[SP] Oversized Test Chamber Storage Area

by CrazyGuy · Uploaded Jun 08, 2011

Screenshot 1

File Size: 14.46 MB

Downloads: 7485

Rating: (49 votes)

Description

FINAL VERSION OF OSTCSA! Changes: -added more decorations in the open area -changed the "malfunction" trigger in area 2 so it does more to show that you can't use those two cubes -added some explanatory text -added env_projectedtextures to enhance the mood -fixed cheat solutions -fixed the glass in area 3 so it will break more easily -made the turrets in the end of area 3 "super damage" so you can't just run past them anymore. This map has some "soft" acheivements (it displays game text rather than giving an actual acheivement) [] Ball Control: In area 1, get the sphere without losing one [] Turrets Syndrome : FIZZLE every single turret in OSTCSA. [] Shatterproof: Solve area 3 without breaking the glass [] The lizard lives: Find the hidden mapmaker's room (found somewhere after area 1)

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CrazyGuy • Jun 08, 2011 • #51703
144 posts

FINAL VERSION OF OSTCSA!
Changes:
-added more decorations in the open area
-changed the "malfunction" trigger in area 2 so it does more to show that you can't use those two cubes
-added some explanatory text
-added env_projectedtextures to enhance the mood
-fixed cheat solutions
-fixed the glass in area 3 so it will break more easily
-made the turrets in the end of area 3 "super damage" so you can't just run past them anymore.

This map has some "soft" acheivements (it displays game text rather than giving an actual acheivement)

[] Ball Control: In area 1, get the sphere without losing one
[] Turrets Syndrome : FIZZLE every single turret in OSTCSA.
[] Shatterproof: Solve area 3 without breaking the glass
[] The lizard lives: Find the hidden mapmaker's room (found somewhere after area 1)

File Name: CG_OSTCSA_FINAL.zip
File Size: 14.46?MiB
CG-Oversized Test Chamber Storage Area FINAL!!

elt • Jun 09, 2011 • #51704
34 posts

Nice. Very nice. Clever use of diagonal light bridges and excursion funnels. In the last section, I built stairs out of the boxes, was that correct? It was a little tedious. What was the platform activated by the sphere for? It didn't really seem to have much purpose.

The visual cues for portal placement in the very last room were nicely subtle. I had an "ah-HA!" moment when I saw the pattern.

And as a final note, the environment was very well-designed. I love the big open areas with suspended test chambers and tubes going everywhere.

CrazyGuy • Jun 09, 2011 • #51705
144 posts

elt wrote:
Nice. Very nice. Clever use of diagonal light bridges and excursion funnels. In the last section, I built stairs out of the boxes, was that correct? It was a little tedious. What was the platform activated by the sphere for? It didn't really seem to have much purpose.

The visual cues for portal placement in the very last room were nicely subtle. I had an "ah-HA!" moment when I saw the pattern.

And as a final note, the environment was very well-designed. I love the big open areas with suspended test chambers and tubes going everywhere.

Thanks. Im getting a lot on the lift not being useful.
Stacking boxes to get up is perfectly valid. There are toerh ways tho
What you are SUPPOSED to do with the lift is fire a portal onto the floor next to the ledge, then fire a portal on the ceiling above the lift, then put the sphere on the button and stand on lift, pick up sphere and just as you do that you jump

you know, on hindsight that is all super tricky I think ill just replace it with a regular switch

Gadzillar • Jun 09, 2011 • #51706
12 posts

Great job! Thanks for making it. The second chamber in particular was a really cool use of excursion funnels. I also like the way you handled the BTS/Abyss scenes

I don't know if anybody else had minor problems with framerate, but my only comment would be that I noticed it getting a bit choppy in areas; possibly because of the huge open area. I didn't use cheats to show the visleafs because I was having too much fun with the puzzles, but if it's been noticed by other people I wonder if a few hint brushes would help?

Really though, 5/5, enjoyed it quite a bit.

ZeepaAan • Jun 09, 2011 • #51707
12 posts

Funny thing is that I did the whole chamber without the cubes, and then when I reached the room with the turrets I realized what the sphere and the endless loops was going to be used for. So then I went back and used the overwhelming amount of cubes to my advantage and put them everywhere.

