A map I plan on finishing up a lot more and including in Back-Stock
I was working on this all the way up until the last minute, I didn't even get time to do a full compile on it. its got some bugs, but I hope you still enjoy

also, I swear I "submitted" this like 10 mins before the deadline, it just took a while to upload


Bugs I know about but didn't address due to time restrictions:
The ride starts a bit jerky
The ride may start with a cube really close to you
Wheatley has nearly no emotions, and says nothing
Wheatley happens to just disappear at the end of the ride
The conveyorbelt segments overlap
When you load from a quicksave wheatley is off his track
Its really dark.. because I didn't do a full compile

in the actual chamber:
the button doesn't respawn the cube when you loose it, which means you can get stuck
the excursion funnel will eat up your cube when you set it to reverse
there is some visible nodraw, but it isn't really bad, since it has stuff behind it to draw.
the elevator ride goes forever (or until your game crashes)

Edit: Now that I see that this is featured, I guess I'll upload a fixed version, where I split the map into 2 bsps because it was so large it couldn't run a full compile on the whole thing

File Name: sp_bs_getting_back_on_a_track_full.rar
File Size: 46.54 MiB
Click here to download Getting Back on a Track 1.1 (Updated)

Getting Back on a Track

Aesthetics
Despite not being the product of a full compile, there's a high visual standard throughout the map. The opening view of whizzing cubes and a softly-flickering projected texture set the scene and made me curious for more. Vacuum pipes are here, there and everywhere, flinging cubes all around the facility. There's plenty of detail for the eye in the crowded and dark BTS zone, and even more in the pipe ride we're treated to after.

In the puzzle chamber there's something of a mishash of styles. The textures are what we'd call clean, but then there's the pit of doom over which hang destroyed and aging tiles; further, the chamber isn't solid and leak-free like a typical clean chamber. It felt a little alien, mostly due to the soft, warm light strips that gently lit the chamber from the floor. I certainly loved that effect, and there was nothing to complain about visually.

Gameplay
Before the main puzzle there's a warm-up of sorts, navigating the facility behind the scenes. I liked how the stairs are broken, so players have to navigate up another way. It'd be good to have Wheatley's light guide you to the stairs, only to pause in confusion, and have the player discover the tubes for themselves. I noticed that there wasn't much to listen to (I think there was a faint soundscape in the background?) - it'd be good to hear the sound of cubes being sucked along the vacuum tubes. There's not much of a puzzle here, in truth - that comes next.

Puzzle and Difficulty
I found the actual puzzle tricky, I'd say medium difficulty. It was easy for me to get the cube onto the ceiling, but I was stuck at that point. There's the floor button across from the pit but how would I get the cube there, past that fizzler? Having slept on it, I managed to get the solution today. A well-crafted puzzle - the answer lies in plain sight, no ninja solutions - forcing me to think. It was really enjoyable to come up with and execute the solution.

Bugs and Mapping Details
In the console, I had this gibberish:
!! ERROR: bad input/output link:
!! math_counter(counter,Add) doesn't match type from logic_relay(letpass)
As you mentioned, the elevator ride didn't end and the cube didn't respawn properly all the time (the respawn button was broken too).
*When I had one portal underneath the ceiling button, I could see parts of the brush leaking through the other portal. Sadly I don't have a screenshot for you

That puzzle was great, clever, well designed and awesome in every way. I think you should be very proud over that one! I also thought the BTS-area was nice and contributed to the map, altough I really miss hearing weatley speak and as you said it was very very dark. It looked solid, played great and was one of the most enjoyable maps so far! Thanks for mapping!

Great puzzle. Took me forever to figure out, but it's not actually complicated. Amazing visuals, despite being unfinished.

