My first Portal map, and the first time I've used Hammer since 1999. Please give me feedback, and let me know how you solved it and if you found any exploits! Thanks!

### Rachel's Palace Of Portals

Images:

Screens look cool, I'll play it tonight. Making this for the contest?

Also, Downloads ?

Yeah, as soon as it's final I'll upload it here.

I added a WIP section you know.

wow, after the 5th custom map i can't do one puzzle on i have finally realised im shit at portal

i'm pretty sure i was able to cheat and finish the map without doing the energy ball puzzle, or opening half the doors. i went and got the box, then opened the final door button below the super fast ball launcher then went backward through the initial fling puzzle using 'portal-tunneling' and into the finish. you may want to fix this if it wasn't intentional. i'll go back now and try to figure out the real puzzles. nice looking map. i really like the fast moving energy ball, that was fun and dangerous!

edit: after finishing the ball puzzles i was able to sit on the ledge above the launch pad to fling you through the double glass panels and shoot a portal through the holes to all togethar miss the final fling puzzle. there is a screen shot to show where. i found so many ways through this level; what was the intended solution?

Took me a while to finish it, i did this by luck but i finished it legitly.
Add sounds to the catcher so when it catches it you know if it does.

i managed to set off one of the catchers which got rid of the super fast ball launcher. from there I noticed the big red button below and dropped the box on it, then found my way back via portal fall-rise-mid-air-strafe-through-the-hole back to the entrance...
great map though, definitely some thought put into that

This is a very nice looking map, good varied textures, nice lighting, etc. You've even used the accent textures (hazard icons, arrows, "dice" markers on puzzle elements).

I only know that because I used noclip, because the first flinging puzzle has me stumped cold. Sorry to say I'm not having much fun trying to figure it out because the only two things that seem to happen are (1) I stay on the starting side of the glass or (2) I die in toxic goo.

Basically the hardest part of this map is right at the beginning, and the penalty for failure is death. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it seems like everyone who plays this map is going to die two or three times right away. Don't scare your fans away, right? At the very least I suggest you change the goo to something nonlethal, if you can do it without breaking the whole puzzle.

Or maybe I'm just rubbish at Portal, too.

roger federer wrote:
i'm pretty sure i was able to cheat and finish the map without doing the energy ball puzzle, or opening half the doors. i went and got the box, then opened the final door button below the super fast ball launcher then went backward through the initial fling puzzle using 'portal-tunneling' and into the finish. you may want to fix this if it wasn't intentional.

Hmm, I'm not sure what you mean by this, care to explain?

[edit]Ah crap, I forgot to no-portal the floor in between the glass. Is that what you mean?

Angel_Mapper wrote:
Ah crap, I forgot to no-portal the floor in between the glass. Is that what you mean?

i solved it once by dropping down there and launching back through the holes. actually, i thought this was the intended route. .
but what i meant first was you can sit inside a portal and shoot another across the map then repeat to move around the map without touching the ground. i used this technique to skip most of the level. here's a screen. but i guess it's hard to explain. so here is a random vid of someone doing it, if you're not familiar.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f0ZcshqpQO4

Ah, ok, I understand now. Thank you!> roger federer wrote:

i solved it once by dropping down there and launching back through the holes. actually, i thought this was the intended route. .

The intended route is through the 2 dot door after both ball catchers have been activated. I've fixed the floor between the glass, I'll upload a new version after I get the rest of these fixes in.

Angel_Mapper wrote:
The intended route is through the 2 dot door after both ball catchers have been activated.

yeah, but what method do you use to fling yourself through the holes in the glass? i did it three ways, and all three were unintended. lol.

From the start, there are three ways that I know of, two unintended but that I plan on leaving in. The first is to fling yourself through, throwing a portal in between the glass as you fly, and the other portal on the slanted part of the water pit. The two unintended ones are the portal tunneling that you mentioned, and jumping off of the metal outcropping and portaling between the glass. If there are others I would like to patch them up.

Going from the top level back to the finish, there are two ways that I know of, one unintentional but that I plan on leaving in. The first is throwing a portal on the slanted part of the pit, then throwing the other one through the glass as you're falling. The unintended one is portal tunneling.

I would like to leave in the super-advanced way of finishing the level. Dropping the box, and portal tunneling back out of the glass.

So, three ways through the glass, two ways back through the 'two dot' door, and one advanced way back through from between the glass.

[edit] Added a new version fixing the floor between the glass, standing on the edge of the observation room, and added sounds to the ball catchers.

you have a hole/no texture line in the hall way with the energy ball collectors sit, if your sitting on the red button where the fast ball goes and you look left where the wall and floor meet you cant miss it, goes about 2/3's of the hallway

Ah, I see them. Thanks. Fixed and re-uploaded.

May also want to add a func_noportal_volume above the box dropper in the ceiling textures.
I managed to find a glitch in there where I put a portal at a specific
position in the wall and it left me enough room to physics squeeze into
the box dropper. from there, I kind of got stuck, so I started screwing
around with the box by jump-grabbing it. Eventually it made the system
think that a box wasn't in the dropper and created another one.
At that point, I portaled on the inside wall of the box dropper, jumped on
to the second box to climb out, and grabbed the second box before I left.
From there, I kept one on the button, and used a portal and the second box
to eventually bounce the energy ball into the catcher...

I don't think this was an intended effect ^^ But it allowed me to complete
it a second time... I can't finish that second energy ball puzzle legitly it seems.

rofl... Thanks, forgot about that. Fixed and uploaded.

I agree with Crooked Paul, the first fling puzzle is a bit of a steep step. I had to read spoilers on exactly what to do just to make sure I was on the right track, since trying to hit the thin concrete wall between the glass with one portal AND placing the other portal on the slanted slab was a bit rough, and I think I only finally got it by pure luck.

After that though, everything seemed pretty good. The orb puzzles also seemed to rely on luck more than anything. I used my cube to bounce the orbs at random angles, and once I figured the orb was in the "catcher room" I stepped off of the button to up my chances of a connection.

This took me maybe 20 mins to finish, few observations:

||I did the first puzzle by placing the top portal a bit down the wall so I landed standing on the bottom of the first hole, so far so good.

The ball redirection puzzle is just frustrating, I must have died 20+ times trying to get the balls in the little holes. Make the holes bigger and/or give the player more space so they can get the angle they need with the box.||