Yeah, I'm not great at names...

This is my contest entry. Not much more to say than that...

If you find any new exploits please don't hesitate to point them out.

CHANGELOG:

v. 1.3 - 6/5/2011 - CONTEST FINAL

-Added a means of escaping from either button should the player accidentally end up on one of them via the funnel
-Made it so that the player can no longer directly press either button and trigger the autosave when the cube isn't there
-Fixed a convoluted exploit that allowed the player to bypass the second part of the funnel puzzle
-Changed the way the broken ceiling lighting was set up - there is now some natural light in the room!
-Added more details all around
-Fixed some aesthetic problems - misaligned textures, glitchy models, etc. (Some small errors may persist; I tried but couldn't find working solutions to a couple of potential minor lighting glitches)
-Added an env_wind to make vines sway

v. 1.2 - 5/30/2011
-Added signs hinting towards the propulsion gel
-Changed the repulsion (bounce) gel button to rise out of the floor when enabled, and start visibly retracted into the floor
-(Hopefully) fixed the panel-platform controlled by the right-side floor button getting stuck in the "down" position when the button is pressed
-Re-added music, with a little piece of Portal 1 nostalgia (it doesn't loop, but the file I picked doesn't either so it works)
-Added more destruction

v. 1.1 - 5/27/2011
-Fixed multiple methods through which the player could acquire the cubes in unintended ways, bypassing the main puzzles
-Added lights to draw player's attention to potentially hard-to-see testing elements (i.e. portal surfaces in dark-ish areas)
-Removed music for now; I might re-add it when I figure out how to make it actually work
-Tweaked timing of events on broken sign at the start - it now explodes and dies after 1 second (was 2.5)
-Fixed some minor texture alignment issues

v. 1.0 - 5/26/2011
-Initial release

File Name: sp_will-t_cubes-n-funnels_v1-3.zip
File Size: 2.46?MiB
Cubes 'n' Funnels

Will T. wrote:
Yeah, I'm not great at names...

Don't feel bad, the name of my map was whatever popped into my head at the time. The map basically began as a random made experiment with the game mechaninics and eventually evolved into Experimental Challenge. At least you havent named you map as just "map".

Or "(Username) Test".

msleeper wrote:
Or "(Username) Test".

or just "Test"

Nice Map.


Question:

Is this the right way? Because it's too easy (second cube?).


Walkthrough Cubes 'n' Funnels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A26MftawCwU

Tridente wrote:
Nice Map.

Question:

Is this the right way? Because it's too easy (second cube?).

Walkthrough Cubes 'n' Funnels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A26MftawCwU

LoL, my solution was totally different from yours (and maybe easier.), there are a lot of unintended solution on this map..
Here is the video (Speed Run + Blind Ride):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW6_EY9GjtQ

man I must have died at least 4 or 5 times before i realized that you didn't need to be with the cube to carry it over

I made my custom music looping (not in a contest map) by just repeating it several times with a trigger: 3 min music, at the beginning a trigger starts the ambient_generic, then at 3:00 then at 6:00, I made it till 30 min (or maybe at 180 second the relay can just trigger itself or another one, not tried)

btw once I had to noclip around and I saw the area behind the red field (2nd cube) is portable. With full red its not that obvious, unless I try to place portal everywhere.
Anyway, its a well made map with clever puzzles.

maybe put a grate 32 unit above the portal surface next to the 2nd cube so ppl cant pass thru it but the cube floats above it anyway, or w8, that could make tha bottom surface un-visible too

Good job, it's evident you took extra care with the atmosphere. Imo it may fell a little short with the gameplay: takes relatively few moves to get it done, not to mention one can skip the left side funneling by portaling to the cube beside the red barrier.

You might want to make the puzzle elements lil more understated, not to ruin the moody setting with bulky pillars. Other than that, nice one.

Haha, wow, those solutions didn't even cross my mind somehow...

The intended solution involves 100% using the funnel to move the cubes without the player ever actually needing to touch them. Guess I'll have to stop 'em from passing through the portal-able surfaces back to the player. I like the idea of grates, that might work with a little cleverness.

I'll get on that today. Thanks for the feedback!

Updated to version 1.1, incorporating a block for the posted unintended solutions. Remember: with the real method, you never end up touching the cubes.
Also added some lighting emphasis to draw the player's eyes toward the more-easily-missed portal surfaces.

