Forum | Thinking With Portals

#11 · May 22, 2011, 7:45 pm

edit: full review further down.

#12 · May 22, 2011, 7:53 pm

this is the awesomest custom map i've seen. bonus textures, custom posters and decals, nice puzzles - everything is perfect. I hope you get a job at Valve if you want to

PS - had lots of fun with turrets bouncing around the corridors and screaming

#13 · May 22, 2011, 7:59 pm

What are you trying to do here Omnicoder, work for Valve?

MAN you are good! What quality! I love your use of the cube barriers, I haven't encountered that mechanic before.

#14 · May 22, 2011, 8:32 pm

I still can't get it to load. Followed installation instructions and map still won't load. Get the error "Cannot find map sp_retrospective.bsp"

#15 · May 22, 2011, 8:38 pm

Quovatis wrote:

I still can't get it to load. Followed installation instructions and map still won't load. Get the error "Cannot find map sp_retrospective.bsp"

there is no .bsp.

i was new to this as well; just do 'map sp_retro' and press tab. it should complete it.

#16 · May 22, 2011, 8:44 pm

Quovatis wrote:

I still can't get it to load. Followed installation instructions and map still won't load. Get the error "Cannot find map sp_retrospective.bsp"

1) Find the directory c:programfilessteamsteamappscommonquovatisportal2portal2
(it should contain a lot of VPK type files)

2) Open the downloaded file with Winrar: 3 yellow folders and 1 txt file

3) Select them all and move them with the mouse to the aforementioned folder (no need to open each one)

4) Enter the game, and in the console type: map sp_retrospective

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

#17 · May 22, 2011, 9:07 pm

I finally got it. I had to create a directory "addons" and put the vpk file in there for it to finally work.

Very nice map!

#18 · May 22, 2011, 9:11 pm

Quote from d3phext on May 22, 2011, 9:11 pm
first off: i praise the return of the energy pellet. its absence was one of my two disappointments with portal 2 compared with 1 (the mandatory flinging in single-player is the other)

for its length, this map felt too light on the puzzles, though the ambiance, lighting, etc is fine.
well, after a second run, there aren't too few, it's just that they're too easy.

the start is fine, the falling-puzzle idea is fantastic, if a bit overly simple. the surprise that gets you to this part is fine, but it's a bit janky for a moment while sitting against the broken glass. the fall before it begins is too long. waiting sucks. that's about it. edit: ok, that was my fault for not grabbing the cube quickly enough. so when i did grab it immediately on my third run, i saw a glitch; the core spammed my screen 3 times with the same message (captions on).

putting on my complainy-pants here: the room with the turrets felt too sandboxy, just way too many portalable surfaces, imo this room could have been skipped entirely as it didn't really offer much in the way of challenge or fun... after [spoiler]bouncing the 3rd turret from an easily available surface[/spoiler], it's just "all right, i get it already!"

i don't get the point of the button between the jump-up-the-sphere room and the fling room.
i also don't get the red cube-holder above the diagonal ramps in the portal 1 room.
and i was disappointed with the fling room since you don't have to fling or even go through the square in the glass at all.

i think you need a grid in the ruined entrance to the portal 1 room; when i got the laser room puzzle figured out, my portal was way back by the fling-room.

but really everything after the blue-goo turret room is pretty good. i like the part where you [spoiler]swap your portals for the cube, to keep the excursion funnel room open and get the box.[/spoiler] however, it needs to be a lot smoother when the thing happens with the upward funnel and the suddenly appearing light bridge. it's very disorienting, and not in a good way.

in retrospect (no pun intended), i did enjoy the return to the portal 1 map, but to be honest: coming after the horrible blue room like it did, it felt at first like "he's really out of ideas now". however that's more of a problem with the previous room than with the revisit itself. don't get me wrong, everything after the turret room is fine, but that room just put a bad taste in my mouth

i thought entering the portal 1 ruins through the exit was a nice touch.

i liked the titles and the random chamber numbers, but after the relatively close succession of the first two, it felt like you'd left a few out in the second half.

i really did enjoy the puzzle toward the end with two laser cubes and the reversible funnel. the new green grid is what makes it possible [spoiler](if i did it right -reverse, let it stop, then unreverse, go catch up and grab it out, right?)[/spoiler]

and this is the first map i've had to load from the vpk instead of the bsp, so i have to ask.. does that explain the video lag in this map? in places, it was far worse than i've encountered on any map thus far, and what minor lag i've had elsewhere has been negligible at worst.

