My first foray into hammer, a shortish single player map in two stages, one very easy and one of intermediate difficulty. Some puzzles, some light flinging, some dexterity required, but not too much I hope!

File Name: sp_the_emancipation_station.7z
File Size: 3.22 MiB
Click here to download [SP] The Emancipation Station

Two giant, boxy chambers which are quite the polar opposite: first is an original giga-flipper, fun if short; second a not so brilliant excursion in empty space, quite ugly to see too. Here's a challenge: pass the 2nd room without ever using the funnel.

I'd love if the flipper idea was developed further in your next maps!

Yeah the first one was really me experimenting with the physics stuff and exploring its limitations (it's a lot more twitchy than I'd like - the interactions of moving things can result in some very strange glitches, like the ball gluing itself to the flipper instead of bouncing off it).

The second room I agree is not so pretty - I just didn't have time to do much tarting up before the contest ended. I'd love to know how you did it without the funnel - PM me if you want to let me know

Unsure if I'll have time to do much more mapping - was just interested to have a dabble with it, but we'll see - got quite addicted to it over the week, but coming up with decent puzzles is definitely the hard part. Probably have a go at a coop map at least.

I forgot that I actually used it to spray gel on the far out target. Then I threw the cube on the catapult, rushed to the 2nd platform to pick it, finally portaled to the highest white wall and entered the room with the cube plate.

The first room isn't even a puzzle. The second puzzle has terrible looking fizzlers and puzzles that don't quite make sense. Nothing in the map was fun.

All of your reflective surfaces look like ass because you have no cubemaps. The lighting is bland and uninspired, you have models that make no sense and are misplaced (beneath the observation room in the second puzzle). You used probably 5 texutures in the whole map.

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:

w9hauqn7JL8
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9hauqn7JL8)

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

Good start at mapping. However, the first chamber was not very interesting, just timing to get the ball rolled in - no challenge. Maybe make use of it in a more complex situation?
The second chamber was also uninspired. A couple ways to get the cube upstairs which surprisingly turned on a light bridge that made the rest of the solution easy, funnel or not.
I can't comment on the textures etc. but as I write this I can't remember ever noticing them - guess that is not good. Maybe too much a fan of decayed maps...
Thanks for creating.

Like many first maps I've seen, this is small puzzles in large rooms, one of them rather ugly. The puzzles were a little more difficult than the usual first map's, though. 3/5 from me, removed from playlist.