[SP] Circuit
Quote from Dafflewoctor on July 23, 2013, 9:55 pmA Wheatley-themed map containing an introduction and a test chamber with a medium difficulty, possibly more difficult for newer players. Please not this is my first published Hammer map.
UPDATE: version 1.2:
-Fixed an exploit by adding a fizzler in the puzzle part of the map
-Fixed the problem where Wheatley and GLaDOS' animations would sometimes not play (Glados still occasionally has problems)
-Other minor bugs
A Wheatley-themed map containing an introduction and a test chamber with a medium difficulty, possibly more difficult for newer players. Please not this is my first published Hammer map.
UPDATE: version 1.2:
-Fixed an exploit by adding a fizzler in the puzzle part of the map
-Fixed the problem where Wheatley and GLaDOS' animations would sometimes not play (Glados still occasionally has problems)
-Other minor bugs
Quote from RogerL on July 24, 2013, 12:42 pmThis map has a very nice little puzzle in it. And everything seemed to work okay. But I didn't like the design; someone more knowledgable than me can point out some specifics.
This map has a very nice little puzzle in it. And everything seemed to work okay. But I didn't like the design; someone more knowledgable than me can point out some specifics.
Quote from Dafflewoctor on July 24, 2013, 3:43 pmThanks for the feedback people.
If by design you mean aesthetics, well...I definitely need to practice on that part of mapping, I don't think I exactly nailed the theme, but I got it pretty close. (this is my first map after all.)
Thanks for the feedback people.
If by design you mean aesthetics, well...I definitely need to practice on that part of mapping, I don't think I exactly nailed the theme, but I got it pretty close. (this is my first map after all.)
Quote from RogerL on July 24, 2013, 6:10 pmYes, aesthetics is a better word for what I meant. The layout and theme-related elements were fine. In any case, I would never downrate a map only for aesthetic reasons, especially not a map from a first timer.
Yes, aesthetics is a better word for what I meant. The layout and theme-related elements were fine. In any case, I would never downrate a map only for aesthetic reasons, especially not a map from a first timer.

Quote from josepezdj on July 25, 2013, 6:13 amInteresting map for a beginner
I liked how you catched up Wheatley's spirit dynamically breaking and mixing the chambers!
There some things to point out for a possible improved future update
All related to that "design" that you both were talking about:
DETAILS
[spoiler]1. If you ever see a weird and intense shadow on a wall behind a prop, it is caused by that prop's mesh. This can be easily prevented by setting to YES the prop's property "Disable Shadows".2. There are also some brushes that show shadows casted on them (like in the beginning room), maybe because they are not world brushes but brush entities, try to add more lighting near them or check out if they are overlapping with any other nearby brush.
3. There are misaligned textures, and for this I'll suggest you to ALWAYS make sure that in the face edit sheet, the "Texture shift" values are multiples of 128 units (128, 256, 384, 512, 640, 768 and 896) for the 32x32 units tiles; multiples of 256 (256, 512 and 768) for the 64x64 units tiles; multiples of 512 for the 128x128 tiles and so on...
4. In the case you need to scale any texture and make it smaller size like you did, don't do it with those, since the detail becomes too repeated and ugly; try to use this technique the lesser possible, and only as a way to break the monotony in a given part, not as a general habit.
5. Grates look better with a surrounding frame. For this, you can make it out of brushes yourself (usually better in order to make it according to your desired width and length) or using some of those squarebeams you used in the map.
6. Talking of that, check out that there are a space between the grate brush and the "ground" brush in the piston hole. And there, don't use the skybox as bottom texture
7. I'd suggest you to use a tile thickness of 8 to 12 units, less units look a bit odd and unrealistic. Also try putting a squarebeam behind each tile if the player can see its back or even the side of the tile... again, for the sake of realism
8. Even though the usage of the skybox is not bad, it looks odd when the player continually can see the plain blue-ish skyox behind an opening in the chamber. Also, try to add "something" at the openings edges in order to avoid the blandness of it, for example near the cube dropper, that opening is completely square-shaped, if you add some random brushes around the opening, it will look like a more realistic chamber-breaking, the way it is now could lok more like a window hole... indeed you should have added a glass there instead
Also, in the first little room, when that brush breaks the wall, the opening is too even, and that brush looks a bit weird... could you change it by a vactube prop for instance? I think it would look better
9. In order to place the laser emitters and catchers properly, you need to make a hole for them on the walls
I know all of this would be more explanatory including pictures
Let me know if you need any
![]()
Well, I think I don't forget anything
[/spoiler]
The puzzle was really good thoughI enjoyed those touches of thinking outside the box, and some of the mechanics. Thanks for creating!
Interesting map for a beginner I liked how you catched up Wheatley's spirit dynamically breaking and mixing the chambers!
There some things to point out for a possible improved future update All related to that "design" that you both were talking about:
DETAILS
2. There are also some brushes that show shadows casted on them (like in the beginning room), maybe because they are not world brushes but brush entities, try to add more lighting near them or check out if they are overlapping with any other nearby brush.
3. There are misaligned textures, and for this I'll suggest you to ALWAYS make sure that in the face edit sheet, the "Texture shift" values are multiples of 128 units (128, 256, 384, 512, 640, 768 and 896) for the 32x32 units tiles; multiples of 256 (256, 512 and 768) for the 64x64 units tiles; multiples of 512 for the 128x128 tiles and so on...
4. In the case you need to scale any texture and make it smaller size like you did, don't do it with those, since the detail becomes too repeated and ugly; try to use this technique the lesser possible, and only as a way to break the monotony in a given part, not as a general habit.
5. Grates look better with a surrounding frame. For this, you can make it out of brushes yourself (usually better in order to make it according to your desired width and length) or using some of those squarebeams you used in the map.
6. Talking of that, check out that there are a space between the grate brush and the "ground" brush in the piston hole. And there, don't use the skybox as bottom texture
7. I'd suggest you to use a tile thickness of 8 to 12 units, less units look a bit odd and unrealistic. Also try putting a squarebeam behind each tile if the player can see its back or even the side of the tile... again, for the sake of realism
8. Even though the usage of the skybox is not bad, it looks odd when the player continually can see the plain blue-ish skyox behind an opening in the chamber. Also, try to add "something" at the openings edges in order to avoid the blandness of it, for example near the cube dropper, that opening is completely square-shaped, if you add some random brushes around the opening, it will look like a more realistic chamber-breaking, the way it is now could lok more like a window hole... indeed you should have added a glass there instead Also, in the first little room, when that brush breaks the wall, the opening is too even, and that brush looks a bit weird... could you change it by a vactube prop for instance? I think it would look better
9. In order to place the laser emitters and catchers properly, you need to make a hole for them on the walls
I know all of this would be more explanatory including pictures Let me know if you need any
Well, I think I don't forget anything
The puzzle was really good though


