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Portal 2 Map: Levels Be Three, Let Them Be

I created another Portal 2 map: "Levels be Three Let them Be."

Not entirely sure what the name means, but it sounded good to me.

Its a bit more puzzley than my first map and it requires you to use one cube the entire map, which is kind of neat. Been spending quite a bit of time playing other peoples Portal 2 maps and building my own. This is my second map and as such spent more time decorating it than the first map. Trying to place the observation rooms and lights such that the test chamber doesn't look bare. Also pushing up single blocks and putting a light on top to make things look a bit more natural. I like the way it all turned out.

The map description:

"Run, jump and... Read All

First one I actually felt was worth publishing. Let me know

First one I actually felt was worth publishing. Let me know what you think.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=71723761

Really happy with the editor, but here and there you play one that you know was done in Hammer and it's a major difference. Apparrently there is a way to set up your map in this editor and then export it to Hammer for finishing touches (non-flat surfaces, different texture sets, scripting capabilites). If you want to see what I mean, check out the "Decay" Maps in the workshop.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=68627704&searchtext=

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/13/2012 at 05:04pm

It was fun. Took me a bit to figure out a few steps, but I finished it.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/13/2012 at 10:54pm

I miss the claustrophobic levels of the first Portal. I think my next one will be more like that.

vdogmr25 wrote on 05/14/2012 at 09:26pm

Just went through it. It was a fun level. I love fling/gravity puzzles. It took me a bit to realize the water and repellant gel were more aesthetic than part of the solution. I sat there briefly wondering how I got through the level without using the repellant gel and what it was supposed to be used for.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/14/2012 at 10:35pm

Hmmm... it should have been used. How did you get over the cap at the end?

Oh, I can think of how. I'll fix that... :)

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/20/2012 at 11:02pm

Fixed it.

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I just made and published my first Portal 2 map called The

I just made and published my first Portal 2 map called "The Joys of the Underground." The new Portal 2 map editor is pure awesome. I haven't had this much fun making maps since Wolf 3D. For the first 45 minutes I was just building things, then I started pushing out walls and built a huge chamber. 3 hours later "The Joys of the Underground" was complete.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=71669237

Let me know what you think. The map isn't hard but it is pretty fun and I LOVED creating it. I will be making more maps for certain. Making a map creator tool that doesn't take a PHD to use is nice.

Tungsten wrote on 05/13/2012 at 01:02am

The editor is amazing. Great product. It was actually kind of sad: I could finally make any level I could dream up, but I realized I'm very bad at dreaming them. All my attempts turned out boring and straight forward. Playing some of the other community maps, you can see that some people are very good at it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2012 at 02:39am

I was just tinkering around with what I could do and I made something I kind of thought was fun. I kept tinkering and it was OK.

Working on another one now that is just tinkering and a bit more grand. Somehow I like big maps.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/13/2012 at 03:40am

One gripe with the tool this far. I made a huge epic map. 10-20% of the way building it, Portal 2 crashes. Ok, load it back edit the map.... Crash. Again... Crash.

Bummer it was a cool start to a fun map. *sigh*

Tungsten wrote on 05/13/2012 at 04:41am

Just put mine up...

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=71723761

vdogmr25 wrote on 05/14/2012 at 09:07pm

I found it beatable without even having to go underground. There's a way to take the laser reflection cube with you into the next room and you can use it to activate the switch. Thought I'd let you know. Other than that, it was pretty good. It required a little head scratching, but was pretty quick to get through.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/14/2012 at 09:26pm

How do you take the redirection cube to the next room? Isn't it fizzled out?

I'll check it tonight and fix :)

vdogmr25 wrote on 05/15/2012 at 12:01am

In the first room there's the ledge with non-portal-able surfaces that leads into the next room. You can get up there by portaling onto the small box-like protrusion on the opposite wall by the entrance, putting a portal on the ground next to the non-portal-able ledge, putting the other portal on the ground in front of you, and jumping off. If you take the redirect cube with you, you can access the exit. I hope I explained well enough. I can screen shot it out if you would like me to.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 12:41am

Nope I get it now. Ill remove the ledge or make it non-portalable.

Thanks!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 02:50am

OK I believe I fixed that bug and a possible other one, thanks for the heads up!

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2K just dropped two gameplay videos for Borderlands 2. They

2K just dropped two gameplay videos for Borderlands 2. They handed out the same gameplay footage to all the big game news sites and then the news sites commented over the footage. The above video is IGN's take on the siren video drop. Some interesting footage of the class.

2K also release some footage of the gunzerker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46GOWOkHySM

The game looks mad epic. Can't wait for Clap-Trap to bring the wub wub. This is a game I will pre-order and nab on the PS3. What will you play it on? Are you going to pick it up?

