Quote from KLJF22 on May 12, 2011, 3:31 pm

Chaoslux wrote:

Would someone believe me if i said i finished the map using 12 portals?
Least Portals challenges are awesome btw.
Edit: a youtube video will be coming shortly, this will mostly serve the author to see where he could modify some future puzzles to avoid cheesing, unless he's one of those that likes to have alternative ways

I don't really mind alternate ways as long as its not extremely cheap (skip a huge chunk of the level) Also I am interested to see your video

And Thank you all for the feedback

Also I probably wont be able to start on a new map for a couple of weeks, just to let everyone know.

Quote from quatrus on May 12, 2011, 4:50 pm

Actually I enjoyed the map and didn't have any problems, just difficult to navigate - which seems part of the puzzle. The gel room was a very good puzzle - took me a while. Thanks for creating.

Quote from 4luckykid on May 12, 2011, 7:12 pm

It was very hard... and it look like it took alot of time. Im new to Hammer Editor...so I can only place bricks right now.

Anyway....Good job! For you!

Quote from Chaoslux on May 13, 2011, 12:04 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHc-LMHMk4g
While compressing the first video, i found that Fraps stopped somewhere during.
So i made a new video, and guess what? I went from 12 portals to 11 portals, found a way to not use Portal boosting.
It does skip a little of the horrible crawling around, which is nice. You may be worried about the light bridge part tho

Quote from Risu on May 13, 2011, 10:16 am

This map is awful, one of the worst I've played.

Got out of the first room pretty much straight away, then was stuck in the first dark room for about 10 minutes; I only got through after turning the brightness and gamma to max.

The use of a companion cube in the room you get the portal gun was retarded and unnecessary- I automatically assumed you had to take it with you for the remainder of the map (a fair presumption, considering the fact that it is called the companion cube). Also ended up lapping around the map twice before I saw you had to portal across the black room/void, of which there were far too many- just lazy designing, a large plain room with non-portal walls and a goo floor would've been sufficient.

As for the invisible portal-blocking wall in the following room, don't get me started. If you didn't want the player to use portals put an emancipation grid there, and a death pit rather than just falling out of the map. This was the room that made me look up the walkthrough vid.

The use of light bridges like that in the walkthrough vid was terribly lame, real amateur stuff. Did it just by placing a portal at the top and jumping across.

I have no idea what the point of the button in the laser room is, set it all up, pressed the button and lost it all, so ended up just noclipping out of it. I can't see how you would need it- it's impossible to mess up or lose any of the cubes.

The ending was pointless, as was the broken window at the beginning if there's no actual narrative or explanation behind it- a fade to black would've been sufficient. Also, most pointless criticism of all, but the smilie at the end just added insult to injury after this terrible map

EDIT: Also Lukavian, if this is sincerely the best custom map you've played, I highly suggest you go over to http://myaperturelabs.com/viewfiles.php?o=downloads&desc=y and try out the maps there (some fantastic portal 1 maps, have yet to try the portal 2 ones)

Quote from Thursaz on May 13, 2011, 11:31 am

Quote:

This map is awful, one of the worst I've played.

You haven't played enough maps.

Quote:

Got out of the first room pretty much straight away, then was stuck in the first dark room for about 10 minutes; I only got through after turning the brightness and gamma to max.

I'll point out here that different monitors have varying degrees of brightness, and it is thus impossible to accomodate everyone. If a map has a dim area, there is bound to be at least one person who has problems with seeing everything. Several of us had no problem whatsoever navigating that portion. The dimness adds to the atmosphere, and to remove it would be to remove the atmosphere of the map as well.

Quote:

The use of a companion cube in the room you get the portal gun was retarded and unnecessary- I automatically assumed you had to take it with you for the remainder of the map (a fair presumption, considering the fact that it is called the companion cube). Also ended up lapping around the map twice before I saw you had to portal across the black room/void, of which there were far too many- just lazy designing, a large plain room with non-portal walls and a goo floor would've been sufficient.

You cannot fault the author of a map for a decision you choose to make. The use of a companion cube was not necessary, but calling it retarded is going much too far; it's an aesthetic placement. Yes, some would be confused by it. It can also be termed a red herring and is entirely valid.

As for lazy designing, you're making assumptions. The gap does not look nice, but it is possible that the creator was testing out an aesthetic possibility- It failed, yes, in that no one truly liked it, but testing maps to see what people like and don't like is kind of the point. Calling it lazy designing and throwing further insults on what you already have- And what are the point of those, really? It's entirely unnecessary, and only antagonises people- is an assumption.

Quote:

As for the invisible portal-blocking wall in the following room, don't get me started. If you didn't want the player to use portals put an emancipation grid there, and a death pit rather than just falling out of the map. This was the room that made me look up the walkthrough vid.

What's the difference between an emancipation grill and that? The fact that objects can pass safely through the latter. That's important in the later part.

Quote:

The use of light bridges like that in the walkthrough vid was terribly lame, real amateur stuff. Did it just by placing a portal at the top and jumping across.