Great map. Had a bit of an FPS issue but I doubt it was your map.

quatrus • Jun 09, 2011 • #51708
1,047 posts

Very creative mapping. Light bridge climb room,I got the ball by dropping it with the Light Bridge portal, that left me with no light bridge and had to go back to LB room to reactivate the LB again - noclipped sorry - guess I should have climbed it down. When I dropped off the climbed light bridge and fling up to the exit the door, it closed through me and I was stuck just outside of it - maybe increase time a bit or angle it or have the door push you in?
Platform room, same issue with the lowering of the platform(??),I portaled up on the raised platform and fling over to the laser hallway only to find I needed to go back to get a cube(s) - maybe some guidance or did I miss it?. Enjoyed your map thanks for creating.

Shane • Jun 09, 2011 • #51709
243 posts

Well designed, what I liked about this map is that it was difficult without bring obnoxiously hard, and it made you think a little differently. Good work!

DevoCorum • Jun 09, 2011 • #51710
10 posts

great map! well done!

GODFATHER • Jun 09, 2011 • #51711
26 posts

Nice map, some great little puzzles - liked using the cube to interrupt the 3 beams to pass the lasers, the only issue i had was that in the last chamber I was able to use the lift activated by the sphere to make a portal that flung me straight to the exit - was that intended.

RagingVoice • Jun 10, 2011 • #51712
16 posts

Nice map.I didn't use the lift when I got to that point. I actually used a portal on the ceiling and then one on the ground and as I went through it hit another portal near the ledge and got up that way. My first time around I didn't figure out how to get the cubes out. So I used the sphere to knock the turrets off. I lost the sphere on the first try and then used the first turret to knock off the turrets. I missed one.... nice achievement. Had to redo it to see if it was what I thought it was.

Skerik • Jun 10, 2011 • #51713
59 posts

3/4 achievments done. I didn't find The Lizard Lives!

Edit: I found it, I thought i have to find them in the order you put them in the readme file

Enigmaphase • Jun 10, 2011 • #51714
110 posts

Nice! I love how the ball glows when the laser hits it. Also, killing turrets with a camera = gg

Oh and I remembered one glitch I found. Between the second and third chambers you can jump off to the right (I was hopping across the pegs on the wall to see if there was a secret somewhere back there), but if you fall your screen just goes black and you don't die.

eggfillet • Jun 11, 2011 • #51715
13 posts

That was a fantastic map. I love when you first walk into the storage area, the scale sort of punches you in the face.

smwlover • Jun 11, 2011 • #51716
68 posts

Splendid map full of creative ideas! Using a box to block the beam in chamber 2, using a ball to break the glass to get the boxes and the "shooting game" at the end of chamber 3 all bring me much fun. 5/5.
One small flaw is that the platform activated by the ball is unnecessary since you can simple place a portal up there.

kirgothi • Jun 12, 2011 • #51717
16 posts

Great job! Never got frustrating. Nice length too, not too quick, not too long. Felt like a real game map.

gregom • Jun 12, 2011 • #51718
2 posts

Awesome map... although I must admit I found the second challenge quite difficult. I got frustrated after 30 minutes of trying to figure it out. The fact that two previously obtained cubes get destroyed if you try to remove the cube on the center platform closest to the walkway was not pleasant. It would of been less stressful if that self-destruction cube wouldn't have existed in the first place. It took me awhile to figure out I only needed one cube, but I ended up using two which seemed to go a lot more smoothly. Additionally, trying to get the timing right while moving the cube(s) across the path of the lasers is a little trick. If you don't get it right the first time your screwed and have to go get another cube or load a save game.

Regardless of my difficulties this was a very fun challenge for the most part. I hope you keep making maps like this for us to enjoy. Thanks for the fun.

Here's a video of how I solved the second section if anyone is curious.
Vf6Cqg_v8CY

grifgont • Jun 15, 2011 • #51719
6 posts

Exellent MAP!

xdiesp • Jun 17, 2011 • #51720
1,078 posts

Tried this updated version. The differences I noticed were having less difficulties with the first ball puzzle (might have been just me) and the portal cues for the last one: however the highest one for the central turret wasn't working, I had to put it one panel lower.

How about some yellow on the far out chambers? Or more neons, it still looks like a bit boxy outside.

