Out Last is a board game that I made in 2015-2017. In 2017 I ran a Kickstarter campaign with some mild success and eventually got the game produced and sent to our backers.
Although it is not an application, the design process is very similar in that you create an iteration, test it, gather feedback, and iterate on that feedback.
I also learned a lot about creating and running a business during this project which to me is some really valuable experience that I refer to often in UX design.
I also learned a lot about creating and running a business during this project which to me is some really valuable experience that I refer to often in UX design.
Out Last: Westbrooke is a 2-5 player human vs. zombie board game. It's up to 4 Survivors to work together to escape the zombie ridden city of Westbrooke. They must work hand in hand to find key objectives and make their way to an exit before the city is destroyed by a nuclear bomb or before they are eaten alive by the undead.
One player assumes the role of the zombies to prevent the Survivors from escaping the city before the nuclear bomb arrives or kill them off before that.
36 days ago something terrible happened in Westbrooke–something evil. It started out small but quickly took over the whole city, leaving few alive. The dead have risen and are feasting on the flesh of the living. The military constructed a barricade around the entire city to quarantine the area while they try to develop a cure. Those who were both smart and strong enough have barricaded themselves in and are holding out for help. There’s just one thing though, that help isn’t coming. In fact, just the opposite is on its way now. The government has declared Westbrooke a lost cause and are planning to launch a nuke in just 12 hours.
We four survivors have been boarded up in here for over a month and if we want to make it out of this hellhole alive we’ve got to leave right now! Screw the government! We're on our own and it looks like we will just have to take down a few of those bloody zombies on our way out of here. 12 hours. That’s all we’ve got. Let’s get going!
When we set out to create Out Last we were aware of the horde of other zombie games out there so we knew we needed to bring something new to the table. The art style in the game is something that we really wanted to stand out from anything the board game world has seen. We looked to movie posters, concert posters, and many different illustrators for our inspiration. We then drew all the art pieces by hand in Photoshop using a drawing tablet which has taken hundreds of hours. We even created our own fonts for the game. We developed our own unique look and process for the illustrations and design. We are very pleased with the result.
The gameplay of Out Last has been inspired by many different sources including other tabletop games, movies, and video games. We enjoy cooperative games and wanted that to be an aspect in our game but sometimes we find those games can be anticlimactic in the end. We decided that rather than just working together against the game if you had to work against another player that would achieve the competitive nature that we desired. It also makes strategizing and keeping that strategy secret a very fun aspect of the game.
We also wanted there to be a good amount of tension from start to finish which is why we added the nuclear bomb component to always make you wary of how much time is remaining in the game. Along with having to fight off loads of zombies this achieves that desired amount of pressure we were seeking.
And lastly we wanted the game to be simple and easy to learn but still offer enough complexity to keep you entertained. We worked for over a year and a half to whittle down the rules and components to what we thought was necessary for an easy to learn and competitive game.
Some photos of early concepts and play testing
The very first prototype of Out Last
Some early logo sketches
