Left 4 Dead 2

If you bought Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, you might be pleased to hear that some modders have figured out a way to import all of the maps from Left 4 Dead into Left 4 Dead 2, playable with the new infected, new survivors, and the baseball bat. It’s a complex process compared to most mods, and it suffers from a few major problems at the time of writing, unfortunately.

The only new weapon that works is the bat, most of the campaigns crash on certain events, and some of the switches don’t work. If you can get past this, however, you’ve got 5 new expertly designed maps to play around with. I’m expecting that at some point someone (possibly even Valve) will create working versions of all of these maps for Left 4 Dead 2, so for now my advice is to keep your game files safe, and admire the work from a distance. I just hope that they patch in Francis as a playable character. I miss him terribly.

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With reports of players failing to get through the ‘Easy’ difficulty due to the stupidity of AI companions in Left 4 Dead 2, a video has backed this up by showing just how hilariously bad the AI can be in the sequel.

If you’ve played through Left 4 Dead 2′s second campaign, Dark Carnival, you’re likely familiar with the music and pyrotechnic power of the chapter’s fictional rock and roll band, the Midnight Riders. Well, they’ve got their own web site.

Shortly after the launch of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve launched the teaser site—seen on posters around Dark Carnival—for the tattooed biker band, offering little more than a portrait of the four-man group and a promise that something is “coming soon.” What could that something be?

It could be nothing more than some fiction building, offering background on the Midnight Riders and how they came to escape the events that transpired at the Whispering Oaks zombie infection. Graffiti scrawled on the walls of Whispering Oaks’ safehouses hint at the quartet escaping, buying their way into evacuation prior to playing their explosive set, but we never see them.

What we hope, however, is that we’ll get to actually play the events that lead up to the Midnight Riders’ escape, possibly in the form of downloadable content. With the chapter-to-chapter events more tightly linked than in the original Left 4 Dead, perhaps Valve is going to give a new group of Survivors a chance to tackle the zombie horde. Left 4 Dead 2′s Versus mode—brilliant though it may be—could benefit from a shorter, Crash Course-length campaign.

And we hope that they come armed with new Midnight Riders appropriate melee weapons — bottles, bike chains, pool cues and flying V guitars. The four members have the unique silhouettes that would make them easy to pick out in an infected mob, so they may fit in nicely as new playables.

Of course, if they’re just a group of special zombies, that’d be fine too. But we’ll keep an eye on new developments, just in case anything pops up.

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The contest ended days ago and it’s now time to reveal who the winner is. The winner was randomly selected out of everybody who subscribed.

Alright, ready? Here we go. The winner of an absolutely free copy of Left 4 Dead 2 is:

mixmaster811@hotmail.com

Congratulations! Please respond to the email that was sent to you to claim your prize. Select which platform version you desire (PC or Xbox 360). If prize is not claimed within 72 hours, another draw will take place and a new winner will be selected.

Thanks to all who participated and be sure to stay tuned for more future contests!

The day we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Left 4 Dead 2 is finally here!

There’s not much needed to say, to be honest.

If you’re looking for other people to play Left 4 Dead 2 with or just want to discuss and chat about the game in general, feel free to register and join a Left 4 Dead 2 discussion community at:

http://www.left4dead2forum.com

We deal with “midnight” a lot as an embargo time, and you know, it’s always confusing. Valve knows, and has laid out specifically when Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) will unlock in all the major time zones of the world.

Says Valve, on the L4D2 blog:

Due to an ongoing debate in the office and online as to whether “12 AM” means noon or midnight (we’re still sticking with midnight), it’s been more challenging than we realized to tell people when exactly our game will be available. Factor in the Earth rotating around the sun, daylight savings time, some of our fans insisting on using the Mayan calendar, and we’re just going to try and make this as specific as possible:

Alright, ready? Get out your pens, flip open your calendars, synchronize your watches, take your index finger and stick it in the middle of your palm to form a sundial, however you keep time. Here’s when Left 4 Dead 2 unlocks:

• Monday, Nov. 16, 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
• Monday, Nov. 16, 10 p.m. Mountain Standard Time
• Monday, Nov. 16, 11 p.m. Central Standard Time
• Tuesday, Nov. 17, 12 a.m. (midnight) Eastern Standard Time
• Tuesday, Nov. 17, 5 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time
• Tuesday, Nov. 17, 8 a.m. Moscow Time
• Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2 p.m. Japan Standard Time

As you can see, the U.S. west coast gets a three-hour head start (technically) against the console street date, London and Moscow will be getting up or on the train to work, and Tokyo’s hosed. Hey, I don’t make the rules.

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You may have noticed that the release date for Left 4 Dead 2 is only days away. Valve’s original co-operative shooter was a big hit last November for Xbox 360 and PC platforms and thousands of people are still logging on to play every day. So why should you care about the sequel?

Well, based on what we’ve seen at preview events and the demo on Xbox Live and Steam, it’s obvious that parts of the game have been expanded and improved upon. Read on for five reasons why Left 4 Dead 2 leaves the original shambling in the dark.

