Sponsored By

Left 4 Dead designer Michael Booth explains how cooperation was successfully forced implicitly, through enemy design and count, rogue player punishments, vocalizations, and limited resources.

Game Developer, Staff

December 16, 2013

1 Min Read

"If the players could find a way that they can win, at the expense of their friends, they will."

In this free GDC Vault video from GDC 2009, Turtle Rock Studios founder Michael Booth discusses overcoming the design challenges of required co-op that became part of Valve's multi-million selling Left 4 Dead's staple gameplay, along with why survival horror was the chosen genre and how procedurallly populated enviornments added to replayability, in the talk "From Counter-Strike to Left 4 Dead: Creating Replayable Cooperative Experiences."

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers. Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support. Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like