[2023] [AMA] We’re Respawn. Let’s talk about Storm Point!

In the past we've explored the possibility of weather features like dense fog and falling snow. The biggest challenge is to introduce an element like this that performs well across ALL possible consoles and PC specs and gives a consistent player experience so that there isn't a competitive disadvantage. Adding ambient details in the forms of falling leaves, snow, rain, etc. adds a lot to the believability of a world, but can heavily impact gameplay in a negative way. We see how changing our time of day can sometimes alienate our players...so weather is an element we are even more cautious about.

Yes. (but seriously - that easter egg was done outside the realm of our map team, but was so much fun to see!)

We learned a lot with Storm Point and how we approach our map updates. Early indicators suggest that the changes are fairly well received and addressing both Pubs and Ranked. We want to take that momentum and apply those same principals to future map updates. This means deeper analysis, more gathering of feedback and a deliberate approach to our changes. Map updates should feel impactful. That doesn't mean every update will be as large as Storm Point's was, but it SHOULD address a lot of the fundemental issues the map might have. The biggest takeway is that impactful change takes time and we want to give future updates that development time to really resonate with the community. As our map roster increases, we won't be spreading ourselves thin trying to update every map quickly, but rather take a focused and methodical approach instead.

Creatures are still a signature of the map and there are still prowlers that can be found. They are still concentrated around dens to make for predictable engagements so you won't be seeing any strays roaming randomly through the map.

For the most part, storms in this region are constant and predictable. However, this storm was a rare phenomenon. It was a massive surge, the likes of which had never been seen in centuries. Now that the storm has broken, we're seeing a relative calm until things build back up to the familiar cadence the region is known for. This unexpected surge is what caused so much damage to the power infrastructure. The islands supply power to the cities and this island in particular provided power to Suotamo. They weren't prepared to deal with a sudden energy crisis due to the island being offline for so long.

We wanted players to FEEL that Storm Point changed from every corner of the map, regardless if any geo had changed in that area or not. Changing the skybox instantly reinforces that major change. We also wanted to take the opportunity to further differentiate our maps from each other. We pushed into an earlier time of day compared to other maps and that does bring some darker shadows in spots. We are constantly trying to find the right balance between mood and gameplay visibility. We know there's work to be done and we're finding ways to improve our lighting model along the way.

The museum giftshop on World's Edge.

I THINK most Easter Eggs have been found, mostly focused around Wattson's Pylon, but Storm Point still has some small secrets that will be revealed soon.

There are currently no plans to expand the wildlife variety on Storm Point. Never say never though. If the right encounter makes sense for the map we'd certain entertain the idea.

I don't believe prowlers or spiders will ever be fully removed. Part of the fantasy of this map is the PvE feature. A jungle without wildlife just doesn't have the same ring to it.

The various buildings you see are of original settlements that predate the city of Suotamo (which is about to celebrate it's 400th birthday!) The island had been abandoned for quite a while and caught the attention of the Mercenary Syndicate as a potential playspace for the Apex Games.

The original designer, Rodney Reece always intended this to be a competitive map and he certainly delivered as it's been an ALGS favorite from day 1.

Fair "point". The region is still known for storms. It's not a matter of "it's gone", it's more a matter of "when will it return?"

That was actually an initiative between maps and narrative. We approached the narrative team with a pitch and we worked out the various stages. We wanted to build anticipation for its return by pulling it out for an entire season (to sell the severity of the storm). Definitely one or more ambitious map setups but we felt it was deserving since the update itself was rather large.

The ships on Broken Moon are an oversight and will be returned in a future patch. Apologies! Wasn't our intent to see these removed...but you may understand why soon.

Suotamo has been dealing with blackouts ever since the storm hit and took out the infrastructure. The Energy Banks are running low and it's affecting quite a few districts throughout the city - in particular E-District which is the part of the city that Crypto was originally from. This in turn has caused turmoil in the streets as citizens have begun fighting over what remaining power there is. Wattson's "Project Electro" plans (as seen in her POI) is in reference to E-District and trying to help her friend's neighborhood. I certainly hope we'll see some sort of resolution to the energy crisis in the near future.

