Set in the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead's survival co-op mode lets up to four players blast a path through the swarming zombie hordes and terrifying mutant monsters. Guide your survivors across the rooftops of an abandoned metropolis, through rural ghost towns and pitch-black forests in your quest to escape a devastated Ground Zero crawling with infected enemies.

Post news Report RSS The future of the L4D SDK

The surprise announcement of Left 4 Dead 2 has a few people asking questions about the original SDK.

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So the biggest surprise from the Microsoft press conference at E3 this year, really shocked those who have become accustom to the Valve development cycle, all because of a little game called Left 4 Dead 2. A sequel to the very popular zombie coop slayer of November 2008 set to be released November 2009 exactly one year since the first release. L4D2 has been announced even before the official release of L4D's SDK has had many fans up in arms about the whole deal, where is the support for the original game? Where is the support for the SDK and why would anyone bother to mod L4D with L4D2 right around the bend?

In a video interview with the staff from Giant Bomb, a writer from valve software, Chet Faliszek, addressed some major issues about the entire announcement including what will be happening with the SDK release. With the release of the second game, Valve have made sure that any custom content from the original will work in the second, down to the finest details in item placement and director settings.

Chet_Faliszek wrote: One thing we do know for sure is we want to make sure that everyone making a Left 4 Dead 1 map now or campaign now it's still going to work in Left 4 Dead 2. You will be able to start Left 4 Dead 2 up, you will have the new creatures automatically, you'll have the new weapons you will have all of that in the world, if you want to do some of the new director stuff or some of the new ways we control item placement you can go re-do it and add that, but you can also just leave it the exact same way and it will work.


So what can we expect from Valve now? Hopefully a well developed SDK that can work on both games and have the custom content be available for both would be a fantastic start and helping hand to all the modders out there. Hopefully this new system they hope to implement will work both ways so content created for L4D2 will work without problems on L4D1. Only time can tell on this one.

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Arxae
Arxae

they should release the sdk first imo :p lots of people are waiting for it

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Cypher05
Cypher05

There is a l4d beta sdk out.

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xilefian
xilefian

that's a life saver then, I was worried all the mods will start again or something X_X
I hope they will work with multiplayer vs. both games, play a L4D campaign mod in L4D with L4D2 players also on the server.

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INtense! Staff
INtense!

Its great news, but it does sound like a way of "calming us down" and buying them time to release the SDK.

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yardymothymus
yardymothymus

I can say with honesty that I love Left 4 Dead but have absolutely no desire to play Left 4 Dead 2. It seems like it's too far in another direction from L4D and it looks like it's without a lot of things that made L4D NOT just another zombie game.

I think it's a poor move to have the sequel come out right after the first game while the SDK still isn't well established, but knowing Valve the game won't come out for a couple years anyway (regardless of release date.) They seem like they'll have such differences that the mods wouldn't work well together (such as the introduction of melee weapons).

Oh well, though. Only time can tell. I might actually like this new one a lot better than the first.

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Betelgeuze
Betelgeuze

I agree, l4D2 wont sell as good as the first. While I love dthe first one I actually didnt play it that much since it only had a couple of maps and I got bored very fast. Im not going to pay again for a short game, this should have been an expantion or something, not a new game.

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MuffinSoldaat
MuffinSoldaat

Cashcow. Do not want. Way to go, Valve.

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TheHappyFriar
TheHappyFriar

everything valve did after HL1 was a cashcow. You supported that & have an issue with this?

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Daystranger
Daystranger

Exactly.
Its silly to say that after Episode 1 and 2 which were basically 2-3 hours of gameplay. And anyone bought them.
In L4D2 there are FIVE campaigns. Thats even more content(5 instead of 4) than in original game.
So it sounds pretty good deal if you ask me.
Anyone really believed what they can get FREE campaigns and characters with full voice overs made by professionals? Thats silly.
Plus new weapons, bosses and improved AI director that can change the shape of map itself.
That not sounds like free DLC.

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Dra6o0n
Dra6o0n

But at least Ep1+2 didn't cost you 50 bucks each time...

And both releases has better sdk developed for them...

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geokes
geokes

L4D2, god valve is turning it into COD, it looks the same, probably will play the same, this is gotta have a 70% sale.

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Ryswick17
Ryswick17

THEY CREATED A SEQUEL TO ONE OF THEIR BEST SELLING GAMES AND EXPECT ME TO PAY FOR IT?!

