I have a 39:44 blind playthrough recorded. I'm not posting it unless you really want to see it, because I'm so embarassed. After I got a portalgun (see below), it took me 5 minutes to figure out how the sendificator worked. From there, the stupidity in me took over. I can't believe it took me so damn long to figure out such simple puzzles!

I spawned without a portalgun. Did I miss one lying around? After about 8 minutes, I just gave myself one and finally got going.

The decayed theme is one of my least favorites, because all the holes in the walls and ceilings lead to wasting time looking for portal surfaces. Nonetheless, your map is beautifully done.

The sendificator is a great concept, but I suspect it will be prone to abuse because it has all the drawbacks of laser puzzles in general.

This map is shorter and simpler than what I reserve 5's for, but it is very well done and I give you a bonus point for the new mechanic, so 5/5 from me.

This is one of the most creative maps I've ever played in Portal 2 I'm hoping to see great maps from you.
Anyways here is a tutorial that I made if you don't mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtLOPGWuwIc

HCN wrote:
Sorry but i don't get the 2 chamber...
I can open the first door with 1 cube and then I don't know how to open the butten to the second door. maybe I'm to stupid or maybe its because of the 5 beer i had... please help me...

You will hate yourself for asking this when you find it out probably. I'll give you this hint, even though it might sound stupid: The laser cube can redirect the laser. And the sendificator sends cubes at the target of the laser beam.

Love the map - destroyed is my second favorite after underground. Map looked great - the new concept is excellent - sure beats lugging those things around...lol! I had 1 brain stall moment in last chamber - did a "oh duh" and finished it. I think you should replace the glass breaking sound with something more "cosmic". Other than that, it was tons of fun - perhaps you can find a way to let the player transport as well - now that would be interesting. 5 cakes for sure! - Thanks for making!

I'm very glad to hear that most people manage to solve it (eventually) and that there are relatively few new bugs. And I love all of your positive comments about the visual design! That did take quite a bit of work

I'm going to get a quick bugfix release out and then I'll start working on better sound effects for the sendificator. (Along with the next map in the series, of course.)

The idea BEARD! and soad667 had, to send multiple cubes at once, sounds very intruiging. I need to think about that. However I probably won't allow the player to transport themselves, since that would seem an illogical thing to do. You'd get your butt fried off by the deadly laser

KennKong wrote:
I spawned without a portalgun. Did I miss one lying around?

No you didn't, you're supposed to have one from the start. The reason that didn't happen is probably because of my assumption that everyone will have the standard vscript files, in particular "sp_transition_list.nut". The map list in that file is patched (in RAM) when the game loads, in order to give the player the correct portal gun and also to make sure that it transitions to the next map, once that is released. It looks like I'll have to think of another way to do that, that doesn't rely on external files so much.

(By the way, I find your mod template structure very useful. I now have a separate folder for my development stuff, and another one for all downloaded maps. It's super organised!)

Wow HMW; I knew you had the mad skills but this map was lovely. I will recommend these tests as a new spotlight. Awesome job!
Test 1: Good tutorial; Straightforward but you have to understand what it does to solve it and solving it helps you understand it!

Puzzle 2 was very clever. And a real portal 2; YES! I GOT IT! Brilliant! You took laser puzzles to a whole new level and I really can't wait to see more of the maps with this element. Basically it's all what a laser can do but 10x better. AWESOME

Puzzle 3 was a nice puzzle too, the placement of the button for the first sendificator was a very clever, subtle hint to the player.

Really; hands down
Amazing job!

I loved these maps, everything about it. First you think: "where did that cube just go to?", then you see the laser and it all makes sense. I have NO idea how you made this happen, but this is the most creative custom element I have seen in a long, long time. (Pretty much since Portal 2 was released, that is )

I did get some severe lag all throughout the map, visleaves weren't optimized and it was all so open, but that's probably just my pc. Still love all of this. Great job!

I just posted a small bug-fix update:
* removed dependency on sp_transition_list.nut (having a non-standard version of this file caused players to spawn without a portal gun)
* fixed cube dropping through floor in room 0
* various small cosmetic fixes

@FourthReaper: On my old laptop it lags too. The map is pretty optimised already (as far as it is possible to optimise a set of big, open rooms) so I probably can't do anything about this. (Except for cutting details of course...)

Great map!
Not too challenging and entertaining puzzles to solve.
Game environment simply spectacular.

Congratulations!

the falling through the floor bug is still there. Fortunately, the "real" floor is only a few units below the room's floor.

I did get some lag but that's just my PC i think, and its kinda hard to find out that the cube teleports were the laser is, you need to make that more obvious. I'm loving this concept though cant wait for more...

GLaDOS CUBE wrote:
I did get some lag but that's just my PC i think, and its kinda hard to find out that the cube teleports were the laser is, you need to make that more obvious. I'm loving this concept though cant wait for more...

