ShowdownLAN experience

[Lennox]

Hey everyone... I've been checking the site just about every day since I found it. I guess I'm salivatingly anxious for a release date or any other news. So, just saying "Hi". =p

Actually, I'm guessing most forumers here are as eager for info as I am, so I'll whip up a post with some anecdotes from Showdown LAN in a few, since I was lucky enough to go...

[darksora2323]

whatever floats your boat
im just speaking IMO i reall dont care much for info but an release date
i really dont want to spoil anything else for myself
i would still like there to still be some ooo's and awwww;s

[No Shelter]

Actually, I'm guessing most forumers here are as eager for info as I am, so I'll whip up a post with some anecdotes from Showdown LAN in a few, since I was lucky enough to go...

Sweet man thanks.

Welcome and enjoy your stay!

[frogopus]

Glad to see you posting, we were happy for the video.

whatever floats your boat
im just speaking IMO i reall dont care much for info but an release date
i really dont want to spoil anything else for myself
i would still like there to still be some ooo's and awwww;s

:P ignore him, tell us your thoughts

[Lennox]

The keynote address at ShowdownLAN was given by Gabe Newell of Valve software. He was sitting right next to me in the front row when he was introduced/called to stage. If I'd recognized him I would've gotten him to autograph the spiffy HL2 baseball cap or TF2 poster that I got at the event. =[

Anyway, Gabe announces the release date of the Orange Box (Oct 9), and talks up the new friends-functionality that Steam will be activating. If I recall correctly, he said it'd go live sometime in July. It sounds sort of like XBOX Live, this functionality (disclaimer- I've never used the xbox live service so I could be inaccurate here)... it allows you to do voice chat over steam without actually being in a game server, though it's not clear whether this is done P2P or if voice chat is centrally hosted by valve. It allows you to band together with a group of friends *before* you join a game server, so as to avoid the frustrating experience of battling to get on the same team as your buddy once you're in-game. Later, one of the Turtle Rock devs tells me that much of this functionality was introduced largely in part for compatibility with L4D's upcoming release.

Gabe N. then introduces Mike Booth of Turtle Rock Studios to the stage. He does a lil intro going over much of the info I'd already read on the internet. When it sounds like he's wrapping up, my brother, GF and I all blitz out of the stage area to the L4D booth across the convention hall to be first in line. We overhear Mike announce that they'd already picked out the first 4 lucky first-public-playtesters. Damn!

The three of us are first in line to play after the 4 hand-picked dudes finish up. Two folks from Turtle Rock are playing boss infected- the 4 survivors appear to have their hands full. They get wiped out, and we jump in our game. My brother panics at the first sight of a few infected and lets a molotov fly while we're indoors, burning us all to death before we really got a chance to play at all. We punch the hell outta him.

Later, I'm back in line for another go-round. I chat it up with one of the level designers at the booth. I float my postponed release-date theory to him: "Heyyy... I know you probably can't give me a direct yes/no on this one, but maybe you can just tell me if this theory sounds *reasonable* to you. It goes something like this- Valve is notorious for releasing great games, but not for releasing them on time. Maaaayyybe since the Valve guys have emphasized a simultaneous, multi-platform launch, THAT'S what's pushing the release date back to later this year. Mayyyybe the PC verison is ready to go, and we're getting screwed over so that the console kiddies get their fix."

... to which I was promptly shut down. The guy says that Valve has handed off the development... er, adaptation... (platform-specific-recoding?) to different studios- EA is handling the XBOX version, etc, so development is really done at an equal pace across the board. Other studios bring the current work on the games up to where it is on the PC version as new content comes out. Interesting insight for me on the development process... I always thought they wrapped up the primary platform version then handed it off to be adapted for other platforms. I guess it's done simultaneously.

I noticed that the players were locking doors to prevent infected from pursuing them. Centering your crosshairs on a doorknob or latch makes a text hint pop up on the center of a screen- "Lock" or "Unlock". A little confusing in the heat of battle- am I locking the door, or is it locked NOW? I thought "Locked" or "Unlocked" would be clearer- they said they'd probably change it before release.

Animation is done very well. The survivors can stand casually- they are not eternally stuck in an alert, counter-strike esque hunched crouch firing position. Infected appear to die with a blend of scripted animation and ragdoll.

The team of survivors came across a gas station on part of the hospital campaign- the devs warned them to hold their fire and use discretion, lest they blow the place up. (I thought it would've been funnier not to say anything and let them send the area sky-high.)

