This version is no longer available.

Welcome to the world of colors! CMRaSMS is a map consisting of 3 smaller chambers and a main hub. The puzzles will get harder further you go on and I feel that this will be a real challenge to all portal players.

If you read this before playing here is few small tips for you:
1. Quick save alot. I forgot to put in autosaves and now it's too late. (fixed in V1.1)
2. If you can move on to the next area you probably should. Some testing elements are needed later and you will just be wasting time trying to use them.
3. Plan ahead if you can. This might save you from running around.

The map was finished in a hurry and there are some known problems. For example, the green room has one portal surface on what the lightbridge stops randomly in mid air. Also because of the lighting, in some areas the windows may look completely transparent.

I will fix these problems and any other later found overtime and uploading newer improved versions of the map here: Color Me Rainbow and Spank Me Skyward

Credits
-Shakky: Puzzle design, mapping, consept
-Sicklebrick: Beta testing, technical support, texture help, emotional support and bunch of other stuff.

Click here to download Color Me Rainbow and Spank Me Skyward

Click here to download Color Me Rainbow and Spank Me Skyward

hey I had the same issue with the portal publishing tool, I almost got frustated with it but i right clicked-properties-compatibility-Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service Pack 3)... That worked with me

Here we go. Thanks alot eladiozro! That worked for me too.

Here is the workshop link for the map: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... d=87648921

Good luck guys! First one to solve it gets a huge cookie!

Btw. Am I allowed to alter the main post in any way? I'd like to write a better description and add more pictures but I don't want to get disqualified for that.

If you are wondering why the sv_cheats flashes on at the start, for some reason PTI doesn't allow mobile portals without it. It's just in the PTI version.

Heh, was hoping someone would have nailed at least the first half by now!

For some reason saves aren't working for me - every time I try to load it just kicks me to a screen with some random PTI animations. Needless to say, this is hindering my progress somewhat....

I had the same problem. Download the version on the regular forum; that one works okay.

This post is mainly for the judges only and saving problem and some other improvements have already made on the V1.1. I would recommend downloading that from here: Color Me Rainbow and Spank Me Skyward

I can't update the contest post nor the PTI post or I get disqualified.

My feedback:
Do not read if you are judge!

||This map was ugly and a complete waste of time.

If there was a way to complete the red room, I could not get it. I got stuck inside a room with glass and could not get out.

After noclipping out of there to continue to the next area, it wasn't much better. It required advanced funnelling skills and reportalling in order to shivvy across walls. I could complete most of it, other than the fact the floor was goo, so one mistake was instant death. As soon as I did fall, I noclipped back up to the funnel.
Getting the cube was almost impossible, and required you to remotely control a funnel to push it through a laser grid.
There was a good concept in this room (putting funnel on wall so cube is off button, put funnel on different wall and it reverses) but that was about it really. It was frustrating and not rewarding whatsoever.

The last room involved a double lightbridge. The main technique in this room was to jump at the right moment so the bridge made you glitch on top of the topmost one. It was stupid and unnecessarily hard. After my autosave failed on me, I quit.

i.e. map was terrible.||

Finally some feedback I was expecting. When you decide to make a hard map there are always people that wont like it. Well here is my response even though I doubt you will ever come back and read this.

||-As for the looks I can't really defend it. I like the look but I can see if one doesn't like it and it would have needed alot more refining but I ran out of time. My main focus was in the complex puzzle not the looks.

-As for the red room. There is a solution and there are already plenty of people who have solved it. Also it's impossible to get stuck. I can see the room you "got stuck in" but the portal surface is all the way up to the roof for a reason.
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-The blue room does require moving yourself with the funnel and if that automaticly makes it horrible I guess there is nothing I can do about it. I don't personally see how the goo is a problem as there is only one point where you need to remove yourself from the funnel. The blue room does include one particularly tricky fling that I was sure people like you would whine about but I see you didn't even get that long.

-First of all the green room (which is not the last) requires no use of that glitch. I know how you got that idea as that puzzle is actually largely based on planning ahead. Here again I would have expected people complaining about the moving panel as the portal engine doesn't like moving portals but I see you quit before that part.

My biggest problem with your responce it the fact that you didn't even get half way done with the map. First 3 rooms are just the start of the puzzle and act as ways to solve the middle room. First you should move all 3 cubes from other rooms to the middle which is much harder than it may seem. Then solving the middle itself should give everybody a reasonable challenge. After that there is also an advanced solution which is alot harder than anything before.

I'm sorry that you don't like the map but I would have expected little bit more from a member with that much experience. Your contest map is great and I see it has done pretty well on the PTI charts also. But I wasn't aiming for that kind of map. I always loved maps by marKiu, grayarea, jonatan ect. Maps that took days and days of discussing inside a group of experienced portal players before the solution was found. That feeling of finally finding the right solution after 5 hours of playing is what I most love in portal 2 and I get to feel that pretty rarely. I understand that most of the people will decide to quit after 10 minutes of playing but I somehow hoped that the judges wouldn't be like that being really experienced with the community.

