Portal 2 Catch-All

DanB wrote:
Mantid wrote:
kexx wrote:

Mantid: Quadratic Equation
- fun, but a little frustrating. Hate knowing what to do, but not being able to execute right. In my case, something as simple as jumping square to square, with and without blue gel. But I like what you've done here, with the same concept, but switching around the mechanics we obtain from the middle tower. That was especially a nice touch!

Yeah, the jumps were a little tricky, I'll admit. Really wish they let you set "save points" in the maps were you'd respawn if you died rather than having to start from the entrance again. In this case whenever you deactivated a laser screen. :(

Are you sure that they don't, I'm sure there are save points a few of the Mevious/"Employee of the Moment" collection.

Are those made with the in-game editor or Hammer, though?

Yeah, you need to use Hammer for that.

Hyetal wrote:

Yeah, you need to use Hammer for that.

Ah. OIC.

Can you import your in-game editor levels to hammer and add the save points you want?

I suppose you can't then publish the levels to the labs site.

demonbox level:

I agree with kexx, there's too much going on. I think your intent is admirable, because having confined and directed levels all the time would be boring, but a big open space where I need to look for a lot of keys is not why I find Portal fun. I need something that kicks my ass into the level, and the choices can become more plentiful from that point forward.

That's me, though.

DanB wrote:
Hyetal wrote:

Yeah, you need to use Hammer for that.

Ah. OIC.

Can you import your in-game editor levels to hammer and add the save points you want?

I suppose you can't then publish the levels to the labs site.

1. Yes.

2. You can: http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...

The feedback is again appreciated- can't just make these for myself, good to know what people do/don't like.

It's a good idea, I'd simply like it to be structured a little tighter, though that probably defeats your intention with the map.

Mantid:

Testing^3: Really cool looking, but despite the mild discombobulation, also very straightforward. Neat solution.
4^2: Nice execution on a simple button concept. A little easy, but also kind of sweet.
Quadratic Equation: As with kexx, I really liked returning to the central pillar for every puzzle. Fun map, though I don't believe I did the last puzzle the way it was intended.

Spoiler:

I floated to the other side and quickly blocked the turret when I arrived. It almost killed me, so I assume you had another solution in mind.

kexx, the map-making machine: I'll play your plethora of maps a little later.

Awesome. Looking forward to some feedback.

Also, I´ve checked from time to time the Portal2 forums, and I´ve seen people in there post competitions and challenges based around certain aspects and/or themes. For instance, one challenge was to make a chamber in a maximum of a 3x3x3 room. Another one was to make a puzzle where ALL walls, floors, ceilings are portalable. Another where you had to use a companion cube throughout. Stuff like that I thought could be fun.

Would anyone here be interested in maybe doing one of these things here with goodjers? I generally don´t like the Valve forum members, sounds like more crazy teens, so maybe in here we could do something like that.

I'd like that. Without limitations, I feel like I have no restraint on my creativity, which leads my creations to be an aimless clusterf*ck. Kind of like your earlier maps, kexx. *Ba-dump-chee*

Sounds great.

cyrax wrote:

I'd like that. Without limitations, I feel like I have no restraint on my creativity, which leads my creations to be an aimless clusterf*ck. Kind of like your earlier maps, kexx. *Ba-dump-chee* :P

hahaha, agreed man, agreed. My first 2 maps were just horrible. Ad Nauseum especially. What a mess. But hey, first maps tend to be a clusterf*ck. But yeah, lets get some more people on board, set a weekend deadline or whatever, and vote on the rules and stuff. I love participating in these, I just suck at organizing them. Someone should definitely take the mantle here...

kexx wrote:

Awesome. Looking forward to some feedback.

Also, I´ve checked from time to time the Portal2 forums, and I´ve seen people in there post competitions and challenges based around certain aspects and/or themes. For instance, one challenge was to make a chamber in a maximum of a 3x3x3 room. Another one was to make a puzzle where ALL walls, floors, ceilings are portalable. Another where you had to use a companion cube throughout. Stuff like that I thought could be fun.

Would anyone here be interested in maybe doing one of these things here with goodjers? I generally don´t like the Valve forum members, sounds like more crazy teens, so maybe in here we could do something like that.

Sounds like a great idea. Sort of a game jam without the actually making a game thing. Sounds great. Perhaps a week to get something made? I'd like more than a couple of days considering how little time I get to play.

As to getting things going- should we throw some ideas out in to the ether and see what sticks? Have someone simply take ownership of the first, and trade up the next idea? I'm excited by the concept, variations on a theme.

Hyetal wrote:

Quadratic Equation: As with kexx, I really liked returning to the central pillar for every puzzle. Fun map, though I don't believe I did the last puzzle the way it was intended.