Excellent questions! The Games take place on Syndicate Worlds, so Págos and Nexus would not be considered unless they were to somehow join the Syndicate. That's not to say the Syndicate would never expand (as we saw in Season 8 with Salvo joining.)

As for question #2, new maps are prototyped with a gameplay goal in mind. Level design focuses on the experience with some very light exploration around biomes or themes. As it starts to take shape, the narrative backstory starts to form, visuals and mood boards get put together and those help inform further development of POIs and possibly new gameplay ideas. Design always comes first! We add context and flavor later.

That's a good suggestion! Something worth bringing up to the team!

That's a very deep question...and certainly a tough one to answer thoroughly. I'll try and break it down as simply as possible.

1. LD (Level Design) does a paper design and proposal.

2. LD blocks out and we start to playtest.

3. Art Direction puts together a style guide and Narrative gets looped in for gut checks.

4. LD is iterating while Art starts doing Look Dev on biomes and assets.

5. LD starts handing off areas to art that are "locked" (iteration still happens but on a refined scale.)

6. Skybox and lighting starts development.

7. Art is in full production and LD is refining, adding cover and other gameplay elements.

8. FX and Audio start getting visibility and doing their passes.

9. PLAYTESTING AND REVIEWS HAPPEN THROUGHOUT.

10. Optimizations, bug fixing, polish from all departments

11. SHIP!

That is OVERLY simplified and doesn't really reflect the day to day. So much happens every day and it's never a dull moment!

I'll tackle the first question. Introducing new lighting into a map that's familiar is always going to open up opinions. We certainly take feedback re: visibility seriously, but we also want to create variety across our maps. If all maps had the same midday, blue skies they would all start to blend together and feel the same.

I touched a bit on this in my prior answer to a similar question here https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/180tcus/comment/kad02qy/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3

Balancing visibility across large maps is not an easy task. We focus on the main POIs and golden routes first, but there are some secondary or tertiary areas that sometimes don't get the same amount of attention due to time and scope. You can expect tweaks here and there, but we won't do another big swing of a lighting or skybox change unless it's a potential future map update.

None that I'm aware of. What would you call them?

Thanks for the feedback! In an ideal world, our map updates knock it out of the park, hit all our design goals and are well received and balanced. IF we find there are further things to be done, then we can start to plan a future update. As of right now, there are no plans to do another update on Storm Point. If that day comes, we'll start to think about what those changes can be and what the story is that we can tell. Some other maps DO have story arcs we'd like to do through multiple updates, but unless there's a design need, we don't want to do change for the sake of change.

Glad you're enjoying the new Storm Point! When the map launched, it was clearly more preferred by Ranked and Pros vs the more casual audience. When we did the first update and introduced the Downed Beast and IMC Armories it felt more like a nudge than a shift. The first update came 2 seasons after the map launched, so it felt too soon to really get enough feedback and analysis given our dev time from launch to that first update. With the second update, we gave ourselves more time and made a concerted effort to make major changes in an effort to hit our goal of balancing Ranked vs Pub enjoyment. Our biggest takeway is that we need to give ourselves time to dissect feedback, thoroughly test and prove out our design goals and make impactful changes

Naming things is one of the least favorite things to do in all of game dev.:)

In the past we've explored the possibility of weather features like dense fog and falling snow. The biggest challenge is to introduce an element like this that performs well across ALL possible consoles and PC specs and gives a consistent player experience so that there isn't a competitive disadvantage. Adding ambient details in the forms of falling leaves, snow, rain, etc. adds a lot to the believability of a world, but can heavily impact gameplay in a negative way. We see how changing our time of day can sometimes alienate our players...so weather is an element we are even more cautious about.