5 different sections, each with its own theme of operation. When you get to the cake, you're almost at the end.

The map is meant to be at least as hard as the advanced maps though, if not harder, so expect to put on your thinking cap and warm up those wrist movements.

The map is finished and released!. Extract from steamid/portal/portal, and load the map through the Bonus Maps menu.

Download:
Shmitzchamber 01 (final 1.0.0)

Alternate download


Screenshots:

is the first 1 even possible??~?!!??!?!!?

DiddyKong42 wrote:
is the first 1 even possible??~?!!??!?!!?

Yes, the few people I had testing it in alpha stages were able to figure it out for the most part. All of the puzzles have been solved by someone other than myself though, so I know they're possible, even though they're hard.

my brain is about to explode just looking at it.

The first was simple enough, I am stuck on the second part 3. I think I have the solution but don't have enough time to execute it.

Needs more screens!

Ahhhh, that does not work.. Now I am truly stuck (highlight below)
I hit the box dispenser with a rocket but still it didn't give me a box

Going to sleep on this one.

Use [spoiler] tags, FYI.

i cant figure out the second part of 2nd area =/ i tried flinging but i cant get it high enough

This map sounds awesome, I wish I wasn't at work right now so I could try it out.

finally got past it o.O now im stuck on part 3... really excellent map =D

some 1 explain first part pl0x

Gah, the first part was just too annoying... didn't know how to fly up that high >_<.

Stuck on part 3 i think where the rocket turret is.
No where to shoot a portal

use the lift switch then use the doorway to shoot at under the glass then teleport from there but still =/ i dunno what to do from there

meh, the map is too hard for me

Just finished this one, good work.

I suspect I did one bit in an unintended way:

For the first orb launcher, I jumped and stood on top of the launcher and shot a portal through the hole the orb goes through, instead of the jump puzzle to get up there.

Hey, I found a easy way to get past the level with all the turrets. Right when u look down to the turret room, at the spot were ur suppose to go to the last level u can shoot a portal on the left side of the wall so u can skip it all. You shouldn't beable to do it because it is a metal wall.

Here is a Screen shot.



Lol also managed to do this.

[img]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8395/shmitzchamber01beta0001vr5.th.jpg[/img]

I've been playing it, stuck on the rocket turret area (same as Mapster, nowhere to shoot a portal). I can't wait to beat it though, the map is great and in all respects.

get the box on the button so the door opens

xD

but how?ive tried blowing it up everything =/ still dont know

deathremains: You need to use the turret to break 4 windows total

Good job! I liked the new styles of flings that it required, I really had to think to solve some of the puzzles. I only think the turret room was a bit repetitive, but I guess you could go through it without taking out all the turrets. The end was cool too, I liked how you could hear the radio when you started the level, and then found it in the end.

edit
The ride through the pipe was a very cool detail, never seen that in a custom map before. However I think you can get stuck pretty easily if you throw the cube in the goo or take it through the fizzler.
The fling to the platform seemed like it was more about luck than skill though.

I swear I tried putting the box on that button but obviously I did not. I got past the rocket turret and I am at the second energy ball puzzle, but I had to leave home so I haven't finished it yet.

I'd suggest adding a more audible sound to the button and door, to make it more obvious (though I guess the 3 dots should make it obvious, but what ever ).

DiddyKong42 wrote:
Lol also managed to do this.

[img]http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8395/shmitzchamber01beta0001vr5.th.jpg[/img]

You were able to shoot both of those portals from the spot the screenshot was taken from? I can't seem to reproduce that.

lol, I had to post that. It was rather interesting hehe.

What I did was, put a portal on the outside (the blue one) then I made a red portal right next to it. Like i tried to make it not on the inciterater, but right next to the blue one. And some how it managed to push it on the other side of that wall.

Im pretty sure its not a problem with your map, just a glitch in the game.

gotler wrote:
The ride through the pipe was a very cool detail, never seen that in a custom map before. However I think you can get stuck pretty easily if you throw the cube in the goo or take it through the fizzler.
The fling to the platform seemed like it was more about luck than skill though.

Ah! I knew I'd forgotten something. You can get a new cube if you take it through the fizzler, but I forgot to make it detect if you lose it to the goo.

Shmitz wrote:
Ah! I knew I'd forgotten something. You can get a new cube if you take it through the fizzler, but I forgot to make it detect if you lose it to the goo.

You sure about that? I accidently put mine in the fizzler, and I was unable to get a new cube. The opening to the cube tunnel was blocked, and i couldn't force a new cube to drop down.

Also found a graphical bug. When walking to where the cube dispenser is, the cube sign above the doorway, it does this weird noclip thing. I can post a pic when I am at my home computer if you need me to.

msleeper wrote:
You sure about that? I accidently put mine in the fizzler, and I was unable to get a new cube. The opening to the cube tunnel was blocked, and i couldn't force a new cube to drop down.

Yeah, I just tried it a dozen times just to be sure. For both fizzlers, if you destroy a box with them, they should cause the box dropper to open (releasing the box in it), and then another replacement box will drop in after a few seconds, to be released later. Can you reproduce the problem?

I'll have to do it a bit later, but I do distinctly remember going into the fizzler where the switch is that lowers the platform, going back to the cube dropper, and there not being one.

The only way I can figure out how to get the box outa the dispenser is going no clip. Then when u go into it, it automaticly opens.

At the doorway by the elevator at that start, the tick is around the wrong way lol.

I got up to the last stage... gah i gah get past it

DiddyKong42 wrote:
The only way I can figure out how to get the box outa the dispenser is going no clip. Then when u go into it, it automaticly opens.

You're not thinking with portals. Also, rockets.

msleeper wrote:
You're not thinking with portals. Also, rockets.

I tried every thing with rocket...

Tried shooting them so they hit the bottom of it, the glass.

Just dosen't beak for me =.

DiddyKong42 wrote:
I tried every thing with rocket...

Tried shooting them so they hit the bottom of it, the glass.

Just dosen't beak for me =.

Ruining all of the fun, but here you go - You know the observation room in the main area? Where the lift is? Have the rocket turret shoot out that glass.

I was woundering why there was a bunch of rooms by there, I was going round the map lookin at it in noclip xD.

You just had to say that after i finished it didn't you msleeper?

bscly

Your site seems to be down at the moment. Are you planning to upload this to the download database on this site?

I attempted to upload it here yesterday, but it just came back to the downloads page as if nothing had happened.

Shmitz wrote:
I attempted to upload it here yesterday, but it just came back to the downloads page as if nothing had happened.

Try uploading it again, I upped the upload file size limit yesterday. If it still doesn't work then let me know, I need to figure out to get it working sooner or later.

Shmitz wrote:
Yes, the few people I had testing it in alpha stages were able to figure it out for the most part. All of the puzzles have been solved by someone other than myself though, so I know they're possible, even though they're hard.

That's kind of bad, the creator of a map should always be able to complete his own map.

As for the map, some parts are far too hard. Like that first part, I couldn't do it, had to noclip to get past.

