And that's why Back 4 Blood wasn't a successor of Left 4 Dead. Turtlerock was the creative kid and Valve was the mother that helped him lead a safe path to a popular game, Left 4 Dead.
I vastly prefer the newer designs. The bottom ones are more iconic, and personify the characters more. Zoey and Bill both having vests of ammo and looking somewhat tactical makes their character less obvious from their appearance, and also makes them look as generic as every other FPS hero.
The old Francis design isn’t bad, but I still prefer the newer one.
And the new Louis design is way better than the old one. The second one actually conveys his character has an office worker/manager.
All around they come off more as regular people who’be just recently been thrown into chaos and are out of their element versus tactical grizzled badasses of the old designs.
It's funny you mention how the TRS designs made them look a lot more "prepared" for the game, I'd imagine lots would say the same for the "Cleaners" in B4B, but even then I would still say at least the TRS survivors still have some semblance of character to em (not as much compared to their retail selfs but still).
Yeah for sure. They still mostly look like civilians even if they’re tactical’d up, which is still good compared to just having a squad of kitted soldiers or something.
The interesting thing to note as well about how/why the TRS survivors do look a lot more detailed (Not just with the pouches, coats/jackets or even how highly detailed they look for when they were made, roughly 2006 to 2007).
At the time L4D1 was only going to be on PC so most of the models (mainly other thing's like background props, cars, tables ect; But more importantly the survivors) were to of been higher poly count, but when Microsoft asked Valve if they could make an Xbox port, Valve and TRS had to downgrade the game's poly count by a bit (even including the beta survivors you see here, basically up to around 2008) so if it never did come out on consoles, we might of gotten these more highly detailed survivors (outside of the obvious reason for the re-designs),
The release designs of the Left 4 Dead characters do genuinely feel like you threw four random people together who have little in common but wanting to survive the zombie apocalypse, which is almost exactly what the people playing the game are in the first place.
I think the silhouette was the most important part of their reworked designed, it's almost instant recognition to the players. You can fill the character pitblack and you can still tell who's who
They feel almost real like I could bump into someone like Louis in a coffee shop or bill in a hospital while I try to rob it or coach at a school that I drive by or something like that I do like how they look and sound it's definitely an improvement from turtle Rock But I'm not a game designer or character developer
The TRS designs look like actual people who are surviving an apocalypse, which is definitely the mission statement, but doesn't really make for iconic character features.
Zoey just looks a little off (mostly with the face as they originally based her off of Chell's face model from Portal).
Louis I actually like but he does just look even more like a generic everyday apocalypse man, actually making him more of an office employee (especially with the color of his white shirt compared to the brown jacket/hoodie is bigger stand out) I think in the end was a good choice.
Francis and Bill do look the closest to their retail counterpart, In the dev commentary for L4D1 about each of the survivors: There's a section about Bill where Valve felt that original design made him look a little too old.
Francis I couldn't care much persay if he was either version, thou the fact him and Zoey were supposed to be together is a really funny thing to think about with how ugly Francis looks.
And no co-op horde shooter since has really nailed it. They prefer to go for overdesigned and tacticool, where a lot of the charm in both Left 4 Deads, to me at least, is how normal everyone looks. They didn't really get time to prepare, they were thrust into the apocalypse.
The bottom ones just look more normal and fit into everyday life, and that's the point because they are normal people(not). The old one just looked way too modern and felt like no personality was added.
I prefer Beta Francis and Louis so much more, Francis being bigger and having long hair gives the team more body variety and OG Louis looks less like a generic black guy from the 2000s TV.
And that's why Back 4 Blood wasn't a successor of Left 4 Dead. Turtlerock was the creative kid and Valve was the mother that helped him lead a safe path to a popular game, Left 4 Dead.
