[WIP] First Map
After being inspired by all of the great maps on here I decided to give mapping a try for Source. I haven't mapped in a very, very, long time (Probably like 7 years?) so everything feels almost completely new to me. I've been reading masses of tutorials and I think I have a fairly good grip on things finally.
Anyway, here is the first map I'm working on. It's a simple puzzle that involves getting two cubes on two buttons to enter the exit elevator. The puzzle is "complete" and I've spent quite a lot of time trying to work out any potential exploits with it.
http://www.jimo.co.uk/wp-content/upload ... _00003.jpg
http://steamcommunity.com/id/jimo/scree ... 241852419/?
http://steamcommunity.com/id/jimo/scree ... 241850308/?
Aesthetically the map is not done. I've been working backwards to ensure the puzzle actually works before I make any visual changes to it. The texturing and lighting will all be changed, there will also be an exit elevator parallel with the entrance on the other side. There's still a lot of work to be done.
Anyhow, just posting this up for any initial feedback/advice
My initial gut reaction is that i don't really like puzzles that are just one big room with all the elements mashed together. It also feels like the scale is off, like those puzzle elements are way too high up on the walls and very very far away from the player. It doesn't feel like an environment you can interact with. Unless there's a very clear puzzle reason for these placements (epic flings or something) you should think about bringing it all in a bit...
Other than that, it's hard to make a judgement off of a couple of screenshots.
I definitely agree with the feedback on the scaling. Things are to far apart from each other right now. I'm probably going to scale things by about 50%, both height and width. The initial reason for the large height was bouncing on the blue gel, I forgot that the "bounce" height is decided on the initial height of the player, so scaling the platforms *should* work?
I think with some detailing things should come together nicely.
Thanks for the feedback, this is exactly what I'm looking for. 
Cool, it's nice when people take feedback well.
Blue gel definitely scales properly with height, so that element should preserve itself pretty well. Don't forget to test the shit out of it to make sure tho
I look forward to playing it!
looks pretty cool to me
Aperture Science: We do our science asbestos we can!
Reduced the overall height of everything by almost 60%. I'm going to reduce the width of everything in the next version also: http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/50689 ... 6B4C32A07/
Thanks again for the feedback, I see where I was going wrong now! 
Excellent! It's actually starting to look like a reasonable puzzle now 
I would add a couple of "cool" lights to it.
cool lights are blueish; and they look really good on metal surfaces.
You can find some nice instances in instances/lights/light_panel_128_cool_med.vmf and light_panel_128_cool_high.vmf.
They give a lot of light and make your room look a lot better! I'd add a high one in the center of your map somewhere and add med's to places where you also need more light. It really makes a huge difference!
Good luck on mapping and I'm looking forward to your first release
~Lp
cool lights are blueish; and they look really good on metal surfaces.
You can find some nice instances in instances/lights/light_panel_128_cool_med.vmf and light_panel_128_cool_high.vmf.
They give a lot of light and make your room look a lot better! I'd add a high one in the center of your map somewhere and add med's to places where you also need more light. It really makes a huge difference!
Good luck on mapping and I'm looking forward to your first release
~Lp
Awesome tip man, thanks! 
I've been busy with work this last week so progress has been slow. I've had some people playtest the map and I've made some changes accordingly. Here is a screencap I took off the latest compile (Textures and lighting still needs to be done, I'm also missing exit and entrance doors): http://steamcommunity.com/id/jimo/scree ... 6130281764
I'm pretty proud of my progress so far. I've been reading up on a few texturing tutorials during my work week and it has helped quite a bit!
Here is a screenshot from my latest compile. Most of the texturing and lighting is done. I'm tweaking things now and adding a few extras such as an observation room. http://steamcommunity.com/id/jimo/scree ... 2441835714