I Hate Mountains Forums

CosmicD

Member

Registered: 2010-05-23

Left 4 Dead and multi route

I find myself always wanting to randomize between routes in the manor for several reasons:

- maybe there is a pipe in the kitchen.
- a gas can in the left garage or perhaps second pistol.
- nice scenery

So I ask myself the question, wil this campaign prove valve's playtest comments wrong ? They have a bulb in the commentary where they said that they had a sandbox approach to left 4 dead but that people always tried the most optimized route anyway. So they rather went ahead and restructured the levels in a more linear way.

IHM is designed in such a way that there is really no benifit , nor a downfall on taking one route because it will always be littered with throwables or an item or a pill. But there is a difference between multi route and sandbox.

so: discussion: Will people in this campaign ultimately take the shortest route, or continue to use multi routes for the reasons stated above ?

Last edited by CosmicD (2010-06-06 22:59:43)

NykO18

Administrator

From: Montréal, QC

Registered: 2010-05-13

Website

Re: Left 4 Dead and multi route

Good point, and I tend to think people will always use the same route when they'll find the most efficient one. I agree with Valve on this. That's why on a few occasions, we barricaded some of the easier paths.

• The path going right (through the wooden bridge) on "Lost in the Woods" will be closed in one out of three plays, forcing you to take the longer path.

• In the "The Underground Way" level, when you reach the T-junction before the former safe-room, one of the two paths will be blocked in two out of five plays (randomized between right and left).

• On the "Lumberyard Evacuation" level, the train tunnel will be barricaded in one out of three plays forcing you to take the road, which is the more dangerous way.

We didn't do it on the "Climbing the Manor" level because the layout was difficult enough without us randomly blocking doorways. Plus, the part when you actually go down the manor would have been horrible if you kept being blocked by barricades. The whole point was to make the climbing tedious and the descent ridiculously easy.

But ultimately, I think people will tend to always use the same route, just like we do on Left 4 Dead.

Spud

Member

Registered: 2010-06-01

Re: Left 4 Dead and multi route

I like the concept. But I usually just tend to mix things up a bit when I play. Get the whole feeling of the map. Great way to know the map and better yet, use it to your advantage in versus. I've already won a few games by luring people to the road less traveled. You know it's not cliche for them seeing that they're bumping around the whole area instead of sticking to a familiar path.

CosmicD

Member

Registered: 2010-05-23

Re: Left 4 Dead and multi route

hehe, about every time I play this campaign now, I notice how ppl have a hard time finding that one cruicial door that will lead to the top of the mansion. It's sitting almost hidden, on the right side of the overpass over the minigun and it doesnt seem obvious But if you know it you'll get the hang of going there systematicly.