Deep within an old, overgrown Aperture test chamber are six companion cubes, each trapped behind its own puzzle. Your mission is to rescue these cubes and take them to the SCANNER in the hub and place them in the big round vent. You can scan any item you are able to pick up, but only the companion cubes will advance you. Try scanning each.

Non linear rooms, can be solved in any order.
NO AUTOSAVES YET!! REMEMBER TO QUICKSAVE BEFORE EACH AREA!!

Once you have rescued 5 of the 6 cubes the exit door will open. I currently do not require all 6, I figured if one of them gives you too much trouble you can skip it.

Area 6 is sort of optional, I was thinking of adding some more layers to the puzzle with that laser relay (currently unused) to make area 6 super hard, but make it an acheivement to get all 6.
However I could just leave it at the sort of medium-low difficulty it is right now, and have it there in case players can't solve any of areas 1 through 5. Feedback appreciated!

There is a secret hidden ratman's den in ONE of the test chambers (where there are chairs to scan) See if you can find it!

Area 6 is not quite finished, I am going to make it more complicatesd, and yes in this version it is possible to cheat and get the cube by stacking other cubes.

NOTE: it IS possible to get stuck inside some of the chambers after you get the companion cube. I cant really find a way around this, all I can say is when you take the companion cube out of its puzzle test chamber, DONT throw it out.

Replays greatly appreciated!

File Name: cg_rescue_WIP2.zip
File Size: 4.9 MiB
Click here to download CG's Companion Cube Rescue Mission

Nice bit of variation from what I've played so far. Basically a couple of small maps held together by a hub that eats cubes to unlock the next room/'map'. Not really thinking-intensive (although confusing like I'll explain below), but definitely fun. A couple of problems problems i noticed, or at least what felt like problems:
- No autosaves, being used to maps that do include them I didn't manually save. I was kind of disappointed to respawn in the elevator when I died after having completed a room.
- The hub room is sort of overwhelming when you're not familiar with the concept. I feel it took me too long before I figured I needed to put cubes in the diversity vent thing to unlock the next room.
- The faith plates in room 2 are unreliable, on my first try I flew over the third one into the toxic.
- Room 5 (which I couln't solve, by the way) has 2 overlapping & flickering brushes.
- The door to room 6 is always unlocked, although the map description states you only need 5 cubes this came rather unexpected
- It's possible to retrieve 3 cubes from room 6, one of which is the laser cube.
- I beat the map without solving the laser puzzle in room 6, clueless why I would have needed it.

dinnesch wrote:
Nice bit of variation from what I've played so far. Basically a couple of small maps held together by a hub that eats cubes to unlock the next room/'map'. Not really thinking-intensive (although confusing like I'll explain below), but definitely fun. A couple of problems problems i noticed, or at least what felt like problems:
- No autosaves, being used to maps that do include them I didn't manually save. I was kind of disappointed to respawn in the elevator when I died after having completed a room.
- The hub room is sort of overwhelming when you're not familiar with the concept. I feel it took me too long before I figured I needed to put cubes in the diversity vent thing to unlock the next room.
- The faith plates in room 2 are unreliable, on my first try I flew over the third one into the toxic.
- Room 5 (which I couln't solve, by the way) has 2 overlapping & flickering brushes.
- The door to room 6 is always unlocked, although the map description states you only need 5 cubes this came rather unexpected
- It's possible to retrieve 3 cubes from room 6, one of which is the laser cube.
- I beat the map without solving the laser puzzle in room 6, clueless why I would have needed it.

thanks for testing!
Yes I know this isn't thinking heavy (except for the last test) because people complained the last maps I made were too hard. I always had the idea for this, so I thought i'd make it nice and easy to be more fun.

Okay, problems:
-the autosaves: will be in final version. I didn't forget them, they just didn't make it into this release.
-So you say door 6 doesn't lock with the rest of them, alright I can fix that I forgot to add the extra trigger
- It being possible to retrieve 3 cubes from area 6 is intentional. You may scan all sorts of items in the scanner.
-With regard to the vent to the scanner being unclear, I will add some more signage and text or voice cues to indicate that you take the cubes to the vents. I'm also going to make the whole final part look better, with flame and sounds and all.
-you were confused about not needing the 6th room to finish the map? well theres a few reasons for that. One, I was going to add more to area 6 than is there and make it much harder with more back-and-fourth thinking, and I was going to make it an acheivement to scan the last cube. But thats what I need YOU for. Do you think I should do this or should I REQUIRE you to get all 6?
-room 5 has 2 overlapping and flickering brushes you say? ok that might be because I moved one of the chambers over a bit in one of the working versions. Easy fix.
-You couldn't solve room 5? what was the problem? were you not able to see the next portal surface? or could you not get the cube once getting past the turret?

