Small map, Very hard difficulty: enjoy

Version 2: Fixed the exploit in which players could ninja onto the windows.

Version 3: Added lasers, and an extra beam with linked button to guide players to the intended solution, and block an overly-easy solution.

Version 5: Narrowed down the portal surfaces so there would be less confusion as to where to start working towards the solution. More elegant fixes to the exploits as opposed to putting walls up everywhere, and some targets to help where aiming is critical, and avoid players having to redo a sequence because of mistakes.

Version 6: coming tomorrow- expanding a certain portion of the map to give a more generous timeframe where time is critical, and to give players more time to explore possible options.

As of now, version 6 is released! Alot of changes to the layout. Performing the solution is now much easier, however, finding out the solution is still just as difficult. That's the goal- to make a puzzle that challenges the mind, not the reflexes.

Version 7: Fixed another (very clever) exploit. The button now has a second preventative function. I did this as opposed to opting to make the lasers deadly, which would have also fixed the problem.

I want to prevent exploits, but not make it frustrating. If making the lasers deadly would be preferable to adding the portal-blocker to the button, let me know. I decided it some complication added would be better than getting the player killed and having them start over after trying a certain solution. Let me know what you think.

As of 9/6/11. I may have finished updating/polishing this map- ready to move on: I see downloads are still going up, and rating has been between 4 and 5- and so far, no reported exploits or issues. I'm going to take this all as a good sign, considering at version 4, the rating was 3 out of 5, and I had less than 100 downloads.

Version 9!
I fixed a final exploit with another laser (and playerclip, so the laser needn't be deadly). Added the indicator lights to avoid confusion over the function of a button as well

version 10
Fixed a mistake with update 9, which didn't fully fix the exploit. Now I got it!

Version 11: Finally- exploits fixed, some minor aesthetic additions and indicative signs for guidance. Not as extensive a facelift as I wanted to give the map- but some odd game crashes are making it slow to test out changes. Should be very playable, but still quite difficult.

Enjoy!

File Name: sp_headache_v11.zip
File Size: 1022.45 KiB
Click here to download Headache

You can just portal onto the ceiling and fall through onto the glass wall. From there you can just walk into the excursion funnel and hit the button with your body.

Hi ColSarge, I took a look at your map and I'm afraid I found a very easy dodge for what most of your intended puzzle is liable to have been.

Basically you can step-jump yourself high enough to drop the cube straight into the uppermost excursion funnel beam and it's all over

Here's a video I dashed off to show it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40wLDCMJuvE

Time for some tweaks there to stop that!

Also you're liable to get pounced on by some respondants for the appearance of your map, so I'll point you at a couple of things.

First off, you'll probably like watching through some Hammer Tutorials. I got a lot out of stuff by SolarChronus. A good place to start would be this one about Excursion Funnels : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HABahWRde8 : most of his tutorials are full of handy bits and bobs, though this one will explain how to seat funnels in the wall properly, rather than leave them hanging in the air. There's also one there about Indicator lights which will help you stop the vertical ones by the exit having that stretched look.

Also, try selecting one side of your fizzlers when using the texture application tool in Hammer (Blue/brown/green cube icon) and clicking on the 'Fit' button - that ought to remove the lines cutting your fizzlers up as they are.

Finally you're apt to be told to put things in the Work In Progress forum first - so do, the folks there won't mind a wobbly map so much if you're still experimenting

Hope that helps, and you can save your puzzle idea.

Jane

Thanks for the input- I'll put those gameplay changes in ASAP, and put the revised edition into WIP until I get a stable version.

As for the looks of the map- I'm going to just reface it all into a "clean" version as opposed to the "ruined" theme- it would be easier for me, and wouldn't rely on my shoddy decorating


I would just like to ask in addition- apart from the quick solutions you found, did any of you find the intended solution?

Thanks for the input, I will start updating as soon as I can.

One more thing; please build cubemaps! A lot of mappers don't know about them at first, but they are important for making reflections look good. If you noticed that the cube dropper and funnel emitters are that wierd, light brown/gold color, that's what they look like without cubemaps.

