A single medium difficulty chamber in clean style. My third map uploaded to ThinkingWithPortals.com. Feedback is appreciated.

Version 1.1:
-Removed a section of white wall that allowed for unintended early access to a cube dropper button.
-Minor visual corrections.

File Name: sp_turing.zip
File Size: 2.78 MiB
Click here to download sp_turing

Let me be the first to give you some feedback and what I suspect to be the first of many 5/5 rating for this map. I loved it!

The puzzle was execellent, it really made me think. Pretty sure I did a couple of sneaky solutions, as I didn't use the panel with deadly lasers in front of it (I suspect it was for a light bridge).

I actually recorded myself playing the map, took a good 20 minutes. I'm probably going to upload it to YouTube in the next day or 2 so I'll post it here once I've done that.

I really enjoyed the "Aha!" moment of how to get the lasers into the 2 receivers for the exit, that was great. Having both lasers go through the same portal crossing over was genious!

Keep making maps, loved this one, looking forward to more. Thanks for making!

Agree you created a very good single chamber map. Some thought was put into the puzzles and solutions. Everything worked fine. Well done. thanks for mapping.

Very brief but very sweet as well. The final solution is pure genius. Everything else was nearly flawless too. 5/5

Elegance describes both the visual style of the map as well as the puzzle elements.

This map took me 45 minutes to solve. Things that seem so obvious after the fact took me a while to figure out. I think it's quite challenging.

I love the texturing work you've done. The black and white tile pattern not only serves as interesting aesthetics, but they also mask the solution, so it's not so obvious that you have to portal through certain spots. There are also hints that subtly guide the player, but without giving the answer away.

Tremendous job! You must have spent a great deal of time designing the puzzles.

I noticed that you left the lightmap density at 16 throughout the map. I thought certain surfaces could use sharper shadows, but that's a minor point.

It's been too long since I had a rigorous mental exercise like that. It was very much needed after a particularly tedious week, so thanks for that!

I really had fun here. I saw the final solution long before I could actually complete it (about halfway through the puzzle as a whole), and it took me several tries before I finally got the second cube into place. I liked that this puzzle was difficult and required a lot of observational skill, while at the same time avoiding feeling too busy or convoluted and managing to lack any "Who the heck would think to try that?!" moments.

I agree with Satchmo that the varied tile sizes/types are good. This is something that I think has the potential to add a lot to almost any map: a heavy mix of all sizes of tiles, with non-rectangular white areas if the design allows it, as it does here.

I found the Rattmann den on my run-through. That was nicely hidden.

Well done!

Awesome! I really appreciate the solution to open the final door. It indeed gave me an "Aha" moment. 5/5!

pretty nifty map.

Praise-worthy short map featuring one polished, vividly detailed chamber in Clean style. Puzzles come in the most logic guise you can imagine: but as in riddles, you get the meaning but still have to find your way through.

Basically perfect: familiar but grabbing, unpretentious but delivering - and that final solution is a first. Less spectacular but more intricate than my parameter for short maps, Infinifling.

Thanks for the comments everyone. Seeing people enjoy the map is very rewarding.

I'm glad players (or at least those that have commented so far) haven't had too much of an issue with the final step. The testers and I tossed around a few ideas for trying to minimize the potential frustration of incorrectly aiming the lasers - committing to those final 2 portal placements and making a mistake requires some backtracking that I ultimately decided was acceptable given the speed/ease of reacquiring cubes. We settled on the raised floor tiles as a subtle "place the cube here" indicator. The final step is really just a repurposed concept from Valve's single player campaign, but I'm glad it seems to have worked well.

shawy89: A video would be great, watching players navigate the map is often the most useful feedback. Did you manually toss the cube over the fizzler? I knew that could potentially be a shortcut, but figured since it only skips a couple steps, it wasn't much of an issue. Small reward for those confident enough to toss it, but I'd personally never require something like that in a level's design. The laser field white panel is intended to provide a high view of the second platform via the laser activated light bridge, while requiring the cube to be on the second floor button. It also prevents the player from simply dropping down to intercept the faith plate cube.

satchmo: I'm afraid I'm still enough of a hammer novice to not fully understand the significance of changing lightmap density. I'll do some research.

Will T: Glad it has been found! I wanted to hint at it in the level description, but decided that defeats the purpose of a secret, even if it isn't very difficult to find. The small BTS area was added as a reward for those curious enough to go explore behind that fizzler.

xdiesp: The kind words are appreciated, especially given your extensive and quality review work of the maps on ThinkingWithPortals.

Quote:
We settled on the raised floor tiles . . .

That worked for me. However, I did place the cube with a little skewed angle the first time, which forced me to backtrack and adjust the cube again. But I didn't not find it too frustrating.

To prevent the player from throwing the cube over the fizzler, you can add a light bridge covering that area. This would still allow the player to portal on the laser wall, but prevent the cube from being tossed in there.

And here is the link to working with lightmaps: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Lightmap

Keep in mind that increasing the lightmap density drastically increase the file size of the BSP and reduces performance. so it's a balance.

