I'm sure some of you may have seen this...

Portals is a new singleplayer game that Valve is releasing with Episode 2. Themed in the Halflife Universe, it challenges the player to overcome obstacles and solve puzzles using dynamic portals - wormholes that can be placed whereever the player chooses.

Looks pretty damn cool if you ask me... and I'm salivating with thoughts of using this as a multiplayer weapon (though I don't know if it will become one).

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2episode2/video_player.html?id=KiMzkTWt5bMIuzc

What do ya think?

I like the sound of an original puzzle game on the Source engine. I didn't register to download the trailer, but when I buy Ep2 I'll definitely check this game out.

Well, you shoud definately check it out before then..... it's worth registering.

After watching the video a few times, it occured to me how great this mod will be for mappers. The portal community will be constantly hungry for new puzzles and challenges (unlike the DM community, who mostly prefer to stick with popular maps). The functionality and puzzle focus of the game doesn't require the level of polish and detail that normal DM maps do... so it could be a great way for people to make some maps that don't take forever and actually get played!

No it's not worth registering, it's worth watching on uTube.

Anyhoo, looks abso-fricken-lutely gorgeous. Can't wait to play this.

Alright, I'll register and download. It'll take a little while considering my connection here in China isn't that fast.

I like the idea of mapping for Portals though... I'd rather make something for a wacky game like Portals that a few people play, then make something for CS that no one will play.

Edit: Oooh, youtube.

Why not watch it on uTube?

when i watched the first part of the video (the first 2d demo) i was like "can this really be a game for the source engine?" then the 3d appeared...

it was.. hilarious.

and WoW the game looks so cool!

i wonder how much will we have to pay to buy Ep2, Portal and TF2 together.

French Toast said:
Why not watch it on uTube?

I did, thanks for the link. I enjoyed the video... looking forward to making some puzzles for it when it comes out.

Whoa this looks very awesome.

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http://maze5.net

Badass.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Valve picked this project up after hiring in some guys who worked on a uni project in a similar vein. The original was called "Narbacular Drop" (check it out on Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbacular_Drop). Some of the guys from the office here went to the Valve Developer Conference about a month back and saw this, and their impressions were very good. Now I can see why :smile: Looks very fun and very challenging. Loved the style of the trailer as an initiation film too.

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

:razz: Now I know I'll shoot one in the roof and one in the floor and go
round and round and round and round again. :biggrin: I'm definedly getting Ep2.

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''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

You can test the original version here:

http://www.vgpro.com/file/10873_narbacular_drop.exe.html

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:: Forceflow.be :: Nuclear Dawn developer

Just played that predecessor game. Looks pretty funny and inventive, and I like the style Valve is pushing this idea with. Portal is a sure get-it game for me.

Also, I thought a co-op mode where one has the portal gun and the other carries a portal-projector that generates a portal in front of him, facing away from him, could be pretty nifty too... one creates the portal through which an object falls, the other projects the 'cannon' portal... :razz:
Or one creates a drop-off portal and the other goes collecting blocks and other items by using his projector as a shovel/teleporter...

Heh, it sparks creativeness I guess... :smile:

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

This is almost too much for me. Wow. Did any of you notice the perfect motion blur/depht of field effects also?

This is exactly the kind of fresh and new idea I was hoping for! mmmm

Looks fun, but the maps look like hollowed-box-test maps D: I know valve can do better than that.

Gameplay looks fun though. This might be the reason for me getting Ep2. :smile:

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

From what I've seen the whole game isn't about looks and atmosphere, at least not in the traditional FPS-way. It's more a unique puzzle game set in a most bizzarre training facility. At least the parts in the video. I'm not sure what "Themed in the HL-universe" means, though. Maybe we just saw the hazard course? Or the whole game is the hazard course for Episode 3?

Anyhow, I like this so much :smile:

http://www.snarkpit.net/pits/campaignjunkie/ND_Momentum.zip

I made a Narbacular Drop map, if anyone cares to try it. It might be difficult depending on your knowledge of portal tricks. It's pretty fun to design for, actually - they used the HL1 Hammer for their level design, so I picked it up relatively quick.