You need to fit the exit door correctly into the wall (and the funnels too). Also, elevators might not seem necessary if you're just learning, but they do make you look more professional. Something to think about for future maps.

And no, I couldn't think of any way to solve it that seemed intended. Nothing that would make the lightbridge necessary, anyway. It looks like it does requires some flinging, and it looks like you want the player to use it to block the cube from hitting the fizzler, but I'm not sure if ther is a point to that if the player just goes through with the cube. And I didn't need to step-jump to do the trick Jane_Doe pointed out, I just put a portal above the pit in the first section, jumped through the other portal under the funnel and put the first portal under me while I was falling and it flung myself the cube right into funnel.

Got the fix, will add it in tommorow, thank you

Added the fixes: lasers and an extra tractor beam. At first I was hesitent to add ANOTHER beam at the cost of making the puzzle unfairly frustrating- but I find the button helps let the player know the position he/she must be in at a certain point in the puzzle, to at least guide them and make the challenge more fair.

After some testing with friends, I'm finding there is extreme difficulty solving this puzzle.

While exploits are 90 percent fixed (there is one more remaining, but the exploit is pretty difficult to do itself), I will keep updating the map- reducing portable services to pretty much only the ones you need, so the player has to think less of where they should be shooting the portals, and more about when they should be shooting portals, to get the timing right. Timing does not require super-reflexes, or fast shooting, but there are places where you will need to lay down portals rather quickly. I did my best to ensure this wasn't unfair.

I take pride in having a difficult puzzle, but not one that is unfairly difficult- I will continue updates today for accessibility purposes. Thank you.

threw cube over grid into other part. once their i placed a portal above the glass. held cube jumped on glass then talked to funnel and threw the cube in
i liked the ending, it is different than what i have seen before.

What version are you playing? I updated it at 2:00pm this afternoon, hopefully I had fixed that. If you are playing the updated version, I should have split the portal-able wall above the glass into two parts, with a metal surface dividing them along the lines of the glass to prevent people from walking on it.

Of course, there is the glass in one section where this may still be possible- I'll update that ASAP.

Version 5, hopefully the last, just finished, uploading now

Version 6 is up early. I'm very pleased with it- especially since the overall rating has changed from 3 to 5 as I've been updating. Glad to see people are enjoying it more.

It does look better now and play much more smoothly. I think what I did is pretty close to the intended solution.

I have no clue what the backwards facing funnel could possibly do.

I do not see a use for the pit in the area where the cube spawns. Again, it looks like you want the player to use it to fling the cube into the medium-height funnel, but all I had to do was position the bridge so it blocked the fizzler and and drop the cube in that portal so it is already in position.

There also may have been a slight collision problem with the cube. I don't know if it had anything to do with how you did your lasers, but when I tried to get the cube to the last funnel at first, it looked like it hit something in mid-air and deflected a little. I had to put it in an infinite loop instead of a normal fling. Maybe that was intended, but it looked a little clunky.

...and now, thinking about it and typing this out, I'm 99% sure that I could have just put the cube in an infinite loop without ever having it touch the the first funnels or the lightbridge.

posted an update that fixed that. Technically, it isn't the intended solution, but it does require thinking to do that, so I'm not too discouraged by it. I just added a switchable portal blocker to prevent it.

My only qualms about putting this prevention measure in is it can hurt the smoothness of the gameplay, because the players are now keeping track of multiple things which a single button turns on/off. And I don't have a way to indicate what the button does exactly without adding 100 indicator lights.

It may hurt the accessability a bit, but it should guide you to the proper solution, which you are close to.

As for the cube collision- I've found it goes straight up about 95 percent of the time, with it a couple of times barely missing. Could be due to the light bridge influencing the angle a bit, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I just did the update, but since people are still downloading and trying the map, I'll continue to try and add to smoothness and playability that the exploit fixes may have hampered.

