Quote from Wroth on October 25, 2007, 5:19 pm

Ok first question, and if it's answered tonight, I may be able to treat you all to a juicy spoiler of a screenshot

Is there any reason why a retextured model, which shows up fine both in the model viewer and hammer, won't show up in game? It's a prop_physics entity. (don't want to give away much more as it may ruin the suprise)

edit: doesn't work as a static either.

Quote from msleeper on October 25, 2007, 5:30 pm

Check the fade distances.

Quote from Wroth on October 25, 2007, 6:12 pm

They're the same as the original object.

Do you think it might be a "needs the SDK update" thing? Since I can only load the model from the mod folder I made, not the actual Portal folder...if that makes sense.

I might just make a screenshot of what it looks like in hammer, because I would like a bit of feedback on this.

edit: Interesting. It just worked fine when I loaded up the map in the mod itself instead of in portal. But obviously a lot of other portal things didn't show up. but at least I now have my screenshots. See below:

Quote from Wroth on October 25, 2007, 6:25 pm

Ok I'm going to have to explain this before showing it, and in doing so, I'll be revealing some story spoilers. So, if you want to be a beta tester for this game and give feedback, then by all means, continue. But if you want to enjoy it as intended, then it would be preferred to not look at this until the project is finished. That way it will be nice and fresh.

Ok so here's the explanation:

[spoiler]Basically, before I introduce the companion cube back into the game, I want to let people get back to grips with:

a) cube based puzzles
b) working without a portal gun
c) what makes the companion cube special

Now, a) and b) will work themselves out as I make the maps, but c) is going to be tricky. I've actually spoken to people who didn't "get" the companion cube and couldn't understand why people loved it/him/her so. Part of my goal for this project is to convert these heretics.

Here's the proper spoiler.

So my idea was this. To create an 'anti-companion cube'. This is the cube that the player will be forced to work with in the first level, and it will be an utter annoyance. I'm not going to reveal how, as I don't need to (But I'll tell you this: He will threaten to stab you). Basically I want the player to feel as much hatred towards this cube as they felt compassion towards the companion cube, so that when the companion cube is introduced, the player feels relieved and overjoyed.

With me so far? Ok. The feedback I would like is as follows:

Is this a good idea? Or is it terrible? There may easily be something big that I've overlooked that could make this feature ruin the whole thing, so if you have a gripe, then please be as harsh as possible. It's not too late to start over.

Is such a thing technically possible? At the moment I can't load it into Portal itself, only when I load it with the mod I created to allow me to do the portal mapping in the first place. I also eventually want it to speak, like the turret, but with a different voice. Can this be done without the SDK update? Or will I have to wait?

Lastly, How does it look? Here are two screenshots:

pic 1

pic 2

This is a first draft so it will inevitably change before final release, and I want it to change for the better? Does it clash with the rest of Portal's style? Is it too obviously evil-looking? could it do with being a different colour?[/spoiler]

I can't wait to hear from you guys. I'm getting more excited by this project every day

Quote from youme on October 25, 2007, 6:52 pm

sounds like an awesome story, you have my full support.

on the [spoiler]cube[/spoiler] itself

[spoiler]It could look a little more, 'evil' the bit you've got in the centre is what I had enterpreted to be an eye (from the GLaDOS shpere?) which, personally I think would only work if the eye followed you all the time.
The dark corner bits lack texture, maybe boost the contrast of those bits?[/spoiler]

all that aside it looks like this is going to be awesome!

Quote from Wroth on October 25, 2007, 7:19 pm

Thanks [spoiler]Yes it is the eye from the angry sphere. I was trying to think of a consistant symbol of evil within the portal story. At first I thought of the skull from the Fratricide achievement, then the broken heart symbol that you see infront of the incinerator (both of which, symbolise an "anti-companion" cube in some way) but then I thought that might not have been obvious enough, because both symbols could be easily missed in the game if one doesn't pay attention. But it's impossible to miss the quite scary looking eye. I agree it does look wierd if it doesn't follow you. Who knows, I might remove the whole "cube" concept altogether and make it a GLaDOS sphere. Although I wouldn't know how to explain that story-wise.

The black corners were done very quickly. I'm definitely re-doing them, so no worries there.[/spoiler]

Quote from youme on October 25, 2007, 7:24 pm

[spoiler]stick with the cube idea!
personally i think a broken heart in blood red would work best. and could you possibly make the little indented strips bolder? perhaps i'm critisising too much [/spoiler]

Quote from Wroth on October 25, 2007, 8:08 pm

No, seriously, keep it coming, this is good

Although what exactly do you mean by bolder? do you mean redder? darker? thicker? sorry.

Quote from youme on October 25, 2007, 8:10 pm

Wroth wrote:

what exactly do you mean by bolder? do you mean redder? darker? thicker? sorry.

a combination of each.

you mentioned the [spoiler]'moral decision'[/spoiler] how big do you intend to make the map branch? this could be a quite exciting gameplay element if you get it right.