June 15th Update - Nightmare, What do Zombies think?

June 15, 2012 - L4D Team

Nightmare
You’ll never see them coming

This Survival Mutation was inspired by Karma Jockey. There are commons, plenty of beefed up Specials, no glows, and lots and lots of fog. If you like to be scared by things that jump out at you from the night, this one is for you.

What do Zombies Think?
While cleaning/moving our offices around (all our desks at Valve are on wheels so we can have desk races), we discovered this old, long ago used Zombie decision making tree. It was created before our session with Mike Patton to record the common zombie sounds. While it is near indecipherable gibberish thanks to bad penmanship, it shows not at an AI level how a zombie behaves but all the speech opportunities and transitions.

Our favorite is the top. Lay Down? Nope. Want to vomit? Sure.

May 25th Update - Flu Season, PAX?

May 25, 2012 - L4D Team

Flu Season
The smell of spit and bile in the air.

This Coop Mutation is a mashup of "Boomer Shooter" by SR69MMJC and "Spitters!" by Karma Jockey. The only specials are Boomers and Spitters. The only commons are the result of the Boomer. The only other change is we amped up everything about these two Specials. But don’t worry you’ll be okay as long as you avoid all the goo flying in the air.

PAX?
PAX Prime is taking place this year from August 31st to Sept 2nd. It is a great event filled with gaming and gaming culture. While the tickets have already sold out, we are curious to know how many L4D players will be visiting. So the question is simple – will you be attending PAX Prime this year?

May 4th Update

May 4, 2012 - L4D Team

Follow the Liter, Infection!

Follow the Liter
Scavenge one can at a time.

No more fighting over what cans to grab first. This Mutation spawns only one group of cans at a time, so survivors know exactly where to go. There is only one problem: the Infected know exactly where they are going.

This presents a different strategy from regular Scavenge mode and actually tips match in favor of the Infected.

Infection!
Besides working on getting the DLC out on the 360 and playing L4D2 ourselves, the team has recently started playing some other zombie infection related games we thought we would share.

Our most obvious pick is Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Game - Episode 1 available on Steam. If you love the comic and like the TV show as much as we do, the game is a great addition to the franchise.

Just this week, Pandemic 2.5 was released on the IOS. We played this game a ton on the PC while we thought about how viruses spread. While it is not a scholarly study like the book Flu, it is quite a bit more fun. With its release on the iPhone, you can now plot the world’s demise while sit in the Doctor’s office waiting for your appointment.

Let us know in the forums or on Facebook what games you’re playing.

April 20th Update

April 20, 2012 - L4D Team

Today we have released a pretty big update for Left 4 Dead 2 that includes map bug and exploits fixes.

These changes will be coming to the Xbox 360 with the title update that will accompany Cold Stream’s release. Before we send the game off to certification, we want to test these fixes on the PC. So please, give these maps a play through and tell us what you think.

The Cold Stream DLC will include 21 maps in total - the Cold Stream, Blood Harvest, Crash Course, Dead Air, and Death Toll campaigns. Besides the massive amount of new content, 360 users will also be getting many of the bug fixes and changes we have implemented since the last update.

We don’t have a release date yet, but we will make sure to post the minute we do.

Friday the 13th Update - Last Man On Earth, Loners?

April 13, 2012 - L4D Team

Last Man On Earth
You will become legend to the infected as the last human left.

You are the only Survivor left in the world. No split screen help. No Survivor bots. But don't worry you aren't entirely alone. While there are no common Infected, Special Infected will hunt you down and become close, close friends with you.

Loners?
While the first part of this blog post should make the results of our last poll obvious, the second place finisher is just as interesting. Between Lone Gunman and "scared to play alone," seems about 30% of you are "scared to play alone" – putting that choice in second place. With that being true, today is a great day to overcome that fear and play Left 4 Dead 2 alone with Last Man On Earth.

After all, it is Friday the 13th, what could happen?