This puzzle is a bit different however from the normal ones, we featured a more intense series of tricks and methods in a single Chamber, and tried to push the new engine to its limits by making a seriously long and very lengthy puzzle. But not to lengthy as that might get too boring.

So here it is, our first official release ever. Our Own little Portal Map, and you can expect more in the future.

Sorry for the huge images, not too sure on resizing them.

I changed the images to links to help preserve forum size, hope you don't mind!
--msleeper

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4580/geartestchmb010001se0.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8561/geartestchmb010002mr1.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/9246/geartestchmb010003im5.jpg

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/5069/geartestchmb010004vp9.jpg



You can Download, however we only have one hosting site up (including this one.):

http://forums.thinking.withportals.com/dload.php?action=category&cat_id=2


http://files.filefront.com/Gear+portal+map+01rar/;9105252;/fileinfo.html
http://isohunt.com/release/108554 -Torrent Version.
Once you put it in via the readme, it appears in your bonusmaps section.

You don't really need to resize them. Even having direct links would be good. The only thing I don't like about people posting screen shots directly, is that it streches the forum.

The map itself was most enjoyable. I commend you on your efforts, and look forward to future releases.

Just played it and liked it.

I really liked the length of the map and the variety of the puzzles, though I did feel that the last puzzle was there with the intent to kill me and not stump/challenge me - it was borderline frustrating due to the nature of the players spring-loaded jump coupled with the moving pillars, and the small clumps of energy balls looked out of place/bad.

Visually, the map seemed disjointed and could use some polish in that department.

Also, you desperately need to add func_portal_bumper brushes to your map - there are a number of small portable wall sections that are VERY temperamental.

Yeah we added in tons of those portal bumpers, onto all the needed areas, perhaps one wasn't working right, but thankyou, glad you both liked it!

I liked this map, but there are some things I think need to be fixed.

The little wall you can use to get out of the hole at the beginning of the level... this needs to be made more apparent. It looks just like the light hole in the wall below it.

There's the total absence of portal bumpers... I don't know what you're talking about, but there are none. At all.

The area with the glass pistons was very agitating, because it isn't clear what you're supposed to do when faced with a wall. Once you figure it out, you have to try about 10 times to get it, because there are no portal bumpers.

The area with the rogue energy balls was just annoying, because, for some reason, you can't portal onto where the balls are hitting.

The textures are not aligned properly, and should probably be fixed. It really takes away from the effect to see really badly aligned textures.


I really liked the puzzle after the angled fling, where you're faced with a glass wall and no way to gain enough momentum to get over. I realized that there was a stepping-stone of sorts on the left wall, so I jumped up that and then tried to fling myself over... Then i realized I could just jump up and portal to the other side of the glass... lol.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:
Yeah we added in tons of those portal bumpers, onto all the needed areas, perhaps one wasn't working right, but thankyou, glad you both liked it!

Um, none of them work right. None.

Yeah, strangely the VMF has them, however we avoided putting some in certain places for puzzle purposes. However all of them do work, and the ones implemented did a fair job to aid the map in many ways.


But once again thankyou, I'll be sure to make these more better next time, as this is our first Portal map. But still thats no excuse, so well work on that.

MrTwoVideoCards, it's nice to see you over here from Interlopers. This map looks amazing, I can't wait to give it a play.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:
Yeah, strangely the VMF has them, however we avoided putting some in certain places for puzzle purposes. However all of them do work, and the ones implemented did a fair job to aid the map in many ways.

I'm not sure bumpers do what you think they do - why would you want to make it hard for a player to put a portal on a wall as part of a puzzle?

taco wrote:
I'm not sure bumpers do what you think they do - why would you want to make it hard for a player to put a portal on a wall as part of a puzzle?

We put them on all the walls needed, however refrained on putting them on areas that players might need to place a portal quickly on, for instance the first platform ride, in the start of the map. However i do know what Bumpers do, I've even worked on the VDC Bumper tut.

I really enjoyed this map. A lot.

About the beginning : When I got in the hole, I failed the jump. I tried to find a way to get out to try again, but I had to restart the level as I didn't see the concrete wall made for this purpose. It should be highlighted.

The 45 degree floor : When I tried to pass that part, I found out that I got to poral on it and shoot another portal throught the glass floors to get a new spot to fling out. But I think there's some areaportal or something that screws out with a void effect on a doorway. And for some reason, one time I slipped on this 45 degree floor dying and so it makes me think that the floor is more than 45 degree angled.

The angled ceiling metal wall : Really loved this part.

