Hello ladies and gents,

I'd like to introduce you to my first Portal 2 map, which I just released in the Steam Workshop in two parts. I'm very proud on the final product which I'll continue improving based on feedback I receive and gameplay/atmosphere improvements. This would've been impossible without this great community full of great and professional people. Kudos to you all.

1 Entrance: http://bit.ly/WvWbSo

2 Main: http://bit.ly/Z6BskE

I'd be honored if you would leave a comment after playing the map with anything you want. Whether it's how much time it took you to solve all puzzles, or that you were sad because Frankencubes were harmed.

Enough information!

Enjoy the map &
best regards,
iSpectra

I think the right place to put this thread is in the community releases so you can actually see how many people downloaded your map from here and get ratings. (All those uploads with the external link instead of a file are supposed to be like that). But I think I might try your map when I get a chance.

Yeah, you can upload it to the site. The instructions to link the thread to the workshop place are clearly defined after clicking the upload button (just go to Downloads > Portal2 maps and files > Single player > Upload button on yout top right corner); you only have to copy your workshop link into "External link" and you're done.

I gave it a go yesterday, and to be honest, I think it needs much work yet.

detailed first feedback
||- First thing you should take care of is making a playerclip brush to make collisions for props a bit more adapted to the prop's shape and position in your map. It's annoying to find a block that you can't see that it's keeping you apart from a prop that you are not even touching (like for instance the table with the chair and a lamp on top). More annoying yet is to have a hole on the floor for which you made a top invisible brush to don't allow the player even go onto it like in the initial room (you can cover ONLY the hole itself letting the player stand on it... but of course, if you intended that the player can't get trapped in there, use a piece of wooden or something that justified that the player doesn't fall in).

• Related to the above point, if you don't really want the player to access a certain area, avoid white tiles behind it where the player can shoot portals. You can use for this a func_noportal_volume brush for the walls' areas you don't want portals in. Again use this carefully, covering only the really nearest parts from certain props and such, ok?

• Lighting is really bad. At the water part in the beginning I couldn't even identify what water material were you using. On the other hand what is that water for? it doesn't look specially good or fitting the environment, and of course it is not having a hazard purpose like it should, according to this game's puzzle elements. Also, again, there was an invisible brush that made no sense overall being that zone full of white walls! Regarding lighting, there was a whole corridor with NO light at all and with a button in the middle.

• The worst thing to me, and the reason I quit the map was the lack of indicator_lights; I found no button with indicator lights that connected anything... I only knew that one of the prop_buttons near the panels that hid the laser beam and a turret opened them because I could see it...

• Regarding 'decoration', well, I found a lot of weird mixture in there... First there's wooden floors, foliage and some destruction, then quickly clean rooms, broken ceilings but no tiles on the floor... and why did you place such a lot of mushrooms everywhere? I can't see point of the burnt-out table with the chair or the mattress either...||

EYUPPP; download section is totally the way to go

Anyhow I just feel I should post my feedback in here too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJ9JJ9NzzM

Entrance Chamber:
Starts randomly in the middle of a (poorly made) room.
Many invisible walls.
Many misaligned brushes.
Many misaligned lights.
Misaligned props.
Pop-in fog.
No indicator strips.
Super-pointless aerial faith plates.
No real puzzles.
Excessive elements.
Pointless areas/rooms.
Ends abruptly and fades to the Portal 2 menu.
Makes no sense.

Main Chamber:
Since when can you put portals on grass?
Many invisible walls.
Many misaligned brushes.
Many misaligned lights.
Misaligned props.
No indicator strips - you have no idea why you are pressing buttons or turing on lasers.
Timed button with no countdown.
No real puzzles.
Excessive elements.
Pointless areas/rooms.
Makes no sense.
Excessive in size.
Did not bother finishing this one - not worth the effort.

TLDR: Extremely poorly made maps - avoid playing.

It would probably take less time for you to start over from scratch than it would to fix these maps.

Btw if you want to go back and iron out a few bugs, Portals on grass can be fixed with a func_noportal_volume over them, and the theme needs to be more consistent. Even if you don't want indicator lights, signage would help.

Portals are even weird in wood, I forgot to say before... Apart from using the func_noportal_volumes, it's possible to edit the material (.vmt) adding:

"%noportal" 1

However, you'll have to packrat the material into the bsp (which is not difficult and it's fully explained in many threads in the forums and many other places... just ask in the case you need help).

I kind of feel bad for the feedback I posted (and also for the latter other posts) about this map... Overall because of your signature, iSpectra "Modding beginner. But ready to learn"... and if I had more time I'd like to help more, maybe by decompiling it and adding some stuff and remaking some areas... I don't discard to do it in any free moment I have...

josepezdj wrote:
I kind of feel bad for the feedback I posted (and also for the latter other posts) about this map... Overall because of your signature, iSpectra "Modding beginner. But ready to learn"... and if I had more time I'd like to help more, maybe by decompiling it and adding some stuff and remaking some areas... I don't discard to do it in any free moment I have...

The problem with the specific case is the sheer number of issues that exist and the overall scale of the project.

Basic conventions are ignored (indicator strips, signage, etc.), faux pas exist everywhere (invisible walls, etc.), the maps are poorly created (misaligned brushes, excessive props, etc) and the maps are simply not fun to play (lack of puzzles, etc).

For a first map this is not a terrible effort; however, the number of hours put into this map should have (in my opinion) been put into a map 1/20th the size.

Learn to implement elevators. Learn about puzzle design. Learn about instances. Learn about indicator strips. Etc.

There are so many things wrong with these maps that giving specific feedback on things that need to be fixed would be like coming across a totalled car and telling the owner that he needs a new rear-view mirror.

My advice is to abandon this map, take what you learned and make a VERY small test chamber with the goal of quality over quantity.

And read 100 tutorials.

You have your point Taco. I already understood your point in the first post about this map above, and I have to say I agree with you.

I've been posting in several threads opened by iSpectra and I have to say that this guy seemed to be understanding more or less everything and learning throughout. That's why I was curious to check out his first creation. And I got really disappointed after checking that the basics were missing. A lot of important things that, like you said, can be easily learnt in basic Portal2 tutorials.

taco wrote:
My advice is to abandon this map, take what you learned and make a VERY small test chamber with the goal of quality over quantity.

And read 100 tutorials.

Yeah, that might be the best way to go...