Looks fun, but the maps look like hollowed-box-test maps D: I know valve can do better than that.

I couldn't care less. When you're flying through those portals are you gonna stop and say 'this mapping is really subpar'. I'm sure it also helps if it's boxy so you don't get clipped on stuff.

Bring on the Sudoku of FPS games.

BRING IT ON.

(I'll stick to my crossword)

I couldn't care less. When you're flying through those portals are you gonna stop and say 'this mapping is really subpar'. I'm sure it also helps if it's boxy so you don't get clipped on stuff.

Yes? Considering how I would be paying $40 for it, I'd expect something a bit better. "clipping" would really be the only pro I see to it -- based on what I saw in the vid, it didn't appear that portal could be fired on numerous surfaces (or atleast, surfaces that face different directions).

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

It comes bundled with Episode 2, which is $19.95 to my recollection? :razz:
People are very very angry on the General Banter board today, I must
review the water supply.

I couldn't care less. When you're flying through those portals are you gonna stop and say 'this mapping is really subpar'. I'm sure it also helps if it's boxy so you don't get clipped on stuff.

Yes? Considering how I would be paying $40 for it, I'd expect something a bit better. "clipping" would really be the only pro I see to it -- based on what I saw in the vid, it didn't appear that portal could be fired on numerous surfaces (or atleast, surfaces that face different directions).

As Gwil said, it's $19.95. But when you consider that, more of their time probably went into the actual episode. So let's say that costs 10 bucks. And the rest of the cost will be divided between Portal and TF2.

So yeah. Paying 5 bucks for a game that looks like it has incredible gameplay really deserves bitching about it being too blocky. If you wanna bitch about a blocky game, go with FEAR. That was 60 bucks, and the mapping was about the same. But then again it didn't matter since people play games for the gameplay.

Fear was blocky. But what I saw in portal were close to being literal hollow boxes with entities in them.

To hear that the game is only about $20 is a good thing, since I was really unaware of that. The reason for me being kinda annoyed, is, well, I am :razz: I suppose I feel that in some manner, Valve is attempting "push stuff off" without actually putting any massive care into a game before releasing it. I also see it like this:

If a killbox is unacceptable, then how does this get away with anything? Don't get me wrong -- I'm always a supporter of gameplay over graphics, but I still think valve could tweak the maps up just a bit.

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

I actually found the level design and environments in FEAR to be just fine. Sure, as a whole they weren't visually stunning, but considering the theme of the game - they captured the real-world environments with a fairly high level of detail. Especially when you consider how well they pulled off the 'destructability' of the worlds and all the nice touches like floating bits of paper or the way the room filled up with dust.

Good level design doesn't necessarily boil down to 'high detail' or 'curvy walls', it's about knowing your focus and achieving it with as much precision as possible.

So anyway, to get back on topic. If you wan't high detail, there will be plenty of opportunity for the community to fill that void. That is assumming we can actually map for this game.

From the video, I think the gameplay requires a lot of big flat surfaces to be effective. Unfortunately that means the maps are going to be blocky.

Imagine trying to play football in a garden with bumpy terrain, boulders, trees, small buildings, ponds, etc. It just wouldn't work - in football the field needs to be a booring flat rectangle for the gameplay to work.

I think the same sort of thing applies to computer games like portal.

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http://maze5.net

While it struck me how blocky and simplistic the initial example levels were (when the video started quick cutting between multiple levels I couldn't really get my bearings enough to analyze the maps) I can't be sure whether that is an example of hasty work, or whether its just a limit of the gametype/game mechanics.

We'll see.

Edit: I feel like mazemaster is probably right :wink:

you know what's the best part of having simple maps? that you don't need a Good computer to play the game.

you know what's the best part of having simple maps? that you don't need a Good computer to play the game.

That only help with amount of faces being drawn. The pixel shader effects would still slug any computer down that doesn't support them. (They can be turned off, of course)

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>you know what's the best part of having simple maps? that you don't need a Good computer to play the game.

