Outpost: Infinity Siege Interview – Exploration, Outpost Building, Progression, and More

With its promise of an experience that combines first-person shooting, outpost building, tower defense, and more, it’s hard not to look at Outpost: Infinity Siege and not be at least a little curious about what it’s looking to deliver. With genre-bending premise that’s caught the eye, Team Ranger and Lightning Games’ upcoming shooter certainly seems to have the elements in place that, if implemented well, can set it apart in memorable ways, and to learn more about how the game will do that, we recently reached out to the folks behind with a few of our questions. Below, you can read our interview with Outpost: Infinity Siege’s development team at Team Ranger.

"Exploration, defense, improve your outpost in our base system, exploration, defense… are the core cycles of our game."

Outpost: Infinity Siege is blending elements from a number of different genres, from shooters to strategy games to tower defense games. How did the idea for this specific blend of genres come about, and what have been the biggest challenges in ensuring that the game offers a cohesive experience with all of these unique elements?

I am a big fan of survival games and am aware of what they lack in terms of experience. The integration of these elements was an attempt to compensate for these shortcomings, thereby creating some new experiences.

Survival games are a genre rich in mechanisms, and innovation is a significant challenge for us. We indeed blended many familiar mechanisms, but not just by stacking these gameplay elements on top of each other. Instead, after setting a clear goal, we believed that the addition of these mechanisms could achieve the new experiences we wanted. I can give two examples:

For instance, in survival games, players collect resources to build their own “home,” but this brings two problems:

1. The destruction of the “home” comes at a great cost, so you anticipate its challenges, but you dare not verify whether the “home” can withstand these challenges (because if you lose, the home is gone). The “home” in Outpost: Infinity Siege can be verified repeatedly and can continue to grow. This was one of the core differentiated mechanisms we determined from the beginning.
2. As the “home” gets bigger, using and maintaining it might become more and more burdensome. Imagine having to run between several floors to ensure all facilities are functioning correctly or to fend off attacks from all directions, which could consume most of your attention and game time.

We introduced the RTS mechanism precisely to “reduce the burden” on players in operating the outpost. You can conveniently use all the functions of your “home,” freeing up time to do other things, enjoy exploring and shooting, or simply appreciate the firepower network performance of your “home.”

Given the emphasis Outpost: Infinity Siege seems to be placing on exploration, what can you tell us about its world and how it’s designed? What can players expect from it in terms of its size and the variety of environments we’ll be exploring?

Exploration, defense, improve your outpost in our base system, exploration, defense… are the core cycles of our game.

Actually, exploration won’t take up a lot of the player’s time, but it is a very important link in the process. On our Exploration Days (exploration time), players will collect various loots/resources, but they need to undergo a high-intensity battle on the last day (Recovery Day) to take them out. The more materials that need to be brought back, the greater the intensity of the battle.

Similarly, the deeper you explore, the more supplies you will consume and the more dangers you will encounter, but you can also obtain better materials and more beneficial events to help you face the challenges of Recovery Day.

We hope that players can decide their resource allocation and exploration depth based on the dynamic events and materials they encounter during exploration.

"Ultimately, we hope players can recreate classic scenes from popular sci-fi movies and games through building their own outposts, bringing those memorable moments to life."

How expansive are the systems that will drive the game’s outpost building mechanics? How much freedom will the game afford to players in terms of what kind of outpost they want to build, and how they want to build it?

The growth of the outpost is designed around the keyword “firepower,” ultimately leading to the creation of one’s own firepower fortress, then enjoying the “epic view” of it unleashing barrages against hordes of enemies.

Continuously building and evolving the outpost to face enemies in one’s preferred style, whether it be a “land cruiser,” a “wedge fortress,” a “depth of science artillery array,” or simply “a wall crammed with cannons.”

We have hundreds of outpost components, various interesting and powerful weapons and equipment, along with parts designed for assistance/support/expanding resource limits, as well as various types of defensive structure components. There are a plethora of choices and room for creativity, along with consideration for the most appropriate placement of components.

Ultimately, we hope players can recreate classic scenes from popular sci-fi movies and games through building their own outposts, bringing those memorable moments to life.

What shape will the game’s progression and customization mechanics take outside of outpost building?

All our growth is aimed at enabling players to challenge higher difficulties and confront more exaggerated enemies. In the game, you will be the commander of an organization, capable of expanding your organization (a massive underground base), recruiting and training team members, embarking on explorations, or dispatching them on missions.

Additionally, there’s a rich research system offering a variety of combat and exploration methods, either by providing powerful weapons or cool appearances.

Moreover, we have XEN gun (Xenium Extension Nucleus, a new metal element in Outpost’s worldview), which allows you to collect a wide range of XEN. These can be combined like magical elements and fired from the gun. Constantly experimenting with combinations, you can create a “magic wand” When playing with friends, you can take this gun to show off to them.

What are the biggest ways that the XEN Firearm will define Outpost: Infinity Siege’s moment-to-moment gameplay loop?

Like in any FPS game, the primary combat method for players is shooting with guns. However, the “XEN Gun” is far more than just that.

It’s a customized gun system that allows for free assembly. Throughout the game, you can pick up “weapon attachments” and “XEN modules.” Players can modify their guns at any time. Weapon attachments might alter the gun’s parameters, such as recoil and shot spread, while “solvents” can significantly change the nature of the bullets fired. You can assemble common real-life firearms (such as submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, shotguns, etc.) as well as more imaginative and fantastical weapons, including splitting shares, flamethrowers, bounce pads, gravity fields, repair beams, and more.

The game’s numerous enemies serve as the perfect testing ground for your weapons: you can assemble the most powerful firearms or use gravity fields to gather enemies together, then annihilate them with the help of your outpost’s firepower. Beyond combat, you can assemble a “support gun” to shoot at outpost components to provide buffs or perform repairs.

"We do not have plans for creating PvP modes, as PvE is our focus and where we dedicate all our efforts. We hope to keep it pure and allow players to enjoy the process of gradually developing their outpost."

Outpost: Infinity Siege does have co-op options, but are there any plans to maybe also add PvP multiplayer down the line? Given its unique blend of genres, I imagine something like that would take quite a bit of time to nail down.

We do not have plans for creating PvP modes, as PvE is our focus and where we dedicate all our efforts. We hope to keep it pure and allow players to enjoy the process of gradually developing their outpost.

However, we have experimented with PvP gameplay in the past and obtained some very exciting ideas and results. We might try implementing these in the future, but our main goal will always be to provide fun rather than competitive gameplay.

What can you tell us about your post-launch plans for the game? Do you have any new content or gameplay features that you’re looking to add after the game has released?

Our game has a lot of room for expansion, including components, levels, monsters, equipment, characters, and game modes. Of course, our first step will be to adjust the game’s balance, performance, and mechanics based on player feedback.

Do you have any plans to also bring the game to consoles?

We have integrated FPS and RTS gameplay styles, allowing players to seamlessly switch between them. Initially, we did not consider the controller environment, and the operation and key assignment pose a significant challenge. If there is a high demand from players, we will consider it.

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