A testing sphere containing two puzzles, one has a button on the wall and the other has a box gliding while you race the clock to get to the end.

Set in the 70's, in underground Aperture.

UPDATE:
Remade the box slide - removed the blue gel, made slide steeper and blocked the player from jumping into it.

File Name: sp_wallbutton_boxracing.7z
File Size: 2.25 MiB
Click here to download Wall Button and Box Racing

First of all: Great map!

But I solved the last puzzle in another way (because I didn't see the box-gliding-way).
When I got the Box I used it as a stair to get on the gangway.
Then I took the box an brought it to the end (holding it outside of the gangway so it wouldn't get full of blue goo).
At the third attempt i managed it to throw the box onto the button without falling down.
Then the Brigde came down and the countdown started. But when the countdown was over the Bridge didn't went up again (probably because the box was still lying on the button)and I was able to finish the course

I don't think this is how it was ment to be
Until I read your text in this Thread I didnt realize there was another way

I liked the map, and thought you did an excellent rendition of the underground Aperture style.

I thought it was interesting style and a creative puzzle to require the player to not use the whole runway when hitting the first button -- otherwise they end too high; instead the player kind of has to measure back a little.

This could easily be considered tedious, though, if someone didn't know it was intentional and thought that you just kind of misplaced the button.

Be-au-ti-ful: I love Old Aperture for a reason, it's the only style that can leave me awestruck, as some Bioshock vistas. And few do master it. Everything ran very smoothly, actually feeling like I was making way through the ruins instead of just puzzles in style.

BTW that one about the cube sliding and jumping alone was genious - but you can effectively get stuck if you jump on the button yourself. It would make more sense if that button successively dumped the cube in the water too.

Ruien wrote:
This could easily be considered tedious, though, if someone didn't know it was intentional and thought that you just kind of misplaced the button.

I had the same thought. And you should probably make the end of the box sliding path higher so people can't climb onto it.

But other than that, great map! And very well-constructed. I had a lot of fun.

Thanks for the input everyone, I see there's still plenty of things to be done.

About the first part, I actually had moved the button quite a bit so it'll be right where you fell...
Did you jump right before going in the portal? If not, I'll have to look into it because I didn't have this problem.

About the second part, I didn't even think of jumping in there myself and carrying the box
I'll make it higher and maybe remove the blue gel so that the box would HAVE to hit the button and then slide into the water (which it now would, the ramp being higher and having a sharper angle).

About the timer stopping but the bridge still being down it's because I didn't know how to set a floor button to a timer so there's two hidden pushable buttons who act as timers... If anyone knows how to assign regular floor buttons to a ticking timer please tell me, thanks.

TL:DR - I'll fix it, thank you so much for playing and being helpful. ps 8

Wonderful job. It felt like real valve quality. It felt like it could've been a part of the game.
However, there is not much skill involved, it is mostly all about the puzzle solving (which wasn't too challenging). Not so replayable. Nonetheless, it was fun, and usually I don't find myself enjoying the 70's maps as much as the modern maps.

The walkway after the wall button chamber is slightly misaligned. Is it intentional? I attached a screenshot below.

Screenshot
wallbutton_screen.jpg

bjs0 wrote:
The walkway after the wall button chamber is slightly misaligned. Is it intentional? I attached a screenshot below.

Screenshot
|| wallbutton_screen.jpg

||

Totally missed that, not sure why but some of the walkway models were a few units higher than the rest. Thanks for pointing it out.

I uploaded the new version, now you can't jump on the slide yourself and it guides the box to the button better (also, no blue gel).

Thank you all for the replies, it helped a lot.

That bit with the blue painted cube hitting the button is really misleading. I thought: if I just walk past here, the cube will be painted blue, and will bounce straight off the button, so I better walk around the gel and put it there myself. I then got stuck on the button and had to suicide. I don't think it's a good idea to have a floor button which initiates a timer when it's first pressed, as it goes against the conventional, expected logic of floor buttons (turns something on when pressed, turns it off again when depressed). I see you've changed it somehow in the time between me downloading the map and posting this.

