I just did a second playthrough, FRAPS'd the whole thing, gonna figure out how to upload it (Fraps actually got audio for the first time ever inexplicably) soon. Reflecting on my first playthough, I realize the part that had me confused for the longest was finding that portal-able wall right through the first door in the entire level.

Perhaps making it impossible to reach from the doorway itself, and making that hall longer, and putting a cracked window at the end that you have to portal through instead would make it a little more clear, as well as giving the viewing hall another use. Will post link to video when I'm done.

Cheers Falconerd, glad you enjoyed it. I've been thinking about just making it so you can throw the cube into the fan like you tried to. Perhaps that way the puzzle will make more sense. I may also make it impossible to do it the way you did it, swinging the cube to the left/right since that's quite cheesy! I'm definitely going to have another look at the start.

Good suggestion madcat1030! I will try adding that tomorrow. I'll have another look at the light there as well since it's becoming pretty apparent that's the most problematic part

I've also uploaded a movie of my intended solution, it has no sound though...
imRQY92TE3I

Edit: I really like the idea of making the little side-hall at the start longer. I'll be doing that tommorow + the 2 small changes I mentioned to the funnel room. I hope that will make those 2 parts bit less confusing.

Yikes, my video's gonna be another 2 hours to upload to youtube. Hm. Probably did something wrong, but w/e. I only have 1 mb/s upload speed, and I'm lucky if I actually hit that. Can't even look at your video cuz the upload is eating my bandwidth. ALL OF THE BANDWIDTH!

Here's the link it'll show up at when it's done: http://www.youtu.be/DK0Ri6N4V5I

ALSO! I ran into 2 glitches, one during each playthrough: Next to where the first light bridge you actually use in the map hits the portal-able wall, a spark was perpetually visible.

And glitch 2, which you will see in the video: There's an invisible wall that makes placing the mirror cube in the second room a bit of a pain in the ass, it wasn't there in my first playthrough, so I don't know what caused it. The room in question is after the walkway collapse, in the room across from the two lasers that are on by default (and one that isn't).

This map is amazing. Took me quite some bit to find out what to do at several parts of the map; maybe I even ended up with some unintended solutions again. Anyways I recommend playing this map!

DuUrkffFTUc
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuUrkffFTUc)

@madcat1030: Thanks for the video! Awesome to see your solution is the same as mine! Very weird about the invisible wall though, there's nothing there in the editor so I have no idea what caused that!

@Djinndrache: Thanks for the video and glad that you enjoyed it! There's a few bugs in the version you used though. The lasers at the elevator got messed up causing one of them to be on when it should be off. Hopefully that doesn't happen in the latest version I uploaded. I've also fixed the spot where you can shoot a portal over one of the emancipation grids so you can't get extra free cubes anymore. Your video also convinced me to change the ventilator so you can throw the cube in there.

This map looks gorgeous and I had a blast playing and exploring it. Definite win!

It has a great atmosphere, especially the central area. I know how much work goes into making a nice overgrown-style map. You did a great job there.

The only thing where I had trouble was at the start, (not seeing the concrete panel for the laser at the back) and in the vactube room where, like others have mentioned, the cubes sometimes get knocked off target as they go through a portal. However, I think that this is a problem with the game, not with your map.

I also didn't use the fan the first time. I suspected it was for holding cubes up, but when it continually failed to catch one, I gave up and dropped them from the upper walkway instead. If you're going to improve the fan, I'd suggest that you make it so it will suck cubes all the way off the floor, or at least from low enough that you can just sort of hold one up and let it go. (If you need an excuse for why the player doesn't get picked up: remember that Chell is probably heavier than a cube, and has less air resistance.)

Apart from those minor issues, I really like this map. It's one of my favourites now!

I finally come across a thread with the owner of this amazing map!
I just wanted to say thank you for this awesome map.

My blind run took me about an hour and a half to complete but wanted to complete the map in under 5 mins.

I had found the exploit with the catapult bridge on youtube, but in v1.4 you had fixed that, but i just wanted you to know that if you still catapult up onto the tube end you can place the cube inside the window.

I got really frustrated in the laser ceiling puzzle and found that if you shoot a portal on the left side wall touching the window and next to the door 1 you can portal-bump behind door 1 leading into the small room with the button.

If you don't understand then this should do the trick.

u5KCU_pM1ZE

And thank you again for this map!

DooDee wrote:
I finally come across a thread with the owner of this amazing map!
I just wanted to say thank you for this awesome map.

My blind run took me about an hour and a half to complete but wanted to complete the map in under 5 mins.

I had found the exploit with the catapult bridge on youtube, but in v1.4 you had fixed that, but i just wanted you to know that if you still catapult up onto the tube end you can place the cube inside the window.