I have to disagree here.

||Chamber 1:
Portal up to the upper part of the level.
See two inaccessible buttons.
Press the button; see the indicator lights go to the device.
Realise you have to put something on it.
Put the cube on the device; see the cube teleport.
Possibility: You see it appear at the end of the laser.

See that you can now fire a portal on the white wall.
Possibility: It's obvious you have to use this in the second part.
Realize there is another inaccessible button and you have a spare cube.
Shoot the portal so the laser is going to the inaccessible room.
See the cube appear at the end of the laser.||
That should be enough to teach the technique don't you think?
Everything that happens happens in the line of sight. I think it's a very very good tutorial map.
The only way it could be better is by some custom voice lines; but I didn't need them.

Do not open the below unless you want to read a possible spoiler into how to use this new testing element.

IPFREAKY & HMW read
||when i first went into that room. i actually did what you said Ip... however it confused me, because i did not know what was causing the teleport destination. i went to steal back the first cube from the other room thinking that as its locked to that first room, it would then teleport to the next one, not thinking on the laser.

i understand where you are coming from, but i dunno.. maybe having a more obvious that the laser is connected to the teleporter machine (maybe using the indicators?) also, maybe a redirection cube changing the lasers direction up on a shelf which you cannot get too. So you have one into the first little cube button place. Cube button place opens, to allow laser to get redirected, and end up in the other room. Showing that the laser controls the cube destination, while also showing that the lasers direction can be changed via a redirection cube (or portals)...

Its not much of a change, but little simplification onto a new testing element is what you need. You can get away with less obvious ways of solving puzzles which use a new technique if its using the same puzzle elements as the origonal game. see what i mean?||

This was a nice, enjoyable map. My only complaint is that when I see a laser on a portalable surface, the first thing I do is look for a catcher. So I spent a lot of time looking for that in all the nooks and crannies. And in this map, there are a lot of nooks and crannies.

silic wrote:
IPFREAKY & HMW read
||when i first went into that room. i actually did what you said Ip... however it confused me, because i did not know what was causing the teleport destination. i went to steal back the first cube from the other room thinking that as its locked to that first room, it would then teleport to the next one, not thinking on the laser.

i understand where you are coming from, but i dunno.. maybe having a more obvious that the laser is connected to the teleporter machine (maybe using the indicators?) also, maybe a redirection cube changing the lasers direction up on a shelf which you cannot get too. So you have one into the first little cube button place. Cube button place opens, to allow laser to get redirected, and end up in the other room. Showing that the laser controls the cube destination, while also showing that the lasers direction can be changed via a redirection cube (or portals)...

Its not much of a change, but little simplification onto a new testing element is what you need. You can get away with less obvious ways of solving puzzles which use a new technique if its using the same puzzle elements as the origonal game. see what i mean?||

I fully understand your problem. It's hopefully going to be better with the next version of the mechanism. I'm searching for a way to make the laser beam flash in a different colour when the machine activates, so it's more obvious that it's part of the mechanism. (This was planned from the start, but it's not easy to make and I was already sitting on this thing for a while )

Edit: overlooked this one:

protoborg wrote:
the falling through the floor bug is still there. Fortunately, the "real" floor is only a few units below the room's floor.

Can you tell me where that is happening? I fixed it in the right corner below the first button. (Meaning, I can't make it happen there anymore.)

HMW wrote:
I fully understand your problem. It's hopefully going to be better with the next version of the mechanism. I'm searching for a way to make the laser beam flash in a different colour when the machine activates, so it's more obvious that it's part of the mechanism. (This was planned from the start, but it's not easy to make and I was already sitting on this thing for a while )

It's actually horribly hard:( If you somehow manage to get it working PLEASE let me know how you did it.

Please?

Great map and very cool new concept. Loved the way the map trained me to use Sendificator. Also loved the setting. I found myself hunting around for hidden gems in the scenery.

As everyone else said, beautiful atmosphere.

It took me a bit too long to figure out what the point of the laser was, until I saw it blinking. Your comment on making it flash a different color sounds like a great idea. I also might have suggested changing the model of the laser emitter, but I'm afraid that might obfuscate its functions as a normal laser.
The rest was easy enough so it was a good introduction, and I liked the "not done yet" factor of the second chamber. I can think of a lot of interesting puzzles for this.

Brillant.

Q: If the activate button for the teleporter would be close enough to press it while standing on the platform, would the player get teleported?

Tailgunner wrote:
Brillant.

Q: If the activate button for the teleporter would be close enough to press it while standing on the platform, would the player get teleported?

heh, stand on a cube, point at a button and do
ent_fire !picker press
short answer, no... it would be pretty cool, but player teleportation opens its self to all sorts of stuck-in-geometry issues. Less of a problem with the cube given that each side is the same length while player is essentially a giant capsule.

On a side note, forgot to post my blindrun the other day...

L4Psy4ge_7w
Nothing to be terribly proud of, but it's blind nonethless

Edit:
Ninja solution!
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