Otherwise, it's good. However there are some bugs I found;

A non-portable wall which should be portable.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/ja ... ta0000.jpg

A portal can be created behind the catcher, and I was able to activate the catcher by hitting it with the energy ball from behind.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/ja ... ta0001.jpg

ya, u need to put like around a 32x32 noportal hidden inside that catcher right on the wall

Ok, so I finally got the map uploaded to the download database here, and the link in the original post has been changed to reflect this.

Spacemonkey wrote:
That's kind of bad, the creator of a map should always be able to complete his own map.

Heh, I didn't mean that I couldn't do them. I meant my assuredness about the map's completability was not based on my own ability to solve puzzles I already knew the answers to. =P

also the sides of the ball catcher and the ceiling and the floor... it catches the ball from all sides actually...

"The selected File does not exist anymore
404 File Not Found: The File shmitzchamber_01_beta.zip does not exist."

i can't dl the map

btw: i just registered and need to mention: great site, thanks

emereld wrote:
"The selected File does not exist anymore
404 File Not Found: The File shmitzchamber_01_beta.zip does not exist."

i can't dl the map

btw: i just registered and need to mention: great site, thanks

Check the Downloads page, it is under WIP.

Is the difficulty due to clever puzzles or tedious design?

I really like the design of this map and the creativity
using the rocket to get into the observation room and the tubes was my favorite element

msleeper wrote:
Check the Downloads page, it is under WIP.

nope that doesnt work either

Erk, ok, I put the original download link back until this can get fixed. I can't garauntee it'll be available 100% of the time, but at least I know the file is there.

Shmitz wrote:
Erk, ok, I put the original download link back until this can get fixed. I can't garauntee it'll be available 100% of the time, but at least I know the file is there.

Ugh, fuck I can't explain it. I would suggest deleting the upload, rezipping (maybe try rar'ing?) the file, and upload it again. I have no idea why it can't find the file because I see it there.

wow, that was a good map. very creative puzzles. the jumping part in the middle was very well done, but i could never get the ending jump to work consistently, sometimes went the wrong way sometimes not, didn't seem to make sence, does anyone else have a better grasp on the directional convention of the portals?

My input, "constructively" is that the first puzzle is too hard.. its enough to turn the casual player from deleting the mpa file after failed attempts.

This is a game, not an IQ test, it should be fun and at the most on the border if fun/frustrating... NOT completely frustrating that you waste all of your time trying the same jump over and over again...

A puzzle is a puzzle in standard terms.. and eventually thinking about it enough will allow you to solve it... but in portal... I understand what I need to do.. but the margin for error is too slim.. and makes the desire to solve this map just not worth the effort...

I give it 1 star for creativity.

quentin wrote:
its enough to turn the casual player from deleting the mpa file after failed attempts

That's fine. My target audience with this map is not the casual players, but rather the players who want something beyond what the original game has to offer in terms of challenge and difficulty.

The original game really only experiments with momentum and portal placement in its jumping puzzles. The first room of my map is intentionally designed to get the player thinking about a critical third component, trajectory, and how coming at the same portal from different angles has different results.

First level: fine, really. Simple enough concept, the name was a hint, and the level is constructed well enough that you dont die when there is a mistake. Just keep portalling and be patient, and it happens.

2nd puzzle: my favorite, because it truly IS a puzzle. Still not sure if I was supposed to do the power-ball part the way I did, but it was sufficiently sneaky even if not expected. I loved the tube ride, and access to stuff "behind the scenes"; nice touch!

3rd level: BUG - Above that high tube, there is still some area you can make a portal; if you use it, you get physics-squeezed into the tube and die. Also, I wasnt sure if the tube was part of the puzzle of not, so I spent a lot of time making the rocket launcher shoot it to break it (I did eventually succeed a few times!) Too bad it didnt break; maybe you should do that and incorporate it in as an alternate path/challenge (I'd love another tube ride!) But overall, this was my least favorite level, since hitting the ledge in space was WAAYYY too random, and the level was waayy too unforgiving for it; ie:

"Do some long complicated thing, and as good as you may be to get to the end, you still must pray you land at just the right spot. If you dont, you die. Thank you, try again from the very begining. Oh, you made, it; here is another puzzle; didnt figure out the timing? Go back to your save (because you know you arent going to do the previous insanity twice) and try again."

4th - level. "Sneaky". I liked the ball power-ball puzzle; sort of "trajectory with energy balls"; yep; a common theme here. Not sure if I was supposed to be able to skip all the rest of that level, but I was able to; I think a previous poster mentioned how. I may go back later and play around with it more.

5th -level. Lets beat the "trajectory" theme into the dust, shall we? Sorry, by this time I had had enough of the pin-point accuracy, hair-trigger reflex, find-the-exact-trajectory-sequence kind of stuff. After I figured out the rest, I am sure there is a way and I could figure it out if I tried long enough. . .but after level#3 I just didnt care any more, so I noclipped over and proceeded to the very nice ending. Sorry!

Excellent map very challenging. I'm pretty sure I completed 4 puzzles by cheating.

1st puzzle: I jumped onto the 1st powerball dispenser and fired a portal through the small window, avoiding the trajectory puzzle.

2nd puzzle, powerball dispenser before turret room: I shot a portal next the the trap so the ball went accross the face of the trap. avoiding the trajectory puzzle again.

3rd puzzle, turret room: I shot 2 portals in the floor dropped into the portal and jumped straight into the exit.

4th puzzle, last room: I shot a portal at the level of the acid in the pit. from there I had an angle to shoot into the cake room.

losang wrote:
Excellent map very challenging. I'm pretty sure I completed 4 puzzles by cheating.

3rd puzzle, turret room:

(which is really the 4th puzzle, but I digress)

I saw that possibility and tried it myself, but got mauled by the turrets before I even reached the ledge. How did you avoid that?

losang wrote:
4th puzzle, last room:

That's a good find, I'll have to fix that.

Also, xitooner, the solution to the 5th puzzle is very simple and has little to do with the trajectory theme

Awesome map man!
Really, one from best custom maps I ever seen (yet).

Shmitz wrote:
Also, xitooner, the solution to the 5th puzzle is very simple and has little to do with the trajectory theme

Good to hear; as you could tell I was really tired of that after a while! Hmm. I would have sworn I had checked all the angles and couldnt reach it with "just" point-and-shoot portalling, but others say differently, so I'll have to go back and look again; I cant leave any level undone, after all. . .

Shmitz wrote:
I saw that possibility and tried it myself, but got mauled by the turrets before I even reached the ledge. How did you avoid that?

1st try I barely made it but died when I turned left in the hallway. Then got mauled like 5 times as I hit the ledge then made it again. I didn't do anything tricky. I barely got hit when I made it the last time but I did land deep.

Your map has been the only custom map I can't complete yet. I noclipped the first jump after a long long time and only succeeded in other areas after finding those unintended methods. Trajectory stuff has me baffled.

I added/changed/fixed enough that I figured it was safe to release a new version, so you can get 0.1.2 from the updated link in the original post.

Ok, i FINALLY understand the first fling puzzle.
what I don't understand is either a) how to get the box out of the dropper or b) how to do the trajectory thing in the ball room....
beyond that, the rest of it, i can complete via noclipping the difficult parts.

