As the rather unimaginative name suggests, a map consisting of two distinct chambers. The first is a remixed version of my previous map "Rebound", with easy and unintended luck-based solutions nixed and generally given a bit of a spit-shine. I managed to foul up the uploading of the final version previously and the download reverted back to the very first release, so here it finally is in its true form. The second chamber is all new and introduces the experimental Multi-Purpose Button. It's a versatile little chap, but seems to drain a lot of power....

Major changes from WIP version:
- Redid textures and lighting for the first chamber (both rooms).
- Removed lasers from second room and blocked off surface that could be used to skip the second part of the puzzle.
- Fixed lighting issues in Chamber 2.
- Blocked a route to the exit from behind the funnel in Chamber 2.
- Slight changes to the upper room in Chamber 2.

Screenshots:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2cndugh.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2w35fnn.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/fpbk9y.jpg

Changes in v 1_2:
Removed exploit that let the player skip the first part of Chamber 2.
Removed exploit that let the player reach the upstairs section of Chamber 2 without activating the lightbridge.
Fixed cubemaps so props should be showing correctly (hopefully)
A couple of minor cosmetic changes.

Click here to download Double Bill

Click here to download Double Bill

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Very nice - I remember the first map - but haven't played it in a while - I enjoyed the second map - lots to do and very thoughtful, medium difficulty, and enjoyable. Thanks for making!

The first room I have played before. I like the update. The second puzzle has some problems and shortcuts. The cresent button- The doors are already open when you start. I believe you meant for them to be closed and then opened when you find the button. If you press the button the doors close blocking access to the square button. The light bridge is not needed to get to the X button area, You can use the funnel to get there. If you dont use the light bridge button the funnel won't break and you can use it to get to the exit platform easily. I can't capture video but I can upload a dem file if you want to see the issues I was talking about.

Edit: Here you go.

doublebill_dem_file.zip

Edit 2: I replayed the updated version of the second map. I believe I solved it close to what you had in mind. I see why you changed the middle portal surface.
Here is the dem file of me playing the updated version of the second puzzle.

doublebillupdate.zip

@OnePortalizedGal - Thanks! I thought a few people might remember the first map, but from the feedback I got a lot of people seemed to solve it in a messy and unintended way, so I thought it deserved a re-release. With turrets.

@benvent - Many thanks for the .dem file and your input. Both issues have been addressed and the file updated.

The doors actually function exactly as intended and indeed this functionality is integral to the first two puzzles. You actually inadvertently drew my attention to a different issue I hadn't thought about, which I would have liked to keep in if it didn't ruin the subsequent puzzle... Have a look at the first screenshot below and you should get what I mean. The funnel thing is definitely a problem, though personally I couldn't recreate it with my rudimentary Portal skills; I've made it a little more difficult but it might still be possible, though I would think far too fiddly and annoying for most players.

Screenshots of changes:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198002380422/screenshot/595842431630746793?tab=public

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656 ... tab=public

EDIT: For anyone with experience of uploading to the site, what's the best way to go about updating maps? I'm a little confused by the options and wording of some of it. What's the difference between "Add new file as new release for the current file" and "Add new file as additional release besides the current file"? While we're at it, if I try to delete an older version so it doesn't appear in the drop-down box, what does "Also delete the file" mean? If I leave that unchecked nothing seems to change at all, so why the "also"? I'm a little scared to check that box in case the whole thing disappears....

I just played it again. Enjoyed it even more the second time around. Thanks!

I really don't get how I'm supposed to get the 2 first cubes. Can someone spoil it for me?

Logic - here is how I did it. First, Launch yourself up to the catwalk to the room above and push the button (this raises the faithplates). Then, come back down. Shoot a portal above the bridge a little way up - go downstairs and put goo on the bridge. Make sure it gets all of the bridge. Go back up, push the button closest to the wall. The cube will bounce off the bridge right into your hands. Then, hook back into the bridge and put a portal next to the bridge a little higher up making two bridges. You may have to test it a few times - push the button and the other cube will bounce off inbetween the higher bridge onto the one with the goo - sending the cube to you. Hope this helps!

@OnePortalizedGal:

Correct on the first cube but not the second. If you have to push the button more than once you're doing it wrong (or quite unlucky - sometimes there's a weird bounce off the faithplates).

I actually did my best to prevent solutions like yours because the intended one is my favourite part of the map....

@benvent

Thanks again, always a pleasure to watch someone else play through the map! Pretty much exactly what I was thinking except for the way you got to the exit platforms at the very end, which is a bit of an oversight on my part. I might lock that route out for the final release, but I won't bother updating for now as it's not a crippling issue like the two you pointed out previously.

By the way, when you went back from the top room to the buttons on the damaged lightbridge, you could have simply jumped off the bridge to the left. No need to go back to the faith plate!

@Logic> Logic wrote:

I really don't get how I'm supposed to get the 2 first cubes. Can someone spoil it for me?

