[SP] White Room (reMiX by josepezdj)

Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 05, 2013

Description

A HARD difficulty map in the destroyed/overgrown theme based in a couple of interesting (and hopefully new) mechanics involving only one funnel and one cube, and the twisted sequence behind a series of buttons that will lead you to open the exit door...

This is a remix of Toncica's "White Room" awesome map. I like to use the concept of 'remix' specifically and not 'remake' when the whole idea behind the map is to make possible new mechanics that came to my mind while solving the puzzles in the original map... the same that happened to me with Da-Mask: Chander's Test 12 remix... So even though the structure of the map reminds to the original one, the puzzles in this one goes a bit further, making use of the same elements but in a different way, plus some extra stuff

Taking the chance I decided to make this remix, I tried a more Portal2-ish aesthetics approach this time instead of my personal style, so I opted for the destructed/overgrown theme, because apart from being one the themes I like most, for some places it allowed me to cut possible exploits easily by destroying some bits to avoid portal placement Overall because my personal challenge for the remix was to keep Toncica's initial idea and spirit of his map by making a "white-only" room avoiding the usage of black tiles... Just like Toncica described his map:

"This is a test in a white room, hence the name of the test, derived from the color - which is white."

To be completely honest, even though I'm satisfied with the final product and both versions are veeery different, but I still prefer Toncica's original map's twisted simplicity and elegance, thanks for creating mate!

Screenshots

Solution Video

solution to main map / no easter egg
nqFOM0VhS6k
easter egg solution
EPoygk9X3jg

Thanks

  • First of all, big thanks to my projects mate Vanessa as usual, for being there everytime I need to ask her for a favour and for helping me with custom textures for this map, but specially for beta-testing it even being a portal beginner!
  • Thanks to my dear friend Greykarel for beta-testing and helping me improve it!
  • Thanks as well to Fluppy for his continuous support (and awesome sense of humor ) and for beta-testing as well
  • Thanks to LoneWolf2056 and Jack Dawson for beta-testing and for helping me on nitpicking
  • Many thanks to TWP as usual for being my main mapping teacher :p

Credits

  • Omnicoder for his great Chamber Signmaker that allowed me to create the basic background of the entry testchamber lightboard and then customize it.
  • Komaock again for his awesome skybox textures.
  • Daveastation for letting me use the amazing drawing of Chell upon one of Nekostars' photographs for the 2011 Fan Expo called Exile Vilify.
  • Intro song by josepezdj (created on Reason 5.0)

Save

There are a few checkpoints already present in the map that I set up automatically to save the game. A on-screen message will pop up to let you know the game was saved. And for your information, I made it so the map is always saved in a file called white01.

For those who still doesn't know, you can save your progress while playing any map by entering in the developer console the command save followed by the name you want to give the file; in this map that's: save white01 ... This way, even though the map needs to be played via the workshop, you can have your progress stored for a later resume without the fear to lose it by hitting F6 (quick save) while playing any other workshop map

Whenever you need to load any saved game, just use the console command load followed by the name you gave the file, that's all. Therefore, any time after seeing the message "Game Saved" on screen while playing this map, you can use the following command to load your progress from that point on: load white01

Changelog (section dedicated to my good friend Shakky)

  • 2013/08/05 - First release v1.0
  • 2013/08/06 - v1.1 - Fixes for minor bugs
  • 2013/08/07 - v1.2 - Prevented Shakky's unintended solution and cut some ways in order to force/polish the intended solution (thanks to Toncica's video)
  • 2013/08/11 - v1.3 - Prevented the maneuver near the panel where the funnel ends that allowed to stay up there waiting...

Click here to download White Room (reMiX by josepezdj)

Click here to download White Room (reMiX by josepezdj)

Advertisement
Registered users don't see ads! Register now!
Avatar
vanessa
4 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 4 hours later
hahaha, finally! I wanted to be the first to congratulate you!

Enjoy it! and .... continue? >. <

Avatar
RubbishyUsername
167 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 8 hours later
Can we expect to see a workshop version shortly? I can't wait to play this yet for me extracting a 7zip is a lot of work on this computer. Looks awesome!
Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 39 minutes later
Well, the workshop is buggy lately and it's not possible to upload any map to it because it keeps failing to publish I'm trying to hack that atm but I'm not sure if I wil get too far >.<. Do not hesitate to let me know what other zipped format you can open and I'll just post a new file here
Avatar
srs bsnss
552 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 57 minutes later
Wow, what a fantastic map - I'll be disappointed if this doesn't get a spotlight. Visually unbelievable, so pretty to look at. Unfortunately I'm out of my depth when it comes to puzzles of such difficulty, so I barely got to the laser field part before it became too difficult for me - but that's not a bad thing! I'm just not very good at solving tests