3:06 PM - &gt;f7&gt; wstrika: Well, I slept on it, but this puzzle is still kicking my ass<br />3:06 PM - Nacimota: ok<br />3:06 PM - Nacimota: which one<br />3:06 PM - &gt;f7&gt; wstrika: Getting Back on a Track<br />3:06 PM - Nacimota: havent played yet<br />3:06 PM - &gt;f7&gt; wstrika: ah<br />3:06 PM - &gt;f7&gt; wstrika: I have a feeling I will feel like an idiot when I figure this out<br />*figures out*<br />3:17 PM - &gt;f7&gt; wstrika: yep, I'm an idiot<br />3:17 PM - Nacimota: good to know<br />

Here's my playthrough:

PjrIyRSOhIs

@BEARD!
thanks I spent 2 weeks on that first huge room, then one day on the large area in the tube ride, and 1 day on the puzzle details and all. In Back-Stock aperture is at its peak, so lots of cubes are needed all the time. as for the puzzle room, the reason it looks so strange is because its supposed to be a clean new chamber which was abandoned, and left to crumble. also thanks for the bugs, I didn't know about the last one, will look into it. I'm glad you liked it

@Jepp
thanks I am pretty proud of it. I was going to add more facial emotions and lines, but I just didn't have the time =\ in back-stock thats going to be our main core, and we do have some VO for it.

@wstrika
thanks, I really always try to make puzzles like that, simple little teasers. I had quite a few people PM me on how to solve it, and the reaction afterwords was always the same. Also thanks for the video, a bit dark, but cool to see. thanks!

Heres my playthrough
http://youtu.be/Wak4xhLIX6s

hah, thanks chickenmobile, I laughed at that last blooper a little, because I've done that, and just felt silly. that getting stuck bug is fixed internally, not that it matters for the contest

my feedback:
Do not read if you are judge!


This map was interesting to say the very least: however the puzzle wasn't thought through very well and I had a very hard time trying to complete it.

I could get the cube to press the button and get through the fizzler, however I couldn't figure the rest out till much later.

The one thing I thought was very well done was Wheatley NPC following you around with the torch and the tuberide but he definitely needed to say something (it just felt awkward and silent). This must have taken the most time of the map. Walking on the tubes needs a little tweaking in order to make it a bit easier though.

I believe this was an above average map, it could have gotten a better rank with a full compile and few bugs ironed out.

I liked the mechanics of the puzzle room, definitely made me scratch my head. Also, always fun to ride through tubes. I did get stuck on the puzzle a couple of times and died, and it was rather unforgiving,making me go back to the start. I was confused at the start too, where it was unclear what exactly I should be doing. Took me awhile also to see the exit in the puzzle room (thought the door you start next to was it for awhile), and I probably dwelt overlong on the button-that-does-nothing that was sitting there in the room.

Also, minor point, but when I put the bsp in a sub-folder of the maps folder, it didn't give me a portal gun. I guess there is a relative path in there somewhere. Most people just drop it in the maps folder, but me being anal, I like to create sub-folders (in this case "contest") to keep my files organized.

Fun stuff overall!

GREAT.

The beginning was too dark as the tube you walked on was completely black - I ended up using mat_fulbright 1 and the entire place came alive - wow - Players you just gotta do that to see it all !!

The end puzzle itself was tricky and fun - a minimalist puzzle of sorts.
However, the "Mother of all Tube Rides" was the coolest ride I ever took in Portal !!
Like a ride at Disney and it went on and on. My hats off to you, Sir !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I always wondered if someone could make a Disney Portal map where you just go on different rides.
For example, a tube ride where at the end your are shot out, across a football-field sized gap and then land into the mought of another tube that continues you along . . . then perhaps dumps you out onto an orange gel slicked ski-jump and then over another football field with a 15 blue-gelled platforms that are angled and bounce your in all directions . . . etc

If you ever made something like that it would set the Portal community ablaze !!

So you want a roller coaster map? There are plenty of those on the workshop.

