New Left 4 Dead Screenshots - 7/23/08

Maximum PC has received four exclusive new screenshots from Left 4 Dead, showing off some of the new engine additions and characters. Two of them show off the new Louis model in action, one shows off the three Survivors besides Zoey (featuring Francis), and the fourth is pictured below with some great looking infected and some new screen effects:

In some of the Survivor screenshots it is raining and you are able to see rainbows around lights. Maximum PC also listed some details of the Left 4 Dead source engine:

• The infected hoard in Left4Dead are realistically animated so they anticipate and lean into turns based on the curvature of their AI navigation paths.
• The physics are simulated with a blending of traditional animation and ragdoll physics. In addition to location-specific damage, shoves and gunshots are physics interactions, based on the location of impact and what the infected hits afterward.
• Even if zombies are brain dead, the AI driving them is smart. The infected will climb and path-find over objects, not just around them. They'll even break down walls and doors to get to you.
• Filmic effects: Color correction allows the developers to maintain a specific palette while controlling saturation and visual elements based on their importance to the player and the scene.
• Film grain is enhanced in dark areas, and contrast is ramped up to sharpen areas with high visual detail. Subtle reduction of brightness at the top and sides of the screen draws your attention toward the action and increases the tension.
• Self-shadowed Normal Mapping locally alters surface orientation to cause detailed lighting effects. This feature incorporates local self-shadowing information to add greater surface richness. Surfaces will react to lighting from radiosity as well as dynamic lights in the scene, like your flashlight (which cast dynamic soft-shadows in the level).

Thanks again to Maximum PC, who conducted one of the best L4D interviews recently and now has brought us these screenshots and details. AtomicGamer has posted their impressions of Left 4 Dead from E3 2008. As always, if you want to check out the new screenshots along with every other L4D screenshot released, go to our Left 4 Dead screenshot section.