"you can kill my specimens, but what about the millions more that are waiting to greet you outside?"
-Dr.Logan
Well it's been a long time since I've spoken to the loyal fans of Day of the Dead: retribution who are following this page, all 4 of you, my wolf pack lol and i wanted to bring you all into whats been happening and what exactly is going to happen this year, but first id like you to get to know me a bit more and why I'm doing this. So lets kick things off shall we ?
How did i get here?
Growing up films were really important to me, as a child i was fortunate enough to have an understanding family and i was able to sneak 15+ films away for my own viewing, which meant i was able to catch some real classics first time around or at least get my head around them early on. When i was about 9 or 10 years old ( the mists of time help me forget lol) i had cultivated a healthy obsession with horror films, the 80's was a fairly easy time to do that i must say, if you have ever bought a copy of Fangoria magazine you may be able to relate at least a little bit. I had always been a huge fan of the film "Demons" by Dario Argento, a film revolving around a cinema in which the patrons get turned into monstrous demons with claws who scratch people who then turn into demons with claws, you get the idea and as you can imagine much gore was to be had, but there was more than that, this film was my first encounter with the whole concept of a "pandemic of murder" and how our hero's survive, or more interestingly, why they don't survive.
I remember stumbling across Day of the Dead quite by accident in my local video rental shop, ultimately it came down to a fight between Day of the Dead and a film i would not get around to watching until i was 23, Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", which i highly recommend as a side note. So there i was, an eager 9yr old gore-hound itching to see another splat fest as the world falls apart. Instead, i found something very different in "Day of the Dead", it showed me extremes of human behaviour i had not considered before (what 9 year old does) watching it, from Captain Rhodes's hateful takeover of the complex to Miguel's decline into suicide the film shows us how humanity's decline is almost inevitable, were it not for the amazing examples of kindness and beauty that are also to be found in the film, Sarah's Love for Miguel, though somewhat broken by the doctor/patient relationship, feels genuine and flawed, like real love, John and Billy we realise, quietly spend there time getting drunk in a pretend beach they have built away from the others, the films subtext is deeply contrasting which is why the events feel so devastating to watch play out. Before i digress too much, simply put, this was how i encountered George Romero and fell in love with the apocalypse.
Be careful what you Google, you might just get it...
I have always been creative in one form or another, i couldn't tell you what I'm looking for as an artist, except to tell stories, that's what i really love to do.So there i was in 2010, i was studying a Degree in Digital film and special effects this time and had also been investing quite a bit of time in Left 4 Dead 2, mostly on Xbox i admit and after finally getting a decent PC i i got for myself on PC, after finding custom maps etc on line i had that thought that just about everyone has at some point "wouldn't it be great if *insert reference* was on *insert game* so of course mine was "Day of the Dead" on "Left 4 Dead 2".
The source engine has a long history of community creations, some of its most successful games started life that way, so fortunately when i decided i wanted to do it, the Internet was more than helpful, there a wealth of knowledge out there, if you are willing to dig your heels in and figure things out, but what soon becomes apparent is the sheer size of the workload, i hear a lot about people using hammer as a hobby, but if your making things even semi regularly it really is more of an unpaid job. Don't think I'm complaining though, as i said i love telling stories, and that's what i see Level design as, telling stories.
My "journey" through level design ( to be a bit farty with words) has been an odd one but a truly amazing ride, i was always uncomfortable with the idea that i wouldn't do Day of the dead justice because of a lack of experience with the source engine, so what i found myself doing was when i hit a hurdle with Day of the Dead i would break of and learn what i needed to know by making something else, something i wasn't so precious about to cut a long story short 2 years later i had about 8 L4D2 maps only one of which was day of the dead, and then that was a horribly unfinished teaser just to get some ideas from people playing. I learnt a lot, but as i got closer to Creating day of the dead i found it harder and harder to look past the running zombies and special infected, which i loved don't get me wrong, but were just the opposite to the true feel of that genre, the zombies moving slowly is not just an aesthetic, it sets the tone and atmosphere of the threat in the world, to me the slow moving zombies represent the subtext of the film, "Inevitable death", Aside from this i was also wanting to make the most of what i had learnt about the source engine and do something with it that was more than just extra content. This is how i found the source mod "No More Room in Hell" and was luckily enough accepted to be on the team as a level designer.
"When are you gonna show us something that we can understand?"
Alright captain, cool your heels, I'm getting to it. Sadly i cannot promise that i will finish Day of the dead for Left 4 dead 2, i know this will annoy some people as it has been a long time, i know one guy on l4d maps who will be saying "i told ya so" but I'm not concerned about grave dancing, that's something we just have to live with. The good news is that it is now being developed for No More Room in Hell, it will be under a different name for obvious reasons and i cannot share any screens or details yet as that's not my department, its a little bit naughty me even telling you this much, but i figure if you've been waiting for this you deserve to know and honestly, look at the followers, theirs 4 of you, it would be a bigger leak if i shouted it out my window. What i can tell you is the level has never looked better, or more accurate to the film, and with the true atmosphere of the slow moving corpses, its the last touch i was missing, I have tried to capture all the high point moments of the film in the game-play while still allowing it be its own thing, i think fans of the film will get a genuine boost and none fans hopefully will give the film a try, at least that's one of my many hopes.
If you have read this far then you really must be a trooper so thank you, and for something a reward let me share with you this, last year i contacted the actor who played Captain Rhodes, Joe Pilato and showed him the work i had been doing on Day of the Dead: Retribution, unexpectedly he replied ! he said how awesome it looked, i did doubt whether or not it was him if I'm honest , we all know the Internet, however he proved me wrong when he sent me this video...
What can i say to that other than... yes sir! fuck you sir! ;)
Yours, bizarrely
Neil "Lou Saffire" Thorpe
