Single testchamber, pretty easy I suppose. Part of an upcoming series.

Bigger screenshot:

http://puu.sh/sGJY

Edit: Fixed the map not being a bsp for some reason.. Sorry everyone!

File Name: Strange Soap.zip
File Size: 2.81 MiB
Click here to download Strange Soap

There are a lot of ways to solve this map which actually ends up hurting it, imo. Too much freedom.

There is a lot of polish missing. No indicator strips, very little light in the first elevator room and hallway, missing decals, etc.

There are other issues that impact gameplay: if you faithplate to the door before it is open, it is not the easiest to get back down since you have to edge your out to see the wall below you to place a portal on it.

The biggest issue is a major bug: if you touch the floor button to open the door, the door doesn't close when you stop touching the button. This means you can fling to the button and then jump down onto the faithplate and finish the map.

You can also hit your head on the ceiling when using the faithplate.

The map file itself is missing the bsp extension. Portal 2 cannot find it unless you rename it to strangesoap.bsp.

It took me a while to spot all the things in the walls. Once everything i found the puzzle isn't difficult. The only graphic flaw I saw was the dark hallway after the starting elevator.

This map is easier than the introduction level where you first use the light bridge in the original Portal 2 single player.

Multiple solutions CAN be to a maps advantage but not in this case...

Anyways I had the same problems that Taco mentioned, but the button doesn't stay open for me when I stand on the floor button. I don't know if Taco and I are playing the same map, maybe you've updated it.

Too add something to the list:
- I hate instant death water/slime. I don't know why people keep mapping that in. Just a personal peeve of mine, but consider changing the settings to Damage: 100 and Damage Cap: 25, like the actual Portal 2 settings. For me?

I do love the way the map looks! It's just the gameplay that isn't good enough...

Just played through this...

-The screens are blank in the elevator room, found that a bit odd. :S
-The stairway and corridor are really dark.
-I thought the main room looked nice enough, maybe a little dark too but not enough to be a problem. There was no light in the observation room though ?
-The puzzle was way too simple, I completed it in about 1:30. Didn't really have to think about what I was doing, it was just kind of 'These are the test elements... Put them together... Done.'

Recorded my playthrough...

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All in all I think this could be an okay map but it definitely needs some work. Maybe add a couple more test elements or something, IDK.

Spent most of my time trying to catch the cube.

vBk6b3uRN4k

LMAO andy... I guess I was lucky!

Logic wrote:
Anyways I had the same problems that Taco mentioned, but the button doesn't stay open for me when I stand on the floor button. I don't know if Taco and I are playing the same map, maybe you've updated it.

Aparently he stealth-updated the map (never a good idea to do this since nobody knows what the hell is going on). The version I have is called "lvl_1.bsp" while the currently available map is called "strangesoap" and lacks the .bsp extension.

sofi, can we get a list of changes you made? This isn't going to worth testing if new versions are going up without you letting us know...

Very easy map but I think it was nice designed anyway
There is also a bug when you put a lightbridge on the diagonal you can go through the ceiling.
May you put some playerclips in to fix this.

god, i'm so sorry guys... first ever map i actually released and it turned out pretty badly.

first off, i'm sorry for stealth updating the map. it should be in working order now (there's still some stuff mentioned here that i haven't added though). i was kind of panicking cus people were already dling it, and so i was trying to get everything in order asap without people noticing, which was pretty naive of me.

also i completely forgot the indicator lights, sorry. i'm not entirely sure why there's such a bigass lagspike whenever the light turns on, either.

agh, i'll probably delete this, and make another map with a more complicated puzzle than just moving a cube around, since right now it's just a pretty looking room with a bad design. i've always been good at the whole art and detailing part, but incredibly bad at designing puzzles :V

thanks for your posts and everything guys, and i'm sorry for it being so messed up on first release.

sofi wrote:
god, i'm so sorry guys... first ever map i actually released and it turned out pretty badly.

first off, i'm sorry for stealth updating the map. it should be in working order now (there's still some stuff mentioned here that i haven't added though). i was kind of panicking cus people were already dling it, and so i was trying to get everything in order asap without people noticing, which was pretty naive of me.

also i completely forgot the indicator lights, sorry. i'm not entirely sure why there's such a bigass lagspike whenever the light turns on, either.

agh, i'll probably delete this, and make another map with a more complicated puzzle than just moving a cube around, since right now it's just a pretty looking room with a bad design. i've always been good at the whole art and detailing part, but incredibly bad at designing puzzles :V

thanks for your posts and everything guys, and i'm sorry for it being so messed up on first release.

