http://forums.thinking.withportals.com/dload.php?action=file&file_id=158

Finally finished this thing. I also recompiled my last two maps with the new SDK. All 3 maps are included in this download and contain Time, Step, and Portal challenges. They are in .bmz format for easy loading into portal (just follow the simple instructions in the zip).

I'd appreciate any feedback you have.

Enjoy!

Good to hear from you again. Looks as good as the first two.

You're maps are inspiring, there are some really unique ideas in these maps.

Those maps were awesome. Very clever way to force the player to use portals. Those boxes in the third map are very creative as well. I remember playing Ren_Test 2 several months ago, but somehow I must have missed 1.

One major thing I noticed is that the giant sign in the second map says "03" instead of "02." Also, is there some reason the maps don't link to one another?

All of your maps are very good, Renstrike. They have unique ideas and very clever logic puzzles. I've thoroughly enjoyed all three of them.

Sorry to be picky, but in case you care about the nitty gritty details... In the second room, with all the fizzlers, there is a vertical portalable wall. It's next to the glass with the hole in the middle of it. You have to portal the exact the centre of it. If you try and portal the concrete anywhere else, you can't. If you put portal bumbers around the two sides and the top, the player could portal anywhere on that piece and the behaviour would be consistent with maps from the game.

Keep up the good work. Your maps are the perfect combination logic and difficulty.

Edit: Oh yeah, and you used an idea I was implementing for my map too! It was something I'd never seen on another map so I thought I might be the first. Guess not.

i liked very much the new gameplay elements, here my run on this map:

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=fV7QGRlO5TM

After watching infernet89's speedrun (damn impressive!) I realised that I solved one part a different way. I think it was a way unintended by the map creator since it kind of skips a puzzle. I'll put it in spoiler tags, just in case:

In the main final room, once you have the cube with the energy ball in it, infernet89 flung it from the ground up into the receptacle. I got the cube into the receptacle using a simpler way. Next to the receptacle is a portalable section. I portaled out of that onto the glass (which is hanging down by this stage). The glass has a plastic frame which sticks out and the player can stand on it. In fact, even that might not be necessary since the receptacle sort of sucks the cube out of your hand. It might be sufficient to simply jump out of the portal holding the cube upwards and you'll probably get in the receptacle.

whupper wrote:
After watching infernet89's speedrun (damn impressive!) I realised that I solved one part a different way. I think it was a way unintended by the map creator since it kind of skips a puzzle. I'll put it in spoiler tags, just in case:

In the main final room, once you have the cube with the energy ball in it, infernet89 flung it from the ground up into the receptacle. I got the cube into the receptacle using a simpler way. Next to the receptacle is a portalable section. I portaled out of that onto the glass (which is hanging down by this stage). The glass has a plastic frame which sticks out and the player can stand on it. In fact, even that might not be necessary since the receptacle sort of sucks the cube out of your hand. It might be sufficient to simply jump out of the portal holding the cube upwards and you'll probably get in the receptacle.

uh, lol. It's damn more simple your way than mine, it can save some seconds for a run.. nice job whupper!

here is my run on the map:
http://www.stage6.com/user/IlanF/video/ ... for-Portal
it's not a speed run, i'm too slow for making speedruns

whupper wrote:
In the main final room, once you have the cube with the energy ball in it, infernet89 flung it from the ground up into the receptacle. I got the cube into the receptacle using a simpler way. Next to the receptacle is a portalable section. I portaled out of that onto the glass (which is hanging down by this stage). The glass has a plastic frame which sticks out and the player can stand on it. In fact, even that might not be necessary since the receptacle sort of sucks the cube out of your hand. It might be sufficient to simply jump out of the portal holding the cube upwards and you'll probably get in the receptacle.

Really, you don't even need to do that much. I just placed a portal on the wall next to the receptacle, then on the ground, I simply held the cube through the portal and looked up, and it got sucked in automatically. I didn't even have to go all the way through the portal to do it.

Maybe it adds a few seconds, but infernet89's way is the coolest!

For me the most impressive thing in Infernet89's video isgetting the third cube into the glass basket on the first try. I must have tried it 30 times before I got it. Started to think I was missing some alternate way to get it in there until I fianlly go it. So was it luck or are you just that good?

in the first room, i experimented by trying to get to the button pedestal platform in a roundabout way. the result was the button didn't make the ball go down. the doors would open, but the ball would magically continue to float in the dispenser. only after i flung to the platform from near the (1) did the button work properly.

in the 2nd puzzle, room 2, is this a bug? or a feature? if i put an orange portal onto the angled platform to get to the high pedestal button, i can't actually go through the orange portal?

demo attached... if i'm not allowed to, then i guess i'll think of another way to deal with that.

