A very difficult small map. Thanks a lot to josepezdj, grayarea and HeadShot for playtesting and helping me block a lot of unintended solutions.

File Name: isolation.rar
File Size: 1.78 MiB
Click here to download Isolation

Don't think this is the intented way to get the third cube.



I've seen you ask how to prevent this glich and thoght you had an answer. The best way is to turn a laser off for a short time (0.1 sec) on player pick up a cube. You can do it in portalgun properties firing OnPlayerUse output.

But I did try it on my computer lots of times and the cube always fell down. This is weird... maybe I need to increase the downward force on the cube

Ending. Not intended as well I believe.

EDIT: I found this way to get the cube under my pillow . Though it looks as an unintended solution I woudn't wonder if it was your way.

Well your demo showing the final part is unintended. But, the way to get to the 3rd cube is brilliant (still unintended). I won't block either of these (well I may block your solution to the final part but definitely not the camera ramp).

In the meanwhile I'm updating the map (on the workshop, not here) to (hopefully) remove the floating cube bug completely.

Please let me know if you find any other weird bugs.

Here's a strange solution...

isolation.dem.zip

Yeah the camera ramp trick is clever in its own right, but unintended. It was pointed out before by greykarel as well.

The final part is intended.

A different way to get the 3rd cube. Still searching for a solution using that other button...

isolation_cube3.dem.zip

Wow nice improvisation! But it's still unintended... I suppose I won't remove this solution as you must have put quite a bit of thought in setting things up that way. So there are 3 separate ways to get the first cube now: your method, greykarel's method and the intended method..

Solution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjEN_y-JvBQ

Very nice mechanic If gray didnt tell me that there is something with pushing a cube with a panel i would have been stuck for ages... But what is the button with the flipping wall panel for? is it just to disctract the player? solid 5

Nice to see you back! It's been a while. In answer to your question, yes, the floor button and flip panels were red herrings.

@Xtreger's Solution Video: I had thought about trying the idea of pushing the pedestal button through the portal to make the cube flip, but in my experience I thought it was just too far away to activate it, so I didn't try it. Did you do something special to make that possible? It always seemed to me that you had to be right at, and reaching through, the portal. But you are more than an arm's length away.

Nope, no adjustments. Also, you can easily adjust the position of the portal near the lift such that the lift button comes comfortably within reach. In the solution video, that portal is more distant from the lift than is necessary, so the button is also more distant than necessary (but can still be activated without adjustments).

Interesting. Well, I wasn't able to find a solution, but at least I learned something new. Thanks for pushing the limits yet again.

This map is about as HARD as they come - reminds me of a Jonaton map. Not in the sense of difficult strafe jumps or karate chops . . . but there are two things that very FEW would get - if any. The first is something I "should have found" but due to the mechanics being so unusual, it did not cross my mind to move across the first turned off fizzler and STILL be able to activate the button through the Portal. How your mind came up with that - I'll never know or understand. It's a type of thinking that is foreign to me. Either just very high level - or there is a trick to creating these kind of things using reverse Engineering.

The final challenge drove me insane. I knew I had to have the two cubes up top on the two buttons. But I saw the flip surface and the corresponding tunnel . . only to find out tonight that they are friggin' RED HERRINGS !!! Anyone got an axe ?? The last thing this hard as hell map needed was a Red Herring.

Anyway - OK so I spent 2 hours on the 3 checkboxes - to no avail. Finally . . . went to the video. And that move was so Ninja that you can only call it "cube whispering". I don't know why I didn't just think to myself and say, "oh yes - of course . . . it's the old, carry the cube on top of your head while crouching and moving backwards routine. You can then spin around 180 degrees WITHOUT disturbing the cube and shoot right through the cube to place a Portal up high !!"". LOL How did the map allow me to shoot through the cube ?

I should say GREAT MAP because it is . . . but frankly it is too hard to solve without the Video IMO. I think you should not change it - but mark it as "Super Hard" . . "

@PCdoc: Thanks for your feedback! I guess this is my first map that nobody could solve, so I'm kind of glad about that. But I see how red herrings can be annoying. I'll completely avoid using them in any future maps.