A one room fairly advanced puzzle.

1.4: A small change to remove an unintended solution.
1.5: Added some target helpers and removed yet another unintended solution.

File Name: sp_beamtrap_v1.5.zip
File Size: 2.94 MiB
Click here to download Beamtrap

I'm not sure if this is annoying or difficult
but it is still good map keep up the work

Noted, I'll make it a bit shorter next version. It's not supposed to be difficult to execute.

Edit: Actually, if it seems very difficult, you might not do it in a way intended. The intended way is rather simple to execute.

I have been on it for ages now and simply cannot work it out. the only way i can see it done is with a third cube but you only get 2 and if i go bakc to centre without my cube im bakc to square one and have to reset it all. I also cant see the purpose of the death pit. A walkthrough video would be very satisfying right now.

Wow, this map is tricky like hell! At least the way I did it. I can hardly believe it's the intended way but it's the only way I found. This little map took me more than 20 minutes, not bad

Video is rendering, I may upload it within this week.

The solution is tricky so your solution might very well be the intended one. While alternative solutions might exist I've gone to great lengths to try eliminate them. Will be interesting to see your video, especially an uncut first run. Seeing the thought process helps improve design and playability as a map maker. Kudos to you for recording all your plays.

Okay I thought it was impossible to do what you are trying to do if you are doing what I think you're doing. This is not the intended solution. I actually moved the first fizzler to the left to discourage this solution. Might need to move it further. If your solution does not involve the deathtrap, or if it does involves a timing push of the button in the corner it is not an intended solution and will probably be very difficult to execute.

jonatan wrote:
The solution is tricky so your solution might very well be the intended one. While alternative solutions might exist I've gone to great lengths to try eliminate them. Will be interesting to see your video, especially an uncut first run. Seeing the thought process helps improve design and playability as a map maker. Kudos to you for recording all your plays.

Well, my solution contains ninjaaction, cubeflinging and tons of skill, but also raging because nothing did work before I got this idea lol
It does also include the deathtrap and timing like a boss. Maybe my solution is something like halfway intended without the ninja stuff. When I'm out of ideas I start randomly ninjaing wherever I get ideas to ninja. And then usually I get ideas how I could use ninjaing to solve the puzzle.

The video file is rendered, 1.42GB in size. Maybe I'll get it uploaded on Thursday

Glad you appreciate my project, you'll be a dignified part of it!

edit: I just watched the video and this time you can clearly see how I get to my solution piece by piece. I really wasn't fast at getting the clue...

Made a small change (1.4) that hopefully removes some of this ninja action. Note: The solution is tricky to find but fairly easy to execute.

Great map. I like the textures chosen and the sobriety.

Anyway, this map, over many of the rest of maps, is mainly a puzzle itself. Frankly speaking I didn't find it TOO difficult; nontheless it could be a bit too twisting for some players. I saw the logical of the solution and I found it harder to get the second cube re-appear across the orange portal up near the exit (because it crashed against the cube-dropper and changed its direction) than the solution itself.

Maybe some music would have helped to get a challenging atmosphere!

Here is my playhrough:


RDpkhGN3jnE

THANKS FOR MAPPING!!

What you do in your video requires some luck since the cube often will bounce on the dropper.

Might as well post the intended solution (that does not depend on luck) since people are close enough:

shG5WcchLzQ

Heh, i was fist pumping about completing it and i came here to say how great it is, but i did it the same josepezdj did :C

Dunno if it's totally luck cause
at first i tried it when the portal under the dropper was across and not to the width like the video so it ended with the cube finally coming to stop too far from the portal.

v1.5: Now added a forced target helper under the cube dropper so that the cube always (hopefully) will bump into the cube dropper and be put into rest instead of infinite looping. This hopefully removes the unintended solutions posted above while at the same time gives a small hint to the solution to an acute observer.

I tried that solution and the fizzler never went off.I've been stuck since you posted it.

Just tried again and nobody is gonna know about a second to go through the fizzler.Thats just not right.Its either on or off.

I'm not sure what you are talking about. I thought it was clear that the fizzler is deactivated as long as the beam is blocked.

Hi there Jonatan:

Quote:
What you do in your video requires some luck since the cube often will bounce on the dropper.