My verdict:

Pros: Great map with a cool new gameplay element, and, even better, the map teaches you how to use it. The third puzzle room has a few different ways to solve it, and for the first bit of it you don't even get to go into a portal yourself, which is a nice change. The map has good aesthetics and layout, and allows players to view sections of the map they haven't been to as well as sections of the map they are eventually going to go to. It also incorporates BTS elements naturally.

Cons: The lighting is very plain/bland in some sections and there isn't a lot of detail. You can hear the orbs bouncing around somewhere after they've been captured.

Definitely worth the download. 4/5

Also, I didn't realize at first that the first box in the third room was already "powered" - I spent the first few minutes trying to figure out how the hell I was going to turn it on when the orb was encased in glass.

Liked: Even though I'm not a big fan of a lot of the "new techs" in Portal maps, this one was done in such a way that I wasn't confused/left guessing. (Through I don't like that the new boxes were simply blocked by the fizzlers).

Didn't like: The maps visuals (mostly the lighting) are quite ugly.

Overall: A map I'm glad I played, but I probably won't be replaying anytime soon. goes and plays Ren_Test2

Nice map. I like the idea of the power orb in a box.

I did run into a problem with room 3 that kept me from finishing the level. It's possible to get the first box onto the edge of the raised platform such that it won't fall into a portal. Once that happens, you're stuck.

Adair wrote:
For me the most impressive thing in Infernet89's video isgetting the third cube into the glass basket on the first try. I must have tried it 30 times before I got it. Started to think I was missing some alternate way to get it in there until I fianlly go it. So was it luck or are you just that good?

First time i've played that level i always miss the basket, but after a few try found a way that always got it.

infernet89 wrote:
First time i've played that level i always miss the basket, but after a few try found a way that always got it.

i think what i'd really like to see is videos of you playing a level the first time. i dont' mind to see the practiced perfect run. but i also want to see the run where you're actually thinking about it. even if its 5x longer.

For anyone interested, here is my "intended" run through of Ren_Test3. Many have found different ways to solve the puzzles, but this is what I had in mind while building it.

http://www.stage6.com/user/RenStrike/video/2181056/Ren_Test3-Walkthrough

Hmm.. I just played on all of your three maps and I'm here to comment.

• The first one is like... well... ugly. I mean, really ugly. It broke my motivation even before I started to think about a solution. It's a bit short and not easily understandable at first.. You have some problems to place your blue/orange power lines, I didn't understand what happened when I activated that button.
• The second one was good, but a bug allowed me to put that orb in the ballcatcher while I was rotating the room. It passed through the wall. But anyway, that turning room was a good idea. The graphic side was not as bad as your first one, but still a bit ugly. You don't seem to respect Portal conventions with textures. It's a bit hard to understand where you can and cannot put a portal.
• The third one was excellent. It's beautiful, well detailled, and that last room that you must solve without entering it (at first) was a very cool idea. I missed the ceiling hole though.You should make a brighter arrow, because dark red on dark brown is not easily noticeable. Also, try to avoid having to make infinite portal loops with objets. You can't control their fall, and even if you place the two portal exactly on top of each other, after one or two loops, the object touches the edge, and that's over. Pretty frustrating.

RenStrike wrote:
For anyone interested, here is my "intended" run through of Ren_Test3. Many have found different ways to solve the puzzles, but this is what I had in mind while building it.

http://www.stage6.com/user/RenStrike/video/2181056/Ren_Test3-Walkthrough

you should come hang out on the irc time to time...

i'm wondering... with that broken cube in the form of physics objects... is there a way in the game to have objects such as that that will... snap together, and become a useful object? it would make for a fun puzzle (literally haha)

iamafractal wrote:
with that broken cube in the form of physics objects... is there a way in the game to have objects such as that that will... snap together, and become a useful object? it would make for a fun puzzle (literally haha)

There's always a solution to (mostly) everything under the Source Engine

The thing I like about Ren's maps is that he can pack several puzzles into a relatively small room. I like how you have to reuse elements of a room more than once. On most maps, once you use a portalable piece of the room, you don't use it again, for instance.

I found Ren's maps made me think (which I like). So much so, that I didn't have any leftover brain CPU to look at the lighting and other cosmetic effects.

I thoroughly liked these 3 maps. I did find if i tried over and over again to fling a ball or box through portals into baskets, it would be very difficult, the ball/box just wouldnt fling far enough. if I re-loaded and tried again, there always seemed to be more than enough momentum ! Just me???
Also on the last puzzle, the red direction arrow was hard to see and I spent a while trying to figure out what to do next, but as soon as you managed to get onto that shelf, there were too many red arrows leading the way!
All in all though, brillinat maps, great puzzles and nice new touches
Thanks
Phil