Cave's Caves
Play the lost test chambers of Old Aperture burried away inside what became known by the staff above as 'Cave's Caves'.
Submitted as my entry to the TWP Summer Mapping Contest 2012
supercontest2012 SpAM_CAN
Special thanks to Ian Haynes and Ryan Ward for helping me set up RDP and build cubemaps while i was away.
SpAM_CAN wrote:
This map weighs in at 95mb - just under the contest limit.
Haha, nice.
Jepp wrote:
Am I stupid or are you suppose to spawn without portalgun?
Same question...
give_portalgun
and then:
upgrade_portalgun
into the developers console and you should get a dual one...
Firstly I didn't like the puzzles in this map. It felt pretty well-built but it was too bloody dark in some places, I coudn't see what I was looking at at times. Other places were overexposed so it felt more like staring into the sun then a lamp. Other then that it looked very nice overall, some small stuff here and there though. Got myself stuck in various places in the first chamber, like I jumped onto the surrounding globe and slided down into a gantry model where I was stuck for example.
I played the second chamber for more then half an hour without any progress at all before just nocliping the cube to the button. I thought I'd checked everything, tried every bloody thing, because you can't really tell what will happen, so it was just a trial and error extravaganza beyond compare. I surely reloaded the map about 30 times while playing this, it was just no way to tell what would work and what wouldn't in the first map. I tried running from the redpainted ramp onto the blue platform and then into a portal and then out over that one and gave me too much speed etc. etc. When I finaly came up with the solution to get up onto the button-elevator-thing it worked well (bouncing into the blue-gel dropper again) and it gave a sence of staisfaction but it was so unclear how the proper way to do it was and everytime you do wrong you die and have to reload so that's also a pain in the arse.
Loved cave and loved the turret-part. I don't think having alternate endings was a good idea, I really had to reload the map and do the other test with funnel aswell afterwards because you surely want to play everything right? It's not a mass effect type of game when you have decisions and stuff. That test wasn't too fun either, not really a puzzle (once you've figured out what all the buttons did) just about execution and it was a pain in the ass if you screwed up really.
Infiniflinging the white gel was nice but by the time I've just totally lost my patince with the chamber and constantly dying so I nocliped. Do think I did it in the intended way and I was able to redo it after without noclip. And just remove that button outside the exit will you couse it has no function what so ever it was just aggrevating having to go back to get the cube.
3/5 Good but needs work
Changelog:
Added portal gun spawner
Realigned final chamber textures
Music fix on ending 2
Visibility fix on Chmb4 (hopefully, i cant test over RDP very easily)
At first, I was pretty annoyed at the puzzles - great ideas, but awkwardly executed. The attention to detail really made up for that though, and I was pretty impressed with the voice acting
It got a bit easier after that, but as the map kept opening up, I was loving just wandering around, seeing more of aperture and got that feeling of size and wonder I had playing P2 for the first time!
The 'secret' area of this map is bigger than most actual maps, and the whole thing is quite amazingly optimised, running smooth as hell on my old machine. Oh, and uhh I really liked the exit signs too - reminded me of Fallout New Vegas or Borderlands or something. I normally hate these fanfic style maps, but I loved this, thanks! If I had a vote, it would go to this. clapclap
EDIT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyxrQ20xjUw
You don't have to jump and throw the box, but I like to :3
Do not read if you are judge!
||This map had both good and bad elements. The puzzle aspects were all very well done, however the execution of them are not so obvious and I found myself stuck many a times in this map.
Reading the other judge's comments after I have finished the map: I think I was the only who really understood and finished the first chamber. I think I spent the most time on the first chamber, and that was because I thought the button on the platform activated the speedgel and didn't notice the button right next to the speed gel dispenser... doh! You don't even need the bouncy wall at the start to complete the map, you can just jump through the blue gel dispenser out of a portal surface on the other side of the bouncy wall and bounce your way to the speed ramp victory slope.
How you get to the exit is you have to put white gel on the lift that brings you up, so then you can fling from the top platform down into it. The speed you gain is completely unrealistic (catapult).
I didn't like the next puzzle with the cube / gel. You had to raise the cube unnaturally high in order for it to fling correctly on the button and the way up to the top there I didn't find until 5 minutes into the test with lots of trial and error.
The next chamber with the cube and the funnel was a good concept, however pulling it off took multiple tries and I even quicksaved the game so then I didn't have to funnel the cube up to a specific spot every time it fizzled.
The last chamber where you had to funnel the cube on the buttons was again, trial and error; but it was definitely easier than the funnel cube puzzle previously.
It was a very good job on the voice acting even though you didn't actually sound anything like Cave Johnson, but it was definitely a nice touch. (this is the second voice acting included in a contest map 
, Vordwann did a good job too). The music and ambience were great as well.
There was also a bit of an exploring element in this map. Just before you start the chambers you can portal inside an office and take a small look around. The opened vitrified door however had nothing in it 
Its amazing you got this much done in 2 weeks, well done.||
Cave was voiced by my friend, who sounds much closer to the original when I boost the bass and stuff, something I actually forgot to do this time around xD
A lot of people got stuck there and your video in the 2nd chamber only. Thanks
EDIT: ChickenMobile, did you try the left branch of the level too?