Left 4 Dead: Getting The Gang Back Together

[Omnomnick]

Following on from the "Community Update" and the subsequent release of "Original Francis" several weeks ago, Valve have uploaded a brand new blog post to the Left 4 Dead website. As you can probably tell from the title of this article, the blog post, known as "The Gang is Getting Back Together", has announced the official release of the remaining pre-release models for Left 4 Dead's cast including earlier designs for Bill, Louis and Zoey, all of which are now available for download on the Left 4 Dead 2 Steam Workshop. While a minor post of this kind wouldn't usually warrant a full news post here on the front page, the blog entry also highlights a number of interesting details regarding the development of the original Left 4 Dead.

While the team were rummaging in Valve's dusty history cupboard, they came across a set of pre-release character designs and concept sheets from September 2005. The first two images display alternate blue and yellow model designs for Zoey, neither of which made it into the final game. However, the final image is far more interesting. Also created in September 2005, the image, which you can check out below, features some of the very earliest conceptual drawings for Bill, Louis, Francis and Zoey.

The original concept designs for Bill (far left), Francis (mid left), Zoey (mid right), and Louis (far right).​

As you can probably tell, the difference between the character's original design and their final versions is rather staggering. While Francis seems to have developed and changed the least from his original design (note the "HATE" tattoo on his left hand!), Zoey's transformation from design to implementation is extremely noticeable, as her original concept appears far closer to the design of Left 4 Dead 2's Rochelle than the Zoey we all know and love. At the base of the post, the Left 4 Dead team have also included sections from an internal changelog used during the game's development. Originally released on January 25th 2006, the post reveals how melee weapons were removed from Left 4 Dead over two and a half years before the game's eventual release while also detailing how the incapacitate system and the checkpoint safe houses were introduced in the same internal update.

* NEW: The Hospital Urban map has been split into four separate maps, with HL2-style map transitions. When all living Survivors enter a checkpoint and the door is closed, the next map in the sequence will load. All items, players, and infected will retain their state across map transitions. Checkpoint doors are impervious to damage until all of the Survivors leave the Checkpoint once (with a few exceptions). The "exit" door of a Checkpoint cannot be opened until after the map transition.

* NEW: When a Survivor's health reaches zero, he no longer immediately dies but instead falls to the ground "incapacitated". While incapacitated, the victim cannot move, slowly "bleeds out", and can take additional damage from the Infected, friendly fire, explosions, etc. If a friend can reach the incapacitated Survivor before he bleeds to death, the rescuer can +use him to "help him to his feet", leaving the injured player with a small amount of virtual (blue) health. A First Aid Kit can also be used to revive an incapaciated player, healing him in the process. Incapacitated players can press their attack button to call for help, and can wave their flashlight around to help others find them. Note that traumatic damage (explosions, steep falls) still kill Survivors outright.

- Baseball Bat has been removed

We highly recommend checking out the original post over on the Left 4 Dead blog if you're looking for more information, or if you want to get your hands on the classic models for the game's cast via the Steam Workshop.

 

[Henry :D]

Very interesting.

 

[Omnomnick]

Very interesting.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who finds this sort of thing really interesting.

 

[Lobster]

Neat post, the guy on the right looks like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

 

[Aizawa]

the "old" Bill looks like Coach to me. I love to see more about Valve´s internal stuff.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

The guy on the right looks like Michael Douglas from Falling Down