Left 4 Dead 2 Article @ CGSociety

[Mess]

Digital Artist Community CGSociety has published an excellent article detailing the development of Left 4 Dead 2, showcasing design obstacles and objectives, as well as interesting media.

"For each suggested character, we would evaluate the designs with some key questions like 'Why would that particular person have survived?' "What is it about their background, career choices etc. that has left them to mop up?' If the character in question was a feisty barmaid or used car salesman, 'why would they still be knee deep in gore and reaching for the ammo?'
Of the many suggested characters, we settled on a group of four who seemed the most interesting to us individually and as a group."

Check out the article for the full scoop, well worth a read!

[nub]

I still found the first four survivors to be much more charming than the new ones. I guess I just don't really like Rochelle that much. She has bad jokes and she's practically emotionless when one of the survivors die.

Still, interesting read.

[source-maps]

old

and why does everybody hate rochelle that much..?!

[Chopium]

Text:
"She needed to be feminine and smart, yet capable of getting the job done just as well as the boys."

Actual thoughts:
"Uhh....we need a girl to break up this sausage-fest.....she should be smart...and uh....organized.....yeah......"

But seriously, Rochelle has to be the least interesting character there. She doesn't talk. She can't tell a joke. She doesn't even have that much a backstory. She's like a stranger. Nobody wants to be the mute stranger when they can be the funloving hick, the mysterious gambler, or the strong-spoken heavyweight.

In Left 4 Dead 1, Zoey, the only girl, was a geek and most gamers could relate to her slightly-sarcastic sense of humor. That's why she became an instant favorite for many players. Also she was hot.

[vcool]

In Left 4 Dead 1, Zoey, the only girl, was hot. That's why she became an instant favorite for many players. Also she was a geek and most gamers could relate to her slightly-sarcastic sense of humor.

Fixed.

I think that's more precise for the general gamer.

But really, I don't like Rochelle at all because, well, everyone already said it. She's got nothing to say, she doesn't react to deaths, she's like a 3rd wheel in the whole game. The other characters are rather strong representatives of their own types, like Ellis is a strong example of a mindless "funloving hick" as Chop put it. Rochelle has nothing that stands out about her.

Now that I think about it, they could (although I think most would oppose the idea) add a typical old lady with a handbag instead of her, you know the very strong and foul mouthed ones that get into fights.

[MrTwoVideoCards]

In Left 4 Dead 1, Zoey, the only girl, was hot. That's why she became an instant favorite for many players. Also she was a geek and most gamers could relate to her slightly-sarcastic sense of humor.

Fixed.

I think that's more precise for the general gamer.

But really, I don't like Rochelle at all because, well, everyone already said it. She's got nothing to say, she doesn't react to deaths, she's like a 3rd wheel in the whole game. The other characters are rather strong representatives of their own types, like Ellis is a strong example of a mindless "funloving hick" as Chop put it. Rochelle has nothing that stands out about her.

Now that I think about it, they could (although I think most would oppose the idea) add a typical old lady with a handbag instead of her, you know the very strong and foul mouthed ones that get into fights.

New melee weapon! Coach Purse!

[YokaI]

This was a good article. Old or not old, it's a good insightful look at L4D2 and will be a good place to add to the discussion about L4D2 and the things it points out about L4D2's design vs. L4D1.

Valve did some very clever maneuvers designing the characters in L4D2, and the game because of that takes a whole different attitude because of it. While L4D1 had more of a realistic scneario of dialogue and situations, L4D2 had characters who were "making the most" out of a bad situation, specifically they note Ellis who really lightens the dialogue in the game. Rochelle is actually a decently interesting character, specifically because she doesn't say much about herself. While people say Zoey is "hotter" than Rochelle, I think they're both portaiyed as pretty cute girls who both have completely different attitudes. Unlike Zoey, Rochelle seems to have a more typical role of being a very quiet person, rather untalkative in nature. It's a great break from the rest of the characters, since they all seem to voluntarily talk when it isn't really needed. Nick is a whiner / worried about his suit, Ellis is a bit of an rowdy young fella' who has countless of stories and discussions he can start, Coach is a bit more serious and a bit more stern and will also provide a bit of insight on neighborhoods / amusement parks he recollects. Rochelle on the other hand is different from all the character due to her quietness, and in some ways makes the character more interesting than the rest because she has little to talk about. I think for a female lead, she really breaks the trend, and she seems to be a bit more reserved because of the stressful situation. She also has some ridiculous vocab for expressing her shock / amusement, like holy Lincoln's mullet and other ridiculous blabber. If she were an annoying fun loving hick like the rest of the cast, she would blend in too much with the crowd imo.

Do I like them more than L4D's characters / tone? Not really. Mostly due to some very odd conversations that don't flow very well at all. Sometimes walking through the tunnel of love, you'll heal a comment saying "cool water" which is like "what the fuck does that even mean?" and a lot of the dialogue when picking people up or when people die seems rather too jokey than upset, unlike l4d1.

Some clever techniques to texturing the zombies (potatoe peals and house insulation, for those who didn't watch the commentary), and some great design choices are really what sold me on purchasing the game. However, I still feel the yearly game release is something to be avoided, but it certainly proved me wrong in terms of added quantity. It set the bar for yearly releases, but it's still a formula that would typically be better off dead.

I still feel that when you make a sequel this soon, you should include the original content, and it seems they didn't because they wanted to get a bit more cash out of l4d1 by doing the "double" package. Since l4d1 isn't in the same game as l4d2, it makes l4d1 practically useless, and all of those campaigns now feel out of date in terms of what can be done. I mean, it doesn't even have some of the great new gore features added, so it just feels really stale. Especially without melee weapons.

[trcc]

They should include zombie legs as melee weapons and the safe room metal bar too.

[nub]

I agree about the door bar, that would be damn awesome. Someone could easily rig that as a reskin, but Valve decided to not make reskins work in dedicated servers for whatever reason.

Zombie legs though? It would certainly be funny...just...a bit ridiculous.

[ThePain]

Zombie legs though? It would certainly be funny...just...a bit ridiculous.

After about 3 swing and hits the leg would just come apart in chunks.