Thread by @TheDesignDen

Incoming #LevelDesign update on this #ApexLegends Arena map.

After playing the mode a lot, I have a clearer sense of the experience and what these spaces provide from the LD side. As expected, this helped drive some changes to what I was building😊 1/16

For this thread, let’s take a look at the spawn areas and how they are set up. What I’ve noticed in game:

1.) For the 2 new maps (Phaserunner and Party Crasher) there are set spawn rooms to contain players during the strat/buy phase of each round. 2/16

For Artillery, they aren’t using the new spawn room but players are still locked into a set area. I would imagine this is because the geo is reused from Kings Canyon. We might see this in other reused PoI’s from the BR mode. If it’s not broken don’t fix it, right? 3/16

2.) Each spawn has 3 exits that connect to a path/direction for players to head in. These paths are not hallways and only lightly suggest where to go. These Arena maps aren’t designed like standard multiplayer maps where you have strict hallway-ish lanes with set crossovers. 4/16

(cont.) That wouldn’t really work with Apex’s core. The movement, skills, and of course, the circle all require open spaces that are easy to maneuver. 5/16

3.) I noticed each spawn area look and feel similar. I sometimes find it a bit unclear which side of the map I am spawned into. I could open the map….but I think its a good thing to give players that type of awareness right from the start to limit any confusion. 6/16

4.) The distance players travel from the spawn room to any power position, map center, and material containers are *most likely equal or taken into consideration to avoid an unfair advantage to 1 team and to balance the time to engage. 7/16

Since top downs and full gameplay videos didn’t exist when I made the layout, I purposely left the spawn areas out but reserved the locations I felt would work.
After playing, I went to town adjusting the layout to address all of these points. 8/16

So to quickly reiterate - that's adding the spawn rooms, creating some paths that connect to the rest of the layout, theming the spawn areas and balancing the placement. Here's a top-down view 9/16

For the bottom spawn area, I themed it around the IMC/Hammond spaces we see in Kings Canyon. Each path out of the spawn feels a bit different. On the left, you can hunker down and slide into a lowered area that leads to the cave/waterfall. 10/16

There’s a mid crossover point where I’ve added a trench-like dam thingy to help differentiate the space and offer more traversal options. The right path goes up to a platform with some small buildings that lead out to another IMC/Hammond type of engagement area. 11/16

The center dumps you out to the more open main route where you’re less likely to have a direct fire fight until the circle gets ya but you have a better chance to reach the top of the spider robot thing and own the map…temporarily. 12/16

For the top spawns, I kept things a bit more organic with flowy paths and cliffs. Its a bit more hallway-ish but none of the routes force you to stay put and it alleviates my concern about having both spawns look too similar. 13/16

I like to offer height variation in these choices. So, go left to get a flat & safe path that connects to an overlook and zipline + the IMC section. Go right, and head up to the cave/waterfall. 14/16

The center path takes you to an upper juicy read of the entire map that when standing still you can feel the wind blowing through your hair as you dodge some missiles from a hasty Valkyrie player. (I never lie) 15/16

Okay...That’s all I got when it comes to spawns. This was way too long. I’ll do another post about the other changes soon. I haven’t decided if I’ll do an art pass or call it a day after the layout is fleshed out. What do you think?

Until next time…latres on the menjay. 16/16