will do!

I couldnt download it. I'll keep trying since that could be my connection, but i'm very happy to record a demo when i can.

must be your connection. works fine for me. (I am loving this selection of smilies!)
Also, thank you!

Turns out i'm unable to download any maps from here at the moment

EDIT: Okidokes, demos and feedback.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KAN4AA60

I didnt like how fiddly shooting portals back into the gels in the first room was. Why was the orange gel in the first room anyway? I'd suggest moving it to room 2, so players dont get confused in the first room. Plus the blue gel becomes a tad trickier, and feels more like cheating the system if you havent just done it as the intended solution.

I LOVED this MAP. It went in my "Best Maps" folder.

It was so damn fun to play - I don't care about whether it had this type of faith plate - or that . . . it was a lotta fun and it took a while to finish. I want MORE . . .

lifeson99 wrote:
it was a lotta fun and it took a while to finish. I want MORE . . .

Glad you enjoyed it! I got pretty discouraged when I saw I didn't even make the long list of runner ups. But I suppose for my first portal map I can't expect too much. Knowing that many people have enjoyed it is very rewarding by itself, and that's why I started mapping to begin with, so why let anything get in the way of that.

Not sure I'm going to get around to making more any time soon. I got a whole fist full of real life just slapping me in the face with my own hand and saying "quit hitting yourself! quit hitting yourself!" at the moment. Hopefully I can get a solid handle on that soon and then find some more time for another project. Thanks again!

Very nice map Ratboy, everything worked fine and creative puzzles in the old style....Thanks for mapping.....

Thanks dude! I might get around to updating this soon.

This was great. I felt like I was playing Portal 2 with more difficulty - but still not enough to make it frustrating. This is exactly what I want from a mod.

Just two things:

||1) At some places the player dies too easily by being too slow. While this is easily avoided by the player after 1-2 failed attempts, I still don't feel that the over-restrictive time limit adds anything to the mod. It feels like artificial difficulty - something not worth of this map. I mean, I don't think anything will be lost if you just let every timer go for 2 more seconds.

2) I have managed to get stuck at one point around the broken ladders ("stuck" as in "couldn't go even a step out of the spot"). It is very hard to explain where it was, and I have no idea where the screenshots I took with Steam's new screenshot feature are located (except "in the cloud", but that still shows 0 screenshots). I'll get back to you when/if I find them. Did I already mention that Steam sucks a big one?||

arvisrend wrote:
This was great. I felt like I was playing Portal 2 with more difficulty - but still not enough to make it frustrating. This is exactly what I want from a mod.

Just two things:

||1) At some places the player dies too easily by being too slow. While this is easily avoided by the player after 1-2 failed attempts, I still don't feel that the over-restrictive time limit adds anything to the mod. It feels like artificial difficulty - something not worth of this map. I mean, I don't think anything will be lost if you just let every timer go for 2 more seconds.

2) I have managed to get stuck at one point around the broken ladders ("stuck" as in "couldn't go even a step out of the spot"). It is very hard to explain where it was, and I have no idea where the screenshots I took with Steam's new screenshot feature are located (except "in the cloud", but that still shows 0 screenshots). I'll get back to you when/if I find them. Did I already mention that Steam sucks a big one?||

Thanks for the feedback and compliments! Lets see, yes I realized at one point that timing elements are kind of a cheap way to make a puzzle difficult, but I'm gonna jump on the band wagon and blame the whole "two weeks to build it" thing. I've criticized other maps for having puzzles that aren't difficult to figure out but are too difficult to execute, and it seems I've been a slight hypocrite. You're probably right, a couple seconds wouldn't hurt (except maybe on the bridge. I cut that so close because it was possible to get across without even using propulsion gel, but that was before I put the fizzler in the shaft and you could just jump down and use momentum to get across... so never mind, this is moot).

As for getting stuck... I think you mean by the broken walkway under the exit elevator? Yeah, that happened to me once or twice, but it was so rare I didn't think to make any fool-proof way to prevent it. Some player clips always get the job done there.

Thanks again!

I'm glad to see your spirits are back up, Ratboy. Keep making great maps! Also, if you are so inclined, I'm sure a lot of us are looking forward to any updates you want to make to this one.