Encountering a Tank in close quarters is very frightening. There was a tunnel area (a sewer, perhaps?) where the survivors saw a tank rushing down a hallway only slightly wider than he was. It looks like the guy moves faster than you do, and when you feel like you can't disperse or get outta the way... well, you drop a brick in your pants, apparently. You sort of feel like 4 bowling pins with a very large ball barelling towards you. Also, it's bumper bowling. So even if the pins could walk, they aren't getting outta the way, or anything.

The event had a prohibitive camera policy, but I was recording with my lil powershot camera right in front of em and never received so much as a wary look or word of caution. They seemed happy to show off the gameplay to the world. (As they should be... the thing looks beautiful.) The only graphical bug that irked me is one that's present in all source-engine titles- when the survivors are about to disembark on another section of a campaign, they start in a secured room. If infected are walking around outside the barricaded door, or on a floor above said door... you can see their shadows casting down through the ceiling. Shadow-clipping. Bleh. Kind of annoying, since not knowing where your attackers are is a pretty important gameplay element. Unfortunately I'm sure it's a bug in the source engine, so I'm not optimistic that they'll be able to fix it before release. I also heard that boomers' tummies can also clip through walls sometime... seems like that should be easier to patch up.

Seeing the witch is very creepy. She has this shrill shreik.... that just... *shudder*. Her appearance really reminded me of those anorexic twins that you sometimes see on Entertainment Tonight or 60 Minutes, only with grey clammy skin and zombified a bit. It's like someone blended the fast moving, screaming ravenholm-zombies with Chloe from Fight Club, and put a tattered wig on her.

Mike Booth gave me my Team Fortress 2 poster... woohoo! Should've had him sign it, now that I think back. They said they were supposed to have L4D posters to give away, but they didn't come in in time. =~[ The guy sitting next to us at our table got the huge, 6-foot long L4D banner they had at their booth though. Bastard!

I'm sure more will come to mind later, but I've got some games to play. Not sure if anyone likes hearing anectodes in this sorta format anyway. =p

[No Shelter]

Wait.. so anything with release date?

[Etheallmighty]

i havn't read it yet (i will) but i just wanted to be the first to post after.....good job!

EDIT
-DAMMIT!!!!!!!

[darksora2323]

:P ignore him, tell us your thoughts
well thats what the IMO was for

[frogopus]

well thats what the IMO was for
and thats what :P was for lol

[darksora2323]

and thats what :P was for lol
well that changes everything
now this makes me want to read the info

so do you have a video?

[Etheallmighty]

hey i was just reading an xbox magazine, and there is another showdown thing in Sept.....unless the game is released b4 then :P, maybe a release date then.....i forget where....oh yeah it's in illinoise or minniapolis (both horribly mispelled iknow)

[lilsamuraijoe]

Illinoise? HAHAHA. Your probably spell like you say it LMAO! Sorry but I've lived in Chicago for quite a while.

[Lennox]

Yeah, the next showdownLAN is in Indianapolis. My guess is there will be another big fat 500 person one in San Jose next year around Juneish... just like this year, and last year.

I do have a video- I posted it on youtube. It's linked on the main page, on the part where it says "A ShowdownLAN attendee named 'Lennox' has posted a video".. yada yada.

No release date info as such, but the guys in the dev booth sounded confident that it'd be this year.

[Gh0sT]

Damn i wish they could at least just give us a little idea like around summer or winter and actually stick with that date

[dontleave]

Link?

[No Shelter]

I think its that one youtube video we all saw with L4D footage, nothing new.

[Shroom]

Yeah, this is just a great description of the expierience and what happened :)

thanks for the vid also Lennox!

[Sandman77]

Thanks Lennox!

[darksora2323]

Illinoise? HAHAHA. Your probably spell like you say it LMAO! Sorry but I've lived in Chicago for quite a while.

u too?
awsome
but i think its in Indiana

[squerl]

Thanks Lennox for your thoughts, and for the video!

[Prometheus]

but i think its in Indiana

Crazy how Indianapolis is in Indiana, isn't it?

[darksora2323]

Crazy how Indianapolis is in Indiana, isn't it?

o i thought it said indiana
stop trying to act like im dumb

[No Shelter]

stop trying to act like im dumb

Well.. that just sort of proved that you are du... nevermind ;)

[darksora2323]

Well.. that just sort of proved that you are du... nevermind ;)


lol YOU GOT THE JOKE

was wrong with you i say u he dead.

300 dollars for who ever gets that reference, hint hint its from a show on tv.

[dontleave]

Family Guy.. pay up.

[darksora2323]

Family Guy.. pay up.
DAMN YOU
i thought no one would get it because the episode is old
heres a link instead lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f5u3nv1Pjk