New and improved version here: L4D Courtyard 2
L4D Courtyard

‘L4D Courtyard’ is a remake of Survival Mode in Left 4 Dead on a brand new map. As a survivor you must last as long as possible, killing anything that threatens you. You must use everything you can find to your advantage. As a zombie, you must destroy the survivors at all costs. Whether you are a Smoker, Hunter, Boomer, or even a Tank, you can’t stop until you mission is complete. Both sides must work together to perform best. This map captures the suspense, action, and teamwork of Left 4 Dead.

Story: Four survivors of the zombie outbreak in Sandy City have been running and killing zombies for days, and are getting worn out. They need some water badly, or they will die. They have found a courtyard with a dried up fountain. They need to start up the water in the fountain again, but it comes with a cost. The loud noise of the fountain will alert surrounding zombies, so once they activate it, they must fight to survive. This could be the end of the four survivors of Sandy City.

The Players and The Map: Survivors start out on top of a building with Magnums. They have two minutes to prepare for the zombie attack. They start out by choosing there starting weapon by going down tubes. One tube has a Shotgun (Auto Shotgun), one has a Sniper (Hunting Rifle), and the other has a Battle Rifle (Assault Rifle). Once they choose their preferred weapon, they can walk out of the tube and into the courtyard. After one minute, the tubes will be blocked to prevent zombies from using human weapons, so be quick! Survivors have lots to do in there two minutes to prepare for the zombie attack. They can scavenge for various items including: Grenades (Pipe Bombs), Firebombs (Molotovs), Trip Mines (Gas Cans), Bubble Shields (Pain Pills), and an extra Magnum (extra Pistol). Items can be in hard to reach places, under pallets, or just in a corner. There is enough for every player to get one of everything, so be efficient! There are scattered fusion coils around the level that can be strategically positioned and a turret to use (Note: To use the turret, beat it down a few times. It was a bit overpowered with unlimited ammo, and you can’t use turrets when vehicles are disabled.). There are many places to hide: high, low, open, enclosed, and more. Once the blue light goes on (water in the fountain), prepare for survival.

Survivors have normal speed, max gravity, and always a waypoint over their head. They have a very close range radar to simulate hearing zombies near you like in Left 4 Dead. They get unlimited ammo (because I never found ammo to be a problem in Left 4 Dead, and it would be a much bigger pain in Halo due to low ammo caps), no starting grenades, and have lots of health and a bit of damage resistance. They have 4x Overshields that never recharge to simulate health so they know when they are close to dying.

The zombies start out on a box in the Skybubble with SMGs. They have normal speed, normal gravity, and no shields with no immunity to headshots (similar to Left 4 Dead). They have to wait two minutes for a bridge to appear, allowing them to access teleporters to enter the courtyard. They must jump into tubes to access their weapons and teleporters. Alpha zombies can choose to be one of four Special Infected zombies:

·Hunters: These zombies get Active Camo, a Radar Jammer, and an Energy Sword. They are all about stealth and attacking at the most unsuspecting times, just like in Left 4 Dead.

·Smokers: These zombies get a Carbine and a Deployable Cover. Like in left 4 Dead, they have great range, and can dish out some solid damage.

·Boomers: These zombies get a Shotgun and a Flare. They are close combat fighters, but they can assist their fellow zombies by blocking the survivors view for a short period of time. This allows for their teammates and them to coordinate a surprise attack.

·Tanks: Every three minutes, there can be a Tank. The Tank gets a Custom Powerup, Gravity Hammer, Gravity Lift (to allow them to “climb” up ledges like in Left 4 Dead), and two Grenades (rocks). The Custom Powerup gives them 110% speed, 200% damage resistance, extra damage (kills survivors in three hits, similar to Left 4 Dead), and Overshields. The default gametype has the Tank with 4x Overshields, which is balanced for a 4 vs. 4 game. But, if there is less people the Overshields should be tweaked. 3 vs. 3 should be 3x Overshields, 2 vs. 2 should be 2x Overshields, and 1 vs. 1 should be regular shields (If you even play 1 vs. 1). The Tanks powerup only last 90 seconds, so running is a good tactic for the survivors, just like in Left 4 Dead. Tanks shields had to recharge in order for Overshields to work, but if a Tank chooses to take cover to recharge its shields, there should be more than enough time for the survivors to run away from the Tank since the powers only last 90 seconds. Letting your shields recharge would almost always be a disadvantage for the Tank, so it is not a big deal. Tanks need to get as close as possible as fast as possible.