I got really frustrated in the laser ceiling puzzle and found that if you shoot a portal on the left side wall touching the window and next to the door 1 you can portal-bump behind door 1 leading into the small room with the button.

If you don't understand then this should do the trick.

u5KCU_pM1ZE

And thank you again for this map!

Nice speedrun

lpfreaky90 wrote:
Nice speedrun

Thank you!

My main goal was to complete the map in under 5 minutes, so I could of done it faster but getting near the end I was getting quite anxious from all the times I had messed up the run.

The two points that I found hard was Portal-bumping the door 1, trying to find where to shoot on the wall quickly resulting me messing up a few times. The top light bridge button I kept missing. Probably was trying to rush and kept missing it..

But once again fantastic map!

@HMW: Cheers! Thanks for playing and glad you enjoyed it! The cubes getting knocked off target definitely is/was a problem. In older iterations of the rube room it would happen all the time because I was only using vacuum tubes for the mechanics. It's one of the reason I switched to catapults , I'm happy I did because they're more fun anyway!

In the latest version I did actually make it so you can just throw the cube up and it'll get sucked in. I don't know if that was already the case in your version. But I've definitely noticed it's a bit confusing and people sometimes don't see the use of the ventilator so I'm hoping this will make it slightly easier.

@DooDee: Glad you enjoyed your playthrough! Thanks for the video too, it is very helpful! That was a really nice and fast run! I've fixed the "cheats" you used now though, I made the surface near the door unportable. I've also changed the catapult in the tube room, it now catapults straight up. This way some of the unintended solutions still work but the ones that allow you to skip the entire room don't. Thanks for playing!

I'll be uploading this new version soon.

Really outstanding map, definitely one of my favorites. Thanks for the intended solution video - I always wonder about effects (portalable surfaces, faith plate in corner etc) in maps that don't seem to be needed - when I see your intended solution it is far more elegant. Thanks for creating.....

quatrus wrote:
Really outstanding map, definitely one of my favorites. Thanks for the intended solution video - I always wonder about effects (portalable surfaces, faith plate in corner etc) in maps that don't seem to be needed - when I see your intended solution it is far more elegant. Thanks for creating.....

Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it! Did you come across something in the map that you didn't find a use for? Would love to hear what part so I can have a look at it!

Just played through the map and only have 3 small complaints/ ideas.

1) The first portal shot for the laser to get the panels to come up is way to hidden, you can barely see it.

2) I found that you can use a cube to jump up from and get to the cube on the high bridge in the main room, if anyone wants to find out something with that there might be something. I also thought I might have to use it and it got me lost when I had to use it later.

3) When you get to the excursion funnel you can fall right through it. If you slowly walk of the walkway then you will hit the funnel and go right through it being stuck in the floor. I actually had it happen to me during my run so that was annoying.

Anyway, the map was great, really enjoyed it. The only thing that ended yo annoying me was that funnel thing so overall it was good!

hey Spyrunite, thanks for playing, glad you had fun!

About point 2: there used to be a way to abuse that yes, it has been fixed though unless you have uber timing skills, there's a video on page 3 I think and also on 4.

I'll have a look at the funnel if I'm doing another compile, thanks for mentioning!

What a mess to solve :)

Many people complaint about start, I also had trouble with it. In my opinion observation tunnel should be moved into left wall with windows/holes on both side of the corner (where the lift is). This way it would be much easier to spot broken window and place portals for laser to get bridge up.

I also miss red arrow pointing to turrets room (same hint as the one next to the lift). I've wasted 20 minutes trying to make some progress before I realized that there is another room there.

This is hard map that I will remember for a very long time...

The start is definitely the part I'm most unhappy about, still thinking of a nice way to making it more clear. The tunnel can't be placed left due to there being some other rooms. There actually used to be an arrow at the turret room but I removed it, perhaps I'll just add it back when I upload it to the workshop. Thanks for the feedback and for playing!

Maybe the window could shatter when the player takes a look through that first door. Maybe this would draw enough attention to the area already?

Very well-designed map - both the puzzle and in terms of looks. The beginning was indeed a little unclear, but the rest of it was splendid!

Glad you enjoyed it Invorxt, thanks for playing!

About the shattering glass: That may create even more confusion though if the player doesn't see what happened I think...

Absolutely loved this map, except for the start. 5/5

I was able to solve this map in possibly an unintended solution.

In the room that you fling the cube around, I was able to solve it without using the first fan. You put portal on the small square pad in the water, and one on the wall. Pick up the cube, then toss it into the square pad. It takes a few tries, well maybe 5-10, but you can toss it high enough that there is enough momentum for the cube to fling into the entrance to the tube.