This single player level uses faith plates and gel with an underground theme, and a behind the scenes twist. This was built specifically for the contest within the last week and a half, and also happens to be my first portal map (but it ain't my first rodeo). Enjoy!

Click here to download Faith in Goo

Click here to download Faith in Goo

Excellent

Immersive, vast and labyrinthine: the whole building volume is used unsparingly. Rarely you get to explore the whole building so in and out, up and down thoroughly - despite always knowing where to go next.

Some stocky structures could place it behind the similar dreadnaughts out there, but this one's lenght gives all a run for their money.

That may-hap be the most well stated review I've ever received xdiesp. I'm glad it was in my favor! Very happy to see its being taken well so far. Any issues with framerate? The one crux of having an amazing video card is that I don't hardly think about optimization anymore (not that there's much you can do but hope for the best in a wide open underground test sphere, am I right?).

Ratboy wrote:
Any issues with framerate?

Nope, and I usually notice that with my notebook.

Awesome, just plain awesome. I had to actually look around and think about how I was setting stuff up before I went, and while I like Lobster's retro Faith Plates better yours were clever. Love the particle board springs!

Skunkrocker wrote:
Awesome, just plain awesome. I had to actually look around and think about how I was setting stuff up before I went, and while I like Lobster's retro Faith Plates better yours were clever. Love the particle board springs!

I am pleased to hear it worked out that way for you. This is the most complicated puzzle I've ever built, I'm used to action shooters. And yes, I like Lobsters faith plates better too, but I couldn't steal them now could I? But for the record, I did have the idea for retro faith plates independently (I had not played his maps yet).

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

A very clever map indeed, achieving that fine balance between momentum and intelligence. As I have also noted with lobster's maps, you have defined the space within the sphere and utilized the entirety for the map with professionalism.

A common mistake of new map makers is to make a map where too much reveal, or too much is introduced too quickly. Your map is an example of the correct way: shielding the players of the real content around the corner, yet not feverishly hiding its presence with unnecessary filler. As has been stated in this thread already, it's also impressive that almost none of the map is there for show: it's almost all used.

I shall be keeping a close eye on your work.

5/5

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
A common mistake of new map makers is to make a map where too much reveal, or too much is introduced too quickly. .... As has been stated in this thread already, it's also impressive that almost none of the map is there for show: it's almost all used.

I'm not a new map maker This is my first portal map yes, but I've built community maps for zombie panic, and am currently on the Guard Duty mod team rebuilding HL:Blue Shift. (for free of course)

As for the lack of wasted space, thank you for noticing. That's one of my most base assumptions when designing. If people see something interesting, they're damn well gonna want a closer look at it, so never place a set piece you don't intend to use, whether its something the player will interact with directly, or just visual story telling.

Thanks for your feedback! Intelligent people saying good things about my work =

Ratboy wrote:
That's one of my most base assumptions when designing. If people see something interesting, they're damn well gonna want a closer look at it, so never place a set piece you don't intend to use, whether its something the player will interact with directly, or just visual story telling.

This is a great map, and as others have commented, the sense of space is very believable. It encourages the player to explore for solutions. However, there was one situation near the end of the level where what seemed to be a very appealing solution was blocked by an invisible wall, somewhat breaking immersion.

Once the hidden source of blue gel is discovered, and the bridge locked into place, it is tempting to coat the bridge with repulsion gel and attempt to bounce onto the roof of the low building next to it (the one with indicator lights on top); this is where a hidden wall seems to block that action. If the player could get onto that roof, it looks like it would be possible to jump over the locked gate, ascend the stairs and go through the door into the main chamber. From there, my theory was that you could use the aerial faith plate to take a long jump into a portal in the platform on the post, and then out of a previously placed portal on the inclined surface below the ruined office. I was pretty convinced this had to be the solution, and looked for a way to do it for quite awhile. By contrast, the realization that I just needed to add an extra patch of orange gel to the runway to launch all the way into the office was kind of a letdown. So the roof, the gate and the stairway up to the door were all red herrings for what seemed like it would have been a fun solution. Just sharing this observation in case you are considering an update!

