the entire BR map when undertaking Map Updates, working with various departments to make sure the map ships at the highest quality possible.
Olympus Map Update 2 (Season 12)
WIP, Portfolio for Olympus Mu2 coming soon.
But here is an article going over the key changes I designed for this Update from the official Map Blog Post I wrote for EA/Respawn for Apex's Season 12's major map changes, which is unfortunately unavailable for viewing now.
For Olympus MU2, I expanded South-side of map, designed 2 new POIs & new terrain zone + several other changes.
New POIs I designed:
But here is an article going over the key changes I designed for this Update from the official Map Blog Post I wrote for EA/Respawn for Apex's Season 12's major map changes, which is unfortunately unavailable for viewing now.
For Olympus MU2, I expanded South-side of map, designed 2 new POIs & new terrain zone + several other changes.
New POIs I designed:
- Phase Driver
- Terminal
- Shifted Grounds
World's Edge Map Update 2 (Season 6)
For MU2, I designed 4 major changes around map (including 3 new POIs) + several other QoL & new pathing/cover changes around map:
- Countdown
- Launch Site
- Staging
- Survey Camp/Sky Hook Cut Through
Arenas Maps
Arenas is a 3v3 round-based, elimination mode for Apex Legends. Designed to be more combat oriented and competitive than Apex's Battle Royal (BR) counterpart, simulating squad vs squad final ring situations in a fair combat space.
As we tested prototypes of Arenas on POIs from our BR maps at the beginning, we noticed some key issues that made Arenas' combat unbalanced and frustrating:
As the team noticed these issues, I was the first Level Designer assigned to the Arenas team, tasked with experimenting with what kind of map designs and rules worked for the mode, which was simultaneously being developed too.
A lot of my experimental map designs and goals helped dictate Arenas' designs & mechanics (and vice versa). It was a tough challenge creating maps for a mode also in development. Lots of testing and uncertainty of what the mode was going to turn out as and what the core goals for the mode was going to be, which made it hard to design geo for, especially once you throw in some of our Legend abilities in the mix too.
I designed several maps that tested various environments, themes, and playstyles for interesting, balanced round-based combat situations. Some worked, many didn't, but each map brought new knowledge of what kind of experience Arenas could offer.
We didn't ship some of my favorite Arena map designs due to them being too small and giving unfair advantages to some Legends' abilities. I liked these small/medium map designs for Arenas because it resulted in quicker fights that relied more on gun skills, movement, and map knowledge rather than long-ranged, poke-y fights to drain opponents' heals before the circle forced teams together that most Arenas maps offered.
As we tested prototypes of Arenas on POIs from our BR maps at the beginning, we noticed some key issues that made Arenas' combat unbalanced and frustrating:
- Squads ALWAYS going to the high ground and camping there, taking same route every round
- Lack of meaningful tactics/squad plays for each round
- Center of map was power position, creating "rush the center" King of the Hill-style rounds, making for unpredictable engagements & map rotations
- Unbalanced vantage points for teams, resulting in unfair fights/advantages
- Too much pokie-fights where teams sat on high ground/spawns and sniped each other until ring forced together, creating slow, frustrating frontlines that were hard to push thru
- Was hard to read map and see other team until they were already in your face
- Lack of LoS also allowed teams to pass each other and swap spawns unknowingly too (Ships in the Night is what we called this)
As the team noticed these issues, I was the first Level Designer assigned to the Arenas team, tasked with experimenting with what kind of map designs and rules worked for the mode, which was simultaneously being developed too.
A lot of my experimental map designs and goals helped dictate Arenas' designs & mechanics (and vice versa). It was a tough challenge creating maps for a mode also in development. Lots of testing and uncertainty of what the mode was going to turn out as and what the core goals for the mode was going to be, which made it hard to design geo for, especially once you throw in some of our Legend abilities in the mix too.
I designed several maps that tested various environments, themes, and playstyles for interesting, balanced round-based combat situations. Some worked, many didn't, but each map brought new knowledge of what kind of experience Arenas could offer.
We didn't ship some of my favorite Arena map designs due to them being too small and giving unfair advantages to some Legends' abilities. I liked these small/medium map designs for Arenas because it resulted in quicker fights that relied more on gun skills, movement, and map knowledge rather than long-ranged, poke-y fights to drain opponents' heals before the circle forced teams together that most Arenas maps offered.
Town Takovers
Role on Town Takeovers:
I designed the area for Octane's, Wraith's, and Mirage's Town Takeovers, updated areas of maps for events themed around a single Legend from the game (as if they had designed it themselves). I designed and blockedout the geo for these areas, conceptualizing the themes and owning the map until ship, working with several departments to ship all the maps at a high quality.
The goal of these Town Takeovers was to create new hot drop areas where there were none before and change up core areas of the maps by introducing new POIs and routes from existing POIs, changing the way players move and play around an area of the map.
Octane's Gauntlet was placed where it was to spread out teams that would land in the popular area around Skulltown and change that major junction. Wraith Labs was designed to make a hotdrop zone in No Man's Land. Wraith's TT also changed the way players rotated from Swamps, Wetlands, The Cage, and Hydro Dam, making those areas more desirable drops as well as they connected to each other in new ways.
Mirage Voy'age brought some needed hotdrop action in the South side of the map was the pretty barren due to the POIs in this area being spaced out from each other.
Role on Town Takeovers:
I designed the area for Octane's, Wraith's, and Mirage's Town Takeovers, updated areas of maps for events themed around a single Legend from the game (as if they had designed it themselves). I designed and blockedout the geo for these areas, conceptualizing the themes and owning the map until ship, working with several departments to ship all the maps at a high quality.
The goal of these Town Takeovers was to create new hot drop areas where there were none before and change up core areas of the maps by introducing new POIs and routes from existing POIs, changing the way players move and play around an area of the map.
Octane's Gauntlet was placed where it was to spread out teams that would land in the popular area around Skulltown and change that major junction. Wraith Labs was designed to make a hotdrop zone in No Man's Land. Wraith's TT also changed the way players rotated from Swamps, Wetlands, The Cage, and Hydro Dam, making those areas more desirable drops as well as they connected to each other in new ways.
Mirage Voy'age brought some needed hotdrop action in the South side of the map was the pretty barren due to the POIs in this area being spaced out from each other.
The Mirage Voy'age