The platform moving : When i got to the part where the way is obstructed, in a hurry I couldn't find a solution (no enough time) so I placed two portals on the same wall ( http://pix.nofrag.com/2/1/2/f6386edc0cc ... 4d88e.html ) and stand IN the portal, hoping that the platform will come back so I can figure out what to do. But I waited damn freakin long and It didn't come back. So I loaded a savegame.

Hmm a areaportal problem you say, weird, well this is all good to hear though that way we can fix all of this, and then of course update the map for a future release. And perhaps we can add another puzzle at the end.

Strange. When I tried to play again to give you a screenshot of where it happened, the bug didn't happen.

So, here it was: http://pix.nofrag.com/b/8/b/fd2aa33fb14 ... c7c2e.html . Maybe you know why.


And yes, I slipped again on that 45 degree floor. The angle must be more than 45 degree.

Hahah good screenshot, lol. But yeah that floor is a bit tilted, i think maybe at a 55 degree angle, but we placed it like that due to the amount of momentum that would be needed. Any less steeper than that, and the player would not be able to reach the other side.

So it was a small sacrifice that was needed.

Haha...I have no clue where to go right from the start. I see a button...I just can't get to it. I've tried flinging to it both gently and by jumping from a high spot. I've tried climbing on the ledges there. wtf? is dumb

Yeah, the first button was a little screwy to get to, because you could place a portal underneath the ledge that it's sitting on.

It just requires propor portal placement, and then you manuver yourself onto it on the way up.

Yeah that was the idea, as you might notice, about half of the map is height tricks, then the pay off is the Mega Fizzler.

hamsteralliance wrote:
Haha...I have no clue where to go right from the start. I see a button...I just can't get to it. I've tried flinging to it both gently and by jumping from a high spot. I've tried climbing on the ledges there. wtf? is dumb

It's a simple fling. Put one portal close to the wall, and another closer to the button ledge. Jump into one that is close to the wall, you'll get out of the one that's close to the button fast enough to bump on teh glass and get on the ledge. You can do better than that!

Map is good, a few bugs here and there but overall very nice. Oh, and make it so we can see the portalable wall when fighting the glass tubes. It's just ridiculous you have to die to know what to do, and is just bad design.

Overall an excellent addition to custom maps...

I agree with BlackSphinx with the moving platform bit, though. I died 3 times trying to figure out what to do there and never really saw the portable wall. Then I just got annoyed and noclipped over there and looked around to find the portable wall

Besides that small bit, I found the rest very well done.

Looking forward to future releases!

Edit
I just replayed this map, trying to break it (getting stuck, putting portals in bad places... etc) I couldn't really 'break' it, the only thing I found that might want to be fixed is
The first moving platform puzzle, theres no need to actually get on the moving platform. If you move right up to the edge, you can shoot a portal up to the above area without ever getting on the platform.

Alright, yeah all this needs to be fixed as well, im going to log all these, and then apply an update, also thinking about adding in a challenge mode.

Rivid31 wrote:
I just replayed this map, trying to break it (getting stuck, putting portals in bad places... etc) I couldn't really 'break' it, the only thing I found that might want to be fixed is
The first moving platform puzzle, theres no need to actually get on the moving platform. If you move right up to the edge, you can shoot a portal up to the above area without ever getting on the platform.

You can also ignore that platform by tunneling on the wall, shooting a portal at the wall up there
@ the megafilng/fizzler

Hahah thanks, right now im bout to release our next tech demo, having to do with Gravity.

can't wait to see some cool gravity puzzles.

i liked this level a lot. i'm stuck, though on the moving platform section. I think you should be a tiny bit more forgiving and have more moving platforms come along.

I didn't really have any problems with the moving platform. I mean, yeah, I died once or twice trying to get my portal onto the part in that most people are apperantly not seeing, but that was just because of the lack of portal bouncers.

Admittedly, it could do without that glass bit in between the grates.

i'm a little slow, but i finally beat the level. the part right after that grate, with the energy balls, was a relaxing end and i got through that very quickly with a couple strategically placed portals. i guess the moment you push the button makes a huge difference since either you can have lots of those cylinders in your way, or not...

iamafractal wrote:
part right after that grate, with the energy balls, was a relaxing end and i got through that very quickly with a couple strategically placed portals.

||Portal tunnelling \o/

I must admit that I really really disliked that section of the map. So when I finally got to the energy ball bit I looked at it once and thought "oh I can put a portal there... and one here... oooh whaddayaknow". And then it was over.||

iamafractal wrote:
i guess the moment you push the button makes a huge difference since either you can have lots of those cylinders in your way, or not...

||Not really. You can jump over them... usually... There's one constellation that's a problem (and that should be fixed) where the last high cylinder can be out with no lower ones available for the entire duration you're in range. But it's pretty rare.

