Apex Legends: Mayhem - Map Update

World Director
This being the first content the Vancouver team was responsible for, we had a lot to learn as we were building up our team. Everything from design process, workflows, lore, etc was a learning experience. That being said, we were ambitious and wanted to over achieve. We set out to do a large change to Kings Canyon by expanding the map in the north and trying to bring more attention to that side of the play space. On top of that, we were already thinking ahead to our mid season Town Takeover and how we could tie the two events together. This led to the fiction of the crashed ship leaking contaminants into the water and creating breadcrumbs to the mid season update that would happen in the far south of the map.

The new spotted lakes area was inspired by an actual spotted lake here in British Columbia. The read from the sky was meant to draw your eye to the new update, however we didn't want the water to look too toxic or unappealing. We explored various oily looks until we settled on one that felt oily, yet strangely attractive.
Along with the massive ship landmark, we created a new fictional entity known as ECHO (Ecological Cleanup and Hazard Outreach) that was there to clean up the mess. New architecture and branding was designed and implemented and added some variety to Kings Canyon's palette.

Another design element that was created were the Explosive Holds. New map toys that were designed to provide weaponry and attachments at a small cost. We integrated them into the map as if they fell from the ship and found in craters caused by their impact.

All of these elements along with a few additional changes around the map caused by the initial destruction, created a substantial map update. Kudos to the designers and artists who helped make our first deliverable a memorable one.
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Environment Art Team:
Gavin Bartlett
Derek Bentley
Jared Bosse
Kevin Hsu
Cindy Khang
Jason McKenzie (Lead)
Gavin Yastremski
Eric Zimmer
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Lighting Team:
Morgan Wang (Lead)
Nu-Lee Han
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Concept Art:
Jens Holdner
Luke Suzumoto
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Level Designers:
Rand Stayer (Lead)
Keith Jensen
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FX Artist:
David Franco