Happy Halloween! This is a long map with auto-saves in it. It has a little bit of everything along with a few spooky stuff in it. Enjoy!
BTW: There is an unused video that's being shown in the exit elevator.
Edit: I think this is the best map I have ever made compared to AATC. Thank you for the positive ratings and comments.
2nd Edit: 20 votes with an average of 5/5! Wow, that's a first for me.
3rd and last edit: Over 1000 downloads! YES!

File Name: MLs Halloween Trick.zip
File Size: 2.66 MiB
Click here to download ML's Halloween Trick

Nice length, fairly easy but fun puzzles, nice Halloween touches. I really liked the manikin men. I was thinking i was gonna walk by them and then they'd turn into turrets or something, but I liked what you did with them better.

Those mannequins really scared me when they appeared at the very front of the door. The rest was a bit predictable for what they did. My only complaint was that having to walk back and forth between the room and the door ruined the feeling of it. Overall, it was a great map.

Did anyone spot the mannequin at the entrance door (when you fling to get the first box) and the mannequin in the observation room with the laser catcher? I hope people liked the Jack-O-Lantern Propulsion Fling also.

Ok but I got stuck in the room after the mannequin men blocked retreat. the end floor did not open? I no clipped through and finished the map.
Thanks for creating...

quatrus wrote:
Ok but I got stuck in the room after the mannequin men blocked retreat. the end floor did not open? I no clipped through and finished the map.
Thanks for creating...

That must have been a glitch or something since other people fell through the black tile floor, or at least I assume other people did. Actually, the floor doesn't open since the false black floor activates after the mannequins come to the door. Try that part again and I'll double check to make sure it still works.
Edit: The black false floor does work. So either you gave up too soon or it was a glitch.

I thought it'd be fun to try a least portal run of this and it really was:
video
AwwgFFb-vik

Nice map - good length with interesting puzzles, flings, secrets and frights!
It was rather scary when those test subjects kept moving closer and closer.......
Thanks for making - keep up the good work!

I'm glad people thought that this was fun. I wasn't sure if it was scary or not. I'm glad this map fits Halloween.
Edit: 7 votes averaging to 5/5, that is the quickest and best amount of votes I have ever received in one day.

Awesome level!

The dummies where an excellent part, I even jumped when they appeared right at the door! XD Was the door with the orange light suppose to open?

Nice! And Happy Halloween!!!!!!

wolf bytes wrote:
Awesome level!

The dummies where an excellent part, I even jumped when they appeared right at the door! XD Was the door with the orange light suppose to open?

Nice! And Happy Halloween!!!!!!

You mean the heavy door that is outside the testing area with the flickering light? If so, then no; it was not supposed to open.

I spotted the dummy in the observation room, which was mysteriously gone later.

Fun map, and I agree thatthe dummies moving up to the door were creepy. The blood stains were also a nice touch.

But my favorite part was definitely the exit!

Marise wrote:
But my favorite part was definitely the exit!

The Jack-O-Lantern Propulsion Fling is also my favorite part and took me a few days just to create it. I had to re-adjust the ramp a lot so that the player would fling properly into the mouth of the Jack-O-Lantern whether the player covered the floor mostly or completely with Propulsion Gel. Of course, I also had to set the proper amount of time before the mouth closed (I used a timer/stop watch application on my phone) My fastest time was a little above 6 seconds so I set the button timer to 7 seconds so people would have a easier chance to making it.

BTW: There is a dummy near the entrance door that closes when you fling to get the box. It's hard to notice but it's there.

This was an excellent map - really enjoyed it. Thanks for making it.

The map had cool ideas in it. I would have been happy about more asthetics, but I didn't care that much, as the simplicity, hard edges and the odd feeling did overall all create a kind of scary and alien feeling. (I hope you understand what I want to express here...)

However, a few tips:
1. When your map is finished, as the last step you should chose the expert mode in the compiler and compile in "Final HDR and SDR - Slow"
2. As a Halloween map, this map should be darker in many chambers.
3. Some of your floors had vertex textures on them, they changed their lighting level. I think that was your purpose, though.

Okay first, what does Final HDR and SDR Slow do? Second, some areas were darker than others on purpose although I could see them being a little darker. Third, what are vertex textures? I changed the floor textures because paint wasn't showing up on the regular floor texture.

Vertex textures are textures that show up in the map as black, used for shadow

spongylover123 wrote:
Vertex textures are textures that show up in the map as black, used for shadow

I think they're used for props, actually.

To make a long story short; never use Vertex Textures. Ever. They cause all sorts of texture and lighting problems in the long run, (I made the same mistake with Eco_leaf.)

Also, I would recommend using the final compile. It ensures that people with computers that can't run HDR will be able to play your map. (Also it looks just plain better.)

Okay, I'll try that on my new maps now that I know what it does.

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:

S3_w2TuU0-8
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_w2TuU0-8)

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

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Awesome video Djin!

I got a real kick outta this map. Thank you so much for it! adds to all-time favorite maps I actually yelped when those dummies were right at the door and that GLaDOS chuckle tied it together.

Well I'm glad you liked it. Judging by how many people liked it and downloaded it, I think this may be one of the best maps I have ever made.

I like this map a lot. It doesn't excel in visual detailing, but the puzzles are fun and the scare element is well executed too.

I also think that the part where the row of test dummies follows you up to the door was the best. And the feeling when you walk between them and you expect something dreadful to happen any moment, but it doesn't... that's good quality nightmare fuel there.
(It would have been even better if you had made the music stop when the player enters this room. That would increase the suspense even more.)

One thing I didn't like so much is the lighting. It's pretty bright in some areas (as BrainstoneX mentioned, that does take away a bit of the Halloween feel) and too dark in others. (I don't mean "scary" dark here, just normal "can't see a damn thing" dark.) This is probably because of your use of vertex textures. The normal textures should work fine with paint, if you run the VRAD compile phase. (Without that, the paint is indeed invisible.)

And I liked the jack-o-lantern at the end. It's really ominous looking, and it fits well with the puzzle.

Overall, excellent work.

Yeah, I didn't use the "final" compiler for the lighting. The dummy part was the part I focused on the most, and having GLaDOS chuckling at the scared player. >:) I bet I could make a better map next Halloween.
The general idea for the lighting was that as the player progressed through the level, then the areas would get darker, but not enough to fully obstruct the player's vision. But maybe it got a bit too dark.
As for the part about a "good quality nightmare," I didn't want anything nightmare-ish to kill the player. Nightmares only exist if the player is alive, if the player dies, then so does the nightmare. I use that as the basic guideline to think of what to do.

Hey great map so far. But I'm getting stuck admittedly ..Any one have a walk through video?

Djinndrache posted a video a few posts upward. Try looking at that.

Okay, so I thought I noticed those guys coming closer to me every time I came back through the door. I decided to to in and out of the door without looking behind me to see if they were. After going through a few times, I looked back and they were right in front of me! It scared me so much I jumped! (Nice evil laugh there, by the way.) Anyway, this is a great map! Not too hard; not too easy.

Did you get to the gel areas? Some players claimed to get stuck after that dummy part. There is a false floor at the end of the room after the dummies get right in front of the door.