i realize now that the sentry room is also a portal 1 map; for the sake of this review, when i say the "portal 1 map" i mean the one that used to have the energy pellets on the diagonals which raised the 3 lifts to the exit.

here is one graphical anomaly; since i'm standing on the bridge here, that means both portals are right behind me. so i shouldn't see these other two portal indicators here.

first off: i praise the return of the energy pellet. its absence was one of my two disappointments with portal 2 compared with 1 (the mandatory flinging in single-player is the other)

for its length, this map felt too light on the puzzles, though the ambiance, lighting, etc is fine.
well, after a second run, there aren't too few, it's just that they're too easy.

the start is fine, the falling-puzzle idea is fantastic, if a bit overly simple. the surprise that gets you to this part is fine, but it's a bit janky for a moment while sitting against the broken glass. the fall before it begins is too long. waiting sucks. that's about it. edit: ok, that was my fault for not grabbing the cube quickly enough. so when i did grab it immediately on my third run, i saw a glitch; the core spammed my screen 3 times with the same message (captions on).

putting on my complainy-pants here: the room with the turrets felt too sandboxy, just way too many portalable surfaces, imo this room could have been skipped entirely as it didn't really offer much in the way of challenge or fun... after

Spoiler

bouncing the 3rd turret from an easily available surface

, it's just "all right, i get it already!"

i don't get the point of the button between the jump-up-the-sphere room and the fling room.
i also don't get the red cube-holder above the diagonal ramps in the portal 1 room.
and i was disappointed with the fling room since you don't have to fling or even go through the square in the glass at all.

i think you need a grid in the ruined entrance to the portal 1 room; when i got the laser room puzzle figured out, my portal was way back by the fling-room.

but really everything after the blue-goo turret room is pretty good. i like the part where you

Spoiler

swap your portals for the cube, to keep the excursion funnel room open and get the box.

however, it needs to be a lot smoother when the thing happens with the upward funnel and the suddenly appearing light bridge. it's very disorienting, and not in a good way.

in retrospect (no pun intended), i did enjoy the return to the portal 1 map, but to be honest: coming after the horrible blue room like it did, it felt at first like "he's really out of ideas now". however that's more of a problem with the previous room than with the revisit itself. don't get me wrong, everything after the turret room is fine, but that room just put a bad taste in my mouth

i thought entering the portal 1 ruins through the exit was a nice touch.

i liked the titles and the random chamber numbers, but after the relatively close succession of the first two, it felt like you'd left a few out in the second half.

i really did enjoy the puzzle toward the end with two laser cubes and the reversible funnel. the new green grid is what makes it possible

Spoiler

(if i did it right -reverse, let it stop, then unreverse, go catch up and grab it out, right?)

and this is the first map i've had to load from the vpk instead of the bsp, so i have to ask.. does that explain the video lag in this map? in places, it was far worse than i've encountered on any map thus far, and what minor lag i've had elsewhere has been negligible at worst.

i realize now that the sentry room is also a portal 1 map; for the sake of this review, when i say the "portal 1 map" i mean the one that used to have the energy pellets on the diagonals which raised the 3 lifts to the exit.

here is one graphical anomaly; since i'm standing on the bridge here, that means both portals are right behind me. so i shouldn't see these other two portal indicators here.

#19 · May 22, 2011, 9:17 pm

Once I was able to actually figure out how to play the map, I thought they were very well done.

I would have done away with the blue-gel turret room and either removed or changed the bouncing ball energy sphere thing. That frustrated the hell out of me.

Might want to insert a really brief tutorial on how the green fields work. I figured it out, but only after back-tracking for a while to see if I missed something.

The button you fall onto doesn't do anything right? It was very misleading. I kept looking for a cube somewhere or tried to see what was changing when I was stepping on it.

Nicely done otherwise.

I'm looking forward to what else you have to offer!

#20 · May 22, 2011, 9:24 pm

Last elevator doesn't work or it just me? i went it to it but nothing happens!

Spoiler

This one after the ruins when i needed to use bridge to cross the gap

.

[SP] Retrospective