One More Lombardi Interview - 5/1/08

Luke Guttridge at play.tm interviewed Doug Lombardi about Left 4 Dead. Lombardi says that development on Left 4 Dead started with a prototype by Mike Booth in mid-2005, which means it has been development for about three years. A number of the questions are about what zombie-genre films and games have been influential, and some of Valve's goals in design:

What's your favourite instance in the game?

A lot of stuff is being done procedurally, and there will also be a few scripted moments, so there's big crescendos, etc. For me, the best part is always when you've caught up and you think you're at the end of the level, and then something goes wrong and you're back in it again. That moment of excitement, when something swings from nowhere. That false sense of security. Just earlier there was a moment like that, and all four players went 'whoa, holy shit!'. That's the moment.

Whenever you play CoD 4, Counter-Strike or whatever, when you're playing with a good team, and its going well. When you've ground out that tough victory and everyone throws their hands up, that's the moments we're looking for. That's the big idea. When I hear that from play-testers I know we're doing something right.

More questions are asked concerning the state of PC gaming, and Lombardi says that Valve would love to utilize the micro-transaction business model that is so popular in Asia (with titles like MapleStory and KartRider being played my tens of millions of players) if they ever get a game that is a fit for it. If you didn't know, Valve is already working with Korean developer Nexon Corporation to develop a micro-transaction-based Counter-Strike game named Counter-Strike Online. It'll be interesting to see how that works out, and if its successful maybe the same thing could be done for Left 4 Dead. Also in this interview we have the most specific release date target ever, with Lombardi saying, "We're aiming for the first week of November on PC and Xbox 360." Cross your fingers.