Quote from MasterLagger on November 12, 2011, 1:23 pm

BrainstoneX wrote:

I was going to add a big office complex in my mappack. I already have office-like elevators.

What stopped you from doing it?

Quote from Another Bad Pun on November 12, 2011, 5:29 pm

Freedom is a good thing, but I wouldn't allow entrance to observation rooms very much. What made them special in Portal is that you always had the sense you were being watched. They were also empty, adding on to the lonely feeling of the labs. It gave a creepy feeling to the test chambers, (and also helped light them up.) In the BTS sections of Portal, it was very cool to be inside them. It let you see what the scientists saw. The circumstances and mystery behind them made them special. However, if you let the player in one every few maps, it loses some of what makes them so unique. That's why you rarely get to go inside them during game. They're cool when used in the right places; just don't overuse them.

Quote from MasterLagger on November 12, 2011, 6:55 pm

Another Bad Pun wrote:

What made them special in Portal is that you always had the sense you were being watched. They were also empty, adding on to the lonely feeling of the labs.

That's kinda contradictory. I thought it was the cameras that were gave you the feeling of being watched while the observation rooms added the empty feeling.

Quote from Another Bad Pun on November 12, 2011, 7:17 pm

It doesn't really matter what you and I think the Observation Rooms symbolize, (we could argue about it for hours on end,) because it would still have the same effect both ways. Although it's neat to be in them, it kind of ruins the affect they have. It's sort of a win loses type of thing. Ultimately, it's the mapper's decision that counts; there are exceptions.

Quote from Spam Nugget on November 12, 2011, 7:20 pm

Another Bad Pun wrote:

Freedom is a good thing, but I wouldn't allow entrance to observation rooms very much. What made them special in Portal is that you always had the sense you were being watched. They were also empty, adding on to the lonely feeling of the labs. It gave a creepy feeling to the test chambers, (and also helped light them up.) In the BTS sections of Portal, it was very cool to be inside them. It let you see what the scientists saw. The circumstances and mystery behind them made them special. However, if you let the player in one every few maps, it loses some of what makes them so unique. That's why you rarely get to go inside them during game. They're cool when used in the right places; just don't overuse them.

I agree completely with this. I also loved the way in portal that all the computers and stuff were all on, as if the scientists had just wandered off to lunch and never came back...

Quote from MasterLagger on November 12, 2011, 8:13 pm

I guess it's all depends on how the observation room is used then.

Quote from Moth on November 13, 2011, 11:13 am

I did some 'freedom' maps and allowed access to almost every room:

[BETA 4] A very Aperture adventure

It allows for a great "I'm not supposed to be here" feeling. But it has to be done properly.
Eerie ambient sounds, completely empty halls & offices, and a general feeling of abandonment are needed to properly pull it off.
As a player, I feel rewarded for being able to see things that I think I'm not supposed to see.

I'm a big fan of accessible observation rooms

Quote from Rand0mNumbers on November 13, 2011, 2:21 pm

I worked an observation room into a map when the "official" solution was broken by a quake and the player had to break the glass to progress. It felt rather liberating to actively destroy a portion of the map.

Aside from that instance, I prefer leaving them to light a level with no player interaction.