Forum | Thinking With Portals

#1 · May 11, 2011, 5:32 am

I was playing around with the Alien Swarm way of making Portal 2 maps, but now that the Portal 2 SDK beta is out, I decided to actually make something that worked as a proper chamber.

So here's my first actual map that I've made with Hammer and actually finished. It's nothing overly special, and the puzzles within it aren't really difficult, but I used it to get a bit more familiar the editor, and hopefully make better maps in the future.

UPDATE:
Since we've been requested to change the uploads into zip files, I decided to also make some suggested changes to the map. Not everything managed to get done in time, but I've fixed a few of the things that came up, and changed how the second part of the puzzle works.

File Name: muffiny_test_01.zip
File Size: 2.36 MiB
Click here to download Simpli

#2 · May 11, 2011, 5:45 am

Additional images of the map can be found here:
http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2255 ... 100002.jpg
http://imageshack.us/m/217/3656/2011051100003.jpg
http://imageshack.us/m/833/3908/2011051100004.jpg
http://imageshack.us/m/197/2408/2011051100005.jpg
http://imageshack.us/m/199/9408/2011051100007.jpg

#3 · May 11, 2011, 8:41 am

nice map! I really like your style but the puzzles were easy XD

#4 · May 11, 2011, 1:55 pm

Well easy puzzles but nice.

Got some modification advice for you, cause I didnt need the Repulsion Gel.
Maybe you want to change that.
My way

Spoiler

In my solution of your room I didnt need the blue gel in room 1.
I went to the door stage and lifted myself up to the tunnel cross (cube in my hands). If you then place a portal at the opposite side of the button you can lift the cube over the cross to get it at the button and you jump at the door stage.

#5 · May 11, 2011, 5:24 pm

I likes it. But you need to put a few autosaves in the level.

#6 · May 11, 2011, 5:45 pm

Hey there.

Nice idea on that map, but rooms are to dark and puzzles are really too easy.

stuff

Spoiler

- Nice to see the missing portal 2 feature.
- but you could use this feature even more.
- missing sound for the last button (timer sound)

- try to make puzzles harder and use more features of the game.
- the way you have it is good, but boring.
- try to make it more interesting.

Keep goin please and make longer maps with more challenging puzzles, please!

Regards
PortalCombat

[back on TWP since 08. July 2017]
Steam: DrFauli

#7 · May 11, 2011, 8:29 pm

Anything available in the editor to make it obvious that the suction tube is actually functioning? With no sound or graphics to go with it right now, I didn't know what it was for right off.

#8 · May 12, 2011, 3:00 am

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'm not used to designing puzzles, so that'll certainly be more of what I'll be working on improving in the future, alongside making the chambers a bit brighter.

For suction tube, I know there is a particle effect that makes it look like it's actually sucking in air, but I don't know what it's called, and was having trouble finding it. If someone knows, I'd be happy to add it in.

#9 · May 12, 2011, 3:27 am

Map is kind of dark, add in some observation rooms for some lighting.

Currently working on Darksiders 3.

#10 · May 13, 2011, 2:23 am

Quote from Adair on May 13, 2011, 2:23 am
This map is a great start.

[spoiler]I agree that the timed platform near the end should have the ticking sound and the vacuum tube should have sound and particle effects. The odd thing is that I think I saw the particle effect, but only when I had placed a portal under the tube and then a portal on the wall. The sucking air effect seemed to be coming out of the wall portal, but I don't think it ever came directly out of the tube.[/spoiler]

I look at your map as having three puzzles:

[spoiler]1) Get turrets into the vacuum tube:
I actually managed to get stuck in the tube, but it was really on purpose to see what would happen. I routed the tunnel so that it would push me right up into the vacuum tube and once up there I couldn't get back down because the tunnel was still pushing me up and I couldn't move the tunnel from inside the tube. I don't think this needs to be fixed though.

