An empty room Full of Testing
by Fracture · Uploaded Apr 22, 2012
File Size: 33.86 MB
Downloads: 1019
Rating: (17 votes)
Description
You wake up from your slumber, and you find yourself all alone in an empty room. empty except for a single button, immediately you find you are not so alone and the room is not so empty. Make your escape and... do hear something?
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Absolutely fantastic! Loved the design, great puzzles, good progression, lots of great cameos.... Just an awesome map all round.
Did have a couple of problems with, though:
I had to fire at this surface about 20 times before it finally accepted a portal:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198002380422/screenshot/595842621565766025
Then I realised it was the wrong way round so I had to fire another 20....
In the room with the bombs I grabbed the ball before I noticed them, and the game made a save just before they detonated, putting me in a constant death loop. In the end I had to quickly switch God Mode on to survive the blast so I wouldn't be forced to redo the whole map.
You can get over to the turrets at the top on a lightbridge, but then you realise that you can't pick them up. You can still knock them over, though - I'm not sure quite what your scripting is for the end to trigger, but you might want to be careful people can't knock them somewhere they can't be destroyed....
Uh, I can't even solve the first laser puzzle. I can't get the angle right, I keep hitting the wall.
Ha, took me a while too, but then I was using the wrong wall. You need the back one for your 'in' portal.
Yeah, I had it placed there. My problem was the position of the laser cube obviously.
I played on till the chamber at the ceiling. Everything was nice till then, like Farmerino said: Interesting to see new areas become available. But that final idea to place wobbling spheres all around that ceiling area made me quit. I don't know if there is a way to store them somewhere safe in the meantime. But having them roll around between the two fizzlers while I try to get the lightbridge up quickly enough was too annoying for me. 3/5 for me.
2 problems, otherwise great.. 
1: Ball 4.. it's really hard to place a portal on that surface
2: Endgame.. I "defeated" the turrets using the 1st laser and then walking thru the portal with the cube and knocking down the rest I got to the end and realized what the intended solution was, but all the turrets were gone/down. Only one remained on its' side by the exit. a quick burn with the intended laser and I was done
Great mapping.. keep it up.
This is what I found to be a bit buggy:
- A bit tricky to place the light-bridge when you're passing the gap, it's placed upside-down from what you want it to be
- Bombs disappear but are still solid after the explosion
- As El Farmerino said: The panel isn't really portal-friendly
- Really easy to take out all the turrets...
- Really annoying to get the final spheres in place. Don't know if I did something wrong but were you supposed to use the funnel for that?
- Where is final laser catcher? I just couldn't find it :S
Cool map. I might have used some other textures though since some of the unportaleble and the portaleble surfaces were quit similar in some places. Nice idea and pretty cool transformative environments.
zivi7 - I also groaned a little when I realised I needed all the balls, especially as one of them was in the slime... Luckily I'd kept the other three down the bottom in the area with the cube button in case I needed them, so I only needed to grab that last one again. Then I sent them all up with the funnel before going up myself.
Still, I didn't think it was much hassle, and I really did enjoy the journey up to that point. A fix up of those difficult panels and autosave points, and maybe a slightly clearer indication of what you need to do to finish and I'll probably give this full marks.
I had a similar issue as the others with that one portal surface. Also, after I got the laser cube at the top I jumped down to see what I needed it for. I didn't see a catcher so I burned the turrets from the floor area and the panel moved up top fizzleing my portal. I could not reach the top anymore because that portal surface was no longer portable and had to load a prior save point. Other than that I thought it was fun.
after a runthrough i noticed all the bugs you people have mentioned. They will be dealt with tonight
Good map but somehow I feel like I cheated:
I knew saving the spheres would benefit me later. Is the intended solution to somehow throw the balls over the walls to place them into the receptacles just behind them because the fizzlers would otherwise vaporize them?
Fracture wrote:
after a runthrough i noticed all the bugs you people have mentioned. They will be dealt with tonight
I don't get this... I haven't been able to play this map yet but you noticed bugs after playing through?
I play through every change I make in my maps: moved a model? => playthrough, see if that causes problems. If it does -> fix. If it doesn't -> move along.
Once the map does what it is supposed I start to try to break it in every possible way. I try to fix that etc. Just until all is working properly...
When I use the normal map mapname for your map, it says the map cannot be found. So what command do I use to run sdk_content maps?
Hi.
Just played this level blind for the first time.
