First of hopefully many challenge maps
The scenery is not amazing, but the puzzle mechanics are well polished, imho. Feedback is appreciated

File Name: brainbender01.zip
File Size: 1.78 MiB
Click here to download brainbender01

Overall its a good puzzle and I enjoyed it. Not terribly difficult, but the answers certainly weren't spoon fed to me.

Feedback:

1. You dont need the fizzler/faith plate on the bottom area by the dispenser. You can use the funnel to fling yourself to the exit platform and then back to the top. I actually used that after I found out I could because it was more fun. It will also add another thing to figure out, which can only add to the puzzle.

2. I tried to jump into the funnel area by jumping on the button. I'd suggest putting an invisible wall above the button so you cant jump on it and force the player to use the faith plate.

3. The funnel faith plate often sent me into the wall surrounding the funnel, [spoiler]making me miss the fling with the cube to the exit by falling short. This was very annoying, and I'd think cutting a portion of the wall away to make your entrance smooth would help a lot.

4. Needs at least 1 save point preferably after you put the cube on the button to open the top door. It takes some good timing and finesse to do the last part, and forcing me to play the whole puzzle over again just because I wasnt fast enough on the last part is just annoying.

5. Although I like how it starts, the lights should come on much sooner after passing through the door. Having to walk that far in complete darkness wont sit well with most people, as was the case with me.

6. Put some signs by the 2 funnel buttons so you can tell what does what. Of course I remembered it, but the first few times were annoying when I'd hit the wrong button then have to wait until the timer ended.


How I solved it.
This is only the last timed section. I'm assuming most are able to get the cube to the top button without too much trouble.

1. Place portal on bottom of funnel and on the ceiling panel above the water.
2. Hit button.
3. Throw cube into funnel then hit the funnel deactivator button.
4. When cube falls through the portal (onto the platform in the middle of the water) place the portal on the wall aimed at the exit door.
5. Hit the faith plate to launch into the funnel hole and through to the exit platform.
6. Place a portal on the left side wall from where you are standing, so when the funnel resumes it picks up the cube and presses the exit door button.

Optional: If you are pressed for time and dont have enough time after you land to place the portal, place the portal while you're still in the air. It will save you a bit of time if the emancipator is coming back on before you place the last portal.


Hopefully thats the intended solution

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1. You dont need the fizzler/faith plate on the bottom area by the dispenser. You can use the funnel to fling yourself to the exit platform and then back to the top. I actually used that after I found out I could because it was more fun. It will also add another thing to figure out, which can only add to the puzzle.

There are numerous puzzle elements that are unnecessary; Most of them are intended as crutches, i.e., in case you get over by the cube switch, lose the excursion funnel, and need a way back.

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2. I tried to jump into the funnel area by jumping on the button. I'd suggest putting an invisible wall above the button so you cant jump on it and force the player to use the faith plate.

That was on my to-do list, lol. I forgot about it after extending the funnel cone at some point, it seems. Will fix at next installment.

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3. The funnel faith plate often sent me into the wall surrounding the funnel, making me miss the fling with the cube to the exit by falling short. This was very annoying, and I'd think cutting a portion of the wall away to make your entrance smooth would help a lot.

Good point; will work on a fix. I think I may need to elongate the entire chamber to fix this; if I move the faith-plate + target out, you can jump to the platform over the water, and suddenly the puzzle changes a bit.

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4. Needs at least 1 save point preferably after you put the cube on the button to open the top door. It takes some good timing and finesse to do the last part, and forcing me to play the whole puzzle over again just because I wasnt fast enough on the last part is just annoying.

Will do, once I learn how to make save points . First map and all

Quote:
5. Although I like how it starts, the lights should come on much sooner after passing through the door. Having to walk that far in complete darkness wont sit well with most people, as was the case with me.

Then the darkness has served its purpose well. Will consider fixing if more people agree w/you.

Quote:
6. Put some signs by the 2 funnel buttons so you can tell what does what. Of course I remembered it, but the first few times were annoying when I'd hit the wrong button then have to wait until the timer ended.

Another good suggestion. I'm thinking about making it so that you can press the other button and cancel the first one to make this easier, but I need to get the trigger priorities sorted out.

--- On the Solution ---
That is exactly my intended solution. AFAIK there is no other way to do it in the 19 seconds you have, and I don't intend there to be.

