Posts by Stract

  • [Portal 2] Refraction

    Thanks for the feedback. But I think your expectation of how elements should be highlighted is a little unrealistic. I'm not going to spoon-feed everything to you. Do you want me to color the window frames bright neon green to highlight that they're a puzzle element? You should assume everything that can be used should be used, or at least you should attempt to use it.

    I'll also highlight the fact again that this puzzle (as well as most other Workshop maps) assume the player is familiar with the concepts picked up from the single player campaign. This isn't a full-fledged mod; it's a single level which is based on that assumption, so the singleplayer acts as the tutorial. This puzzle offers nothing unfamiliar to the player. It's a puzzle made to be solved, not spoon-fed. Again if it were a full-fledged mod perhaps there would be something involving funnels and/or lasers beforehand with a similar premise, however this is a lone workshop map. If you were to criticize every other Workshop map for Portal 2 the same way you are now, you'd soon find that almost every other puzzle plays upon this assumption that the player knows the elements and can figure things out without it being spoon-fed to them. There's not much way I could make this easier without making it like I'm treating all of the other players as stupid, since everything would be so brain-dead obvious and, as I've said several times before, spoon-fed to them. All of the people within the Portal community I've talked to that have played it found it fairly easy.

    Also as for "hidden element #2" that portal shot was unintended and is actually an exploit i.e. not part of the puzzle. Thanks for taking notice, I'll be sure to patch that up! That pretty much entirely breaks the puzzle.

  • [Portal 2] Refraction

    Quote from FMPONE

    8 hours ago, FMPONE said: Attempt 1: unable to solve.

    http://# Reveal hidden contents I have to say, as a player this makes me feel quite stupid. It's frustrating on a design level that the puzzle doesn't provide meaningful instruction or foreshadowing that you can use to make inferences. In other words, the puzzle never trains you how to accomplish its task. I'll be frank, to me that's bad design. Great puzzles offer you some glimpse of the solution, but force you to think about a stated problem differently. This level presents you with an idea "refraction" (via the title) and that's it. You are inserted into the puzzle with basically no foreplay or guidance or illustration.

    I feel that players want, very deeply, especially in a game like Portal 2, to be trained how to solve the puzzle before they are asked to do so. Otherwise, there is no foreplay or sense of narrative. The player just feels stupid, immediately stupid, with no recourse. And this is a total failure on the designer's part IMO.

    As designers, I think we want to avoid a certain hubris that because we designed a puzzle, it's automatically smart or clever or that we're clever for having put the puzzle together. It's smart if the player feels smart after achieving it, and that's the only thing that makes it smart. And if experienced Portal 2 players can't solve the puzzle, or more importantly, don't feel tantalized to solve the puzzle, then we've failed.

    I'm going to give this 2 more attempts before I feel comfortable stating that it's just kind of not a great puzzle.

    This isn't a very hard puzzle. Sure if this were a puzzle in a mod I may have an introductory puzzle to supplement it, but it's just its own map and it assumes you already understand the core mechanics of Portal 2 and how they interact with one another. It therefore assumes you've played the singleplayer and learned from what it taught. It really doesn't introduce any new mechanics or operations that aren't used in the campaign.

    Also this is what most every workshop level is like for Portal 2. Sometimes if a really complex concept is introduced, an introductory puzzle right before can help, but this really doesn't have anything new to introduce. Perhaps you just need to brush up on your puzzle-solving skills rather than your bomb defusal skills ;P

    If you really understand the puzzle you should be able to solve it without indicators telling you if you're obviously going the right way. Those indicators should come from your own understanding of the puzzle and understanding what you need to do to solve it. Try working backwards from the final step.

  • [Portal 2] Refraction

    This is a fairly easy map (depending on your experience) by myself and my friend Demon Arisen. He did the puzzle; I did the Hammer work.

    The puzzle primarily revolves around laser redirection and funnels.

    Cave Johnson here. We've fitted the panels in this test chamber with something the science boys are calling hyper-refractive micro-glass coating, so as you prance around in there you may encounter some unusual visual distortions. For example, the chamber may look dirty and dilapidated, but it's actually pristine and shiny - that's just the glass messing with your noggin. The test might look like it's been assembled by a monkey with a monkey wrench but again, that's just the glass. Falling debris? Just the glass! Collapsing structures? Just the glass! Ravenous Mantis Men? Just the glass! It's all just the glass, nothing to worry about. So, keep your wits about you. Anything you see may or may not or may maybe be real. Cave out.

    Oh wait, one more thing. You may also see a bottomless pit stretching into the infinite void below the test - that's not the glass deceiving your brain, that's real. Please do remember that, we can't have your corpse falling down there and clogging up the turbines. Wait a second... Greg, no! You tripped over the microphone wire! It's specifically labelled "Do not trip over, ESPECIALLY GREG!" Ugh. Cleaning Team Seven, we're gonna need you on standby for turbine unclogging. Cave Johnson, we're done here.

    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…/?id=1154580338

    [Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/yx2oIGc.jpg]

    If you find any bugs be sure to let me know! Feedback is always appreciated.

  • [Portal 2] Overturned

    Looks pretty bland in terms of the style and aesthetics. However if you do choose to continue with this style I'd consider adding more light covers. The light should also be a bit more focused on certain areas to bring attention and create variation in the areas, making them distinct and memorable rather than all the same cool/white plain lighting. Just looks kind of like a better PTI as it is right now. But I'd try some different style, maybe reconstruction, overgrowth, art therapy, Wheatley, *anything* more interesting. Basically a lot of what Radu said.

    Also you used the wrong door models, I see a gray one there for some reason. Just use prop_testchamber_door, it does everything for you.

  • [Portal 2] Broken Path

    It looks somewhat disappointing in terms of visuals, at least from what I see in the screenshots. One thing I'm immediately noticing is the lack of any actual chamber lighting other than the sun through the debris. There aren't really any glass light covers to make the lighting interesting at all, it's very bland. If it were me I'd have also have projected textures coming from the ceiling, to have crisp shadows.

    The observation room also has some kinks. First off, observation rooms aren't usually ground level. Maybe instead of just walking into the broken window, you could have some fling into it. Swivel chairs are also usually used rather than the cheap regular BTS chairs. The lighting is quite uninteresting, and the relaxation container mural, 50s props, and oversized posters add to this strange feeling. Also, perhaps you could make use of light to create a better focus on the fact that you need to go through the broken glass. Another thing, you could have some blue light at the funnel to add realism.

    One other thing I'd like to note is the tree in the middle of the ground. It's a bit peculiar, especially since there is no direct sunlight on it from what I can see.

    Overall biggest thing is to make the lighting more interesting, and perhaps geometry as well. You didn't use any glass light strips, even though they are so central to these chambers and their lighting. Still, better than most of what's on the Workshop! :P

    Sorry for this unorganized mess of feedback, but I hope it will help!