© EAFree Royal Battle, Apex Legends launches on the Switch this week, on March 9, and we were thrilled when we found out the master porters, Panic Button assisted the developers of Apex Respawn Entertainment with the mission.
To learn more about Panic Button interactions, the challenge of bringing Apex Legends to Switch, and to discuss the possibilities of past Respawn games coming to Switch, we sat down with production manager Dan Hernberg and technical director Andy Boggs at Panic Button with Apex Legends game director at Respawn, Chad Grenier.
Nintendo Life: After working on Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein II, Rocket League and more, Panic Button is known as the “Port Wizards” around the Nintendo Life office.
Dan Hernberg (Panic Button): I would like a stick and a cloak!
Ha! We’ll see what we can do. What was the difference between porting Apex Legends to Switch to what you’ve done so far?
And: One of the things that is always interesting when you make a game that lives, breathes and changes constantly is that there are always new challenges, new legends that appear and new maps. So I think you’re trying to build a plane and land it on a moving aircraft carrier at the same time. Towards the end of the development, we are all in the same branch working together and if we make a mistake and break the construction, this will affect Respawn and vice versa. A lot happens while trying to deliver the first version to make sure it gets up and fixes any issues. Even more than previous projects, the amount of change Respawn brings to their games is far more than any other client I’ve ever worked with. In addition, the fact that more is happening in the world, this was a unique challenge for this project.
Since it’s a live service game, will you support Apex more than some of the other projects, such as Rocket League and Warframe, or have the keys been returned to Respawn?
And: Currently, we will continue to support the project for the next few months. There is always the chance that it will take longer or we will hand it over faster if Respawn feels confident. But for now, we will be fully committed to launching all day-to-date Switch content with all other platforms, all seasons in advance.
© EADid Panic Button work with Respawn from the first day of Switch version development or were you called after helping?
Andy Boggs (Panic Button): We’ve been working on this for about 15 months. I think it was around season four that we started talking to Respawn about what it might look like to bring this to Switch.
Were there any other sacrifices or trade-offs for Apex to run on the Switch other than graphics?
Andy: Not exactly in terms of features or content, everything that exists on other versions of the game should be there on the Switch. I think the big challenge for us is to always come and understand what parts of the game we can adapt and make changes and optimize them and what parts are so essential that we have to leave alone. I think that in the end the changes we had to make will not have an impact on the players’ experience with it. It’s another great 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-Progression is not currently supported.
Is Cross-Progression a plan for Apex?
Chad Grenier (Respawn): It’s planned, but I think we’re a way out of being able to offer that. I really want to be a player, so I hear what our fans have to say and I totally agree with them. We are working to try to achieve this, it is a complex challenge of several existing accounts for different users that we have to solve or combine, there are legal and contractual things that we have to navigate with the purchase on other platforms and with the respective transfer some technical challenges. So it’s not something we can simply activate, but we work to have it, and the team is passionate about delivering it at some point.
© EAHow do you feel developing a game in which you not only have to make the game itself, but you have to make the store work, coordinate the crossword puzzle, etc.? These are not the days of Super Nintendo when you simply create the game and ship it.
Chad: It’s certainly not that easy. In some ways, it’s a nightmare, but it’s a fun one. When you have a popular game, crying about it is kind of like a first world problem, right? We will take on the challenges every day and we are happy to fight the fight, solve the problems and put things into action.
Being the first game that Respawn released on Switch, is Apex running on a new Switch engine?
Andy: We used the same engine that the other versions of the game use, so a lot of the work we did was add support for Switch to that engine. The Respawn engine and the game are kind of their own thing, so it’s the first game to run on the Switch in that engine.
Now that you have this engine running on the Switch, is it possible to ever see any of Respawn’s previous work on the Switch? Titanfall 2, for example, may not have seen the retail success it deserved, but could the Switch ever give it a second chance?
Chad: The Apex team is part of the team that made Titanfall and Titanfall 2 and it’s something we’re all proud of. I think if I look back at my career, that campaign is one of the best things I’ve done, and I think a lot of people on the team might feel the same way. I think you see a lot of Titanfall content heading to Apex. So our mentality now is not necessarily trying to get people to come back and play Titanfall 2, but how to bring all the great things from Titanfall 2 into the world of Apex and introduce them to our Apex fans.
