4:LOOP - Announcement Trailer

IbizaPocholo

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


4:LOOP™ is a four-player co-op shooter set in an original sci-fi universe. Experiment. Improvise. See if you can beat the odds.

Interested in being selected for upcoming playtests? Please visit PLAY4LOOP.com for more information.
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This game looked super forgettable. The fact that it took until this morning to get its own thread, and then the lack of discussion around it is extremely telling.

This has got to be such a difficult time for developers and publishers. You release a preview for your game, and the silence is absolutely deafening. What do you do? Do you just pull the plug now? Do you hope and pray that between now and release you can drum up some kind of engagement to make some kind of sales on this game?

I dunno. But this ain't it.
 
Ooh, people are whiffing on this one.

It'll likely have some of the best progression in PvE and it's difficult coop? Still need to see proper gameplay but this feels like a winner. The annoying narrator and generic artstyle are irrelevant.
 
Q: How has your time on the Left 4 Dead series influenced the design of 4:Loop?

Mike Booth: When I was building Left 4 Dead, the big risk at the time was whether random folks on the internet would actually co-operate to the degree we wanted them to – rescue each other from Hunters and Smokers, help downed players, save players dangling from ledges, and so on. Many of these game mechanics have now become well-known and expected, which allows us to push the boundaries in 4:LOOP even farther. For example, where the environments in Left 4 Dead were essentially linear paths to help shepherd the players together, the environments in 4:LOOP are wide open. It's up to the players to improvise and manage their own risk/reward as events unfold in the game. Plus, you can actually pick up and carry a downed friend in 4:LOOP, which is something I always wanted to have in Left 4 Dead.

Q: The game appears to have some roguelike/roguelite elements. What inspired that approach, and what kinds of combinations of equipment and skills are possible?

Mike Booth: I've been a fan of roguelikes since the original Rogue, and they continue to be some of my favorite games. One of the things that attracts me to these games is the combinations of game mechanics that allow the player to be creative and come up with their own clever ways to win. Some runs even feel like you have such a great combination of tools that you "break the game". Providing that kind of creative improvisation and especially replayability in an exciting world you can explore with your friends is very much the kind of game I love to create. That said, it is also very important to me that it's frictionless to jump into a game session and just start playing. I don't want to wrangle stats, build a deck, or visit a bunch of vendors when I start a game session with my friends – I just want to jump in and play!

As for examples of equipment combinations, there are so many possibilities. But an example that comes to mind is when I was watching a recent internal playtest. One of the enemies in the game, The Enforcer, had arrived, and its lethal beam was chasing down a player. This normally means "scramble to the Escape Zone and get out ASAP before everyone dies and the run is over". However, in this case, one of our very skilled testers saved the day in a very interesting way. Earlier, she had picked a Blink Berry from a Blink Root plant. These berries can be thrown like a grenade, and when they land, they pop and teleport everything nearby somewhere else on the map. They are great to send a rampaging Beast away, or maybe even save yourself from a squad of Killbots if you throw it at your feet. Back to the Enforcer example. Our clever tester was running away from the Escape Zone, with the Enforcer's beam chasing her, which seemed crazy. But, just before the beam crystallized her, she used the Blink Berry to teleport herself away! She was then able to reach the Escape Zone herself before the beam could catch up again, which gave her teammates enough time for all of them to escape, too. I built both of those game mechanics and had never even considered that strategy. I'm excited to see how our gaming community "breaks the game" in other unexpected ways.

Q: What, ultimately, is the game's loop – and what am I working towards in the long run?

Mike Booth: The goal of the players is to draw the attention of the Mothership by disrupting the alien's global mining operation, and then somehow destroy it. Each time the four-player team succeeds in a mission, they make choices to improve their equipment, building out a unique kit to survive the epic boss battle at the end of the Act. If the team completes all three Acts, they defeat the Mothership and save the world. All of this is, of course, easier said than done. There are also various layers of meta-progression as well as lots of actual details to learn about how the world works (like Blink Berries), to give you an edge for your next run.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
Ooh, people are whiffing on this one.

It'll likely have some of the best progression in PvE and it's difficult coop? Still need to see proper gameplay but this feels like a winner. The annoying narrator and generic artstyle are irrelevant.
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If people want difficult coop just go play Remnant 2 - an actual good coop game with a better artstyle.
 