I take it that you aren't supposed to beat the first orb puzzle of "Patterns" by getting on top of the orb launcher, so I'd be interested in knowing the intended method to try it out.

I also could not quite ever make the final jump. I almost did once and if I had kept pressing forward I would have made it, but since I didn't I fell short by only a few inches so I wound up noclipping over there.

The only area I think could use some detailing is "Too Much Of A Good Thing", but then again it is really hard to detail such a wide open area.

Great map, currently stuck figuring out the last level "Cakewalk."

I'm still figuring out the theory of the level, since I've been falling short way too much from messing around. Maybe a subtle hint will push me in the right direction ;o

You must put a portal on the wall by the switch, then put a portal on the ground and fling over into the hole. From there you shoot a portal on the wall and drop back down. Then go into the portal on the wall where it hits straight on. Then go to the bottom and put it above the catcher.

Regarding Cakewalk, a big hint can be found in the Trash Bin forum. I may need to make it more obvious, at least in the sense that the intended solution may currently appear unintended.

i would be interested to see a demo of someone doing the last stage of this map. i'm pretty sure i did it the intended way, but if i didn't i would be real proud of myself.

I really liked the first flinging puzzle, despite being a huge goo-hater.

But that's all I got figured out. I can't seem to get into the room where the first orb goes (at the top of the elevator). I tried placing a portal on the floor up there and then backtracking down the elevator and falling back into the goo room into another portal placed on the slanted platform. I thought I was being clever, but that didn't get me anywhere.

So I assume it's possible to jump/fling into the orb destination room without leaving the launcher room at the top of the elevator, but I'm damned if I can figure out how. Does anyone want to enlighten me, perhaps even with screens? I am confused.

I am well afeared that I won't be able to finish this map, since I can't even get to the puzzles that all these better players are asking about... but I intend to keep trying.

Since getting up there really isn't a puzzle, I'll tell you: the switch in the room to the left of the lift activates the lift. There are number dot icons to indicate they are linked, but this will be a lot more obvious when I link them properly with indicator lights once the SDK is updated.


Also, I've made a few videos, so if anyone really wants to know how a particular jump is intended to be done, PM me and I'll give you a link.

I guess I was unclear. I'm fine with the lift. Once I'm at the top of it, in the room with the orb launcher, I can't figure out how to get into the upper platform of that room, through the square hole in the nonportalable walls, near the button which lowers the lift.

Obviously once you get in there, you walk around the corner and put a portal where the orb is bouncing against the wall, then go down the lift and feed the orb to the catcher at the bottom.

But how can I get into the "orb destination" part of the room at the top of the elevator? That's what I can't figure out.

Crooked Paul wrote:
I guess I was unclear. I'm fine with the lift. Once I'm at the top of it, in the room with the orb launcher, I can't figure out how to get into the upper platform of that room, through the square hole in the nonportalable walls, near the button which lowers the lift.

Obviously once you get in there, you walk around the corner and put a portal where the orb is bouncing against the wall, then go down the lift and feed the orb to the catcher at the bottom.

But how can I get into the "orb destination" part of the room at the top of the elevator? That's what I can't figure out.

You have to do some really, really whack-ass flinging. Shmitz has a video if you are really, really stuck.

Crooked Paul wrote:
I guess I was unclear. I'm fine with the lift. Once I'm at the top of it, in the room with the orb launcher, I can't figure out how to get into the upper platform of that room, through the square hole in the nonportalable walls, near the button which lowers the lift.

Obviously once you get in there, you walk around the corner and put a portal where the orb is bouncing against the wall, then go down the lift and feed the orb to the catcher at the bottom.

But how can I get into the "orb destination" part of the room at the top of the elevator? That's what I can't figure out.

You must put a portal on the wall by the switch, then put a portal on the ground and fling over into the hole. From there you shoot a portal on the wall and drop back down. Then go into the portal on the wall where it hits straight on. Then go to the bottom and put it above the catcher.

Has anyone had issues with the sentry at the top of Trajectory being buggy? Half the time it never shoots at me, or falls over without doing its shooty deactivation. I'm considering removing it.

yes, i had that issue with the sentry at the top once I figured out that flinging puzzle.
It shot me on one occassion so quickly that I fell back in the goo.
on the second occassion I used quick reflexes to shoot a portal beneath it
and it was bouncing around in the air till I shot a portal against a wall for it to
hit the ground. from there the light still pointed out and it stopped shooting.
But it never went through the deactivation portion so I dropped it's ass in the goo.

I need to locate that video for how to solve the orb catcher puzzle... I figured
once I solve the orb catcher a box will finally drop. Originally in an earlier map
a box was available and I utilized that to climb up into the hole... but I'm missing
something somehow... where's that link?

Shmitz wrote:
Has anyone had issues with the sentry at the top of Trajectory being buggy? Half the time it never shoots at me, or falls over without doing its shooty deactivation. I'm considering removing it.

Even the first time I played the map, I shot a portal underneath it the instant I flew up there, so it went rolling down the ramp into the water below. I don't think I've ever made it fire a shot.

there is a way to portal through the glass to avoid the rocket puzzle that should be taken care of, since the tube ride was so fun. if you shoot a portal and shoot another one on top of it, it places it next to the first, and on the other side of the glass.
[img]https://webspace.utexas.edu/mfh236/www/shmitzchamber_01_beta_0_1_20001.jpg[/img]

msleeper wrote:
Even the first time I played the map, I shot a portal underneath it the instant I flew up there, so it went rolling down the ramp into the water below. I don't think I've ever made it fire a shot.

ditto

DiddyKong42 wrote:
You must put a portal on the wall by the switch, then put a portal on the ground and fling over into the hole. From there you shoot a portal on the wall and drop back down. Then go into the portal on the wall where it hits straight on. Then go to the bottom and put it above the catcher.

I don't suppose you could post a screenshot? Where exactly do I put the portals so I can "fling over into the hole"?

Wow, finally finished it legitly. Once I understood how the puzzles were
to be solved, I understand the true genius of this map.

I give it a 5/5, trajectory isn't my strong point, but I figured that one out
eventually, the box dropper was killing me b/c it would only open when
I noclipped in there.... then everyone mentioned a "tube ride" so
I figured I'd find my way back out then I realized how to get
it out....

The combine ball puzzle was a toughy, i never would've thought of that
"simple" trick, but then again, trajectory isn't my strong points.
Here's a tip, understanding how portals enter and exit is very important.

still not sure if I completed the turret portion legitly... basically
i waited behind the glass for them to knock over all the lower level ones, then
worked my way up by portaling through walls and quickly jumping down and getting behind them.
From there, the last one I had two methods of taking out, one was just
portaling past or two was brute force walking in and pulling it into the
fizzler Is that right, or is there another great point here that I'm
missing?

Like in sentry-heavy areas of Portal, for the Sneaky section you don't have to take out every sentry, just enough that you can get through. The last sentry in that section you can easily skip by just shooting a portal down the hall. For the rest it's up to player discretion how lucky, or sneaky, they feel.