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51721
144 posts

GODFATHER wrote:
Nice map, some great little puzzles - liked using the cube to interrupt the 3 beams to pass the lasers, the only issue i had was that in the last chamber I was able to use the lift activated by the sphere to make a portal that flung me straight to the exit - was that intended.

wow no it wasn't inteded but you've just found a 4'th solution to area 4 of OSTCSA. Since doing that is really tricky, I think i'll leave it in, for now

I hope you didn't have too much trouble with the sphere on the switch part I know that was a bit buggy

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51722
144 posts

Enigmaphase wrote:
Nice! I love how the ball glows when the laser hits it. Also, killing turrets with a camera = gg

Oh and I remembered one glitch I found. Between the second and third chambers you can jump off to the right (I was hopping across the pegs on the wall to see if there was a secret somewhere back there), but if you fall your screen just goes black and you don't die.

yeah you probably landed on one of the gigantic yellow beams. The trigger for the fadeout is about 512 units above the kill trigger, so if you kept running arround you would ahve fallen off and died. Ok Ill fix that by putting push triggers over the pegs and ill move the fade trigger closer to the kill trigger.

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51723
144 posts

xdiesp wrote:
Tried this updated version. The differences I noticed were having less difficulties with the first ball puzzle (might have been just me) and the portal cues for the last one: however the highest one for the central turret wasn't working, I had to put it one panel lower.

How about some yellow on the far out chambers? Or more neons, it still looks like a bit boxy outside.

yeah I noticed that one panel for that one turret isn't quite centered, but I need to keep it at least to the 32 grid and lowring it that much would be too far so I guess I could put a placement helper slightly lower in the exact spot. But come on, the player has to miss once or twice, right? you get like 12 boxes

As for the far out part, yeah I need more chambers and clusters with paneled walls. At some point im jut going to prefabricate a bunch with different patterns and sets of lights, then ill come back and put them in.
If I ever do go back to this map and add extra details expect to see a lot more cords and industrial stuff ahnging around between the chambers, and maybe some debris falling at you between 2 and 3

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51724
144 posts

Gadzillar wrote:
Great job! Thanks for making it. The second chamber in particular was a really cool use of excursion funnels. I also like the way you handled the BTS/Abyss scenes

I don't know if anybody else had minor problems with framerate, but my only comment would be that I noticed it getting a bit choppy in areas; possibly because of the huge open area. I didn't use cheats to show the visleafs because I was having too much fun with the puzzles, but if it's been noticed by other people I wonder if a few hint brushes would help?

Really though, 5/5, enjoyed it quite a bit.

ah yes framerate issues. I noticed that too. Keep in mind this is my first time mapping for portal 2 and using the new hammer system (like I said last time I mapped for the halflife engine was back in the Worldcraft days... since then I had been mapping for Unreal Tournament 2k4 which has a system of zoneportals instead of visleafs)

Im not really quite sure how best to use hint brushes. So far I only use them to cover recesses in the walls, and as for the outdoor area it is all surrounded by visclusters (like in the example map sp_a4_lasercatapult) I did seal off area 1 and parts of 2 and 3 with areaportals, but that's about it.

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51725
144 posts

gregom wrote:
Awesome map... although I must admit I found the second challenge quite difficult. I got frustrated after 30 minutes of trying to figure it out. The fact that two previously obtained cubes get destroyed if you try to remove the cube on the center platform closest to the walkway was not pleasant. It would of been less stressful if that self-destruction cube wouldn't have existed in the first place. It took me awhile to figure out I only needed one cube, but I ended up using two which seemed to go a lot more smoothly. Additionally, trying to get the timing right while moving the cube(s) across the path of the lasers is a little trick. If you don't get it right the first time your screwed and have to go get another cube or load a save game.

Regardless of my difficulties this was a very fun challenge for the most part. I hope you keep making maps like this for us to enjoy. Thanks for the fun.

Ok wow I just watched your video, and I was like DAAMN when I saw that you found a way to avoid the box kill triggers for one of the boxes, but then since you only used two I was like "wow a way to solve it using two boxes"
Then when you got the the part with the funnel, the way you did it is a really super hard way (LOL) but intersting, a solution I hadn't thought of. The EASY way to do it is to just drop the one box off the edge by the laser field and use the funnel to make the box go through each beam one at a time, and you run through the laser fields in time with it. [/spoiler]

To comment on what you said about being tricked into beleiving you need 3 boxes, please read my post below.