I like the way you mixed some time criticality in with the use of the gels, and indeed that facet of the map really fits with the title (reading goo = gel, not the acid bath that awaits below). However, I agree with the poster above, a couple of the timings might be a little tight for some players. Before I found the button to lock the bridge, I briefly believed it was necessary to run both ways on the bridge to launch through the portals before it collapsed, and then once I experienced the very short time window a few times (and resulting player death), it became obvious, "Oh man, NO WAY that is the solution." So clearly if the timers are too long, it sends people down alternate solution paths that end up not being as fun or creating the same sense of further exploration being needed. I like that this map has some sense of urgency punctuated throughout.

@Ratboy: Yes, I think it was that broken walkway. I just don't feel comfortable recommending mods to people when console commands are required to finish them... are you sure all the rubble is necessary for the level to work?

arvisrend wrote:
@Ratboy: Yes, I think it was that broken walkway. I just don't feel comfortable recommending mods to people when console commands are required to finish them... are you sure all the rubble is necessary for the level to work?

Quite a few people in this forum thread have commented saying they like the degree and style of the visual detailing in Ratboy's map. It creates a palpable sense of being in a "real" place. A lot of the visual candy isn't necessary for the level to work, but then that's true for many maps.

Rather than take the catwalks out, there's an easy fix for this issue (using a player noclip) that would prevent the player from falling into that stuck point, and which would make experiential sense since the metal there is a jumble anyway. Remember this was a contest map and that like all the others it was done under intense time pressure. Some mappers are now updating and tweaking their maps with fixes like this, and I'm sure Ratboy will do so if he wants to. It's a shame not to recommend the map to others over this one seemingly quite rare and certainly unintended gameplay "gotcha".

This probably was the most fun I so far have had with a gel map.
A big thumbs up and 5/5 cakes.
The only downside is that it's still fairly easy... I am still waiting for a tough one

Wow! I'm not sure I've ever had anybody defend my honor over a map before. Thanks for havin my back Beatdarwin.
@Arvisrend - I don't blame you, I don't like to point people at shit either. But I assure, I took the utmost care in making sure all the rubble and junk areas were perfectly traverse-able by covering it with a level clip brush. I just need to tweak the clip brush where you got stuck.
@Co0op - Thanks dude! Glad you enjoyed it! Man, I thought this was pretty tough to be honest. I guess I'll just go out of my way to be a douche and make it stupid hard next time

Haven't had a chance to update. Been busy with an online course, doing some freelance iphone app work, and chatting up a little philly. Its amazing how much time (not to mention money) one can lose to the female species.

All the other posters' compliments are well deserved. The final fling needed repeated attempts, because there is a lip at the portal end of the bridge. However, I only died twice from the bad bounces out of the upper room. I was surprised that such an open-looking map kept the player contained so well. 4/5 from me, added to favorites list.

"Was that so hard?" - Yes, it was!
For the life of me, I couldn't figure out the last fling. I guess I was supposed to cover the X-marked plate with blue gel but there was absolutely no way of doing that.
Also, why there is no walkthrough video for this map? I found videos for all maps to this time but for this map I didn't. I had to noclip
Besides that - great map! I really loved the flings in the first half of the map. Your mapping style is gorgeous - keep up the good work!

Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about the last fling though. The x marked plate was for you to put blue gel on the floor, then use the orange gel runway to fling up and bounce off of it. It can be tricky though because you have to make sure to cover the last bit of the runway with some more speed gel.

I tried to get somebody to make a video for it a while ago, but nobody did. One person made a recording that was viewable in-game, but not a real video that could go on you tube. If anybody wants to get around to doing that, that would be awesome.

Ratboy wrote:
Glad you enjoyed it! Sorry about the last fling though. The x marked plate was for you to put blue gel on the floor, then use the orange gel runway to fling up and bounce off of it. It can be tricky though because you have to make sure to cover the last bit of the runway with some more speed gel.

I tried to get somebody to make a video for it a while ago, but nobody did. One person made a recording that was viewable in-game, but not a real video that could go on you tube. If anybody wants to get around to doing that, that would be awesome.

I hope to have it uploaded tomorrow!

awesome dude! get it uploaded yet?