One minor gripe from the IGN video commentary: "How many times do you need to mention Borderlands is like Diablo?" Yeah, we got it when... Read All

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/12/2012 at 07:09pm

I will most certainly pick it up and it'll be on PS3 so I can play split screen with the wifey. :) I usually don't preorder games but I think I will for this one so I can pick up the extra DLC class and just because I loved the first game so much. I actually don't know what class I want to play first. Soldier was my favorite from the first game, but so far the Gunzerker looks really fun and fits my preferred play style.

Yeah they mention the Diablo thing a lot. It's probably just because everyone has Diablo 3 on the brain at the moment.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/12/2012 at 10:29pm

Do you get the new class with a pre-order?

The gunzerker class looks cool, I might try him first too.

Travis Admin wrote on 05/14/2012 at 01:00am

*ahem*... I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS!

OK, I'm better now. Seriously, this looks amazing. And hang on, WhiteboySlim, you have to preorder to get all the classes? That's kinda lame. I'll probably do it anyway though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/14/2012 at 01:59am

They talked about another class they wanted to add after launch. The mecromancer. I hadn't heard you needed to pre-order to get all the classes though. Hope not.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/15/2012 at 06:37pm

"As a special thank you to our early supporters, the Mechromancer will be available as a free download to members of the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club, which you can gain access to by pre-ordering Borderlands 2 from a participating retailer. The Mechromancer will also be available as premium downloadable content for those who aren't Premiere Club members at the same time."

from this article: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/122/1222572p1.html

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/15/2012 at 07:08pm

Right, I saw that at Besy Buy last night. You going to pre-order?

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/15/2012 at 10:55pm

Probably just so I can get the DLC for free. I haven't looked into who is offering the pre-orders yet. The only games I've ever pre-ordered before were Ocarina of Time and one of the expansions for FFXI when I was still playing that.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/16/2012 at 03:51am

Ill pre-order Borderlands 2, just have to figure out where :)

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Anyone here making portal maps? Apparently there are

Anyone here making portal maps? Apparently there are already 35,000 of them. I might try to put one together this weekend (or next... who know's when I'll have the time). I'll link it if I get it together.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/11/2012 at 10:55pm

Its on my list of things to do this weekend. Check out a few maps and see about making a simple one.

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/12/2012 at 02:54pm

I've had to reinstall portal (I had to reformat a couple months ago) so that has put a serious delay into my puzzle creating plans.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/12/2012 at 06:45pm

I still haven't managed to play any multiplayer, so I'll probably go through those before I attempt making my own. Looks like fun though! I can't wait to see some of the community made maps. :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/12/2012 at 08:12pm

I just made my first, check it out:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/287

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/13/2012 at 01:03am

@WhiteboySlim: I still haven't done the multi-player either. If you ever need someone to conquer them with, hit me up.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 05/16/2012 at 06:57pm

@Tungsten: Sounds like fun! What evenings are you usually available to play?

Tungsten Post Author wrote on 05/16/2012 at 09:49pm

Well, I'm a teacher, so Friday/Saturday are the best right now, but Summer is coming and everything really opens up.

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Free game alert...

Free game alert...

http://steamcommunity.com/games/rockstargames/announcements/detail/1045078427175199696

Gather round children, for I will tell thee a story of

Gather round children, for I will tell thee a story of Angels and Demons of old. Past battles fought between good and ill that shaped the very fabric of our universe! Well, that or you could hit play on the video above this post.

"Long before the creation of Sanctuary, the Eternal Conflict between angels and demons raged on for untold millennia. Blizzard Entertainment teamed up with renowned director Peter Chung and acclaimed animation studio Titmouse to create this unique vision of a fundamental moment in the battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells."

A bit of other interesting Diablo 3 tid-bitery comes from a recent Joystiq article about just how many... Read All

Chowda wrote on 05/11/2012 at 03:42pm

Great video thanks for sharing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/11/2012 at 03:57pm

Yeah, I thought it was awesome too! Apparently Angels can be goaded.

Tungsten wrote on 05/11/2012 at 10:02pm

Video was great. It was done by the same guys who do Metalocalypse. It would have been a step up though if they added a heavy metal soundtrack.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/11/2012 at 10:55pm

Haha yeah, especially when Imperius cleaves Diablo in half.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 05/14/2012 at 04:59am

Honestly, I'm not really interested in Diablo III, so I'm not sure why I clicked on this video...

But CRAP!, that was cool.

Tungsten wrote on 05/14/2012 at 11:58am

Diablo 3 launch day: I have to work until 8pm and be back at work at 6:30am. Great timing.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 05/14/2012 at 03:25pm

Apparently even with one day shipping amazon says D3 will arrive the 17th... I may never pre-order from Amazon again.

Live learn I guess.

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Seems like a few companies are celebrating 20th

http://epicgames.com/community/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/OSTCover_FINAL41.jpg

Seems like a few companies are celebrating 20th anniversaries lately. Epic is celebrating its 20th anniversary and to commemorate the event they are releasing the "Epic 20th Anniversary Original Soundtrack."

Download it here:
http://epicgames.com/community/epic-20th-anniversary-commemorative-soundtrack/

Its a good sampling of all their games over the 20 years they have been pumping out the hits. To bad they didn't include ZZT.

