How do you think of a puzzle/map?
I just think of a concept, build stuff around it in my head and decide how I'm making it. I just remember it by heart. No drwings and stuff.

How do you start making it?
Well, I usually start making the room that seems best to start with, and all my brushes start nodraw. I don't have convenience using the dev textures. I add a few rooms and start building the mechanics and randomizing and cutting walls. In the end, I add the start and end lifts, add a bit of lighting without much care and then I playtest. Then I fix bugs and lighting and soundscapes, and I play again, and it continues like that until I finish.

Do you always keep your mind to the same map?
No. I have emotional "storms" or whatever that make me change my mind and that usually happens when there's a small change in RL, or if it's because there's a bug in my map that I can't solve. My maps also go through a lot of changes too. My map "Fielder" was originally meant to start in a destroyed observation room and move to an overgrown chamber, but I decided not to do that.

I'm pretty sure this thread is important for some people. Whoever wants can add what they do.

How do you think of a puzzle/map?
I generally sit down and either on a spare piece of paper or paint start drawing out a map. I put constraints on myself for each map, like what theme it will be, what elements will be included, how hard it should be, etc.

How do you start making it?
I generally just start mapping it out in hammer. I don't use the developer textures, I just start with the ones I know ill be using. I first lay out the basic geometry, then the test elements (if there are any for the map), then the details and props that aren't important to the puzzle, and finally all the other things like lights, particles, overlays, etc. At the very end I go around and optimize everything.

Do you always keep your mind to the same map?
Generally but not always. When I work on a big project I sometimes get sudden urges to make Wheatley or Overgrown maps and take a day or two to do what I had a sudden urge to make. I've done this a few times actually

How do you think of a puzzle/map?
I think it out in my head first, similar to tmast I like to limit what elements to use and I try to think of odd ways of using them or mixing them. Sometimes I also come up with a small concept I build a map out of, or I save them up and combine them, then I play it over and over in my brain till I work out most of the bugs I then draw the map out on paper so I can remember it if I don't get around to making it right away.

How do you start making it?
I use my drawings to help get an idea of the size, I also use Dev textures. Then I get it all working and start playtesting, I can then confirm all the walls areas that should be white or black. Then I stick some textures on and get it playtested before I start detailing, I do a section at a time till im done and get the lighting done, a few more playtests to tweak lighting and then send it out

Do you always keep your mind to the same map?
Only when I'm building it, have quite a few maps planned out and have an overall structure for the series of maps like reconstruction series etc. Its why I have to draw them, cause it might be months before I get around to making them and I tend to come up with ideas randomly and have to just jot them down, but I never work on more than one map.

I simply user magic!

Lpfreaky90 wrote:
I simply user magic!

Oh, of course. I should have thought of doing that myself after I get this answer each time I ask a question.

yishbarr wrote:
Lpfreaky90 wrote:

I simply user magic!

Oh, of course. I should have thought of doing that myself after I get this answer each time I ask a question.

aww sorry

On a slightly more serious note, it really depends, sometimes I start off with a drawing; sometimes the stuff comes with some sort of creative flow. I always limit myself to a set number of test elements.

I make my maps with nodraw and just use basic normal portal 2 tiles on the walls, put the test elements in and start playing, seeing if I can find unintended solutions and/or solutions that work better/are more fun than my original plan. Then I polish out the solution, add lighting, add elevators, add detail and done!

Lpfreaky90 wrote:
yishbarr wrote:

Lpfreaky90 wrote:

I simply user magic!

Oh, of course. I should have thought of doing that myself after I get this answer each time I ask a question.

aww sorry

On a slightly more serious note, it really depends, sometimes I start off with a drawing; sometimes the stuff comes with some sort of creative flow. I always limit myself to a set number of test elements.

I make my maps with nodraw and just use basic normal portal 2 tiles on the walls, put the test elements in and start playing, seeing if I can find unintended solutions and/or solutions that work better/are more fun than my original plan. Then I polish out the solution, add lighting, add elevators, add detail and done!

I was just being sarcastic. (Ehh, I thought you use dev textures. Doesn't matter).

Something else about how I make my maps: I also usually try to limit the amount of puzzle elements in my map after I tried making a map in art therapy style that had some 20+ objects. (I remade it in PTI, and it wasn't much better according to the amount of unintended solutions I had). I have this obsession by using the fast compile if I'm checking small problems. Only when I finish the map, I compile both HDR and LDR and then I build cubemaps and pakrat and blah blah and publish after having a few minutes thinking if I should publish yet or not. (I'm not sure if it's the best idea though if I'm using a skybox though). Also, I don't know if this counts, but I don't like the stock metal wall textures, so I just use the ones reepblue made.

yishbarr wrote:
I was just being sarcastic. (Ehh, I thought you use dev textures. Doesn't matter).

Something else about how I make my maps: I also usually try to limit the amount of puzzle elements in my map after I tried making a map in art therapy style that had some 20+ objects. (I remade it in PTI, and it wasn't much better according to the amount of unintended solutions I had). I have this obsession by using the fast compile if I'm checking small problems. Only when I finish the map, I compile both HDR and LDR and then I build cubemaps and pakrat and blah blah and publish after having a few minutes thinking if I should publish yet or not. (I'm not sure if it's the best idea though if I'm using a skybox though). Also, I don't know if this counts, but I don't like the stock metal wall textures, so I just use the ones reepblue made.