When a survivor dies, they become a Common Infected. The Common Infected get SMGs, have max gravity (so they can’t become special infected), and 200% speed so they are fast like in Left 4 Dead and so they have a chance at doing a bit of damage.

Description: Initial zombie count is at 50%, but is best played 4 vs. 4 (although other amounts work great as well). Survivors get one point for every kill, zombies get 5. Once they all die, everyone switches teams. Survivors have many cool places to hide. While a roof may have only one entrance for a survivor, it has multiple for a zombie. There is a breakable door in one building, and a knock-overable bridge which allows you to get some extra items on another. The zombies randomly enter the level through teleporters. There are four receiver nodes, each relatively close to each of the corners of the map. The receiver nodes are near immediate cover, and allow for multiple paths towards survivors. The spawn time is 20 seconds, not as long as Left 4 Dead, but long enough to make you think before you attack. Every piece of damage counts. The equipment spawns every 30 second so everyone can’t be a Smoker at once. There can be two Hunters at a time though.

Like in Left 4 Dead, there is a lot of strategy to succeed in the gametype for both teams. Zombies must work together in unison; A Boomer flaring them, a Tank charging them, a Smoker shooting from afar, and a Hunter sneaking up from behind. The Tank will always be a priority, so other Special Infected must take that time to attack as well. Survivors have many options of defense. High ground is good for killing the Tank, but you can easily be sneaked up on by Hunters and shot from a long distance by Smokers. Corners are good against Smokers, Hunters, and Boomers, but suicide against Tanks. Weapon choice is essential; if everyone has Shotguns, how will they kill the Smokers? If everyone has Snipers, Tanks would be a problem. One survivor would get dominated by a Tank, but a team of survivors could easily take a Tank down. Survivors must find a balance of weapon choice and positioning to succeed.

FAQs:

What if survivors pick up zombie weapons? They could, but it wouldn’t be helpful. Shotguns, Battle Rifles, and Snipers are basically the best weapons on the map, so survivors wouldn’t benefit from using any other weapons.

What if zombies pick up other zombies’ weapons? The weapons are only useful for each zombie with the matching equipment. A Deployable Cover would not work well with a Sword, and a Flare would be borderline pointless with a Carbine.

What if zombies pick up grenades or equipment that the survivors were supposed to find and use? That would be the survivors fault for not picking everything up. Anything they don’t’ collect can and will be used against them. Same goes for a Special Infected who dies with their equipment and the survivors pick it up. You should always use you equipment to prevent survivors form getting another advantage. It adds a hole new strategic element to the amp.

Aren’t assassinations unfair? Yes and no. Assassinations will keep you on your toes, plus you get a (small) radar to prevent them. But both teams can get assassinated, Tanks and Survivors being the big ones. One Tank is basically equal to 1 survivor, so it is balanced.

What if survivors spawn kill the zombies? First off the teleporters are random. The only way to successfully spawn kill would be to have a person at each teleporter, which would work OK for Smokers and Boomers, but not for Hunters. But the main reason spawn killing would never work is when the Tank comes. Each survivor would get picked off one by one by the Tank since they would be spread out, so spawn killing would be dumb idea. Also, one teleporter is up on a building, higher than any survivor could get. In testing though, spawn killing was rarely a problem because there is cover near each receiver and the teleporting is random.

Video walkthrough HERE: (Thank you chung_wii, you’re the best! A few minor changes have been made since then. The Tank isn't unstoppable though. :) )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-_NY-17QwY

Pics:

Overview.

Another overview.

The survivors’ spawn. Choose your starting weapon by going down one of the tubes.

The survivors spawn building after one minute.

Building 1 with the turret.

Building 2 with the knock-overable bridge falling down.

Building 2 with the bridge fully knocked down.

Building 3 with a heap of explosives in the middle.

Building 4 with a surprise on top!

Building 5 with a small room and a few items.

Building 6, the largest building with a big interior and a destroyable secret entrance!

Building 7 with a high zombie spawn on top.

The zombies waiting for the bridge to spawn to start their attack.

The horde has been alearted!

A Smoker.

A Hunter.

A Boomer.

A Tank, uh oh.

Interior of a building.

Interior of another building, a tester favorite.

Final Notes: Well that’s all folks! I hope you enjoy this Left 4 Dead remake on an original map! I know the Forging and aesthetics aren’t perfect. I could have interlocked there, made that smoother, etc, but I think the map looks good enough to give an overall Left 4 Dead atmosphere. Gameplay was always a primary focus when designing the map and that is what it excels at. Let me know what you guys think about it and what I can improve on if I make another version, thanks!

Downloads:

Map: L4D Courtyard

Gametype: Survival