Forum | Thinking With Portals

#1 · July 29, 2011, 5:17 pm

Update 1.2.2: Read Below!

Solve puzzles to reveal parts of the code required to unlock the door at the end. This is my first Portal 2 map. Puzzles range from easy to medium difficulty and many involve flinging.

Update 1.2.2:

1. Fixed an exploit that could cause one of the puzzles to be solved very easily, bypassing the intended solution.

2. Made minor changes to prevent an area being reached in a manner not intended by the author.

Update 1.2:

1. Made it ACTUALLY impossible to get trapped in sphere silos.

2. Made laser crawl tunnels easier to navigate while holding a cube or sphere (if you'd want to do that)

3. Fixed some autosaves triggering right before falling into death water.

Update 1.1:

1. Fixed some doors opening on touch, which made some puzzles pointless.

2. Fixed some nodraw textures above dispensers

3. Placed portal placement helpers around map

4. Fixed some door open/close triggers

5. Added observation rooms.

6. Made it more difficult (hopefully impossible) to get stuck in certain areas without a way to portal out.

Overall this update improves gameplay by removing the need to place portals in just the right spot, as well as by adding more signage to make goals clearer.

If you've already downloaded this map and played through it, don't bother with the update, but if you've downloaded it and haven't played it, please re-download as this version will provide as more satisfying experience.

Thanks!

File Name: sp_decode_122.zip
File Size: 19.37 MiB
Click here to download Decode

#2 · July 29, 2011, 8:25 pm

Bizarrely decorated map sporting a rare level-wide puzzle, as in Laser Funnel. Very challenging, more because of the backtracking involved than for its individual tests (quite standard). As soon as you wrap your head around that concept, it also becomes evident how forgiving it can be: items you already won shut down the puzzles required to get them*.

Room for improvement: I'd really wish to see how the map would look if those were normal tile-wide decors; you can get stuck by falling in the pit near the first laser (with no portals active), or into the code-ball silos; slithering around the laser when backtracking seemed gimmicky; nodraw textures inside several dispensers; no observation rooms; some music & sound responses from items would ease the tension.

*Examples: the cube in the main chamber respawning without pressing the button, or the catapult room getting free of fizzlers. I'd actually suggest against this: with a map this complex, players are satisfied when their trial & error gives results - forgiving them all the time makes that irrelevant. After all, more work is still better than dying.

the hills are alive... with the sound of music

#3 · July 29, 2011, 11:42 pm

Thanks so much for your input. I'm new at this and appreciate your advice.

One explanation:

Spoiler

you can actually get out of the pit in the main chamber by placing a portal in the floor and another on the ceiling of the small hole in the wall where the catapult is. falling onto the catapult will then launch you back out of the pit.

I appreciate your advice about making the puzzles "deactivate" when solved. I'll leave them functional in place in future maps.

I must have forgot about those nodraw textures. I know I replaced some with black.

Music is a good idea. Didn't even think of that.

#4 · July 30, 2011, 7:08 am

Weird look with the tiles popping out of the walls. The auto save in the catapult room saved me diving into the water, so i had to restart map after that. got three spheres and I have no idea how to get the redirection cube that kept getting destroyed. Got stuck behind the laser below the redirection room, so had to noclip out.

Maps(Newest to Oldest): Storming the Castle / The Amazing Race / Wreaked / Mental Breakdown / Lost In Transition / Split / Mind Lock
Mapping Since May 21, 2011

#5 · July 30, 2011, 8:44 am

Good map 'till the last segment. It was easy to get into dead ends.

Spoiler

For example, at first i thought i only need to place the 3 spheres randomly, so i tossed one sphere to the closest silo from the ground, so i had no way to retrieve it. When i figured out the code (and how to get up there where the turret is), there was still room for trouble if you fail to walk the ledges or drop inside one of the 'cells'.
Having a save where all 3 spheres are in your control is critical.

Also, shooting the portal through that hole while flying from side to side can be very tricky and can take many attempts and hence get tiring.

I played the 1.0 version.

#6 · July 30, 2011, 10:51 am

Thanks for the input. Actually,

Spoiler

you don't have to shoot a portal through the whole while flying. You can simply land on the platform in the water and then stand there and shoot through the hole. That was the intention. Also, if you drop a sphere in the wrong silo, you can simply go back and press the button for that sphere again and it will dissolve and create a new one.

Also I am working on fixing the fact that you can get into the sphere silos and then can't portal out, and am also working on fixing save points to not save right before dying, and also the thing about getting stuck behind the laser. Will have them fixed in a few hours.

Again, thanks!

#7 · July 30, 2011, 12:05 pm

Pretty good map, but

Spoiler

the doors that reveal the sphere-dropping buttons in the rooms labeled 2 and 3 still open when touched

.

#8 · July 30, 2011, 12:27 pm

Thanks, checking it out now.

#9 · July 30, 2011, 3:34 pm

All fixed! I believe it's all up to spec now.

#10 · July 30, 2011, 3:35 pm

walkthrough please

[SP] Decode