Current version is now version 7

I found a very fun solution but am not sure if it was intended since I did NOT need to use the floor Button - however it did work.


placed the cube next to the button
shot Blue portal into Target on floor.
shot Orange portal into the ceiling panels on the other side, positioned so that when the cube and user drops through it they will not hit the fizzler or the one remaining ON funnel
pressed button, picked up cube, walked over to blue portal in floor
on 4th clock tick . . . dropped cube into blue portal and immediately followed it myself
Now this was the fun part - as both cube and I were falling, I was about 20 feet above the falling cube and shot Orange portal into the floor of the pit under the falling cube
cube dropped through the Orange followed by myself and we flew up through Blue
cube flew through Red beams and into the top Funnel (which by that time had turned on)
I slammed into the red Beams which luckily were not lethal

GAME OVER.

I believe I fixed the above exploit. Now at version 7.

Will be releasing minor update- to make it more clear the functions of the buttons- less time memorizing which does what, more time figuring out the puzzle.

Hopefully it will be just as difficult/rewarding to figure out, but much easier to implement the solution.

I would also like to note I've always had a chime sound that plays 5 seconds after the button is pressed, to help the player keep track of time, rather than have them count up to seven ticks. Chime indicates 2 seconds till button reset.
I may try and look for a sound that is more noticeable than the chime.

I see downloads are still going up, and rating has been between 4 and 5- and so far, no reported exploits or issues. I'm going to take this all as a good sign, considering at version 4, the rating was 3 out of 5, and I had less than 100 downloads.

I'm gonna keep looking for ways I can update and make the map better, still, probably untill I see another rating that keeps it at a 5/5 or at least 4/5 to ensure I can safely stop updating the map to start working on my next one, without leaving a shoddy unfinished work out there.

Great map, but found an easy solution, not sure if it's the intended or has already been mentioned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMRuez1xYUo

Thanks for the fun!

-DJ

Can i have the intended solution in video?

Underdetailed gigaroom without proper an intro\outro, puzzle's pretty loose (anyone figured the intended solution yet?) and solvable through several kinds of shortcuts. How about adding some motif to the walls: white, or other materials? Full grey looks a bit dull. Now, the most obvious exploit to fix is the glass frame closer to the door (move it, so you can't fall on it) but also:

kMEFzeghA_E

Will update to fix the molto problemo's in about 5 minutes!
Thank you everyone.

And I will post videos of the intended solution as requested, after I update.

Well, with another half-hour of work, I figure I could release the "ergonomic" update that gives indicator lights for what the button does for more easier access, and some other playability changes.

Once again (for like the 8th time) I sincerely apologize for releasing a shoddy first version that should have been in WIP, but I am updating as vigorously as I can! I want a first map I can be proud of, and that is fun.

I will also take some of the visual criticisms into my account to make the chamber a bit better looking.

Updated with the fixes:
xdiesp: I fixed the exploit you video'd. However, the other exploit you mentioned was already fixed, and testing confirmed that, I put a divider up to prevent the player from getting on that wall. However, to ensure no one looks at this and still thinks there may be an exploit there, but doesn't try, I made the divider a bit bigger. This has the unfortunate consequence of giving a smaller shot for those who may get stuck in the hole, but they still have the ability to do so without getting trapped.

I will be detailing the chamber more soon- but I don't see the point of adding an elevator ride as an intro/outro.

Also, will soon start recording the official solution- but now that all the exploits are fixed, I suggest players try to solve it themselves first.

Thank you everybody!

Now at version 10. Visual changes still to come.

Will upload solution video this afternoon

I played version 7, by the way.

ohhh, ouch. Yeah, I've been updating this like rapid-fire. Version 10 is up and should be much more playable. It doesn't have the visual improvements you suggested- I wanted to fix gameplay as fast as I could before starting on that. Every hour a exploit goes unfixed, is more people downloading a shoddy version of the map

Thank you for testing.

Also, it takes 5 minutes for it to upload the new version. Sooooo.... about 2 minutes till version 10

If you tell me what the intended solution is, I could try and see if there's anything else to try.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1870JcpJDq8There is the first 30 seconds of the solution- fraps puts a 30 sec limit, I will upload the rest later today when I get a chance.Also, stupid mistake in v10 where indicator lights point to the wrong tractor beam....(facepalm)I'm just gonna sneak in that fix but keep it named version 10 since it doesn't affect gameplay...