That was, frankly, beautiful. I haven't had time to play many custom maps lately, but I downloaded this, and it actually made me smile. One tiny, tiny thing though; the edges of the raised panels are very dark for me; upon further inspection, they are textured with metal tiles. I would recommend using plasticwall_004a or whatever it's called, as that's what should be used for panel edges. Apart from that tiny little jiggle, the map was gorgeous, with brilliant puzzles to boot. Bravo!

clyder wrote:
shawy89: A video would be great, watching players navigate the map is often the most useful feedback. Did you manually toss the cube over the fizzler? I knew that could potentially be a shortcut, but figured since it only skips a couple steps, it wasn't much of an issue. Small reward for those confident enough to toss it, but I'd personally never require something like that in a level's design. The laser field white panel is intended to provide a high view of the second platform via the laser activated light bridge, while requiring the cube to be on the second floor button. It also prevents the player from simply dropping down to intercept the faith plate cube.

Actually, I stood on the cube on the lightbridge and jumped and shot a portal on the floor!

Oh, and I also found the secret room!

This is only the 2nd Portal 2 video I've made, the audio sync is kind of all over the place! I recorded my voice as well as the gameplay. It's a 25 minute video. I was planning on editing some of it out but I thought it would be useful to see all my thought processes etc.

Kind of funny, a couple of times I pretty much say the solution but disregard it! And a few times I pretty much deemed the map impossible and very nearly gave up! You can tell exactly when I get the "Aha!" moment at 21:39!

Anyways, here's the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH1xB2P_auM

I agree this is an excellently made map with a fun puzzle. I think I spent about 5-10 minutes solving it. My only regret is that I saw the puzzle elements and quickly figured out the last part before I got to it so I never got that Aha! moment that others are reporting. I'm not saying the map is too easy, it was probably just a rare moment of clarity that I had.

Thanks very much for the upload, shawy89! Fun to watch you figure it out, though I felt horrible when you had the puzzle solved but slightly mis-aimed the lasers. This was the problem I explained my concerns about in an earlier post.

Also, the video shows one fairly large oversight on my part. Being able to access one of the cube droppers with a simple portal shot from the pit below is unintended - access to that one is supposed to require the laser-activated light bridge. I've got Hammer open as I type and will have it patched out soon.

Jumping on the cube on top of the bridge, I think, is a creative alternative solution and I'm not going to attempt to patch that out.

Rubrica: I originally went with the dark floor texture to provide a stark contrast for the raised sections, but I think you're right and I'm going to make the edges of those panels consistent with the others in the map.

Adair: Figuring out the final step early on is actually what I envisioned while making the map, and the remaining challenge would come from getting the cubes behind the fizzlers.

I'll have the updated version 1.1 with these small fixes up very soon.
Edit: version 1.1 is uploaded.

Hey, 1.1 is looking good except you forgot to build the cubemaps.

Players can type buildcubemaps in console to do it themselves.

Hmm, I could've sworn I did buildcubemaps. Anyway, I adjusted some placements, recompiled and rebuilt - its updated now (still listed as version 1.1).

I have doubts about all these "I solved it in 18 seconds" dudes. Great map. We know how great all you map solvers are. Quit bragging. Get laid.

Really loved the map. It looked great and was fun to play. Keep up the good work
5 cakes!

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:

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

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

rbtoab wrote:
I have doubts about all these "I solved it in 18 seconds" dudes. Great map. We know how great all you map solvers are. Quit bragging. Get laid.

More like 1 minute and 18 seconds.

IuOftjUP0EU
I know this "speed run" could be faster/better ...I was getting laid while I played.
No, I just suck at speed running.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuOftjUP0EU

I actually got both cubes by shooting portals to the button rooms.


The first one, on the small light bridge side, I squished up against the wall and fired at the outcropping of white and a portal appeared in the center of the wall. I just walked through and hit the button

For the second, I just placed a portal on the wall where the vertical light bridge ended, and another up by the button. I then walked against the light bridge and through the portal, and once I got into the button area, I moved the light bridge out of the way, then placed it to stop the launched 2nd cube. Then I just hit the button.

It took me a while to figure out the crossed beams thing though. The pedestals were a major help in setting up the angles for the initial position of the cubes. I actually hit the angles correctly first time, once I figured out what to do.

And I also found the hidden room just because I saw that loose panel and I thought it might be another way into the laser emitter room. It certainly was the cleanest and best lit Ratman den I've seen.

A very nice map indeed!



- TechOwl -

Djinndrache: Thanks for uploading the video!

Techowl: I think maybe you played version 1.0 of the map, the method of acquisition for the first cube you described has since been corrected. The intent of the map is to acquire the faith plate cube first. That said, the puzzle likely doesn't play differently enough with that change to warrant another play.

I've uploaded my initial run of this map. Check the description there for my thoughts on it. Thanks for mapping.

mlX6DWMIUqY

Very nice map! Didn't see any bugs in it at all, it was aesthetically pleasing, and the puzzle itself was very mind bending. Can't wait to see more work from you! 5/5

Excellent map. Intelligent and very well developed. Every single piece of the puzzles strictly thought out for one purpose... Every step must be done sequentially in an order and when you figure out the final solution and make it, it looks beautiful those crossing lasers.

Very much fun in just such a small room!

Thanks for mapping clyder! 5 cakes, the same as for Zimbardo.

5/5 nice map the solution was original & cool.

4/5. The map is cleanly designed, with a few throwaway elements to obscure the simple solution, while at the same time encouraging exploration to find the easter egg. Not hard in any way, yet enough fun to figure out the first time that you enjoy doing it. The careful work to conceal the obvious paid off handsomely.