© EAThe royal battle to play free, Apex Legends launched on March 9 this week on Switch, and we were delighted to hear the master porters, Panic Button, assisted Apex developers Respawn Entertainment with the mission.
To learn more about the collaboration of Panic Button, the challenge of bringing Apex Legends to Switch, and to discuss the possibilities of Respawn games in the past after Switch, we put the head of production, Dan Hernberg and the technical director, Andy Boggs, at Panic Button. with Game Director of Apex Legends at Respawn, Chad Grenier.
Nintendo Life: Panic Button, which worked on the ports of Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein II, Rocket League and more, is known as the “Port Wizards” around the Nintendo Life office.
Dan Hernberg (Panic Button): I would like a staff and a cloak!
Ha! We’ll see what we can do. How was the transfer of Apex Legends to Switch different from anything you did before?
Dan: One of the things that is always interesting when you play a game that is alive, breathing and constantly changing is that there are always new challenges, new legends and new maps appearing. So I think you’re trying to build an airplane and land it on a moving aircraft carrier at the same time. By the end of the development, we are all working together in the same branch, and if we make a mistake and break the structure, it has an impact on Respawn and vice versa. It goes on and on while trying to ship the first version to make sure it gets up and smooths out issues. Even more than previous projects, the amount of change Respawn makes to their games is so much more than any other client we’ve ever worked with. The fact that there is even more going on in the world was a unique challenge for this project.
If it’s a live service game, will you support Apex longer than some of your other projects like Rocket League and Warframe, or have the keys been returned to Respawn?
Dan: We are currently supporting the project for the next few months. There is always the chance that it will last longer, or we will give it up sooner if Respawn feels confident. But for the time being, we will be fully involved in releasing all content on Switch day and date with all other platforms, with all the seasons ahead.
© EAHas Panic Button worked with Respawn since the first day of developing the Switch versions, or have you been called in to help?
Andy Boggs (panic button): We’re been working on it for about 15 months. I believe it was around season four when we started talking to Respawn about what it might look like to bring it to Switch.
Were there any sacrifices or compromises that had to be made to get Apex running on Switch other than graphics?
Andy: Not really in terms of features or content, everything there is in other versions of the game should be there on Switch. I think the big challenge for us is to always come in and understand what parts of the game we can adapt, change and apply and what parts are so essential that we have to leave alone. I think the changes we had to make would ultimately not affect players’ experience with it. It’s still an amazing experience and it feels like playing Apex!
Cross-Play has been confirmed for the Switch version, but will Cross-Progression also be available?
Andy: Cross-progress is not currently supported.
Is cross-progression a plan for Apex?
Chad Grenier (resettled): It’s been planned, but I think we’re a way to present it. I really want it as a gamer myself, so I hear what our fans are saying and I totally agree with them. We are working to make it happen. This is a complex challenge for multiple users that consists of multiple accounts that we need to resolve or merge. There are legal and contractual things to navigate with purchases on other platforms and their transfer and also some technical challenges. So it’s not something we can just turn on, but we’re working on having it and the team is passionate about delivering it at some point.
© EAHow does it feel to develop a game where you not only have to make the game yourself, but that you have to run the store, play cross, etc. These are not the days of the Super Nintendo where you just make the game and send it.
Chad: It is definitely not that easy. In some ways, it’s a nightmare, but it’s a nice problem to have. If you have a popular game, crying about it is a first world problem, right? We will tackle the challenges every day and we are glad that we are fighting the battle, solving the problems and getting things going.
While this is the first game that Respawn puts on Switch, is Apex working on a new engine for Switch?
Andy: We used the same engine as the other versions of the game, and a lot of the work we did was support the Switch to the engine. Respawn’s engine and the game are kind of his own thing, so this is the first game working on Switch in the engine.
Now that this car has been turned on on Switch, is there a possibility that we’ll ever see any of Respawn’s previous work on Switch? Titanfall 2, for example, may not have seen the retail success it could possibly have earned, but would the Switch ever be able to give it a second chance?
Chad: The team that is on Apex is very much the team that made Titanfall and Titanfall 2, and it is something we are all very proud of. I think that when I look back on my career, the campaign is one of the best things we have done, and I think a lot of people in the team can feel the same. I think you see a lot of the Titanfall content moving to Apex. So our mindset is not necessarily to try to get people back and play Titanfall 2, but how do we bring all the amazing stuff from Titanfall 2 to the Apex world and present it to our Apex fans.