I just can't do that first fling! I've reall the whole of this thread and still can't get it.

is there something wrong with me?

youme wrote:
I just can't do that first fling! I've reall the whole of this thread and still can't get it.

is there something wrong with me?

||Stand on the ledge and face the slanted floor.

Do an infinite fall to start gaining speed.

Mid-fall, shoot a portal onto the slanted floor so that you come out and go flying.

Mid-flight, shoot your other portal on the ground AND LOOK AT IT so that Portal Funneling kicks in and you go through.

Keep flinging yourself until you gain enough momentum that you go flying up instead of forward.||

Less momentum, more of a different ANGLE, you may even need
to crouch with portal funneling to hit it, from an infinite fall it'll take a loop
of about 3 tries from ramp to the flat edge on the other side, DO NOT hold
any directions, it'll happen naturally, and you'll laugh your ass off when you
complete it.

no, actually I got really pissed off cos the turret went and shot me straight back out

youme you have to fire a portal at the ground under the turret as soon as you get up there

Wow. the turret actually shot you? It's been bugged everytime I went up there. However, the solution is to immediately shoot a portal under the turret when you come flying up there

I thought the turret was out of ammo.

I bet what happened was before he made it up he got close enough that the turret might have saw him and had enough time to activate and start searching so then when he did get up it was ready to fire.

Crooked Paul wrote:
I don't suppose you could post a screenshot? Where exactly do I put the portals so I can "fling over into the hole"?

Here is a demo on how I did it.

dload.php?action=file&file_id=54

I still can't do it, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I just fly by the hole.

Goldsun1715 wrote:
I still can't do it, I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I just fly by the hole.

Just keep trying different ways to fling. Get on the ledge by the button and jump off into the portal. If you really can't get it, but you can see inside of the hole when u fly past, just shoot a portal through the hole. Both ways work but it takes about 10-15 tries.

DiddyKong42 wrote:
Just keep trying different ways to fling. Get on the ledge by the button and jump off into the portal. If you really can't get it, but you can see inside of the hole when u fly past, just shoot a portal through the hole. Both ways work but it takes about 10-15 tries.

Thanks for your reply, I'm still trying, but I fly so fast by the hole I don't have a chance to fire a Portal in there. I think I may be too slow
Anyways, I tried the other technique, by jumping off the ledge with the button, and shooting out, but I hit just below the ledge I need to jump on..

I think me and my brother are doing the right techqnice on the energy ball part of the second one, however there is a glitch and we fly through the wall to the turret level.

we place a portal under the slanted wall under the high ledge, get up on the ledge jump off deploy a portal under us. When we go through it we deploy a portal on the slanted wall and since we go through it at an angle in theroy we go through the other portal at an angle and get on the platform we needed to to get the energy ball. In reality we fly through the wall into the turret area or fall off the map. Just thought we should tell you and wanted to know if this way works to get onto the engery ball arear.

Fixed. Use [ spoiler][/spoiler] tags next time. ~espen180

That sounds a bit weird. Can you post a screenshot or something?

Shmitz, thanks so much for making this map, I enjoyed the hell out of it, and I look forward to more in the future!

I did a much easier approach and got on the area with the button then threw down a portal about 3-4 squares towards the other wall then went down the elevator and threw the other portal down at the slanted wall in the water room. It takes a while to get the correct "exit" portal in in the upper chamber

The hardest custom map I've seen so far, great job.

On section two where you have to reach the upper part with the ball, I couldn't figure out how to fling myself. I took an alternate approach and jumped by placing the turret in front of the little red lift button then jumping off of it.

Also, I managed to get past the turret part without taking out any turrets, except the very last one before Cakewalk. Contact me if you want to know how.

However, I'm still stuck on cakewalk, I can't quite get it far enough, I have a feeling I'm missing something.

[email protected] for beta testing if you want it

Phew, finally got around to completing this. By far this must be the hardest custom map to date.

Like many others I was initially very put off by the "hard" trajectory puzzle. Reading in this thread made me go at it again however, since everybody said that what I had tried was actually the way to go.

And it was... It just took quite some tries. Unfortunately it didn't seem to be much related to skill or technique, more to random chance, which is my only real gripe with this map. Even when you know what to do and do it correctly Portal sometimes just don't send you the right way out of a trajectory portal

I can't do a perfect run through this at least. I did a patchjob video with saving/loading cut out but I don't think I'll publish it though, since the point of this map is sort of not having a walkthrough I guess.

Originally I bypassed fling 2 using the turret to jump on as well, but eventually I got that fling working as well.

I loved the rocket launcher puzzle bit, because it wasn't random

In "Too Much Of A Good Thing" I originally ended on the lift by complete chance using only the first stretch of fling-space, which was also a shame because the "right way" to do it was much more satisfying. Again quite random wether or not it worked though.

I enjoyed "Sneaky" the first time through but man I got bored of it quick the second time round. It just takes way too long to clear the floor from turrets, but again I guess you need lots of turrets to prevent people from simply flinging their way completely past that room.

And "Cakewalk" was the easiest bit by far, even though still too random for my taste. Maybe it was simply easier since the reset time when the fling goes bad was quite short.

But thank you Shmitz for providing us with a map that actually requires a whole buckload of patience and trial-and-error(-and-randomness) to complete. I'm sure this map can be used as a "are you good at Portal yet" measure for players for some time to come.

You should do a final release of this to be honest, and package it with BNS and so forth so it's easy to point friends at it and say "go complete this and we can talk Portal when you're done"

Now if only it wasn't so random

On a completely related note I'd like to also say that I like in-map labeling of puzzles. Like this has "Trajectory", "Patterns", "Too Much Of A Good Thing", "Sneaky" and "Cakewalk". It adds some nice atmosphere and also makes it a lot easier to talk about specific bits of a level, rather than having to say "part 2 of room 2" etc.

This map took me 1 hour to complete, for god's sakes. I will use my 1st post to say that this map is not only really really good, but also very fun, special and rewarding. I had also played Accident Prone from you, and enjoyed it a lot.

Now, on all the flinging techniques you have to abuse on this map, well, I think that's really fantastic.

Although you may want to do a little thing.

Widen the hole in the 1st chamber a bit, as it often happens, even when experienced with the jump, that you go up too much and end up hitting the ceiling too early, falling to a gooey death.

I'm going to give my answers to all the flings/secrets for people that are stuck. Gotta help some poor people ^^. I would also like to know if my solutions are indeed the intended solutions, or if I'm going through weird routes.

Part 1: Trajectory Do the obvious fling using the slanted platform and then sent yourself flying over until you achieve a very sharp angle with the portal. This should take 3-4 flights. This will send you flying upwards upon leaving the slanted portal.

Part 2: Patterns That one is tricky. The slanted part is used to build forward momentum, but you're going to launch yourself towards the hole from the ground. Put a portal on the slanted wall, another on the ground in a position where you can go in it directly through the other portal. Then, enter the portal on the ground by moving forward at all time to build forward momentum and during the (short) flight send another portal on the ground in the middle of the room, which will throw you upward and forward through the hole.

