This map is a joint-effort between myself and iWork925. This is my very first map, iWork is an experienced mapper making this map of a professional standard.

The basic mapping and all puzzle elements were done by me. iWork took care of aesthetics, details, lighting, indicator lights and some complex mapping.

Be sure to report any bugs or exploits that you may find in the forum.

Thanks for testing!

THANKS TO:
iWork925 - I asked him to playtest, but he completely fixed up my map for me and made it look professional! He has put so much work into the map, and deserves a huge amount of credit helping a new mapper like me.
xdiesp - for playtesting and offering solutions to fix issues he found.
Chickenmobile - for testing and providing me with a demo.
SolorChorus (http://www.youtube.com/user/SolarChronus) - Excellent beginner's Hammer tutorials which I found very helpful.



File Name: Vendetta.rar
File Size: 2.07?MiB
Vendetta

Nice one! I try for a long time to to make big jump and go back in the first room by jumping high enough to pass upper than the fizzler until I found another solution that was much more easier!

I did "not really" need the funnel. I accidentally used it, but I'm almost sure that I didn't need it. I'll post again when the video file is ready.

I didn't use the funnel at all. It was a fairly smart puzzle, despite a few overlapping models/brushes and no cubemaps.

Aesthetics-wise, the lighting was good, but for such an open space the textures seemed a bit repetitive in that main room... and you either didn't make cubemaps or forgot to build them. EDIT: you definitely forgot to build them because they worked if I built them myself... did you change the name of the file before uploading it?
Neither did I use the funnel at all. You could easily make it necessary to use by making the gel not spray that far; it really never had to in the puzzle. or cut it out entirely.
It took a few tries for the cube to bounce out of the area. The first few times it just bounced around and stopped near the back or into the water anyway. Not sure if there is anything you can do to fix that.
No noteworthy problems other than that, it was a decent play.

Thanks for the comments. Not sure what the problem with the cubemaps is, there's one in every room.

As for the funnel, I really tried to make it necessary but whatever I did it always seemed like it was possible to skip it somehow. I thought I had fixed it but I guess not.

EDIT: @Random, it actually wasn't me that compiled the final version of the map. I'm not actually sure how to build cupemaps, I just thought I place an env_cubemap in every room and that's fine? Everything looks perfectly fine for me.

I see. You need to load up the map and type "buildcubemaps" in the console. It wasn't noticeable for most of the map, but I kept getting errors in the console about it, and it was very noticeable in the elevator rooms and the tube where there were many reflective surfaces.

Yeah I am going the have to agree with you about the textures. I tried my best with making it more, portally..? But shawy just a certain tool a little to often, and made it quite difficult to texture properly. But lets not get caught up in semantics, in comparrison to 10 testchambers I think this map look awesome.

Yeah, I forgot to build cubemaps. Big whoop wanna fight about it? Anyway I think shawy might reupload with the cubemaps soon. But if it really bothers you, you can type buildcubempas into the console and it should work out fine for you.

Regarding the fizzler, if you didnt use it, good for you. Finding alternative or 'personal' solutions to puzzles is part of the fun. As many expeirenced mappers say, maps with "one true solution" are quite annoying. Maps need to have a certain amount of non-linear 'playground' appeal. Makes the player think; "I can do whatever I want in here, but I'll need to connect that laser up if I want to get outta here." Maps were you are forced through a series of arduous activitys to complete it feels like more a chore. The map is what it is, take it or leave it.

And about that cube of yours; I don't know how you managed to make a cube covered in blue gel... stop. But congratulations. I was unable to reproduce this effect and I am therefore unable to help you get it resolved. I believe blue gel cube will not stop bouncing under any circumstance until it is clean, or am I mistaken?

Anyway, thanks for the comments! Really appreicate it.

Just a small point: When you close the emancipation grills in the first room part of their model sticks through the brush. Other than that, a few more texture variations and it would look complete. The big chamber may have been a little too big, but it worked. I didn't use any of the disc. field portal surfaces or the funnel, and (solution question) was I supposed to stand on the laser cube back in the first room to be able to jump into a portal shot on the surface with a target on it?

Vordwann wrote:
Just a small point: When you close the emancipation grills in the first room part of their model sticks through the brush.

Mainly attributed to the brush work by shawy. The wall there is only about 14 units think. The model I believe is about 32 units thick. You can draw your own conclusions from that. As I stated previously; as this is his first map, lets not dwell on semantics.

Vordwann wrote:
Other than that, a few more texture variations and it would look complete. The big chamber may have been a little too big, but it worked.

