8 By Zombies Part 1

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jul 12, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 72 comments

8byzombies.jpg

We recorded this game a couple of weeks ago. Now here is the final product of that endeavor. The Spoiler Warning all-stars in an eight-player pre-recorded live broadcast of Left 4 Dead 2, versus mode, using Left 4 Dead 1 levels. Here is the final footage, edited together to give you the viewpoints of both teams.


Link (YouTube)

I think we’ve agreed that we’re not doing this again anytime soon. While it makes for hilarious footage, it actually requires a major investment of time to cut together two separate feeds, plus two audio tracks, plus the audio track from the Livestream to fix patches where people were cut off or muted. Also, I don’t know if our friendships can withstand this level of sadistic curb-stomping of team Pro Strat vs. Team Newbie.

This weekend we MAY actually begin our Mass Effect 3 season. The time is right. However, I have it on good authority that certain members of the cast have been saying they will, “Start [my] play-through, probably tomorrow,” for almost a month now. Credulity being in finite supply, I am beginning to doubt this will actually happen. We’ll see.

 


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72 thoughts on “8 By Zombies Part 1

  1. uberfail says:

    I think I was halfway through the video when I noticed the new look.

  2. l3f4y says:

    Weeks ago? No, no way, I remember watching the stream just a few days…
    /checks dates
    Shamus you time-warping wizard.

  3. Jjkaybomb says:

    Like I said in the conclusion post of the stream, the curbstomping was the most painful part of watching that Rutscarn stream… Who’s idea was it to pit veterans against newbies anyway? Did that just fall into place naturally and nobody realized until the day of the event?

    1. Thomas says:

      This is Josh. He is a troll. Troll Josh trolls

      1. Josh says:

        To be fair, Rutskarn and I came up with the idea together. We thought it’d be funny if he acted like a pro and had a team full of newbies while I acted like a newbie and had a team full of pros.

        And as it turns out, it was!

        1. Kdansky says:

          Rutskarn failing at the tank in the early second level was hard to watch without cringing. That’s such an great spot to spawn!

          1. Kdansky says:

            Also, Jockeys are really rather good. They are great to split teams apart, or just make everyone take a bad route, or plain murder someone by dropping them off a cliff. I rate them higher than smokers and hunters.

            Also, I cannot edit my posts since the new layout went live, on Chrome.
            Edit: I can edit this one. Weird.

            1. Phantos says:

              Jockeys are that type of video game enemy who are annoyingly impossible to take down whenever I fight them… and then turn into a worthless joke when it’s my turn to play as them.

              It’s so bad, I’m convinced it has a smaller hitbox when it’s the A.I., or can take twice as much damage. Inconsistent too. I can’t count the number of times where I try to jump on the survivor, and I just pass completely through them.

              …And then watch the A.I. version land three feet away, and that somehow magically counts. And you “drag” the survivors away so slowly, there’s no way human team-mates aren’t going to kill you. But when when you have to depend on the A.I. to help you, that’s when the Jockey is this unstoppable killing machine. Because most human players wouldn’t shoot at the sky, and fewer still would miss.

              So I don’t think it’s a case of the Jockey being “good”, but rather a glitchy, cheating game that sucks and I hate it.

              1. Cineris says:

                Both AI Hunters and AI Jockeys are actually MUCH easier to deadstop (block with a shove) than human players.

                The problems you’re experiencing are pretty typical of L4D though. What you see on your screen is actually not the ‘current’ game state. What you see as the representation of a character on the screen is actually 1-2 seconds delayed from their actual position on the gameserver. The reason this is done is so that your instant-hit bullets will always hit targets when you pull the trigger, however this has unfortunate consequences because it offloads the latency from your guns and puts it on your (and your enemies’) movement/positioning.

                1. Pattom says:

                  Is that why AI boomers can launch vomit from 20 feet away, while I can barely hit people standing next to me? It sounds like a similar principle to what Phantos is experiencing, and it’s what eventually put me off the first L4D altogether (or at least as much as the whole closet-camping thing).

