The following Left 4 Dead 3 game play idea was submitted by top contributor, XenuLies.
An idea I have for a new game mode is one that’s very different than any other mode so far, I call it Pioneer Mode. In this mode, the map would be much bigger, open world, as 1 big non-linear chapter. You wouldn’t play as this games 4 new survivors, but instead as a group of other civilians whose sole purpose is to set up the maps of how they would be before your city gets overrun, before the 4 survivors make their way to your town seeking rescue.
The main goal would be to set up basic things through out the campaign such as Safe houses and hold out points. A big part of this would be looting lots of places in order to fortify safe parts, and putting up graffiti to tell players where to go. Think of this almost like Forge from Halo. And it wouldn’t just be “should i make a Safe room in this room or that room”, It would be more like having a campaign like No Mercy, but then deciding it would be safer to not go through the sewers, instead going into a whole new section of the city as you reach the hospital.
There wouldn’t be that many infected to fight, if any at all, since your main goal is to make the route safer for any travelers. You would need to think smart as you build, maybe look and see a ledge and think “Hmm, someone could be easily Charged off of that, I better put up a railing there.” If you think an area might loose power, leave out some flairs of set some trash cans on fire. And don’t forget to disable any car alarms that are still lingering.
Finally, the map you end up making would get put into a list where other players would play it in Campaign mode and rate it on its difficulty. Top maps (most fun, not easiest) would get put on some sort of leader board.