5. Versus Playable on All Campaigns

It’s no secret that Left 4 Dead was missing game modes when it first came out. Of its four campaigns, only two could be played in Versus mode. This was later addressed through downloadable content, but still…

With the sequel, Valve made it so you can play Versus mode on all the campaigns in the game, not just a few. These are also all new campaigns, set in the southeastern United States, and there are five instead of four. So you get more content with the sequel, and you also don’t have to wait around for Valve to patch into it the ability to try any of them with four Survivors competing against four Infected.

4. More Modes

Do you like Survival Mode? Remember how with the original you had to wait for the Survival Pack to get it? Again, the original release of Left 4 Dead was missing this now-standard mode.

Not only are there the five new campaigns playable solo, co-operatively, or in versus mode, but you also get more Survival mode maps, in addition to Scavenge and Realism mode. While Realism is more for the super hardcore crowd who want an even more challenging experience, the Scavenge mode should appeal to all as it allows eight players to have a Versus-style experience without having to dedicate hours and hours of play time.

3. More Weapons

It’s pretty well established at this point that people like to kill zombies in videogames. Pistols, machine guns, shotguns…Left 4 Dead had quite a lot, but something was missing.

In Left 4 Dead 2 Valve added in melee weapons. While that may seem like a simple thing, the effects are pretty dramatic. From what we’ve played at preview events, you’re no longer limited to doing the melee push back to get a group of zombies off you. You can instead switch over to a machete or fire axe or whatever you have equipped, which can swiftly shred packs of zombies. If you’re played the demo, then you know they’re great for clearing away a mob from around a teammate or keeping a wave of the undead at bay while parked in a doorframe.

2. More Zombies

The original had four main special zombie types — the Hunter, Boomer, Smoker, and Tank — and then a fifth, the Witch, who was the only one not playable in Versus mode.

You get a choice of a Spitter, who vomits out globs of noxious acid that spreads across the ground and can do big damage for any that get caught up in it. A Charger can run at high speeds across maps and slam into Survivors, knocking them over and carrying the one he hits directly into a wall for big damage. There’s also the Jockey, who can hop on a Survivor’s head and move them around, which can include into fires, into Spitter goo, or off ledges. Mix in all the original special zombie types and campaign-specific uncommon common zombies, such as clowns on Dark Carnival, and you can rest assured the challenge is going to be more interesting.

1. More Gore

Did you play the Left 4 Dead 2 demo? If you did, then you probably noticed this game is a lot more violent than the first. Not only do the zombies animate more realistically, but they come apart in chunks as you rip into them with shotguns and machetes.

Specifically, their limbs fly off as their stomachs open up and guts spill out. Yes, you’ll actually see entrails draped over bits of the environment after you clean up an area. If you go and inspect the corpses, you’ll also see they’re often missing big pieces of flesh from their bodies, revealing shards of rib cage and the ghoulish goulash of their internal organs. It’s messy and gross, but it should be a delight for hardcore zombie film and game fans and those who appreciate over-the-top gore.

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In addition to selling Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360) for $54.99, which is $5 less than the regular price, Amazon is also offering a $10 video games credit for those who pre-order the game.

So, basically you will end up getting one of the most anticipated games on the year for under $45.

Amazon Deal Link

Valve designer Kim Swift gained fame when her first game at the company, Portal, became one of the instant classics of this generation — particularly as Swift and her colleagues were hired directly out of DigiPen on the strength of their student demo Narbacular Drop.

Now, Swift is working on Left 4 Dead 2, the anticipated — and initially controversial, to those who expect long gaps between Valve games — sequel to last year’s stand-out co-op hit.

Gamasutra recently had a chance to talk with Swift about working on the game, taking in discussions of both Valve process and the game’s innovative AI Director, which controls everything from ambiance to enemies in the game world.

Valve joined development on the original Left 4 Dead late into the process with its acquisition of Turtle Rock Studios. How was integrating into a game that was already in progress at one studio, and how did that work?

Kim Swift: Well, it worked pretty well. They didn’t want to move, and so we did a lot of video conferencing. For the most part, the gameplay was in place when we started to work on Left 4 Dead.

Let’s see, things that we added sort of in the meantime were mini finales and finales. We worked on the pacing with them a little bit more, and the art changed quite a bit once we actually started working on the project.

I like how the art direction functions multiple ways. It hooks into mood and aesthetic, but there are very deliberate design-orientated functions to the art.

KS: Since we don’t have a lot of HUD elements that are saying, “Go this way, and what not,” lighting, and textural cues are really important to us to be able to guide the player through a level.

How does the interface between art and design work?

KS: Pretty well. I mean, we work in cabals. I’m actually in a room with 12 other guys, a mix of level designers and artists, and so we’re always talking to each other and making sure we’re on the same page. For the most part, we all design things together. So communication is a key.

The process at Valve is probably of great interest to a lot of people, because of the way Valve’s games turn out. But it sounds like it is relatively atypical.

KS: It was definitely something that I really appreciate learning, coming right out of school and then working at Valve. We’ve got a very iterative process, and it’s pretty democratic.