                  1. guy says:

                    I’ve never had a problem with boomer range, personally.

                  2. Cineris says:

                    I’m not sure about Boomer Bile, as I suspect it is an instant-trace (hitscan) in the same way that bullets in L4D are.

                    Boomer bile follows a strange arc that can be tough to get used to and has a range greater than the visible vomit particles. This video gives a good demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHYmiPSx-4

                    But ultimately the problem is just hit detection and positioning of mobile entities is screwy in Source in general. Here’s a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG_4XZGA_QM) showing off a bug that was initially in L4D2 where the Spitter utilized the wrong hitbox — But notice the last part of the video, where the player is kneeling 15 feet away from the Spitter and gets hit by spit that isn’t anywhere close to him. Even saying that “Oh, well hitboxes are projected away from entity models” doesn’t make sense because both the Spitter and the player were immobile when the spit was damaging him.

            2. Cineris says:

              Jockeys are not good unless you are playing Realism Versus. And even then – They are only good against poor teams.

              They are better than Smokers though… At least I’d rather have a Jockey doing 4 damage than a Smoker grabbing someone and getting shoved off or having the tongue break and doing 0.

              1. guy says:

                Smokers occupy that weird niche of being simultaniously terrible and fantastic. Sure, it’s easy to break the tounge, but on the other hand it’s much easier to do the whole “Suddenly, a guy got grabbed at literally the worst possible moment” thing.

                1. guy says:

                  Missed the edit window.

                  Basically, while jockeys are generally consistently mediocore, smokers are capable of picking their moment and being completely awesome (drag into spit from a sheltered location) or terrible (Start to drag, get meleed off, get shot by tounged person).

                  1. Cineris says:

                    This is true. Smokers can, under very select circumstances, be good, possibly even one of the best SI. But they’re usually quite mediocre. Personally I think it’s very poor design to have a SI that binary. (Similar things can be said about the Spitter, which is essentially useless unless there’s a Charger – And a good Charge + Spit Combo is just sick.)

                    Smokers, in their current state, ought to be more like special-Special Infected like Tanks and Witches — They show up once or twice in a level in locations where they can be most useful, and otherwise you get something more useful (Charger, Hunter, sometimes Jockey).

  4. rayen says:

    can someone throw up a link to the livestream channel? Kinda wanna watch the whole thing.

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      All the links should be in this post.

  5. Daemian Lucifer says:

    While still fun,its not as fun as watching it side by side.Blessed be wide screen monitors.

    So,when is part 2:The rise of Chris coming?

  6. Thomas says:

    It was better when Josh gave the others a chance, it must’ve have taken alot of time, but that was really good editing, created a lot of fun cutaway jokes :D

    I’m not looking forward to ME3, hopefully that will go away when it starts but this is the first time I enjoyed a game (I actually enjoyed ME3?) and know that the people talking didn’t have that experience :D

    I was enough of a DX:HR fanboy to blank out the critical bits but I don’t imagine there’ll be anything left if I do that

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      You shouldnt let someone not liking something spoil your fun.I still like the simpsons,despite what everyone is saying about them.I can see the flaws everyone is pointing out,but that wont stop me from watching every new episode and enjoy myself.

      1. Thomas says:

        I’ll try, it’s just, I’ve got a delicate relationship with this game, I don’t want to fight for it you know? Hopefully it’ll be fun but this is going to be my first time having a radically different opinion :D When I started, I felt I was one of the only people who didn’t like ME2 and it was awesome to find this, and I don’t have opinions on the Fallouts or Wake.

        Still its the spoiler warning crew, that should be as cool as usual

    2. newdarkcloud says:

      To be fair to the game, they did do several thing right. They vastly improved most of the gameplay.
      The health system is the best best compromise between regenerative health and health bars and really forces the player to think a bit more (I actually used Medi-Gel in my Normal run this time around).
      I also loved the weapons and weapon mod systems. Though some were duds, the system allowed for more customization and RPG elements than 2. The level up system was also much better.
      The story has several bright spots which showed a skill that many of the main plot points lacked. I think most people who played ME3 know what I’m talking about.

