[WIP] My second map!

[tijitdamijit]

http://forums.thinkingwithportals.com/dload.php?action=file&file_id=240

My second map.. I've been working on it on and off for the past month or so.

Please give constructive criticism - the puzzles still need a little tweaking I know, and it doesn't have lighting or anything like that yet, but I'm working on it.

Enjoy

[Ricotez]

Screenshots? They really help getting download rates up.

[bizob]

[tijitdamijit]

Yeah I put up a screenshot.. couldn't see much point in it though.

@bizop: K, looking forward to your feedback.

[Remmiz]

No offense...but these are the types of maps you don't release to the public but just use as a testing thing.

-No Lights
-No Portal Bumpers
-Too many way to get stuck
-Unclear directions
-No Lights!

At least you used textures correctly for the most part...you have a ways to go but I suggest just keeping these maps to yourself until you feel you have a playable, decent map.

[tijitdamijit]

^Now, if I hadn't released that to the public, I wouldn't have received all that criticism, would've I?

-As I said - I already know about the lighting
-Portal bumpers, k I'll go read up on them now
-Stuck? Please list a couple. This is what playtesting is for.
-As for directions, I would prefer it if players worked out how to do it themselves, without me giving them maps or instructions or whatever. It's fairly straight forward as to where you have to go in most cases - you can work out yourself how to get there.

In the first part, you go through all three doors.
In the second part, you go up onto the ledge, and take the box with you.
In the third part, just find your way up as quickly as possible.

[bizob]

You've got some interesting concepts here and I think this could turn out to be a sweet little map with some tweaking. I'll break my comments down by room. What I see seems to go into 4 rooms, the 3rd section consisting of 2 rooms.

1st room: I like the puzzle, wasn't very difficult but did require some thought. The glass is hard to see here but I'm pretty sure lighting will resolve this problem. I was playing with HDR on which I know made it harder to see the glass. I would suggest putting the portal gun on the pedestal instead of just lying on the floor to give it a more polished feel.

2nd room: This is a nice little fling puzzle, not too hard but not too easy considering you have to take the cube along for the ride. The door that closes behind you really needs to be one of the door models not just that block, it just doesn't look or feel Portal-ish. I recommend using the door_02 model here since it's a vertical door. Also portal bumpers are absolutely needed here. Once you read up on them you'll see they're really easy to impliment and make a world of difference in playability.

3rd room: I really like the concept here and this part will make or break it for this map. I would seal this room off from the previous section of the map with a set of doors after the fizzler (flush with the back wall of the room). There is no need to flood the previous parts of the map. I would also put the auto_save between the fizzler and door so when the player re-spawns there isn't an instant "omg I gotta get moving here" but the player can take a second to think about the next move then walk through the door and give it another go. (Personal preference here; you could put the auto save after the door and put the pressure on the player. Your choice.)

The water felt like it crushed me instead of drowning me here, which is odd. Make the damage type CHEMICAL and lower the amount per second so it feels like drowning not instant death. Adding some arrows to give the player some direction, while not really needed, will make this part look and feel more polished. For the platform that takes you to the next room use the lift model not that big block, again more Portal-ish and looks way better.

4th room: An auto save would be nice here. I don't want to have to redo the 3rd room if I happen to die in this room even if it was a relatively short puzzle. You have a floor texture on one of the walls here, which isn't a big deal just looks a bit odd. The rising/falling big block comes up off the floor and floats in the air which as far I know defies the laws of physics even in Portal. Simple fix: make it longer below the floor (hope that makes sense). A platform would look great here instead of that block. Overall another nice fling challenge in this room. I don't know that the water is really needed here but I can see why you want to use it. I would suggest using a separate water entity than the one in the previous room to better control the timing here. Finally, an exit elevator to end the map would close it out nicely.

Overall this map has some great potential, just needs some tweaking and some detail work to give it a polished feel. hope my comments are helpful. if there's anything you don't understand I can get screen shots for you or try to explain myself better.

[tijitdamijit]

Okay thanks for all the feedback, bizob.

I'll implement pretty much all of those suggestions, they all sound good to me
I found a way to get stuck, if you walk through to the second room without picking up the portal gun you're screwed, lol. I'll add a that only opens when you up the orange portal chucker.

I'll create one of those elevators like in chamber 14, the 'complimentary victory lift', just a platform similar to the what you see on the light rails. The round elevators are just annoying

[rellikpd]

its too bad your "mapping" sucks... cuz the puzzles in this map are pretty fucking cool. implement bizobs suggestions. work on lighting, small details, and general look and this will be a kick ass map.

the first puzzle is simple. but requires some advanced thinking.. though the (basically) invisible glass was lame. but as said this should clear up with lighting.

the water-death puzzle i didn't get at first cuz i couldn't tell there was a way up on the other side once i did it all fell into place.

in the room with the angled fling where you have to get on the square pillar that rises then use that to jump off and fling through the angled part.... the trigger for that pillar is bigger than the pillar itself, or sticks off the sides a bit. so it is possible to NOT land on thing but still have it activate. which means you have no choice but to reload. cuz it will be way in the air when the water comes up to kill you

but seriously. aside from this thing being butt ugly. the puzzles are great. hammer out the look and it will be great.