Gabe Newell took time out of his busy schedule to write a small bit about what Left 4 Dead's release means for Valve. Newell begins by stating that they are "extremely pleased" with the reception that Left 4 Dead has earned thus far.
Newell explains how they monitor the behavior of the players to see when they're getting to be too stressed or too relaxed.
Continuing on, he confesses that one of the biggest obstacles to overcome was allowing the AI to handle what level designers typically deal with. The placement of weapons, monsters, and spawn points were left mainly in the hands of the AI director. The team had to learn to trust that the AI would place things properly throughout a level, a job that the human design team would typically do.
There is a lot more from Gabe Newell if you head on over to Edge-online. If you're at all interested by the technical challenges faced in Left 4 Dead, you'll enjoy reading this.
Newell explains how they monitor the behavior of the players to see when they're getting to be too stressed or too relaxed.
We tried to note as many interesting contexts of their actions as possible. Are they moving together as a group or are they splitting up? Is their mouse jerking around a lot, or are they interacting smoothly? Are they agitated or are they relaxed? How much damage are they taking? How accurate is their shooting?Once they have this nugget of data, the team can then examine how players do against a particular enemy type and make adjustments for the future based off of this data. All of this culminates in the "shared procedural storytelling" present throughout Left 4 Dead.
Then, using all that data we tried to come up with a model to tell us how the player is faring in the game.
The data can tell if a player is comfortable or if they are starting to be overwhelmed. Once you have that concept, then you can start to create pacing and events in response to the player.
Continuing on, he confesses that one of the biggest obstacles to overcome was allowing the AI to handle what level designers typically deal with. The placement of weapons, monsters, and spawn points were left mainly in the hands of the AI director. The team had to learn to trust that the AI would place things properly throughout a level, a job that the human design team would typically do.
There is a lot more from Gabe Newell if you head on over to Edge-online. If you're at all interested by the technical challenges faced in Left 4 Dead, you'll enjoy reading this.