      While I’m highly critical of it (and will continue to be), I actually enjoyed the game as a whole. I wish some things were better done, but I don’t regret buying ME3.

      1. Phantos says:

        I have similar feelings toward 3, in spite of The Worst Ending Ever. I’m not one of those “99% of the game was great!” people, because the ending wasn’t the only stupid part. But I still look back on the bulk of the experience as a net-win.

        Maybe because I hated Mass Effect 1. I had that to compare to the entire time I was playing. Everything I hated about that game is gone, so I was finally able to try and enjoy the universe without feeling like Bioware was poking me in the eye the whole time.

        That’s why I’ll probably look back on 2 and 3 more fondly than the Spoiler Warning crew.

        1. Thomas says:

          I think the weird thing about ME3 was it broke just enough stuff to make me enjoy the game. They broke the dialogue wheel, so I became content watching their character rather than trying to make mine. The writing was inconsistent all the way through made me enjoy the great bits more.

          And because I didn’t like the way they judged the decisions you made from other games I even enjoyed the ending, because I didn’t want them screwing up my version of the future by telling me how it was meant to be, so I really appreciated the ambiguous and ‘resolve nothing’ approach (even if they forgot to establish the stuff in any way :D )

          ‘sides in ME2 when the story and roleplaying broke (all times) you were left with boring combat and non-existent RPG elements. At least in 3 you could actually enjoy fighting when everything else failed

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            So basically you enjoyed it as a crappy game?Just like how people enjoy troll movies and such?Then you should have nothing against spoiler warning of it really.It will be like mst3k for a video game.

            1. Thomas says:

              Oh no, it’s more like the flaws drove me into places where I appreciated the good stuff. Whereas with ME2 there was nothing to push you into those places and little good stuff to find

          2. SleepingDragon says:

            Really? I guess to each their own, I actually loathed the combat so much I turned the game to “don’t feel bad for being a crappy player… noob” difficulty someway halfway through just to be done with combast faster.

            I guess there was a number of things that I didn’t like because I approached the game with very negative assumptions, I’m actually curious if some scenes will irk me as much during the SW season as they did during the playthrough.

  7. somebodys_kid says:

    Out of idle curiosity, why is Glitch’s name not the same font size as the rest of the crew in the poster?

    1. Shamus says:

      Just a simple photoshop mistake. I kind of threw the poster together at the last minute.

      1. Josh says:

        I told you Shamus. Everyone notices it!

        1. littefinger says:

          everyone notices what?

          1. Thomas says:

            Glitch is on the poster??

            1. X2Eliah says:

              You all keep talking about some person, but this blog for some reason always glitches their name out.

        2. RTBones says:

          I’m actually surprised that someone hasn’t noticed that was really LFD2, given the characters played were not necessarily the characters on the poster, and the map that was played was No Mercy. Wait, are you trolling us all, Shamus?

      2. somebodys_kid says:

        Awwwww, I was hoping there was some behind the scenes drama that we were unaware of…

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          Nah,it was just a random glitch.

          1. RTBones says:

            And what have we done to deserve such punishment?

            1. Daemian Lucifer says:

              Nothing.I was just getting rid of a few bugs I had roaming around.

              1. newdarkcloud says:

                Get with the program, Daemian. Puns are so last week.

                1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                  Its not my fault if Im behind the loop.After all,puns were always the basic form of communication here.

                  1. newdarkcloud says:

                    That’re so bad though. I’d explain why, but I don’t want to iterate through such a massive list of point.

                    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Maybe you could go through it line by line.

                    2. newdarkcloud says:

                      Well, if you make puns, you create a whole stack of trouble. Furthermore, your points become so weak they’re thrown into the heap with the rest of them.

                    3. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Thats why I keep a list,so I dont end up in a loop repeating the same pun infinitely.

                    4. newdarkcloud says:

                      But it seems to me that your list isn’t very large, unlike mine. I have a wide array of puns at my disposal.