Quote:
- It being possible to retrieve 3 cubes from area 6 is intentional. You may scan all sorts of items in the scanner.

I personally think it's a bit confusing to have 5 rooms that consistently require you to retrieve a single cube, and then the 6th one allows you to take out 3?

Quote:
-you were confused about not needing the 6th room to finish the map? well theres a few reasons for that. One, I was going to add more to area 6 than is there and make it much harder with more back-and-fourth thinking, and I was going to make it an acheivement to scan the last cube. But thats what I need YOU for. Do you think I should do this or should I REQUIRE you to get all 6?

Once again I felt that after 5 linear rooms(by linear i don't mean bad, it's PORTAL) you unlock 1 by 1 in a hub, and then the 6th one suddenly having a huge 'optional' part that isn't an easter egg? I think adding some explanation/finishing the idea could make it work better.
Of course it's your map, but that's my thoughts as a player which I suppose this thread is for

(I realize these 2 complaints sound a bit similar to each other, but they're not the same. The first one is about the 6th room BEING optional, the second one about that 6th room having an optional PART)

Quote:
-You couldn't solve room 5? what was the problem? were you not able to see the next portal surface? or could you not get the cube once getting past the turret?

Even with noclip I couldn't find any portal surface to get behind the turret(although I found one down the pit which would be impossible to reach without noclip). Perhaps it's the overlapped one I mentioned in my previous post?

BTW if you want someone to test before you update here feel free to add me on steam - username is the same.

I enjoyed the map but was unable to solve room 5. In room 6, i was able to get the companion cube without solving the laser puzzle. I did solve the laser puzzle though to see the intended way.I got the laser cube and stood on it to grab the companion cube. Either put the cube farther back or place a button to open a panel or spawn the cube to force the player to get to the platform using the lift.
What is the intended solution for room 5? I used the extra cubes from room 6 to get over the half glass wall and get the turret. I was only able to go over the half wall on the side farthest from the portable surface. Is this intentional? If it is it is misleading to be able to get over one side and not the other.Once i was in the area with the turret I could not find a way to get the cube.I could'nt find a portable surface or a switch for the lift.How?
I forgot about the ratmans den so i played through again and found it but i forgot to take a chair back with me to scan. Guess i will have to go in again.
Keep up the good work.

Yea I didnt undersdand six myself.Ni idea what the lazer did.It didnt activate the lift and the other cube was useless except for the stairs.Never did get the lift working if it really is a lift

Like others have said, I was unable to solve Room 5. I don't get it. I even noclipped around and still had to idea what to do so I just gave up and grabbed the cube.

Most of the puzzles were very simple requiring little/no thinking whatsoever.

I think you should make Room 6 mandatory. It was great, the best puzzle in the map by far. I took 2 cubes from that room but good to know that the non-companion cube just got fizzled. So it's no issue that you can take multiple cubes.

This map looks truly amazing, utterly beatiful destroyed Aperture.

Oh, I also found Ratman's den with the chairs in it.

Ok. Just going over the map, ppl might have said this stuff already... I demand autosaves each time a cube goes into that scanner. In room two, when I jumped before I fell into the portal I overshot the third catapult. When I didn't jump it was fine. Might want to put something that keeps us from jumping. Room five is not solvable because you moved the room and it overlapped the portable surface. Room six was not hard to solve with the laser, so you might as well add it, but you need to make the companion cube higher, because you can just stack the other two boxes to get it. I also followed the 5 cubes down the shaft and got stuck down there. Looks were good, but I think you might as well make us do all 6 rooms because none of them were too hard.

