The Left 4 Dead blog team has once again updated their blog. This time, the team talks about how they made the darkness in the game stylish and really work to enhance the game's atmosphere.
Feel free to check out our coverage of part one.
Self-Shadowed Normal MappingA lot of what was said in this blog update were things mentioned in the game's commentary nodes. Still though, it's worth a read if you haven't yet tried out the commentary feature yet.
Normal mapping is a graphics technique that lets game developers create the appearance of detail on surfaces without additional geometry. Normal mapping could, for example, make a brick wall appear to have depth without having to use a lot of geometry at the sake of performance.
Self-shadowed normal mapping takes this technique to the next level. Not only do the bricks look bumpy-they also cast shadows upon themselves, creating a better sense of realism. Using self-shadowed normal mapping had a dual benefit: It really helped the visuals pop in a game dominated by flashlights and darkness; and, after doing the code work, didn't end up sacrificing any more performance than regular normal mapping.
Feel free to check out our coverage of part one.