Portal 2's The Perpetual Testing Initiative

[Kedhrin]

yeah valve wants devs to get on steam workshop, so they gave me a beta key to look at how they were doing it in portal 2. i don't see why devs with an editor wouldn't want to. its an awesome platform.

no more going through external websites and such to get your maps out there, hoping players see them... makes me happy to think of

[Warby]

so let me get this straight this thing will spit out *.bsps ? with lightmaps and all precalculation already done ?

[Kedhrin]

yeah theres some sort of compiling that it does do, its a REALLY fast compiler... so either they drastically sped things up or figured out a way to pre-produce its final quality.

[Vilham]

watching the latest video it produces pretty nasty lighting tbh

[Youme]

Yeah it compiles it but his test chamber is ultra small and the bulk of the interest in his lighting is from the projected texture so it's not surprising it only takes a few seconds.

Didn't it rebuild the map when it was being published? That's probably a final compile with the others being fast or 'normal'.

[selmitto]

Yeah it compiles it but his test chamber is ultra small and the bulk of the interest in his lighting is from the projected texture so it's not surprising it only takes a few seconds.

Didn't it rebuild the map when it was being published? That's probably a final compile with the others being fast or 'normal'.

That'd make sense.

[Furyo]

Lighting in Portal 2 is (mostly, as in almost always) a single projected texture and some self illum materials on the side. I'm told Valve doesn't have plans to release this new editor for their other games and I can seriously see why from a purely technical standpoint. Working with instances and a projected texture is one thing, making a TF2 level with this editor is another thing entirely.

Also, no one in their right mind would ship a level with this new editor, which uses apparently a constant 64 units grid. You simply need to get lower than that if you're going to art up your portal 2 level to a good quality.

All the same, I think it's probably the single best thing Valve has put out since creating the Mann Co Store. As a tool to build your community, holy crap that is a good move.

[Puddy]

Also, no one in their right mind would ship a level with this new editor, which uses apparently a constant 64 units grid. You simply need to get lower than that if you're going to art up your portal 2 level to a good quality.

For me it is far more important that this tool can produce maps which run well and are bug-free. As long as the the visuals are readable and don't interfere with the puzzle experience it's fine by me.

And yes, it kinda makes sense that they limit the tool to Portal 2. In Portal 2, a map can use two textures and follow the grid religiously without looking that silly.

[General Vivi]

This is the perfect gateway editor for people to get into design

[Sentura]

This is the perfect gateway editor for people to get into design

here's to hoping that people at autodesk/unity etc. all take heed of how awesome this will be

[insta]

This is the perfect gateway editor for people to get into design

here's to hoping that people at autodesk/unity etc. all take heed of how awesome this will be

Sketchup is a good gateway-drug into modeling.

[General Vivi]

*scratches neck* Yeah I love me some good sketchup

[selmitto]

How do you guys generally use that drug..? I mean, SketchUp?

Just to quickly prototype an environment and get a better feel of its flow and how it "plays"?

Or you simply jump to the 3D creation software of your choice where you have more freedom to create shapes?

Bonus question: do you see PeTI stealing some part of your process?

[Kedhrin]

Lighting in Portal 2 is (mostly, as in almost always) a single projected texture and some self illum materials on the side. I'm told Valve doesn't have plans to release this new editor for their other games and I can seriously see why from a purely technical standpoint. Working with instances and a projected texture is one thing, making a TF2 level with this editor is another thing entirely.

Also, no one in their right mind would ship a level with this new editor, which uses apparently a constant 64 units grid. You simply need to get lower than that if you're going to art up your portal 2 level to a good quality.

All the same, I think it's probably the single best thing Valve has put out since creating the Mann Co Store. As a tool to build your community, holy crap that is a good move.

Yeah when i was working with it the 64 grid system was kinda bunk, but at the same time it's meant for just easy to use, fun and quick editing. the editing is like making maps for Unreal Engine 2< with subtractive CSG being the mindset. It's really cool because it won't let you create error setups, for example if you have a setup where say... i don't know what its called, but whatever sploodges out that slick stuff, it has to hit a proper surface and can't be like in a doorway... just really dumbed down, think sims editing style.

you also don't place any lights yourself, its all automated.

[neozyem]

I wonder if there is a limit on the size of your map? Also does this produce CO-OP levels?