Has some elements that look like fun, at least for one playthrough. But Sony still hasn't learned any lesson for GAAS. Publish everywhere or add to subscription or both.

Sadly this will fail.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
I bet this game will be better. I'm getting a good feeling about this one.
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I'm curious to learn more. I play Destiny 2 and Helldivers 2 with my friends, and this might be able to scratch the same itch. We've played many such games over the years like Destiny 1, The Division, The Division 2, Avengers, and several other smaller co-op games, so I'm eager to learn more about this.

It seems to use a similar 3 mission structure per act, like Helldivers 2 where it's 3 missions per operation. Remains to be seen if they can nail the shooting and movement, and if there's much in the way of permanent progression to keep you coming back for more. It's certainly on our radar, we just need to wait for more info now.

I am also hopeful that the missions can either be completed solo as well as with a group.
 
Men_in_Boxes said:
Q: How has your time on the Left 4 Dead series influenced the design of 4:Loop?

Mike Booth: When I was building Left 4 Dead, the big risk at the time was whether random folks on the internet would actually co-operate to the degree we wanted them to – rescue each other from Hunters and Smokers, help downed players, save players dangling from ledges, and so on. Many of these game mechanics have now become well-known and expected, which allows us to push the boundaries in 4:LOOP even farther. For example, where the environments in Left 4 Dead were essentially linear paths to help shepherd the players together, the environments in 4:LOOP are wide open. It's up to the players to improvise and manage their own risk/reward as events unfold in the game. Plus, you can actually pick up and carry a downed friend in 4:LOOP, which is something I always wanted to have in Left 4 Dead.

Q: The game appears to have some roguelike/roguelite elements. What inspired that approach, and what kinds of combinations of equipment and skills are possible?

Mike Booth: I've been a fan of roguelikes since the original Rogue, and they continue to be some of my favorite games. One of the things that attracts me to these games is the combinations of game mechanics that allow the player to be creative and come up with their own clever ways to win. Some runs even feel like you have such a great combination of tools that you "break the game". Providing that kind of creative improvisation and especially replayability in an exciting world you can explore with your friends is very much the kind of game I love to create. That said, it is also very important to me that it's frictionless to jump into a game session and just start playing. I don't want to wrangle stats, build a deck, or visit a bunch of vendors when I start a game session with my friends – I just want to jump in and play!

As for examples of equipment combinations, there are so many possibilities. But an example that comes to mind is when I was watching a recent internal playtest. One of the enemies in the game, The Enforcer, had arrived, and its lethal beam was chasing down a player. This normally means "scramble to the Escape Zone and get out ASAP before everyone dies and the run is over". However, in this case, one of our very skilled testers saved the day in a very interesting way. Earlier, she had picked a Blink Berry from a Blink Root plant. These berries can be thrown like a grenade, and when they land, they pop and teleport everything nearby somewhere else on the map. They are great to send a rampaging Beast away, or maybe even save yourself from a squad of Killbots if you throw it at your feet. Back to the Enforcer example. Our clever tester was running away from the Escape Zone, with the Enforcer's beam chasing her, which seemed crazy. But, just before the beam crystallized her, she used the Blink Berry to teleport herself away! She was then able to reach the Escape Zone herself before the beam could catch up again, which gave her teammates enough time for all of them to escape, too. I built both of those game mechanics and had never even considered that strategy. I'm excited to see how our gaming community "breaks the game" in other unexpected ways.

Q: What, ultimately, is the game's loop – and what am I working towards in the long run?

Mike Booth: The goal of the players is to draw the attention of the Mothership by disrupting the alien's global mining operation, and then somehow destroy it. Each time the four-player team succeeds in a mission, they make choices to improve their equipment, building out a unique kit to survive the epic boss battle at the end of the Act. If the team completes all three Acts, they defeat the Mothership and save the world. All of this is, of course, easier said than done. There are also various layers of meta-progression as well as lots of actual details to learn about how the world works (like Blink Berries), to give you an edge for your next run.
Click to expand...
I mean, this actually sounds fun and I had a good time with L4D so I'm likely to give it a shot, but I'm not the worlds biggest fan of pure coop games.
 
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