Quote from Rivid31 on November 11, 2007, 12:07 pm

Alright. I think I've got an idea to stop the tunneling. And maybe I'll throw in an overlay to hint people in the right direction after you're across.

Quote from Crooked Paul on November 12, 2007, 10:35 am

Just finished playing the updated version. I do really like the concept for this map, and the GLaDOS clips are great, they really add a lot. However, I found this map pretty frustrating. I think you need to even out the difficulty a bit.

I was able to get through the first room without hitting the button by [spoiler]climbing up the first part of the jumping puzzle on the left side, then doing a floor-to-floor portal jump to reach the little 2x1 block sticking out of the wall on the right side of the room. From here, you can shoot a portal through the door onto the wall of the turret room, skipping the rest of the first room. Also no rising water and no GLaDOS dialog this way. [/spoiler]

In the second room with the turrets [spoiler]I died a bunch of times and gave up. I don't mind dying a few times while I'm figuring out how to solve a puzzle, but it's nice to feel like you're making some progress, and I didn't feel that way here. Here's how the first few tries went:

1. Rushed up the stairs, intending to kill the turrets with portals. You can't do that, but you also can't see that you can't until you're up there and taking full fire from two turrets. Seems like this is practically a guaranteed death for a first-time playthrough.

2. Okay, now I've seen the gap in the floor there, so I tried to jump down there. Turrets still got me.

3. Okay, I guess I need the cube. I portal over and get it, then jump back through. I'm rushing the turrets, but their combined fire pushes me enough that I fall off the side into the "gutter" where the water is rising. Dead.

That's three deaths within about a minute, and I've no progress to show for it. I'm a bit cranky right now, so that's where I quit.

IMO this part really needs some reworking. At the very least you should give the player more time before the water starts leaking again. As it is he gets maybe 15 seconds to try to catch his breath and look around at this new environment before he's caught between two turrets and the water, and he's in a cramped little space with odd geometry (moving stairs, the pit in front of the turrets, plus the gutter on the side to fall into).[/spoiler]

What is the intended solution to the first room? There is no way in hell I will be able to do all those little jumps with the water rising, even with quicksaves, so go ahead and spoil it for me.

Quote from Lorithad on November 12, 2007, 11:29 am

Crooked Paul, there is no spoiler for the first room. It's a jump room. And it can be done. I hate it so much, but I did it. I reccomend quick saving as soon as yoou are about to jump onto the first portalable surface.

Quote from Rivid31 on November 12, 2007, 11:42 am

I've got plans to adjust the difficulty of the first room, as well as fix the shortcuts... I'll probably just cut the water speed in half or something so its not so much a rush against the water, just a reminder that you can't spend forever trying to make your way through. I've never really liked the 2nd room either... so it'll probably be changed soon as well.

Quote from Player1 on November 12, 2007, 1:42 pm

Crooked Paul wrote:

[spoiler]1. Rushed up the stairs, intending to kill the turrets with portals. You can't do that, but you also can't see that you can't until you're up there and taking full fire from two turrets. Seems like this is practically a guaranteed death for a first-time playthrough.

2. Okay, now I've seen the gap in the floor there, so I tried to jump down there. Turrets still got me.

3. Okay, I guess I need the cube. I portal over and get it, then jump back through. I'm rushing the turrets, but their combined fire pushes me enough that I fall off the side into the "gutter" where the water is rising. Dead.

That's three deaths within about a minute, and I've no progress to show for it. I'm a bit cranky right now, so that's where I quit.[/spoiler]

I don't understand that. It was painfully obvious that there were turrets up there, and you've got a little bit of time before the stairs enable, so there's some time to plan. Since you can't see the floor you look at the walls. [spoiler]I simply made a portal from before the stairs up to right next to the turrets, run through and pushed them over, then hid from the next set of turrets. I repeated the approach on them and then I was done with the room....[/spoiler]

Quote from Crooked Paul on November 12, 2007, 2:26 pm

Player1 wrote:

I don't understand that. It was painfully obvious that there were turrets up there, and you've got a little bit of time before the stairs enable, so there's some time to plan.

I think you're a good deal faster than the average, Player1, whereas I have a more methodical style (which is maybe a nice way of saying I'm slow). For you, that 15-second breather is plenty of time to figure out an effective strategy. For me, it's nowhere near enough.