Overall thought: I liked this part, but it was too short and too easy. I never felt like the turrets posed any sort of threat(which can also be said for a lot of their appearances in the official Portal games) and often that's okay. I just think that there should be more turrets in deadlier locations that can be sucked away.

2) Get through the door with a box on the button:
I'm not sure what the intended method was for this. I extended the tunnel from the side wall(so it was perpendicular to the original tunnel direction) to catch the cube, then I kept inching the tunnel over and up(just a little at a time so that the cube was still held by it) until it was lined up with the button. Then I used the blue gel to get into the tunnel and ride it to the door. There was another surface that I could have extended the tunnel from that would have been parallel to the original tunnel, but I didn't need it. When I tried to use that surface the second time I played I still ended up having to inch the tunnel up the wall so it wouldn't cross the original tunnel and get the cube stuck in the cross-stream.

Overall thought: I see a few ways to get there, but none of them seemed like the intended route. I actually think it would help to make it so the tunnel origin and the button are not at the same height so that way you don't have to cross the tunnel paths. (unless there's another solution that requires them to cross and I completely missed it)

3) Cross the gap to the final door:
I know I didn't solve it right the first time. I still had the portal placed in the previous room so I could just use the tunnel to cross the gap. I used the same tunel mechanic as in puzzle 2, except it was me in the tunnel this time and I just inched it and myself up the wall until we were high enough to drop on the platform that raises on the far side. Obviously you could prevent this option with an emancipation grill between the rooms. I went back and solved it correctly the second time I played.

Overall thought: Too easy, but good layout. I liked propelling into the aerial faith plate.[/spoiler]

This map is a great start.

Spoiler

I agree that the timed platform near the end should have the ticking sound and the vacuum tube should have sound and particle effects. The odd thing is that I think I saw the particle effect, but only when I had placed a portal under the tube and then a portal on the wall. The sucking air effect seemed to be coming out of the wall portal, but I don't think it ever came directly out of the tube.

I look at your map as having three puzzles:

Spoiler

1) Get turrets into the vacuum tube:
I actually managed to get stuck in the tube, but it was really on purpose to see what would happen. I routed the tunnel so that it would push me right up into the vacuum tube and once up there I couldn't get back down because the tunnel was still pushing me up and I couldn't move the tunnel from inside the tube. I don't think this needs to be fixed though.

Overall thought: I liked this part, but it was too short and too easy. I never felt like the turrets posed any sort of threat(which can also be said for a lot of their appearances in the official Portal games) and often that's okay. I just think that there should be more turrets in deadlier locations that can be sucked away.

2) Get through the door with a box on the button:
I'm not sure what the intended method was for this. I extended the tunnel from the side wall(so it was perpendicular to the original tunnel direction) to catch the cube, then I kept inching the tunnel over and up(just a little at a time so that the cube was still held by it) until it was lined up with the button. Then I used the blue gel to get into the tunnel and ride it to the door. There was another surface that I could have extended the tunnel from that would have been parallel to the original tunnel, but I didn't need it. When I tried to use that surface the second time I played I still ended up having to inch the tunnel up the wall so it wouldn't cross the original tunnel and get the cube stuck in the cross-stream.

Overall thought: I see a few ways to get there, but none of them seemed like the intended route. I actually think it would help to make it so the tunnel origin and the button are not at the same height so that way you don't have to cross the tunnel paths. (unless there's another solution that requires them to cross and I completely missed it)

3) Cross the gap to the final door:
I know I didn't solve it right the first time. I still had the portal placed in the previous room so I could just use the tunnel to cross the gap. I used the same tunel mechanic as in puzzle 2, except it was me in the tunnel this time and I just inched it and myself up the wall until we were high enough to drop on the platform that raises on the far side. Obviously you could prevent this option with an emancipation grill between the rooms. I went back and solved it correctly the second time I played.

Overall thought: Too easy, but good layout. I liked propelling into the aerial faith plate.

[SP] Simpli v1