Derek Bentley
Principal Environment Artist at Respawn Entertainment
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Apex Legends: Saviors - The Downed Beast

In Season 13 of Apex Legends, we're serving up lobster.
For the "Saviors" update, I had the opportuntity to lead a small team of artists to help put together our newest addition to Storm Point - The Downed Beast point of interest.

Nestled between two other zones, the environment art team took on the challenge of assemlbing all the necessary ingredients to sell the story of a deadly giant creature slain on the beach - I worked with artists to help create the terrain and surrounding platforms, while I took on the bulk of the beast itself.

The biggest challenge was working within our budget constraints to create a convincingly detailed creature that players could run on, without creating too many gameplay hazards, or blowing out our performance budgets.
A solid sculpt and some great detail materials went a long way to accomplishing this, and the additional layer of dressing helped further tie the creature into the environment.

Thanks for taking a look!
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Season 13 Environment art team
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Art Director:
Eduardo Agostini
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Environment Art Team:
Derek Bentley (Lead)
Rhiannon Catton
Sebastien Accardo
LP Durand
Kevin Hsu
Cindy Khang
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Lighting Team:
Austin Arnett (Lead)
Nora Nirvaluce
Nu-Lee Han
Felicity Zhen Guan
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Concept Art:
Brett Marting
Zack Lee
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Level Designers:
Keith Jensen
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FX Artist:
Casey Robinson

In order to slay a beast, you need to create it first.

In order to slay a beast, you need to create it first.

Working off our concept team's fantastic design, I was able to sculpt, texture and put together a creature that'd sit as the centerpiece of our newest map update.

Working off our concept team's fantastic design, I was able to sculpt, texture and put together a creature that'd sit as the centerpiece of our newest map update.

Knowing the size of the creature and the budget we had to work with, I knew I would be leaning on detail maps more than the sculpt to capture that close-up detail - As you can see here, the sculpt is kept to mostly large shapes.

Knowing the size of the creature and the budget we had to work with, I knew I would be leaning on detail maps more than the sculpt to capture that close-up detail - As you can see here, the sculpt is kept to mostly large shapes.

Overview of the additions we made to Storm Point - The terrain and Echo camps were handled by the artists I worked with for this season.

Overview of the additions we made to Storm Point - The terrain and Echo camps were handled by the artists I worked with for this season.

The biggest challenge was making sure the micro-level detail of the Beast came through in the play-spaces - Often requiring additional levels of dressing to help push the up-close level of detail.

The biggest challenge was making sure the micro-level detail of the Beast came through in the play-spaces - Often requiring additional levels of dressing to help push the up-close level of detail.

The legs served an important purpose here - Helping to block line of sights as well as help guide players along the beach.

The legs served an important purpose here - Helping to block line of sights as well as help guide players along the beach.

The interior of the Beast - We wanted to capture a bit of a dried out, desiccate-interior - Mostly, to stay away from gore, but also to keep things clear and simple for players fighting in this space.

The interior of the Beast - We wanted to capture a bit of a dried out, desiccate-interior - Mostly, to stay away from gore, but also to keep things clear and simple for players fighting in this space.

Decals helped to support the narrative beats from the trailer, as well as add story and history to the creature overall - Scratches and gouges helped sell the ancient nature of this beast.

Decals helped to support the narrative beats from the trailer, as well as add story and history to the creature overall - Scratches and gouges helped sell the ancient nature of this beast.

We didn't have barnacles prior to the creation of the creature, but we knew we wanted something along the back that'd help with cover - It was a great opportunity to make some more granular level props to better dress the Beast.

We didn't have barnacles prior to the creation of the creature, but we knew we wanted something along the back that'd help with cover - It was a great opportunity to make some more granular level props to better dress the Beast.

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