Telltale’s tackle The Walking Dead was completely timed with the peak of the franchise’s reputation, and provided such a pitch-perfect tone that it’s powerful to think about it having come out another means. But apparently it virtually was one thing totally different – pending approval from Valve, we’d’ve had an episodic story primarily based on Left 4 Dead.
According to Sean Vanaman – one of many challenge leads on The Walking Dead: Season One – the primary prototype for the game was primarily based on the Left 4 Dead IP. The studio talked to Valve about making {that a} actuality, however apparently that deal was by no means finalized. Instead, it turned an adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s hit zombie comedian.
That authentic, L4D-based prototype was all textual content and UI, and “almost nothing” carried over to the ultimate game, according to content material programmer Carl Muckenhoupt. The prototype did function an “active world” idea, the place issues frequently occurred within the game world round you no matter how lengthy you took. That concept fashioned the premise for the energetic dialog timers in The Walking Dead.
Dave Grossman, a former Telltale dev who’s greatest identified for his work on Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle at LucasArts, adds that the L4D prototype was an try to resolve a few of journey gaming’s oldest issues. “That ‘active world’ was the main point of the whole exercise. Adventure games have lousy pacing, what can we do about that…”
– The Walking Dead’s first prototype was all textual content and UI, constructed by @CarlMuckenhoupt and primarily based across the L4D IP (somebody talked to Valve about us doing it and it by no means occurred however TWD did!)
— Sean Vanaman (@vanaman) September 24, 2018
Curiously, VG247 spoke to author Alexis Kennedy right this moment about an unnamed, story-focused zombie survival game that spent years at numerous phases of improvement. Apparently, it was “based on a popular video game series that isn’t anything to do with The Walking Dead” – that might imply many issues except for Left 4 Dead, nevertheless it’s potential that connection persevered.
Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, co-leads on The Walking Dead: Season One, went to type Campo Santo after that game’s launch. Earlier this 12 months, Valve acquired Campo Santo. That Left 4 Dead spinoff might by no means see the sunshine of day, nevertheless it’s all come full circle in the long run.
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