I loved the concept of the map - central room with 6 unknown chambers. I loved chambers 1 and 3 the best, - I couldn't beat 5 - so I noclipped to get the cube. There was a portal surface I didn't even see and I thought that you should have allowed us a few seconds to look around before the turret got you. Also, no autosaves. Keep working on it - all-in-all great idea -

CrazyGuy wrote:
-you were confused about not needing the 6th room to finish the map? well theres a few reasons for that. One, I was going to add more to area 6 than is there and make it much harder with more back-and-fourth thinking, and I was going to make it an acheivement to scan the last cube. But thats what I need YOU for. Do you think I should do this or should I REQUIRE you to get all 6?
...
-You couldn't solve room 5? what was the problem? were you not able to see the next portal surface? or could you not get the cube once getting past the turret?

I know I'm jumping in on someone else's points here, but I do think getting all six cubes should unlock something new, because getting all six is bloody hard! Although this might be because I couldn't complete room 5, either; I really couldn't see any other portal surfaces than the main two, and the turret killed me too quickly, limiting the number of vantage points I could get a look at the room from. DON'T make all six chambers mandatory yet; the fifth room is the one I felt I needed to skip, not the sixth.

Putting room five to one side for the moment, this is a nice map of easy-medium difficulty that I can honestly say I can't wait for the final release of! The scanner was delightful; that it rejects cubes other than companion cubes was brilliant. I loved most of the challenges; the aerial faith plates over goo were great fun and provided a brilliant twitch-reaction puzzle that didn't end in death with failure every time.

However, there are several parts that are too dark - the lighting in some places needs to be turned up a bit. Or even be present - there were a couple of the entry corridors that were too dark. There is also the issue of the fifth room being very difficult - can you either make it easier, or post a video of the solution? (if you already have posted the video of the solution, I apologise for being a tad lazy this morning and not checking.)

Autosaves would be nice, too. And WHAT does the laser_relay do in the sixth room? I couldn't see a use for it.

Anyway, congratulations on a great map, and I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Room 6 is not finished yet so laser relay does nothing as stated at the top.I think it would be cool if you needed only 5 to finish and exit but if you get all 6 it unlocks a secret huge map that the elevator would take you to instead of just back to main screen as it would with only 5 cubes.

Alright, first of THANKS ALL FOR TESTING! It is very much appreicated! You all get cake in my book.

Area 5 being unsolvable: Holy shit, you are RIGHT! Ok it turns out that what is overlapping area 5's KEY portal surface is the EXIT LIFT instance, and not the other test chambers. I was very careful not to let the test chambers overlap but I totally forgot about how damn big the exit lift instance is.
You are all right area 5 is completely impossible, but it is an easy fix.

and SORRY BOUT THE AUTOSAVES!! If you have played my other maps you will no that I DO KNOW TO USE THEM. And I already know exactly where to put them too. They just didn't make it into this version.

baca25 wrote:
Ok. Just going over the map, ppl might have said this stuff already... I demand autosaves each time a cube goes into that scanner. In room two, when I jumped before I fell into the portal I overshot the third catapult. When I didn't jump it was fine. Might want to put something that keeps us from jumping.

good idea. Ill lower the ceiling there and make the catapult triggers wider.

baca25 wrote:
six was not hard to solve with the laser, so you might as well add it, but you need to make the companion cube higher, because you can just stack the other two boxes to get it.

Okay so I should add extra layers to puzzle 6. And yeah the extra elment sI was going to add to area 6 would have made the cube unreachable by the stacking method.

baca25 wrote:
I also followed the 5 cubes down the shaft and got stuck down there. Looks were good, but I think you might as well make us do all 6 rooms because none of them were too hard.

okie then so I forgot to block off the incinerator shaft sue me =/ Im actually going to put glass there so players cant grab them as they fall in.

jamesf141 wrote:
I know I'm jumping in on someone else's points here, but I do think getting all six cubes should unlock something new, because getting all six is bloody hard! Although this might be because I couldn't complete room 5, either; I really couldn't see any other portal surfaces than the main two, and the turret killed me too quickly, limiting the number of vantage points I could get a look at the room from.

the idea behind the first part of puzzle 5 is that you HAVE to use a portal and look through it like a window in order to see the next portal surface. But since I totally fucked up with the overlapping walls, it is impossible so hard to guage.