No one said there has to be one correct way to solve a puzzle. I really should go make that video of how I solved one of the game's rooms in the wrong, and much harder, way than it obviously was meant to be solved.

demonbox wrote:

Sounds like a great idea. Sort of a game jam without the actually making a game thing. Sounds great. Perhaps a week to get something made? I'd like more than a couple of days considering how little time I get to play.

As to getting things going- should we throw some ideas out in to the ether and see what sticks? Have someone simply take ownership of the first, and trade up the next idea? I'm excited by the concept, variations on a theme.

A week sounds fair. How long we have to vote for a winner will probably depend on how many people we have participating, given we have to play that many maps, so not sure we'll manage a week turnaround on them or some other length. Would be nice if the contest always started on a set day we could plan around (every (or every other) Saturday, the 1st and 15th of every month, etc.).

In lieu of of any other incentives (other than bragging rights), I think the winner getting to choose the next challenge sounds fair.

Mantid wrote:

No one said there has to be one correct way to solve a puzzle. I really should go make that video of how I solved one of the game's rooms in the wrong, and much harder, way than it obviously was meant to be solved.

Of course, I was merely stating that the way I solved it felt wrong.

Then again, it doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile.

... winning's winning.

... I'm Vin Diesel.

I nominate Mantid to take over the GWJ Portal Map Competition 1.0

EDIT: to add...

GWJ THE TURRET MASSACRE

IMAGE(http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/595845643056147792/94AF56BDAB55FE886D08F44EBE6C272B81C224BD/600x337.resizedimage)
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=74263442

Hyetal wrote:
Mantid wrote:

No one said there has to be one correct way to solve a puzzle. I really should go make that video of how I solved one of the game's rooms in the wrong, and much harder, way than it obviously was meant to be solved.

Of course, I was merely stating that the way I solved it felt wrong.

Then again, it doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile.

... winning's winning.

... I'm Vin Diesel.

Spoiler:

I tackled it by using the bridge as a shield to close with the turret across the steps and toss the turret into the water, then excursion funneling across.

It's quite a fun and clever map, though. I'll add to really liking the central tower mechanic. (And quicksave covers the checkpointing.) I'm slowly playing through the GWJ maps, now. The workshop is really, really slick. So is the puzzle editor. I'll have to try my hand at the theme map competition. (Is it cheating if I touch them up in Hammer?).

Also, as an aside, <3 Valve. When most other companies have abandoned player modding, they work to make it more fun and accessible. (The Alien Swarm purpose-built map editor is also completely awesome, but never really had legs, sadly. Wonder if anyone has ported it to L4D2....)

I don't think using Hammer should disqualify maps, but I guess we should put it up to a vote. There's a million more things you can do, yes, but in essence, I think whatever restrictions we put per challenge should be able to be created in the regular map as well. I guess we shouldn't count aesthetics, since Hammer does overpower the PeTI.

Thoughts guys?

I think it would be fairest to limit it to the in game creator. It may limit some people, but it also doesn't give anyone an advantage in experience with hammer.

I think we can get this started by the weekend. It'll work for any of the schedules I proposed. How quick of a turn around does everyone think we should have on this from starting our maps to finishing voting? 10 days? 2 weeks? 432 hours?

I feel these should be challenges should akin to game jams. Of course, we'll want more than 24-48 hours to make a Portal map, but the spirit should be in stretching ones legs, creativity, and healthy criticism and discussion of the maps. All that being said, I'll still see the rest of you stand below me on the podium, reflecting on how you utterly failed science.

Regarding the schedule, I propose we start on a Saturday and end the next Saturday. The voting opens on Saturday and closes maybe sometime early Monday for international participants.

edit: Ha! Demonbox above referred it to a game jam. OUT OF MY HEAD, DEMON!!!

Fair enough, I can agree with that.

I like the idea of a 2 week turnaround. It'd keep the start/end dates from shifting, and allow a week for building and a week for voting, or some variant of.

So 7 days to create and 2ish to vote?

Also, played Kexx's Garden level. First off, just gorgeous. Whether my maps are fun or not thus far (votes are in and it's not looking too great on that front), I've really been thinking about space and noodling with possible ways to take advantage of space. I really loved how you used space for your design- the geography of it all was beautiful. As to the puzzle-

Spoiler:

Was there a lot in there that I didn't need to use? I only used 2 mechanical devices (sliding things to block the beams and one other I can't recall) though I believe I saw more movables/mechanical devices. Did I force my way through in an odd way or was this by design?

Also played Mind the Gap- Mantid maybe? Sorry I can't recall who made it.

I enjoyed the level. I thought the puzzles were enjoyable. Now, keep in mind- I'm bad with puzzles. Still, I had the circle the space a few times but was able to figure it out one puzzle at a time. Also, was afraid I would miss the last jump, and would have been annoyed if I had. But I didn't- so, victory!

I like the two week thing. Two days to play the maps is a little short.

Yeah, Mind the Gap was mind. I had redone that last jump a few times so it was not as miss-able as the first versions.

