I really like the episodic storytelling utilized in Apex Legends–it’s a giant motive why I am nonetheless logging into the sport each week after 5 years. How developer Respawn has informed this story has modified quite a few instances since 2019, starting from social media posts and evolving in-match quips to datamining bamboozles and a YouTube miniseries. The battle royale’s story is all the time altering and evolving in each the way it’s informed and what it is specializing in, shifting most lately by killing off a long-standing main villain who labored exterior of the Apex Video games and introducing a brand-new baddie who’s truly competing in opposition to the legends within the area, Alter.
The lore is ever-growing as every new season brings with it new characters, places, or storylines, turning into tougher for brand spanking new gamers to know what is going on on. As a participant taking a look at it from the skin, writing for any live-service recreation looks like a Sisyphean task–like the sport itself, the story has to only preserve going and presumably the narrative as a complete turns into more and more unwieldy. Having to inform an limitless story is at odds with how storytelling historically works in virtually each medium, and there is the added complexity of needing such a narrative to evolve in a means that helps the continued growth of a online game and any modifications in its mechanics.
To raised grasp what it is wish to put a narrative like Apex Legends’ collectively, I spoke with lead author Ashley Reed. We talked about how Season 13’s Newcastle was initially deliberate for Season 7, how fortunate happenstance performs an enormous half in telling the sport’s story, and how–at one point–the plan was for Apex Legends to get a number of new legends per season.
In terms of writing Apex Legends, how far forward are y’all? Are there efforts to not have an excessive amount of of every season’s story pre-written or does that not matter a lot?
There’s layers to it. There’s–I nearly wish to name it the meta layer–the layer that will by no means exist. The layer the place, after we create our characters, we’re like, “Okay, that is this particular person, and in a conventional story, what’s their arc?” As a result of that helps decide what this character needs, and what this character doesn’t have. And that is what makes them fascinating. For a lot of the characters, we’ve an thought of, if we have been to snap our fingers and do the film model, how [their story] would finish. However that may rework over time as a result of [a live-service game] is a residing, respiration factor, and a number of these endpoints have modified fairly considerably over time. A couple of them have already occurred, like Pathfinder’s endpoint occurred when he discovered his creators. So now he has a brand new journey to go on.
So there’s that degree, after which we’ll begin integrating pretty early with the content material in new seasons. We normally learn about a yr prematurely the gist of what a season goes to be, so we’ll begin partaking with that like, “Okay, what is the narrative that may go together with this factor that you just’re engaged on? Does it want a story? Does it match with this side of the universe? Might one of many current characters be an announcer for no matter that is?” We do not like ready till the season earlier than as a result of then it feels very rushed and our timelines for recording dialogue are literally fairly lengthy. I feel I can say this. I feel it is okay. Proper now, we’re ending dialogue for Season 23.
Oh, wow. And we’re nonetheless in the midst of Season 21 proper now.
Yeah. So we’ve to know precisely what the characters are going to want to say now. It was a few weeks in the past after we began writing it. So we do not wish to wait till too far after this in any respect. We might actually wish to have some thought of what we’re doing with the story earlier than that. However as a result of we all know the place we have been, we all know the place we’re going, and we are able to have the scaffolding in place for the final gist of what the story’s going to be.
I am nonetheless utilizing this incorrect, however the meta narrative degree is de facto useful as a result of we’ll know the trajectory for a personality or a spot or one thing like that. After which as new data is launched, we’re like, “Oh, that matches. That occurs to work.” We have now this factor internally that we name “seamless storytelling,” which suggests one thing occurred by happenstance that matches completely with one thing we wrote earlier than and we’re like, “Nailed it.” Truly, a comic story: We have been engaged on Catalyst–the character, the proclivities, and the fascinating crystals and all that–and it simply so occurs, fully individually, the map design staff was engaged on a moon map.
Wait, so Catalyst and Damaged Moon–despite seemingly being in-built tandem and narratively becoming collectively perfectly–were every designed individually?
There are occasions like that the place it is an incredible joyful accident. However I’ll say, like Edna from The Incredibles, “Luck favors the ready.” When you’ve obtained an eye fixed out for that stuff, you possibly can seize onto it and transfer by.
How did the shift in Apex Legends’ content material pipeline have an effect on the writing course of for legends and the story general? Y’all used to must get a brand new legend able to go together with a narrative and the whole lot each season, and a brand-new map each 4 seasons.
It is true, we did. And it is humorous since you in all probability would’ve thought it was solely a staff well being measure as a result of maps and legends are our highest lift–they take a really very long time to do. I feel conservatively, every legend from their very, very place to begin to launch is a yr a minimum of of actually constant work. Identical with maps. Maps take a full yr to do. So they’re a really heavy carry and we love them, we love engaged on them, however that cadence was very troublesome. There was a dream when Apex first launched to really launch new legends extra often.
Extra often? Do y’all hate yourselves?
Oh, in a short time we discovered that nope, nope, nope–not going to be potential to do it to the extent that we have been pleased with. That was turning into a lot of a grind that as a lot as we beloved, it risked burning folks out. So [team health] was one of many measures. But additionally we did begin to see–and I am no skilled in this–but round Season 12, folks truly being like, “Oh my God, cease including characters.” When Mad Maggie confirmed up, they have been like, “I’m having bother maintaining with the fixed modifications to the meta on this recreation as a result of the brand new characters preserve getting added.” So we truly obtained suggestions that folks have been like, “Cease including folks.” We’re like, “Oh, okay, okay.” So from a storytelling perspective, the characters and maps are clearly a very simple factor to hold your hat on. They’re the middle of the whole lot at that time as a result of they’re very new, very massive, very heavy in content material and there is a lot you are able to do with them.
