Comments

God, I can't stand the suspense.

[WARNING]: The following video has spoiler for the puzzle. Don't watch it if you want to solve the puzzle yourself.

Someone actually recorded a video playing through an early version of my map.

I am surprised that it took him longer figuring out a way to get to the button than solving the final lift puzzle, which I thought was more difficult.

While playing it with my son, I noticed a strange bug.

If the player dies in the toxic pool and re-spawns, upon returning, the cube dropped from the dispenser always falls into the toxic pool instead of staying on the light bridge.

This never happens when the player attempts the map without re-spawning. But it occurred over and over again for me after re-spawning.

As for the glitch ZombieLoffe found, I was unable to reproduce it. I am sure it's possible, but it's hell difficult to accomplish.

Another question for ZombieLoffe is that if you jumped down from the ledge of the glass chamber and pressed the button on the way down, how were you able to shoot a portal so the light bridge catches the cube as it drops? It seems that there simply wasn't enough time.

Hmm, very interesting. I never thought you could portal a light bridge through the surface of the floor.

I think I will leave the map as is, and that will be an alternate, and definitely less intuitive solution to the puzzle.

The timer indicator on the wall is courtesy of Trapt. He suggested and added that for me, using the VMF. Thanks Trapt for raising the ceiling for me.

Falling through the glass pit and pressing the button on the way down was a bug. I did not intend the player to be able to do that. I wanted the player to use the aerial faith plate to catapult upward from the bottom of the pit. I tried over and over to press the button while falling, and I cannot do that anymore. I am glad that you confirmed that this bug was fixed.

I made a few very small cosmetic changes to the map this morning. There was an overlapping texture glitch near the origin of the light bridge, and I fixed it. I also adjusted the lightmap grid a bit more, so the shadows look even better.

This should be the final version.

Thanks. I don't expect to win the compo at Thinkingwithportals.com Some of the maps look pretty elaborate, even though I think I have a more elegant puzzle.

Thanks.

Did you use the external download link, Dimbark? I hope it worked.

I realized that after I increased the lightmap density, the file size increased significantly, just exceeding the 2 MB TWHL internal hosting limit.

So I tried all afternoon to find an external hosting service. Eventually, I used Sugarsync to host it, but TWHL would not accept the link from there directly (because it's HTTPS protocol). So I had to re-direct it to my blog.

I hope the external download works. I checked it several times, and it should download properly.

Let me know if you experience any problems. If not, enjoy the updated version.

I don't know what happened. I could swear that I replaced the archived files with the newer version.

I'm away from my computer right now, but I'll do it later.

I took many of Trapt's suggested modifications, but I made some changes of my own as well.

I actually added more white panels (while removing other ones) so that it's not too obvious you have to just shoot the very few white panels. I felt that the solitary white panel on the side makes the puzzle too obvious. I do like the fact that there's more room for the player to maneuver against the wall.

The biggest change is the area around the pit. I lowered the barrier so the player can access the light bridge directly from the edge near the entrance. This way, the player does not need to make a daring leap of faith into the chemical pit, which both Trapt and ZombieLoffe had issues with.

I also modified the lightmap grid density so the shadows look more interesting, plus some minor changes.

I decided against making the chamber look dilapidated. It's just a matter of taste, I guess.

Many thanks to ZombieLoffe and Trapt for their playtesting feedback.

Thanks for the changes, Trapt. I'll take a look when I get home.

How the heck did you use the turret?

Very comprehensive review. Thanks Zombie.

I am glad that the puzzle worked well--not easy, but not impossible either.

Interesting to hear about the jump into the poison pit. I probably attempted the jump 20 times, but I only missed once. That's why I didn't think it's unduly risky.

I can work on the visuals. That should be the easy part. I spent so much time on refining the puzzle itself that I neglected the visuals.

Just got some feedback from Thinkwithportals.com

"But the last part with the moving platform was really nice, that was my favourite part"

It's great to get some feedback. You are the first.

I submitted it to Thinkwithportals.com, but I haven't received any feedback yet.

