Analyse This: Portal (spoilers)
Portal's back story is particularly well developed and related in comparison with HL1 and 2 – though not the episodes. How the game relates to the events in the rest of the Half Life universe won't be well known for a while but so far Portal has been my favourite instalment just in front of the original Half Life.
There are lots of disparate theories regarding Chell, GLaDOS and the aperture science facility so I'll attempt to help gather and clarify what we know and what we can infer:
1953 – Aperture science is founded by Cave Johnson and the company makes shower curtains
1979 – Johnson, on his deathbed, directs the company to start developing a rip in the fabric of space
1981 – A senate investigative committee discovers that Aperture Science have made some progress with the portal technology
1986 – Aperture Science discovers that Black Mesa is also making a portal-type technology and begins developing a Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (GLaDOS) – an artificially intelligent research assistant and disk operating system
1996 – 10 years are spent bringing the disk operating parts of GLaDOS to a state of basic functionality – work begins on the Genetic Lifeform component
Several Years Later – The untested AI is activated for the first time as one of the planned activities on Aperture's first annual bring-your-daughter-to-work day
In many ways the initial test goes well.
What do we know about GLaDOS?
- We know that either on that fateful day or sometime soon afterward GLaDOS released the neurotoxin into the facility. She was then neutered and restricted to defence and experimentation activities only by adding the morality core to her OS. We know that the facility was still active after that neurotoxin event due to the signs directly outside her main core about wearing respirators. There were also no bodies present – indicating some kind of clean up.
- GLaDOS is also aware of the outside world – though probably only through transmissions from other humans (radio/TV etc) which would have stopped by this point in time after the combine invasion – which by the way happens in the intermediate time between GLaDOS being neutered and Chell awaking in the "˜relaxation' chamber.
- GLaDOS was part of a "˜fuel system icing inhibitor' (FSII) for which both Aperture and Black Mesa were in development competition. However the descriptions of the developments in the slide show present in Portal would suggest that perhaps ICE is an acronym:
Black Mesa FSII proposal:
- Costly, Black Mesa personnel overpaid given limited skillset / ambition.
- Design inhibits ice – nothing moreAperture proposal:
- Less expensive
- Bonus to DLA: Aperture FSII inhibits ice but is also:
A fully functioning Disk Operating System
Arguably alive
From the two proposals we can infer that Black Mesa had opted for a manual approach to inhibiting ice whereas Aperture had gone down the automated route. The fact that these presentations are left running might suggest that whatever event occurred to drive all the people out of the Aperture Enrichment Facility was during a review of the funding situation with the "˜higher ups'.
- In fact, the general state of the facility would suggest that whatever happened (which IMO was probably the seven hour war with the combine) made everyone evacuate very quickly – maintenance left unfinished, the presentations left running, chairs knocked over, the music on the radios is reminiscent of stand-by music that is put on when transmissions are interrupted.
We also know that Aperture Science were also developing Androids for the military – assuming that GLaDOS wasn't lying about this and that the defence turrets were probably originally developed for this project. The strange thing is that the turrets have personalities – whether this is a direct result of GLaDOS manufacturing them or a part of the training of the Androids is unknown.
What we know about Chell:
- We know that she wasn't one of the workers at the facility
- We also know that Chell is susceptible to neurotoxin – meaning that she's biological
- We know that this is the second (or possibly multiple) time that she has been welcomed to the enrichment centre by GLaDOS
- Her brain has been backed up and scanned by GLaDOS
- Someone/thing has performed an "˜Advanced Knee Replacement' operation on her
- She is subject #234 in the tests performed by GLaDOS on the portal testing range
From the above information I've come to two explanations for the events in Portal:
1) Chell is a child captured by GLaDOS during the events on the bring-your-daughter-to-work day and put in stasis until such a time as she was deemed able to complete the portal testing. She is one of many test subjects that GLaDOS has used over the intervening years.