The Energy ball isn't in any way cryptic, so just proceed with that

Part 2-2: That's really naughty, I got it by pure luck. Make the observation room glass in the main room explode, and go in the door, then the left door, and take a hike in the tubes.

After that, it's easy. Use the cube to open Door #3, then put a portal behind it and use that to break the window sending you to the next area.

Part 3: Too much of a good thing Okay, that one requires you to break your momentum. There are many ways to do it, but the one that most consistently put me on the platform is this one.

Gosh, this is hard to explain.

Put a blue portal on the top of the 2nd platform (the one across where you start the area) and throw yourself down to the bottom platform to create momentum, using obviously the orange portal. Position the blue portal in a way that will permit you to use the momentum correctly afterwards, (shoot it at the same place, but facing towards the opposite of the direction of the 3rd platform). Then, proceed to shoot the orange portal on the slanted platform in the direction of the 3rd platform. This will shoot you straight towards the slanted area of the 3rd platform, where you will shoot the orange portal again, making you fly off the blue portal, knocking you off the wall up there, at the correct position to be able to launch yourself directly downward on the slanted area of the 2nd platform, where you will put the blue portal to launch yourself at a slower speed from the slanted part of the 3rd platform, where the orange portal still is.

All in 1 go. Be mindful to put orange portals in the MIDDLE of the slanted platforms, or you might end up falling to the side of the platform.

Then, up the button, open the door, use a normal up-up momentum trick to go up the door, because flinging yourself will send you over the door, forcing you to go back up the platform... or press f9.

Then, you get into a small hallway, in which you have to put a portal on the roof at the end, and another on your side of the hole, which you can put a portal on, and then fall carefully while hugging the wall. #3 is over

Part 4: Sneaky Basic ball puzzle here, if you managed to pass through room 15 doing all the puzzles in the original game you'll be able to do that. Simply use the slanted area to throw the ball at an angle, then have it enter another portal at the same angle to have it go out of the slanted area straight to the ball catcher. Proceed to the fun part.

Okay, all of these turrets can seem scary, but really it's easy to destroy them. First, head to a corner of the area. Then, notice you can go from turret to turret (those on the top area) by heading through some vents above. Dispatch all of the top turrets, but do NOT destroy them. Keep them and hoard them in the corner with no emancipation grill.

Then , the fun part starts. The 6 turrets you hoarded will be used to throw down on those on the moving platform and slaughter them. Simply make them come back to you using portals if you run out of them. When only one or two turrets remain, you can attack them head on. Once all are dispatched, there is some flinging to do again.

See that part with an arrow? Well, put a portal on the other side and fling yourself there. It requires a PERFECT FLING however, going forward at all time and abusing portal funnel to gain more speed.

Once you get that down, just kill the turret to the right and go down to cakewalk.

Part 5: Cakewalk This part is easy. Go to the stairs on the other side, and put a portal, facing the entrance of the area, down on the ground. Make sure it is as far away from the stairs as possible, as the stairs can be in the way and make you fly upward instead of forward. Head back to the other side, put a portal on the slanted part and jump.

Scream Weeeee.

On the other side, put a portal in the hole and another through the grill.

Have fun!

Again, that's one hell of a map. I'll try and do a video of me beating that map.

I would love to see a video (or an in-game demo) of how to solve this map.

I'm going to give it another try, armed with your walkthrough.

Crooked Paul wrote:
I would love to see a video (or an in-game demo) of how to solve this map.

Final Edit: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=XW5Vun6Pkac

I only cut a small part where I collected the last 2 upper turrets, because despite cutting a good part of my errors, the video went over 10 minutes. I kept the way to get to them in, o there shouldn't be any problems getting there.

Anyway, this is a fantastic map and I had a lot of fun doing it. And if you put challenges in, Gold should be at 10 minutes for time, and I don't wanna calculate portals and steps.

I was going to rant about how I felt there shouldn't be a video for ShmitzChamber, but then I saw it and realised we do it differently. I like my way in Too Much of a Good Thing better, even though it might be a bit longer, but especially in Sneaky... lol... I never saw those holes in the ceiling that enables you to get the top level turrets first and then use those to take out those below. I'm definately going to try that again since my own approach there was sloooow and boring

I'll release a video when I'm done. I'll prolly work on doing it quickly then, since there's no need for another tutorial video.

Player1 wrote:
I was going to rant about how I felt there shouldn't be a video for ShmitzChamber, but then I saw it and realised we do it differently. I like my way in Too Much of a Good Thing better, even though it might be a bit longer, but especially in Sneaky... lol... I never saw those holes in the ceiling that enables you to get the top level turrets first and then use those to take out those below. I'm definately going to try that again since my own approach there was sloooow and boring

I'll release a video when I'm done. I'll prolly work on doing it quickly then, since there's no need for another tutorial video.

Well, I'd love to see your way in TMOAGT. I know of 3 different flinging techniques to get you on the platform, but the one in the video is the one that takes the less portals, AFAIK.

And note that I showed off in the video for Pattern's energy ball.

Allrighty. Shmitz Chamber is definately speed runable, but damn it took a lot of time

I'm down to 5:15 currently... YouTube is processing the video, I'll update here with the link when it's done.

That does include at least 30 seconds worth of slipups in Sneaky and 20 secs in Cakewalk, so it can get to 4:25 using this technique for sure.

Also there's a couple of places where I don't play as well as I can so that should shave off some seconds as well.

Finally I want to try your flings in Too Much of a Good Thing and Patterns to see if they're faster than mine. Oh, and it might not be necessary to kill as many turrets as I do so I'll have to experiment a bit on that.

The video is pretty much perfect until I hit the observation chamber at that point there's some slight hickups, but it's mostly good until the turret room fling at which point I almost gave up

Player1 5:15 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgYuTS08V8

The cakewalk section is pretty much a fine example of why I think some of these flings are a bit too random. I've almost ironed out the randomness from the first two flings, but they're still fairly hard to do and do fail on a regular basis. The cakewalk fling I've never been able to hit in the first go for some reason. Maybe I just haven't practiced it enough, but still... damn

Nice run.

I'll see what I can do on a single segment run.

Note, on the flinging technique for too much of a good thing, your technique is 15 seconds from the jump to the landing on the platform. Mine (done correctly, in the video I wobbled one time too much) is, surprisingly, 15 seconds as well. So I don't think there is any sensible difference between the 2 techniques.

Oh, yes, wanted to add. You can cut a good 10 seconds on the map by just bringing the turret along with you in the beginning to pass through the 1st energy puzzle fling. Just put it on the platform just before the hole (it is slightly higher) and jump there. Instant cake.

On Sneaky, I think that there are many ways to do it quickly, and I'll try experimenting on that.

Uhhh this was good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsGldhFu9GM.

