© EAThe real free-to-play battle, Apex Legends is released on Switch this week on March 9, and we were thrilled when we heard that the master porters, Panic Button helped the Apex Respawn Entertainment developers with the mission.
To learn more about the Panic Button interaction, the challenge of bringing Apex Legends to Switch, and to discuss the possibilities of previous Respawn games coming to Switch, we spoke with Chief Production Officer Dan Hernberg and Technical Director Andy Boggs of Panic Button together with Apex Legends Respawn game director Chad Grenier.
Nintendo Life: Having worked on versions of Doom Eternal, Wolfenstein II, Rocket League and more, Panic Button is known as “Port Wizards” at the Nintendo Life office.
Dan Hernberg (panic button): I wanted a staff and a cloak!
There is! We’ll see what we can do. How was the portability of Apex Legends to Switch unlike anything you’ve done before?
Dan: One of the things that is always interesting when you are playing a game that lives, breathes and changes constantly is that there are always new challenges, new legends emerging and new maps. I think you’re trying to build an aircraft and land it on a moving aircraft carrier, all at the same time. At the end of development, we are all on the same branch working together, and if we make a mistake and break the build, it will affect Respawn and vice versa. A lot of things happen as you try to release the first version to make sure it stays on and solves all the problems. Even more than in previous projects, the amount of changes that Respawn makes to its games is much greater than any other client we’ve worked with. In addition, the fact that there is still more going on in the world, this has been a unique challenge for this project.
As this is a live service game, will you support Apex any longer than some of your other projects, like Rocket League and Warframe, or have the keys been returned to Respawn?
Dan: Currently, we will continue to support the project for the next few months. There is always a chance to last longer or give up earlier if Respawn feels confident. But for now, we will be fully committed to launching all the content on the day and date of the Switch with all other platforms with all seasons moving forward.
© EAHas the Panic Button been working with Respawn since the first day of development of the Switch versions or were you called after the fact to help?
Andy Boggs (panic button): We have been working on this for about 15 months. I believe it was around the fourth season when we started talking to Respawn about what it would be like to bring that to Switch.
Was there any sacrifice or compromise that had to be made for the Apex to run on the Switch in addition to the graphics?
Andy: Not as much as resources or content, everything that is there in other versions of the game must be there on the Switch. I think the big challenge for us is to always arrive and understand which parts of the game we can adapt, make changes and optimize and which parts are so essential that we need to leave it alone. I think, ultimately, the changes we had to make are not going to affect the players’ experience with him. It’s still a great experience and it looks like you’re playing Apex!
Cross-Play has been confirmed for the Switch version, but will Cross-Progression also be available?
Andy: Cross-progression is not supported at this time.
Is Cross-Progression a plan for the Apex?
Chad Grenier (Respawn): It is planned, but I think we are far from being able to offer that. I really want it as a player, so I listen to what our fans are saying and I totally agree with them. We are working to try to make this happen, it is a complex challenge of several existing accounts for several users that we have to solve or merge, there are legal and contractual things to browse with purchases on other platforms and have these transfers and also some technical challenges. So it’s not something that we can just activate, but we are working to make it happen and the team is passionate about delivering it at some point.
© EAHow does it feel to develop a game where you not only need to make the game itself, but also make the store work, coordinate the cross-game, etc.? These are not the Super Nintendo days when you just make the game and send it out.
Chad: It is certainly not so easy. In a way, it’s a nightmare, but it’s a fun problem to have. When you have a popular game, crying for it is like a first world problem, right? We will accept the challenges any day and we are happy to fight the struggle, solve the problems and get things going.
This being the first game that Respawn released on the Switch, is the Apex running on a new engine for the Switch?
Andy: We use the same engine that the other versions of the game use, so a lot of the work we did was adding support for the Switch to that engine. The Respawn engine and the game are kind of their own, so it’s the first game to run on the Switch on that engine.
Now that you have this engine running on the Switch, is there a possibility that we might see some previous work from Respawn on the Switch? Titanfall 2, for example, may not have seen the retail success it deserved, but could the Switch give you a second chance?
Chad: The team that is on Apex is a big part of the team that made Titanfall and Titanfall 2 and is something that we are all very proud of. I think if I look back on my career, this campaign was one of the best things we’ve done and I think a lot of people on the team can feel the same way. I think you see a lot of Titanfall content coming to the Apex. So our mindset now is not necessarily trying to get people to come back and play Titanfall 2, but how to bring all the great things about Titanfall 2 to the Apex world and introduce them to our Apex fans.
