(If this has been posted before, sorry! Please feel free to delete it.)

It's going to be easier then hammer.
Confirmed by valve.

I wish they'd focus on making Hammer more stable and user-friendly, rather than this.. thing. Hammer is a useful skill that translates to other design programs and mod tools (and vice versa, that's the only reason I can use Hammer despite having opened it for the first time 2 months ago) and Valve should be encouraging people to learn things that are useful...

Like, what about when CS:GO comes out? Are they going to release an "easy CS map maker" where you just mash pre-built chokepoints together? Or are they going to release a proper map maker so people can actually be creative? lol... just makes me worried for the future of modders

Kaleido wrote:
I'm curious about this as well. I hope it doesn't water down the mapping community.. if everyone can just mash blocks of "puzzles" together we're going to get a lot of garbage, not just on this site but in general...

I wish they'd focus on making Hammer more stable and user-friendly, rather than this.. thing. Hammer is a useful skill that translates to other design programs and mod tools (and vice versa, that's the only reason I can use Hammer despite having opened it for the first time 2 months ago) and Valve should be encouraging people to learn things that are useful...

Like, what about when CS:GO comes out? Are they going to release an "easy CS map maker" where you just mash pre-built chokepoints together? Or are they going to release a proper map maker so people can actually be creative? lol... just makes me worried for the future of modders

I find hammer a great tool, it does what it supposed to do and I think it isn't really that complicated. BASICALLY you have brushes and entities and you have to connect them. The NUMBER of entities Hammer can use however is very very high since it's been in use for about 16 years, which is an incredible amount for a tool like this. It has also been used in various games, requiring different entities which are still found in hammer. This makes it easier to start with but it's very powerful for experience users.

An easy CS map maker COULD be good. I really enjoyed the easy map maker from "Time Splitters 2". you could connect pre-built blocks together to create a map. You should search for that. The main point why portal 2 can use a tool like this is because of its modular design. All maps can be represented in a flow chart.
press button -> get cube -> put cube on button -> open door.
To create a proper puzzle you don't need to add lots of details or other stuff.
To create a proper map I think you do at least some details. So I think the mapmaker ca be used to make amazing puzzles but not really amazing maps, but only time will tell.

Final point: the map maker won't replace hammer, hammer will still be easy map maker's big brother. So you I suppose the easy map maker can also be a great tool for experienced mappers to quickly draft an idea, see if it works, and then create it in hammer.

But that's just my $0,02

lpfreaky90 wrote:
It's going to be awesome.
Confirmed by valve.

The word "Awesome" was tagged to the Puzzle Creator way before it was even thought up.

andyb wrote:
I'm just interested in release date.I'll make a decision on it after I have seen it

I know the (planned) release date... but I can't tell anyone, sorry. (Unless they can keep it secret like VALVe told me to.)

lpfreaky90 wrote:
Kaleido wrote:

I'm curious about this as well. I hope it doesn't water down the mapping community.. if everyone can just mash blocks of "puzzles" together we're going to get a lot of garbage, not just on this site but in general...

I wish they'd focus on making Hammer more stable and user-friendly, rather than this.. thing. Hammer is a useful skill that translates to other design programs and mod tools (and vice versa, that's the only reason I can use Hammer despite having opened it for the first time 2 months ago) and Valve should be encouraging people to learn things that are useful...

Like, what about when CS:GO comes out? Are they going to release an "easy CS map maker" where you just mash pre-built chokepoints together? Or are they going to release a proper map maker so people can actually be creative? lol... just makes me worried for the future of modders

I find hammer a great tool, it does what it supposed to do and I think it isn't really that complicated. BASICALLY you have brushes and entities and you have to connect them. The NUMBER of entities Hammer can use however is very very high since it's been in use for about 16 years, which is an incredible amount for a tool like this. It has also been used in various games, requiring different entities which are still found in hammer. This makes it easier to start with but it's very powerful for experience users.