Down to 3:58 now. Still some errors in the end so can be improved upon. Thanks to Shmitz for the tip on the Cakewalk part

New techniques on all segments actually. Trajectory much faster. Patterns a bit faster (most of this coming in synergy from Trajectory). Too Much of a Good Thing much much faster. Sneak much much faster. Cakewalk messed up a bit but potentially much faster

I did say I was going to remove that sentry, didn't I? ;P

Shmitz wrote:
I did say I was going to remove that sentry, didn't I? ;P

For the final time I don't think it'll matter to be honest. My time is capped by the cycle of the energy ball launcher with a good few seconds to spare when I do it right, so there should be time to do the fling instead

Meh, less errors, but still not quite optimal makes it 3:46. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifj_DdWcXVg

Tomorrow I'll do some runs without the turret. I have a feeling I should be able to get it below 3:30. I keep getting better at it and can actually do up till Too Much of a Good Thing more or less perfect every time now. Mmm... much fun!

Player1: Some really nice ideas early in the map but for example I can do the jump to the final room without killing any turrets, jumping right from the sphere room, and it isn't too hard (maybe I get killed 1 time from 2-3 tries).

Anyway I have played most of the custom maps but this is among the best 3 for sure . Although I feel a bit let down because this was the first time I couldn't do a part of a map without help, I mean the last jump. Now I have seen 2 solutions for this: this one in the speedrun and another using the trajectory thingie. Which one is the intended solution?

Schmitz please carry on doing great maps, Accident Prone is also very good but I like it much better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtO85-gnSmA
when i saw the room with the companion cubes, i discovered an interesting thing.

if you open a portal to that small hole that you have to go into to get into the final cake room, you can put two cubes there, one on top of the other. then when you try to squeeze in there, about 1 out of 15 times, you die. but most of the time, you just get popped up to the top of the cubes, and you can then step out and carry them around.

i think that phenomenon would make for a fun puzzle, where maybe you have to climb high up a very narrow room by utilizing that glitch.

of course once i took a few out, i wanted to bring them home.

if only the chambers were designed so you could somehow make your way back to the start, companion cube in tow. to incinerate it right at the beginning, of course, and thus open another door that'd be cool. ok or put it on a switch....

in "sneaky" i wonder if anybody more skilled can do what i did in this video, but with all the turrets there. hm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuQvua_uTkU
i don't know how to use the level dev kit, but if i tried it out, i'd probably design some kind of riven/myst style level that was a very non-linear/non modal space that you could go look for things in, to bring them back to other places.

Well I can barely break 4 minutes and a half due to sloppy play. I guess you win this time.

csimpok wrote:
I can do the jump to the final room without killing any turrets, jumping right from the sphere room, and it isn't too hard (maybe I get killed 1 time from 2-3 tries).

I've tried that... lots... never survived. Do you do the jump the same way I showed in the video?

I did exactly what iamafractal did in his second video but without killing any turrets. Sometimes I get shot but I it never took me more than 3-4 tries to do it.

csimpok wrote:
I did exactly what iamafractal did in his second video but without killing any turrets. Sometimes I get shot but I it never took me more than 3-4 tries to do it.

Meh I don't like that approach, since a speed run would then have to rely on luck :/

iamafractal wrote:
I don't know how to use the level dev kit, but if i tried it out, i'd probably design some kind of riven/myst style level that was a very non-linear/non modal space that you could go look for things in, to bring them back to other places.

I love Myst! with the exception of the final one
Mixing Myst with portal could make some VERY interesting maps. because linking books...no...linking walls

You should learn how to use the SDK a map like this would be amazing.
So you know, you can have multiple pairs of portals so you could have several linking walls permanantly open whilst still allowing the player to have two portals under their own control.

heh portals all over. who knows where you'll land...

csimpok wrote:
I did exactly what iamafractal did in his second video but without killing any turrets. Sometimes I get shot but I it never took me more than 3-4 tries to do it.

Hehe. I've found a much faster way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1jY5H6awp4

Player1 wrote:
Hehe. I've found a much faster way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1jY5H6awp4

You know, while that's definitely not intended, it's so crazy awesome there's no way I'm taking it out.

EDIT:
Version update!. Beta 0.2.0 is released, link in the original post. Please download and try to break it as much as you can, particularly in finding spots you shouldn't be able to put portals. Additionally, the angle of the launching platform in Trajectory has changed slightly. It's less than a degree, but I still need to find out if that has any significant impact on the fling.

Also, try out the challenges and let me know if I need to tweak those numbers (particularly steps, I just guessed for those).

Didn't try the challenges yet, but the map itself is very close to perfection.

Lots of great stuff

Starting to work hard on challenges now.

Yeah, I played it last night when Shmitz linked it on IRC.

I don't think I had played it for quite a long time. I think I actually played it before I joined thinkingwithportals. Because I know that I had done the Turret room But The first room seemed entirely new to me. So did many of the rooms afterward.

All in all, it took me about 2 and a half hours to figure it out. This map truly makes you think differently.

Funny that I was never really pissed off with the map, more of just wondering how to do it properly.

The one thing that I think I did wrong: (I know I shouldn't say anything cause it's hard enough as it is, but..) On the "too much of a good thing" chamber, after you push the button and the door goes up; I know you're supposed to use the angled parts to fling yourself through the door. I didn't. Instead I flung myself ontop of the door, and stood on the little sign to the left of it. Crouching, I was able to get inside the door without flinging through it.

Trivial, I know. But if you're intent on making the player struggle through out the entire map, then it's something to alter.

Challenges are fun!

However, there is something you may want to fix, is that the map ends too fast for you to see the Gold reward. Basically, you see Bronze, Silver, then fade.

Also, according to your .bns, Gold Portals should be at 28 (had to look at the .bns to know the map requirements for Gold, which isn't good ). I got 30 on my 1st attempt however, I was given a score of 0, which certainly is worth Gold

[img]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z29/MoooveZiiig/bugged.jpg[/img]

So, yeah, right now, whatever your score is, you get 0 and gold and can go your merry way.

I believe it is because the map fades too fast, the game doesn't record the score before all of the challenge animation finishes. So, you're given a 0, but you finished the map, so the game goes "Whoo, you won the map!!!1!".

Might wanna fix that!

Portals is great.

[img]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z29/MoooveZiiig/Portals.jpg[/img]

Smack dab at the minimum, and I tried hard finding other ways. however, 50 and 40 portals are a bit too much, hehe. I'd go with 40-34-28 for Bronze-Silver-Gold.

Steps is funnier.

[img]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z29/MoooveZiiig/Steps.jpg[/img]

That was the 1st attempt, a bit sloppy. 200 is certainly possible. 420-310-200 would be my choice for steps.

Time is fine, although a bit easier than expected. Using saves I can manage it, which is the weak point of a large map. Time balance between skilled and weaksauce is good, although 9 minutes is a bit extreme. Yes, I'm aware that I made a 10 minutes video, but I went slow on purpose.

Here's the time I managed with a segmented run, redoing mistakes.

[img]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z29/MoooveZiiig/Time.jpg[/img]

So, I guess it's good. But since 3:30 is very possible (It still is far from perfect), if you feel like adding a challenge you might want to bump the time down. 3:15 is very possible.

Considering this is a map targetted at crazy players, I'd pick these scores.