One thing I've learned about Portal 1 and 2...is there is no intended solution. The creator has an idea of how he would like the player to solve the map...however, the enginuity of a player to solve it in their own personal way overides that intended solution.

I Just downloaded Headache v10. and beat it in about 30 minutes. I used one tracor beam (open door button tractor beam) and the floor button to turn off the fizzler and stand button to turn off all other tracors.

How I solved it.

1. Grab box. Put on Floor button.
2. Shoot blue portal on ceiling above turned off fizzler.
3. Shoot orange portal in front of floor button.
4. Push stand button to turn off all tractors.
5. Fall through orange portal and shoot another orange portal at bottom of pit.
6. Avoid falling in new orange portal, and aim portal gun at target.
7. Fall through orange portal again and shoot blue portal at target.
8. Avoid falling through blue portal and take box of floor button and put between floor button and glass wall.
9. Stand on floor button and push stand button.
10. Shoot blue portal under box, and shoot again at target as box falls toward orange portal in pit. Box flings up to wall button tractor beam.

Door opens. I win.

Cerntainly not the intended solution.

Nevertheless...I really like v10 of this map. Thanks Colsarge for taking the time to make it and update it.

Alright, I guess I'll wait for v. 11 then... but you can also write down the solution, if fraps won't work.

lee1davis

Yes, there is really no "intended solution". A solution is a solution, no matter what the author thinks. The only reason I adjust the map to curve towards my solution is because I have an intended difficulty for the map, and I want to prevent solutions that are too easy.

What you described isn't the intended solution, but I'm not going to prevent players from doing that, since it is equally (if not more difficult) than the solution I planned for.

So, my 30 second video I posted earlier should cover most of the answer, but here it is written in full, until am able to record the entire thing:


the player shoots one portal below the ledge, on portal near the ledge, dropping the cube so it hits the tractor beam that goes over the extended platform. As the cube is in the tractor beam, to prevent it from going further, the player blocks it with the light-bridge. There is extended room to fire portals on a pathyway for this.

Now the player must get to the other side- so the player fires a portal on the far ceiling, and enters it, with the tractor beam still going through the first portal. The player will be hovering over the put before the cube is, because of the longer distance the cube must travel, after the player is portaled. So once over the pit (the player has dropped into the low tractor beam over it) he/she fires the same portal (light bridge still going through it) to block the cube which will hit the opposite side of the light bridge.

Now the portal is on the BOTTOM of the pit, the cube is blocked, and the player can get to the other side, by going through the pit's portal, avoiding the fizzler. On the other side, the player has a shot above the pit, and stands on the button, so he/she can shoot a portal above and put the cube in an infinifall. The cube exits the infinifall near the end of the timer, so the last portal can fling it into the tractor beam leading to the button.

Very difficult to explain. sorry. I'll upload the second part soon, and will have the chamber better looking, and hopefully in the last version sometime tonight.

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:

OCf9H6AeuCs
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCf9H6AeuCs)

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

Good video, but unfortunately not the answer- next version have the player-clip much lower to prevent the exploit, will be out by tomorrow

Here's an idea: put the funnels inside of big glass tubes, then replace the floor with some walkways and ladders amidst the tubes.

I don't think this is the intended solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTOijGrjGi8

xdiesp- gave me an idea that would not only fix some exploit, but make the puzzle more guided, thank you.

Version 11 is coming late- sorry, but Portal 2 has been crashing on me, so I am just now reinstalling it on my limited bandwidth. If all goes well after that, version 11 should be up.

It includes some minor details- not much, but enough to make each wall at least slightly distinct from the others by the detail- no dizzying effect that goes with 4 walls that look exactly the same, and therefore harder to get a sense of direction.

I hope to have Portal 2 reinstaled by tonight, so I can compile the map. Everything is already in hammer- but I can't run Portal, and therefore can't compile to get the BSP. This has happened before, and reinstalling it worked.

I hope I can put the last version up tonight, but as mentioned before, my internet here sucks.

Also, I am glad to see people are enjoying the map! Some of the "unintended solution" videos are actually extremely witty and crafty solutions, some ideas I can incorporate into my next map!