We were not going for a "complete" look. We understand there are serious visual flaws with this map. It would be more beneficial for shawy to put the lessons he has learnt from this map into creating a new one rather then aimlessly fixing his first, which for most mappers, first isnt best.

Vordwann wrote:
I didn't use any of the disc. field portal surfaces or the funnel

Vordwann wrote:
was I supposed to stand on the laser cube back in the first room to be able to jump into a portal shot on the surface with a target on it?

Yes.

In the big chamber, is intended solution to spray the blue gel on the light walkway? I can get this way to the lower light, but when I try to have blue gel spray out of a portal and then while blue gel is in stil in the air put a light below it, game literaly CRASHES...

I'm playing custom maps and record my first time of playing them. So the run is not perfect and may not use only intended ways, but maybe it can let you see how other people may understand the map or you could just enjoy someone playing this map for entertainment.
Anyways, here is the recording:

Nfcvl2VGW9A
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfcvl2VGW9A)

Also note the video description for more feedback and my signature for additional project information.

iWork925 wrote:

We were not going for a "complete" look. We understand there are serious visual flaws with this map. It would be more beneficial for shawy to put the lessons he has learnt from this map into creating a new one rather then aimlessly fixing his first, which for most mappers, first isnt best.

First was definitely not best for me. Here is my Hammer experience up to now. First I tried making a clean chamber but, as I didn't know how to use the face edit tool, clipped brushes to make only one face point outwards and so had tons of horribly angled visleafs. Next, I tried to make an old aperture map. It was a general success, and my first finished map, although it lacked a lot of the large puzzle style that Old Aperture had. Next, I went back with my increased amount of Hammer knowledge and tried to remake my first map, although after a while, despite obvious improvements to the original design, the puzzle didn't have much potential. However, finally, now I am almost done working on a map in the destroyed theme that I am very satisfied with. So, it was a long process.

Korl wrote:
In the big chamber, is intended solution to spray the blue gel on the light walkway? I can get this way to the lower light, but when I try to have blue gel spray out of a portal and then while blue gel is in stil in the air put a light below it, game literaly CRASHES...

Sorry to hear about your game crashing, mulitple people have tested this map and no-one has reported any crashes with the map.

You're spot in with the solution though.

@Djinndrache - Thanks very much for the video, I really enjoyed watching it. I see what you mean about the funnel. I'm not going to attempt to 'fix' that because what you did was rather clever. Simple, but clever. The intended solution is a little more complex - you're supposed to paint the cube using the funnel.

I noticed you used quick-load a lot. We tried to design this map so that you never need to load, because of the Portal 2 glitch in which paint does not stay on lightbridges when you load. Notice when you fizzled the cube, all the lasers are de-activated, therefore another one can easily be obtained.

Other than that you pretty much did everything as intended, well done!

@Vordwann - Like iWork has said, yes there are some imperfections with this map, those are down to my inexperience with Hammer. iWork did a fantastic job with what I gave him, but he could only do so much. Like walls too thin to properly fit emancipation grill emitters in and such..

The large room is indeed a bit too big, I know this. Believe it or not that's how big it is after reducing it in size... twice.

Would you be able to tell me how you managed to do the puzzle if you didn't use any of the discouragement field surfaces and no funnel? I'm OK with having alternative solutions, just as long as half the puzzle isn't skipped.

Thanks for your comments.

Korl wrote:
I can get this way to the lower light, but when I try to have blue gel spray out of a portal and then while blue gel is in stil in the air put a light below it, game literaly CRASHES...

I admit the same bug, as soon as you fire a portal at the end of the light bridge, my game either exits to the menus or literaly crashes, this is the pic where it happens:

Had much trouble shooting my video because of that glitch.

PORTAL 2 VENDETTA

QfaDrljXk1I

My impression is it's a beautiful map with things to figure out. I liked the well thought music that helps thinking and I liked large spaces as well. Therefore, my rate is 5/Excellent.

I used gel instead of the light bridge to to get to the switch to trigger the laser. The gel blead through the wall and was a convienient spot to be able to jump into the portal on the other side. I got the cube out the hard way. I threw it over. DOH! I liked it 5/5

i also have the crash problem when firing a portal to get gel on the bridge.Not just this map either but in a couple of others where the setting for gel is set to high

Fun map, looks good and great puzzles. For some reason, the part that took the longest for me was getting to the high platform in the light bridge room. It took me a while to figure out how to get a light bridge covered with gel up there.

EndHBQVkYyA

shawy89 wrote:
Sorry to hear about your game crashing, mulitple people have tested this map and no-one has reported any crashes with the map.

Can't make it not crash, no matter how I approach this, game just exits back to desktop the moment I press the portal to the light bridge. Oh well...

