"While I was out investigating I found an exciting new test element..."
-GLaDOS
Well, I had aimed to create an introduction puzzle for a new idea for use of diversity vents. This puzzle was aimed to simply introduce the element; so it's meant to be easy but innovative.
Possible side-effects include: thinking out side the box, depression, confusion and death. But the most important thing is to have fun with it.

In short:
Difficulty: Easy
Aim: Introducing a new test element
Version: RC1

For an updated version: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... d=71974974

Not impressed by words? Well, here are some screenshots:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels5.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels4.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels1.jpg

File Name: diversity_gels.zip
File Size: 4.57 MiB
Click here to download Diversity Gels

http://www.sendspace.com/file/derii7if it somehow helps

It is possible to beat in under a minute. The cube was not needed. portal to the vent, go in the vent, portal the gel, go in that portal to main room and bounce to exit.Also,the volume for the sound of the vent is way to loud. Since you have gel in your map you should make the player use it to get to the laser or the button instead of being able to just portal to both of them. The trigger for the animation should be placed closer to the entrance in the main room as I was able to portal to the vent without triggering it to turn on but still went through to the other room.

Thanks, I'll fix those problems in the next build.
But would putting a portal cleanser in the vent be a good thing? it kind of ruins that fill I have for the map... Or maybe I should leave it as a smart solution?
But time isn't really a problem, it wasn't meant to be long or hard - just to show other things possible with the diversity vent. It's just like the maps in the game, short and informative; they're straight to the point.

Mr. P. Kiwi wrote this!

Loved the map. I avoided doing the false method of completing it.

The music changes at the perfect times, and every time i think to myself "Ooh".

I let the cube go in the vent itself. I almost lost it in the fizzler.

The map did not hide anything. No small, forgettable rooms that block your veiw from the rest of the map. The theme was executed perfectly. I did not spot any texturing problems.

A way to avoid the cheat, is to make a fizzler on the other end of the map with the gel, and you have to send the cube through another vent to get it there. Other end is all no-portal walls, so you cannot cheat.

Easy and short, but good and original map. Although I was kind of confused about the indicator lights to deactivate the vent. Maybe you could make the laser go perpendicular to its current orientation in that hallway (or up and down) and change that partially broken wall to glass. That way, players know what needs to happen in order to deactivate the vent. Also, if the theme is the Wheatley chambers, add a test chamber monitor somewhere.

EDIT: Oh, and also set the falling water to render in fast sphere mode rather than with the blobulator renderer. Blobulator gel blobs have really jagged edges when they're that small.

I liked the idea the map is designed around - the sounds are all apt to the setting and the scenery too (though 'bottomless' drops are more Wheatley's thing than toxic goo, I tend to think)

I did find I could just bounce into then run through the vent space once it was turned off, feet poking out the underside of the tube. It's no use for solving the map, but it's a bit glitchy (see : http://bit.ly/qusvwp) so you'll probably want a Player Clip textured brush around the vent entrance and exit to limit that.

Plenty of potential though, Always wondered why they gave up on Vents

Jane_Doe wrote:
I did find I could just bounce into then run through the vent space once it was turned off, feet poking out the underside of the tube. It's no use for solving the map, but it's a bit glitchy (see : http://bit.ly/qusvwp) so you'll probably want a Player Clip textured brush around the vent entrance and exit to limit that.

Plenty of potential though, Always wondered why they gave up on Vents

As I understood, they gave up on the vents because they sucked!
All joking aside, though, I think they just didn't find a use for it other than eliminating turrets, and they had some problems of why is it sucking the turrets, and cubes, but not the player? So I made my map around that.

About the clipping, thanks - I'll get it in the next build.

EDIT: Help needed!
The player can't go through the vent to the other end anymore. (cubes can, however. Strange...) I didn't change anything, I think, in the linked_portal_door I used there.

Loved the concept, more please

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:

S_tz_nCeNM0
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_tz_nCeNM0)

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

For now, here are some screenshots:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels5.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels4.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9132584/Portal% ... _gels1.jpg

File Name: diversity_gels.zip
File Size: 4.57 MiB
Click here to download Diversity Gels

I remember playing this awhile ago.The updated version is much better than the alpha but I still find it to be way to easy.