We all sit down as a group and throw out ideas, and write the ones on a whiteboard that we think are good ideas, and then start to elaborate on the design together as a group. I mean, two heads are better than one, right?

It has started to become quite more common for people to take feedback from all disciplines on design.

KS: Well, it’s the best way to solve a problem, right? Because the best way to solve a problem may not necessarily be a technological one, maybe it’s an artistic problem that we’ll solve, or it’s just actually a design problem. So the fact that all the disciplines are communicating together, we’ll find the most efficient way to solve a dilemma.

So when you started working on Left 4 Dead 2, was the plan to do five campaigns?

KS: Well, originally when we started working on Left 4 Dead 2, we were just coming up with content that we really wanted to ship with Left 4 Dead 1, but we weren’t able to get to it or it just wasn’t flushed out enough by the time we shipped it.

So we were really excited coming off of Left 4 Dead 1, and just had a ton of ideas. Then we all sort of took off in different groups and worked on our own little ideas, and then presented them to each other. At the end of the day we just had so much content, that we decided that a sequel was the best way to go.

What’s your planning process? It sounds like you guys didn’t sit down and write docs. Was it your cabals that you used to come up with like a presentation?

KS: Sort of like on an individual basis. There’s a time right as soon as the game goes gold, in between when it actually ships that you’re just kind of sitting around twiddling your thumbs, maybe play testing the game a little bit. It’s the best time to work on new ideas that you weren’t necessarily able to get to in the previous game.

Before you roll into production?

KS: Yeah, before you roll into production. It was pretty organic how Left 4 Dead 2 all came together. We all presented ideas to one another coming off of Left 4 Dead 1. At some point someone told us that, “Oh, yeah. We should make a sequel out of this.” We were like, “Sounds good to us.”

It sounds kind of funny, just because it’s really quick. A quick sequel, which is not Valve’s well?known trait.

KS: Yeah, definitely. We’re pretty proud of ourselves for not moving at “Valve time”. We practiced a new organizational tool. We used the Scrum method this time. We decided to give it a shot, and it’s worked really well for us on the team.

And also, heading into the project, we were pretty sure about what our deadlines were, so we were able to try and be more deliberate with our planning to actually get the sequel out.

So the first game wasn’t developed under Scrum and the second one is?

KS: Yeah. We decided to give that method a try.

So have you been seeing more productivity? Obviously, you have one more mission to do. Do you have a perceptible increase in productivity?

KS: I think more than anything it helps us prioritize what to work on. Since we knew that our shipping date was a lot sooner, we were able to sort out which ideas were actually doable in that amount of time, and that we knew were actually going to be successful, rather than trying a whole bunch of different stuff that wasn’t necessarily going to be what we shipped.

How did you identify the things that you knew were going to work?

KS: Well, there were definitely components, like coming off of Left 4 Dead 1, one that we knew we wanted to get to and that would be a good thing to add, was mainly weapons, for one, that we wanted to add in Left 4 Dead 1, but we were unable to at the time because we just, well, ran out of time. And so right away we started to work on melee weapon ideas.

Did you improve the AI Director in meaningful ways between projects?

KS: Yes, there have been improvements to the AI Director. The AI Director is able to control the weather now, and we’ve also got components of certain maps that will change dynamically when you load the map.

An example of one would be the cemetery area in the Parish campaign. There are different configurations that the AI Director will pick depending on how well the team is doing.

I love that idea, and it’s a really intelligent idea to be able to do that, especially in a game with only a few campaigns, but which you want people to continuously enjoy the game. Was that the genesis of the AI Director?

KS: Yeah. We know people are going to play the same maps over and over again, and so if there’s at least a little bit of a difference each time you play, it makes it more exciting and keeps it fresh.

So, the AI Director has purview over elements, level design, obviously enemy behavior, right?

KS: Yeah, yeah. It controls different horde structures. We’ve got ambient mobs now that we didn’t have in Left 4 Dead 1, so it will control the pacing in certain areas.

So in one area, you might come in and there’s a couple of ambient mobs that are just kind of wandering around ignoring you, and then you might have a horde coming at you that’s aggressive and is out for blood.

It’s interesting because it can control things that are sort of seemingly more atmosphere?related in terms of appealing to the player, but then there are things that are more direct.

KS: Well, yeah. We want that sort of pacing aspect that you get in a really good horror flick where there’s moments of silence where it builds tension, and then it just lets it go.

Do you want to see that concept used in other kinds of experiences, do you think?

KS: We definitely like the experience of having the gameplay be a little bit different each time you play. I think it keeps the game amusing for a long period of time. I think in multiplayer games, it’s a really strong idea.

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So you pre-loaded the Left 4 Dead 2 demo early in order to play the game as soon as possible. Then you played the Left 4 Dead 2 demo to death. People started calling dibs on characters. Things are moving forward. But what do you do now? What is the next step? Why it’s pre-loading the full game, of course.

If you ordered the game via Steam then you can now download it and let it sit on your computer until the game’s actual release date of Nov. 17. You can of course still get ten percent off the game if you purchase it via Steam. Time to download and start staring at the files longingly.

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