5/5, Excellent

Avatar
El Farmerino
393 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 36 minutes later
Absolutely gorgeous map, dude - sterling work. Like srs bsnss, it's kind of kicking my arse at the moment - managed to get me and the cube in the laser area, or me and the funnel, or the funnel and the cube, but still can't get us all in there together... Still, gonna make a concerted effort to crack the bugger before I go on holiday this Friday. Thanks for the challenge!
Avatar
RogerL
490 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 25 minutes later
I came across a fatal problem with this map and managed to skip most of it. I was playing around with holding the cube against the wall button that turns off the fizzler to the exit room, and after awhile, I dropped the cube and the fizzler stayed off. A couple of quick portals and I was done.
Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 hour later
@El and Srs bsnss: Wow thanks a lot for such those kind words! That really cheered me up! I'm so glad you liked and found it challenging! I'll be glad to watch what solutions you can come up with

@Roger: man, so sorry about that. What the heck? Shakky mentioned something similar regarding the other button, the front one at the wall for the exit door I can't reproduce it myself after a damn lot of tries! I've looked into the logic_relays settings as well but I can't find anything wrong Maybe some kind of weird overwhelming logic is messing up the I/O... dunno. I'll try erasing the relays and re-creating them hoping this could fix it somehow >.<

Avatar
taco
504 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 30 minutes later

RogerL wrote:
I came across a fatal problem with this map and managed to skip most of it. I was playing around with holding the cube against the wall button that turns off the fizzler to the exit room, and after awhile, I dropped the cube and the fizzler stayed off. A couple of quick portals and I was done.

I just had the floor button AND the button under the exit door get stuck in the activated position.

Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 hour later
Thanks Taco for pointing it out too

Ok guys, I've changed from perspective after a quick chat with Shakky and Sickle (thanks a lot guys!). I'll explain the debugging I made in order to let ppl know in the case some else faces the same issue:

logic_relays alternate settings
||As many other mappers, I use to have a pair of logic_relays per floor_button; one is the state "ON", button pressed (opens doors, deactivates fizzlers and their props animation is set to 'close', or deactivates laserfields and such...) while the other is "OFF", button unpressed (close doors, reactivate fizzlers and their props set animation to open again, etc.). Well, I use to set up the system for example like so:

*Floor Button:*
OnPressed > rl_on > Trigger
OnUnPressed > rl_off > Trigger

Rl_ON
OnTrigger > rl_off > CancelPending |delay 0.00
OnTrigger > door > Open |delay 0.05

Rl_OFF
OnTrigger > rl_on > CancelPending |delay 0.00
OnTrigger > door > Close |delay 0.05

Well, I'm afraid this system only works with slower players and/or computers If you do some really quick move and whatnot you can override any ouput and the systems fails...

So this is th new approach (I hope it'll work better >.<):

*Floor Button:*
OnPressed > rl_on > Trigger
OnPressed > rl_off > CancelPending
OnUnPressed > rl_off > Trigger
OnUnPressed > rl_on > CancelPending

Rl_ON
OnTrigger > door > Open |delay 0.05

Rl_OFF
OnTrigger > door > Close |delay 0.05

I do think it works better... I've tested it out and to me it seems it is working like a charm, but I wasn't able to reproduce the issues here mentioned so....||
Map has been updated to v1.1

Please report any other bugs you find and/or other kind of feedback. Thanks!

Avatar
RogerL
490 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 10 minutes later
I wouldn't worry too much about the button issue, I couldn't replicate it either. I'm still working on the intended solution. I think I have just one step to figure out to complete it. Besides the addition of the new room, you've changed enough of the original map to make it quite a bit tougher. You're extensive "den" was quite brutal to get to, but worth the effort.
Avatar
sicklebrick
876 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 hour later
Awesome as ever Jose - absolutely loving the attention to detail wit the save statuses, intro sequence, elaborate easter egg - amazing!
It doesn't feel too big or cramped either, but really... I can't get enough of the prettyness. Cheers!

Anyway, first ninja solution. I'll work on the real solution when I have a bit more time!

kVQubRIF540

Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 40 minutes later
Hahaha, awesome, Sickle! However, there is not much I can do against that quick-reportalling glitch... Fluppy already showed me some unintended moves based on that... using it for the "extra room" (dot no. 1). And about the maneuver throwing the cube, I was aware of that too... but I couldn't find any "legit" unintended myself

Thank you so much for your cheering words, my friend, I really appreciate them I'm glad you liked those details I've been trying some new things for this map and it's been interesting to learn how to achieve them

RogerL wrote:
I think I have just one step to figure out to complete it. Besides the addition of the new room, you've changed enough of the original map to make it quite a bit tougher. You're extensive "den" was quite brutal to get to, but worth the effort.