BLASPHEMY I SAY.

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medve
medve

ppl will cry about this, but they will still buy it. that's how it works. most of the ppl (not like the modding community) are not interested in good games, they just buy it cause the neighbour buyed it, looks cool, heard about it...blablabla. fortunately we've got our very good modders here, and we will soon see very good mods for the first l4d...at least i hope so.

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DecDoyle
DecDoyle

Hmmmm, i think im going to do the same as i did with L4D.

Play the demo, get excited. Buy the game and play it for one week.

The original did seem a little incomplete as a full game.

With the second game ill buy it just to give valve the support, then play it for like a week haha!

But yeah, it a little too soon for a release i think, so it best be good. The only improvement that could be made would be making it just be like the last game only with less missing stuff.

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MrMattWebb
MrMattWebb

Thank god i didnt buy the first one then.

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wazanator
wazanator

Not trying to slam valve but why are they making this an entirely separate game? Why not just make it an expansion to the original? L4D2 is more like a mod then an entire new game it seems. Sure they have new weapons and new models plus some gameplay changes but isn't that what a mod is?

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Dra6o0n
Dra6o0n

Would valve decide on:
1) Making this a expansion, meaning it shouldn't cost anything or as much as the full game (retail stores lowers prices on expansions)?

2) Or selling this as a new game, giving them a reason to set the price to 49.99 again and making 3 times as much money than option 1.

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Undying_Zombie
Undying_Zombie

Or option 3..

Make it a "stand alone" expansion ( IE you don't have to have the original to play it ) still charge the same amount for a new game but still give some bonuses to those who had the first one. ( Other companies have done this..*cough*Relic*cough*EA*Cough*ect*Cough* Man.. nasty cold I must have... )

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KerenskyTheRed
KerenskyTheRed

While I don't like the idea of Valve releasing the sequel so soon, I have to say its pretty funny also. People have always complained how long their dev cycle is. Now it seems like everyone they hate this "release a la EA."

Valve does have a tendency to support its older games for quite a while, though.

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the_fish
the_fish

Solution: "Left 4 Dead: Episode 2"

Now despite it costing the same, you'll buy it without complaining.

I love Valve (except their legal department), but they should really be consistent with their naming conventions. A game that takes a year to develop does not count as a new game, it counts as an expansion.

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Dra6o0n
Dra6o0n

When your dealing with a large game distribution company like Valve, it would be obvious what they will choose if you ask them whether to make a cheaper game for us, or a expensive game for us.

They would choose the latter... Always.

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NullSoldier
NullSoldier

This is pointless because the SDK for Left 4 Dead 2 will STILL not have the ability to recompile the for new DLLs so basically both gamers and developers lose. Good job Valve, what happened to supporting the community? Making new campaigns is NOT modding the game. Stop acting like a console game developer and let us ACTUALLY mod the game.

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mod-man-8
mod-man-8

Tbh, L4d2 looks sorta cool.

I'll buy it, but my only complaint is no Zoey, Bill, Louis or Francis.

I'll miss them :c

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feltorn
feltorn

The fact that both games work with the same SDK only proves that they have made barly any changes to the games engine.

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Henley Author
Henley

That proves nothing really...

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spellman23
spellman23

All it means is that the new maps will have backwards compatibility. it's like saying Windows XP isn't all that different form Windows 95 because you can run Windows 95 stuff on Windows XP.

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QuadX
QuadX

No, all it means is that we now have more options. IF you can honestly say it's the same game then you aren't reading into it very much. Yes it's a SIMILAR game to L4D1, but you can't honestly say it's the same game. Anyway, why not wait until it's released and then we'll see how "same" it is?

Oh, this was a response to feltorn not spellman23.

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Galatan
Galatan

look at the picture.. it looks more like tf2 than l4d -_-

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c3lhas
c3lhas

Content will be compatible, but L4D2 is still a very bad idea.

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DOLBYdigital
DOLBYdigital

Why did they choose EA as their publishers.... WHY???
God I hate EA *sigh*

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yardymothymus
yardymothymus

Oh hell, that explains everything!

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Kegetsu
Kegetsu

I second that.

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Shoelip
Shoelip

I wonder how much the roster update will cost.

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RuffeDK
RuffeDK

I think Valve is ******* stressed at the moment...

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asdfzxc
asdfzxc

There's going to be a lot of whining and a lot of complaining and then the game will come out and you'll all claim you supported it from the start. Happens all the time.

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