Devlog #2: Steam Launch, Controller Support & gamescom

Sam takes a look back on August.

Dear players,

That was a... weird? month.

First off, thank you so much for all your support around the launch of Final Outpost: Definitive Edition. In our first month on Steam, nearly 1000 of you added the game to your wishlists! That is an incredible result for our first game on Steam and this makes us even more excited to bring you the full game.

We also released a major UI overhaul as part of the 1.6 update and you all seem to really like the new look. We've had so many messages, comments and discussion on Discord so it really feels like we have a strong foundation on which to build FO:DE.

Work on patches for 1.6, holidays for the devs, and the Steam page launch basically took us to the middle of August, with gamescom fast approaching.

Although we didn't have a booth of our own this year, gamescom was such a great experience. We had the chance to meet some of our favourite developers and gaming journalists and try out upcoming games! We of course made sure to tell as many people as possible about the upcoming release of FO:DE.

All this meant that we didn't have a whole lot of time to work on Definitive Edition features but, fear not, we have been working on something very important to the game's PC playability: controller support!

We are happy to announce that Final Outpost: Definitive Edition will have full controller support. As the game is now fully playable with keyboard and mouse, we decided to start developing a system for players to experience our RTS world from a controller while having full and responsive control of the UI. Here is a sneak-peek:

Building on these foundations, we are planning to have the game verified on Steam Deck.

We have also implemented a range of important PC features, such as Steam achievements, cloud save and, of course, the early stages of resolution settings:

We are working on support for ultra-wide monitors. So far we can confirm the game will run as normal without any stretching on these monitors. However full ultra-wide support, including removal of black bars, is not yet confirmed - full details will be updated in our FAQ.

Please add FO:DE to your wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3066310/Final_Outpost_Definitive_Edition/

If you'd like to try the base game, you can download the free version now.

I will be back again next month with a new devlog.

- Sam

Final Outpost is Coming Soon on Steam!

We are excited to announce that Final Outpost: Definitive Edition is coming soon to PC/Mac/Linux.

That’s right, it’s a Definitive Edition. That means we’ll be taking the original popular mobile strategy game to a new level with more features, content, and replayability as we wrap up our creative journey into a complete premium game without microtransactions. The game will be available in 16 languages across 5 platforms (PC, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS).

New features we know will be in the Definitive Edition:

• Trading system

• More gameplay and replayability

• Difficulty modes

• New leaderboards and achievements

• All premium features included

• More features TBC...

Wishlist the game now to get news on new feature announcements in our monthly devlog!

In the meantime, Final Outpost is available on Android and iOS, with over 1M downloads since its release in 2020. The core gameplay is there so you can give that a download to see if you like the game, as a sort of early demo. If you like how it plays, you will almost certainly love Final Outpost: Definitive Edition!

The release of our Steam page coincides with the launch of Final Outpost 1.6 on mobile, an anticipated UI redesign that brings high quality polish to the base game. The update will ship with a cutscene that introduces lore to the game for the first time as well as a new menu where you can manage your Outpost's defences and control the behaviour of your turrets and snipers.

- Sam & the Final Outpost team

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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