New Firingsquad interview with Booth - 3/23/07

Firingsquad.com has just come out with a brand new interview with Left 4 Dead creator Michael Booth. This is one of the best interviews we have seen for a while, with plenty of new information. Two quotes that stand out:

"FiringSquad: How will the game's AI work when a person plays a single player game of Left 4 Dead?

Michael Booth: At the core of Left 4 Dead's gameplay is a set of technologies we refer to as "The Director." Whether you're playing a game with 8 humans filling out the available roles or playing in "single player" mode, The Director is in charge of monitoring the pacing of the game. So, for example, if your team has been bombarded with Infected hordes and bosses, The Director will schedule a break in the action. If your team is chewing through Infected like bubble gum, The Director will send a few Boss Infected your way, and so on. And all of this is done procedurally to insure no play sessions are alike -- there are no triggers, generators, special flags, or other human-placed information in the environment that specify where to place the Infected. As a result, the Survivor team can never predict when or where they will encounter anything.

FiringSquad: Are there any new graphical features that are being put into the Source engine for the game?

Michael Booth: In addition to the new stats and ranking features, we're also working with Valve to include support for multi-core processors. We've added physics-based animation to Source for things such as the Boomer's jiggly belly full of blood, flexible hair that moves naturally, and floppy bits of clothing. We're also leveraging the new particle system coming to Source for enhanced effects. That's just some of what's coming in the first release."

Physics-based animation and multi-core support! Also, from what he said about "The Director" which had been previously talked about (not in this detail), it seems as though the game will be quite organic in that the better you're doing, the harder it will become. This should provide challenge for the long-term. Some other new tidbits: it is possible to shoot off the tongue of a Smoker attempting to asphyxiate one of your friends, a Left 4 Dead-specific update will be made to the Source SDK so members of the community can make their own missions, characters, and L4D mod content, the Boomer is filled with methane gas, and finally, that each mission is set in different geographic places which naturally lend themselves to varied play styles and challenges. Comment about it on our new forum.