That only help with amount of faces being drawn. The pixel shader effects would still slug any computer down that doesn't support them. (They can be turned off, of course)</div></div>

geez! i thought i was right. :rolleyes:

Cry me a river.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
Cry me a river.

Then you can build me a bridge and get over it, Mr. Sunshine :smile:

That looks bitchin. I played Narbacular Drop and watched the trailer, and I'm definitely going to get this game. :biggrin:

EDIT: And nice level CJ :smile:

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o

? quoting CronoCry me a river.
Then you can build me a bridge and get over it, Mr. Sunshine :smile:

Then you can shoot a portal at the bottom of the river, shoot another one in some random guys house and you don't need a bridge anymore... :razz:

Though I don't expect Portal to contain much water actually, it could provide some interesting situations... if only water wasn't so hard to physically simulate... :smile:

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

As far as i know we cant simulate water acuratly at all. That is why they still build most projects involving water on scale to test it first.

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RUST Gamedesign
pepper design

The strength of the turbulence is directly proportional to the temperature of your coffee.

I want it now now now!

DrGlass said:
I want it now now now!

Addicted to Morphine said:
Mr. Sunshine :smile:

Forget crying. You guys keep me laughing this hard and I'll piss it full.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Haha, glad you liked it Orph :smile:

I still wonder how Crono feels about it shifty eyes

not only Orpheus liked it.

i laugh'd hard when i read it. :biggrin:

Addicted to Morphine said:
I still wonder how Crono feels about it shifty eyes

He'll survive. He likes it when people notice his peculiarities about as much as mowing over a ground hornets nest but he'll live.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

As far as i know we cant simulate water acuratly at all. That is why they still build most projects involving water on scale to test it first.

Yes we can. It can be simulated using a physics engine, it's just not efficient. Some of the stuff using a dedicated physics processor is impressive in this department.

He likes it when people notice his peculiarities about as much as mowing over a ground hornets nest but he'll live.

Eat rotten baby flesh. It didn't bother me.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Yeah, this looks like it will be a lot of fun. It definitely peaked my interest in getting Episode 2.

It could be fun... People expect too much of valve, maker of 1 good game and 1 not so good game. I'm sure, like with HL2, the concept will be good, but the execution poor and tedious.

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

HL2 tedius? Did you even play HL1?

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

peaked

piqued.

It could be fun... People expect too much of valve, maker of 1 good game and 1 not so good game. I'm sure, like with HL2, the concept will be good, but the execution poor and tedious.

I'm hoping since it's a very different kind of game and they brought the Narbacular Drop team on to work on it, they might just make it pwn.

Currently it's one of the two games I'm looking forward to, next to Gears of War (though I'm not gonna get a 360 just to play GoW, I'll wait for it to come out on PC in "early 2007").

Anyway, new games, for the most part, just suck. The cost of making a AAA title has caused big developers to take very few risks in designing them, they just stick to a "proven formula" (read: the same crap). I think Doom 2 is the best FPS ever, closely followed by Quake 2. Then the multipayer craze started and Id bastardized Quake. Quake has never recovered, nor has Id.

I'll stop now before this becomes a really long rant and completely derails the topic :smile:

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o

I didn't post any Portal praise today, so... "BEST f**kING GAME EVARRR!!!"

Myrk msn'd me about this, i'm totaly hooked on it and i want it, i want it now.

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Boo f**king Hoo

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/721/721494p1.html

Portal interview!

"As far as I know, Valve has no plans of purchasing EA."

I love that line :biggrin:

Kim Swift said:
Every year, DigiPen puts on an expo for graduating seniors to show their game projects to prospective employers. A couple of Valve people attended, and they asked us to come to the Valve offices and show it to Gabe Newell. Gabe watched our demo and basically hired us on the spot. It was kind of shocking. We stood around in the parking lot afterwards gibbering to ourselves for about 20 minutes.

Hahah crazy. Such a great story.