A decayed theme map made up of three fairly easy test chambers revolving around the use of the "Smoke Compression Field", a purple field that allows items through it.

File Name: atrophication.rar
File Size: 6.63 MiB
Click here to download Atrophication

Well I just realised that it didn't successfully upload to the Workshop and now i've woken up after the deadline. So that sucks.

I have been unsuccessful on several attempts to get this map to load. Several times I am stuck in the elevator and when I do make it out of the elevator the map crashes.

Is a box supposed to drop in the third puzzle? I just have a box dropper that opens and nothing comes out.

The first puzzle was really easy and short - good for introducing new element, but maybe it could be a little bit harder. The second puzzle was the best one, it made me think even though the puzzle concept was simple. The purple field in 2nd chamber is broken, you can't go through it if you disable it. This way I was not able to solve the test with intended solution, so I used bunnyhop to get to the exit. The third puzzle was broken too, because cube dropper doesn't spawn cubes. You can also get trapped pretty easily at two places: in the first chamber (if you fling to exit without the cube) and before the exit elevator (if you fall down into pit). Cubemaps were not compiled properly.

Design of this map was not beautiful, but it was pretty good. Try to add more details next time. You should also keep the map in one theme unless there is logical reason.

Overall, this could be awesome map, but there is room for improvement.

Bugs
The first door opens to reveal nodraw. Cubemaps were missing.
In the second chamber, the purple field continued to block the player when disabled, forcing players to noclip through.
* In the third chamber, the cube spawner doesn't spawn a cube, but I managed to complete the puzzle by spawning one in.

Gameplay
The map served as a good introduction to the 'anti-player' field. I liked the simple fling puzzle that introduced us to the concept but I think making it involve another step would have been helpful. The second chamber was the best puzzle for me, with some great 'aha' moments: in particular rolling the ball through the purple field and jumping over the final fizzler. The third puzzle was fun, and I enjoyed how you forced us to re-use the same panel to extend the funnel. While funnelling a cube about is always enjoyable, I didn't feel that the purple fields played as big a role as in the previous puzzles. The lower field could have been replaced with a glass wall and the puzzle would still be solveable.

Aestheics
I think this was supposed to be a destroyed style map, but the second puzzle chamber is completely clean! The first chamber was aesthetically the most pleasing, with some nice cut-away details in the walls and ceilings. Normally the 'squarebeams' support structures use the rusted texture in a destroyed setting, though. There's little detailing in the rest of the map though - I got the sense that you ran out of time in the compeition.

The purple anti-player field was quite busy - that is, it's rapidly changing all the time. That seemed to clash with its purpose, which is to passively block the player and prevent portal shots. Some more variation in the lighting wouldn't hurt - perhaps have slightly warmer lights creeping through from behind the scenes areas?

Mapping Details
Some of the doors weren't properly fitted into the chamber walls.
In the second puzzle I noticed the cube dropper clipped into the wall.
In the third puzzle, the lower purple field wasn't aligned with its emitters.
Closing Remarks
I'd love to see more of the concept - here's a few extensions off the top of my head. In Space Gardens the author had a 'toggleable field' which toggled an output between on and off when a cube passed through it - could this be combined with your player-blocking idea in an interesting puzzle? Vordwann on IRC came up with another idea: how about a field which switches what it blocks? So maybe by default it blocks the player but lets items through, and stepping on a button makes players go through but items are trapped?

Vordwann you're a fucking genious! With your permission I'm gonna do a Coop map witch introduces this right away, brilliant!

Yeah I uploaded this with a massive amount of bugs, the cubes/spheres/reflectocubes instances were giving me a massive nightmare and I didn't have enough time to just start them from scratch.

I'll sort out a new version and answer some of these in a bit, i'm busy right now. Thanks for the responses.

Fluppy wrote:
... so I used bunnyhop to get to the exit.

No need to do that, just activate the purple field again by, for example, cleaning your portals, and now you can pass through it.

Sadly, this map had a lot of bugs. After spawning a cube in the final chamber, I just strafed out of the funnel onto the final platform, bypassing the elevator and the second funnel.

My feedback:
Do not read if you are judge!


I loved the first and second chamber and the idea behind your new fizzler that only blocks the player and not objects you. First two chambers you pulled this off very well, especially the second puzzle (I thought that was extremely clever and enjoyed thoroughly).
The third chamber however was a disappointment as it was bugged because in a number of places I could physically get stuck if I didn't leave a portal and no cube spawned out of the spawner to begin with (I assume it was meant to spawn a cube). This map would have bettered without the last chamber as it seemed rushed and buggy. Plus I couldn't finish the map legitimately because of this chamber.

Few bugs: the cubemaps weren't compiled properly, the second chamber when I activated the end laser receiver, it enabled some clip but disabled the fizzler - vice versa. Also the start elevator didn't work and the end elevator didn't disconnect the player when the map finished.

If you spent more time on this map it would have been awesome! Keep working on it when the competition finishes.

I'm going through all of the maps that I played for the contest and post my rating and comments.
It may be a bit out of date if you have updated your map since then, but hopefully it's useful feedback nonetheless.

judging comments
As noted by the author in the description, there are quite a few bugs, both visually and gameplay-wise. This is very unfortunate, as the map would definitely have gotten a higher score if not for those.

Aesthetics: 3
Apart from the aforementioned bugs (areaportal, texture misalignments, cube maps) the visual design is pretty good. I like the use of the "desolation" soundtrack from the original Portal. The mix between clean and destroyed / reconstructing is done well; there are no jarring transitions.

I personally think the purple colour of the smoke compression field clashes with the overall theme, but that's not the author's fault. (The texture is part of FourthReaper's custom fizzler pack and its function is associated with that colour. Changing it would be inconsistent and confusing.)

Gameplay: 3
Nice puzzles, but the various bugs require some pretending/cheating in order to complete them. After switching the purple field in the second test once, the player clip layer started working in reverse for me. (It was on while the field was off.) Also, the cube dropper in the final test didn't work, and the rotating wall panel started in the deployed state.

Difficulty: 5
Suitably easy for introducing this new testing element, so no problem there.

Overall, this will be a great map once the bugs are ironed out. Too bad it's too late for the contest.

Personal score: 4
I sincerely hope that you keep working on this one!

I saw the same bugs what people told here. I wait the next version before rating