Forum | Thinking With Portals

#1 · May 7, 2011, 12:59 pm

Just a small singleplayer sphere that needs testing, portal puzzles are a curious thing, its really easy to overlook an obvious gamebreaking solution that the next player spots immediately, so i figure its best to practice a bit on small releases, until I get more comfortable with it.

Screenshot: http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/7444 ... round1.jpg

I have to say mapping for Portal 2 is really fun, so let me know what you think!

File Name: sp_sphere_of_roundness.zip
File Size: 2.29?MiB
Sphere of Roundness

#2 · May 7, 2011, 1:05 pm

Nice map. And I agree, portal 2 mapping is very fun, and so far, much less complicated than portal 1 mapping was.

#3 · May 7, 2011, 1:55 pm

good map. but you can cheat the first cube by jumping on the button and shoot a portal over the emancipation grill.

#4 · May 7, 2011, 2:55 pm

Nice find! I think I will leave it in though, seems like a perfectly acceptable way to get the cube to the first laser, nothing wrong with out of the box thinking!

#5 · May 7, 2011, 3:09 pm

First custom 1940's Aperture map?

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#6 · May 7, 2011, 3:29 pm

wow :shock:

It`s the first real 1940`s map and it`s great too
I like it and hope to see more 5/5

great job :thumbup:

As finishing touch God created the Dutch

#7 · May 7, 2011, 5:08 pm

Great map. Looks really good, puzzles are nice as well. Maybe a bit too easy. Thank you!

#8 · May 7, 2011, 6:58 pm

Sweet map, I really liked this one. Best single player custom map so far in my opinion. :thumbup:

#9 · May 7, 2011, 11:32 pm

you ROCK!!! keep doing more!!
i made an account just to tell you that and to rate your map

#10 · May 8, 2011, 3:28 am

Quote from yongedevil on May 8, 2011, 3:28 am
Well this is the first Portal 2 custom map I've downloaded and I rather liked it.

Visually the map is spares but that's kind of to my tastes, I'm here for puzzles not the view.

As for the puzzles, since you've stated you wanted some testing with this I wrote down notes as I went through the level.

My first thought on getting in was, where do I go. The lack of clear indication of intimidate and final goals is really the biggest downside to the map. And I can't claim I ever got lost. Having the tower you need to reach first right in front of you with a very clear way over to it meant I spend little time wondering where I needed to go. Still I'd rather have an idea where I want to go rather than just going where it is easy to. Once on the tower I did the same thing, went where it was easy to go, and got to the propulsion gel section.

I will note I found it a little odd that either there wasn't an info_placementhelper or it was off centre at the base of the tower. Tried a few times to centre the portal without luck although it made no difference to the difficult of the puzzle. I also think I may have flung myself out of an unintended surface. I used this, on top of the tower, as an exit rather than the angled surface over the spawn.

This area was defiantly the most challenging. First thing I did was go for the floor button and see what it did. Opened a door in the ceiling, figured I was supposed to fling my self up it. Again I didn't like not being able to see what was up there that I was trying to get to, but it was pretty clear what I was supposed to do. Had some DOH moments obtaining the cube. Figured I was supposed to fling it over to where I was but I tried this first, followed by the one on the left before finally trying the on on the right. I don't think that due to any misdirection on the map, well the first one maybe but I should have tried the one on the right second since I'd just flung myself out of it. I did later find this solution, which I think is unintended.

Once I got the gel it was simple to see where I was supposed to spray it to jump up to the second level. I was surprised by the door closing behind me though. I actually when back down to the first level to see what happened to the cube. When I couldn't find the cube I'd figured there was a trigger to destroy it, but since I saw I needed it for the second level to I actually re-did the first level to try and save the cube. I knew in the back of my head it wouldn't work but I think breaking the normal portal rules (destroying a cube without explanation) made me want to test everything to be sure.