And really, there wasn't any reason for me to reply all encapsulated in spoiler tags, but it seemed to fit the rest of the thread by now ||

Player1 wrote:
||Not really. You can jump over them... usually... There's one constellation that's a problem (and that should be fixed) where the last high cylinder can be out with no lower ones available for the entire duration you're in range. But it's pretty rare.

And really, there wasn't any reason for me to reply all encapsulated in spoiler tags, but it seemed to fit the rest of the thread by now ||

||hehe... actually no i didn't do any portal tunneling, although i could have. i instead simply placed a high orange one on the wall where the u-turn is, then put blue ones wherever the energy balls were, thus shunting them harmlessly to near the ceiling. and i took a relaxing ride on the Aperture Science Unstationary Scaffold.

as for the pins, if you press the button at the right moment, then there is only one you need to deal with, and all the others are retracted as you go by them. that would be right when the closest one is just starting to extend.

i never actually used standing on the pins as a cruch for finishing that level. what i did, is i came into the room, saved. then shot an orange portal to the concrete wall panel at the right/end of the area. then when i finally arrived there i jumped over the one extended pin, ducked, shot the wall past the grate then passed through the portal in time to land on the arriving platform.

that worked, after at least a dozen failures. if not more heh.||

i would say that a little polishing is necessary for the level though. for example, more checkpoints. there should be one for right before pushing that button, for example if there isn't one already. i'd like to see more voice overs. shmidt did the best job with that so far that i have seen...where did you get that voice anyway shmidt? i'd still be happy to offer my hal-like male voice for voice overs if anybody wants...

I solved the 45 degree thing as I hink its not intended:
carefully licked the right wall and moved forward, just to not slip down to the acid. From there I can see a very distant visible portalable floor on the other side. I placed one there, then I easily passed this part.

I also have areaportal errors on my maps since the new sdk. It worked before, but after it arrived (I changed nothing) I had the nodraw effect. So I just completely deleted them.

Yeah we fixed the areaportal problem already, but now looks like theres another way around that puzzle, nice find!

This is the picture Hurricaaaane already posted:

http://pix.nofrag.com/b/8/b/fd2aa33fb14 ... c7c2e.html

I get a no draw texture (I think that's what its called) there, but I only notice it after getting to the angled wall and then backtracking to that point.

Hope that helps.

Great map.

Thanks, yeah Were already working on a update, although were adding way more to the map, so thats probably going to be released around the end of December perhaps.

First part: This was the most fun I had on the entire level, because it was the least tedious part. A simple fling. But then some the tedious parts.

There is no indication of what the switch does. I had to guess that it moved that giant, apparently static glass floor.

Second, the platform moved to fast, and you saved yourself the trouble of adding portal edge support to your surfaces.

The turret part was tedious, because you placed the second turret so that is shoots you when you place the portals. It took some fast and agile movement to take them both out.

Second fling. Decent.

Glass wall. Solution is not apparent. I had to tunnel to solve it, which I hate myself for doing.

Giant fling chamber with ridiculously large flizzler which should be replaced with giant glass wall instead: This is where it started to burn. You need orientors on the surfaces which do not support portals in all directions, the giant hole was just plain ugly, the flings were somewhat crippled. I landed on a ledge and had to jump and precisely place the portal on the second highest platform, then I do the fling and "WTF? Where am I flying?!"

Final part: Again, the platform is too fast. those pillars are textured in a distorting texture which eats FPS and they are just tedious to get by The tile time challenge from Portal Chmb.19 was badly duplicated. What were those combine shied squares in the grate?! Then comes the combine balls. Why are there so many?! They eat FPS as well!

I reached the goal, and instead of feeling like I had accomplished the puzzles in the level, I felt tired, because I had just forced myself through that map.

This map need some serious changes if you're planning to release updates. I don't know why other people seem to be enjoying it, but I sure didn't.

Hahaha okay, fair enough.

I'm sorry, I just didn't like it.

Yeah, i know some of your comments are helpful, but come on now, a giant glass wall? Now thats just shameful, and ugly.

Liked this map all the way until the last platform section, got bored of it too quickly, so noclipped to the end, sorry, but just couldnt be ar**ed after dying 10 times.
Other than that great map, Oh you can also get stuck on the 45deg ramp if you stand on the edge of it, requiring a reload
Thanks

phil