Read this then looked at your avatar. Awesome. OnePortalizedGal has given you the solution for the first cube, but If you remain stuck I can PM you a little hint (not spoiler!)

Thanks for the feedback on the 2nd cube! Now I'll have to go back and rethink my strategy to see if I can solve the 2nd cube without a spoiler!

First off, I'm new here and haven't played many custom maps. These are things that I personally had problems with during the playthrough, it doesn't mean everyone is as stupid that I am, even though I see myself as a smart Portal 2 player.

Feedback
||First Chamber:
- Glass "tube" could look a bit better (make a frame around it)
- Really through that I was supposed to use the repulsion gel to reach the first platform
- Hard to see that there was a hole at the top of the glass tube. I saw it pretty quickly, but other people might not be as fortunate
- A bit hard to see the portaleble(?) area on the first platform (nothing serious)
- Doesn't always bounce you across the platforms upstairs, I hit the floor a couple of times

• The second room was really cryptic to me
• It was tricky to figure out what to do and that you needed the gel when it was soo far away from the room
• Reaching the platform was a piece of cake
• First cube is OK, the second one is really hard since the cube doesn't bounce the
• Catching the second cube was really cryptic and look me a long time to nail even though I knew how to do it same way twice

Second Chamber:

• An area where you can get completely stuck (area right beneath you, behind the angeled panel)

• Found an area where you don't die in the water (below the second angeled panel)

• Getting the first cube was easy enough but entertaining nonetheless

• Couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get to the green light room. I guess that you should fling yourself somehow but I's really awkward with the angeled panels
• The lightbridge button should have been an easy one but the only way I got it right was to scoop myself to the edge of the platform above where it hit and fire a portal until I got it right
• Smart utilizing the portals when the ball went through the tractor beam and the vapor-fields, but mixing up the buttons in the wrong order was a bit unnecessary in my opinion
• I solved the puzzle without using the funnel at all (unnecessary?)||
  Astetics are good all the way though, though the textures are a bit repetitive in the "catch-cubes-room". A good map over all, I just can't seem to get the hang of custom maps just yet xD

Logic - many thanks for playing and for giving such detailed feedback; it's much appreciated. I hope my previous comment didn't offend you; I just meant to say that I liked your avatar. And obviously you are a pretty good Portal player, because you've done something I thought was impossible (completed the second chamber without the funnel)!

I'll address the non-spoiler parts first:

Quote:
First Chamber:
- Glass "tube" could look a bit better (make a frame around it)
- Hard to see that there was a hole at the top of the glass tube. I saw it pretty quickly, but other people might not be as fortunate
- A bit hard to see the portaleble(?) area on the first platform (nothing serious)

I agree about the glass, but I haven't been able to find a more satisfying texture or model for it. Same for the hole at the top - I put some lights up there to draw attention to it, but I agree a frame would be better. I'll have another hunt through the model viewer. Might beef up the lighting a little by that upper surface too.

Second Chamber:> Quote:

• An area where you can get completely stuck (area right beneath you, behind the angeled panel)
• Found an area where you don't die in the water (below the second angeled panel)

Thanks, I'll look into both those issues.

Quote:
Astetics are good all the way though, though the textures are a bit repetitive in the "catch-cubes-room".

Yeah, I'm not too happy with the looks of that room either, but then it's the first room I ever made in Hammer (or any other program, for that matter). I'm hoping to have a full release version of the map out tomorrow so I'll see what I can do by then.

Right, on to spoiler stuff:

Please don't click here if you haven't played the map!
||> Quote:

• Really through that I was supposed to use the repulsion gel to reach the first platform
• Doesn't always bounce you across the platforms upstairs, I hit the floor a couple of times

That first point is a good thing, if you ask me - it adds to the puzzle's... puzzlement. I never had that problem with the upstairs, and without seeing how you're doing it I can't really comment.> Quote:

• The second room was really cryptic to me
• It was tricky to figure out what to do and that you needed the gel when it was soo far away from the room
• Reaching the platform was a piece of cake
• First cube is OK, the second one is really hard since the cube doesn't bounce the
• Catching the second cube was really cryptic and look me a long time to nail even though I knew how to do it same way twice

My biggest bug with that room is not so much that the gel is far away but that getting back up is a bit annoying. I'm playtesting now, but I might be able to get rid of the lasers so that you can jump back through onto the bridge and portal back up to the buttons. It's a little difficult because I want it to be clear to players that going out onto the lightbridge is NOT the answer for getting the cubes.