I really hope I can make this one work exploit-free without cluttering it up too bad... I feel like it might be edging towards being too visually dense as it is. What do you think?

I'd also like to know how well people are figuring out the "proper" solution, now that the cube can't be gotten directly with the portal-able floors.

Exploits happen, I run into those a little frequently with my project.

I liked this one. The visuals and atmosphere were great and the funnelling cubes around without touching them, while not particularly original or hard to figure out, had a nice complexity to it (as in, rather than just a few redirections, you had to keep moving the cube all over the place). The intially-disabled button just confused me; surely there's a more conventional way to do that. I entirely missed the propulsion gel at first, and I spent quite a while trying to get to the exit with just the repulsion gel and funnel, annoyingly, and I didn't think to go back for a long time because I thought there was nothing other than the entrance back there.

cg5 wrote:
The intially-disabled button just confused me; surely there's a more conventional way to do that. I entirely missed the propulsion gel at first, and I spent quite a while trying to get to the exit with just the repulsion gel and funnel, annoyingly, and I didn't think to go back for a long time because I thought there was nothing other than the entrance back there.

I've been thinking about both of these over the weekend, and I hope I've fixed them in the new version.

Speaking of which, version 1.2 is now up!

Changes:

-Added signs hinting towards the propulsion gel
-Changed the repulsion (bounce) gel button to rise out of the floor when enabled, and start visibly retracted into the floor
-(Hopefully) fixed the panel-platform controlled by the right-side floor button getting stuck in the "down" position when the button is pressed
-Re-added music, with a little piece of Portal 1 nostalgia (it doesn't loop, but the file I picked doesn't either so it works)
-Added more destruction

I played this map for the first time just now, and I can't reasonably complain about anything (except difficulty, but that's a matter of taste). So whatever changes were made, they were good ones.

Solid visuals, a well-made puzzle, and decent dose of originality. Well done, sir.

Hey there, this map came up in my quest to do videos of the contest entries, and I'll be posting it here. There's one bit where I start funneling myself around and "get stuck and have to restart", honestly I can't tell if I just missed some exit I could have taken or if it was a legitimate dead end. Other than that I had a lot of fun with the map, great job on the visuals too!


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Thanks for the video! Glad you enjoyed the puzzle. Yeah, the player isn't supposed to go onto the button, and I guess I didn't work out a way to get them off of it... I'll try to add some sort of escape system for that situation.

Well, after a weekend of non-Portal-2-related activity, I sat down and finished up what I'd started adding to this before the weekend. Version 1.3 is now up. Taking into account the looming contest deadline, I think this is the final version that I will submit to the contest. As such, I've included my .VMF and instances. If there are any new problems that show up between now and 9PM PDT tomorrow however, please don't hesitate to let me know so I can do my best to fix them before the deadline.

CHANGES:

-Added a means of escaping from either button should the player accidentally end up on one of them via the funnel
-Made it so that the player can no longer directly press either button and trigger the autosave when the cube isn't there
-Fixed a convoluted exploit that allowed the player to bypass the second part of the funnel puzzle
-Changed the way the broken ceiling lighting was set up - there is now some natural light in the room!
-Added more details all around
-Fixed some aesthetic problems - misaligned textures, glitchy models, etc. (Some small errors may persist; I tried but couldn't find working solutions to a couple of potential minor lighting glitches)
-Added an env_wind to make vines sway

Really nice map here! You managed to pull off the ruined Aperture theme really nicely (which is quite a rarity for that theme!), and I absolutely loved the little Portal 1 throwback at the beginning. I was definitely left wanting more, as I was really disappointed when it ended so quickly!

I did, however, notice a glaring problem. When you're using the funnels to get the second cube to the button, it has the potential to get stuck underneath the panels that get flipped up by the first button. When this happens, you have no choice but to kill yourself and restart from the save point, since there's no way to get the cube out from there. A real simple fix to this would be to flip those panels 90 degrees, so that they flip out sideways. This way, there is no hole for the cube to float into.

Other than that, though, really solid map! 5/5 from me.

i havent seen it mentioned, but if you walk through the very first door, then walk back out again to the entry area, the door is broken. have to reload map.

slaglemark wrote:
i havent seen it mentioned, but if you walk through the very first door, then walk back out again to the entry area, the door is broken. have to reload map.

