Gamasutra: Left 4 Dead 2's Kim Swift Q&A

Valve designer Kim Swift gained fame when her first game at the company, Portal, became one of the instant classics of this generation -- particularly as Swift and her colleagues were hired directly out of DigiPen on the strength of their student demo Narbacular Drop.

Now, Swift is working on Left 4 Dead 2, the anticipated -- and initially controversial, to those who expect long gaps between Valve games -- sequel to last year's stand-out co-op hit.

Gamasutra recently had a chance to talk with Swift about working on the game, taking in discussions of both Valve process and the game's innovative AI Director, which controls everything from ambiance to enemies in the game world.