Devlog #1: The UI Update

Dear players,

Wow, what a trailer launch! The response on YouTube and Discord has been really positive - you guys seem to love the look of our new user interface (UI) design!

I’m very glad to hear it, too, since we’ve been working on this update for nearly three months. In fact, we did our first concept art for a UI redesign over two years ago. We started again almost from scratch twice before creating this update.

Watch the trailer here:

Final Outpost 1.6 Trailer

On the first occasion, we were initially happy with our new UI but the doubts slowly grew. It was a little too chunky, the textures weren’t right and we didn’t have enough coherence in our design.

Skill Menu UI Concept

A year after creating this concept, we threw it out.

Then, last year, we began work on a new design which looked really nice. Then we tested it with screenshots on our store pages. Feedback was mixed. To the point where a good chunk of our long-time players were telling us that the UI was just not conveying the feel of the game. The opposite feel in fact; the design was colourful and even a little cute, the characters didn’t look like they were living through an apocalypse.

Resources Menu UI Concept

Back to the drawing board.

We wanted to get our UI updated once and for all, so we salvaged as much of the previous UI iteration as possible but reskinned it and gave it a new identity. An identity that matched the feeling you always had when playing Final Outpost. That feeling is moody. Satisfaction from the last upgrade tempered by the inevitable undead that threaten your progress. There is fast-paced action, and there is gradual resource accumulation.

So we decided to honour the traditional greyness of the UI that the game has always had by creating a more intentional stone theme and building on it with elements of metal and overgrowth. We reworked the UI scaling to make it pixel-perfect, introduced slick animations and improved clarity throughout by replacing words with icons, clutter with clean and showing more critical information to the player.

New Defence Menu

In addition to a total UI redesign, in Final Outpost 1.6 we are introducing the new defence menu. This menu offers an overview of all your defences and the ability to distribute your knife fighters across your walls however you like from one place. New in 1.6 is the ability to control the behaviour of your turrets and snipers. Go silent to avoid attracting more zombies, target specific zombies, or mow down everything in sight. Your call.

Something we have kept under wraps until now is the all-new cutscene. Discover the first chapter of lore in Final Outpost and see the backstory behind your very own Outpost - with your Outpost’s name!

Final Outpost New Cutscene

We are really happy with how the update turned out and are excited for you to experience it on the 4th August!

As always, thank you for supporting our game over the last 4 years.

- Sam & the Final Outpost team