BACK FROM THE DEAD

How TURTLE ROCK STUDIOS righted itself after rolling on its back

- Jeremy Peel

One commonly accepted piece of games industry wisdom is that ideas are cheap; everybody has them. It’s the execution that’s difficult and expensive. But it’s evidently not a philosophy shared by Valve, which has long bought its best ideas.

Counter-Strike, Portal, Team Fortress, Dota – all were first dreamed up outside Valve by modders or students. Again and again, the studio has acted as a kind of incubator – hiring on creators and giving them resources and expertise, so that they can take those magic ideas to their big-budget conclusion.

Often, in time, those creators fade into the grey anonymity of Valve – contributing to the studio’s brain trust in ways both crucial and imperceptible to the general public. But one team has retained not only its distinct identity but a degree of wider recognition: Turtle Rock, the outfit behind Left 4 Dead.

Perhaps that’s because Turtle Rock built the vast majority of its most famous game as an independent. Valve had reason to trust the studio – as a contractor, Turtle Rock had effectively become the custodian of Counter-Strike – and so largely left its team alone during Left 4 Dead’s development, providing funding and the services of acclaimed Portal writer Chet Faliszek.

Valve’s greatest contribution to Left 4 Dead was actually the organic and full-throated enthusiasm of its staff, who quickly adopted the game for their play sessions outside work. They demonstrated the argument – so obvious to us now – that the FPS genre was missing a trick with casual co-op. Turtle Rock was reacting against Counter-Strike’s baked-in competition; put simply, the team was sick of fighting each other.