Gaming News This is how Apex Legends is made: my tour of the studio that created one of the most iconic competitive FPS games in the world
Ahead of the release of Apex Legends Season 20, the JV editorial team was invited to explore Respawn Entertainment Studios. Telecommuting, development challenges or even Star Wars, the teams told us a little more about their work.
Bright sun, overgrown palm trees and long highways full of four-wheel drive vehicles and sports cars of all kinds: this is undoubtedly California. After a 90-minute drive from LAX airport, including a 30-minute shuttle between colleagues, I’m standing here in a parking lot in a group of buildings in the north of the giant American city. I have to take an elevator in front of which a complete “Titanfall” has been carefully placed. But where are Respawn’s premises hidden?
Apex Legends: a rocky start
After a (short) elevator ride, there are no longer any doubts. The facility proves it: I ended up in the Apex Legends developer’s premises. Giant POS signs from Caustic and Wattson greet journalists and creatives, while a statue (rendered 1:1) proudly poses next to an open resource crate. A staircase that winds through the room leads us to a second floor, which is also filled with various things related to Apex. These are the numerous fanarts (created by fans of the game) that are represented in large numbers. These are all portraits of the legends, often revised. Apex players are talented!
But no more ecstasy. It’s time to continue the owner’s tour. The herd then slips through the long corridors to offices separated by glass walls. This is where the many lines of code in the game are written. However, the place is deserted.. But that’s normal. One of the few people present on site explained it to us:
Apex Legends was released in 2019 (February 4th, editor’s note). But a year later, Covid-19 hit the whole world. This forced us to start working from home shortly after launch. It wasn’t ideal, but we managed it.
This overcomes a major obstacle that appears to have led to social distancing habits among certain employees. Enough to hasten our departure from this part of the studio. Our curiosity had just been piqued before being satisfied a few hours later.
Motion capture and its regular challenges
After a lunch break on the huge second floor terrace, Respawn Entertainment guests must take the shuttle. Go to the studios Motion capture (or mocap ; motion recording). All movements associated with the characters are recorded in a huge room controlled by two sets of fifty cameras. Apex Legends is often praised for the gaming sensations it offers, but that’s mostly thanks to this section. And thanks to the presence of Ryan Wade (Capture Development Manager); Mark Grimenstein (Mocap Tech / Shoot Supervisor) and Moy Parra (Apex Animation Director) we were able to find out a little more about their profession.
For example, Mark Grimenstein explains that he uses a 3D printer to design weapons… with foam! This prevents them from being painful in the event of possible contact. But it must be said that some still have their weight, especially that which allows the great caliber of Rampart to come to life in the game. Moy Parra adds that every legend is different and presents its own animation challenges (although he admits Catalyst was the most challenging). You also have to deal with new players every time and make them feel comfortable in the room.. For some it is sometimes the first time doing this!
In another sense, Mark Grimenstein describes the obstacles involved in recording each character’s race. If the latter always run at the same speed (we leave aside here the abilities that increase them tenfold, like Octane’s A or Bloodhound’s Ulti), the feeling of heaviness is very present in the game with Gibraltar, for example. To replicate the movements associated with running, studios generally simply use treadmills. For Apex the task was more difficult! To properly convey the sensations associated with parkour, the treadmill is not enough: The surface caused the actors to bounce too much, which did not meet the studio’s requirements. So we had to let them walk around the studio so there was enough space. On the other hand, in contrast to the treadmill, the trampoline is used: thanks to it, the mocap team manages to transfer the (sometimes) long falls of the Legends into the game.
After a long explanation about their work on Apex Legends, it’s time for questions. Enough to remind journalists and developers that Respawn is not just this battle royale! This studio is also used by Electronic Arts for other projects. This was the case with the two Star Wars Jedi (Fallen Order and Survivor, the latter released in April 2023), whose making-of was partly filmed… in other EA studios. Despite the obvious frustration of not seeing Mark Hamil and Cameron Monhagan, the team can’t hide a smile.
This enthusiasm was noticeable in every discussion, no matter how short, between the individual team members. And if it was the long highways full of big cars and palm trees that we left behind when we launched in Los Angeles, we also said goodbye to Respawn Entertainment. With the feeling of having met a team of dedicated enthusiasts who are at least as warm as the Californian sun.