This is a common theory that I've seen on many forums and message boards and it's one that I don't believe is true. Why? Well, lets look at this backwards. Say that GLaDOS had captured people and children during the gas incident – say that the facility had been evacuated and left as it was with GLaDOS doing her tests until we experience the situation through Chell's eyes. Who installed the morality core to bring GLaDOS back under control? Where did they go and why was the facility abandoned after she had been contained? How were the knee replacements installed on Chell? I don't think that GLaDOS has that fine a control over the environment – we didn't observe it in the game when she certainly could have done so.
It makes no sense. If GLaDOS was under control then I believe that the facility would have been reclaimed, cleaned up and research would continue on as normal.
2) GLaDOS was brought under control after the incident and the facility was reclaimed, however the DLA awarded the ICE inhibitor funding to Black Mesa as GLaDOS was deemed to be unstable/unproven... or something along those lines. Instead she was put to use as a facility research assistant on the military android and portal programmes. These programmes were merged to cut down costs with androids completing the portal courses to determine their viabilities. The androids were pretty dire at completing these tasks and many design iterations were developed. Eventually it was determined that an android just wasn't going to cut it and the development programme switched direction – Cyborgs.
After the incident that caused the facility to be evacuated GLaDOS was left on her own. She continued to perform the experiments with the remaining test subjects – who had been left behind while they were recuperating in their relaxation vaults after having surgery performed on them to enhance their abilities.
Some test subjects went mad and these were the ones that left the signs everywhere – though they could not defeat GLaDOS, though she did learn about the mental problems and thus developed coercion techniques. It is also why she explains that the companion cube does not talk etc. Eventually Chell was readied and woken from her recuperation sleep.
Again, I must stress that these are only ponderings, theories etc. But in case you find these things interesting here are some possible links/hints in the game:
Android hell is referred to in the obsolete android testing ground by GLaDOS, Chell could be an amalgamation of Cyborg Hell – being both a description of the purgatory that she was in and the altered state her body was now in. Think of it this way – Chell would not be someone's name – not someone from outside the Enrichment Centre anyway. Also, she is not alarmed at the prosthetics on her legs. You might expect to see this when she exited the relaxation pod.
The danger symbols on the Portal Test Sequence Hazard Identification Card/displays includes no falling into water – note that there are electrical symbols heading away from the stick figure. Also note that these warn against drinking water (from fountains) as well and that in one of the early test chambers GLaDOS lets the player know that if they pass out from dehydration, an incubation associate will be sent along to revive them with peptic salve and adrenaline – no liquid/water. Could this be a hint that Chell's body is now water sensitive?
ICE? Ice inhibitors on a fuel system? You would think that the cold would not be a problem on a fuel system. If ice is an acronym and not a noun then could it be referring to the eventual resonance cascade which kicked off the portal / inter-dimensional problems in the original Half Life?
One possibility I came up with is that ICE could stand for Inter-dimensional Cascade Event – something that is linked to portal research, or so it seems (as only Aperture and Black Mesa apply for the proposal), if there is a power spike. This could also be the reason why GLaDOS was able to keep the facility safe from the invaders. No portals could open within her domain without her allowance and the defence turrets were good enough to repel any other outsiders.
I also went through and screen-grabbed most of the images that are cycling on the screens in GLaDOS's core. Although there were a few I missed, I managed to collect 113 separate images and I doubt there are more than 130. The pictures are a mixture of cakes, mechanical servicing equipment (e.g. spanners, screws, pliers etc), a mixture of the two, analytical lab equipment, farm equipment and animals, bins and signs saying dispose of your rubbish and electronic computer equipment. I can't really draw any conclusions from them but I thought it might be fun to mention it.
There is one final thought I had on GLaDOS and the mentioning of the daughters-at-work day. My feeling is that when GLaDOS became self aware she wanted to have a daughter and that one of the themes explored in the game is the bond between a mother and daughter – Chell and the other cyborgs being daughters of GLaDOS.
