I am currently working on a map with puzzles designed around portal techniques that were not taught in the game and was wondering how people feel about having tunneling as a puzzle solution.

Is it a technique that is fair game? Should it only be used as a method to skip part of a puzzle?

This is NOT going to be a tutorial level; I do NOT want to be teaching the player how to tunnel in my map with signs and the like: the map is being designed to be quite challenging.

Thanks for any input.

Personally, I dislike it, because it feels too much like abuse of the game mechanics, and I really don't like maps where you have to deliberately break the game in order to succeed. Some might like that, and good for them, but I don't. I prefer it to remain the domain of speedruns and insane maps designed only to test one's ability to use unorthodox and borderline exploitative techniques.

It may be confusing for some of the Portal beginners, but if it's advertised as a more advanced map then go for it.

Portal (IMO) is all about finding solutions to problems, if it's allowed in the game I don't see the issue. The only thing I'm not keen on in the wall climbing glitch thing, but tunneling to skip impossible puzzles could be cool.

Sure, but I would count portal tunnelling as a glitch, honestly. Also things like that throw-the-cube-through-the-fizzler thing I solved one puzzle with that someone made here; it worked, but should it have? Not really... and I'd be really pissed if you were actually forced to do that to complete a puzzle somewhere.

I don't think tunneling is really a glitch... the developers knew about it, and encorporated it in their challenge maps, so I'm all for it. Most people know how to do it, and it's not that hard to do. I wouldn't want to see wall climbing with boxes as part of a solution since not everybody knows how to do it, and it's pretty hard to learn. Portal tunneling, however, is not really hard to do at all. And Valve knew about it and used it in their own solutions.

As much as I like the technique, it was never taught, b/c it wasn't an
intended effect of the game. I mean you can do that, and I'd probably
play it, but requiring the player to KNOW how to use that trick to beat
a map could be considered by many to be kind of "unfair".

The whole box hold door open trick utilized in one map here is actually
an intended part of the game mechanics although it's extremely abused
for speedruns. If the doors didn't push the boxes out upon close, I'd
have to say it's something Valve considered.

But Valve never taught you to hold doors open with boxes either... so how is this ok but tunneling isn't? In fact, Valve never even made you hold a box open for a challenge map. They made you tunnel in challenege map 15, I believe. The one with all the fizzlers you had to fling through.

What? There are no maps that force you to portal-tunnel, advanced or otherwise. There are a couple of flings that require you to put down portals in mid-air, but that's something completely different, of course.

To get least portals and least steps in challenege map 15 you have to tunnel through the hallway where the light-rail platform is, instead of activating the platform (which requires you to fling over the wall, put portals down to put the ball in the ball catcher and then portal back). Instead you tunnel through the hallway using only 3 portals... Unless your definition of tunneling is not what I have heard most people refer to tunneling as.

Yekyaa wrote:
it wasn't an intended effect of the game.

How do you know that? Do tell?

Personally i think Its ok if its the intended solution is tunneling

Go for it

I went back and did 15 again and dagnabbit, you were right. I must have remembered it wrong. In that case, I guess portal tunnelling is an acceptable solution for a challenge version of a puzzle.

Really, anything you can think of is an acceptable solution.
Just because a technique wasn't taught in the game doesn't mean anything.
It says that the designers thought it was too complicated for the general public. They didn't want portal to be something you pull your hair out for hours trying to figure out.

Custom maps however...Custom maps shouldn't be limited by what the general public would be able to do. If you want to make a custom map that irritates the crap out of everybody because it's too difficult, go for it. Just give people fair warning that it's challenging.

For my next map, I'll make a puzzle that requires you to noclip to complete it.

....Well that would be a cheat.

I should rephrase what I said before...Anything you can think of is an acceptable solution. Provided you don't need to go into the console to do it.

Korjagun wrote:
For my next map, I'll make a puzzle that requires you to noclip to complete it.

I did a good search and a youtube search with no luck...What's this "tunneling" in Portal all about?

Tunneling is the term commonly used for placing one portal on the ceiling, one portal on the ground, and achieving terminal velocity within a relativly small area.

actually, to my knowledge thats incorrect.

Tunneling has been coined for the method of putting 2 portals, both on walls, standing just barely inside one, shooting another one on another wall, and staying inside the portals still. its how you can get least portals on number 15 advanced. It allows you to move around corners without the use of the lifts in that level, because you're always standing in the portals on a paper thin piece of wall.

Er, no, tunnelling is the trick where you place a portal while standing in "the middle" of the portal already, and backing out before the portal projectile hits the target wall so that you're essentially "moving" one end of the portal further and further through the level while not actually moving yourself.

Ah, well that would be my mistake then.