The Mirage Voy'age:
Released: December 12, 2019
Theme: Mirage's Town Takeover (TT) started with the idea of having a holiday-themed event for 2019, Apex's first Christmas/Holiday event ever. An early joke Easter Egg idea some level designers had for a while was Mirage in a hot tub surrounded by several decoy clones just having a good time. Running with that idea of ridiculous, over-the-top shenanigans, we thought it would be really fun to have Mirage, our wackiest character in the game, host an Apex Legends Holiday Party somewhere in the map. As this was the initial spark for Mirage's Town Takeover, I began designing what a Mirage Holiday Party could be.
After toying with different party ideas and locations, like redesigning city buildings in World's Edge for a "office party" vibe, I eventually decided to try a Yacht vibe, which matched his personality perfectly. Being inspired by fancy yacht and boat cruise deck parties, it was a great fit for the theme I was going for.
Gameplay: Since Mirage is a bamboozler/trickster type, I wanted his Town Takeover to support his illusive playstyle in a fun, over-the-top way.
I pitched/prototyped a "Party Button" on the ship, which was the TT's main gameplay hook. When pressed, the party music would get louder and more intense, and Mirage's hologram clones around the ship would all start dancing and creating visual noise to distract players, forcing players to really focus on who is real while chaos surrounds them visually and audibly. This was an absolute BLAST to prototype and design. The Party Button was inspired by the "It's My Birthday" scene in Thor Ragnarok.
I wanted extra incentive for players to activate the Party Button besides just to bamboozle opponents and create chaos while fighting on The Mirage Voy'age. So 2 giant loot balls pop out on the main deck after the Party Button is pressed the first time, offering players high-tier loot for starting the party. There is also a spinning disco-ball that is actually a smaller loot-ball in the hot tub room for players to shoot for high-tier loot as well.
The Party Button only lasts for about 18 seconds, but there are hologram decoys around the ship all doing various party activities even when the Party Button is off. A pair of Mirages are doing the Titanic pose on the ship's bow, while others are cooking Pork chops, mingling, and hanging out in the hot tub. But when the Party Button is hit, all the Mirage decoys start dancing, including 3 huge Mirages (one of which is doing the worm on-top of the hot tub room) and an additional giant Mirage bust doing a grand pose that can be seen from far away.
This was to alert players in the surrounding areas that players were on the ship starting a party, as well as make the Mirage Voy'age stand out more from the initial drop at the start of each game.
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Gameplay Geo: The Art team was a huge help in realizing the final version of the Mirage Voy'age. Art helped shape the look and geo of the ship based on my gameplay focused blockouts and really made the ship look like a sleek yacht that fit the Apex/Titanfall universe in blockout stages.
The goal of this TT's geo was to support close-medium range engagements with vertical options for constant maneuvering and option for players. The Mirage Voy'age itself creating an elevated fortress-like structure for players to defend/attack in the area. The final ship's design is symmetrical and helps make the chaotic fights more understandable. There are very distinct areas of the ship that offer different ways to fight and move around them, all littered with Mirage personality.
The ship also had 2 versions, a Holiday version that was covered in festive holiday/Christmas decorations, and one without as the Mirage Voy'age would remain in World's Edge for a while after the Holiday season was over. Because of this, I ensured the ship did not play differently between the Holiday and non-Holiday version.
From a level design perspective, the ship's geo needed to be simple enough so players could understand where enemies could come from and be at almost anytime while on the ship. Especially with the drastic elevation differences on the ship, the symmetrical design helped this significantly.
As the ship was placed in a pretty barren part of the map over a small, un-named town, I wanted the focus to be the top of the ship, not under. I did not want two separated, overlapping layers of play-space. Since it was a Holiday party, I thought it would be cool to change the terrain from harsh cliff-sides to a smooth snowy wonderland, covering the town below with snow being shot out of snow machines from the ship. This allowed me to create a new, snowy terrain under the ship that is wide open and not meant to stay in for long and covered the buildings so players couldn't get in them anymore, making the focus of the area the top of the ship. Zip-lines are palced aorund the ship so players can get onto the ship quickly from various areas, but hopefully never surprise players on the ship regarding where they're coming from.
Avalanche-ing the town below was also pretty funny to me as a large area of the map is already covered in snow by default, but Mirage didn't have his Holiday party there, but rather somewhere without snow. That small detail/joke makes me laugh every time.
As the ship was placed in a pretty barren part of the map over a small, un-named town, I wanted the focus to be the top of the ship, not under. I did not want two separated, overlapping layers of play-space. Since it was a Holiday party, I thought it would be cool to change the terrain from harsh cliff-sides to a smooth snowy wonderland, covering the town below with snow being shot out of snow machines from the ship. This allowed me to create a new, snowy terrain under the ship that is wide open and not meant to stay in for long and covered the buildings so players couldn't get in them anymore, making the focus of the area the top of the ship. Zip-lines are palced aorund the ship so players can get onto the ship quickly from various areas, but hopefully never surprise players on the ship regarding where they're coming from.
Avalanche-ing the town below was also pretty funny to me as a large area of the map is already covered in snow by default, but Mirage didn't have his Holiday party there, but rather somewhere without snow. That small detail/joke makes me laugh every time.
Besides the Hot Tub room, I loved designing "The Hall of Mirage", where Mirage had oil paintings of himself, along with a statue, and a mansion-style grand staircase. It was awesome pitching and designing this egotistic Mirage space. If time allowed, I wanted a trophy case full of fake awards Mirage gave himself for ridiculous things, but maybe next time.
Also fun fact about the name "Mirage Voy'age", while blocking out the first pass on it, I was trying to think of a ship name that fit Mirage's personality since it's "his" ship. I wanted something that rhymed and had Mirage's name in it. And when I was showing Mo, our Narrative Design Lead who Mirage's personality is based off of, the blockout I did for Mirage TT, I randomly said "The Mirage Voy'age" and we loved it, and so did everyone else when I officially pitched it.
BONUS: The Mirage Holiday Event was announced and released live during 2019's VGAs where there was a dedicated bit where Mirage himself announces the arrival of his Mirage Voy'age. Clip down below (of which I do not own). It was super cool seeing my work being revealed like this on the big screen.
Mirage Voy'age was hands down the most fun thing I've ever worked on, and it would not have been possible without the extraordinary talent and passion of the Apex team at Respawn.