I hope you undestand what I'm getting at but I'm pretty sure this won't change your mind of the map. I know few of the judges will probably like this and it has already caused some of the reaction I hoped. El Farmerino and Xtreger are working on solving it right now but I don't think the solution has been found yet. Until then...

QQ more||

Shakky wrote:
First of all the green room (which is not the last) requires no use of that glitch.

Haha, that's my solution out of the window, then.

My thoughts on chicken and shakky's thoughts
||To be honest, I don't agree with Chicken's assessment (quite the contrary, I really enjoyed the map overall) but I can totally see where she's coming from. Did I think this was a great map? Hell yeah, and I personally got more enjoyment from it than any other map in this contest*. Do I therefore think it should win? Hell no. It's not remotely accessible to more casual players (or anyone that isn't borderline-masochist for that matter) and your statement that 'this will be a real challenge to all portal players' should probably be reworded 'this map will cause most portal players to weep and forfeit'. What Chicken said was harshly worded, but I imagine it will be the most common reaction; I can see this going down well with some of the TWP regs (myself, Xtreger, greykarel maybe) but if I were you I'd prepare for general bile and loathing.

EDIT: I also don't really believe only playing half of the map really disqualifies Chicken from expressing her opinion. It's not like she took one look and said 'ugh, not playing that!'; from the sounds of it she gave it a fair chance, didn't like the puzzles or the visuals, couldn't get anywhere and took a good look around the rest anyway before making her comment. As a not-so-good analogy, if a date of mine cackles like a hyena, spits all over my food when she talks and smells like a bag of rotten tuna, I'm not gonna hang around to see if she makes up for it by being particularly mind-blowing in bed before making my decision...

(*pending josepezdj's fixed-up release of his map.)||

I really like those supertough puzzles from time to time - even though I frequently don't get very far. But unfortunately this map doesn't just demand patience and clever solutions but also a high tolerance for the colors. After a while in the red area I just couldn't stand it anymore. Not just in a "I find this annoying to look at" way, but physically - it began to give me headaches and stopped from spending more time to find the solution.

@El Farmerino I was maybe a bit harsh myself and I have to admit that she probably played it enough to be able to judge it. I'm glad that you liked it and I'm pretty sure you will like my next map. It was already half done when the contest started but as the rules started I couldn't finnish it which made me quite upset as I'm much more pleased with that one.

@zivi7 I have to agree that choosing the color look might have been a mistake. I personally don't mind it at all but I did get some negative feedback from sickle when he was beta testing for me. If you are a friend of difficult puzzles I'm pretty sure you will love my next map. Currently 2 of the 4 chambers are done and the puzzles are super hard. This map just lacked the time and the testing it needed but I assure you that the next one will be much better. marKiu and Sicklebrick have already spent alot of time beta testing the existing chambers and they are ready for release. There is still alot of work to be done.

"played for 46 minutes and did NOT finish the level."

Even if you knew the solution, it might take you about 45min to solve it.

I'm going through all of the maps that I played for the contest and post my rating and comments.
It may be a bit out of date if you have updated your map since then, but hopefully it's useful feedback nonetheless.

judging comments
||Aesthetics: 2
The visual style is very basic, but not exactly ugly IMO. (The use of lighter and darker patterns reminds me a bit of MarKiu's and Siclebrick's maps.) However, this is totally ruined by the lighting, both because of the vivid colours and the fact that every area has more or less the same light level. This makes it hard to see how certain areas are shaped, because it all blends together in a uniformly coloured mess.

Gameplay / Difficulty: 2;2
I often had trouble finding my way around the map, because of the aforementioned lack of contrast due to the lighting.
I think the first (red) area was decent puzzle-wise, if a bit heavy on the acrobatics. The part where you need to oscillate the cube between two portals, is prone to random failure if the cube bounces too far off target after you remove the portal from underneath it. (There is a fairly wide stretch of white wall opposite the receiver to correct small deviations, but that's not always enough in my experience.)
I didn't finish the second (blue) room, because it was too dark to see where I was supposed to go to reach the checkpoint button. (Lifting the box temporarily with the funnel is a nice idea though.)
I was unable to check out the green part.

Overall, I like that people think outside the box both design-wise and puzzle-wise, but this map didn't do it for me, I'm afraid.

Personal score: 2||
Perhaps I'll check out the improved version sometime. Reading the word "oscillate" in my own review above just gave me an idea for where I'm stuck in the blue room. No promises though, as I generally suck at ninja-portal