Every sub-puzzle? (say after each fling or gaining a box to use in the next bit)
Every full-puzzle? (one or two per chamber, probably separated by fizzlers or doors)
Every chamber? (once only at the start of each chamber)
Never?

What do you think?

Personally I feel somewhere between every full puzzle and every chamber, though every time I play custom maps for portal I feel the last save was too long ago.

I don't like losing progress because to dying, I think time spent thinking about how to solve a puzzle is more worthwhile than time spent re-reaching a point because you mis-timed/aimed something and died. I think this tends to manifest itself in the puzzles I create.

How often do you think they should be?

I think you summed it up pretty well. Basically any time I complete something that I don't necessarily want to waste the time to do again, I'd like there to be an autosave. That way I'm not needlessly recovering ground when/if I die, but that way I also kind of know that I'm on the right track with the progression of the map (which is usually only a problem in "hub" style maps).

I usually do it every few sub-steps of a puzzle and before any hazards which is what it appears Valve does looking at their maps.

Not during puzzles. Preferably before any hazards that might kill you.

Also between different puzzles if possible.

I generally put autosaves every couple of rooms, occasionally every room. In turret areas, I'd recommend setting up a math_counter entity that saves when all the turrets are dead, maybe even save after each turret is killed if it's really hard to kill em.

As a player, I don't really rely on autosaves too much because I quicksave a lot, especially before hazards. When I'm not quicksaving up a storm, I pretty much just get annoyed if I have to restart a map or a chamber when I die, or, say, a really hard fling.

I like them before and after something dangerous. Say, before encountering a pellet and after encountering. and after a couple of areas killing turrets :p

I couldn't care less about Autosaves, Quick Saves do it for me, I just got so used to them I press Quick Save every 30 seconds xD.

JohnBigOz wrote:
I just got so used to them I press Quick Save every 30 seconds

Fellow halfquake player?