So doing them much less is a loss, however on the similar time, it may be a little bit of a crutch as a result of the identical means persons are saying, “Hey, I am having bother holding monitor of the sport as a result of there are such a lot of new characters,” there’s additionally, “Properly, what about my fave? You have not achieved content material for my fave in a very long time,” which we’ll acknowledge. We’re like, “Oh God, so-and-so hasn’t gotten any new tales.” So it offers us time to really sit with the present characters and do extra with them. And clearly we nonetheless wish to preserve including new characters, however we do not wish to abandon the characters that folks already love and actually determine with.
I’m, in actual fact, a kind of gamers. Please refocus the story again on Vantage. Not in order that we study extra about her–she’s nice and all–but in order that her mother comes again into the highlight. I actually wish to know extra about Vantage’s mother.
I like that you just love her as a result of that is, I might say, one among our greatest difficulties. We do need the characters to have lives exterior the [Apex Games]. However there is a not insignificant portion of the fan base who do not eat further content–and that is fine–but then they get in and so they’re like, “Who’re they speaking about?” The solely relationships they’re conscious of are between the characters. And we’re like, “We do not wish to simply have characters who solely work together with one another and haven’t any work-life steadiness, however what’s that joyful medium of not emphasizing exterior characters an excessive amount of so for those who simply play the sport, you continue to get the expertise, and all people feels absolutely fleshed out?” However I do recognize that you just just like the NPCs as a result of it is very simple for us to not give attention to them.
Although, typically when y’all do, it is to actually bamboozle us. Like when Bangalore began actually coming again into the highlight after Season 9 and it offers us an opportunity to study extra about Jackson. After which a number of seasons later, you are like, “Haha, obtained you! He is a playable character now named Newcastle.”
I believed we have been nearly overplaying our hand on it. I am glad we obtained to do this complete Bangalore story. We have been interested by that fairly arduous for some time. God, I feel we have been speaking about Jackson early, however I feel there have been lively efforts to get him in as early as Season 7.
That is lots sooner than Season 13. So why launch Horizon, Fuse, Valkyrie, Seer, Ash, and Mad Maggie first for those who’re attempting to get Newcastle in there?
Mainly we have been in search of a package that may swimsuit him, and a few kits would pop up in playtesting and we have been like, “That feels proper,” however then they might simply not play very effectively, in order that they went away. However then, lastly, in Season 13, we have been like, “That is the one. That is the man.” However there have been lively makes an attempt to get Jackson in there. [His relationship with Bangalore] is just too juicy. This relationship is just too good. There’s a number of necessary NPCs that I feel can be a battle to place in. We have mentioned that Horizon would by no means shoot [her son] Newton. I do not suppose Ballistic would battle taking pictures his son–I feel he’d be just a little extra open to it. Nathan can also be a totally grown man who has a bone to choose.
You have spoken on this a bit, however when taking a look at Apex Legends’ story, it looks like Seasons 1-7 are fairly closely targeted on the legends interacting with one another within the area after which Seasons 8-18 shifted focus to observe the legends’ lives exterior of it. Is the main target of the story going to stay fairly firmly on the legends’ lives exterior of the world going ahead, or do y’all have plans to shift the attitude once more?
I do not wish to converse too far sooner or later as a result of clearly something can change. I actually love the IP, so there’s lots that you are able to do with the IP. Clearly there’s been three completely different video games on this area with three wildly completely different locations. So there’s lots that I feel might be achieved on this universe, however for Apex Legends itself, the sport, I do suppose we’ve curiosity in shifting again to the in-arena interactions as a result of that is the place most individuals’s expertise is. It was actually cool to have the ability to take a look at what the characters’ interactions are exterior the sphere. And I do suppose we nonetheless wish to speak about that to a level. We do need the characters to really feel well-rounded and so they’ve obtained different issues occurring as a result of in the event that they’re simply faceless avatars on this area, then that is not Apex.
Clearly, we’ve experimented with doing issues exterior [the Apex Games]–a massive unhealthy villain who exists on the market and is not somebody who truly fights within the video games. However then we realized that wasn’t integrating with the precise recreation that folks play. In order that’s why the change in route that we’re headed, the brand new factor we wish to check out. You possibly can see these ebbs and flows of we did this, now let’s do this.
Apex Legends’ story has all the time been informed in different mediums–social media, comics, a cellular recreation for a while–how do y’all preserve monitor of all that?
We have now a wiki that obtained constructed that retains monitor of all this data, and we’ve a number of inside paperwork that wiki summarizes. It is good that we’ve a staff as a result of we are able to reference one another and be like, “Hey, do you bear in mind what this was? Did we are saying this? Are you able to triple examine the names of all of Bangalore’s brothers? The place did we are saying Xenia was from once more?” We are going to crowdsource the knowledge amongst one another as a result of it’s a lot to maintain monitor of, however the wiki and our inside paperwork make it just a little bit simple. However they’re large. We’re very cautious about triple-checking ourselves to verify we do not wreck something.
This interview was edited for each brevity and readability.