portal puzzle maker

Have you guys seen any of this stuff? I think the guy who created Sketchup is working at Valve now - maybe they are finally forging ahead with better development tools? This certainly looks awesome.

http://www.valvetime.net/threads/video-portal-2-beta-dlc-puzzle-maker-making-testing-publishing.192189/

More details... This looks very interesting

http://www.valvetime.net/threads/8th-may-for-portal-2-dlc-titled-perpetual-testing-initiative-inc-trailer.191070/

I heard my brother mention something about a map editor for Portal 2 which has just been announced, but I thought he meant the SDK or something, which I thought has already been released a long time ago.

But this is something else and looks neat. Finally there's something for the gamers who aren't skilled in mapping with programs like hammer (or the lazy ones who don't want to take any effort in learning it).

I always thought that portal would be suitable for a more simple level editor like this.

So ... it took Valve 15 years to copy Tony Hawk?

Had my ear to the ground about this for awhile. It'll definitely open up the mapping scene.

There's really no reason why mapping couldn't be simpler in most games either. They should absolutely have higher and lower level editing abilities. Edit for explicit architecture and things like that, but higher level laying out just for buildings and terrain. That sort of junk.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I heard something about there being some sort of feedback system, and a browser with maps from all over the world. People can rate the maps and you can sort all maps to start with the most highly rated which seems really cool, but not sure if its actually true

So has anyone tried this out yet? if so any specific maps anyone would like to recommend? I myself haven't had time to have a look at it, and I was hoping to wait a bit for some good maps to appear, maybe hear some feedback