GLaDOS's behaviour is both protective and controlling. She makes us "˜kill' the companion cube because it is best for us to learn that it is just an inanimate object and not some sort of real companion – the same way that parents will sometimes force us to do things that we do not wish to do. Eventually, we rebel – like many daughters do from their mothers – and escape her control, destroying her in the process but she doesn't hate us for it, in fact she is proud... proud in only the way that a mother could be of our success...
I know i was supposed to do Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the second in the series but i had such fun playing Portal that i wanted to get this done and away while it was still fresh. Hope you enjoy my mental wanderings.
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What you're asking for means the world to me. You draw close as you whisper: "Precisely".
I like cake!
Good writeup... pretty interesting. I wonder if this is indeed a backstory or just a "science project"?
PAR
For all who live in such times, it is not for them to decide. All we get to decide is what to do with the time given us.
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It seemed to me that if GLaDOS had my brain backed up, then in the event I died I would be able to be restored. Otherwise, why bother.
I figured Chell was an android and the relaxation chamber was where a new body could grow or be synthesized. GLaDOS' research would involve monitoring each revision of Chell as she went through the test chambers and making tweaks to each new android.
Perhaps the initial backed up brain was some daughter at the Bring Your Daughter to Work day and it's used as the basic brain load for each new android (so it knows how to walk, understand language, etc). However, you'd expect the original mind to have some questions/objections about how she got there etc. and that's not expressed at all in the game.
The Mother and Daughter relationship angle is interesting, but it certainly wasn't loving! "You're unlikeable, says so right here in your file."
Also an interesting disconnect in the final sequence when GLaDOS plays "your" voice (Listen to how dumb you sound!) and it's a male voice.
Such an interesting game world!
XBL: MikeMac75
You could be right, but with all due respect, I don't think she's a cyborg. She could be a clone. The things GLaDOS says and that you see written around the game are jokes first and clues second, if they're clues at all. There's no humor in her being a cyborg. There's a little humor in her being a clone, but the simplest explanation is that she's a very unlucky human test subject with shock absorbers on her legs. The game designers put those on because play testers kept wondering why she didn't die from long falls. If she's a cyborg, why not just leave her legs intact to lead people to the realization that she might be something more than human?
Portal certainly ties in to the Half-Life universe, but they've taken the Half-Life formula of "We're never telling you anything, ever" and used it for comedic purposes. I think the story you get in Portal is all the story you really need. It's like wondering how the universe of Hitch-Hiker's Guide works. It doesn't. You just make it up as you go along. Backstory is fine for Half-Life, but I hope that in Portal 2 they play fast and loose with continuity, because when done right, it's a hilarious way to tweak the player's expectations.
Ah well, I've written a lot here, but again, I don't mean any insult to you or the considerable thought you've put into this.
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Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
Cool stuff Duoae. I really hope Valve will expand on Portal story...!
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Interesting take, and good work putting it all together. I'm not so sure I'd take GLaDOS at her word although. Remember, she may or may not be telling lies.
We all know that there is no quicker way to empty a joke of its peculiar magic than to try to explain it -- to point out, for example, that Lou Costello is mistaking the proper name "Who" for the interrogative pronoun "who," etc. - D.F.Wallace
Fixed.
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If you listen to that sequence GLaDOS deletes the backup.
See, i initially had the same thought. However when i was researching the post i found several definitions of Android to be exclusive of organic material. That's why i went with Cyborg instead. However, just now reading the dictionary.com definition i can see that perhaps i should have read some more sources...
That's an interesting thought...
You've never been party to a mother-daughter spat have you?
This could be true as well... though the different structured test subjects #42 and #234 (which is Chell's model) would perhaps suggest otherwise?
Because cyborg is an enhanced human - i don't think having just robotic legs covered with skin would be very obvious. In that case she would be an Android...
I'd have to disagree here. IMO, (as i said) Portal tells you more about the story than either HL1 or 2...