I was able to open the door at the end of the first puzzle by jumping and spamming the use key at the button up on the platform. Although I'm sure this was unintended, I was relieved because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get to it otherwise.

Then at the end it took me a while to figure out whatthe button that the box presses actually does.

But overall, well done!

first try, i dont think i used the blue gel once

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87q40YxbnKg

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:

x9ehnv-kKGM
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ehnv-kKGM)

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

Nice map.
In the first part i was able to make it without using the blue gel and the big red button.
I make the jump with a portal on the highest portalisable surface and manage to fall near the exit.

Like that:
kQJzNmeKqYE

Enjoyed the map! First puzzle can be shortcutted by portaling to the exit from the high panel (portal to the high panel and from there portal to the end). Then you can just jump and hit the button to open the exit door.

I basically did what Sherik did for the first puzzle. That puzzle confused me. It took me a while to properly hit the wall-button and by the time I did I had already found that alternate way up to the high ledge(I actually thought that alternate way was the intended method until I read this thread) so I was confused by the blue gel and timer.

I completed the second puzzle the intended way the first time I played, but this thread got me thinking about shortcuts, so when I replayed I found this shortcut for the second puzzle: swbbr_shortcut.rarFor some reason the orange gel doesn't show up in this demo, but it's just spread out on the floor where it normally would be to perform the first fling for the second puzzle.

My 8 year old daughter found a shortcut to finishing the first part of the map, and insisted on describing it herself:

i fond out that you dont have to hit the wall button. you just make a portal on the high white wall. then make a portal the wall next to you. then jump on to the railing. jump and jump on the railing until you see the white wall.when you make a portal on it. then figurer out how to get orange gel to press the button.

Fun map, nice creative puzzles. My daughter played it first, and tried a million times to go down the ramp and jump onto the wall button without success. Finally I tried it and succeeded after 5 or 6 tries. Then while trying to help my daughter do it herself, I thought of putting a portal on the wall way up high facing the exit, another one at the start and running into it on orange gel to land on the button. That worked perfectly the first try, so I assume it's the intended solution.. Pretty easy, but I almost didn't notice it. Then my daughter found a third way by herself (described above). The second part was very clever. We also liked the hidden area (well not that well hidden). Thanks!

Screenshots showing the shortcut I mentioned earlier that my daughter found...


you just make a portal on the high white wall:

then make a portal the wall next to you. then jump on to the railing.


jump and jump on the railing until you see the white wall.

I liked the style of this map, you captured the 70's look quite well. Same Cave Johnson lines would have really made it fun.

The puzzles weren't too difficult. Like some here, I didn't get the first button intended solution until after running and jumping off the ramp. I don't consider that a defect; multiple possible solutions are often more fun to figure out.

The blue gel between the rooms distracted me for a while from seeing the portal surface down below.

The second puzzle was easy to figure out, but a bit tough to execute playing with a controller. It's not your fault I don't play with a mouse so that I can aim faster and more accurately. An extra second on the timer wouldn't hurt, though. I just missed it several times.

This one needs just a little tweaking to enhance the playability, but I give it a solid 4/5 because it does work and it looks great.

In the second puzzle, it was not clear what happened after the cube pressed the button. Only some noise can be heard but to see what exactly happened (bridge lowering) was hard.
Plus, timed puzzles suck (and everyone knows that)...
There is a shortcut in the first puzzle which allows bypassing of blue gel (and, therefore, not having to press the button in a pixel-perfect fashion).Simply get to the narrow railing in front of the portalable plate above the bridge where you should use the orange gel. From this spot, you should be able to see a little bit of portalable surface on the "EXIT" side of chamber. Just portal there and the rest should be easy. //edit after reading this thread: I was not the first to spot this
Still, visuals were great and so my rating is 3/5.