You know where you have to go ? Okay, just have to find how you will... This is the goal of my very first map (first, but not botched).
This map doesn't require ninja-skills, but only brain-skills. You have some ? So try this ! and would you mind recording your blindrun for me ? (if your computer can record for hours of course... )

Update v7 (14/10/12) :
- put the map on the workshop PTI

Update v6 (25/06/12) :
- a few changes in the design of the first big room (added glass windows)
- fixed a few things noticed by Brainstone (added other autosaves, moved a walkway/a faith plate/ducts, fixed the arrival/departure videos) and by greykarel (changed the animation of 2 faith plates)
- removed the env_projectedtexture and put toolsblocklight textured brushes instead (to get static shadows of a grate)

Update v5 (21/06/12) :
- a completely new design for the room with the light bridge (i hope you'll like it)

Update v4 (19/06/12) :
- added a platform to avoid falling in a small gap at the top of a funnel (noticed by Yorgn)
- minor fixes for the design (made the foliage to sway, added an env_projectedtexture)

Update v3 (04/06/12) :
- removal of an anoying looping sound at the bottom of the well
- changed a weird sentence of GLaDOS (noticed by KennKong)

Update v2 (28/05/12) :
- made a trigger_hurt deal more damage to prevent getting upstairs by wall strafing at the end (thanks to Shakky)
- removal of a huge shortcut (found by KennKong and greykarel, well done guys !)

Click here to download Companion

Click here to download Companion

Done! Great map! Good look and I liked the puzzle. I found some parts tedious to jump through and I fell down alot because the game doesn't recognize jumping if it conciders you falling.

My blindrun took about 50min without a little break I had at one point.
I also found both secret rooms afterwards after some looking around. P-body trigger didn't trigger first time I found him so I had to go there twice to get the proper end message.

I also had little framedrops but nothing major.

Here it is when it finishes uploading:
Xl2y7OBC3y0

Great job! 5/5

Shakky wrote:
Done! Great map! Good look and I liked the puzzle.

Thank you ! i couldn't stand waiting to know what people thought of the map ! would you say it has a medium or hard difficulty ?

Shakky wrote:
P-body trigger didn't trigger first time

It triggers not when you find the secret place, but only when you open the door (to see P-body). Did you open the door the first time ? ...cause i tried many times to see if the ending message was correct and it always was...

Thanks for rating, i can't wait to see your blindrun

The blindrun is still rendering. I would say the map was probably medium-hard. Not even close to grayarea's maps but still challenging.

Shakky wrote:
The blindrun is still rendering.

I watched the whole video, great ! I was wondering, how do you run this fast through fire at the end (on the stairs) ? I tried running and jumping but i get killed each time (like i should, in fact), but you didn't get killed...i thought my trigger_hurt was large enough...ow as i'm writting this i think it's because you disabled (in the console) being hurt by lasers and all that stuff, isn't it ? ok then, my trigger hurt should be right.

I went and retried it and you can survive it simply by wall strafing against the railing like I did in the video.

You will have to make the trigger bigger or deal more damage.

Video tutorial for wall strafing if you don't know what I'm talking about:
CzELVBOZikk

I think I'm hopelessly stuck. I got the companion cube on the button to open the door to the exit before I ever even tried going to the other side where the sphere-activated funnel takes you. The refectocube that activated the blue gel is still in that room, and I think I need it to open the exit. But there's no way back to that room. And I can't get to the above mentioned "other side" anymore either.

In case you're wondering how I got the companion cube (CC) to the exit switch:
After getting CC to the lightbridge room, drop through floor back into bottom of faithplate well (from fling to grab CC in the first place), and use faithplate to push you and CC out of well. You can do this without even having gotten the reflectocube, even though I had. I think this route is what screwed the pooch for me.

I watched Shakky's video, and clearly something's different. I never land in the funnel when I fling acros the room. I overshoot it every time.

Why does GlaDOS tell me "Don't do it!" when I walk to the faithplate in the center of the room? The only thing that can happen there is death, anyway.

Look nice, but as puzzle it has a serious flaw. It's possible to skip half the puzzle element. I've managed to finish it without using any gels, funnels ang going to the other side at all. Just got the companion and laser cubes by the way similiar to KennKong's. And go out with them to the exit area. If you are interested I could post video later.

Solved with no secret rooms

KennKong wrote:
use faithplate to push you and CC out of well.

greykarel wrote:
Just got the companion and laser cubes by the way similiar to KennKong's

Well done ! I can't believe, after playing this map hundreds of times, i didn't notice this huuuuuuuuuuge unintended shortcut !
Well, thanks a lot for feedbacks, you'll now find the updated map (v2) with a few changes.
Please tell me if there is still something wrong !

Thanks for playing !
Canari

Nice map!
Overview:

Difficulty: Medium-hardish

Looks: Good

Time spent: About 45-50 mins

@sigmas55 :
For the secret rooms : there are clues... you can find them by loooking around... if you find one, you'll know how to find the other...

@QWE :
Thanks for these details

Thank you both for testing

Brilliant map! Really cool and well thought-out puzzle, I liked the idea of coming back using tubes.
Also lighting in the main room was quite interesting. But what really impressed me was that destruction of whole map when you finally got the companion cube into that place where are two ball buttons, and just how things changed and you had less possibilities.That was really great idea. 5/5!