When I gave up trying to save the cube from the first level I then tried to get a new cube for the second level. At this part I got a little lost. My first thought was to fling the cube up to me like I had on the lower level, but I couldn't find a platform facing the right way. I then though to re-direct the repulsion gel to bounce the cube up to. That though lasted all of the whole second it took to realise the gel was landing on a non-portalable surface. That's when I realized the repulsion gel had to be for a jump and I probability needed propulsion gel on the run up to it. However, I think I was still stuck on this as a way to get the cube and so I spend a few minutes trying to get the propulsion get up to the second level without access to the cube. Bit of a DOH moment when I realized I had it backwards and could just portal the cube directly to me and use it to get the gel I needed.

Rest of the puzzle when like a breeze. Tried the two buttons on the landing platform from the repulsion gel jump and saw I needed to use the tractor beam to catch the cube and get it to me to hold the button down to cross the gap. The exit sign caused a little confusion as I didn't see an exit under it, but as there was only one catapult in the room with it I figured I trust it to send me to the right place.

All in all a nice fun map. Felt a little scattered with the puzzles not necessarily connecting very well, but re-using the tractor beam at the end helped to make tie that to the beginning, which was a nice touch. I look forward to more of your maps in the future.

Well this is the first Portal 2 custom map I've downloaded and I rather liked it.

Visually the map is spares but that's kind of to my tastes, I'm here for puzzles not the view.

As for the puzzles, since you've stated you wanted some testing with this I wrote down notes as I went through the level.

My first thought on getting in was, where do I go. The lack of clear indication of intimidate and final goals is really the biggest downside to the map. And I can't claim I ever got lost. Having the tower you need to reach first right in front of you with a very clear way over to it meant I spend little time wondering where I needed to go. Still I'd rather have an idea where I want to go rather than just going where it is easy to. Once on the tower I did the same thing, went where it was easy to go, and got to the propulsion gel section.

I will note I found it a little odd that either there wasn't an info_placementhelper or it was off centre at the base of the tower. Tried a few times to centre the portal without luck although it made no difference to the difficult of the puzzle. I also think I may have flung myself out of an unintended surface. I used this, on top of the tower, as an exit rather than the angled surface over the spawn.

This area was defiantly the most challenging. First thing I did was go for the floor button and see what it did. Opened a door in the ceiling, figured I was supposed to fling my self up it. Again I didn't like not being able to see what was up there that I was trying to get to, but it was pretty clear what I was supposed to do. Had some DOH moments obtaining the cube. Figured I was supposed to fling it over to where I was but I tried this first, followed by the one on the left before finally trying the on on the right. I don't think that due to any misdirection on the map, well the first one maybe but I should have tried the one on the right second since I'd just flung myself out of it. I did later find this solution, which I think is unintended.

Once I got the gel it was simple to see where I was supposed to spray it to jump up to the second level. I was surprised by the door closing behind me though. I actually when back down to the first level to see what happened to the cube. When I couldn't find the cube I'd figured there was a trigger to destroy it, but since I saw I needed it for the second level to I actually re-did the first level to try and save the cube. I knew in the back of my head it wouldn't work but I think breaking the normal portal rules (destroying a cube without explanation) made me want to test everything to be sure.

When I gave up trying to save the cube from the first level I then tried to get a new cube for the second level. At this part I got a little lost. My first thought was to fling the cube up to me like I had on the lower level, but I couldn't find a platform facing the right way. I then though to re-direct the repulsion gel to bounce the cube up to. That though lasted all of the whole second it took to realise the gel was landing on a non-portalable surface. That's when I realized the repulsion gel had to be for a jump and I probability needed propulsion gel on the run up to it. However, I think I was still stuck on this as a way to get the cube and so I spend a few minutes trying to get the propulsion get up to the second level without access to the cube. Bit of a DOH moment when I realized I had it backwards and could just portal the cube directly to me and use it to get the gel I needed.

Rest of the puzzle when like a breeze. Tried the two buttons on the landing platform from the repulsion gel jump and saw I needed to use the tractor beam to catch the cube and get it to me to hold the button down to cross the gap. The exit sign caused a little confusion as I didn't see an exit under it, but as there was only one catapult in the room with it I figured I trust it to send me to the right place.

All in all a nice fun map. Felt a little scattered with the puzzles not necessarily connecting very well, but re-using the tractor beam at the end helped to make tie that to the beginning, which was a nice touch. I look forward to more of your maps in the future.

[SP] Sphere of Roundness 1.0