L4D Community Campaign Created 15 years ago2008-11-20 21:06:27 UTC by hlife_hotdog

Ok, so when the L4D SDK is released, i plan on immediately going about and creating a new L4D campaign. However, I plan to make this a more public project and I want YOU (the ones reading this) to offer feedback and input ideas. So, with that, since we can't actually do any mapping yet, lets get the storyboard and features of this project completed first.

First up:
Locations!

Input some possible locations to build this game. eg, forest, town, city, whatever. Keep in mind we will need 5 locations and they need to link together in a sensible fashion.

My first idea was start in a small town, escape town to forest/river, get to mining facility, enter mines, escape map (no ideas yet here)

Please, offer any ideas you have, this is a TWHL community project!

MinesForest

Though I was thinking about a cernobil setting or something like that . Escape a city ... ahhhh city .... too generic !

Cernobil?

Do you mean Chernobyl?

Anyway, Mines sounded kind of bland to me, but then I saw that picture, I like the damp cave idea, reminds me of episode 2.

Sorry, yes I meant Chernobyl.
Actualy I would like to see some space action in L4D. Does this sounds odd? Good, that's how it should be.

Very inspiring pics there Striker, i don't think a space version really works as there won't be any usable content that resembles a space station or anything. I think we should focus around the mines, although I haven't completely played through L4D yet, i didn't see any maps working though a mine. And we can make them look as good as Ep2 caves because L4D is better than the Ep2 engine.

And there could be a small town nearby, where most of the creatures/weapons are. Mostly in the hunting store and police station. (rifles and pistols, in that order.) That would be soo cool. Then the army comes in and nukes the town to "Contain" The invasion. The players could use an old cold war bomb shelter, then a lot of tanks show up from the radiation!
EDIT: Re-reading that, it can start in one town, then move to another with a different archetectual style, if you pardon my terrible spelling.

There is already a forrest map in L4D btw

Sorry, yes I meant Chernobyl.

Modern-day Pripyat would make an incredible L4D campaign. Its so perfect. This website has a truckload of really good pictures that show off the city: http://abandoniaphoto.com/pripyat-ukraine/

Correct Worldcrafter is correct.

That would be an awesome setting for some urban-esque zombie madness!

Alright, this could work. We need to organize though

There is already a forrest map in L4D btw

There are actually several 'forest' themes maps, but no two forests are the same!

So, just to organize:

We have players start in a 'Pripyat' style town. Or, start on a large highway that goes straight into the town. Then get through the town into forest. Get through forest into lumber yard with mines (i decided the two should be combined) and then a finale which i have drawn up a short storyboard up for:

I love your drawing style. It reminds me of how I drew when I was age 6-12

Stick figures with huge non-proportional guns, and lots of blood. \

I love the train idea, it gives players some reward to be able to mow down the mass of zombies running futily after the train

I'm liking this.
Don't bite off more than you can chew, however - give yourself time to experiment with any additions to the SDK or Hammer before diving into making a full-length campaign.

Modern-day Pripyat would make an incredible L4D campaign.

Someone beat you to it.
http://forums.l4dmaps.net/f10/pripyat-wip-t64.html

Son of a bitch, that was fast.

Wait 10 minutes for the train to warm up? reminds me of Ravenholm
Like the idea, though.

I'm guessing you haven't played L4D, then, Jeff

My tip to you is, if you can finish creating a decent SP map then you can do this.

Since I haven't even released one that means I can't ;P And I was expecting this to be one of those "Let's all work on a map together" threads

@ The Hunter: I did today at a friend's house, but I did'nt really see much of the campagins, so I still don't see what you're getting at...

Having to fend off the swarm and hold position whilst something is happening is used quite often in the L4D maps, JeffMOD.

Like the radio/ backup in (Death toll, It think it's called? The Contryside one.) ? Now I get it. Thanks Blitzkrieg! Anyway, This thread is getting a little off track: So, what other ideas does TWHL have for HLife_Hotdog's Campaign?

Well, thats a real pain in the ass! We can still design a new type of town though so what should we aim at? I was just playing through Death Toll and I liked Riverside but it would be too urban for this campaign. We also need a good place to start. I came up with an idea for a very large highway, with 4 lanes and a divider in between. Survivors have to make their way along weaving around breaks in the road (as it's a long way down because its over a canyon) and crashed cars and other obstructions. At the end they leave via an offramp which goes straight into the town.

@ZombieLoffe
Don't worry about it too much, as I am still relatively new to the Source mapping thing but this is why I want to do this, to get practice and learn 'The Power of Source' lol

Also, I wanted to avoid the hassle of having a messy community built project, instead having a community designed project, i will do the mapping but will post updates and pics and betas as often as possible, seeing as I have pretty much cleared my project schedule!

Highway sounds good for a start, maybe a banged-up car next to the spawns to explain how the survivors got there? The town could be a small comunity with it's mining and lumber industies, so there would be mostly houses, a few stores, and that would be about it.

I came up with an idea for a very large highway, with 4 lanes and a divider in between.

A guy on Interlopers has worked on a nice looking highway for say nearly a year and is porting it to L4D so...just thought you'd like to know ;P

Dude, chernobyl looks friggin BAD ASS from google maps' satellite photos.

Coordinates: 51.277977, 30.215449

Take from the Pripyat photos combined with the layout from the google map and your set!

I really do fancy the derelict ship yard north of the town.

how about you're waiting for an airlift in the middle of a school football field, and the zombies are just coming out from the bleachers, gym, parking lot. just everywhere.
It's a 360 slaughterfest

Community mapping projects are normally a nightmare. However, the way a l4d campaign is divided into multiple chapters might make it workable- each mapper does one chapter?

A little example of the highway design, with a trigger event to use later. The boat yard could work, we do need something in between the mining yards/mines and the town.

BTW, does anyone know when the SDK is released?

how about you're waiting for an airlift in the middle of a school football field

Really, airlifts are quite bland, we need something new, which is why I opted for a train.

(apparently SOMEONE decided to copy my ending as well! lol) I'm not picky.

Not saying this should be in the community mod, but I love that airlift idea in the football field.

You have to activate the large lights to attract the airlift, and that attracts a huge horde, while you can only see the inside football field because the bright lights block out your view around the field, as zombies rush in and you wonder how many more are out there.

Sorry, Tetsu0's idea gave me a huge moment of inspiration there.