BoxyTrixy by Stephen Hunter

**DOWNLOAD: ** http://forums.thinking.withportals.com/dload.php?action=file&file_id=329
(or try http://www.sahv.com/prtl/BoxyTrixy.zip)

Extract 3 tricky boxes to escape. An incredibly fun and clever puzzle for thinkers.

Average completion time: 8min (once you've figured it all out)

**SCREENS: **
http://www.sahv.com/prtl/boxytrixy1.jpg
http://www.sahv.com/prtl/boxytrixy2.jpg

Full of puzzles that challenge you to use familiar items in new ways.
This is NOT a reflex-twitch map.
There are NO double flings.
You do NOT have to fling through portals while holding cubes.
This chamber is for those who like to solve puzzles.

HOW TO INSTALL
1) Unzip the BoxyTrixy.bmz file anywhere.
2) In Portal, choose "Bonus Maps"
3) Click "Import Bonus Maps..."
4) Navigate to wherever you unzipped "BoxyTrixy.bmz", and open it.

How to uninstall:
1) Go to "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\<your-account-name>\portal\portal\maps"
2) Erase the "BoxyTrixy" folder

Thanks to:
Dewin for his excellent CP4P prefabs.
Testers and question answerers at ThinkingWithPortals.com

Finished Apr 23 2009
I'd appreciate your feedback!
stephen -aaattt- sahv -ddoott- com

http://www.sahv.com

---

Stuck? Watch my Youtube hints. Or you can watch them if you just want to see how different your solution is from my intended solution.

Hint 1 - Getting the first box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgz-0er1kSc

Hint 2 - Opening the middle door in room 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wDb214Ta7U

Hint 3 - How to get the second box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt-Hon7hnfs

Hint 4 - Activating the platform in room 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Uc1dncq8Y

Hint 5 - Getting on the moving platform

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pItfGRSXa0I

Hint 6 - Getting the 3rd box

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w71HJkh36_Q

Hint 7 - How to get into the final room

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8P5Ltq8GU

Hint 8 - Accessing the button behind glass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQBf1FmvrJ8

I already played the beta a long time ago, and I'll say it again: A+++

I liked this map a lot, but it was a little rough around the edges. The puzzles themselves were phenomenal, and made me really have to think. It is counter-intuitive that the orb launcher fires more than one orb, even after activating a catcher. I liked the complexity of the last puzzle though.

Kiavik, yep you were the first to comment on the beta over a year ago Glad you like it.

Compherm. glad you like it. Ya, I'll admit it doesn't quite have the degree of visual decoration as some maps. For a game that's getting a little old, I thought focusing on making good puzzles would be the best use of my time. Ya the orb has to fire again because you have to use it again!. And it adds some extra danger.

Um, so when does this get moved to "Community Releases" forum?
and why do we have to post releases here first, anyway?

Could use more full size screens instead of that little thumbnail which is half covered in text.

Great map! Good puzzles, only a little frustrating. The hint videos were a good idea. I used 2. I didn't get stuck, and only a few times i had to do the same thing over and over until it worked. The cube fitting into that hole was a clever idea. It didn't took to long to figure out, but i've never seen it before.. I guess that's it! Nice map. Make more.

Great map with excellent puzzles. However, I needed help (hint 4) - I couldn't figure out how to keep the door open - and it is great that you made the videos with solutions
I had a fun time playing this, I recommend it to everyone

wow. just wow. excellent map. haven't played anything this good in quite some time. the puzzles were fantastic. brain-bending, but far from impossible. really made me think.
one thing i did notice as a small technical fault was that you could put portals on the upper level of glass panels along the platform thing in the room in the screenshot.
i also had to use hint #4, i had a totally different solution in mind: i put the blue portal on the X from the start, put orange in the corridor w/ the energy orb, and then replaced the orange to the end of that corridor so that the ball goes through to the closed door. then i rode the elevator up, waited for a new ball to spawn, listened for the bounce against the closed door and fired the orange into the small room from the elevator so that the ball went in there.
thats where i started to have trouble, because the ball didnt always bounce at the corner perfectly and so it didnt always come back out right, but when it did, i activated the inner door switch, and let the ball fly out. unfortunately, even with immaculate timing the ball ran out literally less the five feet from the catcher. facepalm never would have thought of your solution.

i also used a completely different method to get the third box: i went past the fizzler, but a portal as far from the floor as you can on the wall adjacent to the low glass wall, put another portal next to that and was able to hop thorugh onto the low glass wall and do it normal from there, i didnt even notice the ledge below the glass walls.