Yeah, limited test elements is the best imo. I always use the hdr-only compile when testing out stuff (who still uses only ldr o_O) and when I just want to test some i/o changes I untick light and have a compile without light :3

By both LDR and HDR I meant full compile. It's basically what it is.

How I think of a puzzle or map?

Its like a smart Wheatley on my brain generating endless ideas of greatness! All joking aside though, the thoughts just come to me.

How do I start making my maps?

I begin by making my first spawn room. When I build my levels, I usually implement all features and playtest that level/chamber before moving to the next.

Do I keep my mind on the same map?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.I have to be in a certain mood to work on any certain map. It's weird, that's why my maps don't get finished early

How do you think of a puzzle/map?
I can rarely force myself to come up with something. Ideas usually come to me in the shower, at school, or while I'm lying in bed. If I do force myself, I have some goal in mind, or know what techniques/processes are going to be used (e.g. extending a bridge through a fizzler and getting off and on it to conserve a portal).

How do you start making it?
I always do a PTI draft first. In the PTI draft I do, basically, what the Hammer version will look like and then iron out the problems that I didn't think of in the idea-getting phase.

Do you always keep your mind to the same map?
Map changes:
Throughout the testing, the map can (and will) change a lot (although it maintains the same base idea). This is adding things (which I almost always do) or removing things (which is common, but not as much). I always choose the theme before I begin, though, and I stick with it the whole way through.

Other maps:
Yeah, I change a lot, actually. I've got 3 map packs in the works right now, and I'll finish a map in one then start one from another pack, and so on. Plus I also have a multitude of standalone maps waiting to be created.

1. Ideas most commonly come to me when I go for a walk or, like srs bsnss, in the shower. I usually think of what theme the map is going to be, and then think of a puzzle with a difficulty corresponding to the theme, for example, how clean maps have generally easy puzzles and how Wheatley maps are usually medium to difficult.

2. I never map out the puzzle in PTI first, I don't really feel that I need it and most of my puzzles ideas use things that you can't do in PTI anyways, such as ramps, things that would be classified as errors, et cetera. I always build all the geometry first, then put in doors, then put in details such as smaller rooms or angled panels. Then I add all of the elements and finally the lighting.

3. No.

About getting ideas when going for a walk, it happens to me too except that it makes me continue walking.

well, i kindof do everything all at once. detail, puzzle, room shape etc. are all made and developed alongside each other.

1. I only really get ideas if I actually start up hammer and start making a room. Then I experiment with some lighting and think "I'm gonna try this out!" And a map idea starts brewing.

2. I never really use PTI at all. Unlike most, I start by making the room look nice, and then building a puzzle in it, if I made the room first. If I made the puzzle idea first, I have a bunch of random, unconnected elements that I build walls around.

3. I try. I really do, but I can't seem to stick to only one project at a time. I have so many unfinished maps, and maps that are complete but too large to upload.

**How I think of a puzzle or map?**

Usually I just don't thing of anything, and when I bored I'll just think of a simple test, ex: Hmm... A map where a user has to use 2 of the 3 gels and make it to the end, whilst getting all the cubes and using the laser element! (actually map I've started working on months before, but forgot/gave up because I had school...).

**How do I start making my maps?**

I start with a square (usually either 128x128, 256x256 or 512x512), and start making a room out of that. I then start adding puzzle elements in it (I.E., the gel dropper), and adding some obsticals (walls and blocks), and then I think, "This is too easy... I have to make it harder..." and then I place gels in other rooms, add toxic liquids, deathfields, fizzlers, buttons with timers, grate buttons, laser sections. Just some hard stuff. Then I work on the lighting. As every mapper knows, the lighting is crucial, but should be kept second. When I finish that I add instances (elevators and cube droppers, because goo droppers are too easy), and finish it off with adding details like bullet holes, special textures, nodraws, trim some parts. And then it should be done. Should.

**Do I keep my mind on the same map? **

Not all the time. I've got 3 maps I haven't finished for portal 2, and I have given up on my map pack "Think outside the Box" (mainly because I couldn't do it all myself, and no one would help...). I have only publicafied (is that a word? Publicafied is now a word.) one of my old Portal maps (Re-incarnation pretty much. Made a portal 2 map into a portal map from scratch). So yeah...

Ooh, thread resurrected.
Publication is a word apparently, but we all use the word "publish".

Another thing about making maps is that I use PTI if I'm afraid I won't manage to do it properly in hammer before I have the actual map layout, because it's a pain to move things around in hammer. (Lesson learned from a map I made called "Isolated Button". Was meant to be art therapy style, but I remade it in PTI. It actually was the second concept I ever had for Portal 2, but I was too tired of working on my first map, so I scrapped it from being a second part).

Another thing for people making their first map: DON'T GIVE UP. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES A STUPID CRITC COMES TO ATTACK YOU, or more seriously, how many times it seems like you can't continue.

yishbarr wrote:
Ooh, thread resurrected.
Publication is a word apparently, but we all use the word "publish".

well, of course. it's a verb. we publish it. it would sound really stupid if we said we publicationed it, silly.

tile wrote:
yishbarr wrote:

Ooh, thread resurrected.
Publication is a word apparently, but we all use the word "publish".

well, of course. it's a verb. we publish it. it would sound really stupid if we said we publicationed it, silly.

Nope. "Publicated" is the word that doesn't exist. We would have used it if we didn't have the word "publish".