This is one of my maps from my WIP MapPack "The Part Where Everything Went To Hell." I choose this particular map because it wasn't too easy or too hard to solve even though the level is a bit on the short side. Please let me know if you are have trouble playing this map so I can make corrections to it.
BTW there are also 2 easter eggs in the map.

File Name: TPWEGTH Sample.zip
File Size: 792.31 KiB
Click here to download The Part Where Everything Goes to Hell Sample Map

If you destroy the cube , you're trapped.

I think i find one of the 2 easter eggs: Going behind the crusher?

Yes, going behind the crusher is one of them, waiting a minute and GLaDOS starts talking is another.

BTW how did you destroy the cube? I don't think my crushers dissolve objects.

The map itself is a work in progress as well I hope?
If not: It's pretty sterile, and you need to work on texture alignment and correctly fitting the doors into the wall.

MasterLagger wrote:
Yes, going behind the crusher is one of them, waiting a minute and GLaDOS starts talking is another.

BTW how did you destroy the cube? I don't think my crushers dissolve objects.

Ok, so i find the two.

For the cube, I put it behind the crusher with portals, and the crushers throw it through the fizzler!
Stupid thing to do, I know, but I was searching for the 2nd easter egg!

Response to Skerik:
Ok so both EE are in the map.

Response to MetaFrank
I may revise a few levels before releasing my MapPack. Could you be more specific in what's wrong with the textures and the door? I'm looking at my map right now and the door looks normal and the textures seem aligned pretty well.

Hrm. Dark, simply-textured and quite simple. What is the purpose of the glass? As far as I can see, all it does is make the player's walk to the cube longer and more perilous. Perhaps removing the glass and adding a cube dropper, to counter the cube loss bug mentioned would help?

Adding in Easter Eggs to maps is great, but the map itself needs some work first, at the very least on the visuals.

Okay, I'll add a dropper and remove the glass. BTW I just found a portal bumping glitch that lets you into the glass room. Also, something I want to point out, I'm trying to make the first five maps on my MapPack to be simple and somewhat dangerous. The first five maps are meant to give the idea that the test chambers are a little more dangerous and will be more deadly later on in the MapPack.

MasterLagger wrote:
Response to MetaFrank
Could you be more specific in what's wrong with the textures and the door? I'm looking at my map right now and the door looks normal and the textures seem aligned pretty well.

Screenshot:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3404234/sp_tpwe ... le0003.jpg

The tiles are just cut at corners, you can see the inner parts of the entrance door model.
That's only the tip of the iceberg though - The map has no detail whatsoever, which is ok for gameplay testing but not exactly what people call eye candy.

I've seen tiles cut in stranger places but I see what your saying. And I'll try to move the entrance door so it's positioned properly.

Edit: No detail? I'll admit that I didn't use many textures, but did you miss the blood stain near the crusher and the exit sign over the laser catcher? Do you have a different view on details I should be aware of?

One minute long microchamber of dubious skinning, too green to be credible.

Before moving on to vaster horizons, I would advise working on this room to hone your skills: a door properly embossed in the wall, platforms resembling the P2 style, logical light sources, aligned and varied textures which can turn a map looks' face heels.

What I have learned from feedback on my own work is that people don't like to see a vast expanse of one type of tile. Mixing different sizes/styles of tile on the walls adds visual variety. Other types of details you could add are light fixtures and observation rooms. You can also have sections of wall that stick out further than others, so it's not flat.

The blood stain on the floor between the crushers is a nice touch. That and the short timer to get through the crushers does add a bit more feeling of danger than your average map.

Is you plan to transition the player into the more scary/dangerous stuff by starting with a few maps like this? I think that will work. If each map feels a bit more dangerous or creepy than the last, it will create a good sense of foreboding or tension. Maybe you could choose GlaDOS lines which are increasingly angry or sinister.

Marise, you posted exactly what I am trying to do. You get a smiley!

I would have been using more visuals for the maps except I am trying to make the puzzles work first before adding anything else. This map was made more for solving than people being distracted by fancy props and other details. That's why it was a sample map. It wasn't made to be a golden map. I KNOW that the textures aren't 100% perfect, I KNOW there aren't any special lighting props or observation rooms in the map. The entrance door I'll admit I missed. However, I want to know about how people felt about the PUZZLE.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, I like having criticism, but I feel like some people missed what I was going for. I'm glad some people pointed out some hard to see flaws in the map. I'm just really more focus about how people felt about the puzzle before I add anymore extra stuff.

Well, the puzzle amounts to pushing a button and rushing to the exit. It looks like the end of a chamber: you could probably arrange some testing elements to activate some gel, which allows you to get up, then backtrack using the previous elements to activate said button and only then reach the exit.

It's a nice little map. Very simple solution of aiming the laser into the catcher, placing a portal underneath the button, then placing the other portal just before the crushers. You then just need to hit the button and it's done.

As mentioned above, there is no need for the glass, other than making the player walk that extra few feet.

MasterLagger wrote:
Edit: Don't get me wrong, I like having criticism, but I feel like some people missed what I was going for. I'm glad some people pointed out some hard to see flaws in the map. I'm just really more focus about how people felt about the puzzle before I add anymore extra stuff.

Probably most of the critique would have been avoided if you had just uploaded it to the Work in Progress Section instead of to the released maps.

The puzzle could use a little something to make it require more thought. I like the idea mentioned above, about incorporating gel. For instance, if you set it up so the run through the crushers is only possible with speed gel, and there is some thought involved in getting the speed gel activated or placed.

Or, if maybe you could set it up so you can't make the run, and some clever portaling is needed to get through.


Good luck. The idea of a scary/extra-dangerous map pack interests me and I will be watching for more progress.

I did try to use speed gel into this map, but the crushers were too fast. But I will add gel to some other levels. I have about 19 more test chambers to do including a few boss battles and escape levels.

I should have mentioned this in the description, but this map was altered from the one the maps I was making. For example, the "real" map actually has an observation room that the player can get to and get some information there. There is also some security cameras and a couple more GLaDOS quotes also. The reason why I removed some of these extra things is that it wouldn't have made sense to the player if they spotted it. Since this MapPack has a plot and some of the levels have some info about later levels, I decided to take out some of the extra stuff. That why this is just a sample/demo map. But I admit I haven't used proper lamp props in both levels so I have that to work on.

The puzzle was almost nonexistent - portal above door, push button, drop through portal and backup to elevator.....Nice to see this first type map, but keep at it....Thanks for mapping

Oh, well, thank you. Like I posted earlier, the real map is more detailed than the sample map.

Why do you post the sample map instead of the "real" map?

satchmo wrote:
Why do you post the sample map instead of the "real" map?

As I understand it, because the "real" map is a part of a map pack and the extra details wouldn't make sense out of context.

Or something like that.

Yeah, I mention that in a few posts above this. Even though I can't upload the map yet, I can still send pictures. But it might be awhile because I ran into some trouble with the lights.

Edit: Here are the pictures.

Still needs a lot of detailing, a clear cut map theme and better lighting.

Yeah, still working on lighting. After that I'll try to add the X/check boxes

I like the picture inside the observation room with the object (ashtray?) spotlighted on the floor.

That's actually a floor lamp used for some observation rooms. If you move in front of the computer screen, some text will appear. There is also a rail on the ceiling for personality cores to enter and exit the room. Since Wheatley will be spying on GLaDOS's actions toward test chambers, I needed to find a way to have Wheatley enter and exit the observation room (although he doesn't appear, he just leaves messages until the later levels).

I think that demo and sample maps should be put in WIP, and leave this area for finished products. I am god, but not your god, so do what you want. 2/5 from me.