What? You hate mountains?
No, it’s not a joke, and no, we don’t really hate mountains.
“I Hate Mountains” is the name of a brand new Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 campaign made by three French friends. Be aware that this campaign is built the Valve way, we are not trying to revolutionize anything, we just want to provide more content to this awesome game. Read ahead to learn more about it.
Why are we doing it?
Because we friggin’ love this game.
We are playing Left 4 Dead together since the early days, during the Festival du Jeu-Vidéo in Paris, in 2008 (before the release). We played this game so much and always on the same campaigns that we believe it needs fresh new content, quickly. We were sick of playing rubbish campaigns that overlook everything and didn’t even try to create any ambiance nor any sense of fear and desolation in this creepy universe. Unfortunately, this has taken way more time than we initially thought and that’s all water under the bridge now. A sequel to Left 4 Dead was released in the meantime and we’re doing our best to catch-up on two games at the same time.
How are we doing it?
We are simply pushing the very limits of the Left 4 Dead engine to make room for all our ideas. You could see this as a joke, but it’s not. Some of our levels are so complex and detailed that optimizing them took entire months. We broke the limits multiple times, having too much geometry, too much dynamic stuff going on, too much animations, and so on. We are simply applying industry-standard methods in a fun and casual way, between three friends who love this game and creating stuff. We really want to do better than anything previously released for Left 4 Dead. That may sound smartass, but it’s a good way to get yourself motivated.
More details on the campaign
The I Hate Mountains campaign is divided into five different maps, just like Valve did with their own campaigns in Left 4 Dead 1. The difference is that our campaign is entirely nature-oriented, there’s only a few building and most of the action takes place in outdoor environments, which is a challenge to build in itself. We also focused our development on offering a better re-playability by providing several long alternate paths in the levels that can totally change the way you play it.
 |
Lost in the Woods The survivors crashed their bus in an utility pole of this dark forest while fleeing. They must now find their way through the spooky North American mountains. |
 |
Climbing the Manor The survivors got out of the forest and must now reach the highest point of this manor and try to launch a distress call from the radio broadcasting some tape loop. |
 |
The Underground Way Escaped from the manor, the survivors are now fleeing through an old system of caves and tunnels running under the manor and through the mountains. |
 |
Lumberyard Evacuation Freshly escaped from this oppressing cave system, survivors are now looking for help and rescue in the nearby lumberyard where military forces set up their outpost. |
 |
Lakeside Finale Fleeing the now infected and desolated lumberyard, the survivors find themselves blocked by a lake and are eagerly waiting to be rescued by whoever could catch their signal. |
Who are we?
Mostly people from the Portal: Prelude team.
We are three friends with a professional, a student and an amateur background of the video-game industry. Check out the Meet the team page for more details.