jamesf141 wrote:
Putting room five to one side for the moment, this is a nice map of easy-medium difficulty that I can honestly say I can't wait for the final release of! The scanner was delightful; that it rejects cubes other than companion cubes was brilliant. I loved most of the challenges; the aerial faith plates over goo were great fun and provided a brilliant twitch-reaction puzzle that didn't end in death with failure every time.

thanks. Actually I let a gap above the fizzler in area 2 so if you do fail you can still portal your way back.

jamesf141 wrote:
However, there are several parts that are too dark - the lighting in some places needs to be turned up a bit. Or even be present - there were a couple of the entry corridors that were too dark.

yes, I know the corridors and the entry are a bit dark. I was going to leave the entry that dark for nice stark shadows, since there really isn't much to the little intro room. As for the between area corridors, MOST of them need light panels, was lazy and didn't put them in yet. I also might break apart some of them and make them more interesting. but ptobably not =/

jamesf141 wrote:
There is also the issue of the fifth room being very difficult - can you either make it easier, or post a video of the solution? (if you already have posted the video of the solution, I apologise for being a tad lazy this morning and not checking.)

fifth room is impossible. And no, I didnt post solutions (they would be in the form of replay demos)

jamesf141 wrote:
And WHAT does the laser_relay do in the sixth room? I couldn't see a use for it.

I was going to use it to make area 6 more complicated. I apologize for leaving it there in this release, I really should have hidden it before compiling.

andyb wrote:
Room 6 is not finished yet so laser relay does nothing as stated at the top.I think it would be cool if you needed only 5 to finish and exit but if you get all 6 it unlocks a secret huge map that the elevator would take you to instead of just back to main screen as it would with only 5 cubes.

hmm secret huge map? thats na idea. Honestly, all I was going to do if you unlocked all 6 chambers was to make it drop the 6th cube down to you so you can pick it up, but I was gonna have it play music and have party confetti particles comming from it.

Unlocking an entire new area is a good idea although it would be a ton of work =/

shawy89 wrote:
I think you should make Room 6 mandatory. It was great, the best puzzle in the map by far.

Okay, as it stands I would leave it in. But I was going to make it more complicated.

shawy89 wrote:
I took 2 cubes from that room but good to know that the non-companion cube just got fizzled. So it's no issue that you can take multiple cubes.

yeah, I cant believe one poster thought that I actually made a mistake by doing that. I WANT The players to find stuff to pick up and take to the scanner! I made a VERY complicated set of triggers to scan each type of item, I mean it IS a scanner, so it CAN tell what you send through.

It could be something you work on over time and add to this one.Hell take 6 months and make a whole 20 chamber surprise if they get all six.Just cant to it unless you solve the first 6.I thought it was a good idea and I dont recall seeing that in any portal maps,just HL2 maps

yay chamber 5 solveable. I took the turret out of the room and scanned it before I got the cube. went back in the room and the turret was there again (thinking thats strange)and then I had the Aha moment and got the cube. Nice job

Please, PLEASE add autosaves as soon as possible. I will then be able to test it properly.

hey im found some bugs i will share them with you:

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Demonz312/screenshot/541778247906766042?tab=public
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Demonz312/ ... tab=public
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Demonz312/ ... tab=public
http://steamcommunity.com/id/Demonz312/ ... tab=public

gompasta wrote:
Please, PLEASE add autosaves as soon as possible. I will then be able to test it properly.

so... its too hard to quicksave? fine.

I enjoyed this map, rooms 5 and 6 being my favorites. The best puzzle was in room 6 by far. The flings are fun, too, but I have to admit I didn't finish room 1. I'm sure I would have been able to, but once I had the other cubes I decided to skip that one. I like the concept of being able to skip any one room, or come back to it later. Oh, and the hub is nice. I like how the doors are in various places instead of just along the wall.

Two suggestions:

-It seems like maybe the damage on the turret is cranked up. I was surprised it killed me so fast. Maybe turn it down a smidge?
-Your destroyed theme looks nice overall, but in some rooms (e.g. room 1) the walls are a bit busy with so many different textures.

Great job so far. I didn't get stuck on any of the puzzles and it looks pretty nice so far. The hub-type puzzle is different from the more linear type puzzles you usually see and it was good change. Have to say that is the first use I've ever had for a dead turret and that made me have an epic aha moment. The scanner was brilliant but I almost cried when my pile of companion cubes went into the incinerator :'(!!!

