Here's Your Left 4 Dead Shopping Mall Map

Listen, we all love Left 4 Dead around here. Love it. You and I are both a little concerned about its staying power, though. The four included scenarios are great, but--let me stress--there's only four of 'em. The game is ripe for future downloadable scenarios, of course, and I'm sure Valve is already cracking on some, but what will be the manner of their release? Will Valve neglect the 360 version and simply put them out for free on the PC, as they've done with Team Fortress 2? Will they appear on Marketplace with a fee? You have to figure someone is going to come out of future L4D DLC (L4DLC?) releases a little unhappy, unless Valve and Microsoft can come up with an equitable solution that benefits players on both platforms.

Anyway. In the short term, there's another, underground, seedier way to get new Left 4 Dead maps: the mod community. You can envision all kinds of nifty themed L4D scenarios coming out of modders' collective creativity. Like, say, a shopping mall. That seems like the kind of place zombies would like to hang out, right? Maybe hit the Hot Topic, grab a Cinnabon?

Someone's already got you covered on that front. The original, the greatest of all zombie shopping malls, the Crossroads Mall from Dawn of the Dead, is forthcoming in Left 4 Dead format. Here's a work-in-progress video of it (sans undead).

Gallery

Listen, we all love Left 4 Dead around here. Love it. You and I are both a little concerned about its staying power, though. The four included scenarios are great, but--let me stress--there's only four of 'em. The game is ripe for future downloadable scenarios, of course, and I'm sure Valve is already cracking on some, but what will be the manner of their release? Will Valve neglect the 360 version and simply put them out for free on the PC, as they've done with Team Fortress 2? Will they appear on Marketplace with a fee? You have to figure someone is going to come out of future L4D DLC (L4DLC?) releases a little unhappy, unless Valve and Microsoft can come up with an equitable solution that benefits players on both platforms.

Anyway. In the short term, there's another, underground, seedier way to get new Left 4 Dead maps: the mod community. You can envision all kinds of nifty themed L4D scenarios coming out of modders' collective creativity. Like, say, a shopping mall. That seems like the kind of place zombies would like to hang out, right? Maybe hit the Hot Topic, grab a Cinnabon?

Someone's already got you covered on that front. The original, the greatest of all zombie shopping malls, the Crossroads Mall from Dawn of the Dead, is forthcoming in Left 4 Dead format. Here's a work-in-progress video of it (sans undead).

Gallery

Epic!
And this is why I bought l4d on the pc as opposed to the 360, gotta love those modders.

Cheers to that Phlegms, cheers to that *hugs steam*

Needs more filmic post-processing effects.

Great stuff, lookin forward to plenty of maps in the future.

Yep this is why you buy it for the PC.

Thats really cool. But will there be a path to the gun store?

Holy hell, that's impressive for the short time period that the game has been out.  Nice modding work!

Damn! I SO want that!

They always said PC gaming was dead. I guess they meant zombies.

I have a feeling that a mall is going to be DLC.  I do hope that they release DLC for the 360 fairly regularly, we don;t have the advantage of custom maps. 

I feel kind of betrayed Brad, I sent you a PM the day after the podcast with a link to that exact video and detailing that it was the DOTD mall, but I get no mention...

I dont want this to sound bad, but i almost wish valve/turtlerock was doing a mall campaign, not the modders.

But whatever, i'll take it, afterall, it wouldnt be The Crossroads Mall if it wasn't the modders. I hope they make it as much as the main game as possible, i dont like it when a modded map feels out of place.

The day they make an exact replica of Willamette Parkview Mall is the day my head explodes.

Man, it would be great if somehow, Valve were able to get some of the modder maps into a DLC package for 360 and give us some of those sweet, sweet maps.  Not all of us can afford gaming PCs...or Steam game center licenses....  =  (

Well that's microsoft there, and I highly doubt there is even a small chance microsoft isn't going to make 360 owners pay for DLC for L4D.

"Well that's microsoft there, and I highly doubt there is even a small chance microsoft isn't going to make 360 owners pay for DLC for L4D."

they probably won't do an official mall for dlc, probably because of the crap dead rising went through but i could be completely wrong

L4D is completely awesome.