CrazyGuy • Jun 17, 2011 • #51726
144 posts

General reply:
Thanks for all the comments, guys! I'm glad some people figured out how to use the lift jump, in hindsight it is actually really tricky to use, but it was neat hearing the other solutions used by it.

As for the whole "area 2, tricking the player into thinking you need 3 boxes to solve the puzzle" part, THAT IS ON PURPOSE I INTENDED TO HAVE GLADOS TALKING TO YOU TO GIVE YOU THE HINT YOU NEED!!
I had even written up some lines for her, and even voice acted it out myself a bit (although being a man with a very deep voice I can't really do GLaDOS (I can do Wheately or Announcer tho))
and anyways, NO CUSTOM CONTENT for the competition. I would have put it in using the game_texts but I couldn't find a way to make that much text look good in time for submission, then I kinda forgot about it for this update.

Ok so if anyone is still playin this map or readin this topic, imagine GlAdos had said this to you as you finish chamber 1:

GLaDOS (through PA, not potato): Well. It seems you have entered the Apeture Science Oversized Test Chamber storage area. An oversized person such as yourself should fit right in here.
(after portalling over to area 2) GLaDOS: Part of this next test chamber is very old, and the testing equipment may missing or incorrect. I hope this is not a problem for you
(after setting off the box drop trigger) GLaDOS: Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me fix that for you. (beam turns back on) Oh dear, the tubes for those cubes are jammed. I guess you'll just have to solve this chamber without them.

Again thanks for the good feedback, and I have another wheatley themed map on the way, this time the outdoor part is a little tighter and the framerates a little better

Djinndrache • Jun 22, 2011 • #51727
1,442 posts

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:

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

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

bjs0 • Jul 05, 2011 • #51728
74 posts

With these revisions, I honestly can't even think of any noteworthy problems with this map. I really like how you did the texture hints in the final room.

And this.

Adair • Jul 06, 2011 • #51729
213 posts

I was a bit absorbed with playing some contest maps so I just found this updated version. I guess the old version and the discussion thread that went with it are now gone?

Chamber 1:

Well, I definitely see some improvement from the contest version I played. The sphere/bridge puzzle is far less tedious, but still has a trick to it(good job). I noticed other improvements as well.
Chamber 2:

I found an interesting shortcut that almost bypasses all of chamber 2...except that I can't quite pull it off. Grab the attached file below for a demo of me very nearly not dying while attempting it(I'm kind of proud of how far I did get before getting diced into tiny bits). BTW, on a previous attempt I stopped a little earlier so I didn't die, but was stuck so I tried pressing the mini button, but couldn't reach it. Anyway, I think a speed runner probably could outrun the lasers. You'll see what I mean.

Good job on adding signs and clues to point people in the right direction in this chamber. I already knew what to do from playing previous versions, but I think the extra signs will help others.

Only problem I see is that the mini button at the end of chamber 2 still only turns the lasers off temporarily which potentially allows the non-hurried player to get caught between laser-grids-of-death. I still think the lasers should be turned off permanently when the mini button is pressed once, or you could add one of those timer indicator things that draws a circle(I don't know what they really are in Hammer) and add a ticking timer sound.

Chamber 3:
Pretty much all the same alternate methods I found before still work here. See attachment for demo file.

Overall the map is much improved, but I'd like to see a version with the voice acting lines in it.

ostcsav2_demos.rar

CrazyGuy • Jul 07, 2011 • #51730
144 posts

bjs0 wrote:
With these revisions, I honestly can't even think of any noteworthy problems with this map. I really like how you did the texture hints in the final room.

And this.

oh NOEZ! A VISIBLE NODRAW SURFACE!! !@#@!#!@# I pride myself on being so thorough with that, I can't believe I missed one! Well, thanks for pointing it out

Adair wrote:
I was a bit absorbed with playing some contest maps so I just found this updated version. I guess the old version and the discussion thread that went with it are now gone?

yes Chicken PM'ed me, along with all the other contest entries, about deleting double posts and merging threads. I told him to delete contest one and keep this one, but the old thread does seem to be gone. Not that I really care about that, it has served its purpose.

