New mod release: Thinking with Time Machine.
I Agree
Same. This is why I haven't actually put anything I was happy with on the Workshop--I don't care what people say about a test I whipped out in a few hours (like that horrible Bank of Zork experiment), but I don't want to see the community's reactions to a map I loved.
Well Felix, you should not have that kind of mindset ether. No matter what you ship out, no matter how well polished it is, someone is gonna take a dump on it in someway. If you're like me, you would be a type of person who would be 99% done with the map and be like "Nah, this is trash." and never ship it. I personally have maps that just never saw the light of day, but that does not mean that I shipped maps out that I was 110% happy with afterwards ether.
You see, modding is about taking something you and others love, and making new experiences of it. New ideas, new puzzles, new elements, you get it. But yeah, some people treat mods and such like they payed good money for it, which is a shame. Way I see it, if you had fun making it, and think people will have fun playing it, why not release it, or share it with screens and videos? Who knows, it may grow into something bigger and better.
Especially you Felix, someone may pick up your experiment or see your video on YouTube and go: "This looks really cool, I wanna get into this!" I personally got a lot of people telling me that my work (released or not) has got them into Source stuff which makes me feel really great inside being that's what Hurricaaane and others at the time did for me.
I have not played Thinking with Time Machine cause Portal 2 is screwed up on my end, but reading what others said about it, it looks like a great idea that was expressed poorly. I don't want to offend the creator and call him an amateur, but sometimes amateurs have the best ideas, but they can't express it fully due to lack of skill; which looks like the case here.
I'll get off my soap box now. But yeah, stupid things get to go on a pedestal while other things get ignored due to small nitpicks.
The more you give, the less appreciated it will be received.
I didn't find it bad at all, except the fact that both portalable and non-portalable surfaces are white in some places.
Also, I don't think including lots of custom elements/textures/models is what makes a good mod. A good mod is one that offers a fresh way to play the same game. In case of Portal, a couple of test elements should be enough: the real fun lies in discovering the various nuances of these "new test elements", finding clever ways to exploit them and so on.
There should definitely be visual polish, but that can be achieved without anything custom. Of course, well-designed custom textures and models are far better aesthetically, but in my opinion they're not "essential" to make a mod good.
Even radical gameplay changes aren't required, just a fresh perspective on a game one has already played (a good example is Research & Development for HL2:Ep2). So I think a good mod CAN be a series of maps, but which satisfy the above conditions (and follow some sort of story/progression, even if it's vague).
I found it really terrible, to be completely honest. It looked nice, but there was no distinction *AT ALL* on low graphics settings between a white wall and a light. I uninstalled on the level with the ceiling buttons. They seemed pretty silly and unneeded, plus that test was pretty easy to get trapped in (a big NO).
The room with the two laser fields and the floorfizzler was just plain dull. It was really obvious what I needed to do, I just had to do it. Four times...
The Borealis level was crap. Just plain crap. Sorry. Most of the challenge was figuring out what to click on, because there were no cues that you needed to use the useless debris in the room. It has the "my furst puzzle" look to it as well - plain textured wall with stuff sprouting out if it. What was glados doing there? Not even an idle animation or a voice line, just sort of... there. Also try shooting a portal below the bottom edge of the wall (really)
indeed, it was an amazing idea expressed poorly. sometimes the worst looking maps ever have the best game play ever. what i think, is that people who are awsome at gameplay should team up with people who are awesome at aesthetics. in a perfect alternate universe, reepblue and other awsome aesthetic mappers teamed up with the creator of this mod to make something that truly does deserve the hype. not to be bragging or anything, but take a look at my mod's first chapter on moddb. good gameplay AND good aesthetics. in an alternate universe that is nowhere near as good as ours, my mod is awsome looking but has really really boring gameplay, with every room being remakes of the same box and button puzzle. (though, to be fair, 2/3 rooms in the demo ARE remakes of the same box/button puzzle. 
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Im blue, a Clean Christian Furry with Autism.
Just tried this mod today...
I was left confused not only be the story line, but by the instructions (because they were in .bik video format). Learn to create in-game hints like you see in the official game ? they stand out more than small videos. Additionally, you could've made the videos wall-sized.
