Forum | Thinking With Portals

#11 · July 13, 2011, 10:57 pm

Quote from MisterVercetti on July 13, 2011, 10:57 pm
I thought it was a very well made map with the best of intentions, but there are a few noticeable flaws that keep it from perfection.

Perhaps the most damning issue occurs in the first half, where a serious design oversight basically lets you skip the entire puzzle. [spoiler]My guess is that you're supposed to guide the laser to lower the panel wall so that the regular cube can make it to the final button safely, but I can just make it to the part where you get the redirection cube, portal my partner over to me, have them use the light bridge to reach the ledge with the button, and then just use the redirection cube to open the door instead.[/spoiler] Based on the perceived complexity of that puzzle, I sincerely doubt you had that in mind!

The second half, however, was an absolute joy to figure out. It was nice and big, and incorporated just about every testing element you could possibly think of in a clever and intriguing way, without being brutally difficult to figure out (I'd judge it as about the same level of difficulty as the official maps). I think there may be a texturing error in the blue gel area; one of the panels that gets flipped out with the button has a non-portalable texture, yet can still have a portal placed on it. It may have just been my game, but if it's the map, it's extremely misleading (I discovered it was portalable by blind luck), since players will look at it and assume you can't portal on it.

One last issue my partner noticed was that, on occasion, when you die in the second half, it sends you all the way back to the beginning instead of to the halfway point like it should. I assume you're aware of this since the midpoint doesn't close off the first half like most co-op maps do.

Overall, a pretty solid map, if a bit broken in places. With a few final touch-ups and improvements (especially when it comes to fixing the first half), this would probably be a top-notch map. As it stands, it gets a 4/5 from me. Keep up the good work!

I thought it was a very well made map with the best of intentions, but there are a few noticeable flaws that keep it from perfection.

Perhaps the most damning issue occurs in the first half, where a serious design oversight basically lets you skip the entire puzzle.

Spoiler

My guess is that you're supposed to guide the laser to lower the panel wall so that the regular cube can make it to the final button safely, but I can just make it to the part where you get the redirection cube, portal my partner over to me, have them use the light bridge to reach the ledge with the button, and then just use the redirection cube to open the door instead.

Based on the perceived complexity of that puzzle, I sincerely doubt you had that in mind!

The second half, however, was an absolute joy to figure out. It was nice and big, and incorporated just about every testing element you could possibly think of in a clever and intriguing way, without being brutally difficult to figure out (I'd judge it as about the same level of difficulty as the official maps). I think there may be a texturing error in the blue gel area; one of the panels that gets flipped out with the button has a non-portalable texture, yet can still have a portal placed on it. It may have just been my game, but if it's the map, it's extremely misleading (I discovered it was portalable by blind luck), since players will look at it and assume you can't portal on it.

One last issue my partner noticed was that, on occasion, when you die in the second half, it sends you all the way back to the beginning instead of to the halfway point like it should. I assume you're aware of this since the midpoint doesn't close off the first half like most co-op maps do.

Overall, a pretty solid map, if a bit broken in places. With a few final touch-ups and improvements (especially when it comes to fixing the first half), this would probably be a top-notch map. As it stands, it gets a 4/5 from me. Keep up the good work!

#12 · July 17, 2011, 1:38 am

Thanks for all the feedback everyone :-D Right now I'm working hard on making some changes to the design and fixing some of the errors that people have been pointing out. MisterVercetti, thanks so much for pointing out that glaring issue in the first part, I feel so stupid for not realizing that until now. As far as the texturing error goes, I'm not sure why that happened to you as I'm almost positive that I textured the panels with the portable wall texture. Thanks for pointing that out though I'll look into it. I think I have a good idea about everything that needs to be fixed and will release an update soon.

#13 · July 22, 2011, 11:52 am

Good job here CombatCoward, in mine and my partner in sciences opinion you have created a fun and well designed map that was reasonably complex whilst not being confusing as the elements in the level gave a good indication of what to do next without making it impossibly challenging. We hope to see some more stuff from you in the future

We have posted our play through of your map here if you want to check it out:
DRGKRrFGufQ

#14 · July 25, 2011, 12:38 pm

Thanks a lot for the video it was really fun seeing how other people went about solving my map. I also think I have a much better idea about everything that I need to fix in my map now after seeing you play through it. Really appreciate it :thumbup:

#15 · September 8, 2011, 10:57 pm

Spoiler

The final funnel points at a grid. But upon further experimentation it turns out the grid doesn't stop robots from passing through. So you can cut that final section very short.

#16 · October 24, 2011, 6:13 am

I'm playing custom maps and record my first time of playing them. So the run is not perfect and may not use only intended ways, but maybe it can let you see how other people may understand the map or you could just enjoy someone playing this map for entertainment.
Anyways, here is the recording:

CdS-MYYVUwY
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdS-MYYVUwY)

Also note the video description for more feedback and my signature for additional project information.

#17 · November 17, 2011, 5:49 pm

thi map always crashes on the second bit with the funnel and orange gel

[Coop] Vertigo