© EAWill Apex have any new features on the Switch?
Dan: Yes, I think a big thing that the Switch has that other consoles don’t have is the gyro scope. We did this in previous titles and we always learn. We kind of adjust our formula differently based on each game. Sometimes having a gyro that moves more slowly is better, sometimes you want a faster response. Therefore, we work closely with Respawn to ensure that it has that “Apexy” feel.
How does Panic Button decide which projects to work on? We imagine that your inbox is constantly flooded with potential opportunities.
Dan: We have many different teams here at the Panic Button and we always mix who is on which team and dedicate those teams to individual projects. We also typically have about three to five projects underway at the same time, but we’re always talking to potential customers about different opportunities. For every 10 to 20 opportunities that arise, we usually only work on one of them. We see who we want to work with, whether they are good partners, whether we think the title is something we like or can give our name to, and we want to make sure the time and resources work. The stars kind of have to line up, since we’re just a studio of 50 people. When we go online and read the forums, we see endless lists of games we should be working on, and many of those we would love, but you know that everything has to work 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, but it took a lot of work from a lot of people to achieve this while developing the Switch version while the live version was being built. This is an indirect way of saying “it is very difficult”, haha. Sending any game is a miracle and any size of a live service game is a miracle. It really takes a lot of dedication from everyone involved to get it launched.
Speaking of having two different teams working together remotely on a project, how has it been different in a world impacted by COVID?
Dan: So on the production side, sometimes I feel like I see more Respawn people on Zoom than my wife. We are in constant communication thanks to Slack and Zoom and have always worked remotely with other studios before COVID, since we are based in Austin, TX, and Respawn is in Los Angeles, CA, so we kind of had a little bit of that already down . Development during COVID had a big impact on us as a studio, most of which are not set up to work remotely. Our hardware is in the studio and we have a lot of data and secure information that we need to securely send to our team so they can use it. You can set up a VPN, but it all takes more time. Our engineers, production and quality control team are all in communication and we really have to be an extension of the Respawn team to do this job.
© EADoes each of you have a favorite legend?
Dan: I play whatever subtitles are left!
Andy: I really like Bangalore, but mainly because I suck at the game! So, if I find someone I can kill with, I’ll just use them for the rest of my time with the game.
Chad: I usually find myself playing the last Legend or any other Legend that received a buff or a nerf. I’m just playing the latest trend to make sure I’m aware of the goal and what people are talking about, so I jump a lot. If all is well and we’re not really working on anything, I’ll usually have Lifeline as my default. I like the easy combat revive and I can call the care package and get some free loot.
When working on a project, have you ever hidden any secrets or easter eggs for fans to discover on Apex or any of your previous works?
Andy: I don’t think we did anything in the sense of something that would be a secret or kind of content change. We are always looking to see if there is anything special we can do for the Switch audience. I think in the past we made custom skins or things like that. Unfortunately, I think the days of Easter eggs are gone.
Chad: We always put easter eggs in our games, and sometimes as the game director I don’t even know it! In fact, it is a lot of fun! Most of the time, they are released by a team leader to ensure that they are not doing something harmful. Many of them are just as surprising to me as they are to others. It’s good, there’s a human element to making these games, and people like to put things like that. We had some that were found by the public. The Nessies that are hidden throughout the Kings Canyon, if collected in the right order, would summon the giant Nessie out of the sea. We also had a Nessie sanctuary with a Nessie mother with all these candles around. I have no idea what it was about, but designers like to have fun and put it that way. There are probably some things that have not yet been discovered and that I don’t even know.
If each of you could choose a game for the Switch, what would you choose?
Dan: I’m not sure if this is my “choice of any game”, but at the moment, I’m playing too much Valheim and I would love to transfer it to the Switch.
Andy: Bloodborne.
Chad: Now I’m playing a lot Dyson Sphere Program. It is a construction game that takes place on several planets and involves the collection of resources. I was on vacation recently and couldn’t play and would have loved to take it on my switch!
© EAA big thanks to Andy Boggs and Dan Hernberg from Panic Button, and Chad Grenier of Respawn Entertainment for taking the time to chat with us! Apex Legends will be released on the Nintendo Switch on March 9.
Let us know if you are going to dive into the game when it arrives at the end of the week!