Quote from Rand0mNumbers on August 11, 2011, 3:11 am

pfalstad wrote:

From the unassuming name, and from peeking at the forum before trying the maps, we assumed this was going to be a set of easy unremarkable tests.

I'm not very creative with the map names. I use a generic incrementing name so I'm not set in what that map is supposed to be. My youtube walkthroughs have the "proper" names for each map.

Perhaps "Experimental Map Pack (2)" would be a better name.

pfalstad wrote:

The [spoiler]falling tower[/spoiler] was cool, but I didn't like that test as much because some of the buttons/lasers didn't have an obvious effect. We'd heard a click but didn't see anything change. Maybe that helped put me in the right frame of mind though.. After watching the [spoiler]tower teeter back and forth[/spoiler] for a while, I finally said hey, none of this makes sense, let's try this. And it worked!

I'm not sure how to make the solution more obvious. I figured loud noises and motion in the center of the map would work. However, that doesn't exactly scream the solution, just that something is wrong.

I just noticed: The env_shake wasn't set to shake globally. Whoops. I'm surprised I didn't catch that before release.

pfalstad wrote:

The [spoiler]lava[/spoiler] level was a bit confusing because we wasn't sure what controlled [spoiler]how long the laser cube stayed on.[/spoiler]

The cube stays on for up to 15 seconds. If you charge it for 2 seconds, it stays on for 2 seconds. If you charge it for less than a second, it doesn't turn on. Give or take a half a second when charging for the i/o to stabilize.

If you watch the cube's skin, it changes for when it is charging, fully charged, and discharging. Come to think of it, the way my i/o is setup, I could do a color gradient for charging/discharging instead of swapping skins. I'm adding that to my list of changes.

pfalstad wrote:

The last one with the multiple combinations was a cool idea although they all seemed pretty easy, which we didn't mind after having trouble with some of the other levels.

In short, definitely memorable and one of our favorites. Thanks!!

The rotations make editing sections difficult. So, I tried to keep the sections simple. The more sections I have, the more scenarios I have to check. That said, I think I'll try for a rail system to make the assembly more interesting and keep myself from tilting my head in order to modify sections and allow for more complex puzzles.

I'm glad you all like the pack!

Quote from Djinndrache on January 26, 2012, 8:26 am

Didn't know you had some older mappacks too, time to play them

Here are my blindruns. However, I had some problems with maps 19 and 20, that's why I got no video for them. On map 21 I did 3 different runs as that map seemed to build up differently everytime I launch it.

map 14:
kO76_6X7EUs
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO76_6X7EUs)

map 15:
YiG0ylpk7Mw
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiG0ylpk7Mw)

map 17:
Kn6TpHWBJkg
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn6TpHWBJkg)

map 18:
9lBo7AlqxA4
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lBo7AlqxA4)

map 21:
R5pSjbbsltE
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pSjbbsltE)

Quote from Rand0mNumbers on February 6, 2012, 5:52 am

Woah...I haven't checked my other MapPack threads for a while.

For 15, it looked like you were having a ball enabling/disabling the laser. Also, that was an unintended solution. I'm not good at throwing cubes, so when I lowered it enough so I couldn't do it, I figured that'd be that (I think someone else did the throw as well...). Anyways, to see what it was all about, place a portal on one of the switching tiles and enable/disable the laser. Pretty much what you saw in 18, but didn't mess with.

For 17, the wheel spins. You get to the button by using the halfpipe as a, well, halfpipe. Run to the backboard, run back and shift right to throw yourself into an arc. I didn't try shooting the Portals from behind. I assumed since it wasn't a white tile, it wasn't portallable.

For 18, that first puzzle is a bit too...cumbersome. I think if you throw the green cube at the green button, you can sneak on by. I haven't tried that though.

For 19 and 20, what went wrong? 19 might have had a case where the tower would go the wrong way. I tried to prevent that, but it might still occur. I'd have to rethink how it works to eliminate all chance of it occuring. In 20, I thought I handled the serious bugs. The cube shouldn't be able to use the faith plates, the charging system should be relatively bug free (rapid charge/discharge), and there should be plenty of time to run to the exit. The biggest issue would be complete lack of directions. If the lack of direction is the issue, activate the laser catcher, wait 20 seconds, and cut the laser off.

For 21, I probably should have said 3 configurations. There were actually 4, but the last was unsolvable. This was a mapping exercise rather than a puzzle for players. I wanted to see how hard it would be to make multiple puzzles spawn randomly while still being solvable. They were all ridiculously easy due to how hard it was to coordinate each part. I even cut it down from 3 moving parts to 2 because of all the extra work.

