During the EA press conference yesterday, Gabe Newell from Valve came on stage to show off Left 4 Dead. Dale touched on the Director AI after the presentation and we now have video of that segment of just how the Director AI will work after the break.
During the presentation, we also got to see the debut of the redesigned four main characters. Shacknews talked with Chet Faliszek from Valve who explained why the characters were redesigned:
""We're showing them now, but they've been worked on for a bit," he explained. "All the characters are being worked on almost non-stop. What it is a lot of playtesting that made us realize that we need to be able to separate infected from the survivors and make it clearer. One of the ways we thought we could do that was through clearer designs"
Would you be surprised to know that there's already an online petition going around demanding the old character models to come back? Anyway, I for one love the new change, especially of lone female survivor Zoey. Zoey's new design makes her look even more like Alésia Glidewell, whom Zoey is modeled after. Also, I have a giant crush on Alésia. Hey Alésia, call me!
Hamza Aziz, Destructoid's Community Director, has been here since day one. He was born when a tiger coughed up a hairball into a pool of ooze. He was one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles before budget cuts. Hamza works as a previews editor and manages a team in San Francisco. To date he has given away tens of thousands of dollars in prizes to readers. What a dick. Actually, Hamza is as kind as he is hairy.
Likes
Super Mario RPG, Halo, iPhone, Videogame cover bands, Super Nintendo
Meet the rest of the team
I have never looked into Left 4 Dead until this post came up on Destructoid, so I decided to take a gander at some footage on gametrailers. After watching the developer walkthrough I felt like someone went up to Capcom and said, "Capcom, plz update RE2 and rerelease keke" and they responded with, "We will do this for you." I came to that conclusion because of various similarities like the art direction, city environment, non racially specific zombies and the the similarity in boss figures. It's a resident evil 2 for 2008 with improved AI, co-op, including the usual updated fares (weapons, graphics, etc.)
The new character models seem much more realistic to me. To the person talking about "smug expressions", their expressions change dynamically ingame. When they are scared, they'll look scared. When they're angry, they'll look angry.
I'm really looking forward to Left 4 Dead because of the co-op aspect of it. There aren't enough online games that focus on co-op versus bots, which I've grown to prefer over straight deathmatch or team deathmatch play. I've grown disillusioned with humanity and would rather not compete at all than compete against a bunch of twelve year olds whose balls haven't dropped yet. I don't mind co-operating with them though, because maybe they'll keep their mouths shut. Probably not, though.
New designs are terrible. The old ones were fine, though I can understand why they thought they'd blend in with the zombies. I really hate these ones, though. Except maybe the black guy. Where are the fucking beards, you bastards!? Valve = fail, which is pretty rare for them.
But seriously, I loooved the original woman's design. Looked way more like Alesia/Chell (Alesia was also Chell in Portal) than the new one does. I'll sincerely miss it. Also, Alesia will be calling me first, CTZ. ;)
a petition to get old models back? seriously I'm surprised these devs still go through the trouble of building games for us... If I would get stupid shit like that I'd say FUCK you all and keep the games for myself :-)
I'm sorry but this is one of the most ridiculous gaming-petitions ever! It's like those dicks complaining that Diablo 3 looks too good...
I like the change, I guess the look a tad more, realistic? Not too over the top anyway. Anyway it shouldn't matter cause this game is going to be AMAZING! GOD I WANT IT NOW! Lol@Brenex, comparing L4D to Resident Evil shouldn't even work. This is a totally different style of game, and it's AMAZING!
This will be the BEST zombie experience yet, it beats Dead Rising for me for sure.
How is the woman more realistic? The new model looks like she just walked out of an Abercrombie ad. The old model looked like a real person. I really hate her and the new biker. Reeeeally hate.
Although I never played the game and don't know how hard it was to distinguish the player characters from the zombies, I liked the older models better.
I sorta feel as though I became attached to the characters in all the previews and such despite the fact I never played a single round with them.
These lackluster updates make me think the zombie models should have been updated instead. Oh well. Still a major DO WANT.
Those concepts look shit, and why does grandpa have an arm growing out of his side? Do we deal with mutants as well as zombies now, because that'd be awesome!
miss the bearded biker dude, but whatever.
and the "Director" AI system? holy shit, this is the first time i've heard of it. damn. now i've really gotta get this.
I don't even get that online petition. People have already latched on to these characters even though they haven't had any playtime? It's not like these were established characters, plus they're just models. Fuck people.
Ah I can see where I was a bit too quick to judge. The trailer I saw was the developer's handon (which looks like Wii Powerpoint was used to make it) so there was more bullet points and less game time. Only problem I can think of is, there are alot of r-tards on xbox live. But that's what friends lists are for ^^
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
7:50 PM on 07.16.2008
| 
ASIANGIRL reminds me of Cherokee. But then again, I've watched too much porn.
Doesn't the guy in the beret look like the guy from Hot Shots Part Deux?
Charlie Sheen should be in this game. He's a comedic genius.
I'm really looking forward to Left 4 Dead because of the co-op aspect of it. There aren't enough online games that focus on co-op versus bots, which I've grown to prefer over straight deathmatch or team deathmatch play. I've grown disillusioned with humanity and would rather not compete at all than compete against a bunch of twelve year olds whose balls haven't dropped yet. I don't mind co-operating with them though, because maybe they'll keep their mouths shut. Probably not, though.
But seriously, I loooved the original woman's design. Looked way more like Alesia/Chell (Alesia was also Chell in Portal) than the new one does. I'll sincerely miss it. Also, Alesia will be calling me first, CTZ. ;)
I'm sorry but this is one of the most ridiculous gaming-petitions ever! It's like those dicks complaining that Diablo 3 looks too good...
This will be the BEST zombie experience yet, it beats Dead Rising for me for sure.
Link to the petition, please?
I sorta feel as though I became attached to the characters in all the previews and such despite the fact I never played a single round with them.
These lackluster updates make me think the zombie models should have been updated instead. Oh well. Still a major DO WANT.
and the "Director" AI system? holy shit, this is the first time i've heard of it. damn. now i've really gotta get this.
Honestly, we know we'll end up playing Mario, Yoshi, Luigi and Peach against the koopas. :P
Memo to Valve: Stop being a bunch of dainty perfectionists and focus on releasing your product.
Im sold on this already.
And for those who want different models, wait a month and DL one of thr plethora of PPM packs that will popup.
"hey kobe, tell me how my ass taste"
I'm buying this game. Co-op scary shit? Fuck yes.
I was thinking he looks like Vince Carter.