You're definitely right that pistons were used in Portal 1, and that they're used in Portal 2. But the metal pistons specifically are always a clear indicator that they're a leftover from older map style standards. In P2, there are quite a few pistons, but they look like this:

The brush-based pistons, then, are leftovers. Its not that they're somehow non-canon or something, because there are still pistons used, but they're not supposed to look like the old metal ones.

Early on in the development of Portal 2, everything used the style from the first game. After they decided to reroll and convert to the stuff from Portal 2, they missed stuff because Valve has a massive lack of attention to detail. Try counting all the misaligned textures in Portal 2. Ya can't too many.

It even got worse as the developed it. You can tell which maps came last because the actual mapping is garbage. One of the maps we used for lighting reference happens to be the worst of them all (ask Reepblue about this) because the mapping is so terrible. Then Art Therapy is just lazy and pretty gross 24/7, though I like the actual visual theme.

i dont have a shadow of a doubt that you guys are right. i don't remember where specifically these maps/errors are, though. can you screenshot some stuff?

Not hard to spot misaligned textures (co-op stuff is really bad, especially the hub). Everything else is more about how the maps were actually mapped so if you want to see that then just load up some of the maps in Hammer or bother Reepblue about it. I'm sure he'd love that.

If I remember correctly, there's a random streetlight at the bottom of the hub, and a bunch of other hastily-placed or misaligned models.

No, the streetlight is an easter egg!

Pilchard123 wrote:
No, the streetlight is an easter egg!

What?

How is that an easter egg?

It's not, but it's a convenient excuse if anyone was to press them about it.

"It's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature"

The maps with the most holes and inconsistencies are, to my knowledge, the e3 maps with Wheatley. Besides the actual exposed nodraw in the maps, there's some pretty blatant stuff like the line of piping right before the level change to the GLaDOS wakeup map- it just kind of stops abruptly without a cap model or anything, so you can see right through it.

Complaining about stuff aside, my point is that I wouldn't necessarily say it was the maps that were completed last that got the shaft so much as the maps that people had to rush to finish.

not to mention the model textures. i'm not sure why, but in portal 2 most of the model's textures just seem a lot less detailed and high quality than they could be. some major examples being the underground elevators, the geodome interiors and exteriors, several truss beam models, the gantry truss models, the square beam models- heck, the only textures they did a good job on practically were the characters of the game and the pistons we just finished talking about. valve's quality is kindof...slipping...

back on topic: i have to wonder if it is still in half life 2's canon that part of the borealis dry dock dissapeared with the ship, because as far as i can tell, the dry dock doesnt really have anything missing from it accept the borealis ship itself.

tile wrote:
in portal 2 most of the model's textures just seem a lot less detailed and high quality than they could be. some major examples being the underground elevators, the geodome interiors and exteriors, several truss beam models, the gantry truss models, the square beam models

That's less Valve's "texture quality slipping" and more Valve optimizing their game. A lot of those models are usually far away from the player or don't really need high quality textures to look "good."

Re the retcon about the style: my interpretation is that GLaDOS was experimenting with different visual styles in a few of the test chambers (does this puzzle work better with this type of wall panel or this type?), so there are multiple Test 19s. The one you go through in Portal 1 is the same puzzle but not the same location as the one you go through in Portal 2.

well, no, because the (now extinguished) fire pit being right next to the incinerator room makes too much sense for it to be in a different location..but i think this theory fits pretty well with a lot of other retcons. never really occured to me that there could be more than 1 of the same room, but in the context of aperture it actually makes a lot more sense than i thought. and about the textures, i agree with the far away stuff, but with close up stuff such as the walkways, square beams, and underground elevators it's just plain lazy. i imported hl2's dock crane, and the textures on it look way better than most portal 2 model textures- and that's saying something, because hl2 textures have a terrible resolution. Even if it was intended as optimization, it still could have been a lot better.

back on topic of actual universe canon stuff:

is the universe of LOST part of hl2, and therfore, portal? because there was a dharma initiative logo in hl2:ep2, and the dharma initiative does a lot of the same experiments that black mesa and aperture do; like time travel and teliportation, not to mention the poison gas. if nobody really has a clue, just look up lostpedia or watch the show on netflix. as a bonus, jj abrams initially helped a lot with lost, and he will be making a portal movie soon-ish.

tile wrote:
is the universe of LOST part of hl2

No

Colossal wrote:

tile wrote:
is the universe of LOST part of hl->
MASHY SPIKE PLATE!

...Would be kindof cool if it was though.

Not really.

Colossal wrote:
Not really.

true, but Dharma gassed an entire village because they thought it would change a number in an equation, so I'm pretty sure that it would fit perfectly into the portal universe. the rest of the show wouldnt work, but dharma would be awsome.

tile wrote:
I'm pretty sure that it would fit perfectly into the portal universe

Not really.

Colossal wrote:

tile wrote:
I'm pretty sure that it would fit perfectly into the portal universe>
Not really.

[sarcasm="suuure"]Glados gassed a science facility the size of upper Michigan to satisfy her need to test things. So i guess not, because they are entirely different scenarios.[/sarcasm]
not that it matters, i just think it's funny how they are so similar in a few odd ways.

tile wrote:
Glados

Exactly.

GLaDOS isn't Aperture. Grumpy ol' corporations aren't Half-Life or Portal.