Hey guys. First time poster, somewhat long time Hammer Editor user-guy.

I have just recently created my first Portal map, and I wanted to get as much feedback on it as possible. I'll start by saying that I really wanted to create a second map to go along with it, but time hasn't really been on my side these days. So this map is rather short, and ends abruptly, but I wanted to get some feedback on what I have so far. If it's so far so good, i'll release the second map here as well, so i'm looking forward to that!

Since this is my first map, it's not all that complex. It started off as an experiment map to test out the different aspects of Portal mapping, but then I decided to expand it a little bit. The puzzles aren't that difficult, at least not as challenging as some of the maps i've seen here lately. You guys have quite the creative thinkers. But we all gotta start somewhere, right!?

So, let's get right down to the meat of this thread, eh? First, some screenshots!

Here are a couple of links to give it a download:

dload.php?action=filefile_id=141

http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/42892
You can find the same screenshots there, and i've included a readme in the .zip which says just about the same thing I already stated in the beginning paragraphs, more or less.

So feel free to take a look around, and give feedback on ways to improve this, and in turn help make the second map even better! Also, if you see any errors/bugs, i'd also love to know about them!

&&

Looks pretty good for your first attempt from the screenshots, can't wait to play it.

This was a good map. A few things I noticed:

When I entered this big room:

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3873 ... xq1.th.jpg
The indicator lights were confusing. I automatically assume they are supposed to be indicating if the door is locked or unlocked, but they indicate if the 'puzzle' in that room is complete, which took a few moments to work out.

the elevator in the third room turned bright green when it activated (dunno what caused this, could have been my computer I suppose)

http://leckweb.5elements.net/pictures/a ... _10001.jpg

The glass didn't like the fog element of the goo room, and was flickering a bit. also i completed this room by accident, because the energy ball hit a platform as it was still rotating and happend to be shot straight into the catcher.

Overall it was a good map though, I enjoyed it.

Alright this is my...review.

VERY good-looking map! The lighting, the textures, the rising steps, all the space you have, the sparks, the shattering glass, and just everything looked fantastic, as good or better than the actual game.

I understand that this is the first map in the sequence or whatever you are making, which is why you get the portal gun at the end, but it was still really boring and easy. Like when I beat the first room, I thought I did a ninja solution because it was so easy and straightforward. Then I saw this trend in all the other rooms. There is little to no choice, and thus no difficulty.

Another aspect of the map I didn't find too great was the amount of buttons. You are very button-happy! There must have been 10 hand-pushed buttons. One that stands out as not needed is the one that rises the steps in the big room with the upside-down stand-on button. It was a nice addition, but it was definitely not a puzzle, though I thought it would be on a timer or there was a catch because of the simple thing it did.

The text at the end was cool too.

Yeah so that's it I guess. It looks great, but it was too straightforward and easy, and there were many many buttons. Those are the main points. Hopefully for your next map, there will be some head-scratching puzzles along with an awesome presentation. Great work though!! It looked like it took a very long time!

Pretty cool stuff, but what really scares me was the fact that your ball Puzzle is the same as mine, and they both involve rotating panels. Nuts... and scary.

nice work for the first map

Here it is my speed run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUrkIQnKpk

infernet89 wrote:
nice work for the first map

Here it is my speed run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUrkIQnKpk

Ministry?

nice speed run the music hurts though.

Looksl ike a pretty good map, you've got some innovative ideas in there

youme wrote:
nice speed run the music hurts though.

Looksl ike a pretty good map, you've got some innovative ideas in there

My fucking fraps don't record any track audio, so i've to replace the irritating silence whith someone else, if u don't like just turn off the volume

Hedgehog wrote:
Ministry?

infernet89 wrote:
My fucking fraps don't record any track audio, so i've to replace the irritating silence whith someone else, if u don't like just turn off the volume

On the movies tab, you do have "Record sound" checked right? And the dot is in "Detect best sound input"? Thats what I have mine set to and it works flawlessly.

But anyway, onto the map.
Visually the map was pretty good. I found the lack of the portal gun irritating, as I love that thing. But whatever. The ball catcher puzzle was really nice.

The one thing that I didn't really like in it, was the room where you finally get the gun.

As previously mentioned, the indicator lines are somewhat confusing. And I'm not a fan of buttons that cannot be pressed until something is achieved. Perhaps if there were 4 buttons in that room, and you needed to somehow retrieve a cube from each of the 3 rooms as a result of the puzzles within them, then stand on the 4th yourself to lower the final platform.

looks fun. I'm going to procrastinate from my first efforts at hammer to get right in there and play

of course running hammer is procrastination from doing my laundry.

that means you're responsible for at least 2nd order procrastination here.

Look and feel were great, and its a nice change to play Portal without much. . . portalling. Not something I want to do all the time. .but a nice change. The puzzles were simple, but that still makes this a good introductory map. I was very glad to get the gun eventually; too bad I have to wait for your next one to use it.

Thanks a lot for giving it a playthrough, and for all the great feedback. Before I begin making the second map, I will most likely change & tweak this first one based on the feedback I got. Here's a rundown on what I plan on changing for this map:

• Fix confusing indicator lights in metal Portalgun room.
• More choices in puzzle solutions (most notibly: the very first puzzle and the one stated below.)
• Re-work upside-down button room to eliminate unneeded button that raises stairs.
• General difficulty increase for all puzzles (except ball catcher puzzle).
• Decrease/eliminate sparks/unnessessary attention grabbers.
• Fix bug where player is unable to be killed when Portalgun platform falls on them.

Other Notes:

Leck: The green elevator may just be your computer. I have never experience that, nor has anyone I gave the early versions of this map to. The glass and the water fog problem, though, is a problem within the game itself. It can be seen in some official Portal maps. I'm not sure how to fix that, though.

Talgoran: I'll definatley cut down the use of buttons. The only hand-pressed buttons i'll keep are the three that control the ball catcher puzzle. As for the big buttons, they most likely remain. Well, they kinda have to if I want to continue with how the current setup works.

MrTwoVideoCards: Scary coincidence! It's a cool idea though, and i'm glad i'm not the only one who thought of that!

infernet89: Nice speedrun! Hopefully my second map will have much tougher puzzles to make for some tougher times.

Lorithad: Yeah, some people will find the lack of the Portalgun in a "Portal" map a bit off-putting. Once I get the second map done, then you can play it like I really wanted: One map involving no-portal puzzles, one map with. Also, your idea for all the buttons to be in that room is very interesting, but i've had troubles with setting something up like that. (That was actually my original idea, but I couldn't get it to work properly.)

Again, thaks a lot you guys. This is really going to help make my second map even better!

Well I finished it. it was a very nice easy map. the ball catcher puzzle was fun. i can see that potentially becoming far more complicated.

the room that you are in at the beginning of the game is i believe called the relaxation chamber, btw.

Yeah, but that's not the area I was talking about. Just some random unknown place.

Yeah that Ball catcher stuff is always hard to do. Mainly you cant have the brush parented towards two Func_rotates.

just founded a little bug

if y stay under the...uhm... thing with the portal gun when it crashes

u don't die and just stuck here

It's a very well made map, but it's very strange that you don't actually USE the portal gun at all in it. Made me sad. I was like "yaay gun!" "wait screen's fading!".

infernet: Really? Every time I tested that, I always died. Hmm. Anyone able to re-create that little problem?

Just tried it. Confirmed, you do not die.