again wrote:
wow. just wow. excellent map. haven't played anything this good in quite some time. the puzzles were fantastic. brain-bending, but far from impossible. really made me think.
one thing i did notice as a small technical fault was that you could put portals on the upper level of glass panels along the platform thing in the room in the screenshot.
i also had to use hint #4, i had a totally different solution in mind: i put the blue portal on the X from the start, put orange in the corridor w/ the energy orb, and then replaced the orange to the end of that corridor so that the ball goes through to the closed door. then i rode the elevator up, waited for a new ball to spawn, listened for the bounce against the closed door and fired the orange into the small room from the elevator so that the ball went in there.
thats where i started to have trouble, because the ball didnt always bounce at the corner perfectly and so it didnt always come back out right, but when it did, i activated the inner door switch, and let the ball fly out. unfortunately, even with immaculate timing the ball ran out literally less the five feet from the catcher. facepalm never would have thought of your solution.

i also used a completely different method to get the third box: i went past the fizzler, but a portal as far from the floor as you can on the wall adjacent to the low glass wall, put another portal next to that and was able to hop thorugh onto the low glass wall and do it normal from there, i didnt even notice the ledge below the glass walls.

wow, you were doing these puzzles exactly like me!

I know this is going to sound repetitive but: wow. This map is a real mind bender. At several points I had a very strong urge to give up and watch the spoiler videos, but I managed it on my own eventually.

I especially like how you have to re-use stuff from previous rooms to solve the next puzzle. Its like you designed these puzzles by predicting what solution people would think of initially and then make the real solution something completely different.

Glovis wrote:
[...]Ya, I'll admit it doesn't quite have the degree of visual decoration as some maps.[...]

It's mostly a matter of taste whether to add lots of detail or not, as long as it looks decent. (No texture misalignment or invisible point lights etc.) Your design looks solid and unique. There are only a few glitches which I would fix if it were my map:

• You should make a 32 x 32 hole behind the ball catcher, so it looks correctly in the retracted position. Right now the thing just disappears into the wall.- Pay some more attention to the placement of props in general and the geometry around them. For example, the fizzlers in the third room are a bit wider than the window frame and there is a little patch of tiled floor visible under the big red buttons. (The floor intersects the button base.)
  Other than that: good job! I hope to see more of your work in the future.

Glovis wrote:
Um, so when does this get moved to "Community Releases" forum?
and why do we have to post releases here first, anyway?

You aren't supposed to post them here at all.

They are supposed to be posted at community releases so it will be updated to the list on the home page

hanging_rope wrote:
You aren't supposed to post them here at all.

They are supposed to be posted at community releases so it will be updated to the list on the home page

Go make a post on the Community Releases forum, I dare you.

forum police...

How did I know that I was going to be completely wrong...
Well, it seems all the moderator's have died, so there is not much chance of it being moved (even if it was the best map ever)

LOL HangingRope, wrong again.

Mr. again, actually putting portalable surfaces on the far wall was a last minute change, and I didn't realize that it created that new solution until I released the map Too late! But there's another, much less elegant solution than mine or yours where you don't have to fling the box up to yourself. Anyway, I'm glad some of the puzzles hit the brain-bending-but not-impossible sweetspot.

HMW,

Quote:
Its like you designed these puzzles by predicting what solution people would think of initially and then make the real solution something completely different.

That was definitely true with the first box and the final puzzle. From the beginning, I wanted to have a puzzle where you knock a box off a high pillar. And yes, I purposefully put the lift right next to that pillar so that when people walk into the room they would think "ok I have to activate the lift to get the box"

And speaking of brain-bending...

You guys should try the game "Braid".
While Portal is a game that looks like a FPS, but is actually a puzzle game that bends the rules of space,
Braid is a game that looks like a classic platformer, but is actually a puzzle game that bends the rules of time. Seems like the kind of game portalers would like.

Really well designed puzzels! Some of the solutions might have been a little too far-fetched for me though, but I maged to solve them myself except the one where you get to the last room. I never realized that the window on the floor was breakable. .

again wrote:
[...]
i also had to use hint #4, i had a totally different solution in mind: i put the blue portal on the X from the start, put orange in the corridor w/ the energy orb, and then replaced the orange to the end of that corridor so that the ball goes through to the closed door. then i rode the elevator up, waited for a new ball to spawn, listened for the bounce against the closed door and fired the orange into the small room from the elevator so that the ball went in there.
thats where i started to have trouble, because the ball didnt always bounce at the corner perfectly and so it didnt always come back out right, but when it did, i activated the inner door switch, and let the ball fly out. unfortunately, even with immaculate timing the ball ran out literally less the five feet from the catcher. facepalm never would have thought of your solution.
[...]

I actually solved it this way.

I solved the puzzle in the last room differently too. I put a blue portal on the concrete wall, just right to the door. I went out from the last room and let the rocket fire towards me. When the rocket got out of the last room, I fired an orange portal in its path. It then got back to the last room and broke the glass.

And one last thing; the autosave when you just got the second cube were triggered when I accidently fell through the portal. Everytime the autosave was loaded, I inevitability fell into the toxic liquid and died.

Glovis wrote:
LOL HangingRope, wrong again.

I also thought that would happen...Stupid forums...

Aldez, looks like you like doing everything the hard way
And sorry for the autosave fiasco!