The Cold Springs Bridge, a survival map available at L4Dmaps.com, has been released. Simply click “Download” and open the containing ZIP file. Once downloaded, installation is as easy as double-clicking the VPK file or dragging it to your left4dead/addons folder.

I’m very happy with the way this has turned out and look forward to building more survival maps in the future. There are many I’d like to thank, most notably: Mobilla, Luigi30, thedaian, Irish Taxi Driver, Rectus, Blazing Ownager, everyone on the Valve SDK forum and everyone in the SDK thread at Something Awful.

For the campaign, a fictional modern-style drawbridge will be used. For our survival campaign, we decided to keep it a little simpler. After doing some research on Google, it was decided to make a full-scale replica of the Cold Springs Bridge just north of Santa Barbara, California. It was chosen because of its relative simplicity: Flat, narrow, simple side-railing. Its dark name offers a sense of foreboding. In addition, the bridge carries with it a terrifying history; it is Santa Barbara County’s top suicide location.

There are a number of elements being tested on this map such as an imported skybox from Half-Life 2: Episode One, customized environment sounds, physics props (cars for the tanks to throw), and a long — but narrow — playing space that offers dangers from various infected who may push or pull you to your death over 400 feet below. Infected themselves are set to spawn underneath the bridge, out of view of the player, and then crawl their way over the sides. Other infected will spawn further down the bridge, in the thick fog obscuring your view.

The story is a simple one. The Survivors, having escaped the horrors of Pennsylvania, have managed to make it to the west coast with the help of a man driving an old bus and are en route for a military evacuation zone near Los Angeles. They come to a road block and proceed to crash after the bus veers to avoid an infected, the driver of the bus killed instantly. The rest of the caravan manages to create a blockage at the far end of the bridge. The Survivors’ only choice is to radio that they’ve had an accident, load up, and attempt to cross the bridge on foot.

Cars sit abandoned, some still draining what little of their battery is left. Crows fly overhead looking for anything to eat. Suddenly the horde descend upon them from all sides, climbing from cars or over the guardrail. The Survivors make it to the other end of the bridge only to discover their path is hopelessly blocked. Here the Survivors make their last stand, unable to escape their fate.

In most survival-mode maps, the goal is simple: Survive as long as possible. Because of the linear setting of the bridge, we wanted to offer players a “reward” for making it to the far end. There, waiting like silent sentries, will be two miniguns. An ammo stash and a few pipe-bombs and molotovs will offer support.

There is still plenty of work to be done, but we’re hoping to release this survival map within the next couple of weeks. We’re happy with the environment settings, though many things still need to be added to bring that extra touch of detail to the world. The navmesh also needs special attention to make sure that the underside of the bridge works as intended.

With all said-and-done, we’re hoping to offer players a unique survival map experience that will leave them breathless and whispering “that was epic.”

The updated version of Hammer still feels like the same ol’ Hammer we know and love. It has been redesigned, though, specifically for Left 4 Dead campaings, versus, and survival map editing. One of my favorite new features is that, once the model files are loaded, they stay loaded during a session. The SDK also comes with tons of example files to help newbies (such as us) get started.

Progress on The Suburbs is going well and we’re just finishing up with details on the house. Rick is currently making texture files to replace the “white boards” you see in the screenshots below, so please keep in mind that those are temporary placeholders.

This is a shot from the dining room looking out to the new backyard.

The front of the house; seen here is the garage to the left and the front porch to the right.

From the corner of the backyard, showing the back side of the house. The idea is that the survivors will start the campaign in the tree to the left, in a child’s treehouse they’ve been using for shelter. The fog controller’s colors still need to be tuned to better match the skybox.

A view of the backyard from the master bedroom. I was sucessfully able to climb through an upstairs window and onto the roof, so keep that in mind as it may serve as a strategic spot during the game.

Obviously there’s still quite a bit to go. Plans are to add bushes and piles of leaves, the treehouse, furniture, doors and windows, and various other details. Custom textures and models are also slated to be shown in the next few updates.

The first shot is of upstairs; a bedroom to the left, a bathroom to the right, and the master bedroom behind the player. In the second shot you see the main hallway of the house, looking toward the front door from the family room. A bathroom and living room are on the left and the garage is to the right (where the other survivors are located). Blocking the view of the front door is the stairs up. The third screengrab shows the kitchen and family room. French doors and a large window will allow access to the backyard.

Doors and windows are up next to detail and, with the roof and porch in place, the first house should be complete. The idea behind this part of the game is that the houses will all look similar, but hold differences inside. I plan to make one a spot to pick up some Level 2 Weapons, but don’t ask me which house it will be. ;-)

Fog controllers, skymaps, and various dynamic objects have all been tested and are working. The Navmesh is still to come, which will allow infected to appear.

Fairly generic, we wanted to go with something that stuck with the original theme of Left 4 Dead. The campaign posters appear at the beginning of each campaign when playing a game, letting you know who is playing which of the four characters. They’re also great for adding a touch of professionalism to your custom campaign.

Many thanks go out to L4D Mapping Tools for making the .psd template available for download!

The first stage of Sprawling Terror takes place in an upper-middle-class neighborhood and, quite simply, the game’s shipped vehicles simply will not do in attempting to represent this atmosphere. So we sat down and began thinking about what types of vehicles we would like to see instead. A ton of ideas were thrown out originally, but we had to narrow the scope down some. A lot of the game’s default vehicles will be included throughout, but five new vehicles were slated to be created based on real-world models: A Volkswagen New Beetle, a Lexus RX, Hummer H3, Honda Odyssey, and Ford Focus. Basically a modest collection of the most generic vehicles we could think of.

Below is the final low-poly model of the “New Beetle”, before textures have been applied.

The wireframe is included just for flair. Keep an eye out for this one in garages and driveways throughout the campaign; just remember to keep your distance so you don’t accidentally set off the car alarm!

Left 4 Dead: Sprawling Terror begins in the backyard of a sleepy suburban neighborhood. You and your three other teammates then fight your way through hordes of the infected in the neighborhood, through mega-stores and strip malls, along a freeway bridge, ultimately to end up at the Fairfield Convention Center where you will battle to stay alive long enough to be rescued.

The official Authoring Tools for Left 4 Dead are yet to be released, but work has begun on the campaign already. Custom campaigns, like a full conversion modification to a game, can utilize custom maps, models, textures, and characters. Our goal is to stick to the original theme of Left 4 Dead and its setting location and characters while offering a fresh, professional expeirence.

In the end, we’re looking to make a campaign that is engaging, is replayable, and is fun. You can help us do just that by providing input and feedback. We’d love to hear it.