MisterVercetti wrote:
Really nice map here! You managed to pull off the ruined Aperture theme really nicely (which is quite a rarity for that theme!), and I absolutely loved the little Portal 1 throwback at the beginning. I was definitely left wanting more, as I was really disappointed when it ended so quickly!

I did, however, notice a glaring problem. When you're using the funnels to get the second cube to the button, it has the potential to get stuck underneath the panels that get flipped up by the first button. When this happens, you have no choice but to kill yourself and restart from the save point, since there's no way to get the cube out from there. A real simple fix to this would be to flip those panels 90 degrees, so that they flip out sideways. This way, there is no hole for the cube to float into.

Other than that, though, really solid map! 5/5 from me.

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it.
That is a nasty bug. If and when I do a post-contest version of this map, I can stop the cube from getting in there with a clip brush.

slaglemark wrote:
i havent seen it mentioned, but if you walk through the very first door, then walk back out again to the entry area, the door is broken. have to reload map.

I haven't heard about this one, but I tried it in-game and was able to re-create it. I think it might be because my trigger to close the door is close enough to the door that the player can still get back through as it closes. Another thing to fix if/when I do a post-contest version. Good catch!

I'm playing custom maps and record my first time of playing them. So the run is not perfect and may not use only

intended ways, but maybe it can let you see how other people may understand the map or you could just enjoy someone

playing this map for entertainment.
Anyways, here is the recording:

aBFY4FEtYgE
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBFY4FEtYgE)

Also note the video description for more feedback and my signature for additional project information.

Great map, not too hard, but we had fun moving the cubes around. Then my 8-year-old figured out how to get to the exit.

Cubes 'n' Funnels woot! You can't go wrong when playing with good ol' cubeys and tractor beams Me and my partner in science played through this level as part of a challenge and found this map to be very intuitive and well though out, with a need for only minimal puzzle solving, but a decent amount of observational skill.

To see us mess up, mess up (then glitch it a little) and then finally complete the level check out the play through below:
TjCQQbWBXok

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond to this. I've been overwhelmed with summer quarter classes lately, and I haven't had much time to work on this.

Based on the after-contest responses I'm now planning to release another version of this map, with the bugs found so far fixed, as well as other minor changes.

Djinndrache wrote:
I'm playing custom maps and record my first time of playing them. So the run is not perfect and may not use only

intended ways, but maybe it can let you see how other people may understand the map or you could just enjoy someone

playing this map for entertainment.
Anyways, here is the recording:

aBFY4FEtYgE
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBFY4FEtYgE)

Also note the video description for more feedback and my signature for additional project information.

Thanks for the video! I notice you used the very first release version ... but you also didn't use any of the puzzle-breaking exploits. Glad you enjoyed it!

coopcrowd wrote:
Cubes 'n' Funnels woot! You can't go wrong when playing with good ol' cubeys and tractor beams Me and my partner in science played through this level as part of a challenge and found this map to be very intuitive and well though out, with a need for only minimal puzzle solving, but a decent amount of observational skill.

To see us mess up, mess up (then glitch it a little) and then finally complete the level check out the play through below:

TjCQQbWBXok

Thanks for this video! Glad to see my level's getting some exposure (looks to me like you have at least a few people following your competition). I hadn't heard about that particular exploit with cube #2 ... I'll have to find some way to block it from getting close enough to be grabbed.

I don't know when I'll be ready to release version 1.4, but I've got it partially done. It could be a very long time since school is really piled-on right now, but hopefully I can get it released before the end of the summer. Thanks again to everyone for all the feedback!

A-maze-ing map. You got the look right, with a few odd details. For example, how do you get a pile of dirt under a ceiling? Nothing that detracts from the puzzle at all, though.

The puzzle itself was moderately difficult; easy to figure out but a little tricky for me to execute because my aiming skills suck. That's actually a good thing, since it forces me to up my game.

The only thing that keeps me from giving it 5/5 it that it is too short. For me, a 5 needs to be so satisfying that I want to play it again and again. Nonetheless, well deserving of a 4/5 from me.

A good but short map. I was able to figure it myself and that is what counts

i found a bug: if you solve the second cube puzzle (marked with 2 dots) to the point that the cube is just below the button in the funnel, you can hop in the beam yourself and toss the cube onto the button. this triggers and autosave, making it impossible to get out. other than that, though, not many problems, was a good map. i'd suggest making potatos say something, though, even if the light doesn't blink as she does.