Quote from Ralen on February 17, 2008, 9:01 pm

Hober wrote:

Behind the Scenes.

Thanks. I realized that shortly after I posted.

I found the BTS area by noclipping (because I was too lazy to look for it legitimately) but I noticed that it's possible to get stuck there. You enter by shooting a portal [spoiler]at the X under the stairs in the room with the giant tube, but once you're down there, if the stairs go back down, your portal disappears and there's no way to get out.[/spoiler]

Quote from thehermit2 on February 17, 2008, 9:19 pm

Ralen wrote:

I found the BTS area by noclipping (because I was too lazy to look for it legitimately) but I noticed that it's possible to get stuck there. You enter by shooting a portal [spoiler]at the X under the stairs in the room with the giant tube, but once you're down there, if the stairs go back down, your portal disappears and there's no way to get out.[/spoiler]

I think I can fix that by putting a trigger that [spoiler]opens the stairs again when the player is under them.[/spoiler] Thanks for pointing that out.

Quote from rellikpd on February 19, 2008, 7:20 pm

ok just finished this one. and man it was really good. hard, different. but possible and easy to understand. only things i found problems with are
1) you can get stuck [spoiler]under the stairs that takes you to the bts area[/spoiler]
2) you seem to be able to complete the [spoiler]last puzzle without getting all the cubes... after the 3rd cube was dropped. i was able to (sometimes) get the door open without using all the cubes. not sure how/why this is? exatly HOW are you suposed to beat the last puzzle? i'm assuming by putting all 3 cubes on all 3 buttons?[/spoiler]

and lastly OMG what an amazing easter egg!!! i laughed so freakin' hard!

EDIT: thought of a way to fix the [spoiler]bts area below the stairs; you could just simply make the floor portable... this would be a viable fix for 2 reasons, firstly: it would be ok. cuz. well you already found the secret if you are able to target the floor. so who cares right? secondly... putting a trigger under there to make the stairs go "back up" if the player is in this area because one assumes that all actions are triggered by <homocidal AI name here> so WHY would he/she help the player who is attempting to bypass the test chamber? more likely the AI would be happy to trap said test participant in this area with no chance for escape... atleast then they would slowly starve to death and not be a problem no more[/spoiler]

Quote from thehermit2 on February 20, 2008, 3:12 am

Thanks for the review, rellikpd. I'm glad someone finally reported that they got the easter egg to work. I was starting to worry that there was something wrong with it.

Both of the problems you found have been among the glitches that have dogged me throughout the construction of this level.

The three-button puzzle is supposed to work this way:
[spoiler]-Triggering any one button causes the first cube to drop.
-Triggering any two buttons causes the second cube to drop.
-Triggering all three buttons causes the third cube to drop and also holds the exit doors open as long as all three are being pressed.
So when you have all three cubes, you should be able to hold the door open and escape. If it is staying open with only two cubes, there must be some sort of glitch.[/spoiler]

The problem with it may be that I built the puzzle before I learned how a math_counter and logic_case work together. Instead I used an overlapping network of something like twelve different trigger_multiples (half for the player and half for the cubes). The triggers are all slightly different sizes so I can tell them apart for maintenance, and this probably caused the glitch that held the doors open.

I think I can solve this by just going over to the simpler math_counter and logic_case pairing.

The stairs have been a trickier problem because they seem to cause some sort of tremendous lag when they are down and [spoiler]there is an open portal under them. That was why I changed the placement of the portal surface so their closing disrupted any portal placed there, forgetting that this would trap the player. I think putting a portal surface on the floor might bring the lag problem back,[/spoiler] but I'll play around with that and some other ideas I've had and see if I can't work something out.

Personally I'm still leaning towards the GLaDOS fix because... well, first it would be really easy for me to do, and second there is precedent in the original game for GLaDOS helping the player out when they get trapped. At the end of test chamber 15 you can climb inside the small chamber where the ball catcher is while the timed doors are open, and if they close you are effectively trapped forever. GLaDOS chimes in with a brief disclaimer and then opens a secret trap door that frees you. (I saw a video of this on youtube).

If I add some dialogue explaining what is happening and why and that maybe is also funny, then GLaDOS freeing the player might be acceptable.

Quote from rellikpd on February 20, 2008, 9:23 am

thehermit2 wrote:

:blah:
Personally I'm still leaning towards the GLaDOS fix because... well, first it would be really easy for me to do, and second there is precedent in the original game for GLaDOS helping the player out when they get trapped. At the end of test chamber 15 you can climb inside the small chamber where the ball catcher is while the timed doors are open, and if they close you are effectively trapped forever. GLaDOS chimes in with a brief disclaimer and then opens a secret trap door that frees you. (I saw a video of this on youtube).

If I add some dialogue explaining what is happening and why and that maybe is also funny, then GLaDOS freeing the player might be acceptable.

well there wouldn't be anything completely wrong with this kind of fix... just. for me i think it would be against the orriginal design, most people wouldn't even notice, just us perfectionists. cuz you ARE right glados does something similiar to this in (many) of the orriginal test chambers. however, she does that ONLY if you trap yourself in legitimate parts of the test chamber, "outside" of the test chamber she has little (to no) control. and so. in my opinion, before you have her "fix your problem" try making a different portable surface... or make another way to get out possibly. [spoiler]like being able to get to the bts area WITHOUT using another portal (once you are under the stairs) or maybe make another hall behind you. just slightly. thats not "DIRECTLY" under the stairs with a portalable surface... might fix the lag.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]ALSO ANOTHER NOTE ON THE EASTER EGG: i didn't have any problem finding it once i killed all the turrets. the "knocking sound that is louder when you are "around" where it starts" seemed like plenty good enough clue. but not so obvious... so it made finding out "what the hell is that noise?" much more fun, and rewarding once i did find it.[/spoiler]

Quote from thehermit2 on February 21, 2008, 2:51 am

Okay, I see what you mean about GLaDOS not helping the player escape the from the actual test chamber into a BTS area. That would definitely be out of character.

My intention was that she was not aware that there was an exit [spoiler]underneath the stairs,[/spoiler] and so perceiving the player as trapped forever would help to free them. But then why put a portal surface there at all? Wouldn't it be easier to design the test chamber without one?

The BTS exit would have to be a thing that resulted from some unauthorized modification of the test chamber to be believable. I think I'm going to have to rethink the storytelling aspect of this.

Quote from rellikpd on February 21, 2008, 9:30 am

thehermit2 wrote:

My intention was that she was not aware that there was an exit [spoiler]underneath the stairs,[/spoiler] and so perceiving the player as trapped forever would help to free them. But then why put a portal surface there at all? Wouldn't it be easier to design the test chamber without one?

hum... that might work.. especially if you use the
aperture_ai7_part1_trapped-1.wav
aperture_ai7_part1_trapped-2.wav
sounds... and then open a way for them to get out. but that sounds like MUCH MORE work than just keeping them from getting trapped (in the ways i stated)