New link: dload.php?action=file&file_id=175

Please PM Tigger if you have any problems downloading or installing. Thanks.

First part of a testchamber level to get a player up to speed on orienting mid fling/fall. First three stages of the planned map. There will probably be one or two more stages after the current end.

This is a gameplay test more than a visual test. I'm especially interested in getting feedback on stage three. I'm afraid it's too much work for the pay off to get to the top of the area.

It includes my initial implementation of the FDF (fling dampner field). This is a force field that stops a fling. Useful for catching someone.

No entry or exit elevator yet. Textures are not final, nor is lighting. No GlaDOS voices or cameras yet.

All feedback is welcome. And it's my first map! Yippee!

downloaded. and going to play now. 2 things
1) shouldn't his be in the WIP section?
2) your .bns is bunk. line three should read

"map"   "./orientation_v01"

portal couldn't find it and i couldn't even console it... came out. added the ./ and it works now going to play

Overall, this map would act as a good tutorial to teach people about orientation changes with portals.

1st chamber: I tried to do this several times by a quite compilcated method, until I realised there was a much easier way of doing it I really liked the FDF. I didn't expect to see it so soon, but I'm glad it did, otherwise I would probably have trouble with braking.

2nd chamber: The only problem I found with this was when you were flinged up to the exit, if you didn't turn and shoot quick enough, you hit your head on the ceiling and lost momentum, so you had to go through preapring the fling all over again. If you raised the ceiling just a little bit, say 128 units, it would allow the player some reprieve if they don't mange to get turned around very quick.

3rd chamber: I wouldn't say it was too much work. I think there was something similar in the offical game. Also, because I somehow got quite a bit of height when I flinged up, I could skip flinging through some of the blocks. People could make thier own paths with this chamber, either fling off each block, or skip a few to get up quicker.

There were some problems with your FDF. When you first hit each one, they work fine. However, after the first time each one is hit, they no longer work. Will probably be easy enough to fix though.

Also I think your BNS has been wrote wrong. The consol kept saying the map couldn't be found. I had to move it into the main Maps folder instead of the folder you had it in, to get the BNS to work. Just a simple thing to fix I'm sure.

Good start

Also Tigger, perhaps you could put a link to the download in your topic, so people can find it quickly.

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rellikpd wrote:
1) shouldn't his be in the WIP section?

From the WIP section of the forums:

Quote:
Only moderators can post and move topics here. If you have a work in progress you, post your thread in the Maps and Mapping forum, put [WIP] in the subject and someone will move it here if it is worthy. Also, feel free to upload it to our Work In Progress section of the Download Database so that more people can play your stuff!

yeah i like the FDF as well. however the FIRST time i ran into one i didn't know what it was there for... so i just stoped my momentum before going through the wall portal so i wouldn't fling to fast. then walking back it stoped me... so i went back and did it the "right" way just to see it work. really neat but you'll need to make some sort of custom display so the player can differentiate it from just a broke fizzler.

visually its crap but you already knew that lol but i can tell once you pretty it up it will look good. it played fine... but megadude confirmed my suspicions in that its "easier" to beat that maps sections in the non-intended way; for example in room 2 i can tell that you meant for the player to upon leaving the last "platform" come flying out sideways as to be able to see the backwall (much like an angular fling) however its easier just to place a portal in the "middle-of-the-room" platform and jump down to the BOTTOM platform. getting some SUPER upward fling. then quickly face the wall and shoot it, also in the last room. i just did a step-fling (coming out of a higher portal and jumping BACK into a lower portal) to get alot of momentum and pretty much skipped ALL of the platforms....

i think i'll try to make a video just so you can see how "i" play it. maybe give you some idea of how people will manipulate your maps...
its good to watch other people play them. cuz they often do crap "TOTALLY" different than you would intend.

Megadude wrote:
Quote:

Only moderators can post and move topics here. If you have a work in progress you, post your thread in the Maps and Mapping forum, put [WIP] in the subject and someone will move it here if it is worthy. Also, feel free to upload it to our Work In Progress section of the Download Database so that more people can play your stuff!

oh... thanx megadude

rellikpd wrote:
downloaded. and going to play now. 2 things
2) your .bns is bunk. line three should read
"map"   "./orientation_v01"
portal couldn't find it and i couldn't even console it... came out. added the ./ and it works now going to play

I retried installing my map and didn't have a problem... gah. I used the BNS builder. Did you install into the portal/portal folder? I did include instructions. Is anyone else having problems with this?

edit: sigh... sorry. I have reposted the map with a better BNS.

Megadude wrote:
Overall, this map would act as a good tutorial to teach people about orientation changes with portals.

Thanks! That's my intention with this map.

Megadude wrote:
1st chamber: I tried to do this several times by a quite compilcated method, until I realised there was a much easier way of doing it I really liked the FDF. I didn't expect to see it so soon, but I'm glad it did, otherwise I would probably have trouble with braking.

:blinks: I can't even think of another way of doing the first map!

Megadude wrote:
2nd chamber: If you raised the ceiling just a little bit, say 128 units, it would allow the player some reprieve if they don't mange to get turned around very quick.

Awesome feedback. You're right. It works fine if you catch it before you get enough velocity, but it's problematic if you get terminal velocity.

Megadude wrote:
3rd chamber: I wouldn't say it was too much work. I think there was something similar in the offical game. Also, because I somehow got quite a bit of height when I flinged up, I could skip flinging through some of the blocks. People could make thier own paths with this chamber, either fling off each block, or skip a few to get up quicker.

I actually intended for the player to be able to carve their own way through this portion.