A word of advice: timers + fizzlers = BAD! Actually, the fewer of both elements the better. Think about how many there were in the official singleplayer material. For one, there were no floor fizzlers (even in the coop campaign)! As an example, under time pressure, a portal was about to close while I was about to go through it, and then the game became indecisive and crashed on me. As another example, in the last puzzle, because of all the fizzlers, I was confused about where to begin, and even tried to solve this test without portals, carrying the objects around the grating. Ultimately, I did this and used two portals to escape, but I'm still not satisfied with the solution.
Lastly, it almost feels like coop would be better for this rather than using a time machine....unless you can improve the story line.
For art design, I noticed that not enough attention was paid to sound and soundscapes (how in the world could anyone not notice?!?!?). I had to add my own soundscapes because there weren't enough of them. On the plus side, I actually found the visuals to be quite beautiful (albeit very bright).
So I've mainly been ignoring this, because everyone has said what I'd have to say, but I'll say it.
So, I was expecting a lot of this mod, and most of my expectations were crushed. Granted, at first on the title screen, what I thought were portal surfaces were apparently lights. When I started playing, I got super confused as to how I should use the time clipboard thing, kept getting the keys confused. The most confusing part of the game was the borealis part. It seems to have no effect on the story whatsoever, and i somehow randomly got there from test chambers and lost my device? WHAT? i still am confused as to what that was. Then pbody and atlas mumbled some random gibberish in an office, I portaled myself up onto an office wall thing, and got stuck in a really glitchy area on a turret booth model. Reloaded. Finished that part the right way by portal bumping because the door was glitched. Pressed e on random things until something worked. Attempted to cross the into the next area, but fell into a pit from which I could not get out of and did not die in. Reloaded. Finished that level finally.
Another thing: I wasted a bunch of time on the "buttons on the ceiling test" because, using my knowledge of the laws of portal 2 physics, cubes and spheres can't fly on their own. Apparently buttons defy gravity, because I wasted tons of time standing on a cube holding a sphere against the ceiling, trying to keep a door open. I eventually figured it out, then repeatedly trapped myself in the second room impossibly, and gave up on the mod itself at that point. Never went any further. Also I found out that my clone is terrible at aiming.
Another WTF moment was when I fell through a hole and got killed by a fizzler with no emmiter models. Seriously?
If you are going to make a mod/map pack, make it worth your time to play. This one is not. A cool concept, doesn't belong in portal, and badly executed. I don't even feel the need to finish it, I sorta want to see what the ending is, but if I am actually getting frustrated dealing with this tedious crap I keep having to redo cause I get stuck, then no way.
One positive thing I see about it is that it means that valve and the community may be more willing than I thought to green light and accept portal 2 mods.
Aperture Science: We do our science asbestos we can!
and i thought i would be the only one who saw this
There's quite a lot of inexplicable deaths in this mod. If the floor is lava, that's fine, but tell me. Goo, laserfield, bottomless pit, snarky glados line, spikes, something.
I also think the lowest fizzler in the 3 box room (I think the one without models too) wasn't even aligned to the pit at all? Seriously, how do you miss that.
Great idea 10/10, everything else just sucks big time.
Strange... When I played, that fizzler was a toxic goo pit. I know exactly what you're talking about though because I watched my friend play it and die there.
[Rant] I feel like it had a great concept which was ruined by bad level design, bad puzzles and a what the **** is going on story. First, the bts environment outside was a SKYBOX and the SAME ONE every time. They isn't even bother to change a walkway, add a vactube, flip a chamber, but OOOOHHH pretty animations to distract you from overall laziness. I had to strain my eyes to tell the difference between the lights and the white walls. I nearly had a headache about five minutes in. The introductory puzzles were ok, but then it felt like someone just picked up PTI and made a confusing puzzle with no elements that are used uniquely. Also, the little videos were super confusing. I didn't know the controls, I didn't understand what to do. It was... Just... No. Now I'm someone who likes a good story, but I mean........... WHAT? Let me summarize:
story summary
[/rant]
I now realize i sound kinda mean.Dont get me wrong, I would love if the creator would maybe get some help from the portal mapping community and create a new mod with the same mechanic but good puzzles, visuals, and story.
Also, I typed this on my iphone late at night so there may be lots of errors.
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