Quote from Rubrica on August 10, 2011, 2:28 pm

The Irate Pirate wrote:

satchmo wrote:

Figuring out a puzzle should be more than just spamming all the white panels in the chamber.

Having more white panels than absolutely necessary is definitely a good thing.

It also makes the player feel smart once the puzzle is solved. Otherwise, there's minimal reward for solving the puzzle.

Only a few more white panels than required is good, otherwise the player feels stumped at seeing a massive wall of white. Also the white panels should also have different decorations on them to indicate which ones are more related to the test, for example, the triple laser puzzle in Portal 2 has different tiling in the places you should place your portal.

Triple lasers is, to me, everything that is good about laser puzzles. I don't know why, but I just love it; odd, considering it's a triple-minute puzzle at best.

Quote from Vordwann on August 10, 2011, 2:50 pm

Also, the music makes it so much better

Quote from The Irate Pirate on August 10, 2011, 2:59 pm

I think it was the red lighting, absolutely perfected by Valve. Up until that point all the chambers are cold and dead, but then it becomes blinding red and GLaDOS is required to warn you how good looking it is.

Quote from satchmo on August 10, 2011, 3:30 pm

Personally, I do not like laser beam redirection puzzles. It's the antithesis of creativity.

Quote from Vordwann on August 10, 2011, 4:48 pm

I'm not sure if that's completely true.

Quote from WinstonSmith on August 10, 2011, 5:30 pm

satchmo wrote:

Personally, I do not like laser beam redirection puzzles. It's the antithesis of creativity.

Really? I think I'd have to disagree with you. I think the fact that a laser can be sent in any direction on a plane creates a bit of a sandbox and means that the laser doesn't have to change directions at specific points in the map but instead several different paths can be used.

Quote from Random on August 10, 2011, 5:34 pm

I would agree that a lot of custom maps abuse the laser concept, but that's not to say they can't be created cleverly. The "puzzles (term used loosely)" where you're meant to flip a cube up and aim a laser through a portal on the ceiling to come out of a wall and back into the portal at a different angle... make me want to punch a dolphin. I have no idea why there seems to be a trend of doing things like that. There's a reason why there weren't many solely-laser puzzles in the game.

Which is why I do like triple_lasers. Apart from the shift in environment and, yes, the brilliant music, it is well-made as a puzzle. It requires only a slightly complex arrangement. It makes you think with a new mechanic, while showing you everything you need, and can be easily solved within a minute or two, setting you up for more. I find I like to base ideas for laser puzzles off of the simplicity found in Valve maps.

Quote from MasterLagger on August 10, 2011, 5:39 pm

When I map, I try to keep the puzzle simple to figure out, but a bit challenging to actually solve. One of those, "Easier said than done" moments.

Quote from ForbiddenDonut on August 10, 2011, 7:01 pm

I generally get a large range of players going from "your map is too hard" to "your map is too easy."

Not sure what else to say to that. Although, a lot of my favorite concepts are found completely or partially (albeit altered) in the cooperative campaign.

I also get the people who had a hard time with my map, but also loved it.

Mapping is fun like that.