Slow release of SDK... Good or Bad for future of the L4D?

**peardog** · 02-22-2009, 09:44 AM

I was wondering..I am not seeing the same old faces any more on L4D.. I think after the 100th time playing the same map it has gotten old for most players... I am thinking the slow release of the SDK will prevent L4D from keeping up momentum..and if not out soon (like March).. will spell a quick death for the game.. I can see teh game makers honing thier maps perfectly etc.. but let the End Users cut the maps now... make whatever..to keep the excitement up.. Otherwise gamers will be on to the next big thing (and I think this summer will have some good stuff released)..and won't even bother to try the new stuff when it comes out...

Just my 2 cents.. I still play..even though it's now pretty scripted..

**DrBeat** · 02-22-2009, 10:54 AM

We all love instant gratification, so I'd say bad. The SDK base really allows for the game to reach a great level. I think people are hanging around for the SDK, but I can understand a loss of interest in the game, I have. It's not so much a distaste for the levels as it is simply knowing where and when everything occurs.

From those half-price weekends, people are still holding out for a cheap game, I don't think it will die.

**Lyramion** · 02-22-2009, 10:55 AM

I think the game only gets boring on Coop.

VS mode has a hugh portion of replayability since the style of skill and teamwork changes from time to time. I love VS advanced. VS Normal is a tad too easy when the survivors are well trained people.

**[tR]Greasy_mullet** · 02-22-2009, 11:29 AM

slow is bad as it means that it will take longer to get content out. Games are all about the "now" and for fan made content to gather up steam, it needs to come out while the game is still popular or else a good chunk of people that might have been interested in the fan made stuff will have moved on.

gator skywalker · 02-23-2009, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [tR]Greasy_mullet

Games are all about the "now" and for fan made content to gather up steam

Steam needs to gather up steam...very punny, intentional or not. It looks like the mullet is more than just business in the front and party in the rear.

**Lyramion** · 02-23-2009, 09:48 AM

.. on the other side it´s very hard to club a steam game dead

Morganan · 02-23-2009, 10:43 AM

Typically the SDK for valve games comes out from 8-12 months after the games release. TF2 *only* took 6 months for Valve to release the sdk.

I'd say they look to be ahead of past performance for this title, but I know patience is a long-dead virtue for most people anymore.

Jetheren · 02-23-2009, 09:22 PM

The only thing I can say about this is "Valve time." ^^

Celestial1 · 02-23-2009, 11:08 PM

Steam games have a notorious 'why won't you die' phenomena about them.

Regardless of the SDK, maps can and still are being made, the SDK will only make it 'easier'. And at that point, it'll be a literal flood of community modding due to the accessability, and I'm sure valve might think about incorporating some of the better maps into updates or figure out some way of quick distribution.

**Razcsak** · 02-24-2009, 03:53 PM

What will really determine the long-term success of L4D, in my opinion, is how easy downloading and installing custom SDK maps will be.

**Exploding_Silver** · 02-24-2009, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razcsak

What will really determine the long-term success of L4D, in my opinion, is how easy downloading and installing custom SDK maps will be.

I agree, I hope it is like TF2 where if you dont have the map then you just download it from the server automatically there and then
Also if the map downloads were not too big

Morganan · 02-24-2009, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exploding_Silver

I agree, I hope it is like TF2 where if you dont have the map then you just download it from the server automatically there and then
Also if the map downloads were not too big

I think custom maps have to download while in the lobby for this game. They have said the matchmaking lobbys will be changed to allow for custom maps with this patch, so I would guess the lobby would have to find a server with the custom and reserve that server, so why not begin the downloading right there and then, and let the game start once the download completes?

I just think it's bad for this particular title to play 2v4 for xxx minutes while your other 2 teammates download the map. You are looking at a target map size of from 5mb to 40mb/map for all the required files and campaigns of 1-5 maps, it would simply be silly not to download them in the lobby.