ProjectAlive announced that “Ebbtide,” a zombie survival RTS currently in development, has reached 100,000 Steam wishlist entries. The developers stated, “We never expected to receive this much interest in such a short period of time, and it still hasn’t quite sunk in,” and expressed their gratitude.
Fight 1 million zombies with an aircraft carrier task force. The trailer has also surpassed 1.18 million views.
This real-time survival strategy game takes place in a Los Angeles overrun by zombies, where players command humanity’s last aircraft carrier task force to rescue survivors.
Command tanks and attack helicopters while receiving support from naval gunfire and airstrikes to fend off hordes of zombies. You can also directly control soldiers, tanks, and helicopters to engage in combat.
You’ll build frontline bases and defend supply lines while rescuing stranded survivors with trucks and helicopters—but the zombies will use each other’s bodies as footholds to scale walls and may even cling to helicopters hovering at low altitude.
This game depicts a full-scale “zombies vs. humanity” war. The trailer, released on YouTube on October 21, has garnered significant attention, with over 1.18 million views as of this writing.
On October 21, the first day the game’s store page went live, it surpassed 15,000 wishlist entries. The developers plan to introduce new units, battlefields, and updates on Steam in the future, and will announce when playtesting is ready.
Scope of AI Use Explained; Focus on Voice and Translation Improvements with Collaborators
The Steam news article regarding the 15,000 wishlist entries also explains the use of AI in production.
According to the developer, while they initially intended to create everything alone, they utilized AI to produce assets that were too much to handle on their own. Specifically, they say AI was used for the soundtrack, some pre-recorded voice lines, sound effects and ambient sounds, event illustrations, the creation and adjustment of some 3D models, and the translation of in-game text.
The scope of AI usage is also disclosed on the Steam store page, where it is explained that all AI-generated content was reviewed and edited by the developer before being included in the game. Note that there is no mechanism for the AI to generate content while the game is being played.
While the developer explains that it would have been difficult to advance development to its current state alone without AI assistance, they note that there are still areas for improvement, particularly regarding voice acting and translation.
Subsequently, during interactions on Discord, some users reportedly offered to assist with development. The plan is to first work with these contributors to review the voice recordings and localization, gradually improving any unnatural voices or expressions. Additionally, the developer expressed a desire to collaborate with musicians to create a new soundtrack if the opportunity arises.
Furthermore, today, October 23, he reported that the game reached 100,000 wishlist entries just three days after its store release.
Chapter 1 is set in Los Angeles, and the team plans to eventually introduce a world map-style sandbox set across the entire globe. For now, they are prioritizing the single-player experience in development and are considering adding co-op play as a post-launch update.
Regarding Japanese language support, the team plans to expand support through community-driven translations.
"Ebbtide" is currently in development for PC (Steam).