Adair wrote:
Chamber 2:

||I found an interesting shortcut that almost bypasses all of chamber 2...except that I can't quite pull it off. Grab the attached file below for a demo of me very nearly not dying while attempting it(I'm kind of proud of how far I did get before getting diced into tiny bits). BTW, on a previous attempt I stopped a little earlier so I didn't die, but was stuck so I tried pressing the mini button, but couldn't reach it. Anyway, I think a speed runner probably could outrun the lasers. You'll see what I mean.

wow, nice. A brand new cheat solution noone else has found. I never thought that you could get enough height to do that. Okay what I can do to fix that is put a nodraw func_brush across the opening and have it turn off the moment the lasers all turn on. So if the player tries what you did, they wont be able to do it. They won't know why they couldn't do it but by then its too late. And if they keep reloading and trying again, well, tough. That's not the right way to do it!

Adair wrote:
Only problem I see is that the mini button at the end of chamber 2 still only turns the lasers off temporarily which potentially allows the non-hurried player to get caught between laser-grids-of-death. I still think the lasers should be turned off permanently when the mini button is pressed once, or you could add one of those timer indicator things that draws a circle(I don't know what they really are in Hammer) and add a ticking timer sound.||

yeah I had already thought about this button. Like I said in earlier posts, it is there in case the player uses the wrong portal to funnel across to area 3, and has to go back and get control of the funnel again. I just made it turn them off and leave them off, if the player screws up JUST because he hit mouse1 when he should have hit mouse2, then he shouldn't have to re-do the timed run through part.

Adair wrote:
Chamber 3:
Pretty much all the same alternate methods I found before still work here. See attachment for demo file.

Overall the map is much improved, but I'd like to see a version with the voice acting lines in it.

ostcsav2_demos.rar

Okay, I have seen those two alternate methods and they are NOT intended, and I don't like them. I n ever wanted the player to be able to get all the way up to the turrets, and I kind of consider that solution too easy because you can actually jump across three of the platforms and the last one can be reached from the ground. What I did to fix this was I put a big physics force brush over the wall you portaled and flew out of so now it pushes you down and makes you miss (doesn't affect boxes or other physics objects, just the player)

thanks for testing!

CrazyGuy • Jul 09, 2011 • #51731
144 posts

NEW VERSION RELEASED! Please check it out it is a BIG improvement

Hawkeye • Jul 09, 2011 • #51732
20 posts

Ahhhhhhh. I remember playing this in its first version. Got very frustrated and quit. Played it through again after this release. SOOO much fun. It made it easier, yet you still had to do some thinking. I thoroughly enjoyed it, thanks for releasing the update.

xdiesp • Jul 12, 2011 • #51733
1,078 posts

Just a thought for those who have yet to try this oldie. The one here is a map which hasn't been content with ranking in the excellence from day one, but kept updating for quite a lot - showing appreciation for the feedback, and awareness that you are never done with a job.

6 chambers makes enough time to show progression & variety, thanks both to the different styles used (all easy on the eyes) and the many borderline-minigames which achieve particular goals with mundane tools. Difficulty curves a lot, from restrain mode (storage building, harmless) to clear deadline (you only have this many tries in the last room).

Good move adding colour and lighter ambience for the outer sections, however it's a pity to see the embedded achievements (another feature) so hidden in the readme and not publicized on some custom monitor\sign.

CrazyGuy • Jul 12, 2011 • #51734
144 posts

thanks for looking again. I am always open to feedback and improvements, I will never take a negative comment as mean, only as another way I can improve it.

Yeah I forgot to include a readme with the achievements. I kinda added them almost as a gimmick, but also because it is so full of things to acheive. Not sure how I would publicize them on a monitor or sign, but I figure if this map ever were integrated into a Valve map pack system with fresh acheivements, then they could easily be fit in. Just change the triggers to achievement triggers rather than display the game texts. I was nice and tidy and put all the acheivement relays in a nodraw box off to the side in a visgroup called "worldents"

BUUt... I'm DONE with this map. No more, I've moved on to my next map which I have been working on all this time, and am nearly done with. Every now and then I would come back to OSTCSA and fix a few things, and have now just finally recompiled and released.

grent • Jul 13, 2011 • #51735
26 posts

Excellent map, and the "soft achievements" give the map some rare replayability. I really do like how the sudden sense of scale comes in; it was a nice touch, and shows off your abilities as a mapmaker.