Dom44 wrote:
Brilliant map! Really cool and well thought-out puzzle, I liked the idea of coming back using tubes.
Also lighting in the main room was quite interesting. But what really impressed me was that destruction of whole map when you finally got the companion cube into that place where are two ball buttons, and just how things changed and you had less possibilities.That was really great idea. 5/5!

Well ! I'm so glad you enjoyed it ! I spent so much time learning how to create a map with hammer...
I have a few other ideas for next maps, and i have to say that even if i don't always have much time (i also have a job ) this kind of feedback is just the right motivation to continue !
Thanks !

Yes, this was one of the best map I played in quite a while, one of the select few that will go into my 'excellent' folder. Please quit your job and do some more maps - who needs to eat? Who needs a life?

What I like about it is that you have a room packed with differents elements and you really have to work out how everything works, giving you a lot of 'HA HA' moments and a great sense of continuous pregression. There seems to be a lot of possibilities - and yet in the end only one path. For instance, I lost a lot of time in the beginning because I was persuaded you had to go to the other side and come back with a portal on the funnel to be able to catch the very first CC. It contrasts with the minimalist style of most hard maps out there (though that's not to sy I don't like them) that reduces the number of elements to constrain the solution.

Nice touch with P-body too! Gave me a smile...

PS: just a tiny 'but', the funnel that goes up on a timer is a bit frustrating, when you try to get out to the top floor, you often fall in the small gap in between the two. I got around it by landing on the ledge of the fizzler first but it does not seem to be part of the challenge as it is not required to do so (and would probably qualify as a ninja solution which you wnat to avoid). Simply put the funnel closer if you want to solve this.

Yorgn wrote:
Yes, this was one of the best map I played in quite a while, one of the select few that will go into my 'excellent' folder. Please quit your job and do some more maps - who needs to eat? Who needs a life?

I'm soooo flattered ! Okay i may survive without a job for a few months...but then i have to deal with my wife a bit jealous of my computer...

Yorgn wrote:
PS: just a tiny 'but', the funnel that goes up on a timer is a bit frustrating, when you try to get out to the top floor, you often fall in the small gap in between the two.

That's right, in fact you need to wait to reach the very closest to the roof and then walk straight out the funnel looking up...but i agree that's not fully satisfying and i put this as the first item in my "to do" list for v4.

Thaaaaaanks Yorgn !

errm.. are you sure that you have not broken this map with v5? Because I will get stuck after purchasing the laser cube and the companion cube and enabling the blue gel. I am just neither able to transport the cubes anywhere else nor am I able to get the blue gel anywhere. There are just fizzlers anywhere you look and no white surfaces. I can get into the other room with the steep floor surface, but that isn't useful at all.

If I missed the solution, don't tell me how, only that there is one.

Oh, and another thing that bugged me, is that jump over the destroyed walkway over the slime pit. I fell in the acid three times when I accidently jumped against the railing on the other side. And an autosave was only there at the beginning. I started using F6 then.

Brainstone wrote:
If I missed the solution, don't tell me how, only that there is one.

There is one !

Brainstone wrote:
that jump over the destroyed walkway over the slime pit. I fell in the acid three times when I accidently jumped against the railing on the other side

That's right...you're not the first one with this problem so i put this on my "to fix" list for the day i make a 6th version...i just wait a few to see if people find other problems in order not to have updates too frequently.

Thanks for feedback and don't give up !!! you're about to get the key !

Okay, I just solved it. I need to compliment you: You have shown excellent skill in creating this puzzle. Mind-bending, a bit frustrating sometimes, but so very satisfying in the end. A really true 5/5

Some minor things were: that walkway thingy as said, some misaligned tiles (as usual in every critique), the catapult at the very start could be set a bit higher, because you don't get into the tractor beam every time, and at the same location it is actually not possible to go on that metal pipe once you hit the base of the tractor beam. This spot is a bit uncomfortable.
And also, elevator videos were not working. Allow me to make a little advertisement for my elevators.

Brainstone wrote:
A really true 5/5

Brainstone wrote:
Some minor things were: that walkway thingy as said, some misaligned tiles (as usual in every critique), the catapult at the very start could be set a bit higher, because you don't get into the tractor beam every time, and at the same location it is actually not possible to go on that metal pipe once you hit the base of the tractor beam. This spot is a bit uncomfortable.

That's right, i had noticed all that, but it's always interesting to know what is anoying or frustrating to people, and what is not, in order to fix only what needs to be.
In the 6th version i will fix the walkway, the catapult, the tractor beam (or the metal pipe).
For the misaligned tiles, it is soooo frustrating to me because it is now hard to fix that without changing scales of the tiles. In fact, when i started to learn how to build a map with hammer, i didn't pay attention to the grid size and started to make walls at the scale of 1 instead of 16 or 32... and now if i want to align tiles, walls, and models, first it seems to be a lot of work and by moving objects i could allow unintended solutions ! do you think of an easy way to fix misaligned tiles ?

Brainstone wrote:
And also, elevator videos were not working. Allow me to make a little advertisement for my elevators.

Yeah i saw that in Shakky's blindrun but didn't know if it was something with Shakky's configuration or with my map...
Thanks for the link to your elevators, i will check this too before updating !

For now, i leave Toulouse for the weekend and go in the middle of France without any computer !!! I will do all this next week...

Thanks again.