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I'm liking this Mother/Daughter angle more and more. What if the subtext of Portal is about how machine life might evolve in the absence of human intervention or interaction? Who's to say a machine child wouldn't grow up to kill it's Mother? Perhaps the Machine Mother's role is to engineer a superior child and the "natural" consequence is death? How else might machines evolve?
XBL: MikeMac75
Very likely given that in Half Life 2 it's apparent that the Combine have not figured out how to do this, and so their invasion strategy is centered around capitolizing on the Portal Storm/ Resonance Cascade's randomness to equally distribute their forces and fauna to the target planet.
Danjo Olivaw Lives
About Test Subject 42: Isn't that the one that's a chicken? The joke there is just that putting a chicken through those tests would obviously result in failure. Plus it's a shout out to Douglas Adams.
My "evidence" for her being a clone is just that it's a funny way to reference the constant dying and starting over of videogames. Same with the personnel who will revive you with something other than water. GLaDOS is crazy, she doesn't know how to deal with humans. She tries every trick in the book, but they're pathetically obvious. I never found her sinister or intimidating, just consistently hilarious.
Douglas Adams' most prescient idea was that even though humans would create intelligent machines, we would have to modify our behavior to deal with their particular bloody-minded stupidity. We're already doing that with our computers, and we do it all the time in games. You figure out that the game wants you to do something nonsensical, and you roll your eyes and do it. Next time you're presented with a similar situation, you think, I bet the stupid choice is the right one.
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/nyles
Website: http://banditosbanditosbanditos.typepad.com
Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
Also, if you play Episode 2, when the combine are on the move there is a computer voice being played over speaker systems. The voice sounds exactly like GLaDOS. Perhaps the Combine stumbled over the science facility and used some of her technology?
I'm not really a girl. I just play one in video games.
I agree with you here. For me, saying that the story of the game is brilliant isn't so much the What of the story, but rather the techniques they use to drive you through the game and immerse you into the world.
In other words, the pacing, the sound, the look, and the structure of the environments. To me, the pacing is really what is amazing. You're introduced into a very safe, sterile world, with some weird flaws emerging from that sterility. The humor and puzzle design inally, the ornate setpiece lulls you into a state of complacency.
Slowly, they introduce elements to your experience, first in terms of gameplay and building up your stable of "moves," timed elements, and a bit of controlled stress. The challenges get longer and longer, layering objects and increasing the spatial complexity of the rooms.
When thrown out of this bed of safety, I started feeling a heightened urgency to move forward - my heart started racing and I felt a real intertia in the flow of the game. Deftly, it's then that Portal shifts to a quick staccato, where solutions are reached through flaws in the environment (so you feel like you're really slipping through the cracks), and the level design incorporates a lot of structural "noise."
Top it off with a setpiece boss and a song for dessert and you have an entirely fresh and new kind of game that can be enjoyed in one sitting.
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I know many people (specifically in other forums) say it's a chicken... but that's one hell of an integrated power glove on the right arm and accompanying bulked-out supporting shoulder joint...
[img=http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/217/chickenwe8.th.jpg]
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Same voice actress, so, it would be, wouldn't it?
Edit: for some reason, doubled the Mord quote. *shrug*
Mystic Violet wrote:
Granted, but that woman has done voice acting for MANY MANY things within half-life so she's got a range. Why would she use the same voice twice?
I'm not really a girl. I just play one in video games.
The only thing that bothers me about the whole mother-daughter analogy is that GlaDOS knows you'll be "made into cake" at the end. In fact, it's almost like she gets some extra kick from it. It just doesn't gel with me.
(@)
Well, they stuck a portal gun on its wing. But hey, I'm not an expert on chicken skeletons. Maybe Samus got caught in a neck wringer?
You know, knowing how Valve works, all this conspiracy stuff could be true. It may be my own bias that I want them to be aiming for the funniest scenario rather than the most convoluted back story.
