[WIP] [WIP] Platform Peril
This map centers around the concept of using a single moving platform throughout the entire level while maneuvering various obstacles along the way. I'm uploading to WIP to see what you guys think of the concept, or would suggest that I make different, or anything else. Very open to criticism. Also, since it's a WIP, you'll notice I haven't done much to make textures pretty or stuff.
So far, only first few areas completed. Also I'll change the potato later.
File Name: wip_platform_peril.zip
File Size: 1.6 MiB
Click here to download Platform Peril
Dying multiple times with trial and error is not fun.
Maps which require ninja skills to get through are not fun.
I was hoping this would be much more puzzle based. If you are willing to, I could see the concept being modified to be more fun than platforming insanity. But as it is there are too many pointless nuisances that sucked the fun out of it for me:
The platform being not being close to the wall so you can fall off while trying to press the button, having to let the turret shoot you for a few seconds to put the cube on the button, the angled ceiling you have to come out of that kept flinging me into the laser wall it was facing, having only a few seconds to set up that touchy laser... The big room that started with the lightbridge seems too confusing, there isn't much of a chance the player will understand what they need to do or what everything does the first time around.
Decent concept, but I would like to see it put to better use.
Although I like the idea, it is frustrating. In Portal 1 we all experienced moving platforms, but those mechanics were relatively simple. Jumping thru a portal onto the moving platform, grabbing the cube, setting it up, jumping laser beams, shooting portals, trying to get thru grids was just too much. First, give me some kind of ledge to stand on. Balancing in an open portal is not fun. Then I get to the bridge room and I have no idea where the platform is going and what I should do first. By the time I looked around and try to make a decision, it's too late. I think if you had kept the puzzles simpler for a first run, it would have been more fun. That's just me - others might feel differently. Thanks!
Hmmm, interesting. When I made this, I was thinking about a level (which I just now remembered is not called Platform Peril, though I thought it was) in Donkey Kong Country 1, which was about standing on a moving platform and periodically stepping off to collect items and avoid dangers while keeping up with it. I see what you guys are saying in that trial and error death is a really annoying thing, and obviously I was only thinking about my own taste when I was making it. When I got to the big chamber, I did move towards a more puzzle-oriented element, but like Random said, it did seem difficult and daunting, knowing that the platform is moving and the whole run is timed...
You pretty much used the platforms only as a kind of different timer. While the platform is floating through a room you have to solve it, otherwise you are screwed, no chance for a retry.
Timers are not fun in Portal, especially when you don't even get a second chance like here.
Portal 2 Playlists: videos 1-200 | videos 201-400 | videos 401-600 | videos 601-800 | videos 801-1000 | videos 1001-1200
I actually enjoyed playing this map. There were a couple little things that made it less interesting, but other than that I really like the concept. It's different.
I personally find the idea that there are "no second chances" a moot point. With a death it loads you back to a checkpoint. How is this any different than screwing something up in a regular map and having to redo it? Or some players even save and then when they screw up just load the saved part to try the same area again. To me it seems exactly the same.
The things I found annoying:
- Perhaps place the turret behind glass so it is obvious you can't just destroy it? My first instinct was to jump over and kill it then jump back, but it was so dark I didn't realize I couldn't do that.
- The first portal over the red lasers. With altered placement you could jump through a portal and land on the moving platform. That is the obvious solution and I think for a map like this requiring portal straddling isn't good.
- What is that first laser for other than to make the player jump over it?
- Why does the platform kill the light ramp? I don't think it serves any purpose but to be annoying.
Also, what is the big red button on the wall for? I didn't get a chance to push it.
I didn't find that having to die multiple times subtracted from the map at all. I just found the concept different. This isn't a standard map and thus the mechanics are a bit different.
I just reviewed another map where you have to do a complicated set of flings. The entire floor is portal-able except one completely arbitrary area. My precise velocity that I achieved would hit this unportal-able area. I had to repeat the fling dozens of times throughout completing the map for no reason at all. Now THAT is annoying. This map? Not at all.
[edit] Forgot to include the video. Here is my blind run:
Heh, I'm glad someone enjoyed it! To answer your 4 points:
2. I actually was intending for portal straddling, but you're right, it's iffy.
3. Actually yes, that's what it was for.
4. The platform killing the lightbridge was an annoyance I found too, I didn't really want to fix something that wasn't entirely broken so I just left it, since I had a good angle on the bridge.
The red button on the wall disables the fizzler that leads to the second cube dropper.
Thanks for playing! Though I don't think I'll be continuing this project...