Quote from Djinndrache on February 6, 2012, 6:25 am

Rand0mNumbers wrote:

For 18, that first puzzle is a bit too...cumbersome. I think if you throw the green cube at the green button, you can sneak on by. I haven't tried that though.

I tried that in a later run because I got that idea too. It didn't work though, the door closes when the button is "unpressed" and it doesn't even really fully open before the cube falls down.

Rand0mNumbers wrote:

For 19 and 20, what went wrong? 19 might have had a case where the tower would go the wrong way. I tried to prevent that, but it might still occur. I'd have to rethink how it works to eliminate all chance of it occuring. In 20, I thought I handled the serious bugs. The cube shouldn't be able to use the faith plates, the charging system should be relatively bug free (rapid charge/discharge), and there should be plenty of time to run to the exit. The biggest issue would be complete lack of directions. If the lack of direction is the issue, activate the laser catcher, wait 20 seconds, and cut the laser off.

At 19, that may be the issue. I tried it several times to make sure I didn't make anything wrong, the tower kept falling forwards (away from the catapult) and I found no way in reaching it to press the button then. Maybe I was just too stupid though, I don't know.
At 20 I guess the cube was supposed to shoot a laser, but it doesn't. It just sparkles like if there is a laser within the cube which can't get out though because it hits the cube's boundaries. So I did quit this because it seemed buggy to me. I'm not home right now, maybe I can make a short video later to show you what I mean incase it's not clear yet.

Quote from Rand0mNumbers on February 6, 2012, 4:28 pm

Djinndrache wrote:

I tried that in a later run because I got that idea too. It didn't work though, the door closes when the button is "unpressed" and it doesn't even really fully open before the cube falls down.

Oh good.

Djinndrache wrote:

At 19, that may be the issue. I tried it several times to make sure I didn't make anything wrong, the tower kept falling forwards (away from the catapult) and I found no way in reaching it to press the button then. Maybe I was just too stupid though, I don't know.
At 20 I guess the cube was supposed to shoot a laser, but it doesn't. It just sparkles like if there is a laser within the cube which can't get out though because it hits the cube's boundaries. So I did quit this because it seemed buggy to me. I'm not home right now, maybe I can make a short video later to show you what I mean incase it's not clear yet.

For 19, that's where it is supposed to fall. The glass broke for a reason...aside from a big tower smashing into it.

For 20, I thought I fixed that for it worked fine at release.
Okay, just tested it. The Super8 cube is no longer letting the laser go through. Not sure why. Replacing it with PotatOS works just fine. I might have to put that XSI Mod Tool tutorial to good use and create my own laser cube with the appropriate laser attachment.

How it was supposed to work:
p2Ab9u9y7jA

Quote from DeMarc on February 11, 2012, 1:14 pm

For map 17, I had to do exactly as Djinndrache did in order to beat the map, even though I tried [spoiler]turning the ferris wheel on.[/spoiler] The reason I did not do the other method is because [spoiler]once the ferris wheel was on, it stopped allowing me to shoot portals onto it. I tried many MANY times from all different angles on the map to get them to stick, but it would not. So the only solution at this point is to not make it spin and do as Djinndrache did.[/spoiler]

Quote from Rand0mNumbers on February 13, 2012, 4:19 am

DeMarc wrote:

For map 17, I had to do exactly as Djinndrache did in order to beat the map, even though I tried [spoiler]turning the ferris wheel on.[/spoiler] The reason I did not do the other method is because [spoiler]once the ferris wheel was on, it stopped allowing me to shoot portals onto it. I tried many MANY times from all different angles on the map to get them to stick, but it would not. So the only solution at this point is to not make it spin and do as Djinndrache did.[/spoiler]

Weird. Thanks for letting me know. I'll have to look into this.

Quote from Djinndrache on February 13, 2012, 11:00 pm

Rand0mNumbers wrote:

For 19, that's where it is supposed to fall. The glass broke for a reason...aside from a big tower smashing into it.

Then that is the problem, because the glass did not break for me. I tried to spam portals through the glass for a few seconds to find a pixel which may let a portal get through it (to see if it was partly broken at least), but however it didn't work. I used several quicksaves and quickloads, maybe that messed up with the tower and the glass.

For 20, that solution is pretty much what I got into my mind after being stuck in that puzzle for quite some time. Too bad the cube didn't work for me