Portals: 40-34-28
Steps: 200-310-420
Time: 3:15-5:30-7:45

Now don't don't go around and say I'm not helpful!

BlackSphinx wrote:
Portals: 40-34-28
Steps: 200-310-420
Time: 3:15-5:30-7:45

Now don't don't go around and say I'm not helpful!

Thats not very helpful, for steps and time gold is more steps/longer time than bronze

let me fix that for you:

Medal: bronze - silver - gold
Portals: 40-34-28
Steps: 420 - 310 - 200
Time: 7:45 - 5:30 - 3:15

First run: 2:49 auto-segmented (ie. only using the auto-saves) and some errors.

Start has been made slightly more difficult to speedrun due to that little bit longer to get out before Trajectory which in turn makes it harder to hit the same energy ball cycle as before.

Ending also takes longer naturally. Since there wasn't an ending before I simply stopped the clock as soon as I entered the cake room.

Doing it segmented also opens up for using some of the harder/more-random ways. For example I can once in a while do Too Much of a Good Thing using only 3 portals before hitting the lift not actually using the last portal but rather bouncing off the inside edge with a lot of momentum. This requires a lot of luck though and I haven't been able to capture it on video.

Single-segment run in the 2:30-2:40 range should definately be doable though.

As for the map:

That new observation chamber is very dark. Is that intentional?

It's very easy to get stuck in the tube sequence. It happens more often than not while trying to get more speed by moving in there, but can also happen spontaneously when not touching the controls. (This is an old bug though, sorry for not reporting it earlier.)

* I remember my feeling the first time I made it through the map. I was all "yeah" and "wow" and "damn me I'm good". I think the player needs a bit more than just "congratulations"

(On incidental note it took me about 2 to 2? hours to get through this map the first time I played it. Considering that it took me about 3-4 hours or so the first time I played Portal single player through that's pretty impressive.)

Single-segment run in 2:46. Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P983h0kevFk.

A couple of minor errors. Going to be hard pressed reaching 2:30, that's for sure, but 2:40 might be possible with perfect execution.

Player1, you have mad skills. Will you be my Jedi master?

Of all the batshit crazy insane things you did in this speedrun, the first and perhaps simplest is my favorite, on Trajectory where you fall from a shorter height in order to make the fling without doing multiple "loops" through the portal on the slanted panel. Niiice.

Shmitz, I really think the sentry at the top of the Trajectory fling should go back in. You can see his laser sight from below, so it's not a surprise/cheap death. I just think it feels really cool to finish off that tricky fling with a mid-air turret execution.

Crooked Paul wrote:
Of all the batshit crazy insane things you did in this speedrun, the first and perhaps simplest is my favorite, on Trajectory where you fall from a shorter height in order to make the fling without doing multiple "loops" through the portal on the slanted panel. Niiice.

Hehe yeah. It took some tries to find the exact place to put the portal for that. Actually it's not even much faster than the brute force approach since it takes some time to setup and aim right (the tolerance for placement of the initial portal is 2-3 pixels ). It's become a bit better after I stopped tunneling and simply went through the portal thus saving more time.

But "not even much" is still a couple of seconds, which makes a world of difference on the energy ball bit since I currently only have like 0.5-1.0 sec to spare when I hit the button.

Player1, can you take a screenshot of the new observation room? It's not bright for me; in fact, I had to tone the lightning down a tad to keep it from being one massive wash of white.

The doors of the end-elevator don't close fast enough, its possible to get out and see it leaving without you. So you can beat your challange and then go playing with the companioncubes and the cake as much as you want

even without the turret it's still possible to get into the first energyball-room without a fling: you can stand on the button and jump around the corner

I was able to get 23 portals using that jump, 25 without it.
edit: I just got rid of another portal, now finishing with 22

Jaso wrote:
even without the turret it's still possible to get into the first energyball-room without a fling: you can stand on the button and jump around the corner

Very clever! And totally logical.

I was stumped on that fling forever, but when I finally landed it I was thrilled. I exclaimed "Yes!" aloud without meaning to.

(BTW, welcome to the forums, Jaso.)

Shmitz wrote:
Player1, can you take a screenshot of the new observation room? It's not bright for me; in fact, I had to tone the lightning down a tad to keep it from being one massive wash of white.

[img]http://uffefl.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Image0.jpg[/img]
[img]http://uffefl.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Image1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://uffefl.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/Image2.jpg[/img]

Jaso wrote:
even without the turret it's still possible to get into the first energyball-room without a fling: you can stand on the button and jump around the corner

Meh I've tried that several times and gave up on it as impossible. I just tried again and didn't succeed. Some jumping trick I'm unaware of?

Crooked Paul wrote:
(BTW, welcome to the forums, Jaso.)

Thanks

Player1 wrote:
Meh I've tried that several times and gave up on it as impossible. I just tried again and didn't succeed. Some jumping trick I'm unaware of?

Well, I don't know what you're aware of
When standing on the button I start under the higher part of the ceiling, run forward to gain some speed, jump, release forward, start strafing right and turn the mouse to look in the direction I want to go - then I usually fail and try again until it works

youme wrote:
Thats not very helpful, for steps and time gold is more steps/longer time than bronze

let me fix that for you:

Medal: bronze - silver - gold
Portals: 40-34-28
Steps: 420 - 310 - 200
Time: 7:45 - 5:30 - 3:15

Whooops. Bwahaha!

I guess I was a bit off,

Ok, so after far too long of a delay, I'm fixing up the last few things here.

Does anyone have ANY suggestions for changes besides the following list?

• Brightening up the Too Much observation room.
• Smoothing out the BTS tube ride.
• Adjusting the challenge values.

If it takes me 10 minutes to "solve" a puzzle, and then an hour or more to implement that solution, then there's something wrong with the map.

I'm grateful for any new maps I get, but I'm finding many of them don't even have puzzles, they're just "haha! let's see you jump THIS". I'd much rather see maps that rely more on your problem solving skills than how twitchy you are. But then again, to each his own.

Also, this may have been mentioned already and I can understand why this wouldn't be in the map, but it doesn't make sense from a physics standpoint. In "Patterns" I put a portal behind the tube holding the WCC and then angled it so it would get hit by a rocket, with the intention that the glass would break and I could then grab the cube. Again, I can see why that wouldn't be as fun, but if you were to make it so you can't put a portal directly around the tube then it wouldn't be an issue.

AceTracer wrote:
If it takes me 10 minutes to "solve" a puzzle, and then an hour or more to implement that solution, then there's something wrong with the map.

I'm grateful for any new maps I get, but I'm finding many of them don't even have puzzles, they're just "haha! let's see you jump THIS". I'd much rather see maps that rely more on your problem solving skills than how twitchy you are.

It's a long thread, and potentially contains spoilers, so I don't blame you for not reading through it. I'll quote the most relevant response:

Shmitz wrote:
My target audience with this map is not the casual players, but rather the players who want something beyond what the original game has to offer in terms of challenge and difficulty.

The original game really only experiments with momentum and portal placement in its jumping puzzles. The first room of my map is intentionally designed to get the player thinking about a critical third component, trajectory, and how coming at the same portal from different angles has different results.