Again, not all puzzles are supposed to be super hard, or even a little hard. This is a test that was build to share a new test element I thought was clever. If someone will feel like making it a full test, with new brilliant ways to manipulate this element, I would be very happy - a test like this could be hard.

Are there any problems I should know of?

I remember this from before as well. While it is nice to fix up an old map i would like to see you continue this element with over gels and concepts but be careful if you use white gel. Light bridge bounces are satisfying so have normal puzzles with some tube parts or maybe even a gel diverter to send in one of 2 directions.

Liked the changes.Good job

Nice blending of diversity vent and gel dispensing. Puzzle relatively easy.
Issue: map name is that of the vpk file not the one in your readme?
Thanks for creating.

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:

A-RBOOBJj5I
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-RBOOBJj5I)

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

Simple, elegant and very well executed. This map makes the player feel good about himself, and in level design that's one of the most important objectives

I'm very happy to hear all of this; I am really thrilled to hear you all enjoyed it so much. It's such a strong motivation to make more maps, I'll plan something new as soon as I can.

Oversized for such short lenght, but technically valid: style's a discreet mix of Clean and Broken, and things do work. There's a touch of humor and creativity (a couple of firsts) which totally steals the scene, so consider those five minutes spent thoroughly well.

How'd you get the gel to flow through the pipes? I'm still scratching my head on that one.

MasterLagger wrote:
How'd you get the gel to flow through the pipes? I'm still scratching my head on that one.

Yeah it was a tough one. I used a particle effect named "blob_curve_blue" and placed it's first control point on a 45? angle from the info_particle_system. You could still use it as a straight particle if the control point is directly in front of the particle_system.
Note that there are also these particle effects:
blob_curve_blue - for repulsion gel
blob_curve_orange - for propulsion gel
blob_curve - for conversion gel
There might be one for the clean gel - but I don't know the name used for this one.

Mr. P. Kiwi wrote:
MasterLagger wrote:

How'd you get the gel to flow through the pipes? I'm still scratching my head on that one.

Yeah it was a tough one. I used a particle effect named "blob_curve_blue" and placed it's first control point on a 45? angle from the info_particle_system. You could still use it as a straight particle if the control point is directly in front of the particle_system.
Note that there are also these particle effects:
blob_curve_blue - for repulsion gel
blob_curve_orange - for propulsion gel
blob_curve - for conversion gel
There might be one for the clean gel - but I don't know the name used for this one.

not explaining much to me except nmes, which I thank you for posting, but ould you tell me how you figured the names out?

Very nice level. I like it! It took me a while to figure out that I had to enter the vent and get sucked through, so marking that better would be nice. I was just trying for a very long time to do the impossible task of moving the cube through the fizzlers. I tried for a while to shatter the broken window with the cube, so replacing that window to be not broken would be good.

I say keep up the great work!

sirfluffs wrote:
not explaining much to me except nmes, which I thank you for posting, but ould you tell me how you figured the names out?

I decompiled a map that had gels flowing in all kinds of strange directions and checked how Valve did it there. Decompiling maps and reverse-engineering them is a great way to learn and find new stuff. But don't worry if you don't want to download more softwares and decompile, I'm sure that in time enough people would write everything there is to know in the wiki. Then all you'd have to do is to apply some cleverness to it.

Well , that's probably the nicest idea if you combine vacuum vents with the gels.Actually , good mapping and it gave me fun.I'm waiting forward of it with other gels.I hope you do fix some problems with vent.For instance ;The cube stuck on edges of vent. Except that , this map is awesome!

I'm interested in playing this map, but I'm having trouble adding it to my game. After unzipping the download, I get a .vpk folder instead of the usual .bsp format. What do I do with it?

cerrita wrote:
I'm interested in playing this map, but I'm having trouble adding it to my game. After unzipping the download, I get a .vpk folder instead of the usual .bsp format. What do I do with it?

Valve hates the players of their games, so they ruined a great feature and made vpks unplayable with their latest patch.
Now the players need to extract the vpk before they can get the bsp (and other files) which they need to play a map.

This may help you: VPK Extract in DLC Custom.

Nice demo of the concept. I look forward to seeing these in puzzles. 4/5.