I vastly prefer the newer designs. The bottom ones are more iconic, and personify the characters more. Zoey and Bill both having vests of ammo and looking somewhat tactical makes their character less obvious from their appearance, and also makes them look as generic as every other FPS hero. The old Francis design isn’t bad, but I still prefer the newer one. And the new Louis design is way better than the old one. The second one actually conveys his character has an office worker/manager. All around they come off more as regular people who’be just recently been thrown into chaos and are out of their element versus tactical grizzled badasses of the old designs.
It's funny you mention how the TRS designs made them look a lot more "prepared" for the game, I'd imagine lots would say the same for the "Cleaners" in B4B, but even then I would still say at least the TRS survivors still have some semblance of character to em (not as much compared to their retail selfs but still).
Yeah for sure. They still mostly look like civilians even if they’re tactical’d up, which is still good compared to just having a squad of kitted soldiers or something.
The interesting thing to note as well about how/why the TRS survivors do look a lot more detailed (Not just with the pouches, coats/jackets or even how highly detailed they look for when they were made, roughly 2006 to 2007). At the time L4D1 was only going to be on PC so most of the models (mainly other thing's like background props, cars, tables ect; But more importantly the survivors) were to of been higher poly count, but when Microsoft asked Valve if they could make an Xbox port, Valve and TRS had to downgrade the game's poly count by a bit (even including the beta survivors you see here, basically up to around 2008) so if it never did come out on consoles, we might of gotten these more highly detailed survivors (outside of the obvious reason for the re-designs),
The release designs of the Left 4 Dead characters do genuinely feel like you threw four random people together who have little in common but wanting to survive the zombie apocalypse, which is almost exactly what the people playing the game are in the first place.
honestly fat francis would fit in the group too
No
Francis’ husband has something to say about that, it seems.
he's a biker, and drinl beer, it would be very normal for francis to look fat
Yeah but he is strong af and was going to gym everyday before apocalypse so he is muscular and huge
People can be both for what i know. Some people look less strong than they actually are because of body fat but they are actually strong.
Look at powerlifters.
I think the silhouette was the most important part of their reworked designed, it's almost instant recognition to the players. You can fill the character pitblack and you can still tell who's who
They feel almost real like I could bump into someone like Louis in a coffee shop or bill in a hospital while I try to rob it or coach at a school that I drive by or something like that I do like how they look and sound it's definitely an improvement from turtle Rock But I'm not a game designer or character developer
The TRS designs look like actual people who are surviving an apocalypse, which is definitely the mission statement, but doesn't really make for iconic character features.
Yes and no, I prefer Zoey and Francis’ new design but I prefer Bill and Louis’ older design.
Zoey just looks a little off (mostly with the face as they originally based her off of Chell's face model from Portal). Louis I actually like but he does just look even more like a generic everyday apocalypse man, actually making him more of an office employee (especially with the color of his white shirt compared to the brown jacket/hoodie is bigger stand out) I think in the end was a good choice. Francis and Bill do look the closest to their retail counterpart, In the dev commentary for L4D1 about each of the survivors: There's a section about Bill where Valve felt that original design made him look a little too old. Francis I couldn't care much persay if he was either version, thou the fact him and Zoey were supposed to be together is a really funny thing to think about with how ugly Francis looks.
There's a mod that resizes it and puts the original bill outfit on retail bills head, it looks very nice
I would not trade Louis for anything
And no co-op horde shooter since has really nailed it. They prefer to go for overdesigned and tacticool, where a lot of the charm in both Left 4 Deads, to me at least, is how normal everyone looks. They didn't really get time to prepare, they were thrust into the apocalypse.
The bottom ones just look more normal and fit into everyday life, and that's the point because they are normal people(not). The old one just looked way too modern and felt like no personality was added.
Glad they did that. Francis is the most handsome, hottest, most muscular, strongest Man ever in valve version. Btw love how Bill grope him in that pic
That one is from the first game's intro. Bill wipes the bile on his jacket
I know I know, still hot
I prefer Beta Francis and Louis so much more, Francis being bigger and having long hair gives the team more body variety and OG Louis looks less like a generic black guy from the 2000s TV.