Firstly, there was a weird glitch where when I first appeared in the room, Chell moved right of her own accord. And then began circling the button, looking inwards. This is very strange, I am not sure if it was intended but it felt glitchy. I had to force run anticlockwise in order to reach the center. I am on a mac. I recorded a demo if you want it.
When the pit appeared I got the laser angled out of the hole ok but could not find any combination of wall angles for portals that could get the laser into the droid room with the laser receiver. The droids were easy to kill.
A bit later a random cube of level popped out on the right but seemed to serve no purpose. I never found a way to get the laser to hit its target so never got out of the first room.
The level could benefit from some sound effects, GlaDOS taunts or ambiance, it felt a bit flat.
I will try again when you next update. Thanks for making the level.
coldReactive wrote:
When I use the normal map mapname for your map, it says the map cannot be found. So what command do I use to run sdk_content maps?
you should put the vmf in your steam/steamapps/common/portal 2/portal2/maps folder. If there's a vmf file that's in steam/steamapps/common/portal 2/sdk_content/maps you can just ignore it
lpfreaky90 wrote:
Fracture wrote:after a runthrough i noticed all the bugs you people have mentioned. They will be dealt with tonight
I don't get this... I haven't been able to play this map yet but you noticed bugs after playing through?
I play through every change I make in my maps: moved a model? => playthrough, see if that causes problems. If it does -> fix. If it doesn't -> move along.
Can't stress this enough. It is SO important to playtest your own work a LOT, and actively try to break it.
yeaaaaah, gonna try looking at it now. But first i will diffuse some annoyed issues that was placed.
1)
The buggy nature that chell has displayed where she moved on her own was NOT something i did. I don't even know where that is coming from. However i have actually noticed that a lot of people suffer from the controls trying to become independent in many maps by many people.
2)
The laser test was meant to be harder due to the emancipation grid preventing you from seeing through a portal, If several people can solve this, then that means anyone should. It's a puzzle game for reason.
3)
The floor indent where the cube button is placed is supposed to be where you can keep the balls where they wont wander into the toxic slime. It thought that was obvious, but i will look for a sign to use.
4)
I have been able to portal any panel easily, but i guess results vary, I will use logics to align them perfectly
5)
the area where you funnel the balls up to is supposed to be a box to hold the balls from falling off the edge into the toxic goo. it is not a wall to test with
6)
The second laser and reflector cube has no recepticle to go with it, its merely for taking out the turrets. However, i guess in hindsight it is misleading. It also occurs to me that the turrets should be moveable if they do not set off the exit door when they blow up off of the trigger
I recorded my blind playthrough of this. It's an hour and ten minutes, although when I edited out the incredible amount of time I wasted at the end trying to get the laser into the catcher, it 's only 35 minutes.
The Boxed Arm blind playthroughembedded
gr6nC-7OMjA
I somehow missed a trigger, because the room with the laser catcher was open even after I got the last laser cube, but when I walked by it (much) later, it closed. That's when I finally realized that the laser cube wasn't for aiming the laser at that catcher. It still wasn't obvious that I needed to kill all the turrets.
I lost a sphere in the goo just because it got knocked out of my hands going up the glass ramps. I didn't bother to see if you could go in the goo to get it, because that is so very backwards. I just cheated and created a new one. I think they should respawn in their original locations if they fall in the drink.
I had every other problem that has been reported so far, so I won't repeat them. I'll hold off rating this map until you have had a chance to fix some of the bigger issues. Figuring out a way to let the player know what to do to open the exit (or changing that entirely) should be at the top of your list.
Aside from the bugs, I enjoyed the evolving puzzle. I would have preferred a much less plain environment. When you spend a lot of time in a map, you really get tired of looking at nothing. While it is well lit, it would look better if there were apparent light sources and shadows. So there's much to do to make this a great map, but I think it's worth the effort to fix it up.
KennKong wrote:
I recorded my blind playthrough of this. It's an hour and four minutes, although if I edited out the incredible amount of time I wasted at the end trying to get the laser into the catcher, it would be much shorter. I will post it if you really want me to.I somehow missed a trigger, because the room with the laser catcher was open even after I got the last laser cube, but when I walked by it (much) later, it closed. That's when I finally realized that the laser cube wasn't for aiming the laser at that catcher. It still wasn't obvious that I needed to kill all the turrets.
I lost a sphere in the goo just because it got knocked out of my hands going up the glass ramps. I didn't bother to see if you could go in the goo to get it, because that is so very backwards. I just cheated and created a new one. I think they should respawn in their original locations if they fall in the drink.
