Left 4 Dead Update Details

[YokaI]

In one way I am for this: I think it is great that they are making easier for the common player, and possibly xbox users, to be able to download content for HL2. Making a basic "exe" and calling theme "expansions / addons" are a great way of making people understand what it is without using the word "modifications" or other various game design terms.

On the other hand, if this content will really be available over steam / L4D for quick access, there will be moderation of maps. While this isn't a huge deal, I think it is just another way to prevent people from making a L4D2 map campaign set which just takes all the models / textures / content from L4D2 and literally copy and paste it over to L4D1. Since the base of the game content is probably very similar, there is a possibility that they are afraid of that.


Oh and wtf to fucking command line programs? Seriously, just let me compile my map into a .vpk over hammer or something!

[Psy]

Ducttape will save the day. /wink&nudge

[Woe Kitten]

Honestly you lot are such a bunch of spoilt brats.

Command line... pfft... once upon a time we had to shade all the lighting into our maps by hand ffs. Did we complain? Hell no. Making maps is a privilege not a right!

Thanks for the update Valve <3

[no00dylan]

Honestly you lot are such a bunch of spoilt brats.

Command line... pfft... once upon a time we had to shade all the lighting into our maps by hand ffs. Did we complain? Hell no. Making maps is a privilege not a right!

Thanks for the update Valve <3

I agree. We've been yelling at Valve for a long time to give us this, and once we get it everyone goes nuts about some simple little thing. Many companies wouldnt give us an SDK or even allow us to mod, we should be thankful, not nit-picky.

[joe_rogers_11155]

I disagree, we have been yelling at Valve for all this time, they should have taken the hints from their own devoted modding communities!! We deserve to nit-pick when they are trying to be so dedicated to releasing free DLC. One of the whole points of the Steam software is to provide constant improvements in a simple way that will instantly improve everybody's software based on user feedback and innovation in code, etc.

[no00dylan]

I agree partly joe, user feedback is always great to help valve back, but the argument still stands that they don't HAVE to do this for us, it's like my brother asking me to hep him do something, only for him to call me a retarded faggot in the process, i didnt HAVE to help him, im being generous, so he shouldn't scream. Honestly, Valve is being generous. They could just make a game and move on, but they do more, they make the game, have some DLC, and an SDK. they dont, and never did, have to do that.

I <3 Valve.

[[JFG]Propaganda]

Many companies wouldnt give us an SDK or even allow us to mod, we should be thankful, not nit-picky.

Companies that don't release SDK = fail. The mod community contributes greatly and sells product. Lets all bow down to the game developers for being so kind and generous as to give us tools to create free content?

[source-maps]

Many companies wouldnt give us an SDK or even allow us to mod, we should be thankful, not nit-picky.

Companies that don't release SDK = fail. The mod community contributes greatly and sells product. Lets all bow down to the game developers for being so kind and generous as to give us tools to create free content?

its not like they are forcing you to map, you do it for fun dont ya?

[Blade Nd64]

Companies that don't release SDK = fail. The mod community contributes greatly and sells product. Lets all bow down to the game developers for being so kind and generous as to give us tools to create free content?

More like developers bowing to the community for making all this content for free, extending the lifespan of their game.

[YokaI]

Companies that don't release SDKs aren't even worth talkin' about the majority of the time. Not really just SDKs, but any form of modification tools. Most games with modification tools do better than those that don't. WoW comes to mind with "add-ons" and how much that greatly improves the games experience.

Regardless of whether or not it is great they give us the SDK, it is also useful to be critical. Even if we didn't have an SDK, many of us would seek game development through more independent game development projects via modeling / coding for basic independent games.

[joe_rogers_11155]

we wouldn't be here without the SDK and Valve would be so much smaller if it wasn't for us. I think of the great successes of Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead (Valve hopped onto that one when they saw the awesome AI director the mod team was creating), and Team Fortress 2, which totally caters to custom content from the modding community. Valve should be listening to us and giving us the little things we ask for, because it will only help them in the long run. They should be aiming for the point when they have listened to all the community requests and finally released an SDK re-vamp that totally answered everybody's needs and wants.

It also sucks that the corporate side of Valve is showing more and more, what with L4D2 and their total information blackout on Ep3. There's got to be a better way.

[Woe Kitten]

Don't be rediculous. Most of the most successful games don't have SDKs when they make the majority of their money (see Gears of War, COD4, L4D, SIMS, All Wii titles etc etc etc) the idea that games are a success based on the modding community is rediculous.

Counter-Strike did great for Valve and it was a result of their kindness in producing top-notch modding tools. They got paid back for their investment. But that doesn't mean they owe us... which one of you worked on Counter-Strike ffs?

They recognised that the modding community brought them success with that and they responded by greatly improving the tools available and investing shit-loads in modding. That was a nice thing of them to do. Please guys, don't get into thinking you are owed this stuff it just makes you look stupid and it makes the rest of the modding community look bad.

If you start working WITH Valve instead of bitching about them you will get better results.

[Surfa]

I agree with Woe here. Even though the modding community may have brought in a few extra sales. I doubt it has made much in the way of a contribution to the money made by valve. Apart from counter-strike and maybe DOD.

Also wtf the l4d ai director was coded by the head of turtle rock studios which was not a mod team.

One more point valve is a commercial business they don't really care for the modding community. Al they really care about is MONEY.

[Woe Kitten]

Yeah exactly but I don't think it's quite fair to say that 'all Valve care about is money' because they have shown us time and time again that they do care about the modding community. However, it is their main priority to make money, as it must be for all businesses. This is moving off topic though so maybe we should set up a thread in the serious discussions forum and chew the fat.

[YokaI]

If you start working WITH Valve instead of bitching about them you will get better results.

Criticism =/= bitching.

Since when did everyone here decide to kiss valve's ass? Last time I checked, saying "everything great the way it is" doesn't mean you are working with valve, it means the complete opposite. Working with valve means showing and expressing what you think the problems are and waiting for results. It's the least you can do, and my oppinions are stated mostly to try to tell them what can HELP them in the long run. My biggest concern with video game journalism currently is it's lack of saying "what could be better." Currently, people who discuss games only say what the game has, and little about what it COULD have. I want to voice my oppinion to help them, even if they aren't reading this, I feel that being able to say "this is what this is missing, this is what the sdk could use, this is why L4D2 may not be the greatest idea" are questions that I will want to have with my own works, and being able to assess the works of others will allow you to greatly assess the work of your own. Is it wrong for me to find flaws / possible annoyances in something a company does? NO! It isn't! Because someday, I hope to work for some sort of company, and if they do something stupid, I will voice my opinion. That's the only way a company will change for the better.

And besides, I mean GOOD games, not successful business wise. And SDKs generally can't be released for console games, unless you have some sort of console dev kit or something. Gears of War doesn't have an SDK? Ever hear of the unreal engine?

And sure, a lot of games don't come with SDKs, but should that stop them from making it the best they can make it? What they should be doing is competing with UE Tools, which currently are easier to integrate your own materials / models into.

Regardless, I think VPK is a good idea, but I wouldn't necessarily say it is original. Many games (wolfenstein:et) use a folder system to store all of the files needed for a map/mod, though the name slips my mind already by now.