An easy CS map maker COULD be good. I really enjoyed the easy map maker from "Time Splitters 2". you could connect pre-built blocks together to create a map. You should search for that. The main point why portal 2 can use a tool like this is because of its modular design. All maps can be represented in a flow chart.
press button -> get cube -> put cube on button -> open door.
To create a proper puzzle you don't need to add lots of details or other stuff.
To create a proper map I think you do at least some details. So I think the mapmaker ca be used to make amazing puzzles but not really amazing maps, but only time will tell.

Final point: the map maker won't replace hammer, hammer will still be easy map maker's big brother. So you I suppose the easy map maker can also be a great tool for experienced mappers to quickly draft an idea, see if it works, and then create it in hammer.

But that's just my $0,02

I like the idea of using it to blueprint concepts before executing... I just hope they make it easy to transfer to Hammer... In theory you could decompile those maps anyway I guess but it'd be nice if it was officially supported for that use.

Pipeline wrote:
andyb wrote:

I'm just interested in release date.I'll make a decision on it after I have seen it

I know the (planned) release date... but I can't tell anyone, sorry. (Unless they can keep it secret like VALVe told me to.)

In that case it's going to be half a year so they don't get everyone's hopes up.

Pipeline wrote:
andyb wrote:

I'm just interested in release date.I'll make a decision on it after I have seen it

I know the (planned) release date... but I can't tell anyone, sorry. (Unless they can keep it secret like VALVe told me to.)

My dad works at Nintendo.

The Irate Pirate wrote:
My dad works at Nintendo.

And my father works at Mac Donalds!

spongylover123 wrote:
It's still in testing, just keep waiting, Valve want to make sure that the puzzle creator is the best.

Valve is known for their extremely thorough testing.
That's why most of their games are realized at their full potential instead of "let's please our fanbase and release it early, then realize it has millions of bugs".

Pipeline wrote:
spongylover123 wrote:

It's still in testing, just keep waiting, Valve want to make sure that the puzzle creator is the best.

Valve is known for their extremely thorough testing.
That's why most of their games are realized at their full potential instead of "let's please our fanbase and release it early, then realize it has millions of bugs".

The puzzle creator is currently in Beta. This means that it is more or less working but that there's room for improvements. That is where beta-players come in: play and find those bugs; report them and make suggestions on other improvements. Good game developers (like valve) take this very seriously and try to create the best experience for their players.

So basically: the longer a game is in beta; the more time there is for improvements and the better the final product will be!

lpfreaky90 wrote:
Pipeline wrote:

spongylover123 wrote:

It's still in testing, just keep waiting, Valve want to make sure that the puzzle creator is the best.

Valve is known for their extremely thorough testing.
That's why most of their games are realized at their full potential instead of "let's please our fanbase and release it early, then realize it has millions of bugs".

The puzzle creator is currently in Beta. This means that it is more or less working but that there's room for improvements. That is where beta-players come in: play and find those bugs; report them and make suggestions on other improvements. Good game developers (like valve) take this very seriously and try to create the best experience for their players.

So basically: the longer a game is in beta; the more time there is for improvements and the better the final product will be!

...and then everyone assumes it's more proof of "Valve Time"

lpfreaky90 wrote:
Pipeline wrote:

spongylover123 wrote:

It's still in testing, just keep waiting, Valve want to make sure that the puzzle creator is the best.

Valve is known for their extremely thorough testing.
That's why most of their games are realized at their full potential instead of "let's please our fanbase and release it early, then realize it has millions of bugs".

The puzzle creator is currently in Beta. This means that it is more or less working but that there's room for improvements. That is where beta-players come in: play and find those bugs; report them and make suggestions on other improvements. Good game developers (like valve) take this very seriously and try to create the best experience for their players.

So basically: the longer a game is in beta; the more time there is for improvements and the better the final product will be!

Biggest piece of crap I have seen in awhile.Sounds like a corporate shill.Beta is the release problem? Portal 2 hammer is in beta and everyone has is so your theory or excuse is complete shit,Valve is like Google.Keep it in beta till we wanna change things (gmail for 7 years)