Turtle Rock Studios are best known as the team that were in charge of developing a number of Counter-Strike products working with Valve, including Counter-Strike for the Xbox, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source. Now Turtle Rock are striking out on their own with Left 4 Dead, a Source engine zombie action game that will concentrate on co-op multiplayer. Turtle Rock founder Michael Booth recently answered some of our questions about Left 4 Dead which is due for release on the PC sometime later this year.
FiringSquad: First, how did the idea for Left 4 Dead come about?
Michael Booth: During the past few years while collaborating with Valve on Counter-Strike and the CS Bot, we"ve been experimenting and iterating with co-op game designs, all of which have gravitated toward the survival horror theme. Left 4 Dead represents a growing collection of the best features and ideas we"ve come up with during this iterative design process.
FiringSquad: Why zombies as the main enemy instead of things like aliens or monsters or counter-terrorists?
Michael Booth: The concept of being surrounded by hordes of rabid, dangerous creatures is a natural reinforcement for co-operative play. I also find the idea of a horrific civilization-disrupting pandemic frighteningly plausible, which adds to the drama and atmosphere. Plus, it"s fun to shoot zombies.
Check out the link to Firingsquad for the full interview on this upcoming zombie blood-fest.