© EAWill Apex have new features on the Switch?
And: Yes, I think the important thing about the Switch, which the other consoles don’t have, is aiming at the gyroscope. I did it with the previous titles and I learned every time. We changed our formula a bit and changed it differently depending on each game. Sometimes it is better to have a gyroscope that moves slower, sometimes you want a faster response. So we worked closely with Respawn to make sure he had that “Apexy” feeling.
How does Panic Button decide which projects to work on? We imagine the e-mail box is constantly flooded with potential opportunities.
And: We have a lot of different teams here at Panic Button and we always mix who is on the team and dedicate those teams to individual projects. We also usually have about three to five projects at a time, but we always talk to potential clients about different opportunities. For every 10-20 opportunities that arise, we usually work on only one of them. We see about who we want to work with, if they will make good partners, that we think the title is something we like or is appropriate to attach our name and we want to make sure that time and resources work. The stars have to line up because we’re just a studio of 50 people. When we go online and read the forums, we see endless lists of games that we should work on and many of them we would like, but you know that everything has to be solved for a game to get this far and I think this is a true testament to Respawn and Apex. Not only did the stars line up, it took a lot of work from a lot of people to get this, because we’re developing the Switch version while the live version is being built. This is a kind of roundabout to say “it’s very hard”, haha. Shipping any game is a miracle and any port of a live service game is a real miracle. It takes a lot of dedication from everyone involved to get out the door.
Speaking of the fact that two different teams work together remotely on a single project, how was it different in a world affected by COVID?
And: So from the production side, sometimes I feel like I see people from Respawn on Zoom calling more than I see my wife. We’re in constant communication thanks to Slack and Zoom and we’ve always worked remotely with other studios before COVID, because we’re based in Austin, TX, and Respawn is in Los Angeles, CA, so I’ve had some of that down already. . Development during COVID has had a huge impact on us as a studio, most are not prepared to operate remotely. Our hardware is in the studio and we have a lot of data and secure information that we need to safely reach our team so they can use it. You can set up a VPN, but it all takes longer. Our engineers, the production, the QA team are in communication and we really need to be an extension of the Respawn team to make this work.
© EADo you each have a favorite Legend?
And: I play any Legend left!
Andy: I really like Bangalore, but that’s mainly because I’m very bad at gambling! So if I find a person I can kill, then I’ll just use it for the rest of my time with the game.
Chad: I usually find myself playing the latest Legend or anything else Legend has received a buff or a nerve. I play a little just to make sure I’m aware of the meta and what people are talking about, so I jump a lot. If everything is good and we don’t really work on anything, by default, usually at Lifeline. I like the invigoration of light fighting and can call on the care pack and get some free prey.
When working on a project, have you ever hidden secrets or Easter eggs for fans to discover in Apex or any of your past works?
Andy: I don’t think I did anything in the way of something that would be secret or some kind of content change. We always look to see if we can do something special for the Switch audience. I think I’ve made custom skins or things like that in the past. Unfortunately, I think the days of Easter eggs are long gone.
Chad: We always put Easter eggs in our games and sometimes, as a game director, I don’t even know about it! In fact, it’s pretty fun! Most of the time they are released by a team leader to make sure they are not doing anything harmful. Many of them are as surprising to me as they are to others. Well, there is a human element in making these games and people like to put things that way. I had some that were found by the public. Nessies that are hidden in Kings Canyon if collected in the correct order would summon the giant Nessie from the sea. I also had a Nessie altar with a Nessie mother with all these candles around her. I have no idea what it was about, but designers like to have fun and put things that way. There are probably a few things that haven’t been found yet that I don’t even know about.
If each of you chose to bring any game to the Switch, what would you choose?
And: I’m not sure if this is “any game of my choice”, but right now I’m playing too much Valheim and I’d like to wear this to Switch.
Andy: Transmitted by blood.
Chad: Right now I play a lot The Dyson Sphere program. It is a construction game that takes place on various planets and involves gathering resources. I was on vacation recently and I couldn’t play and I would have loved to take Switch!
© EAA huge thank you to Andy Boggs and Dan Hernberg from Panic Button and Chad Grenier of Respawn Entertainment because you took the time to talk to us! Apex Legends launches on the Nintendo Switch on March 9.
Be sure to let us know if you dive into the game when it’s the end of this week!