I had every other problem that has been reported so far, so I won't repeat them. I'll hold off rating this map until you have had a chance to fix some of the bigger issues. Figuring out a way to let the player know what to do to open the exit (or changing that entirely) should be at the top of your list.
Aside from the bugs, I enjoyed the evolving puzzle. I would have preferred a much less plain environment. When you spend a lot of time in a map, you really get tired of looking at nothing. While it is well lit, it would look better if there were apparent light sources and shadows. So there's much to do to make this a great map, but I think it's worth the effort to fix it up.
They DO respawn.
The other laser room opens when you spawn the second reflector cube, it's there so you don't have to jump down to portal the other laser into the roof.
Several textures will be changed, did anyone even notice the NPCs at all. Not a single comment filed
Balls respawned fine for me, though maybe it could have been clearer that that would happen (not sure if you have space for dropper models in there).
I personally really like the style as it is - somewhat unique and the plainness of the visuals makes a nice juxtaposition to the complexity of the structure. And I did notice the NPCs - as I said in the very first response, nice cameos!
Fracture wrote:
The other laser room opens when you spawn the second reflector cube, it's there so you don't have to jump down to portal the other laser into the roof.
I guess I didn't adequately explain why I didn't get that for so long. First, the laser catcher downstairs remained exposed until I walked into the room with it. Then the panel closed and I realized it wasn't part of the solution. Second, while I deactivated the turrets without the laser, there was no indication that I needed to destroy them. Sometimes I amuse myself by trying to complete a map without harming those cute little turrets. I couldn't do that in this map because I couldn't pick up the ones upstairs, but if I had, I never would have finished the map. The fact that you don't have to kill all the turrets only confuses the issue more.
i will make some alterations so that it will be more straight forward. tommorow, though
Fracture wrote:
did anyone even notice the NPCs at all. Not a single comment filed
Sorry, forgot about them: Those were nice moments indeed. Especially the second one with Glados interfering.
Well, other than a few that others have already mentioned, I'll add one...
The Funnel isn't spinning. (The machine itself I mean). Looks kinda funny with the funnel active and the machine not spinning.
Other than that, I really enjoyed the map. Hated the autosave 1 second before the bombs going off though. Had to reload a previous save.
Even though the map looks ugly and makes the player not expect much, the puzzle is kinda decent. It's not very good or something, but I think you made me expect less from the aesthetics. With more work this could become a somewhat-good map.
NeoDinian wrote:
Well, other than a few that others have already mentioned, I'll add one...The Funnel isn't spinning. (The machine itself I mean). Looks kinda funny with the funnel active and the machine not spinning.
Other than that, I really enjoyed the map. Hated the autosave 1 second before the bombs going off though. Had to reload a previous save.
wait, what!? I am not getting that problem.
@djinnedrake; It is supposed to be deceiving that way
EDIT: I have just uploaded a newer version with several bugs fixed, textures altered, areas added, etcera. I couldnt figure out the logic aligning tools for the portals, though. I will figure that out eventually.
For some weird reason I forgot to post my blindrun of this map. Sorry.
NRBMXgFOVqA
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRBMXgFOVqA)
I went to download the new version, and it's the old version. I'm no expert on uploading to this site, but I've read that you have to change the filename to get the new file in there. For example, TBAv2.rar.
Fracture wrote:
OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE GRAPHICS!?
It's your turn to tell me!
well i got my graphics set super low because i have a crappy graphics card. I wanna get a new one soon.
I have no idea why that is happening on your side
EDIT: can you make another video for the latest version, so i can see how it may appear now? Oh FYI, you can walk up those glass ramps to portal the bridge in place and jump down to the panel it collides onto. I noticed you went crazy when you realized you needed the third ball.
I've recorded a playthrough of v3. The only notes I have are the big lags that occur when you remove a sphere from a button, and that I never triggered the ending. The various panels seems to be opening and closing when they should now.
Link: The Boxed Arm v3embedded
FLmjOp0u1GgI hope this helps.
Fun map. The first laser was kind of hard to get onto the receiver, very tight. After that it all worked well.
The chamber looked kind of sterile(?), might have been more visually appealing with some interesting textures?
Overall, nice puzzles and good fun. Thanks for creating.
