Quote from MasterLagger on February 1, 2012, 12:23 pm

This could go for both Portal or Portal 2:
- Having Observation Rooms accessible to give the players a little more freedom to explore instead of just keeping the player in a test chamber.
- A few physics puzzles
- Easter Eggs are always fun to find
- Well placed textures (a must have)

Quote from Lpfreaky90 on February 1, 2012, 5:46 pm

What I want in a portal (2) map is:
* ALIGNED TEXTURES (had to repeat that)
* Walls on a grid.
* A new puzzle, this can be rather hard but things we've already seen a million times just aren't interesting. Cube+button, orange gel with a bit of blue at the end: we get it. I like it when there's a bit of originality in every map.

And the most important part:
I want to be submerged in the map. This is the hardest thing of all. The puzzles should be the right difficulty, the aesthetics have to be very good. Theme should be good. Possibly good use of (custom) voices. And when you play maps like that it's like: "Let's play this map". After you finished it you have the feeling "those were 5 well spent minutes", you look at your clock and realize you've just spent 45 minutes in this room. Those are my favorite maps. That is the kind of map that receives a 5/5 from me.

Quote from Spam Nugget on February 1, 2012, 9:42 pm

glados, announcer, wheatley or cave.
Oh, an defective turrets!

Quote from MasterLagger on February 1, 2012, 9:45 pm

A defective turret that yells "Nooooooooooooo" when you drop him.

Quote from Ruien on February 1, 2012, 10:43 pm

Maybe I'm weird, but I don't care about textures or aesthetics at all.

All I want is a creative puzzle with unique or unexpected puzzle elements, with an emphasis on logical solutions rather than twitch timing. Having to defensively set up portals in previous chambers and plan ahead to prevent yourself from dying or getting stuck in some stupid way is always a plus.

Quote from kwp21 pitts on February 1, 2012, 10:58 pm

I would say keeping the player motivated, interested, and entertained.

Quote from spongylover123 on February 1, 2012, 11:50 pm

- Give the player a feeling
Make a theme, destroyed, clean
- Introduce something new
Dialogue, characters, testing elements
-Give the player a suprise
make something dynamic happen from something ordinary.

Quote from msleeper on February 2, 2012, 4:55 am

I want a map with a high attention to visuals and details. I don't want to be pulled out of my immersion every time I enter a room and think "they used this texture too much" or "the lighting in here is bland" or "the layout and color palette here is awful". As a mapper, you are using an artistic tool. Take some time to approach the visuals of your map as a work of art. Everyone will notice and appreciate it if you do.

I want a map that adheres to a specific style. There is a lot of content in Portal 2, and mishmashing everything together does not provide a high quality user experience. My favorite maps from the 2011 contest were the ones that picked a visual style and ran with it all the way to the finish line. If you're going to make a clean Wheatley map, stick with it. If you're going to make a 50's map, stick with it. Do not mix visual themes together, it never works.

I want a map with well designed and thought-out puzzles. Emphasis on the word "puzzles". This is a puzzle game, and puzzle gamers are going to be playing your map. It's great that you've learned that the Source engine is really powerful and you can make other "mini games" in it. Portal isn't the best delivery method for it. When I play Portal, I want to play puzzles, not a gimmick. There are tons of clever and interesting game mechanics already built into the game, you don't need to reinvent the wheel by making something new.

I want a map that is engaging without being overbearing. I want a map that is clever without being either artifically difficult or too hand-holdy. I want a map that skillfully uses all of the tools available to the mapper; texture, lighting, shadows, game mechanics, sound, all of it. I want a map that doesn't use gimmicks like screen text or a saturation of "heard it one too many times" GLaDOS voice clips. I want a map that doesn't think including a Companion Cube will make it an instant classic.

I want a map that doesn't make me regret downloading it. I want a map that flows. I want a map that is a pleasure to play.

Quote from josepezdj on February 2, 2012, 5:31 am

@msleeper:

Fair enough. I totally agree with each of the mentioned points.

Only one thing though: even though I believe the mixture of styles will never ever work, there are people developing really awesome personal styles (I'm trying to get a personal theme too...) that won't necessarily fit to any of the available Portal2 themes, BUT (this is the important part) these personal aesthetics are solid, well-defined and homogeneuously used throughout all the chambers. There are many people that cannot accept this only because it is NOT a fixed Portal2 theme, and that's unfair. As you said, this is overall an artistic tool, every detailed and well-developed map should be well received by the communnity instead of being rejected for not describing perfectly one of already existing themes.

In my humble opinion...