Left 4 Dead Interview and Trailer

[CSN NewsBot]

Michael Booth of Turtle Rock Studios, recently took a break from working on Left 4 Dead to talk to GameSpot about the studio's upcoming game, Left 4 Dead. See how nicely I made that work?

GS: Is there going to be some kind of story, or is the game mainly a series of multiplayer battles, like Counter-Strike? We understand the game will also ship with four campaigns, each containing five maps. Is each campaign basically a chapter, or a collection of maps that share a same theme?



MB: The campaigns are a connected and evolving set of maps. Like CS, the design goal is to create interesting areas that will allow for extended replay value. Unlike CS, the maps in each campaign are connected and lead to an eventual finale that the survivors are challenged to reach and complete. And along the way, player stats are collected and displayed at given intervals.[...]

The first details are just starting to emerge for this Source powered survival game, and GameSpot's two page interview isn't the only thing worth checking out. There is a new teaser trailer out now as well for your viewing pleasure. You can find the Zombie infested trailer at GameSpot or at GameTrailers (SD and HD versions are available there).

[acidsnow]

Seems like a pairing of Sven Co-op and that zombie game for xbox 360, Dead Rising.

[Gpig]

I don't think even Turtle Rock can screw up a game with this good of a concept. I'm looking forward to this.

[Hutz]

I doubt they can screw it up either. It's their own design, it's not like they're taking an existing game that they don't truly understand. *cough*



Of all the Source engine games coming out soon, I think this is the one I'm most anticipating. Yes, more than Portal, TF2, and Episode 2.

[Diamond Dust]

Hutz wrote..

I doubt they can screw it up either. It's their own design, it's not like they're taking an existing game that they don't truly understand. *cough*

I thought they did a pretty good job on the 2 expansions to Half-Life. although opposing force was much better then blue shift. They both stayed true to that HL feel.

[Sk4nk3r]

Diamond Dust wrote..

I thought they did a pretty good job on the 2 expansions to Half-Life. although opposing force was much better then blue shift. They both stayed true to that HL feel.

I think he was referring to Condition Zero; Opposing Force and Blue Shift were made by Gearbox, no? At least thats what I got out of his statement.



On topic: the trailer got me pretty excited; reminded me of playing Resident Evil: Outbreak a few years ago .

[Hutz]

My statement referred to the CS:Source maps they ruined. Gearbox made the two HL1 expansions (IMO Blue Shift was way better than OpFor).



Even before Left 4 Dead was announced, I always felt there was a hole missing in FPS's... as in, nobody tried to further the concept of co-operative play past the simplicity of Sven Co-op. It seems Turtle Rock is now breaking new ground for many games to come in the future.

[entRo]

Hutz wrote..

Even before Left 4 Dead was announced, I always felt there was a hole missing in FPS's... as in, nobody tried to further the concept of co-operative play past the simplicity of Sven Co-op.

There's probably been other attempts at co-op gameplay, but then the developers remembered that playing against NPCs is extremely boring if you can play against real people.

[-:Nighthawk:-]

...and then someone realized that the MMORPG community is absolutely huge, and most of their time spent in combat is against computer-controlled mobs. Kind of like this, except that you actually get to aim in this setup.



Microphones better be required hardware for this, though... I have no desire to try to use radio commands to keep a squad together, though I suppose if players drop out and AI takes over, that's what we'll have to resort to.



Anyway, I'm excited to see co-op taken further, much in the same way I'm looking forward to the possibility of Huxley kicking off the MMOFPS genre.

[Bokuho]

-:Nighthawk:- wrote..

Microphones better be required hardware for this, though... I have no desire to try to use radio commands to keep a squad together, though I suppose if players drop out and AI takes over, that's what we'll have to resort to.

Most people in any team-based online game can usually pick up on what they needed to do after just a couple of games, without the need for voice com. Of course you'll always get newbies who can't cope like that, but then again newbies probably wouldn't cope anyway, regardless of voice com.

And certainly for the Xbox360 version, voice com just isn't going to happen. I've yet to play a single game online on my 360 where people used voice com at all, bar occasionally in DOA4 where you'll get some 14 year old German kid screaming bloody murder every time you beat him. Really, it's actually quite a good thing that most people don't bother with it, and if they do link up the PC version and 360 versions to play together, you'll be thankful that few people actually talk during games.



That said, as far as when working with AI, radio commands shouldn't be needed. Ever played a Rainbow Six game? they've had decent voice recognition in those since the first Xbox, and I'm sure on that standard they could easily bring it over to the 360 and PC (in fact, they already have on the 360, and I'd bet they have on PC too though I'm not entirely sure). So, they could always just do something like that for this game, thus cutting out the need for CS-style radio commands.





Anyhoo, game looks good. I'm a bit weary of the zombies having 'classes' though. I appreciate that makes it more interesting for people playing as zombies, but it's also a bit... well, annoying. In the RE games it's always been just the basic zombies that generate the tension, when you see a hunter or licker coming you've got set tactics in your head and you just blast them away no problem. The zombies though, while weaker, are less predictable and less specialist so they, in their large numbers, make for a much bigger threat. I hope for this game they don't underestimate that and give every infected a special power or something that'll drag, instead of just relying on zombies' inherent awesomeness to provide the threat.

[Zips]

Bokuho wrote..

And certainly for the Xbox360 version, voice com just isn't going to happen. I've yet to play a single game online on my 360 where people used voice com at all, bar occasionally in DOA4 where you'll get some 14 year old German kid screaming bloody murder every time you beat him. Really, it's actually quite a good thing that most people don't bother with it, and if they do link up the PC version and 360 versions to play together, you'll be thankful that few people actually talk during games.

Give Rainbow Six Vegas a go on the 360. There's quite a bit of mic usage there and not just the annoying 8 year old variety either. It really all depends on when you play as well. As it is, I've been playing in the very early AM hours and it's either people not in the US playing, or older persons playing at this time while the youngsters are already in bed. Though there have been quite a few drugged out persons, but they were too mellow to be annoying at all.

[DevgruSeal H.E]

I was beginning to wonder if anyone else had heard of Huxley :P I hadn't seen it been talked about much anywhere, and it's a great concept IMO.



The trailer was pretty good. Although I doubt it was in-game footage :-\

[Hutz]

Zips wrote..

Give Rainbow Six Vegas a go on the 360. There's quite a bit of mic usage there and not just the annoying 8 year old variety either. It really all depends on when you play as well. As it is, I've been playing in the very early AM hours and it's either people not in the US playing, or older persons playing at this time while the youngsters are already in bed. Though there have been quite a few drugged out persons, but they were too mellow to be annoying at all.

Exactly. All you need is to play later, and to play games that aren't full of pre-pubescent ragers (ie, Halo games). My buddy was addicted to the multiplayer Splinter Cell games on XBox Live, mostly because he could always find mature, skilled players to partner up with.

[Zom-B]

Who wants to play spot the HL2 models? You think they'd make everything from scratch.

[Hutz]

It's a preliminary video - SiN Episode 1's trailer had a bunch of HL2 props that were replaced with original stuff before it was released.