Again there's a couple of things you can improve:

1. I would suggest you make some kind of master/large chamber which incorporates each of the smaller puzzles so there is a point to solving all the puzzles. (This is optional, just a suggestion).
2. Honestly I don't think there is enough companionship with the companion cubes when you finally get them. For example: in Chamber 5, instead of having stairs you could make the player use the companion cube to jump on and retrieve again so you can get back through.
3. Try changing the texture of the water as I thought it was toxic and panicked when I touched it.
4. The lighting needs a little more of a kick-up. It is a smidge too dark in areas.
5. Make use of area portals in your airlocks, this will improve performance greatly. (You can smite me if you already have).
6. Honestly the ambience didn't really make sense to me. Try changing the volume down of the birds a bit.

Thanks for testing!

chickenmobile wrote:
The scanner was brilliant but I almost cried when my pile of companion cubes went into the incinerator :'(!!!

yeah more to come on that later. I actually have a whole bunch of GLaDOS lines to go with it, a funny sort of side story about companion cubes being negleted, and a surprise at the end. Of course, the means that I will have to use more game text

chickenmobile wrote:
Again there's a couple of things you can improve:
[*]I would suggest you make some kind of master/large chamber which incorporates each of the smaller puzzles so there is a point to solving all the puzzles. (This is optional, just a suggestion).

not sure what you mean by this, I cant really make them all one big chamber cause you'd be able to cheat by using companion cubes from other areas. Right now, once you get the C. Cube out of the room, all the other lock until you put it into the scanner. The instant it goes in the scanner port and hits the bend, the other rooms unlock.

chickenmobile wrote:
[*]Honestly I don't think there is enough companionship with the companion cubes when you finally get them. For example: in Chamber 5, instead of having stairs you could make the player use the companion cube to jump on and retrieve again so you can get back through.

absolutely this is a great idea, didnt think of it and I myself am not really happy with those stairs there, they dont make that much sense.

chickenmobile wrote:
[*]Try changing the texture of the water as I thought it was toxic and panicked when I touched it.

yeah I don't get a whole lot of water textures to use. The other ones just looked brown and equally toxic. They are labeled as water tho, not the toxic slime and that does look different. Ill try a different one though. Are you referring to the water in the hub or the water in area 4?

chickenmobile wrote:
[*]The lighting needs a little more of a kick-up. It is a smidge too dark in areas.

any specific areas you mean? I know the halls and the exit need light, but I Thought he chambers were well enough lit.

chickenmobile wrote:
[*]Make use of area portals in your airlocks, this will improve performance greatly. (You can smite me if you already have).

I did. Im no noob mapper, even my very first one had them. Problem was they weren't opening and closing with the doors, even though I used that property that says "name of linked door" but that doesn't seem to do anything so I guess ill have to use "onopen" and "onclose" triggers on each door.

chickenmobile wrote:
[*]Honestly the ambience didn't really make sense to me. Try changing the volume down of the birds a bit.

I don't think I can turn down the volume on any individual part of the ambiance without editing the soundscape script, since I used an env_soundscape and they dont have any volume control properties at all that I can see. Also, that soundscape i will only use in the hub area, I will setup soundscapes for each individual chamber. I had planned that from the beginning, but thats one of those finishign touch things you do towards the end.

chickenmobile wrote:
Other than that good job CrazyGuy, will like to see the final product.

thanks! Dont worry it will be more polished with more cool broken up stuff and other touch ups. But im glad to see everything works fine and there isnt too much trouble except with the faithplates in area 2, which is fixable.

Im going to make area 6 optional but make an acheivement thinggy if you get all 6 (not a whole other area like adair suggested cause come on... lol)

Testing, who doesn't like testing? TELL ME SO I CAN MAKE THEM TEST TILL THEY LOVE IT TO DEATH

CrazyGuy wrote:
yeah I don't get a whole lot of water textures to use. The other ones just looked brown and equally toxic.

The water inside the hub and the water in the one with the lift that goes up to the cube, I was like damn didn't save... but I'm alive! :O. There has to be a cleaner-type of water around. Try looking in Valve's maps where you first get the Portal Gun, before GLaDOS awakes.