I appreciate that you upload your intended solution. I see that your intentions where much more complex than how I managed to solve it. I'm a bit sort of "enemy" of complex solutions when there's an easier one... Anyway, speaking of luck, I must say that you have at least 3 times more luck than me, my friend! Please revise your playthrough at:

- 1:24 min. You receive the cube across the portal the same as I did, but outside the fizzler room...
- 1:42 min. Again, you have to wait until the cube has crossed the laser (in order to pass through the deactivated fizzler wall), then you portal on the wall outside the fizzler to get it back after it has already flown around the cube-spawner... again, the same as I did.
- 2:21 min. In a movement of luck (or editting the video) you place the blue portal closed (no connection with the orange one), then place below the orange one, and magically you've got the cube (which was outside in the main room) appearing across the blue portal.... ???? Please explain how you do this.

I like the intended solution you want to show us though, but I think that it's not really shown and clear in your video. I will upload what I think is your intended solution later this afternoon, ok?

Thanks for mapping!

Best regards.

First of all, you might want to cover your post in spoiler tag.
I agree with you mostly but i think what he ment in the 2:21 mark is:

That because he's doing the second drop via the deathtrap which makes the cube go higher, so when he's putting the portal to retrieve the cube it's still oscillating between the two portals pretty high, so it's a matter of placing the portal in the right time instead like in our solution where we hope the cube will come to a rest in the range of the portal so we can 'spill' it over to us.

And yes, the way i did it did rely on some luck but the intended way isn't and you guaranteed to get the cube.

--

For the people who are still working the puzzle out and that don't want to know the solution i have this clue that i think should help:
There's a reason why there's a gap in the glass barrier at the bottom.

You will see that nothing I do in my video requires luck. Let me explain.

||> josepezdj wrote:

• 1:24 min. You receive the cube across the portal the same as I did, but outside the fizzler room...

I admit I was lucky here, but even if the cube would have bounced on the cube spawner coming to a rest, which now in latest version I think it will always do, I could just go get it. No luck required.

Quote:
- 1:42 min. Again, you have to wait until the cube has crossed the laser (in order to pass through the deactivated fizzler wall), then you portal on the wall outside the fizzler to get it back after it has already flown around the cube-spawner... again, the same as I did.

Actually no. It does not fly back to the cube-spawner. I switch this portal to upstairs as soon as it crosses the laser (I listen for the sound of the fizzler deactivating), and afterwards have one portal under the laser and one in the upper corner. It never has a chance to bounce on the cube-spawner here. No luck required.

Quote:
- 2:21 min. In a movement of luck (or editting the video) you place the blue portal closed (no connection with the orange one), then place below the orange one, and magically you've got the cube (which was outside in the main room) appearing across the blue portal.... ???? Please explain how you do this.

In my recording the last fizzler caught me destroying my portals on the way back after fetching the cube. If you are a bit faster this won't happen and the other cube will happily continue bounce between the portals. But even if it does as you can see, as long as you get the cube through in time, it is timed so that the cube will end up in the deathpit. This is no coincidence. I made the depth of the pit so that this will always happen. If you try it yourself you will see that there is nothing left to chance here.||
Thanks for trying my map, and I look forward to see your video.

Cheers!

@Saturn:

You're right: editted my post and place a bigspoiler.

Regarding min. 2:21, well, I can't agree. By 2:11 it seems that he touched the fizzler wall (that's the reason why when he placed the blue portal it appears "closed"). Well, when I said that he was lucky, I meant that he touched the fizzler and luckily the cube stood at this side of the portals, or if you want, after the getting through the orange portal, that's inside the pit. But the cube could have stopped after getting through the blue portal, that's in the main room, in the floor, am I right?

I understand what jonatan intends (from moment 2:11):

Obviously, he wouldn't have touched the fizzler, and then, with just a single glance inside the pit with the lasers you'll know where is the cube at; after that, when you watch the cube going up inside the pit, you just have to place the blue portal on the wall, and the cube is yours

I hope that now I explained better...

Anyway, I want to say that I liked much the idea of solving the puzzle by bouncing the cube up and down corssing the laser beam. I think this map is great. Just wanted to remark it.

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:

5Fqrpql9PRY
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fqrpql9PRY)

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

That's a very innovative solution you got there Djinndrache. I didn't anticipate that at all. Very enjoyable to watch!

I just watched the intended solution and I got to say that mine looks cooler :p I thought that my solution was unintended though. I'm kinda glad that I found any solution at all on my own
Glad you think it's enjoyable

That's a really clever puzzle. I didn't solve it, but I did enjoy watching the video. You might want to add a warmup room at the beginning, with a simple puzzle that forces the player to fizzle a cube on purpose, just to introduce that idea beforehand. Unless you want it to be really hard.

Really good map. I was stuck for a long time. The only thing that requires the player to have a very good amount of speed is the fact that the force the cubes have traveling through 2 floor portals diminishes alarmingly quickly.

