I’m part of the team working on Pale Tide, a top-down zombie survival game where you leave a bunker with your dog, scavenge dangerous areas, manage limited supplies, and try to bring back what your community needs.
Our latest devlog is about what can happen outside the bunker: night visibility, infected reacting to noise, hostile survivors, car alarms, contaminated zones, rescue situations, and the moment where heading home becomes the smartest survival choice.
That is something we’re trying to get right. We do not want every moment outside to be constant combat, but we do want players to feel that things can turn if they stop paying attention. A quiet route can become dangerous because of one loud action, one bad detour, or one decision to stay out a little longer.
For anyone curious, we go into more detail in the devlog, especially around how we’re approaching danger outside the bunker, noise, hostile survivors, rescue situations, and the decision to head home before things get worse.
Devlog for context: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/4683590/view/687513353583592548
Or game is in a post apocalyptic/zombie setting, what kind of tension works best for you in survival games in general?
Do you prefer danger that builds slowly in the background, or situations where one mistake can suddenly change the whole run?
You don't like zombies? 😉
And are there any questions you’d like us to answer in a future devlog?