Quote from Lorithad on November 26, 2007, 7:47 pm

Upload it to the TWP database and one of the mods will move it to the appropriate forum.

Which reminds me, you say "new map" But is it a work in progress? Or have you pretty much finished the work on it and are now releasing it to the general public?

Either way, i've just downloaded it, and am about to play it. So welcome to the thinking with portals forum

Edit:
Just finished playing.
Found a no draw texture here:
http://members.shaw.ca/lorithad/Portal/ ... _10000.jpg

All in all, I think the map was pretty well made. There were a few sections where I think you had some impossibly thin walls, but nothing too bad.

One thing I didn't really like, was how you're required to [spoiler]Use a turret to press down a button.[/spoiler]
It's not really true to the game in that sense. Again, nothing major.

I really enjoyed the [spoiler]Turret bit, where you press the button to move various doors out of the path of the rocket.[/spoiler] I've yet to see anything like that before in a custom map. Good stuff.

Also, was it just me, or did the energy orb travel a lot faster than normal?

Quote from dis3322 on November 26, 2007, 8:30 pm

All right, I have uploaded it to the database as a work in progress. I consider it pretty much done but until I get feedback from the community and squash a few more bugs i'm still considering is a WIP.

Thanks for pointing out the nodraw texture i'll be sure to fix it.

Do you think the thin walls detract from it?

About the turret holding down the button, I know it's different but I really like the way that puzzle came together. Doesn't need to be the same to be good I was afraid the player wouldn't realize turrets could hold down buttons in my map so I had the turret holding down a button at spawn, did that come across to you right away?

I didn't do anything to make the energy ball go faster.

Thank you for your kind constructive feedback and welcoming me to the forums.

Quote from MrTwoVideoCards on November 26, 2007, 8:45 pm

It wasn't too bad, but to be honest, it was horrible.

To state why and be fair, it wasn't what portal was about, including HL2 based models didn't help much with the map, and felt too out of place, including the really thin Brushes. They felt to un-realistic to fit in the world itself, or in portal to be precise. The lighting was also very bad, using extreme tones of white, green and blue, which hardly make any sense.

I've yet to see someone implement different colors well into a map, but this didn't do it all so well. Most of the lights tend to be too bright, like you had placed a single light entity, and left it there. Also the the amount of entity work seems to be completely depressed by the brushwork within the map.

The map isn't too bad, but the mega large walls with floor textures on it dont fit really.

I'd give the map a 5/10 which in this case isn't bad nor good, its jut eh. However still its nice to see more and more maps come along to the site, and hopefully I can see more dedicated work from you in the future.

Quote from volt on November 26, 2007, 11:35 pm

I think the gameplay elements are spot-on, except for maybe the second part should have a cube somewhere, and then filter the buttons so only the cube will depress them. Heck, you could even set up a cube/turret combo so they are both on the button.

The door that covers the button: you have it set to "Touch Opens" , so if you stand on it, it opens. I don't know if you wanted that or not. Also there are gaps along the edges of this door so you don't even have to open it in the first place, you can portal in.

The other guys have said everything else bad that I would comment, so I'll save you. The gameplay just barely makes up for the poor construction, in my opinion.

Quote from NocturnalGhost on November 27, 2007, 2:00 pm

I just played your map, and for a first map it's quite good. I particularly liked the rocket/doors puzzle.

However, I have a nice long list of bugs that I think you need to squish before considering this map for release.

The main thing I noticed on my first playthrough is the extreme amount of misaligned textures. This is the case in virtually every room. In the corners, the textures end half way across, which detracts from realism considerably, and many walls have obvious seams on them where textures haven't been matched.

The first room in which you wake makes no sense to me. It has a "behind the scenes" feel, which wouldn't be so bad in itself, but GLaDOS talks to you when you leave the room as if you are just a normal test subject. If I were you, I would make it so GLaDos is somewhat surprised by your appearance there, if you choose to stick to the BTS theme.