Quote:
I'm not a new map maker

Oh, no. I didn't aim that at you. I meant that you provide a good example of how to utilize the space correctly and was trying to direct for the newer mapmakers reading this thread of it.

beatdarwin wrote:
Once the hidden source of blue gel is discovered, and the bridge locked into place, it is tempting to coat the bridge with repulsion gel and attempt to bounce onto the roof of the low building next to it (the one with indicator lights on top); this is where a hidden wall seems to block that action. If the player could get onto that roof, it looks like it would be possible to jump over the locked gate, ascend the stairs and go through the door into the main chamber. From there, my theory was that you could use the aerial faith plate to take a long jump into a portal in the platform on the post, and then out of a previously placed portal on the inclined surface below the ruined office. I was pretty convinced this had to be the solution, and looked for a way to do it for quite awhile. By contrast, the realization that I just needed to add an extra patch of orange gel to the runway to launch all the way into the office was kind of a letdown. So the roof, the gate and the stairway up to the door were all red herrings for what seemed like it would have been a fun solution. Just sharing this observation in case you are considering an update!

I had never thought of that. I was actually trying really hard to find a good use for that "extra" staircase to somehow involve it in the puzzle. I think that could be just what this map needs. But as far as using everything, that staircase DOES in fact serve a purpose for one ridiculously unlikely, but very possible scenario. If you get to the box dispenser loft, and have already put blue gel on the middle rotating platform, and you jump from the faith plate below without pressing the button first, the middle platform will still be at a 45 degree anngle and facing to the right, which will bounce you DIRECTLY onto the middle of the "unreachable" staircase. I chose to leave this and simply make the door open, then auto close to allow you to return to the puzzle unscathed. But I like your idea very very much, and I may incorporate that into future iterations.
Thanks for your feedback!

ForbiddenDonut wrote:
Oh, no. I didn't aim that at you. I meant that you provide a good example of how to utilize the space correctly and was trying to direct for the newer mapmakers reading this thread of it.

Oh, ok, I figured that's what you were doing, but I just wanted to make sure you weren't saying "You're good for a new map maker" but at no point did I take it as an insult or anything. We're on the same page, no worries! Thanks again!

Wow. Sorry to take so long commenting on your map, but it took me a while to find in the download list.

This is pretty amazing. Aesthetically pleasing, functionally complete, bug free as far as I can tell, I think we may have a contest winner.
The puzzle flow was excellent, almost completely seamless. I found myself taking time over each part but not too long. My only problem was two parts: ||One, after I made it over to the area with the bridge button it took me a while to notice that the blue goo spot had been lowered and revealed behind the panels that fall. When I walked by the breaking panels the first time I just glanced at it and kept running past, didn't see the blue pant. I was on the ledge in the office towards the end for a few minutes looking around for it till I got lucky and noticed it out of the corner of my eye.

Two: Right at the end, after locking the bridge up, I kept having trouble flinging up into the office because when I painted the bridge orange, the section, (~128 units big) right in front of the portal you are supposed to dash into, remained unpainted and slowed my final fling so I couldn't make it up to the office without jumping or to the exit at all. IT took me about 5 minutes before I realized there was a portal surface to the right and I was supposed to spray paint ACROSS to fill in that last little gap before the final bridge-accellarate-fling-to-office-bounce-to-exit||

Very nice. I also liked the Wood plank version of the faithplate, that was neat you put in that extra work to make the plates fit in with the underground theme
5/5

CrazyGuy wrote:
Wow. Sorry to take so long commenting on your map, but it took me a while to find in the download list.

This is pretty amazing. Aesthetically pleasing, functionally complete, bug free as far as I can tell, I think we may have a contest winner.
Very nice. I also liked the Wood plank version of the faithplate, that was neat you put in that extra work to make the plates fit in with the underground theme
5/5

Thank you very much! Although I think you may be getting a little ahead of yourself, I'm not so sure I'll be winning this contest. Nevertheless, that's an excellent compliment. But you might want to try out Delta Bunsen and Edifice before you make that decision So far I've got those two pegged as the top single player mode maps. Haven't tried any coop yet.
As for the parts you had trouble with I think I did all I could to make the blue gel drip noticeable. Aside from shining a huge light array directly at it, then forcing you to walk directly past it, and then shaking the stairs while making panels break off, I'm pretty much out of ideas Then the shooting orange gel across to fill the gap, well yes, I admit that was kind of an afterthought rather than a calculated decision. Although I did try to make it as easy as possible to return to the "gel retrieval area" so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience once you realized. But no ones perfect right?
Anyway, very glad you enjoyed it, thanks again for the uber-compliment(s), and thanks for returning the favor of a review! Good luck to you in the contest, and in your future mapping endeavors.