I didn't think the puzzle was that challenging. I felt that it was comparable to the official Portal 2 puzzles, which are pretty tough. I definitely did not want to make it too easy, and I wanted to explore some original puzzle elements that are not in the official Portal 2 single-player game. It's hard to come up with original ideas.

There should be the timer sound effect once you press the button, to indicate a delay. Did you not hear it? I wonder whether that's a bug.

You can either jump onto the light bridge or you can walk along the very narrow ledge along the glass-off room, which is suppose to increase the tension of the gameplay.

Removing the cube using the light bridge is my most original idea. It's not intuitive because this type of strategy does not appear in any of the official (either single-player or coop) Portal 2 levels.

At least now I know it's humanly possible for another player beside the mapper himself to solve the puzzle. And I also know that the puzzle is definitely not too easy.

Thank you.

Was anyone able to solve the puzzle without cheating?

The turret in the beginning was a joke. I guess you did not find it funny.

He was force pushing me all morning. Of course, I played along.

I feel like the lucky one.

Yeah, my camera is five years old, but the Canon PowerShot S3 is still working great. There's no reason for me to give it up yet.

And I have a Logitech G5 mouse. I've had it for six or seven years, and it's still working great.

He has a smaller, single-button mouse for his gaming PC, but he's using my rig in this video.

I guess so huh? Nothing happened in the video.

One can only hope . . .

When I was watching it, I kept thinking to myself that this movie could be adapted into a cool game.

And sure enough, Christopher Nolan is working on adapting the film into a game.

These may be good deals, but do you really need them?

Just because things are cheap do not mean that they're deals.

Sometimes I think the game developers at Rockstar just like to fuck with our heads.

What's the point of putting propane tank traps where the player can die accidentally? That's just cheap.

I saw this one from Valve's official YouTube channel. I was impressed.

Clearly a lot of effort has gone into the production. The slo-mo hand-to-hand combat was cool, even if it doesn't make sense. But then again, you see that all the time in Hollywood films.

Nah, he's going to hate me regardless during adolescence. That's what puberty does to a person.

But when he's old enough to realize the value of this video collection, he's going to appreciate it and treasure it.

Imagine him showing this to his grandchildren.

Yeah, I don't appreciate the disappearing car either.

I don't know why, but I would rather carjack a car than smash the window of a car to get in. I guess I don't like to drive around a damaged car.

One trick I found for smashed up car is that I can park a terribly smashed up car in the reserved parking spot and save the game. When I reload the game, the car is spanking new and spotless again. That's how I keep my favorite cars.

And I have no problem shooting criminals. But I don't shoot the police and I don't run over pedestrians if I could help it.

Real consequences in real life are generally irreversible, which sucks.

Both of my computers have eight GB. I believe 8 GB is standard nowadays, if you look at the typical custom built gaming rigs they sell in the market.

Not that I think 8 GB is really necessary for gaming.

And financial independence is really quite empowering. Just wait until you make a lot more money. One day, you can buy yourself a sports car whenever you feel like it.

Looks nice, and I like the variety of light colors.

However, if you increase the lightmap grid density on some surfaces, you may end up with more interesting shadows.

Mercedes-Benz is a good brand too, but I'll never buy a German car.

I'll always drive a Honda. It drives 15+ years without ever having a problem.

By the way, I actually paid some attention to cable management. I focus on what's on top of the motherboard. As long as the cables are not running across the motherboard, I'm happy. The cables running behind the motherboard or along the side don't bother me.

The specs:

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COOLER MASTER HAF 922 Case
GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz
EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 768MB
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333
OCZ Vertex 2 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC SSD
ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X DVD Burner
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium

As long as the damn games get released, I don't mind the wait.

Quality of the games always trumps a timely release date. I don't want to play a semi-beta version of a game (i.e. the original Far Cry).

He hasn't seen any of the full-length movies yet--only snippets of the films on YouTube. It's way too violent for my wife's standard.

I am sure, but that task can be quite time-consuming.

My last name is Young also.

