Favorite and least favorite puzzle elements to use in maps?
I like repulsion/propulsion gel, fizzlers, lasers, and light bridges
[spoiler][SP] Alternate[/spoiler]
I like the gels, faith plates and flings. I dislike and refuse to play maps with Laser Relays. Egh...
PortalStories.com
"Oh, in case you got covered in that repulsion gel, here's some advice the lab boys gave me: DO NOT get covered in the repulsion gel."
Favorite: funnels, light bridges and fizzlers. Puzzles requiring the use of the tractor beam or bridges to access otherwise unreachable areas are a great twist that extends Portal's core "accessing the inaccessible" concept, and the light bridge used as a wall is a neat secondary function. For fizzlers, it amazes me how often in the official co-op maps they end up being all that keeps the map from being do-able by one player alone. They're incredibly versatile, from simply cleaning up portals to preventing exploits to acting as an actual hazard (don't ride a portal-guided funnel through one!).
Least favorite: lasers. I actually like Valve's use of the Thermal Discouragement Beam, but there's lasers done Valve's way, and then there's lasers done any other way. Valve is smart to limit lasers to a non-central role in most puzzles they're a part of, and keeping what few laser-focused puzzles they have extremely simple (e.g. Triple Laser, which is near the end of GLaDOS' chambers but is incredibly simple compared to other chambers in that portion of the game).
There's something alluring about using the laser in a map that I've never been able to place, but it's hard to design a laser puzzle that is hard enough to require some thought and trigger an "Aha!" moment, but easy and short enough that the player doesn't end up getting tired of the puzzle before it ends. I've been playing with my own laser puzzle designs for a while, but have yet to find one that finds that balance and is fun enough to polish up for release. :
The gels and excursion funnels are probably my favorite. Faith plates are fun too, but I've only been able to come up with a handful of ideas for maps centered around them.
Fizzlers and panels have a surprising amount of potential, but aren't commonly thought of as elements on their own.
I'm in between on lasers, but I think their annoying side is overused in certain maps. I loathe when a map just drops you in a room full of relays where you have to make the laser go through multiple portals, back through the portal at odd angles, or any sort of weird trial and error. But I think they can be great when used as part of larger puzzle, where you don't have to go through hoops to activate something, but you think about how you can use it to your advantage. I'm aiming for that goal in a map I'm currently working on.
Love the gels!
"I hear voices. But I ignore them and I just carry on killing."
Lightbridges definitely first, then comes panels. I dislike puzzles that have relays or lasers unless they are only there so it can separate different puzzles elements.
I haven't had a good bond with gels really, but I like them all the same.
My opinion on the new testing elements is exactly proportional to how well they complement the portal concept. Ones which render portals as little more than a one-way redirection device (lasers, funnels) are by far my most hated. Light bridges' deployment also works like this, but the fact that a player can walk through the portal both ways makes them a bit more versatile.
Gels always seemed gimmicky; speed gel was kind of fun but most of the time its usage came down to a way of "falling" horizontally; white gel never worked for actual puzzles; blue gel was essentially a new way to do what faith plates could also do, which was a thing that portals could do as well, with flinging.
Man, portals. Remember them?
As for puzzle elements I do like ... well, cubes are OK, I guess.
One thing that makes funnels more interesting, NuclearDuckie, is that they are reversible.
[spoiler][SP] Alternate[/spoiler]
That is true, though it still doesn't make them very convenient for transport. I find them to be somewhat poorly implemented otherwise though; for example, a friend and I were able to use them in a co-op chamber to ascend a wall to a higher room, abusing the way a player is sucked sideways into them by quick portal placement. Then there's those awkward cases when you can have a funnel intersecting itself or another one, resulting in a player or object becoming stuck in the crossroads.
Overall I just think they could have been better implemented.
A couple of people mentioned laser relays, which I had forgotten about. Those are undoubtedly my least favorite element. I have never used them in my maps, and when I see them in a map I'm playing (custom or in the game) I cringe.
I do also want to sing the praises of light bridges, which are probably tied for first place on my list. They're pretty versatile, which makes them great fun to work with. Walk on them, use them as a shield, use them to block a cube or player, use them to hold a cube or player in place, use them as ramps. They also combine really well with gels.
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