Editor's note: Kevin breathes new life into Left 4 Dead via tweaking console commands. I'm not sure I want to play on his team, though -- sounds hard! -Demian
I honestly wish Left 4 Dead 2 wasn't out yet. I'm sure it's a superior game compared to its predecessor, but most people are already drowning in good games from the end of 2009. Worse, my friends and I are are all broke and stuck playing the original Left 4 Dead. Not that that's a bad thing -- we've just hit the point where we're having fun but wish for something new.
So I decided to shake things up a bit via console commands. Here they come....
Over the course of a few days, I created my own custom difficulty settings -- I could make the game harder, and make LAN games a lot more interesting. Did I also mention that you can host LAN games using console commands?
I learned a lot by diving into the configuration files hidden in the depths of Left 4 Dead's game folders. For example, I didn't know you could plug 360 controllers in and they'd be instantly functional, or that you can play PC splitscreen with controllers. That means you need four fewer PCs and copies of L4D to play a full Versus match! Sweet.
The first change I made was to lower the "survivor_max_incapacitated_count" command from two to zero. By default, survivors can bottom out on hit points twice before they die for good. At zero, once you lose all 100 HP, you just die.
The resulting change to the Left 4 Dead co-op experience was amazing. We avoided Witches at all costs ("one-hit-death moments" ensue), Tanks required more careful sidestepping, and we covered each others' backs like crazy. By the end of one campaign (which took forever, by the way), we had so many protecting stats.
Then I made it harder. I bumped up the max horde size by almost 3X and the finale horde size by 2X. Crescendo and finale events suddenly got a lot more serious. The bullets flew.
My next tweak was more of a joke -- I gave the Special Infected the "Martyrdom" perk. When killed, they dropped a live Molotov cocktail at their feet, setting the ground around them ablaze.
Obviously, we died many, many times. On Normal. Why? Because I also bumped up the friendly-fire percentage from 10% gun damage (default) to 50%.
In just a few days' time, my teammates went from reckless run 'n gunners to cautious, jittery sharpshooters. Awesome, right? Exactly.
It was as close as I've been to game development, and I had a fun few days testing out my configurations and fixing balance issues. At one point, I spent hours tweaking the "thirdpersonshoulder" command before I realized that over-the-shoulder third-person view just makes Left 4 Dead balls hard.
I just made a simple difficulty mod that you can toggle on and off in-game with a keypress, but I'm very proud of it. I actually plan on improving it more and more. Just wanted to share my latest gaming addiction with you guys -- thanks for reading, merry (late) Christmas, tip your waitresses, and Happy Zombie Killing!