BioWare is committed in making the third part of the trilogy. I have no doubt that the import feature will be more easily accessible than from ME1 to ME2. The current process is not very user-friendly. It should happen almost automatically.

24 isn't old. I turned 24 almost 15 years ago.

Anyway, happy birthday.

The default setting was that the Councils died, Wrex died, and Kaden Alenko died. So if you have no imports, those were the settings that you stuck with.

I picked Ashley to sacrifice herself in ME1 because I never liked her. She's a racist bitch.

Thanks for the tip. I have started a new career for Shepard using my character's legacy from the previous Mass Effect. Now all the historical plot lines in ME2 match my decisions from the original game.

In addition, I got a bunch of credits and bonuses.

It sounds like I really should start over and import my Shepard from ME1. I saved the game on my old computer, and it never occurred to me to import the character.

It did bother me when I started playing ME2 when I found out the Council died and Kaden Alenko died. I saved them and I also saved Wrex. I was maxed out on paragon points by the time I finished.

I didn't know you can import your Shepard from ME1 to ME2.

Wouldn't that be an unfair advantage over all those who are playing ME2 without ME1?

I can't wait to do more of the smashing myself.

It took me a long time before I got the hang of the combat system in the original Mass Effect. I kept dying, even in the beginning levels. I am not having any problem with Mass Effect 2. I defeated the first boss on my first attempt.

One of my biggest gripes about the first Mass Effect was the combat system. Sometimes it got so frustrating that I almost gave up on the game. I remember when I was on the Liara mission, it must have taken me thirty tries before I killed that fucking Krogan.

I did play the original Mass Effect, and I thoroughly enjoyed that game.

That's why when one of my patients recommended me Mass Effect 2, I simply couldn't resist.

It's good so far, and I like all the little improvements over the original Mass Effect. The play mechanics and combat controls are better, and I am so glad to learn that the clunky Mako is gone. I hated driving that thing.

I thought buying from a custom building company would actually be cheaper, since they buy in bulk. But it's not the case.

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Gamer Paladin E870
Case ( CoolerMaster HAF 922 Gaming Case - Black )
Case Lighting ( None )
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction ( None )
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion ( None )
Processor ( Intel? Core? i7 870 Processor (4x 2.93GHz/8MB L3 Cache) )
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive ( None )
Processor Cooling ( Liquid CPU Cooling System [SOCKET-1156] - [Free Upgrade] Standard 120mm Fan )
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 - 1.2GB - Single Card )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA )
Motherboard ( Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 )
Motherboard USB / SATA Interface ( Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface )
Power Supply ( 650 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-650TX )
Primary Hard Drive ( 60 GB Corsair Force Series F60 MLC SSD - Single Drive )
Data Hard Drive ( 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s - Single Drive )
Optical Drive ( 24X Sony Dual Format/Double Layer DVD?R/?RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )
2nd Optical Drive ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( 12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black )
Meter Display ( None )
Sound Card ( 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard - Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER Internet Mouse - Black )
Monitor ( None )
2nd Monitor ( None )
Speaker System ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Video Camera ( None )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service - Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )

$1,637

I intentionally left out a traditional HDD. I plan to get the 120 GB SDD now and buy another SDD in six months. Magnetic HDD is obsolete technology, and I don't see any reason to stuff my new build with old parts.

I did not get the i7-950 because it requires a 1366 motherboard, which boosts the cost even more. The 1156 mobos afford me much more options when it comes to selecting a CPU. The motherboard I picked up supports both SATA 3 and USB 3, and SATA 3 is crucial because I do not have a traditional HDD.

My current rig was built in 2008. It has been almost three years since my last build.

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but my brother will probably get my old rig when I build the new one. He has a PC that he bought circa 2002.

Good luck.

This type of surgery is rather safe, so I fully expect you to return very soon to TWHL and tell us what happened.

Well, as a photographer, you do shoot people in the head.

I don't miss the stress associated with exams, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed my school years.

You don't know how good it is to be in school until you have started working. If you mess up in school, it's just your grades. If you messed up at work, someone may die.