Kings Canyon

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Kings Canyon is a behemoth of a level spanning just over 1 square mile, that was built on an aging engine and with aging tools. Neither of which were meant to support a level of such scale. While Apex hurled all sorts of technical problems at us, it also provided us with creativity through constraints. This level is a product of a whole team banding together to build something truly special.

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Kings Canyon was spear headed by Lead Level Designer, Jason McCord. He has a fantastic write-up on the macro design of Kings Canyon on his website (http://monster-clip.com) Jason set out on a mission to give the level an over all layout, and established the level design principles for Apex. When Jason felt confident in the macro design of Kings Canyon, he brought in a few more designers for zone support. Zones are what we called each labeled area on the map. Our goals with zones were to be easily identifiable upon entering on foot and from the drop, while providing unique gameplay based upon the zone's theme. When I was brought on to help, my primary responsibilities were to take a zone that Jason blocked out, create a theme for the zone, and then create a layout supporting that theme. These layouts also had to keep the macro design of the level in mind, as each zone needed to feed into multiple other zones throughout the level. 

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• Took blockouts for various zones and gave them a unique theme and focus. (These areas include Slum Lakes, Artillery Tunnels, Swamps, Cascades, Bridges, and various areas in between.)

• Worked hand in hand with our lead level designer to ensure his vision was being upheld.

• Drove iteration and changes on zones based off player feedback during playtests.