...'Lame'? 'Amateur'? What you did was an oversight on the creator's part, yes, but it is in no way 'lame' or 'amateur'- that would be a puzzle solved in the most basic of means (re: Wheatley's chamber). Aside from pointing out that those two words are a matter of perspective and you are offering no real criticism or alternative, I thought there was a certain creativity to it. Light bridges have been blocked by grills, but not by part of a wall and shooting through that. It was a fairly original idea that I have not seen used in other maps. That you bypassed it does not take away from that.

Quote:

I have no idea what the point of the button in the laser room is, set it all up, pressed the button and lost it all, so ended up just noclipping out of it. I can't see how you would need it- it's impossible to mess up or lose any of the cubes.

This is why I pressed the button first. On that note, you skipped a fun puzzle by noclipping. Many maps are frustrating. This does not mean one should resort to noclipping. Yes, the button could be done away with. Many have said so.

All in all: I like how you simultaneously bashed a good map repeatedly -and- promoted an alternative site in the same post. First post, no less.

To put it in better terms: Your criticism is valid. It really is. There are many ways this map could be improved. However, you seem to have forgotten all of the map's merits and focused on the frustrating aspects instead. In fact, you consistently bashed the map throughout your criticism. I'm not sure if you considered that this was a first map, and, for a first map, quite brilliant.

Balance, sir, balance.

Quote from Hober on May 13, 2011, 12:43 pm

I have to agree with a few of Risu's criticisms. I only managed to make it to the lasers room before getting stuck and having to work on getting the community roundup posted, but I was very confused when bringing along the companion cube wasn't needed and, in fact, impossible once you got to the room with repulsion gel.

Likewise, the presence of the invisible walls that you couldn't shoot portals through was confusing. And, yes, why fall out of the map, instead of just falling in to death water?

These are all conventions that help people put your map in to context and understand it. Deliberately circumventing them confuses the user and makes your map harder without being more challenging. The companion cube has a specific meaning: take this with you. When the user is tricked in to carrying it along and then stumped why he can't manage to hold on to it for what he assumes is a puzzle he will need it for, you have done your player a disservice.

Quote from Vandread83 on May 13, 2011, 1:22 pm

I did this map last night, of all the maps I've downloaded from here (every single player with a 3+ rating) yours was definitely the one I spent the most time on.

[spoiler]My only major problem was in the light redirection, I solved the first one by making 2 cubes pointing up stacked on each other and one over to shoot through the eyes to open the door (this is wrong btw, it will get you past the first door, but then leaves you with 1 cube too few for the 2nd door). Only reason did this was because when I first shot a portal at the white spot in the ceiling it wouldn't stick. Wasn't for half an hour when I shot it randomly I realized I needed to hit it straight on from one of 2 sides in order for it to appear. Then a bit of experimentation and moving the cubes around let me get through the first half with the 2 cubes like intended and get set up for the 2nd door.

In the normal levels for Portal 2 if you shoot a portal at a wall like that it forces the portal into the proper angle for the solution to the puzzle so even if you're a little off it will still work, not sure if you could add that or not, but would have made it considerably easier while I was trying to solve the 2nd half.

But in the end I did and the music creaped the hell out of me.[/spoiler]

Either way, great job, was one hell of a tough level.

Quote from KLJF22 on May 13, 2011, 3:42 pm

First of all... Thank you for all the feedback

Here are some things I would like to mention...

- This was my first map I have made using Hammer, before starting this map I had little to no experience with it(This made it hard for me to do things, like adding water and effects because I didn't know how at the time) Also I used the Alien Swarm Tools to make this map, making it that much harder for me to wrap my head around a new program.

- The Darkness in the underground, I apologize for that, My monitor is pretty bright and I didn't really think about other people's being darker(I will in other maps I make, now that I have gotten feedback).

- For the companion cube...
[spoiler]You can take it to the end of the level(If you do some text pops up on the screen saying "Mini-Achievement unlocked - Escort the companion cube to the end of the level" I guess nobody found that (Or didn't say anything)[/spoiler]

- The invisible portal blocks/Cleansers where so people wouldn't see them and think, "Oh, I can't take boxes through there... There must be a different way."

- The light bridge part, well that is just a mistake I over looked during the creation of the map. The whole reason to upload these maps are so other people can catch things I(The creator) missed.

- In the laser room, the button is for if the player took all the boxes to the second floor, then went back down and the door shut behind them... At that point they would have to reload the map to fix it, and once again, the problem is because I'm so new to Hammer I didn't know how to fix this, so I just put the button right in front of the player, hoping they would hit it right away. (If anyone has a way to keep the button but fix this problem let me know and I will fix it, I still have know idea how )

- The broken window and the weird ending is supposed to be like that... The map is called "The Unknown"

- The smile was because I was happy I just finished the map and had so much fun making it, and I figured the player would of had just as much fun playing it(If not you think they would of quit), but apparently the way you're talking (Risu) it sounds like I wasted your time, well sorry for that, but thank you for all the feedback... From you, and everyone else. I'll defiantly take it all in to consideration on the next map I make, and I understand on any map I make, everyone is going has their own personal likes and dislikes/ opinion, and that's fine, I can't make everyone happy < He he, I'm still happy though.

And just to finish off, again... I really am grateful for everyone who has downloaded and played my map