Understanding the physics involved with a jump/fling is a problem solving skill. Sometimes working it out takes more time and effort than with other puzzles. I understand there comes a point where this time and effort exceeds what a person considers fun. If ten minutes to an hour is too much time, then yes, this map is not for you.

Shmitz wrote:
Understanding the physics involved with a jump/fling is a problem solving skill. Sometimes working it out takes more time and effort than with other puzzles. I understand there comes a point where this time and effort exceeds what a person considers fun. If ten minutes to an hour is too much time, then yes, this map is not for you.

I think you misunderstood AceTracer's complaint. Trajectory puzzles themselves aren't a problem. They're a novel take on the usual flinging puzzles. But the puzzles in this chamber are designed in such a way that their solutions are more dependent on reflexes and luck than actual thinking (with portals). They are "Nintendo hard," and not in a complimentary sense.

Now, the first stage of your map is just fine. Once the player figures out the secret, all she has to do is execute a simple repeated fling. But the flinging puzzle in the second stage is a lot more frustrating. Once the player figures out the secret, she still needs l33t sn1p3r sk1llz in order to actually execute the fling. Immediately after going through the second or third loop, she needs to aim further forward and fire, but not too much further forward or else it'll land on the wall, and exactly in front of the portal on the diagonal ceiling or else she won't go through it the last time and get the momentum she needs. And if at first you don't succeed, your only option is to keep trying until you pass out from thirst.

Hunter wrote:
But the puzzles in this chamber are designed in such a way that their solutions are more dependent on reflexes and luck than actual thinking (with portals). They are "Nintendo hard," and not in a complimentary sense.

As this indeed is a long thread I feel compelled to write this: I had the same experience with the map initially. I felt that luck and randomness was a huge factor in this map.

It is true that this map is heavy on "execution" compared to normal Portal maps. But then this map was explicitly developed that way and the notes next to the download states this very clearly.

As I worked on the map out of sheer determination to do speed runs I really learned to love it. There is almost no randomness in it; the only places still truly bound by randomness is the speed run shortcuts (and again it is actually more bound by execution but when hitting a portal at the right spot with only a couple of frames to do so then that does become somewhat random).

If you just want to complete the map that is perfectly doable without any randomness at all. It is just so very very much harder than anything else out there that it at first seems like a bad map.

Anyways if you need the speed run video as a reference here it is: youtube.com/watch?v=P983h0kevFk

When I first played the map I the flings seemed to be pretty much impossible, but after getting better with reflexes and everything, they are all repeatable.

Anyway I recently decided to try out some recording, and while the quality of the movies is bad (even for youtube ) the content might make up for it:
Shmitzchamber in 22 portals
Shmitzchamber in 85 steps

Player1 wrote:
It is true that this map is heavy on "execution" compared to normal Portal maps. But then this map was explicitly developed that way and the notes next to the download states this very clearly.

Right. Again, I was just trying to clear up AceTracer's original complaint. Personally, I don't like "twitchy" Portal maps either. But upon watching your speedrun, it seems that I overestimated the twitchiness of this map. Your flings require no more dexterity than, say, the last part of Chamber 18. (I'm new to the forum: is there an official slang term for that type of portal leapfrogging?) The problem is just that I was trying to do the wrong type of fling. So I guess this map isn't half bad.

Jaso wrote:
Anyway I recently decided to try out some recording, and while the quality of the movies is bad (even for youtube ) the content might make up for it:
Shmitzchamber in 22 portals
Shmitzchamber in 85 steps

Both worth watching. As for the quality: have you tried fraps? Demo recordings makes eyes hurt!

With Fraps running, Portal lags too much to be decently playable on my computer. I used Fraps to record the demos afterwards.
Any advice how to get get better quality while being able to play would be nice

Lowering your video settings, texture detail, anti aliasing, and resolution are the easiest way to do it.

Then there's the more expensive, but more shiny option of upgrading the video card in your computer.

Also, whenever I record with fraps, I make sure it's set to half size, and 20 frames per second.

hmm I play with the lowest settings anyway, I guess I just need an upgrade in the near future :/

Lorithad wrote:
Then there's the more expensive, but more shiny option of upgrading the video card in your computer.

Also, whenever I record with fraps, I make sure it's set to half size, and 20 frames per second.

My experience with fraps is that the graphics card and graphics settings doesn't really matter that much. Most of what fraps does is in CPU so the only heavy thing is the framegrabbing and compression (and to a lesser extent the disk-writing). On a multi-core system you can fraps pretty well. In general it will follow your normal in-game fps, only slightly lower.

I used to do 840x525x30 fps fraps in my WoW days on an older system (not really sure of the specs, but the graphics card wasnt that hot) and in general it could keep up except deep in the end-game raid-zones where my computer generally couldn't keep up (I got 20-ish fps playing Kel'Thuzad and 17-ish when frapsing). On my new rig I can fraps comfortably in 1680x1050x30 fps in all games (except Crysis). This is a core2duo 3GHz thingy with an 8800-something card.

Anyways all this doesn't really matter of course if you can't make it work playable for you. If you have a system with more than one physical hard drive I'd suggest trying to fraps away from the system drive. Other than that try fiddling with fraps settings regarding resolution and fps. It's my feeling that if you can get fraps to record the playback of a demo you should be able to get it to work to a degree where you can do it while playing.

It is an awesome map, it serves it's purpose; to give that extra stuff that an "advanced" player want, I burned all of my thinking caps.

However, though it is challenging and fun it is too unforgiving: fall down, die, do all over again or load the save point, just like someone else said before me. It is intended for players with some level of skill but the obstacles tend to be solved by iterations and became tiresome, the actions that some of the buttons were not so immeaditely recognisable and the the use of trajectory could have used some training, the first obstacle involves too many new concepts and skills at once, it is my opinion that those concepts had to be presented with a least complex obstacle.

Awesome map either way, I'm looking forward to what I can learn next and what are you going to come up with.

AceTracer wrote:
If it takes me 10 minutes to "solve" a puzzle, and then an hour or more to implement that solution, then there's something wrong with the map.

My thoughts exactly.

There's a fine line between frustration and challenge, and the first room in Shmitz' map crossed it for me to the wrong side.

For instance: why has the bottom of the map to be "now you die"-goo?
The puzzle wouldn't be any easier/less challenging to solve if the room had a "no portal" bottom, but the player would be able to instantly move on to the next try instead of having to press the quickload key again - and again - and again ... even after already having solved the thinking part of the puzzle.

And instead of a "cake" for having solved the jumping part, the player gets - a turret.

Bad style imo.

Niesrind wrote:
And instead of a "cake" for having solved the jumping part, the player gets - a turret.

Bad style imo.

Not really that important, but: you're playing an old version of the map. Released version doesn't have that turret. (Not that it actually makes the map any more/less frustrating and/or interesting, but hey.)

WTB portal bumpers

but otherwise great map. I love a challenge.

Nice map. Especially all those Companion Cubes at the end with the cake.

This was a challenge. I managed to get to the end without cheating. I love all the companion cubes at the end.