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Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
I'm liking the idea that the main character is only the latest revision of whatever program GLaDOS is running. She's been put through the test some 240+ times and each time, some tweaks to her programming or abilities or the portal gun have been made (I picture the gun blowing up the first 50 times or so).
I'm thinking that the system of tests (including the break-out) are designed to create a highly capable android/cyborg warrior or infiltrator and the gun, before it/they goes into mass production.
Clearly the gun has undergone the test many times before, and the test subject has made it to the bakery before. At least one time, the victim was charred and they were able to confirm that the gun survives the heat. At least one previous test subject has made it through to nearly the end, leaving those markings for the future version of itself, to help it survive since it apparently couldn't figure out how to get through.
The explosive end seems to be there to insure that the test subject does not escape, and maybe it triggers the 'ready for production' phase.
ThePolypusher
GH3 Stats
I did all the commentary. Lots of little bits of data in there. Makes me think portal is less planned and more just a proof of concept than a part of the world first. As in, they might have worked it into the world of Black Mesa, but the level designs were first and foremost, story very second.
-Bad Mojo
And man that dog looks like he's having a good time, but that monkey is f*cking into it. This isn't his recreation; this is his life and he knows it in a way I will never know anything. --Danjo Olivaw
Interesting theories.
Let me throw in a wrench here:
At one point, while you're escaping, GLaDOS says "You know you're not a good person, right? Good people don't wind up in here."
While this may just be lies, more of the psychological warfare that she unleashes upon you during this escape, something about the way she said it made it ring dead serious to me. First of all, the language is shockingly normal and straightforward compared to the rest of the stuff she spews (overcomplicated or misleading synonyms, exaggerated casualness, non-sequitors, etc) and the tone is serious also.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this one line, but this gives a whole "Lost" angle to the whole thing. Morality hasn't really been considered seriously in this game, and the choice to burn the companion cube, as well as the sad "I don't blame you...."'s coming from the drone's are normally interpreted as being mainly for comedic effect. But Morality is something GLaDOS mentions time and time again, especially during the last battle. And how many times have we heard people ACTUALLY feeling guilty about burning the companion cube, downing a drone, or toasting an eyeball?
While the game doesn't let you make moral choices, I think that the guilt is an intentional design choice, to make the player feel "Aww, that sweet combat droid is so sweet to me after I drop a cube on it. Wait a second, it's just a stupid computer. Plus, it was trying to kill me! Can't believe I'm letting my hearstrings get pulled by a piece of....awww, it doesn't blame me!"
I wouldn't be suprised if these subtle nibbles of morality played a larger role in Chell's character, whether or not she is a "good" person.
Morrolan wrote:
XBLA / Steam: Dysplastic
I'm replaying HL2 again and somethings I had forgotten have shown up in game.
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What do folks make of the final scene right before the credits?
We see a room full of the orb-cores that made up the GLaDOS we fought, along with the companion cube, cake, and the one other interactable piece of scenery, that robotic claw thing. What do you think the designers were trying to say with all that? The cake was not a lie? If the cake isn't a lie, then the writing on all the walls is a lie and you've probably accomplished exactly what the designers of the testing facility wanted.
I suppose that sorta supports my previous post.
ThePolypusher
GH3 Stats
Another thing to take into account is the song. Lots of story points there. She's obviously still alive, and says that the test was a huge success. So did she mean for you to defeat her? Does that conflict with there actually being cake? But then, parts of the song come off less than sincere and a little passive aggressive, so maybe the whole, "No really, I meant to do that" is just her way of saving face.
I'm pretty sure ice just means ice. A fuel system icing inhibitor is a real thing, and does exactly what the name suggests. Although in real life it's a chemical, not a machine (which could explain why Black Mesa got the contract instead of Aperture).
That's the Overwatch. The same voice was in Half-Life 2 and Episode 1. Same voice actor, and they're both female computer voices, so they sound somewhat similar.
