A single player map in a rusty 1950s Aperture Science Geodome.
It features all kinds of gels and a few cool ways to play with a companion cube.

I recommend playing this map after you finished Portal 2 solo and coop, not for a storyline problem, but for the mechanisms used in the map.

Screenshots:
http://img90.imageshack.us/i/p21q.jpg/
http://img864.imageshack.us/i/p25l.jpg/

File Name: Missing_Geodome_SMI.rar
File Size: 6.29 MiB
Click here to download [SP] Missing Geodome

I have absolutely no idea why this map keeps getting rated 1/5. This is one of the best Old Aperture maps I've played.

Just played through this. A few things...
- The lighting leaves much to be desired. Its just too dark. I couldn't even tell if fog was used, but the overall ambience was awkwardly lacking.
- Indicator lights make sad pandas into happy ones! Currently, I am a sad panda. I pressed the button several times with nearly no clue as to what it had done. So after Iran the gauntlet, and dropped the cube down the chute, then used blue gel to get it up the shaft, and it shot out into the death goo below, I had to go back for another one, expecting it to be there to no avail. So after a third run around I was able to get it, wash it off, use it, etc. Long story short, my suggestion is to at least make the box auto respawn, if not entirely automated. People will find it no problem. Not a huge problem, just unnecessarily frustrating.
- The layout was a bit cramped, making all the elements being presented at once a bit overwhelming. There's tons of space in a geodome, and I think you've got plenty going on here to use more, if not nearly all of it.

The end with the portal gel was well played. I haven't seen anybody else use that yet, so kudos for that. It certainly took me a few minutes to figure out partially because I couldn't tell it was portal gel, I thought it was water, but nevertheless good puzzle. Furthermore, I like that it was always clear where to go next.

I think you've got massive potential here. I know the deadline is up for the contest, but I hope that doesn't discourage you from continuing to develop this map. Overall nice work.

Really good job.

I started playing custom maps and record me playing them. It's neither a perfect run nor do I have to have solved the map in the way it's meant to solve it. I play the maps "blind", that means I've never been in them before and play them for the very first time. I also give a little feedback for the map in the video description.

Maybe you are interested in the fact, that I played your map: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UhyZgt2h54

Superb atmosphere and gorgeous looks, intricate like it was LV-426 all over again. Design's just astute, but I remember the puzzles being weak against breaking attempts which I assume was fixed, on my second playthrough it seemed to last a piece longer. In my sacred trinity of best 3 Old Apertures.

Played this elsewhere, excellent old style map.

Why is this rated 2/5? This map is excellent!

version2_1 wrote:
Why is this rated 2/5? This map is excellent!

And this is why "sort by rating" is a stupid feature.

What a great map! This is what a good puzzle should be - a number of individual tasks, each of which bring the player closer to a clear, eventual goal. Like Ratman said, it is a little cramped, but I think the layout is good. If you were to spread things out a little while keeping the same general layout, it would take better advantage of the space that the testing sphere provides.

Going over the lighting would help too. I love the fact that the majority of the puzzle is in sight from the beginning, but if you were to hilight the exit path by making it a bit brighter, it would give the player a clearer idea of their end goal.

Speaking of that exit path, what a great use of gels! It's an interesting puzzle, while being easy to execute and very rewarding when doing so. In fact, the whole map has this quality, and I'm really glad to see it.

Up until now, I've been using Lobster's Sphere of Roundness as my standard for what a great map should be like. This map, with some slight revisions, easily achieves the same level of quality, and I can see myself comparing future maps to this as well. I think you should consider talking to Lobster and putting together an ultra-high quality Old Aperture map pack.

Keep up the great work!

msleeper wrote:
version2_1 wrote:

Why is this rated 2/5? This map is excellent!

And this is why "sort by rating" is a stupid feature.

It's a chicken-and-egg thing... The ratings suck because no one uses them because the ratings suck...

There is a shortcut in the map that avoids parts 3 and 4, I made a video, see 1:19 in the clip below.
Clip
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Ratboy wrote:
Just played through this. A few things...
- The lighting leaves much to be desired. Its just too dark. I couldn't even tell if fog was used, but the overall ambience was awkwardly lacking....

I agree with the lighting ! Great map though, I hope this is not your final work !

PsychoGrinch wrote:
Ratboy wrote:

Just played through this. A few things...
- The lighting leaves much to be desired. Its just too dark.