This map wasn't a failure. I though the main room looked great for being your first map. I suck at lighting and details but I'm pretty good at the puzzle portion of a chamber. You seem to have gotten the hang of the lighting already. I'm jealous...

Anyways, just try and make a more challenging map next time and the others will probably love it

oh by the way mzly, you solved it in an unintended way, i meant for you to make an infinite fall and launch the cube through that angled bit, lol.

sofi wrote:
agh, i'll probably delete this, and make another map with a more complicated puzzle than just moving a cube around, since right now it's just a pretty looking room with a bad design. i've always been good at the whole art and detailing part, but incredibly bad at designing puzzles :V

thanks for your posts and everything guys, and i'm sorry for it being so messed up on first release.

This is a pretty decent map for a first map. Don't feel bad. Almost ever map ever (if not every map) has issues. It's up to you if you want to put in a bit of time to make it ever better or just give up (and you shouldn't give up).

Dont give up as it has potential.It just needs some work.Nothing major.

sofi wrote:
oh by the way mzly, you solved it in an unintended way, i meant for you to make an infinite fall and launch the cube through that angled bit, lol.

Ah, okay. That makes more sense...

Maybe you should put the button on the other side of the room and make it impossible to reach with a light bridge then?

I still feel like the puzzle's a little bit too simple though. Maybe if you somehow had to use a funnel to catch the cube instead of the bridge? Or if you had to do something to activate the bridge? IDK, I'm just brainstorming...

Anyway, I think this could be a nice map. The design is nice, but the puzzle definitely needs some work.

I recorded my blind playthrough for you. I played the version dated 5/3 at 4:18 a.m. It's a real comedy of errors, as I tried to do a very easy puzzle the hard way. Not intentionally mind you, just me being stupid.

Not too bad for a first map, but as the comments show, it needs some real tightening in the puzzle department. 3/5 from me.

Link: I take a bath with Strange Soapembedded
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Hi,
I am not able to play the map as it is not being detected by the game when i type in the name in the console. Can someone tell me why is this happening? I also confirmed that it's a .BSP map, still it can't work. Any help will be appreciated.

Well, I think most of what I think has been said already. The map looks pretty damn good; such attention to detail. It would be a real waste to delete it. Try your hardest to do everything you shouldn't and fix the solutions you don't like, it'll be fine - a short 5 minute fling map can be a bunch of fun!

amit wrote:
Hi,
I am not able to play the map as it is not being detected by the game ...

I'm sure you've already tried.. but maybe redownload the map, remove spaces from the name, remember there's an underscore, right click on the map and open with portal2.exe, make sure it's in a map folder, etc. Hope you get it working

I thought it was a very nice first map, not very exciting just bridge walking. Still it has potential for an intro to more chambers. I also like larger rooms and space. Not sure what the faith plate was for, never used it...?
Thanks for creating...

Hi, thanks for the tips but still Nope, tried all those things already but no luck.

sicklebrick wrote:
Well, I think most of what I think has been said already. The map looks pretty damn good; such attention to detail. It would be a real waste to delete it. Try your hardest to do everything you shouldn't and fix the solutions you don't like, it'll be fine - a short 5 minute fling map can be a bunch of fun!

amit wrote:

Hi,
I am not able to play the map as it is not being detected by the game ...

I'm sure you've already tried.. but maybe redownload the map, remove spaces from the name, remember there's an underscore, right click on the map and open with portal2.exe, make sure it's in a map folder, etc. Hope you get it working

A concise map featuring some superb detailing - the almost-but-not-completely clean style looked fantastic. I managed to walk through the ceiling, but there weren't any major problems other than that. The puzzle was short yet sweet, and pulling off the grand cube fling was very satisfying. I also enjoyed having an abundance of white surfaces, so I had to think about where to place portals. Thanks for mapping!

Short and simple - not bad though!

kAua-aGyH-c
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAua-aGyH-c)