Eric
It's an homage to HAL/Alien - just like the Cube references - her programming and instructions conflict with her feelings.
Possibly the reason for all her bugs?
Or it could be a way of introducing moral ideas/philosophies into a being which lacks them. Perhaps if they had completed a humanoid bio-android and loaded code into her brain (assuming there was some electronic component there too) she would have to learn through iteration. Perhaps the whole morality thing is supposed to engender empathy and other human emotional devices which would be lacking in a potential killer robot
I would also assume this if it weren't for the fact that a chemical would be much less expensive than a Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.
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The way I figured it, the cake was not a lie, but the fact that you would eat it was. While it was clear GLaDOS had the cake recipe, it was also clear that she intended to have you incinerated in the fire. As one of her lines say "you will be baked and then there will be cake."
Also, if Chell is an android, what do people make when GLaDOS says something similar to "you know you're not a good person, right? Good people don't end up here." (I forget the exact wording.)
Your favourite game is over-rated.
If she is an android then she's not a person. Same way that the companion cube is our only and best friend. Note that he is there at the party with the cake
[edit]
I'll add some musings that i left out of the original post. They veer off into the realm of pure speculation and fanstory so you can guess why i left them out:
GLaDOS was developed in two separate parts - the DOS and then the Genetic Lifeform part. It was my initial understanding that as a fuel system icing inhibitor a DOS - however smart - would be incapable of maintaining a situation of being de-ICEd (i still believe it's an acronym because of the timeline explanation) without human intervention. Thus the reason for black mesa being so expensive in providing a FSII is that multiple human wages must be maintained.
Those balls are the containers of the GL part of GLaDOS - they are the part that gives her a personality, feelings and other complex stuff that perhaps a plain old computer could never have. They were also originally to be used as the separate but interlinked part of GLaDOS which would relieve the human dependence - they were to be used as part of the androids which would be controlled and directed by GLaDOS.
If you look at the 'chicken' picture above you can clearly see that the head is a sphere and not semi-oval like the skull of a chicken would be in cross-section. When i first saw those spheres with the cake at the end of the game i automatically assumed that they were part of GLaDOS's backup... but that they weren't of the same build quality as GLaDOS herself - they were not white and all nice and pretty - also they were mass produced from the looks of them. I'm willing to bet that at one point when they were making the androids with those spheres that there were so many because the different builds (or subjects) were getting destroyed at a pretty quick rate...
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Timeline-wise I'm thinking that Portal happens a year or so after Half-Life 2.
My analysis:
Pre-HalfLife, Aperture was working on portal devices. They made a large scale one that was stored on the Borealas, it was unstable and went off, teleporting the ship and drydock to the north, never to be seen again. Instead of large ones, they started to work on small hand held devices from there. They finished making one, but then the events of Half-Life happened and the portal storms began. This was doing an executive meeting at Aperture and everyone ran from the building immediately as the 7 hour war began. (computers and projectors are still on and no one is there). From there the events of Portal happen.
I'm not really a girl. I just play one in video games.
i knew he would betray me!!!
DAMN YOU CUBE!! DAMN YOU!!!! AFTER ALL I CARRIED YOU THROUGH!!!!
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The final scene from "our" (Chell's) point of view is the outside of the facility. Then abruptly we move to a flight through some ductwork to the room full of GLadOS personality orbs with the cake and cube in the middle. It seems to me that Chell is lying outside breathing fresh air while GLadOS, whatever is left of her personality, has traveled back to that storage room where "she" gets to enjoy some cake and plot her next move.
Or, if we think GLadOS is truly dead at the end of the game, then the last scene sets the stage for another GLadOS to emerge. Basically it opens the door to a sequel, in my opinion, and gets one last laugh when we see the cake sitting there.
Well damn, I thought the whole thing was mostly meant as humor. Am I the only one thinking that some of you guys might be reading a little too much into it?
Please don't hurt me.
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