About that piece of cake fling - it's supposed to be like that, partly for pacing reasons and partly because (BIG SPOILER ALERT!) that fling is not the real reason the angled surface is there; it's actually the key part of the puzzle for the second cube. I made the whole upstairs room and the fizzler simply as a distraction (and because launching fizzling cubes looks pretty).> Quote:

• Couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get to the green light room. I guess that you should fling yourself somehow but I's really awkward with the angeled panels
• The lightbridge button should have been an easy one but the only way I got it right was to scoop myself to the edge of the platform above where it hit and fire a portal until I got it right

Not quite sure what you mean here - the green room is the room with the lightbridge button, and if you got there without the funnel that's a bit of a problem. Could you explain exactly how you did it?> Quote:

• Smart utilizing the portals when the ball went through the tractor beam and the vapor-fields, but mixing up the buttons in the wrong order was a bit unnecessary in my opinion

If the buttons weren't mixed it's actually possible to solve the puzzle just through trial and error without remote-viewing through the portals (one of my friends did exactly that while playtesting). I've actually changed the room a bit so it's impossible to run around and see which button does what, but the fact that they're mixed is kind of necessary to force people to use portals.> Quote:

• I solved the puzzle without using the funnel at all (unnecessary?)

See above - you should need it to get to the green room to activate the lightbridge, so I'd really like to know how you did it without the funnel.||
Anyway, all the feedback is much appreciated! I'll see what I can get done today, but I have a pretty bad hangover....

Response
||> El Farmerino wrote:

Logic - many thanks for playing and for giving such detailed feedback; it's much appreciated. I hope my previous comment didn't offend you; I just meant to say that I liked your avatar. And obviously you are a pretty good Portal player, because you've done something I thought was impossible (completed the second chamber without the funnel)!

Yeah, about that. I cheated xD But I played through the map again this morning and had an epifani. I though that you had to activate the light bridge before you activated the funnel. I didn't realize that I could just use the cube to get up there. My fault, chambers need stupid playtesters as well xD

El Farmerino wrote:
My biggest bug with that room is not so much that the gel is far away but that getting back up is a bit annoying.

If I were you I would make the button up there activate another panel right by the button, so that players can simply portal their way up there once they've reached the button the first time.

El Farmerino wrote:
About that piece of cake fling - it's supposed to be like that, partly for pacing reasons and partly because (BIG SPOILER ALERT!) that fling is not the real reason the angled surface is there; it's actually the key part of the puzzle for the second cube.

I understood that it was supposed to be that way for the easy flinging, but I still can't figure out how to get the cube using that angeled panel. Hmm...

El Farmerino wrote:
Not quite sure what you mean here - the green room is the room with the lightbridge button, and if you got there without the funnel that's a bit of a problem. Could you explain exactly how you did it?

I explained this in the beginning ^^||

Would you mind putting spoiler tags over that bit you just quoted (and your response)?

I actually just updated the map with a visual overhaul of the the first two chambers that should make things a little clearer, and now you can get back up to the second room a lot more easily as the lasers are gone. I'm just waiting for it to be moved out of WIP and into the released maps section, because I think it's about done. Thanks again for all the feedback!

How about this solution for the second cube:

Put the first cube on the gel dispenser button and go back to the bridge area. Let the goo spray out of the angled platform to the right (the one used to fling up to the highest room with the faithplate button in it). Now quickly put the bridge portals, the outgoing one a bit higher than the original bridge. Now the cube will bounce off it and right to you, just like the first cube did.

zivi7 - Bingo! You can actually put the two bridges right next to each other and it'll work fine.

Actually just did two more mini-updates as my friend did a runthrough - the first because I forgot to reset the door indicator lights when I made a couple of changes before and the second because of a problem with some of the models showing white. Should be okay now.

Yay. Although: Putting the two bridges next to each other didn't work for me, the cube always overshot the second bridge. Anyways, nice idea - although it is a quicksave-fest because otherwise you'd have to reset the goo portal for every try.

I liked the multi-purpose button in the second chamber.

I solved the sphere funnel by randomly pressing the buttons without using portals - just because I hadn't seen the extra room. I guess this was because the entrance kind of "vanished" between the black walls. Maybe an arrow pointing out that entrance could help?

I'm not sure if I solved the last part correctly: I let the cube fling towards the sphere area and then used the light bridge to get up there myself. Then I grabbed the cube and made the huge jump onto the catwalk that leads to the moon button.

Ha, that's an interesting way of getting the cube back! There are multiple ways, actually, and I'm happy leaving it pretty free. If you like I could PM you a demo I made earlier of me speedrunning the map - There's a really cool way of getting it back that I use there, but I want to see if anyone else comes up with it....

I'll think about putting an arrow in there, but I'll wait a while before updating again in case anything else comes up.

moderator note: moved to released maps on author's request.

Thanks a lot! Have edited title and made screenshots visible, but it seems the "Click Here to Download" text has changed for some reason. Not sure what to do about that....

I played through the new version

• The cube-grabbing-room looked a lot better this time

• I really think I figured out how YOU meant the player is supposed to catch the second cube

• Liked the music you added in in the second chamber

But...
- How are you supposed to get down from the X-room? It's a pretty narrow jump to the catwalk
- How do you catch the cube the second time around. I can do it, but it's illogical to me
- It's not really that apparent how I get to the exit either once I've gotten the cube