Aker666 • Jul 14, 2011 • #51736
4 posts

Hi, thanks for the map but i have a little problem in the area 1.

When i go to the activator and start the countdown, i don't now what's the next movement, i'm very confused. Maybe it's a foolishness but i can't find it.

Thanks for the help.

CrazyGuy • Jul 14, 2011 • #51737
144 posts

Aker666 wrote:
Hi, thanks for the map but i have a little problem in the area 1.

When i go to the activator and start the countdown, i don't now what's the next movement, i'm very confused. Maybe it's a foolishness but i can't find it.

Thanks for the help.

the next move is you portal the two checkered flipping panels underneath you, fling up to the glass panel that opens and out to the exit.

Aker666 • Jul 14, 2011 • #51738
4 posts

Ah, ok!! I'm going to try it, thanks a lot!

Adair • Jul 18, 2011 • #51739
213 posts

Federal regulations require me to inform you that this map...is looking pretty good.

You fixed most of the shortcuts from earlier versions.
It's still possible to use portals and grab one of the turrets by hand, but I think you already know of that. It's the lowest turret that sits on the right when you enter that room. There's a portalable panel on the right side of that turret's pedestal that you can jump out of to grab the turret. I think that's it for that room though.
In the first room of chamber 3 I see you tried to fix an alternate way of getting up on the ledge by adding a portal bumper(I think that's what it's called). If you shoot at just the right place though, it's still possible to place a portal so that the jump can be made. Also with a cube a similar shortcut can be used by placing a portal on the panel right next to the old spot. If you still want to fix it I recommend just making that whole wall area next to the ledge non-portalable.

In chamber 1 did you mean to remove the fizzler on the top right of the ball dropper puzzle? It almost seems too easy now, but maybe I'm just used to the difficulty of the older versions. EDIT: I just realized that fizzler was gone in the previous version also, I thought you had only removed the horizontal fizzler at the bottom left in that version. Oh well, guess I was using a more difficult method than was necessary.

OnePortalizedGal • Jul 18, 2011 • #51740
156 posts

This was a fun map - liked all the elements, atmosphere and environment. Went along smoothly and was easy to follow. Great job!

CrazyGuy • Jul 19, 2011 • #51741
144 posts

Adair wrote:
Federal regulations require me to inform you that this map...is looking pretty good.

You fixed most of the shortcuts from earlier versions.
It's still possible to use portals and grab one of the turrets by hand, but I think you already know of that. It's the lowest turret that sits on the right when you enter that room. There's a portalable panel on the right side of that turret's pedestal that you can jump out of to grab the turret. I think that's it for that room though.
In the first room of chamber 3 I see you tried to fix an alternate way of getting up on the ledge by adding a portal bumper(I think that's what it's called). If you shoot at just the right place though, it's still possible to place a portal so that the jump can be made. Also with a cube a similar shortcut can be used by placing a portal on the panel right next to the old spot. If you still want to fix it I recommend just making that whole wall area next to the ledge non-portalable.

yeah I know about that one lower turret. That one's meant to be easy, thers like 3 or 4 different ways to knock that one off.
As for the "cheat" way of getting to the metal halls, you are right I did use a portal bumper. But if it can still be done I will maybe make it all noportal. I don't want to retexture those walls metal because it will interrupt the visual flow of the metal sort of cutting diagonally across the room. Thanks though.

Adair wrote:
In chamber 1 did you mean to remove the fizzler on the top right of the ball dropper puzzle? It almost seems too easy now, but maybe I'm just used to the difficulty of the older versions. EDIT: I just realized that fizzler was gone in the previous version also, I thought you had only removed the horizontal fizzler at the bottom left in that version. Oh well, guess I was using a more difficult method than was necessary.

Adair wrote:

yeah well I removed that one on the left because people were complaining it was too ahrd. Honestly I think its easy enough to get hte ball to fall between the two in the very first version, but I didn't want people to get too frustrated too early on in the map.