Quote from Dafflewoctor on July 25, 2013, 6:55 amThanks for playing, I will take all of these into consideration for my future maps.
Thanks for playing, I will take all of these into consideration for my future maps.

Quote from josepezdj on July 25, 2013, 7:23 amDr.Toaster Waffles wrote:Thanks for playing, I will take all of these into consideration for my future maps.I pointed all that out for this map
because I really think you could improve it and leave it as a much more outstanding map than it is now! Truly
Cheer up man!

I pointed all that out for this map because I really think you could improve it and leave it as a much more outstanding map than it is now! Truly
Cheer up man!
Quote from Dafflewoctor on July 25, 2013, 10:50 amjosepezdj wrote:Dr.Toaster Waffles wrote:Thanks for playing, I will take all of these into consideration for my future maps.I pointed all that out for this map
because I really think you could improve it and leave it as a much more outstanding map than it is now! Truly
Cheer up man!
Sorry, let me rephrase that- I will take everything into consideration for future updates and future maps.
The only thing I think I will find difficult to redo is texture alignment, as you saw I did sort of try to align some things but I couldn't really get the hang of it, now it's just very messy.

I pointed all that out for this map because I really think you could improve it and leave it as a much more outstanding map than it is now! Truly
Cheer up man!
Sorry, let me rephrase that- I will take everything into consideration for future updates and future maps. The only thing I think I will find difficult to redo is texture alignment, as you saw I did sort of try to align some things but I couldn't really get the hang of it, now it's just very messy.

Quote from josepezdj on July 26, 2013, 1:40 amDr.Toaster Waffles wrote:The only thing I think I will find difficult to redo is texture alignment, as you saw I did sort of try to align some things but I couldn't really get the hang of it, now it's just very messy.OK, let's start by that then!
Follow these steps one by one!
[spoiler]1. Open your map and choose one of the 2D viewports, for instance the TOP view one.
2. Make sure you zoom out enough so you can see your entire map.
3. Select all that you can see. Left-click in one of the corners, hold the button and drag your mouse pointer to the opossite corner, the way that you draw a rectangle that encompass your entire map... and hit Enter. You'll notice that you have selected everything in your map
4. Open the Face Edit Sheet while everything is selected and introduce the following values:
- Texture Scale: 0.25 for both, X and Y.
- Texture Shift: also 512 for both, X and Y (512 units is common multiple for all textures' tile size).5. Hit 'Apply'... Voil?[/spoiler]
This made that ALL the textures in your map are aligned only if you did use the grid to build your map on
OK, let's start by that then! Follow these steps one by one!
2. Make sure you zoom out enough so you can see your entire map.
3. Select all that you can see. Left-click in one of the corners, hold the button and drag your mouse pointer to the opossite corner, the way that you draw a rectangle that encompass your entire map... and hit Enter. You'll notice that you have selected everything in your map
4. Open the Face Edit Sheet while everything is selected and introduce the following values:
- Texture Scale: 0.25 for both, X and Y.
- Texture Shift: also 512 for both, X and Y (512 units is common multiple for all textures' tile size).
5. Hit 'Apply'... Voil?
This made that ALL the textures in your map are aligned only if you did use the grid to build your map on
