Observation Maze [Release]

[Syon]

Ive just finished my first map and I'm looking for some feedback on it. Been working on and off on it for 2 weeks. Before now I'd never done built any hl2 maps, so had a bit of learning to do with hammer and all. I've tried to make it look as professional as possible though.

1 known but at the moment.
- The elevators are all white due to high reflectivity. I havn't been able to figure out how to fix this. When rendered without HDR the elevators reflect the skymap (which i've also had trouble with.) If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.

Thanks and Enjoy.

Edit:
Forgot to include a link to the download area for the map.
http://forums.thinkingwithportals.com/dload.php?action=file&file_id=62

Maybe I'll add those suggestions too, pretty easy stuff to change.

[Mapster]

When walls come up white, it means that you need to rebuild the cubemaps which can not be done in portal atm, unless you do it in another game such as half-life 2 Death Match.

Nicely done map, twas defiantly bettwr than my first Portal map heh.
But i think in a maze you need to put where you need to go or it's jsut frustrating... it may be a maze i know but still.

[roger federer]

nice map, someone finally does a maze idea. i got turned around alot. i like that you had the observation thing in the middle, it helps with orientation. you really ought to make the glass more obvious, alot of maps people release has glass that is pretty much invisible.

[espen180]

Though I'm not a fan of mazes, it's definitely not a bad achievement.

[Ralph]

Nice puzzle, took me a bit to spot what I was supposed to do with the cube.

[Grudge]

Will try this tonight - if it's any good would you allow me to review it?

[Syon]

Grudge wrote:

Will try this tonight - if it's any good would you allow me to review it?

Of course. Feel free.

I'll probably update it tonight to add an overlay to point out the exit location and change the glass a little to make it more visible.

Maybe add portal/step/time challenges too if I have time.

[Grudge]

Get it as finished as possible, PM me your MSN. Ready, set, go.

[Syon]

Updated the map.

Changed glass textures to be more visible
Added a couple arrows to make the exit easier to locate.
Added cubemaps.

[xitooner]

Flaw in map; from the start I was able to portal-propel myself high enough to jump/crouch-land on top of wall. From there I was able to walk to the end; no need to push button, get cube, etc. 30 sec from start to finish, max.

When I tried the more legit way. . . I got the cube delivered, and pushed the button again. The cube right next to me vaporized for no reason. . . and you then delivered me another cube! If you only want me to have one cube, dont let the button work twice while a cube eixsts.

[Syon]

Thinking about it, did you get up on the wall by placing a portal on the ground in the maze, portal yourself back up to the start area, and use a portal near the top of the wall in the start area and drop through a portal on the floor to get enough speed to get on the wall.

If you did it this way, I may just leave it in for the portal/time/step challenges whenever I get to doing that. Theres also another way up on to the walls, but I leave you guys to figure that out.

Also, the cube needs to be vaporized because it's posible to get seperated from your cube and not be able to get back to it as you go through the map. If I only let one cube exist at a time, it could make the maze unsolveable a points, and I didn't want the player to be able to get multiple cubes, since that would provide too easy of a way of getting up on the walls. With no real destructive elements on the map, vaporizing the cube seems like the only resonable option (aside from building in some very complex animations or something to remove the old cube some other way, which I didn't want to do because of the time it would take.)

[xitooner]

Syon wrote:

Thinking about it, did you get up on the wall by (spoiler)

Yep, thats the way.

As for the cube destructor; I wonder if there is away to check the cubes distance from the switch, or you. . . and only destroy it and give another if its far away. You problem does sound more complicated than it initially seemed.

[Syon]

Yeah, I thought about checking distance or checking if the cube is in an unreachable location when the button is pushed, but that amount of work was beyond what I wanted to do at the moment.

Also, you'd get in the situation of players pushing he button again while the cube is with them, and since the button would do nothing the player might think "I guess I only get one cube" then the player gets seperated from their cube and thinks "how am I supposed to get another cube when the button won't give me another one?"
I thought it made more sense to show the player that they can get a new cube no matter what happens, and that they can get it any time they need it.

I kind of painted myself in to a corner on this whole thing though. Originally the map was much more simple, the only spot the cube was needed was at the very end and most of the maze was just a standard maze. I thought this made it much too easy though, so I added a lot more walls and places you have to use the cube. Before making it harder, there was only one cube and no dispenser, but after changing the design I realized the player could easily get seperated from the cube and get stuck in the maze.
Now I was kind of stuck, do I make the maze really easy with one cube, do I add a way to get new cubes, or do I scrap the whole design and find a new way to do it? An easy map isn't a lot of fun, and I didn't want to throw away all the work I'd done, so it came down to putting in a dispenser and removing old cubes.

If nothing else it taught me to think ahead more when building complex maps.

[Ralph]

From reading the thread, can I just confirm:

You use the cube in the area you got it to step up onto one of the metal cubes sticking out from the wall and from there jump onto the walls, or was I supposed to take the cube elsewhere in the maze?

[Syon]

Ralph wrote:

From reading the thread, can I just confirm:

You use the cube in the area you got it to step up onto one of the metal cubes sticking out from the wall and from there jump onto the walls, or was I supposed to take the cube elsewhere in the maze?

That's one way to solve it, although not the intended way. You're supposed to work your way throgh the maze using the cube. I found that quite awhile ago and decided to leave it in for the challenges whenever I get around to setting them up. I'm undecided now if I should leave the climbing or the fling in. Both were accidental ways of solving the map, but I think I like the fling better as it seems less manufactured and a more creative solution.