CrazyGuy wrote:
I don't think I can turn down the volume on any individual part of the ambiance without editing the soundscape script, since I used an env_soundscape and they dont have any volume control properties at all that I can see. Also, that soundscape i will only use in the hub area, I will setup soundscapes for each individual chamber. I had planned that from the beginning, but thats one of those finishign touch things you do towards the end.

Creating different ambience for each chamber is a must, seeing as each chamber is different. (some has water, some are bigger than others etc.) As for the soundscapes, they aren't that hard to make at all. You can just copy the code from the soundscape which you are using and just put the volume of the birds down and/or delete ambience that you don't want to include. Remember you can also change how 'echoey' each room is by setting the 'dsp'.

CrazyGuy wrote:
not sure what you mean by this, I cant really make them all one big chamber cause you'd be able to cheat by using companion cubes from other areas.

What I mean by the large master chamber: instead of opening it to the lift at the end, you open it to another chamber, and when you are done that, then you can finish the map. So in fact the reason why you have done all the smaller chambers is because it was practice for a bigger chamber with more puzzle elements in it. I know this probably throws off the point of a hub-style puzzle map, however this way might make more sense? Argue with me if you disagree.

There is a clear water. In your texture browser, if you filter for 'toxic' (counter-intuitive, I know) it should be the second one. However, clear water may or may not look out of place in a destroyed environment.

Brilliant... While I thought the puzzles were fairly easy.. at least for me.. I completely enjoyed playing all of the rooms. Textures?? I dunno.. It looked pretty good to me and was playable.. A LOT better than some of the maps I see released as finals..

Room 1: Pretty straight-forward solution "hidden" den was nice with disassembled turret
Room 2: Fun With Faith plates.. nice.
Room 3: Probably the easiest of the lot.. nothing too fancy but very fun.
Room 4: Probably the hardest for me.. getting the mechanics of the fling at just the right moment took a few tries.
Room 5: By far the most clever room.. I wandered around for a bit, and then went.. oh yeah.. that makes sense.. after dropping the turret down the chute to initially dispose of it, and it didn't get destroyed
Room 6: Could be difficult if you go that route.. I got the first redirect cube, stood on it and juped up to grab companion cube

All in all, great effort. 5/5

P.S. I always quick save..

thanks for testing, Marise

Marise wrote:
There is a clear water. In your texture browser, if you filter for 'toxic' (counter-intuitive, I know) it should be the second one. However, clear water may or may not look out of place in a destroyed environment.

thanks. Im trying that, but it looks like that texture doesn't have a specular effect or apparent cubemap or quick reflections so it looks a little strage... also I Get this yellow errow saying it has no bottom texture. I'm gonna give it a try tho, either on the hub or in area 4 but maybe not both, not sure yet.

thanks for testing, Szieve!

Szieve wrote:
Room 4: Probably the hardest for me.. getting the mechanics of the fling at just the right moment took a few tries.

yeah the physics with the box is kind of wierd. Dropping a box from the same height goes shorter than if you just drop down as a player (tip: don't jump here) so even though falling through that portal will get you to the plate, dropping a cube might not. You kind of have to throw the cube down just a bit before releasing it. I know its a bit iffy but I really wanted to keep this mechanic and puzzle in. If timing was the issue, instead of using trial and error, there is a moment marked by something happening, and that is when you fall through the portal wait till after the cube falls down through the portal... once it starts comming out the other side, then you fall.

Szieve wrote:
Room 5: By far the most clever room.. I wandered around for a bit, and then went.. oh yeah.. that makes sense.. after dropping the turret down the chute to initially dispose of it, and it didn't get destroyed

so you thought that the red lasers down there would burn the turret? well I need something to prevent the player from falling down there and knocking the cube off themselvesI was thinking I could make a faithplate knock you back out if you fall down there but then the player might htink that would effect the turret as well =(

Szieve wrote:
Room 6: Could be difficult if you go that route.. I got the first redirect cube, stood on it and juped up to grab companion cube

well I have fixed that cheat so now even standing on boxes you cant get the companion cube without doing it right. I also made use of the laser relay that was in an earlier version, now there is an extra layer of complexity to area 6.

Thanks for the input!

Just a note,

I'm on a Mac, and when I die, the entire game freezes. Maybe you can fix? I'd be happy to test if you don't have one you can use.