ChickenMobile wrote:
So you want a roller coaster map? There are plenty of those on the workshop.

this, but they all suck... catapults e_e
@fermat8: thanks mate, I fixed those problems in my own copy, I havent published it yet, when I do it will have to be separate for the sake of the contest
@PCdoc: you are correct there is a lot going on in the darkness, I unfortunately couldn't get a full compile in before the contest ended, hence the darkness

OK, nice map, but not finished, like you indicated yourself.

the usual comments:
-speaking Wheatley
-lighting of the path not flawless
-bug where cube gets stuck under raised platform under the button (I've got a screenshot)
-I died twice when I seemingly got out of bounds, although I was in a tractor beam going up (beam came from ceiling and I jumped in it, next thing I knew I was re-starting.
-no mid save point (frustrating at times)
-you can get stuck on the other side with no getting back
-sometimes all the lights go out, not sure if this is done on purpose, but frustrating when you are timing when to drop the cube.
-end elevator just kept on going - not a perfect ending

puzzle was nice, and I liked the difficulty level, it helped that the first button could not be operated by me, just by the cube (was this done on purpose?)

a lot of effort, I have mixed feelings about scores...
I'm afraid I have to be harsh, and personally wanted to see the enormous effort of the first part spent on two extra puzzles, with that difficulty level...
so, 3.4 as it stands, sort out the bugs and the things you wanted to do and I'll rate it at a 4.3

Cheers

The_Butler wrote:
OK, nice map, but not finished, like you indicated yourself.

the usual comments:
-speaking Wheatley
-lighting of the path not flawless
-bug where cube gets stuck under raised platform under the button (I've got a screenshot)
-I died twice when I seemingly got out of bounds, although I was in a tractor beam going up (beam came from ceiling and I jumped in it, next thing I knew I was re-starting.
-no mid save point (frustrating at times)
-you can get stuck on the other side with no getting back
-sometimes all the lights go out, not sure if this is done on purpose, but frustrating when you are timing when to drop the cube.
-end elevator just kept on going - not a perfect ending

puzzle was nice, and I liked the difficulty level, it helped that the first button could not be operated by me, just by the cube (was this done on purpose?)

a lot of effort, I have mixed feelings about scores...
I'm afraid I have to be harsh, and personally wanted to see the enormous effort of the first part spent on two extra puzzles, with that difficulty level...
so, 3.4 as it stands, sort out the bugs and the things you wanted to do and I'll rate it at a 4.3

Cheers

I've got the bugs sorted out on my personal copy, but I cant update this file because its a contest map

After the contest can you give us a heads up when your final copy is available?

sure thing mate. I actually think I'm going to upload a copy to the worshop for you guys who aren't judging

Now that the contest is over, I'd LOVE to see this fully compiled

Moth wrote:
Now that the contest is over, I'd LOVE to see this fully compiled

wstrika wrote:
Moth wrote:

Now that the contest is over, I'd LOVE to see this fully compiled

sure thing, I'm going to split it into two files though, because the map is actually too big to do a full compile on =\

I'm going through all of the maps that I played for the contest and post my rating and comments.
It may be a bit out of date if you have updated your map since then, but hopefully it's useful feedback nonetheless.

judging comments
Aesthetics: 4
The visuals in this map are very nice. It's a shame that the author didn't have enough time to do a full compile, but design-wise it looks solid. There is one visual bug: if there is a portal on the raised platform in the puzzle room, a grid of flickering lines shows through the other portal.

Gameplay / Difficulty: 4;5
This is one of those puzzles where you either get the solution pretty quickly, or don't. In this case, I did not 'get it' and I haven't finished it (legitimately) yet. I'm sure I just need to sleep on it. However, it doesn't seem to require quick reflexes or glitches, and that's a good thing.

Edit 11 aug: Tried it again today, and the coin finally dropped! I did experience a few inconvenient funnel cut-outs though, like others have already mentioned.

Personal score: 4
I eagerly await the fully compiled version of this one!

Very well made map. Great puzzle that made me feel the aha moment. Not sure if you did this intentionally, but you were able to stop my cube jumping across the gap with those protruding panels. Also able to keep me from a reportal across. I love maps that I can't break, but are still complex enough to be fun. Great map.

I've updated this map, because when it was first uploaded a full compile would fail due to the size. it has been split into two maps to avoid that