Anyhow, if we go 7 days to make and 3~ish days to vote and have the victory decide on the next challenge, we can just make the contest start about every 10 days. For ease of remembrance we can just have them start on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month.

For the first one, we probably should just go vanilla with the default room size or something like that.

I think we can all agree on a week to build. We could start these on a Friday, give us all the weekend to make them, plus 5 other days in case time was short. Come that next friday, we close entries, and proceed to play the maps. So far, I'm counting 6 participants. I think friday, saturday and sunday are enough time to play 6 maps and vote, and have the results in by monday, BUT...I'm single with an awesome, free-time filled job, so what do I know?

Here's how it could work, kinda:

Schedule

Friday: Competition rules and restrictions announced!
2nd Friday: Maps turned in, we close entries at a certain time that 2nd Friday.
2nd Friday - Thursday: Play time and votes close on that Thursday.
3rd Friday: Votes are counted and a winner is announced. That same winner announces new restrictions for next competition. Cycle begins anew.

Rules

We need to set some sort of ground rules. I'll start, we'll see if we agree or not or change it up a bit.

1. Entries limited to one per participant. I think otherwise, map count could get out of hand. Specifically speaking by me, which I go apesh*t with this.
2. Only PeTI, no Hammer. (Maybe for aesthetics? I don't know)
3. Map's theme and focus should center around restriction challenge, not just an aside to qualify. (example: Must have companion cube, and its used only to open first door, then rest of map has nothing to do with companion cube)
4. I believe we all have awesome hardware, but in case we don't, we might need to cut the 25x25x25 maps, unless we're all good, or its part of the challenge. You know, to go easy on the downloads for crappy PC's.

Voting Criteria

1. Fun factor
2. Difficulty factor
3. Frustration factor
4. Map design/layout/architecture/construction

Thoughts?

I think I've got the worst ISP and PC of you lot, and the bigger maps run okay on mine, so I don't think size is an issue.

Outside of that, I quite like it.

kexx wrote:

Schedule

Friday: Competition rules and restrictions announced!
2nd Friday: Maps turned in, we close entries at a certain time that 2nd Friday.
2nd Friday - Thursday: Play time and votes close on that Thursday.
3rd Friday: Votes are counted and a winner is announced. That same winner announces new restrictions for next competition. Cycle begins anew.

So you're suggesting two weeks between competitions? Did I read that right? I can't agree with such a long wait. I like Mantid's idea of every tenth day on the calender, as long as people don't get confused. There would be varying lengths based on days in the month.

I think 10 days per competition sounds solid, 7 make/3 vote, but when do we start the next round in succession? Is it announced the day of voting so our 10 days always lines up? Or, are people attached to the idea of the winner picking, thus making the timing, in terms of day, always off?

I too prefer 10 days, I thought I read someone state that 2-3 days to play/vote on maps was too short a time. But yes, if we can all agree on 10 days per competition, that's great and works for me.

I think we could start the first one, then play it by ear, so how we can continue on, whether we should aline competitions always on 10th, 20th and 30th, or if we can keep going normally or whatnot.

I like the 10 day thing, but I might have a difficult time playing and completing 6-7 maps in a 3 day period (just depending). I'm still willing to give this a go. Also, trying to get my manager onto the site. He recently purchased a used laptop just to play the authoring tools and has joined the Steam group. So, we might have another participant as well.

kexx wrote:

I think we could start the first one, then play it by ear, so how we can continue on, whether we should aline competitions always on 10th, 20th and 30th, or if we can keep going normally or whatnot.

I don't think that's necessary. Let's just do the Friday or Saturday thing as was suggested earlier. I think we can all count to 10, right?

Demonbox sent me here to check out this map design challenge. I'd love to join in if yer cool with it. My only concern is that if were getting into 20x20x20+ maps, it may take a bit longer to build.

Clarkatello wrote:

Demonbox sent me here to check out this map design challenge. I'd love to join in if yer cool with it. My only concern is that if were getting into 20x20x20+ maps, it may take a bit longer to build.

Welcome my good man! Of course you're more than welcome to the competition, and throughout the site. Soon you'll see we're a bunch of unhinged, psychotic gamers with lives on the side!

We're still trying to sort out the rules. Last we discussed, we mentioned that 25x25x25 maps were allowed, but if you feel for any reason we should somewhat restrict the size, by all means, argue your points away! We're trying to accommodate everyone so we all have fun with this.

Hyetal wrote:

I don't think that's necessary. Let's just do the Friday or Saturday thing as was suggested earlier. I think we can all count to 10, right?

Well I'm not sure if you're in the loop, or if anyone's told you, but last we checked, counting indeed was hard.

On subject, sure. I say we move to vote, get this thing rolling!! All in favor of 10 day competition standard, 7day build, 3day play/vote, say Science!

Science!