Thanks again for the feedback! Expect more complex puzzles to come.
- torquestomp

I somewhat enjoyed this map, but was thrown off by the short time limit, at one point thinking that even the correct solution was incorrect. It's not possible to assess through logic which method will be "fast enough" to do in the allotted time period, and there isn't enough time to test different methods without a lot of trial and error, because even the correct solution seems way too slow until you get good at it.

Ultimately, my solution was only a little different from Neoxx's solution (I placed the portal on the bottom instead of the top, and never used the top portal surface at all)

In the end, it was a great map, but the question remains: how many unwanted solutions would be opened up by increasing the time limit by about 4 or 5 seconds? The first 5 or so times I did the correct solution, I landed and the fizzler re-appeared before I could make either of the two final shots, so I thought there must be some other way. Now I can do it without a problem, but while trying to figure out the puzzle, that was confusing because I was thinking there must be another way.

Edit: Also, I also kept jumping on the "turn off funnel" button instead of using the faith plate because the faith plate was repeatedly placing me on the rim of the funnel pit rather than directly into the center.

The map looks really good though for a first map. Seriously.

Hmm. My solution was similar to the other two's, with a slight difference (that Ruien will probably facepalm at, haha)- I deactivated the funnel and threw both myself and the cube into the area and flung myself out of the portal to reach the exit; midway through I let go of the cube so it would fall on the middle platform- not as hard as it sounds, since I got it the first time I tried that, or maybe practicing in Engineer just helped- and when I landed, I just threw the funnel to the side so it would pick the cube up and take it to the button. This actually gave me several extra seconds, not that it was needed. xD

That said, yeah, I jumped onto the button to do simple portal placements. The only time I used the faith plate was when I needed to fling myself.

I have to agree with Neoxx regarding the darkness; I didn't find it the least bit intimidating or creepy, just a bit annoying- No offense. If you do want that atmosphere, the right music will probably help.

I like what you did with the water, though you -should- make it so that the cube fizzles when it touches the water. The timers you used was nice, too- It gives us a pretty clear indication of how much time there is left. Otherwise, the map is great for the challenge- good work with it!

Thursaz wrote:
Hmm. My solution was similar to the other two's, with a slight difference (that Ruien will probably facepalm at, haha)

Haha! I actually tried this myself at first but couldn't manage to pull it off. You could say I was inspired

Edit: regarding the darkness, I didn't find it intimidating or creepy, but I did think it was kind of cool and liked it.

Heh! Cube throwing FTW. xD

I was fine with the darkness in the first room, though I think perhaps the gun should be placed in front of the player- The second room seemed unnecessary and made me kind of want to get to the puzzle already. >>;

Thursaz wrote:
Heh! Cube throwing FTW. xD

I was fine with the darkness in the first room, though I think perhaps the gun should be placed in front of the player- The second room seemed unnecessary and made me kind of want to get to the puzzle already. >>;

I think the portal gun being behind you is the best way to go, because if its in front of you theres no "suspense" in finding it. When you are presented with the item right away it takes away from the darkness of the rest of the room.

I thought about throwing the cube onto the platform myself, but I thought normally when you drop a cube in flight it keeps its momentum with you, so stopping its momentum would be kinda difficult. I also didnt use the bottom platform because I wasnt sure if I'd hit the cube in mid air on my way by It would be pretty funny if you did, though!

I threw it backwards. xD Once I tried to recreate this and I somehow deflected the cube off of myself and I went into the water- That one was weird. The problem with putting the gun behind is that I thought my map was lagging or hadn't loaded at first- It was only after I looked around when I went "oh wait..." xD

Hi, nice map. Imho you just need to create a savepoint and polish as much as possible the graphisms to make it awesome. I realy enjoyed the final timed part.

Thanks again for all the reviews! I've come up with an idea to integrate this puzzle (and more) into a campaign of sorts; I'll post v1.1 when I have the intro complete and at least 1 more puzzle to add.

Current version now zipped for msleeper

To-do:
More detail in main chamber
Greater variety of lighting; all point-lights right now :/
Super-secret intro project (may take a few days)

Done:
Added thematic music, save-point(s)
Fixed jumping-on-button exploit
Replaced funnel faith-plate with a more fail-proof mechanism
Water now fizzles cube
Added a puzzle section; more creativity in solution is now available/required
Timed section now more forgiving, but also more befuddling

Come back soon!