@KennKong: You missed the laser receptacle in the ceiling for the exit, its right above you in front of the reflector cube dispenser
I will add some laser signs by the entrance
The concept was nice: puzzles within a puzzle where the elements are gradually revealed. I'm not so sure the implementation was as nice. By the end I was a little frustrated when I had to bring all the spheres with me, and I resorted to noclipping. On the other hand, you certainly made us re-use elements, which is something a lot of people enjoy. All in all, an ok map. Thanks for mapping.
nitpicks
The first room felt almost too brightly lit, the glass walkways looked strange.
The Portal 1 fizzler models looked out of place.
*There was a blatently visable nodraw when [spoiler]glados and p-body appeared.
An entry and exit elevator would have been a nice addition too, perhaps even using world portals if the geometry of the level was too complex to fit them in.
I think there was a portal 1 metal texture near the exit, they tend to look out of place also.[/spoiler]
Fracture wrote:
EDIT: can you make another video for the latest version, so i can see how it may appear now?
New video, there you go:
NogJRxAE6Fg
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NogJRxAE6Fg)
I changed a variety of things to make this map easier and harder, and more pleasing visually.
For some reason I have no portal gun. I tried activating SV_cheats 1 and give weapon_portalgun and then tried running the map, but no luck.
Any ideas what I should try?
oops, my bad, i will add one in.... i am actually adding in a bunch of other stuff too.
Fracture wrote:
oops, my bad, i will add one in.... i am actually adding in a bunch of other stuff too.
Thanks, I'll wait for the update before downloading again.
updated the files. couldnt figure out why everything was suddenly shiney even though i removed the cubemap. There is a Ratman den, let me know if that radio is working when you find it.
This map was not fun to me, sorry. The puzzles felt not like something new to discover, but rather implementing old stuff and that in a painful and weird way. Also, the graphics were blant and looked unreal. Cubemaps were missing. The slime pit looked rather unfinished. Short: I stopped playing this map soon. (The moment the four spheres were visible)
Also: These two: The second is self-explanatory, the first shows a phys object clip, hindering me to transport that cube.
It's my FIRST MAP!! Don't expect every map you play to be pure gold. I don't even know 1/10th of the stuff all the mappers here know, I am still learning. Don't harsh my mellow.
But where the hell are those clips keep coming from!? I played my maps thousands of times with trial and error and not a single time do i encounter those clips. Then someone comes and tells me its fucked up and suddenly i find nothing BUT clips. WTF?!
I wish you continued to the end to find the ratman den. That's the best part >:|
If this map is TOO easy, then i guess I am going to have to make it harder.
I don't think brainstone is being harsh, he's being honest.
He didn't like the looks: That's something you can work on (either on this map or a new one)
Cubemaps were missing: add them.
He didn't like the way the map played: maybe make a more streamlined, normal map the next time.
Personally I like this kind of feedback more than "cool, liked it". This post doesn't give you a good feeling, but it does give you good suggestions on how to improve your map or make a better map in the future. It will improve your mapping skills.
Nothing harsh about that.
A harsh comment would be "This map sucks" (I'm not saying this, it's just an illustration) without any reasoning why it sucks or points to improve.
Don't take it personally, mate, that's not what I wanted 
. I can for sure say that this map is a lot better than my first map.
Sorry guys...I think you are being over the top picky. I found the map fun and just hard enough to make you think without being overly frustrating with Ninja like skills or impossible tasks. Sometimes I think others try to make their maps ridiculously hard just to prove how clever they are. Rather than an enjoyable time playing their creation, they are too busy building their maps trying to keep you from finishing in total frustration. Thank goodness, the makers of Portal didn't think like that when creating their award winning game.
I thought the subtle ripples in the acid water a nice touch. Although I got through the map and liked the little things like the potato behind the laser wall, and the crow picking at the empty ball container, I never found the ratman den.
By the way, I didn't see any clips.
Good Map for those of us who want to enjoy the experience, rather than fight the experience. Don't need to change a thing.
I went back and found the ratman den!
I really like the song...what is the title and who sings it?
I have been told I don't respond well to negative feedback. -_-
Now, where do I put cubemaps? Everytime test my maps with these, I get hyper gloss like everything is made of gold and silver.
I guess I wouldn't either, after putting my heart and soul into a map and have some yahoo trash it while saying "Don't take it personal". Like that makes it OK to say.
If you don't like it, just move on, instead of saying ".....implementing old stuff and that in a painful and weird way."
For your first map...I'd have to say...damn good job.
Who sings that song in the ratman room?
I played this new version, but can't see how I'm going to get the cube and balls up to the upper room without destroying them when they hit the fizzler curtain.