That sounds like you were actually really close! SO glad to hear, man! Cheer up!

Avatar
Dreey
78 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 hour later
Great map, I've been waiting for this since you posted the screenshots in the showcasing thread!
Astonishing visuals, and an awesome intro
I still haven't managed to solve it (same with the original White Room, haha) probably because I just got amazed by the design. Again, great work!

Just a quick feedback, the pistons at the very beginning of the chamber, under the emancipation grid have no collisions. Other than that, I had no other problems. Thanks for mapping!

Avatar
User
630 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 minute later
Loooooved the Map, Looooved the Design & Looooved the Intro. 5/5
Avatar
Shakky
228 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 47 minutes later
Shakky 1 - Josepezdj 0

openC-rwjeo

You might argue that it doesn't count because there is one portal bump there but it totally does. I didn't have time to figure out the whole puzzle tonight but I'm pretty sure that you can use this as a final move after you get on the exit area with the fizzler turned off.

Good night.

Avatar
Denominator
19 Posts
Posted Aug 06, 2013
Replied 1 hour later
This map is awesome! And tricky! I'm still stuck at the lasers, but this map deserves praise already! Excellent work on the detailed customizations as usual! I will be sure to try out the original map and leave congratulations on that topic as well! =)

I'm not sure whether it is a cheat or part of the intended solution, but I can just barely shoot the corner of the floor that you're supposed to launch from, from the main room.

Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 07, 2013
Replied 4 hours later
@Dreey, TheTobbell and Denominator: Thank you SO much guys for the positive comments! It makes me really happy that you liked it after all the effort ... this really make one to continue mapping! Thanks Dreey for pointing out about those collisions, dude I'll use the model's bounding box as collisions

Hahaha, Shakky Shakylous well done! but obviously unintended... Grey will laugh at me when he watch the video He showed me the same corner-climbing unusual technique already (and I just LOVED this mechanic! I hadn't ever seen it before!), and I prevented it for the opposite wall only! hoping no one will reach the outcoming panel >.< Silly me, that was perfectly at a ninja's reach That's an easy fix, a bit more of destruction will do no harm Great video edit as well, my friend!

Hehe, about the portal bumping, I will accept it because it was my bad, that big plant over there should have had a func_noportal_volume behind it... but I missed that one! easy fix too So 1-0 is fair, accepted.

I'll update the map later today after lunch (Spain time)

Denominator wrote:
I'm not sure whether it is a cheat or part of the intended solution, but I can just barely shoot the corner of the floor that you're supposed to launch from, from the main room.

Have you tried the other way around? shoot anywhere you can while standing on the platform near the slime at dot 1

Avatar
toncica
100 Posts
Posted Aug 07, 2013
Replied 3 hours later
YAY! Curiosity made me end my portal abstinence earlier than expected and I finally ran the map. AMAZING! The intro gave me shivers and I literally stared at it with my mouth open. Beautiful. You really take your remixes seriously, no kidding.

Now the puzzle part... your additions made it really tough. Had I not known where the map was coming from I'm not sure if I ever had the stamina to complete it. Took some sweet time nevertheless. About the last part I'm not sure if that was completely as intended, to remain in the funnel while the cube was being transported to the button under the exit I was pushing myself against the side wall to not get sucked out of the portal. I don't see how I could get the cube to the button in time without that move. Everything else felt as intended.

Advertisement
Registered users don't see ads! Register now!
Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 07, 2013
Replied 1 hour later

toncica wrote:
YAY! Curiosity made me end my portal abstinence earlier than expected and I finally ran the map. AMAZING! The intro gave me shivers and I literally stared at it with my mouth open. Beautiful. You really take your remixes seriously, no kidding.

Thank you so much mate! Finally you played it! I really appreciate it! truly! Thanks a ton for those absolutely kind words!

toncica wrote:
to remain in the funnel while the cube was being transported to the button under the exit I was pushing myself against the side wall to not get sucked out of the portal. I don't see how I could get the cube to the button in time without that move. Everything else felt as intended.

Heh... it's not intended... a bit ugly for my taste... and there IS a way to synchronize yourself with the cube ride

If you were literally pushing yourself agaisnt the side wall and avoided being sucked by the funnel, I might still be able to do something to prevent that ...let's see... BUT promise me you wouldn't use the funnel glitch in which the side-to-side move makes you stop into the funnel!