4 dead left He has one of the best box art designs in recent gaming history. Simple, eye-catching and memorable with its nifty little finger prick, bright green lid, the L4D was a staple on everyone’s gaming desk, or on the floor next to their TV, in the zombie game’s heyday. However, Chet Faliszek, a Valve developer whose credits also include Portal and Half-Life, says getting the Left 4 Dead art right was a bit of a nightmare, with one meeting in the futuristic Steam Deck maker particularly “brutal.”
It’s not an easy task, trying to include everything the game is about in a single, eye-catching and unique picture. Left 4 Dead eventually pulled it off, earning its place among the best canons of box art, but a prototype cover photo recently shared online — which you can see below, along with the final design — makes Palishek remember the difficult creative process. .
“The box cover meeting was brutal,” says Belichick. “I wasn’t ready and grabbed my ass because I was sure what I wasn’t watching was working, but I couldn’t clearly articulate why.”
Palishek, who also worked on episodes of Half-Life 2, describes in detail how the Left 4 Dead cover was created and completed – and how it began with a reimagining of the artwork for Steven Spielberg’s WW2 Band of Brothers TV series.
“Then there was a box meeting,” Belshek explains. “I didn’t know it was coming. I didn’t prepare for that. The image of the band of brothers was the first to be shown. I didn’t like it, and I couldn’t articulate why I didn’t like it because of several things, one of which was, I didn’t lift my head up—I didn’t look up and see where the project was with everyone.
“This meeting made such an impression on me that I can tell you where I sat. Gabe [Newell] He was in front of me, and the door was right there. I made a mistake, and Gabi wouldn’t let me go. I wasn’t prepared for it, and I wasn’t ready. So not only did I not search, but I also did not express to the team the vision, the feeling and the guts of the match.”
Fliszek discussed how he felt in the meeting, and some of the reasons why he felt unable to adequately explain his opinion about the Left 4 Dead Box project. As you might imagine, working at Valve, especially after the launch of Half-Life 2, can feel a little intimidating when it comes to sharing your creative vision. Palishek explains more:
“Up to this point, Valve has done Half-Life 2 and things that are beautiful, like symphonies, and they are close to perfection. I made rock bands in college and got too drunk to puke on the sidelines. And I was afraid to say it. I do not come from a family of creative people. We don’t make movies. And so it was strange that in this room I was allowed to say things like ‘Oh, no, you’re wrong, not that.’
“But at that time I was hit. Gabe then talked to me about it to see if it was okay because he loves having these types of meetings where he can be very straightforward with people. And he was very clear with people that I let him down, and he was right, I did. And I was like, “Yeah, that’s cool,” because I learned so much from him. It instilled in me that I’m allowed to have it, I’m allowed to be creative, I’m allowed to talk about it.”
Palishek describes how the meeting allowed him to describe Left 4 Dead in different terms, and gave him a better sense of how to discuss other creative ideas. In fact, he credits the “wild” meeting with helping solidify the vision of the core L4D experience.
“It’s a zombie apocalypse with your friends, right?” He says. “It’s terrible, but with your friends, it’s such a fun time. All these things came out of it. And I just got out of it—not because I was smart enough to talk about it beforehand—but because Gabe pushed it out of me and pushed me into it. That was great, and I’ve kept that lesson ever since.”
So, the next time you fire up Left 4 Dead and marvel at the beautifully balanced co-op gunplay, meticulously detailed environments, and classic monster designs, keep in mind that even the box art has been carefully designed and crafted. I wonder what the cover of Left 4 Dead 3 will look like…
Check out some other good horror games, or maybe other good games like Left 4 Dead. Oh, and if reading about some of Valve’s timers makes you feel nostalgic, you can also go back to the classic era with some of the best retro games on PC.