I hate myself for this me too post, but I agree so strongly about the darkness. I understand using light for directional cues, but you have graciously provided numbers and arrows. I would have rated this a 4 but for the lighting. Maps lit like this cause me eyestrain .

On the positive side , I liked the old look, and there was a satisfying variety of puzzles.

I have not played this until the end, as I am missing either an idea or a patience to execute for the final puzzle (cube is already on button). Yes, it also took me a look at this thread here to realize that there was some white gel and not just water. While this is completely obvious in hindsight... I don't know... maybe a hint? begs

I really liked the idea with the blue bouncing cube. Is this what you meant by your recommendation to play this map after coop only? I think you can safely remove that recommendation; it does nothing but confuse and shoo away players who don't have done coop. When I read it, I assumed that playing this mod would spoil me part of the coop mission; now I hardly understand what exactly in your map is similar to anything in the coop mission. If you want to keep the recommendation, then I think you should at least point out that playing it beforehand does NOT make the coop mission any simpler.

Portalling to area 3 from the shaft in area 2 was a matter of pixel hunting; even now I am not 100% sure whether I really did the puzzle the right way, or found a shortcut. I had to shoot a portal on a plane which almost contained my line of sight. Is this really what you had in mind? Maybe you can slant the plane a bit to make it easier to spot and easier to portal to?

Getting on top of area 6 (after the cube is placed on the button) is too dangerous imho. From time to time I got bounced sidewards and landed in the goo. I don't know whether there is some trick you can do in order to prevent this from happenin, except for adding more railings. (And whether you want to do something here, or this is intentional.)

I had to watch a video as I was stuck for ages, but I basically didn't see the portable surface that allows you to spread the white gel onto the cube down the shaft. Maybe it's just me but I literally would never have seen it imo. Once I found it, though, thanks to the vid, I had trouble placing a portal on the cube... took me ages of just spamming the LMB from a variety of areas until it worked :/

Loved the idea, though; great map!

Finished the map while having to solve almost none of the puzzles.
Covered the left tower next to the tower marked exit with white paint first, then went into the room with the orange gel and pressed the button to release the cube. By jumping on top of the railing I made a portal to where the box fell to and then made a portal in the orange gel room and retrieved the box. Finally, I made a portal to the left tower and took the box with me. Next I put the box on the button, covered both towers with blue gel and the floor with white gel jumped up and finished the puzzle. Thought the puzzle was really short until I saw a video containing a large number of rooms I'd never seen.

Yes, an intricate map with a macabre atmosphere, wouldn't have hurt to add Half-Life zombies to it. Interesting but with a lot of pain for me doing Room 5. Overall good stuff, I give my 5 out of 5.

Missing Geodome Portal 2 Custom Map.

w_FhK-Raii8

Like Andrew Marsh, I was able to portal the cube out of the area it spawns into without using most of the map, which made the rest of the puzzle pretty simple. All you have to do is get the cube using portals and then use the blue gel to get yourself to the top, and then drop down to fling yourself through another portal to the exit, which elimiates any need for the elaborate tower and ramp system.

For this reason I rate this map very low, but it has potential since all one need do is raise the wall surrounding the area the cube spawns into to prevent people portalling it out, and then the puzzle would be challenging again.

Hey Kay, I found a bug. After completing the puzzle, I went into the elevator and then was not returned to the main menu. (I was just left sitting in the dark in the elevator.

I made a video walkthrough for this Portal 2 Custom Map:
rSIkacxIGB4

Hello guys, been a while since my last post !

Thanks for all the feedbacks, whether good or bad
I only spent 40 hours creating that geodome and I admit that a few more hours of playtest and bug fix would have been helpfull.

Still, I have some spare time these days and I am considering creating another map from scratch, instead of polishing the missing geodome.
I only have some sketches at the moment but I will launch hammer and start mapping soon.

Cya around.

Great map with some cool ideas. Not particularly hard to figure out but challenging, yes!
Only some very minor glitches:
After the ending elevator, screen only faded out but did not disconnect.
Background music seemed to play only once, then silence...

My rating is 5/5, thanks and keep it up!

Perfect spatial layout and huge jumps, so Old Aperture style. The best Geodome map I've played, 5/5.

Found bugs:
I have to admit that flowing white gel is very easily mistaken with water in dimmed light in pipes room.
Map does not disconnect properly, you just fall to the bottom of elevator shaft.