BugOut is a strategic war game brought to life through bold art direction and intuitive UI design. I crafted a visual language that balances tactical depth with accessibility, ensuring players can quickly navigate complex systems while staying immersed in the game’s gritty, high-stakes atmosphere. The project highlights my ability to merge aesthetic storytelling with functional clarity in interactive design.

 

  • HUD & Game Overlay: Clear, layered information architecture to present resources, unit stats, and objectives in real time without cluttering the battlefield.

  • Command & Control Panels: Interactive menus for deploying units, issuing commands, and managing resources, designed with modular layouts for scalability.

  • Map & Navigation Systems: Zoomable tactical maps and minimaps with distinct iconography and color coding for quick situational awareness.

  • Onboarding & Tutorials: Guided overlays and contextual tooltips that ease new players into mechanics while maintaining immersion.

  • Visual Language & Icons: A consistent set of symbols, typography, and motion cues to unify the experience and reinforce the war-game aesthetic.

By combining functional clarity with a strong visual identity, BugOut demonstrates how thoughtful UI design can enhance both usability and narrative immersion in complex strategy games.

BugOut is a strategic war game where I directed the art and designed a UI system that balances tactical depth with clarity. A key feature was the Mission UI, which adapted dynamically with AI-generated content to create unique player journeys. I designed flexible briefing screens, adaptive objectives, and contextual intel panels that could scale to unpredictable scenarios while maintaining a cohesive visual identity. This approach ensured that every mission felt personalized, immersive, and strategically clear.

BugOut features a flexible UI design system built to handle the game’s dynamic, AI-driven scenarios. Central to this is the Requestion Terminal, an in-game interface where players can call for reinforcements. I designed it to be fast, intuitive, and thematic—letting players browse available units, review costs and cooldowns, and confirm deployment through a clear, military-styled command flow. This ensured critical actions felt both strategic and immersive under pressure.

Anton Wiklund
UI/UX Designer AI Art Director