Megadude wrote:
There were some problems with your FDF. When you first hit each one, they work fine. However, after the first time each one is hit, they no longer work. Will probably be easy enough to fix though.

Yeah... I thought I got all the triggers re-enabled. I have to work on this one. I wish there was a way to trigger a filter based on velocity. That would be awesome.

Megadude wrote:
Also I think your BNS has been wrote wrong. The consol kept saying the map couldn't be found. I had to move it into the main Maps folder instead of the folder you had it in, to get the BNS to work. Just a simple thing to fix I'm sure.

grrr... it worked on my system. I'll try uploading a new bns file.

Megadude wrote:
Good start

Also Tigger, perhaps you could put a link to the download in your topic, so people can find it quickly.

Done! And Thanks!

rellikpd wrote:
i think i'll try to make a video just so you can see how "i" play it. maybe give you some idea of how people will manipulate your maps...
its good to watch other people play them. cuz they often do crap "TOTALLY" different than you would intend.

oh... thanx megadude

I would love to see a video of an alternate way to handle section 2! Thanks for the feedback.

i installed it to the \portal\portal folder which makes everything END in the steamdir\portal\portal\maps\tigger folder.. the image was fine (which has ./ before the tga files... the map section does not. just open the .bns with notepad and add ./ before the map section (like i have) and it should fix. unless noone else has this problem :-/ but i have had this problem with lots of other maps (but not all) and it fixes. let me ask you. when you used the bns builder do you have your .bsp in your /maps/ folder or is it in the /maps/tigger folder? cuz what it looks like is you had the bns builder make it. then moved it the maps/tigger folder. which would confuse it
dunno.
anyway here's my video of how i played your map. this is "pretty much" how i played it the first time. sorry no sound... i was wearing my usb headphones when i played and didn't relize fraps would record off my usb-mic instead of my sound card. oh well. and i make a few mistakes... but thats how i played it... i pause once to save incase i fell off i didn't want to start all the way over and woulda just edited that section out. but i didn't need to...
click to view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcC-qhyqik

I've updated the file with a new BNS. If the mods would delete my first upload I'd appreciate it.

rellikpd wrote:
anyway here's my video of how i played your map. this is "pretty much" how i played it the first time. sorry no sound... i was wearing my usb headphones when i played and didn't relize fraps would record off my usb-mic instead of my sound card. oh well. and i make a few mistakes... but thats how i played it... i pause once to save incase i fell off i didn't want to start all the way over and woulda just edited that section out. but i didn't need to...
click to view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcC-qhyqik

Actually you did the second section as I intended. I need to get some custom signage set up so it's obvious you're supposed to super fling up to the ceiling.

And thanks for posting the video. I really appreciated it.

Still don't know what an FDF is, but i played through the level. it did indeed do what it said i would have to... orienting mid-fall. visually appealing? no. fun? yes. worthwhile? yes. replay value? kinda (as a refresher course in mid-fling orientation).

good job! i look forward to your completion of this... (your bns pissed me off though haha, but i guess i figured it out.)

Tigger wrote:
And thanks for posting the video. I really appreciated it.

you're welcome. and i checked out your "new" download.. thats how i edited the file.. so it should work (just checked: yeah it works)

JLipimpski wrote:
Still don't know what an FDF is...

um. he says in the very first post FDF: Fling Dampening Field if you come flying at it... it stops you. so you don't go flying off the edge

right. i'll have another run through because i still don't know where in the level it was used. i'd suggest using another texture or some new thing so we can differentiate from something regular to something new...

JLipimpski wrote:
right. i'll have another run through because i still don't know where in the level it was used. i'd suggest using another texture or some new thing so we can differentiate from something regular to something new...

lol you basically quoted exactly what i already said lol anyway he uses the "fizzler" props but without any kind of particle system going across it. you can see one from the VERY beggining, after you fling past the first puzzle you will notice some fizler props on the sides. if you try to come back from that direction (preferably while flinging (and preferably while facing the FDF)) you will see it ?flash? before your eyes, and you will stop. THEN you can walk through it. its kinda weird. its a good idea.. but unfortunatly i don't know if there is anyway to filter for velocity which is what would be best. otherwise they are a "one-time" use thing that would stop you even if you try to walk through them (once anyway)

Actually on the third section I figured out how to turn off the FDF if you come in slow enough that you don't trigger the FDF. I'll copy that pattern to the first two sections when I resubmit the map.

i solved that the first time round after placing the wrong portal on the far wall, so i landed, placed one on the floor, then came out the portal and continued on my way. i never touched one of those fancy pants FDFs, but then i played through again and saw the thing flash after a fling... it seems like a useful tool for maps. nice job

JLipimpski wrote:
i solved that the first time round after placing the wrong portal on the far wall, so i landed, placed one on the floor, then came out the portal and continued on my way. i never touched one of those fancy pants FDFs, but then i played through again and saw the thing flash after a fling... it seems like a useful tool for maps. nice job

yeah thats exactly what i did too. (landed. then placed a new portal) but it will be an EXTREMELY useful tool for people trying to do speedruns. cuz no longer will you have to worry about controling your own momentum

I'm getting a 404 board error on the download link.

Ralen wrote:
I'm getting a 404 board error on the download link.

You might need to refresh the WIP downloads page before trying to download. I had uploaded a version with a broken BNS, posted a fixed version, and deleted the old version. Make sure the ID in the link is 173, not 172.

Um... the map appears to have been deleted from the DB. I will repost it tonight.

Edit: Reposted as a RAR. Hopefully that will fix the download problems for this map.