© EAWill Apex have any new features on Switch?
Dan: Yes, I think one big thing the Switch has that the other consoles are not is target oriented. We’ve done this on previous titles and learned every time. We adapted our formula that way and adapted it to different games. Sometimes it’s better to have gyro moving slower, sometimes you want a faster response. So we worked closely with Respawn to make sure it had the Apexy feel.
How does Panic Button decide which projects to work on? We think your mailbox is constantly flooded with potential opportunities.
Dan: We have a lot of different teams here at Panic Button and we always mix who is in which team, and we dedicate the teams to individual projects. We also usually have three to five projects at a time, but we always talk to potential clients about different opportunities. For every ten to twenty occasions, we usually only get to work on about one of them. We see who we want to work with, if they will be good partners, that we think the title is something we like or it’s good to attach our name, and we want to make sure the timing and resources are right. The stars have to match quite a bit, because we’re just a studio of 50 people. If we go online and read the forums, we see endless lists of games we need to work on, and lots of those we like, but you know it all has to work out for a game to get as far as it does, and i think this is a true proof of Respawn and Apex. Not only did the stars align, it took a lot of work from a lot of people to land them while we were developing the Switch version while the live version was being built. It’s kind of a way of saying ‘it’s really hard’, haha. To send any game is a miracle, and any port of a live service game is a true miracle. It really takes a lot of dedication from all involved to get it out the door.
If we’re talking about two different teams working remotely on one project, how is it different in a world affected by COVID?
Dan: So on the production side, I sometimes feel that people from Respawn on Zoom see more than I see my wife. We are constantly in communication, thanks to Slack and Zoom, and we have always worked remotely with other studios before COVID, as we are located in Austin, TX, and Respawn in Los Angeles, CA. already off. Development during COVID had a huge impact on us as a studio, but most were not set up to work remotely. Our hardware is in the studio and we have a lot of secure data and information we need to get to our team safely so they can use it. You can set up a VPN, but it only takes longer. Our engineers, production, QA team are all in communication and we really need to be an extension of the Respawn team to make it work.
© EADoes each of you have a favorite legend?
Dan: I play all that Legend is left over!
Andy: I really like Bangalore, but it’s mostly because I’m really bad at the game! So if I get one person I can kill, I’ll just use it for the rest of my time.
Chad: I usually play the latest Legend or whatever Legend got a buff or a nerf. I’m just playing the latest trend to make sure I’m aware of the meta and what people are talking about, so I’m jumping around a lot. If all goes well and we’re really not working on anything, I’m usually Lifeline. I love the easy battle revival and I can call in the care package and get free loot.
Have you ever discovered secrets or Easter eggs for fans in Apex or any of your previous work while working on a project?
Andy: I do not think we did anything that would be a secret or a change of content. We are always looking for something special that we can do for the Switch audience. I think in the past we did custom skins or things like that. Unfortunately, I think the days of Easter eggs are long gone.
Chad: We always put Easter eggs in our games, and sometimes I do not know it as the director! It’s actually quite nice! They are usually cleaned by a leader in the team to make sure they are not doing anything harmful. Many of them are just as surprising to me as they are to others. That’s good, there’s a human element in making these games, and people like to put things that way. We have a few that have been found by the public. The Nessie that are hidden throughout Kings Canyon if collected in the right order would summon the giant Nessie from the sea. We also had a Nessie shrine with a mother Nessie with all these candles around. I have no idea what this is all about, but the designers like to have fun and put things in that way. There are probably some things that still need to be found that I do not even know about.
If you chose to bring games to Switch, what would you choose?
Dan: I’m not sure if this is my ‘any game choice’, but at the moment I’m playing way too much Valheim and I would like to transfer it to Switch.
Andy: Bloodthirsty.
Chad: At the moment I play a lot Dyson Sphere Program. It is a building game that takes place on different planets and gathers resources. I was on vacation recently and could not play and would love to take it on my Switch!
© EAMany thanks to Andy Boggs and Dan Hernberg of Panic Button, and Chad Grenier of Respawn Entertainment because you took the time to talk to us! Apex Legends will be released on March 9 on Nintendo Switch.
Let us know if you’ll be diving into the game for the first time when it arrives later this week!