Well, I'm having a helluva time trying to get Portal 2 to work. Tried everything in support, so I'm going to try another re-install.

Version 11 makes some dramatic changes- looks have a subtle amount of more detail. Also, I'm at the point where I have to decide what is an exploit, and what is a solution. Some unintended solutions seem to be equally as difficult as my intended answer- so the solution may not be exploit prevention, but exploit discouragement- make them a bit harder, and make my solution a bit more evident.

The goal is to put more emphasis on lightbridges, so I want to define areas as specifically meant for its use. Once the player sees the potential of the lightbridge, they seem less likely to pursue answers that don't involve them, even if they are potential alternative solutions.

Version 11 now up.

It still isn't as sharp-looking as I know I can make it, but I've got limited free time, so I budget all of it towards perfecting the gameplay, and keeping the puzzle a strong challenge.

I may do some aesthetic improvements still, but probably not unless I have to go back to the editor to fix any more gameplay problems. If there are no major problems in the next couple days- I'll take that as a cue that I can finally begin working on my next map; with all the experience I've got from correcting 1,000 flaws in just as many updates it seems.

As always, let me know what you all think of the map, have fun (and I will post the video solution on youtube soon)

hi guys, hi colsarge,

thanks for your efforts in creating that map, it took me a bit to figure that one out. however i'm sure it's not the intended solution, but it's a clean and solid one

here's the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v525ESdK1Pw

i linked you in the description, if you wish to change that, let me know

greetings,
bontscho

Bontscho, thank you for playing the map.
I knew that solution was possible- but I took some steps to make it much harder, as long as it takes the player longer than 10 minutes to figure out.

I'm very cautious about completely preventing "unintended solutions" that are thought out logically, and with great effort by the player. If players reach this solution before the "intended solution", than the "intended solution" I made could be unfairly difficult, or the level design simply doesn't accommodate a logical layout that gets the player to think in the right direction.

So your solution was very clever, I don't plan on updating the map, since I don't consider it much of an "exploit"

However, I'm starting to work on my second map, "Migraine". The map will be one new chamber, but will also have an visually upgraded version of "Headache", essentially making it a two-chamber map. The version of "Headache" that appears in Migraine will be what I consider "advanced" version (liked the portal 1 advanced maps) which will block out any solutions that weren't the original intended, and have a second element the player must keep in mind. I wanted to include that in the original release of Headache, but I was too worried about how far I could push the difficulty level up, especially on my first map.

Once again, thank you all so much for playing. I'm thrilled this map is at 5/5 with almost 500 downloads, and I'm working on my next map, Migraine, which will be released in WIP first, rather than be a buggy mess like this was when first released.

A little bit of a headscratcher, and I didn't solve it the intended way. I dropped the cube into the pit, then leaned it against the edge of the lightbridge. When I shot the portal overhead, it fell in. The intended solution is more elegant. The thing that probably kept me from seeing that was that the portal under the lightbridge wouldn't hit unless you were directly in line with it. So stopping the cube short was hard to do, when you had to shoot the lightbridge six times to get it. 3/5.

Note to self: top of p.8 2/28/12

Nice map, had me thinking a long time while fortunately not causing a headache in the end.

But there were two problems when I tried it:

The Quicksave function didn't work for me, hitting the key for it made the whole game crash.

And:

ColSarge wrote:
so he/she can shoot a portal above and put the cube in an infinifall. The cube exits the infinifall near the end of the timer, so the last portal can fling it into the tractor beam leading to the button.

I had a glitch there: Pushing the button to deactivate the funnels didn't make the cube fall down first. It seemed to "stick" to the light bridge, slowly sliding down but not falling. The cube would only fall when I used my other portal on the ceiling above it to start the fling.

Hey! haven't checked up on this in a bit, but I have been working on two new maps, Migraine and Concussion.

I plan to release them along with Headache as a single download, so thank you very much on the feedback! I will be sure to include the fixes to unintended solutions, and also make some much needed changes that make the solution more practical so players actually work towards the more elegant solution.

I will look into the "quicksave" crash thing as well to see if it is a problem with the map, because that is definitely odd.