You should also work on some kind of voice for this first room, as the text doesn't fit if you are using voices for the rest of the map.

After you leave this first chamber, GLaDOS refers to the Companion Cube as the "Weighted Storage Cube"

The Companion Cube only seems needed for the first button, if I use what seems to be the intended solution to the map. There is no need to take it with you at all, which to me takes away the need for it to be anything other than a normal storage cube.

However, you do not even need to use it on the first button, as the entire level can be completed without touching it. There is a small gap in the green area above where the cube is, which you can shoot a portal through. This bypasses the first button, and takes you behind the turret in the next main room.

If you like, you can also take the cube with you to use, instead of the turret, but like I said, you do not actually need to touch the cube to finish the level.

The room right at the end has a few problems as well. Firstly, one half of the door appears to stick out of the wall when you open it.

[img]http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2522/doorkm7.th.jpg[/img]

And, when you get to the Cake, if you turn around, you can see some of the level through the skybox.

[img]http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/5377/endvl5.th.jpg[/img]

Other small issues:

This may just be down to taste, but the glass texture you used seems really ugly to me, and doesn't fit with the Aperture feel. You should also think about adding window frames, for appearance's sake.

You need to add some sounds to the buttons when depressed, as I didn't feel I was getting any feedback from them, like you would in the normal game.

You should read up on "func_portal_bumper" and their proper placement in this thread.

Don't let these issues put you off though. The map shows genuine promise in some areas, and I enjoyed playing it, which is what matters most. I tried to point out the negatives more in my post to help you improve the map, which I guess is the point of beta testing.

Good luck with this.

Quote from dis3322 on November 27, 2007, 3:25 pm

Thank you for all of your feedback I have compiled a list of problems I need to address and will probably release a new version today that addresses the major bugs and another patch later on that addresses the aesthetic problems.

MrTwoVideoCards:

You make very valid points about my map construction so I can't get mad at your insults The lighting is definitely an issue and my inexperience really shows there. If you could provide a link to a guide/article on lighting technique I would really appreciate it. I will definitely try to address the texture issues, wall size issues, and entity depression issues down the line.

Although I still don't see a problem with using HL2 models. I purposely wanted to create an extreme contrast between the start/finish of the map and the puzzle itself so that it doesn't feel like it starts and ends abruptly. I thought it would help bring the map full circle. Plus I didn't want to copy valves elevators, and this is supposed to be stand alone. I hope you continue to give me feedback on future iterations of this map and other maps.

Volt:

Thank you for your kind words about my map and pointing out the sideways door issue. I will get on that bug right away. Although I know it breaks the game-logic valve used in portal I still don't see a good reason not to allow the turret to hold down a button. If you could explain the reasons for your opinion on this in more detail I would appreciate it.

NocturnalGhost:

Wow did you find a lot of bugs, i've written them all down and they will be dealt with. I intend to act upon your advice about the use of text and the BTS theme as well. Don't worry about insulting me too much I found your post very helpful.

The intended solution of the map requires the cube. There is a bug with the sideways door that allows you to take the turret out of the box. That is not supposed to happen. you are meant to use the rocket turret to break the glass by the green light so you can enter the first room and retrieve the cube.

You shouldn't be able to see the level through the skybox. This is a very odd problem because there are supposed to be two very large brick brushes to make it look like you are exiting a giant brick building. I don't know why the brushes aren't appearing for you, i'm going to try and reproduce the bug and see whats up with that.

Thank you for the feedback everyone

Quote from dis3322 on November 27, 2007, 5:16 pm

I see this was moved to the release section, but it is still a work in progress.

I apologize this is my fault I didn't clearly mark the thread as WIP. I have changed the thread name now and hope that an admin will move it to the proper place soon.

Quote from msleeper on November 27, 2007, 5:23 pm

Nope that was my fault, the Release and WIP boards are right next to eachother and my mousewheel likes to spaz out on me.

Quote from Madman on November 28, 2007, 4:01 pm

That door-rocket thing is absolutely awesome!
Nice job!