                    5. Daemian Lucifer says:

                      Whatever floats your boat.Me,I use an array of puns only when they are real.For me,thats the only worthwhile function.

                    6. newdarkcloud says:

                      That goes double for me, but I’m only willing to string people along with puns for so long.

        2. Phantos says:

          I thought it was a joke. Just to downplay one of the guys involved for a goof.

          “Starring: JOSH and SHAMUS and MUMBLES and RUTS andglitchand RANDY and-“

      3. Alan says:

        You mean it was a photoshop… Glitch?

  8. Artur CalDazar says:

    I was wondering how long it would take to work through that mess of recordings and audio jury rigging you guys need to magic together just to get started.

  9. anaphysik says:

    Hm, the stinger comment certainly lends a different perspective to Rutskarn’s lines about ’embracing the Josh.’

    [insert rampant Rutskarn/Josh fanfiction in place of the usual rampant Rutskarn/Mumbles fanfiction]

    1. SleepingDragon says:

      Oh you have no idea how much joy the Dinner Date stream gave to the lone Skarn/Josh shipper (i.e., me).

      1. Artur CalDazar says:

        You must love the final moments of the video then.

        1. SleepingDragon says:

          I’ve seen it streamed live.

  10. Aelyn says:

    Totally off topic, but the redesign is rocking Shamus. I’m really liking what you’ve done here. Looks fantastic.

  11. Tohron says:

    Eh, there’s no need to be that averse to starting a playthrough, the gameplay is an improvement over ME2 (though I only know that after getting it for free a week ago – also, you should totally get an iBuyPower PC).

  12. Eärlindor says:

    Yayyy! I’ve been waiting for this! :D

  13. Dante says:

    The next season of Spoiler Warning! Coming in August!

  14. JPH says:

    Awesome! I never bothered to watch the streams and now I can witness the hilarity from the comfort of Fraps-quality recordings.

    It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t Frapsify our survival runs in the second hangout.

  15. RTBones says:

    I cannot imagine how much time and effort it took to stitch this together – particularly in the middle of a move. I thought Josh’s stream was funny at the time – but seeing them essentially side-by-side…priceless.

    Thanks for putting this together.

  16. Johan says:

    That was amazing

    Although I can definitely see how incredibly difficult it must have been to put together

  17. Blake says:

    I have a new favourite video series on Twenty-Sided. Programming/Educational stuff is fine, Spoiler Warning is great. 8 Man left4dead insanity trumps all.

  18. Adalore says:

    So yeah, I have noticed my user profile shows up. In Rutskarn’s feed.

    At roughly nice round with some time before it at 4:40 and 12:10, I feel so importaaaaant.

    Also fear my steam avatar.

  19. guy says:

    There seems to be something up, I attempted to post a comment but it vanished into the void. Does the moderation queue no longer display the comment to the original poster?

    EDIT: No, because this one ended up in the queue.

  20. Zaxares says:

    Lots of laughs were had watching that thing. :D And yes, while your scores at the end of Match 2 are (and in fact, is quite easy to) come back from, were I a random player in Team Newbie, I would probably have ragequit at that point. XD

  21. Danath says:

    As for Spoiler Warning…

    Why not just do a “Blind” playthrough? Those exist, and then we can see your first impression reactions. Those exist, and they can be pretty funny or amusing, and it lends a sense of randomness to the action.

    Just a thought.

    1. SougoXIII says:

      Well we did get half of that with the ‘Dead Money’ DLC and as I recall it didn’t go so well with people complaining that the crew missing out on plot points and half out the commentary was off-topic.

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        It was done better in Mass Effect 2, where Rutskarn was the only one who didn’t play it.

        His reaction to the end game was priceless.

        1. SleepingDragon says:

          It was, wasn’t it? The only thing missing from that moment was the background music suddenly stopping with that “scratched record” noise XD

      2. Sumanai says:

        I read up on some of those missed plot points, and I prefer the run that we got. People who liked Dead Money get to tell themselves that the story was better than it really was and I got an amusing part in the Spoiler Warning that was a change of pace.

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