Very complex, I probably couldn't have completed in a reasonable time without your video, which made the solution clear, but still difficult timing. Not sure what guidance you could provide in the map, but it would probably help make it less frustrating to solve. Thanks for creating, everything worked great and it was a challenge to execute.

Wow, that take alot of time for me, before i figured out and solve it

I just registered in this forum to congratulate you for this map! I finally beat it, it took me like 2 hours!

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the challenge.

I think I found another solution, without using luck:

WVRgWKIAi_M

I can only record 30 secs, so I just recorded the important part.

Very nice map!

However I think it would be better without the buttons. At first I assumed that the cubes wouldn't respawn automatically because of the buttons, so I wondered how to use the buttons in the right way, which is impossible of course.

offtopic: May I ask how you guys are recording your videos? Is there a good free program? Also how can I make the avi files small enough for uploading on youtube? My 27 sec video was 290 MB, then I used SUPER to make it small (about 4 MB), but now the quality is way beyond acceptable.

Valthiel wrote:
However I think it would be better without the buttons. At first I assumed that the cubes wouldn't respawn automatically because of the buttons, so I wondered how to use the buttons in the right way, which is impossible of course.

That threw me off, too.

Valthiel deserves a prize, his is the only solution worthy of being the official one from what I've seen - I would honestly force it. As Djinndrache I resorted to throws, no knowing what kind of play Jonathan's maps ask now.

Can't say I like this gimmickness (basically a kind of extreme play) which imho kinda wastes the undeniable polish of these maps and just serves to artificially lenghten the game. I.e. all the throws and luck based flings of items, could be replaced by normal funnels or gel slides.

Alright, difficult puzzle, and definitely not as accessible as it can be. My solution:


I brought BOTH cubes up to the first part of the ledge, but made sure I kept the orange portal under the cube dropper, using the blue portal to get up on the ledge. Once I was on the ledge with both cubes, I shot the blue portal through the opening in the glass, positioned under the laser beam, so now I am on the ledge, with both cubes, a orange portal under the cube dropper, and a blue portal under the laser.

I take a cube and I put it in the fizzler. It respawns, falling into the orange, and going through the blue- it reaches high enough to block the laser for only a second before falling down- just enough time for me to take the other cube through.

Now, I bring the cube I have with me to the room with the deadly lasers. My portals are still in place. I shoot a orange portal at the bottom of the laser pit- my blue portal is still under the laser. I throw this cube down the pit, it jumps through the blue portal, and blocks the laser just as the other one did. The fall is high enough that it blocks the laser, and unblocks it multiple times before losing momentum, allowing me to dodge my way through the fizzlers. So now I am back, and I still have a portal near the laser, under the ledge, my blue portal is still where the lasers are. I use the cube to jump up to the ledge, and am able to throw it back through the blue portal. Now I have both cubes where I want them, and the rest is easy.

My reccomendation: too many unneccsary elements to the puzzle, and both cubes look exactly the same. Make one cube a companion cube, so they are distinguishable. They cubes play fundamentally different roles in solving the puzzle- it is too confusing to the player to have to deal with this while having two cubes look alike.

Not sure what the intended solution was, but it was still fun figuring out, 5/5.

To spare you the trouble of reading all the above, I found that it is exactly the same as djin's after watching his video

Great challenging puzzle. No distractions just you and the riddle. Without idea you can stuck for good. Definitely gives you big smile when solved.

You and Chander became my favorite designers for difficult maps

Thank you very much. Eagerly awaiting your new tests

I enjoyed figuring out this puzzle, and was surprised at how simple it could be. It only took me four portals. I never saw any use for the deathtrap. My solution involved blind timing, but it wasn't hard to count to 5.
My solution (v1.5)
Place blue under dropper. Place orange on high button platform, get cube 1. Use cube 1 to get to cube 2. Place orange on fizzler platform. Carry both cubes to fizzler. Place orange under laser path. Fizzle cube 1, pick up cube 2. When fizzler drops, carry cube 2 through and start counting. Run to the far end, and on count 5, place orange on the wall. Cube 1 will pop out, and you're done.I still like the puzzle well enough to give this a 4/5.

Based on your solution, I did a video ... is that lucky ?
Video
q3ib0KCs9Pw

I'm aware of that solution. It does contain an element of luck because after the cube bounces on the cubedropper it won't usually fall neatly into the portal again. I've been thinking how to eliminate this and force my intended way without giving out too much of the solution.

This one took me almost 1.5 hours to solve. My solution is almost the same as kennkong's, mine being slightly more ninja. Quite more difficult than your first map, this.