Great stuff, can't wait to play it , this game is probably going to get better and better with time. Glad I got it on the PC.

Gaming PCs? I run L4D on my laptop with Medium/High settings and constant framerate.

^ I was about to comment about that. You don't need a damn "gaming PC" to play a Source game.

Well that's it. I'm getting this on the PC. There's just no reason to get it on 360 when you get all these amazing mods for the PC version.

That looks crazy cool. Had to mute Johnny Cash though.  /shudder

Holy crap...I posted this in response to this weeks Bombcast and now it's on the site.

and that dear friends, is why I'm not buying the game on the 360.

This is an amazing map and it was a smart choice to use the mall from the remake because not only is it more interesting but the infecteds in that film are fast like in L4D. If there were fast infecteds in the mall from Romero's mall they would look out of place. Bravo to everyone involved in making this. You are making a lot of dreams come true!   :D

Sweet. I'm looking forward to the mod content. That's what will give the game longevity.

And that is why PC version of L4D >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 360 version.

AAH! I'm so torn! I want Left 4 Dead, but I can only get it for the 360 (computer is junk) and with the lack of content and no promises of more for the 360, I'm worried that this might be a 60 dollar TF2 disaster again!

im just going to buy L4D on PC and 360 did the same with team fortress

I really, really do hope the mods take off for L4D. They didn't for Portal and that kills me.

Left 4 Dead is great fun, and stuff like this will keep us all playing it for months and even years to come.
Just hope valve dont leave it too long for some official releases. Oh and they better be free on the PC!!

It also kills me that Portal mods didn't take off... I suppose being able to basically teleport as far as you can see made it harder to make custom maps. 

Though the few that do exist are awesome.

I really hope L4D's maps just get better and better.  I hope more people have great ideas.

I'm pretty sure that's based on the mall from the Dawn of the Dead remake, not the original's... while I liked the new movie, the original's would be more interesting to me, seeing the area surrounding the mall has much more detail than the remake's. But... should be fun playing on this map, regardless.

I just hope a lot more people who are apart of the mod community and Valve themselves decide to get in on the DLC. Keep the weapons, the maps and the community updated as much as possible.

"It also kills me that Portal mods didn't take off... I suppose being able to basically teleport as far as you can see made it harder to make custom maps. 

Though the few that do exist are awesome.

I really hope L4D's maps just get better and better.  I hope more people have great ideas."

"I really, really do hope the mods take off for L4D. They didn't for Portal and that kills me."

"AAH! I'm so torn! I want Left 4 Dead, but I can only get it for the 360 (computer is junk) and with the lack of content and no promises of more for the 360, I'm worried that this might be a 60 dollar TF2 disaster again!"

just to get on the copyright bandwaggon, it would be funny to see a complete remake of the dead rising mall complete with zombies for L4D. 

This map, and the prospect of others of a good standard make L4D an incredibly attractive purchase.

I would have bought this for my PC but the three friends who were also going to buy it don't have computers capable of running it.  I had to make the decision would I rather play it by myself with shit loads of mods and new maps probably on a weekly basis or with my friends the way it was meant to be played but with possibly only the original four scenarios to play.  I got it on the 360, figured I wouldn't play it as much if I were by myself, and hell I like it enough to were I won't mind buying a copy for the PC if I decide the mod community is good enough to warrant it.

Poppin' one of them boner things over here.

Splendid  !

Please, Please don't neglect us again Valve

I saw this a while ago and all we're waiting for now is Valve to release the L4D Source SDK (L4DSSDK?).

Coooooome on Valve release it I wanna populate my map with some zombie dudes!

I'm planning on picking this game up, either for Christmas or sometime else down the road, but the content shortage is a concern of mine. Hopefully Valve and Microsoft can arrange a deal for DLC on XBLM, even if it involves spending money.

Now I am DEFIANTLY getting L4D for the PC.

God, that thing is cool.

That map is amazing, one thing kinda bugged me thou was the roof was not shown.  Needs to have the roof with help writen on it I think.  Seriously thou, looks great, very professional work!

That level looks pretty awesome.