Has anyone done a runthrough and successfully negotiated this feature?
Overall I like both versions, although this latest incarnation is more difficult.
i can refer you to the latest version here. I was hoping a mod was going to come and delete this page so i can make a newer one
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... d=89136292
Thanks anyway Fracture, but I figured it out. Didn't realize that there was one more room to navigate too (the one with the spiked wall blocking the entrance). I thought I had already been there and it had changed. Once I got past the spikes, I was pretty much home free.
Nice change of elements and rooms from the original version. Although I don't like glass mazes (hard to see where to go), it felt good when I got to the crow. And I was pretty confused what to do in the laser room with all those buttons to push...still not sure that I did it correctly.
Minor glitch...at one point I had two portals on the large slanted wall above the main floor. I noticed that as she went from one portal into the other, that her foot was seemingly coming right out of the wall. No big deal, just sort of amusing.
i found mazes were mainstream and decided it was a good replacement for the deadly laser obstacles that kept making a massive glitch every time you die and the sound became permanent and sparks moved to the center of the room.
the first test with the 9 buttons was a popular internet puzzle game. Each light you activate toggles the lights surrounding it, you have to figure out how to get them all turned on, and i am guessing you figured that out
Hmmm...now I'm beginning to wonder if I did that part right...I got all but two "X's" to change to the "check mark" before the laser turned on and laser cube popped out. The buttons them became unresponsive. I'm just about to solve the last part (I've killed all the turrets and turned off the laser curtains and now trying to get to the exit door), but find that I need a fourth laser cube (I've got 3 so far) to aim at the last (3rd) laser cube that I've placed facing up and was trying to figure out a way to get the fizzler curtain in the laser/buttons room to turn off so that I could use that laser cube.
Did I do something wrong? I haven't looked at your link yet, would rather try to solve your map first if I can.
you have to use the Other wall behind the 3 curtains, and the other portal behind the grating that a wall broke off from. The only way to get it was to go through the portal and all the way around the back room and out of the broken ceiling of the 4 ball button room. Then you place the portal from behind the grating down in front of the laser
"you have to use the Other wall behind the 3 curtains, and the other portal behind the grating that a wall broke off from. The only way to get it was to go through the portal and all the way around the back room and out of the broken ceiling of the 4 ball button room."
I did that (that's how I got the 3rd laser cube). Then I shot a portal at the wall opposite the laser on the main floor and a second portal at the open grate. Now I had the laser in the upper room. Then I placed the 1st cube in front of the wall with the grating to direct the laser toward the wall near the cube button, then I placed the second cube so that it redirected the laser to the laser receptor (not sure what you call it) on the floor. The 3rd laser cube then was placed to redirect the laser down the left side of this large room but found that I needed a 4th laser cube to redirect the laser up into the ceiling laser receptor.
Having said all that, I may have found an unintended solution, I don't know.
I carefully aimed and shot a portal through the broken glass onto the wall behind the 3 curtains (near the exit). This shot the laser directly back at me toward the wall near the room with the 4 balls. Now all I had to do was use the 1st laser cube to redirect the laser to the floor laser receptor, then took the second laser cube and redirected the laser to the 3rd cube that was placed under the ceiling receptor that had been turned up and bingo. I got to the secret room and eventually to the elevator...although it seems to go on for ever and never ended...with no message that it is over.
Very interesting changes from the original map. Good map and just challenging enough for this old bird.
yeah you did what i meant, but i thought i fixed that glass so you couldn't hit that wall. The idea was that you could only get it it by killing the turrets and turning off the laser curtains. A mere fix i guess is to change the edges of the wall. The elevator however I was unaware that it wasn't functioning properly. I thought the disconnect was automatic for the PTI format.
I'm not sure fixing that small opening in the broken glass to get a portal on the far wall should be fixed. I doubt I would have figured out how to get the portal on that wall since shooting it meant having the laser curtains re-appear and trapping me in side that area.
Although I was successful in crawling threw the opening in the cracked glass and jumping down to the main level when I got trapped, I still think it gives at least one extra way to solve this map.
Just my thought.
you misread me. You escape by going through the portal when the curtains are raised, through the back hall where you find the third cube and you fire the other portal down at the laser and it comes out the portal behind the curtains you previously walked into
You wake up from your slumber, and you find yourself all alone in an empty room. empty except for a single button, immediately you find you are not so alone and the room is not so empty. Make your escape and... do hear something?
File Name: emptryroom_v4.rar
File Size: 33.86 MiB
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