KennKong • Sep 19, 2011 • #51742
942 posts

I loved this map, quite a bit of thinking and a little bit of skill in quite a lot of map!

I've only been through the map once so far (but I'm definitely going back for the achievements) and found only a couple problems, truly remarkable for a map this size.

1. As others have noted, the lift puzzle is a throwaway. I never even saw a sphere, so I never bothered with it, and certainly didn't need it.

2. Also, since I didn't see a sphere, I smashed the cubes loose with myself. The first time, the cubes came crashing down on me and knocked me clean outside the map:
2011-09-19_00001 (800x450).jpg

Other than that, I think it's a great map, one of the few that kept me scratching my head for a while without ever wanting to quit. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 is that there are a few tricky parts that are really hard to do with a controller, so I gave it a 4/5.

Edit 9/19: I went through it a second time, and got all the achievements, but I still don't see the purpose of the lift. Also, I thought I saw the extra room, and tried to get into it, but had to wait until the end to noclip over there and confirm it. It took me almost 50 tries from various angles before I hit it. Still love the map, though.

Moth • Oct 25, 2011 • #51743
225 posts

Very nice map, with good atmosphere.
Strangely though, it lags a lot on my new rig: Phenom FX (8 cores) and 16GB RAM so really not sure what's going on there at all - the lag is apparent from exiting the starting elevator.

You may want to consider using a fog_controller with Z Plane clipping. This would solve the lag, although as I said before, there's no reason for lag whatsoever. I've made and played maps that use the entire grid and they don't lag.

Going to play all the way through this and then leave some more feedback in a seperate post

Also, your start elevator doors remain open :-p

ChickenMobile • May 15, 2012 • #51744
2,460 posts

This map definitely deserved a spotlight! Well done CrazyGuy (trying to get on topic)

baca25 • May 16, 2012 • #51745
342 posts

It's probably going to take CrazyGuy a year(if ever) to realize he got the spotlight.

msleeper • May 16, 2012 • #51746
4,095 posts • Member

It's funny how some people move on after leaving behind quality content, isn't it?

eviloatmeal • May 16, 2012 • #51747
53 posts

msleeper wrote:
It's funny how some people move on after leaving behind quality content, isn't it?

Better than the alternative: Making shitty content and never leaving. I'm still here, for one.

Either way, awesome map, CrazyGuy! I love cubes, and I love stacking them. I'm also a big fan of puzzles that don't force a single solution upon the player.

Personally I fetched the sphere, and used that to get past the lasers in the crawlspace before realising I would probably need some cubes, and going back to smash the glass with my face.

Big big fan of the architecture. Those outside areas are gorgeous!

Dreey • May 16, 2012 • #51748
78 posts

Awesome map dude!
I'm a huge fan of bts areas, and I must confess, this is a great map.
A lot of details, impressive!
But I think you should add more chambers to your map to give the feel of Aperture! The area still is very empty.
Great puzzles, not easy but also not mind-blowing.
I didn't get any acheivement, that's a shame...
Great work! The area with a lot of cubes is a bit tricky, took me some time, because personally, I think the placement_helper didn't help that time.
Loved the design of the test with the turrets.

r1corix • May 18, 2012 • #51749
90 posts

Great map!

Instantiation • May 24, 2012 • #51750
66 posts

That was fun! Also, you did an awesome job with the looks and design and layout.

Some screenshots
Not sure how I feel about this, though:

It was my first instinct, but I didn't really expect it to work. In all the others, we had always been jumping over to the side.You could move the stairs either over along the wall or back from the wall.

But it's final, whatever, I respect that. Even with my short and small perpetual testing map, I still edited it about a million times. Which was fun. But I was using the in-game editor and not hammer.

Also, I nearly didn't break the glass case-o'-cube and was just going to go back for spheres each time. Fortunately, I noticed them when I was going back for sphere #2.

Also, I got a cube up here without cheating:

But I couldn't get up there, which is what counts. Even with that camera


EDIT:
Got the achievements. It was fun. Also, there was a big blue "ERROR" on the ceiling in the room where the lizard lives.

Rotab • May 27, 2012 • #51751
20 posts

I didn't realize this was such an old map, oh well. I found a way to get out of bounds. The guy who got a cube out there was on the right track.

3TsFudiGv6k

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