Want

I think Im about halfway through Rage, and I have learned

http://officialrageinc.webs.com/rage%20avatar.png

I think I'm about halfway through Rage, and I have learned three things.

* Don't trust game demos.
* Don't trust gamers.
* Don't trust reviewers.

I played the demo and decided to skip it, but decided to buy it on a whim and I am having so much fun with this game. Apparently the PC version was buggy as hell at launch, but I have yet to see a single bug.

I know one of the big complaints people have is that the graphics weren't great, but honestly I've been blown away by the graphics a few times. If you zoom in on a wall it's going to look bad, sure, but in general gameplay the environment is fantastic.

The AI is pretty good, the enemies will react to changes in the battle.... Read All I think I'm about halfway through Rage, and I have learned three things.

* Don't trust game demos.
* Don't trust gamers.
* Don't trust reviewers.

I played the demo and decided to skip it, but decided to buy it on a whim and I am having so much fun with this game. Apparently the PC version was buggy as hell at launch, but I have yet to see a single bug.

I know one of the big complaints people have is that the graphics weren't great, but honestly I've been blown away by the graphics a few times. If you zoom in on a wall it's going to look bad, sure, but in general gameplay the environment is fantastic.

The AI is pretty good, the enemies will react to changes in the battle. Some will charge you in desperation, some will flee. If things aren't going well for them, they'll fall back to regroup. They do tend to fall into somewhat predictable routines at times, but the varied enemy combat types keep it fresh.

The gunplay is excellent. It's an id game, so that should come as no surprise.

There are some downsides though. It seems like it tried to do too much. The racing mechanics aren't that great, and racing is forced on you at least a couple times in the game. Often the game feels more linear than it lets on, but I don't mind linear. For some reason, a few updates ago they decided to disable console commands, making this the first id game I can remember where you can't turn on god mode. I guess that's good or bad depending on your view of it, but I always liked to go on a rampage run after I'd finished a game, turning it up to nightmare difficulty and having a rocket-fest. Certainly not a show-stopper, but a strange decision from Carmack and Co. The story is probably the worst offender-- truth be told, there's very little story to it. Some games don't need story, but this one could have benefited from it.

Overall the game reminds me of a mix of Half-Life 2, Borderlands, Fallout 3, and Motorstorm, and in a very few cases it does better than these games, but trying to do too much they may have spread themselves thin. It never achieves the greatness of any of those games. It's fun, tons of fun, but it didn't quite gel into the perfect storm of post-apocalyptic greatness they were shooting for.

I don't know. It had years of development and a lot of hype, so I assume it was bound to get criticized more heavily than normal, but I think this is a fantastic game that is overly criticized, often for unfounded reasons. It isn't everything it's cracked up to be, but it's a ton of fun, and I can see myself replaying it years from now in the same way I do the early id games.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/11/2012 at 02:10am

For me, you got it on the best platform, the PC. I pre-ordered this on the PS3 and was disappoint. The PS3 version does have spit-screen Legends of the Wasteland which is awesome to play with friends though. That said, the single player wasnt great as it took way too long to save and death was way too costly with so much save game load time. Since I suck at twitch shooter controls on controller, it was hard to kill guys and do well at the PS3 copy.

I played it on the PC and it was like a much better game for me. I could shoot people, quick save existed and loading didn't take forever. The graphics looked better and everything. I know they spent quite a long time on the PS3 copy and it reviewed well but in my experience it wasn't as good as the PC version.

That said, the game is fun but I think my expectations were too high for it to meet them all. Its a great game, no question, but my initial console experience and a few other niggly things left me liking it but not loving it.

Still haven't beat it yet, but its fun to play it off and on through time. Graphics look fantastic on the PC too.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/28/2012 at 09:50pm

You beat Rage yet? I still have yet to do it as I am playing it a little bit at a time.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2012 at 01:25pm

Haha, nope. Diablo 3 happened.

I was starting to get a little bored with it, though. I got to Subway Town and realized this was going to open up into an entirely new map that I had never seen yet, that I needed to race for a new car, etc etc... I feel like the game should be ramping up to a finish, but it's stepping backward to stuff I've already done in a different setting.

I guess it's just a pacing problem. After I have some time with Diablo 3 it will probably feel fresher.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/29/2012 at 02:06pm

Yep. I'm in Subway town too and I have the same thoughts. Thing is I clocked 14 hours on my game to Subway town and it feels like it should be the end but it's not. Plus it's only been 14 hours and I've done everything I could.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 05/29/2012 at 02:13pm

Yeah, I felt the same way. Going back to Diablo 3, because I find it hard not to think about it lately, pacing is damned important. The pacing in Diablo 3 is so amazing. Rage making you kinda start over to a point is really, really not.

jdodson Admin wrote on 05/30/2012 at 01:27am

I agree. Kind of want to say more about Rage, but I am not sure how to approach it. Its the game I want to love but have a hard time expressing it.

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