Creation
January 2020 - May 2020
Shoreline is a short play-time Left 4 Dead 2 map intended for use in the single player or versus gameplay modes. Shoreline was my first experience mapping for the Left 4 Dead series and my third large-scale map produced using the Hammer level editor. The use of the L4D2 mapping tools presented particular level design challenges that took some working around. The AI Director and Navigation Meshes are very unique properties of the game and forced some creative finessing to achieve my desired results.
Shoreline’s final product, while not perfect, is a piece that I feel proud of. My intention with this map was to create a piece that offers the Infected players and AI an advantage over the Survivors without making it simply unfair. What makes Left 4 Dead enjoyable is its chaotic nature and sense of “us against the world”. The game can be very difficult and that is what makes it rewarding. Shoreline is designed with it’s wide-to-tight spaces and copious points of horde spawning to achieve this.
