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Once Valve stepped in, they decided to redesign the survivors, because they thought they looked too well-prepared for the apocalypse, which within the game's lore had just begun. They also believed that if the survivors were in a more casual and everyday design, then they would resonate with a wider audience.
Valve also wanted to have cinematic cutscenes in the final game, and thought that the designs were too simplistic and wouldn't translate well into them. So instead of using stock photos for their new designs, they instead hired actors to be directly modeled for the survivors to give them a higher quality design: Bernard Fouquet (Bill), Sonja Kinski (Zoey), Sean Bennett (Louis), & Taylor Knox (Francis).
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According to developer interviews, Left 4 Dead was originally conceived as a multiplayer game where a team of player-controlled survivors would fight against a team of player-controlled infected. It is unknown how much work was done with this version of the game, or even if a playable build even exists. While not the main focus in the final game, a similar mode would exist with the 'Versus Mode'.
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According to the Co-creator of Left 4 Dead, Chet Faliszek. The original two conceived titles for Left 4 Dead were: "Terror Terror Terror!" And "Blood Run".
"Terror Terror Terror!" had briefly been trademarked before being dropped as a title, but "Blood Run" was rejected promptly due to Faliszek hating the word 'Blood' being in it.
Eventually after a list of titles were suggested, Erik Wolpaw was the one to come up with "Left 4 Dead".
"Terror Terror Terror!" had briefly been trademarked before being dropped as a title, but "Blood Run" was rejected promptly due to Faliszek hating the word 'Blood' being in it.
Eventually after a list of titles were suggested, Erik Wolpaw was the one to come up with "Left 4 Dead".
Video about Left 4 Dead development:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkolfuoOm8
Tweet from Chet Faliszek about tentative names:
https://twitter.com/chetfaliszek/status/1709649238886658405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkolfuoOm8
Tweet from Chet Faliszek about tentative names:
https://twitter.com/chetfaliszek/status/1709649238886658405
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The PC version of the game contains unused code that allows for split screen multiplayer. The code is functional, and it's possible to modify files to re-enable it.
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In chapter 4 of the "No Mercy" campaign, in a room near the elevator, there are three x-ray images on the wall. One of them is of a hand that is missing the thumb: the Left 4 Dead logo.
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The achievement "Zombie Genocidest" is a reference to Dead Rising, in which the player must kill 53,594 zombies to receive the achievement "Zombie Genocider". In order to outdo Dead Rising, Valve included this achievement and added one more to the kill count. "Genocidest" functions as a play on words: going from the comparative suffix "er" (of Genocider) to the superlative suffix "est" emphasizes Valve's one-upmanship.
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A number of infected that were visible in concept art were cut from the final game. These include:
• An infected with a large colony of rats bursting from its stomach, likely to be found in the sewer.
• A slow but strong giant called "Meat Wall" (which resembles a cross between a Boomer and a Tank).
• An infected named "Claws", which was possibly intended to be a male version of the Witch.
• An infected pig named "Hell Hog", likely intended for Blood Harvest.
• An infected with a large colony of rats bursting from its stomach, likely to be found in the sewer.
• A slow but strong giant called "Meat Wall" (which resembles a cross between a Boomer and a Tank).
• An infected named "Claws", which was possibly intended to be a male version of the Witch.
• An infected pig named "Hell Hog", likely intended for Blood Harvest.
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In the Left 4 Dead (left4dead) and Left 4 Dead 2 (left4dead2 and left4dead2_dlc3) sound files, there are some sounds similiar to a dog. All of them seem to have been cut, but they still exist in the game files. The attack sounds for "zombiedog" were recycled for the Hunter when he'd attack with his claws. This could explain why the Hunter yelps like a dog when he is killed. According to some of the Church Guy's "combatcolor" sound files, the "dog" sounds seem to have been re-made for when he would turn into a Hunter.
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Bill's voice actor, Jim French, had a busy work schedule during development of Crash Course. As a result, Bill had no new lines and rarely spoke during the campaign.
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According to the Left 4 Dead Commentary, the logic behind a rescue closet is that the "dead" survivor did not actually die, but was instead so badly hurt that they crawled into a closet, barricaded themselves in, and recovered somewhat, before noticing they couldn't get out.
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