Very nice. The puzzles are great, not to easy and not to difficult and it make a lot of fun to play it.

Right from the very start I couldn't help but notice how bright the map is. The broken railings towards the end seem almost fullbright, the water seemed almost glowy. 1940's themed maps generally run on the darker side with big, obvious floodlights lighting only the most necessary areas. I also noticed in at least 1 or 2 places that instead of using overlays for the various signage, you used what looked like 1 unit wide brushes. I'm also not so sure about the Ratman den, it seems really tacked on and didn't make much sense contextually.

These issues aside, you did a really good job with the 40's look overall. The gameplay of the map also really speaks for itself, the map is really very fun. I like how nearly the entire sphere is used there is almost no "fat" to the layout and design.

msleeper wrote:
Right from the very start I couldn't help but notice how bright the map is. The broken railings towards the end seem almost fullbright, the water seemed almost glowy. 1940's themed maps generally run on the darker side with big, obvious floodlights lighting only the most necessary areas. I also noticed in at least 1 or 2 places that instead of using overlays for the various signage, you used what looked like 1 unit wide brushes. I'm also not so sure about the Ratman den, it seems really tacked on and didn't make much sense contextually.

These issues aside, you did a really good job with the 40's look overall. The gameplay of the map also really speaks for itself, the map is really very fun. I like how nearly the entire sphere is used there is almost no "fat" to the layout and design.

Well I must say I'm very relieved to hear your review Mr. Sleeper. The suspension was killing me! I'm glad you enjoyed it overall.

-As for it being too bright, I'm afraid I must not have my monitor calibrated properly. I keep the brightness turned down to reduce eye strain. I'll be sure to remedy that in the future.
-The couple of decals used on 1 unit brushes were due to the very large default size of the texture as an overlay. I didn't think anybody would mind.
-The rat man den was an idea I had simply as a place for the player to land if they jumped on the faith plate and bounced from the middle panel in the wrong direction. It was originally pure functionality which I later adapted to also serve as foreshadowing and explanation for the behind the scenes portion of the puzzle. I wanted it to appear as if the rat man was helping you through the "aperture un-official" solution. Nevertheless had I achieved this properly I wouldn't be explaining it now. So thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Thank you again for your compliments and constructive criticism. I'm happy to know that one way or another I've created a fun map for all to enjoy.

Ratboy wrote:
-The couple of decals used on 1 unit brushes were due to the very large default size of the texture as an overlay.

Overlays can be resized. It's one of their many advantages over decals. You should never have to use an actual decal as overlays have replaced them in every way.

msleeper wrote:
Overlays can be resized. It's one of their many advantages over decals. You should never have to use an actual decal as overlays have replaced them in every way.

That's funny, I looked really hard for a way to simply resize an overlay and couldn't figure it out. Even my indicator lights, I ended up having to use 1 unit brushes so that they weren't 3 times bigger. But I was able to align the brushes on the exact same plane as the floors and walls they were on without any horrible overlapping texture flickering glitches (probably because they are coded to be overlays). I guess I'll look harder for the keyvalue that re-sizes them. Nevertheless I feel I was pretty resourceful using what I had available to make it work anyway.

Also I have a request (not directed at you msleeper): could one of the "blind ride demo recording" guys do a video for my map? I'm sure one of you will get around to it eventually anyway, but I'm just really exited to actually get to watch some experienced players give it a run-through. No rush, but if you're trying to decide what to do next, I'm actually looking for it! Thanks guys!

It's the U Start / U End / V Start / V End that handles the resizing - or more appropriately, scaling. Read the VDC article on overlays for some more info.

You should never have to use a brush to place signage or inidcator strips.