My entry to the summer mapping initiative, playing in clean Aperture.
If you find bugs, manage to get stuck somewhere or know how to break the room, please tell.

Have fun!

Changelog:
v 1.1:
- lowered a platform
- corrected a texture
- the testchamber sign actually activates
- added a light to the cold room
- I tried to make clear what the "useless button" does, with signs and by removing the timer sound
- One of the droppers is now large
- Slightly bigger room for the testchamber sign
- Elevator plays a movie
- Starttext added

File Name: sp_cube_button.rar
File Size: 2.22 MiB
Click here to download "If cube- and button-based testing caused..."

Portal treats cube & button puzzles as a tutorial, so it's not easy to keep things interesting. This one manages valiantly, thanks to accessibility (goal seems ever just around the corner) and restrain. Among the best "easy mode evolved" I've tried.

Cons: dimensions seem a bit off, hardly a jump to be made in all chambers but then suddenly the ginormous room. For no real reason, manages to be both cluttered and inflated. Also: those far out laser targets could use indicators.

I wonder how many quote-inspired contest entry names we're going to get by the end.

Heres a video of my first play-through: http://www.xfire.com/video/47c023/

Besides the room being huge the only other thing I would change is the buttons.
I think it would be nicer if they were the cube shaped buttons. Not a big deal though.
The puzzle was fun

Fun map! It wasn't very difficult (after I figured out that the button next to the door in the last room doesn't do anything at all) but your creative use of fizzlers was unique compared to other maps I have played. 5/5 from me.

In the future, I'd be excited to try similar maps from you but with significantly ramped up difficulty

timefiller wrote:
I think it would be nicer if they were the cube shaped buttons. Not a big deal though.

I think consistency is more important. Since you can't make them all cube-buttons (that would break the map) I'd vote for having them all normal buttons instead.

msleeper wrote:
I wonder how many quote-inspired contest entry names we're going to get by the end.

There's just so many good quotes. I'd use more, but the good concise ones are all taken. I'm not naming my map "I punch those numbers into my calculator and it makes a happy face."

Anyhow, downloading and testing. I'll get back to you on that.

About something you mentioned in a spoiler:

Ruien wrote:
(after I figured out that the button next to the door in the last room doesn't do anything at all)

Did you try to get stuck in the big room? It is possible. The "useless button" is a door override, that basically lets you restart the level without actually restarting. I didnt find a "door override" texture/overlay to make myself clear...

@ timefiller, who postet the video: I love how you found an alternate solution, that is just as complicated, in some parts.

MXXE wrote:
@ timefiller, who postet the video: I love how you found an alternate solution, that is just as complicated, in some parts.

I found an alternate solution you say?
I guess I will have to replay to try and figure out the "right" solution :d

timefiller wrote:
I found an alternate solution you say?
I guess I will have to replay to try and figure out the "right" solution :d

You didn't solve everything in a different way, just some small differences.
What you do @ 9:25 in your video is elegant. I meant it to be like: Take all 3 cubes in the first room, So you can place the non-reflective cube without portaling. Then take the 2 reflecives back into the 2nd room

I loved the map, nothing too fancy, nice and roomy.

I would remove the button after the door to de last room. It seems kinda lost, and is not needed anyway.

great job!

Hmm.....I iz te confuzed. When i downloaded this map i noticed that all of the gel was invisible. When i tried to play other maps, the gel waz also invisible. When i tried to play the campaign, the gel was also invisible...and when i deleted your map out of my maps folder, the gels returned o normal. I dont know if this is a problem with your map, or a problem with there being too many p2 custom maps in my folder....

bufutda wrote:
problem desctiption

I don't have any problems, noone else had any problems yet. I assume it is you ^^

Now on to some problems I have.
First, is there a laser placement helper? I used portal placement helpers (info_placement_helper) but I have no Idea how to make lasers "auto-aim" if you point them close to a laser catcher. I know it is possible to do, since it exists in the 3rd (or 4th?) coop map of Course 1

Second, how do I remove potaos from my portal gun? WITHOUT using the destroyed aperture science elevator of course.

What a clever puzzle.
Requires you to keep in mind a whole lot of data while never making you feel stuck.

Very good use of cubes even though there's more in the equation that I usually feel is necessary. You made them all dynamically necessary instead of one static purpose and easily obtained then move on. Your rooms however did not need to be allegorical for your puzzle style/elements, nor did the big room seem as if it needed to be so monstrously huge. Wasted space bothers me. Its visually dull, and gives an impression of laziness. Nevertheless I know the mapper has done the most important part of their job properly when I start to feel like the puzzle is unsolvable, and then I am forced to work for it (i.e. the cube behind the fizzler) and discover that lo-and-behold a perfectly cogent solution indeed exists. I am waiting for the day when I play a map built by a jaded, trolling, shell of a human who gets his/her kicks out of making a map appear to be solvable but has purposefully rendered it not so just to make us all feel stupid.

Normally I would complain that since you only had one chamber that this map is too short, but this one took me so long that I appreciated you ending it there.

4/5 for mostly great work.

MXXE wrote:
Second, how do I remove potaos from my portal gun? WITHOUT using the destroyed aperture science elevator of course.

I was able to do this by placing a trigger_weapon_strip over the info_player_start and then putting a weapon_portalgun (show potatoes set to no of course) next to the teleport_destination in my arrival elevator. Supposedly its doable with client command inputs, but I tried [what seemed like] everything to no avail. There's at least a couple threads on this topic in the forums. Just search for "portal gun without potato" or something and you'll find it.

I really liked that one. For a while i thought i won't make it ... but as soon as i tried to take all cubes back to the start so there's no need to destroy the portal in the room with 3 buttons everything was fine..

gj

This was a nice, short map with an interesting, yet very easy puzzle.

I agree with other posters' comments about the size of the big room. Also, the blue gel was almost completely unnecessary; I only used it to jump up to the button above it. The puzzle design was simple, yet just convoluted enough to make it interesting. 4/5 from me.

Excellent map 5/5.... A lot of backtracking but a nice puzzle. thanks for creating.