I like the difficulty of the puzzles; medium difficulty to figure out, but a little harder to execute. The look of the map was just OK, nothing offensive to the eyes but just a little plain.

One downside for the player on a map which uses gel on lightbridges is that after reloading from a save point, the gel is gone. I spent a lot of time repainting bridges while I experimented with different solutions.

I found three different ways to get the cube out of the dropper room, none of which I consider exploits:

1.Drop gel from funnel onto cube
2. Bounce cube from funnel off gel on wall
3. Gel lightbridge under cube dropper
Perhaps that wasn't your original design, but isn't it nice when things work out that way (multiple valid solutions?)

While this isn't a map I will go back and replay many times, I do recommend it for a decent mental challenge the first time through. A 4/5 from me.

For people expirencing crashing or what not, try lowering your portal 2 settings.

shawy89 wrote:
I noticed you used quick-load a lot. We tried to design this map so that you never need to load, because of the Portal 2 glitch in which paint does not stay on lightbridges when you load. Notice when you fizzled the cube, all the lasers are de-activated, therefore another one can easily be obtained.

Yes, I noticed this bug. It's annoying but I guess it's not about this map but about the engine of the game, so I have to live with it

shawy89 wrote:
Other than that you pretty much did everything as intended, well done!

Damn, I prefer to find my own ways

Was it really intended to get the cube like that? That depends pretty much on luck..

Excellent map, well thought out puzzle. I did use the funnel only to move the cube, but I see how it could be avoided. Still I try to do the intended solution which usually involves everything in clean type maps.... thanks for creating

Djinndrache wrote:
Was it really intended to get the cube like that? That depends pretty much on luck..

No. When I said 'other than that' I was referring to how you got the cube. Other than your method of getting the cube, everything was done as intended. You were supposed to use the funnel to obtain the cube!

Very well developed map; mostly from a novice! Even with iWork925 help, it is very good for a beginner.

I liked much the lightning with the observation room projecting the shadows in the main room and adjacent semi-room (beyond the fizzler). Textures are well chosen and I like the mixing of big and small squares on them.

The spawner-gelwasher gives some clue that you have to paint the cube. Maybe to hide it for a later appearance would have been a good idea. Anyway, the cube can be obtained many different ways. Apart from painting it blue, you can also paint the front wall where the cube-dropper is, and then funnel the cube towards the wall, after the funnel is gone, the cube bounces forward to you

About the change of status in the room if you lost a cube against the fizzler... I guess it's intended, and after I asked myself about why would you even include an easier version of your own puzzle, I determined that I liked that! I consider it defiant, so if the player cannot handle the situation, you frustrate his courage offering a simpler version, a version without any damage... it's a curious detail I never found, and it's great.

Here is my playthrough:


e86-n4Hya48

Thanks for mapping!

Hi. I just created an account to let you guys know that this map crashes on me..

It works fine until I get up to the upper level with the button.. Then it crashes. Well the game doesn't crash.. The developer console pops up and the game reloads itself.

I've tried this 2 times now. It seems to reload the map at the same spot for me each time. Not sure why.

I just watched the youtube video posted above.. To be more clear.. The map reloads when I hit the button that makes the blue funnel appear.

Try lowering your visual settings and try again.

Great map. Lots of fun!

I had yet to see the final shape of the map after the first betatests. Looks are neat and Clean now, from the carnivalesque beginnings, and everything certainly looks like it comes with a purpose.

However, that's not completely true about the gameplay. The puzzle is actually setting up a jump, in the spirit of many first maps which are big chambers to set up the big escape maneuver in. And not even so tight: there's a wide range of mistakes possible from getting the gel jump wrong. As to say, so far so good - but this is just a start.

Korl wrote:
shawy89 wrote:

Sorry to hear about your game crashing, mulitple people have tested this map and no-one has reported any crashes with the map.

Can't make it not crash, no matter how I approach this, game just exits back to desktop the moment I press the portal to the light bridge. Oh well...

Indeed the bug is there, steps to reproduce:

1. Press the button to start gel flow.
2. Turn around to fire a portal to the light bridge.
3. As soon as you click to fire a portal, left mouse button or right, the game crashes.

This is the screenshot when firing a portal to the light bridge WHILE the gel is flowing behind my back. My game is fully updated but the crash bug nonetheless persists:

Portal2Two wrote:
As soon as you fire a portal at the end of the light bridge, my game either exits to the menus or literaly crashes, this is the pic where it happens:

PORTAL 2 VENDETTA

I take it I'm correct in assuming that if you don't make the jump over the screen from the painted light bridges you have to bounce your way back up instead of reloading (which makes the gel disappear) unless you want to do the painting thing all over again?