Things I like:
Things I don't like:
I LOVE the idea of playing Portal maps to find giveaway codes. That might be influenced by the recent spate of such maps showing up in the forum here, and me spending 8.5 hours the past few days solving all the ones I could find, haha.
But I won't join a group that has a giveaway requirement. Ever. You can look at my profile; I'm not a leecher. I'm just not always active on the site. I don't have that kind of time/money to commit to something like this.
I think giveaway requirements (of any kind) are not a good idea, because fewer people will join the group. If I went through all the trouble of making an entire Portal map for my giveaway, I'd want as many people to play it as possible!
As for DLC, there is a large time investment for solving a Portal map. Instead of saying "No DLC", I'd rather just be told what the giveaway is for. There are lots of DLC I'd play for! And some games that I wouldn't. Although if the map were rated high enough, I'd play it just to play it...
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Thank you for your suggestions(:
maybe I should have written that rule a bit different, of course you dont HAVE to give away games but if noone does that we'll have a problem(:
I'll also be less active for the next month because of my finals..(:
You're right in the DLC point, I'll change that
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If it can happen I'd be happy to join, sounds like fun!
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I've never been in a group, with the exception of joining one for the steam trading cards beta. And I don't really get to see the advantages of a group over doing it like the last times: create a map, a giveaway, a puzzle site and a thread here to get things rolling.
Other than that, I am going to be available a lot less now as I was enjoying my holidays the last two weeks. I would have never found the time to sink more than 50 hours into Portal 2 the last week. Coming up with a new design takes time, as does playtesting and finetuning.
Also, I am only giving away promotional gifts I got for free or games of bundles that I won't be playing anyways. I still have another copy of the first Portal to donate, that really doesn't mix that well with the idea of doing a Portal 2 puzzle ;)
So even if I join that group, I'd be more like a lurker.
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To elaborate on that: use flip panels to paint an area in giant black and white pixels.
It does not have to resemble binary, you could also try to mimic some kind of character font or ask which picture this dynamic bitmap shows (probably simple thigs like a star or smiley).
The puzzle maker limits the number of connections an object is allowed to have, so the more flip panels you are about the manipulate, the more input actions you are going to need. Keep in mind that panels are expensive when it comes to entity costs. I am considering switching to light bridges for my next puzzle if I hit that limit again.
I generally advise to not use textures. Sure, it looks really nice, comes at a much lower entity cost (can't beat a zero ;) ) and offers more artistic expression in a tighter display area. But it's relatively easy to get tools to extract texture data and cheat on the puzzle. And you only have to search and install those tools once and are good to go for any texture based puzzle map to come. The connections between switches and your display "pixels" on the other hand are not that easy to decode from the downloaded archive.
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I'm interested :) I'm actually playing Portal 2 again, especially for making my own maps...
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I encourage everyone to give the integrated puzzle maker a try. It is amazingly easy to use, just a few keys to remember if you want to speed things up, but you could create maps only using the mouse actually.
I worked with editors like Hammer in the past (since the Doom Editing Tools, Devil, the Descent level editor and Quake Army Knife in the nineties) but they have a much steeper learning curve. So in fact I would not be afraid to dive into another one, but I still don't want to invest that much into map making.
Sure, the puzzle maker is limited, but it is both quick and easy. Even if you intend to do detailing in Hammer, it would be wise to do layout and prototype/gameplay tests using only the integrated editor.
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Why should there be any limitation on the number of members? It's not like other giveaway groups where being a member is enough to enter.
You have to solve the map. This is a natural limitation.
For comparison, look at how many people are in the puzzle groups, vs how many actually enter the giveaways. OR, how many people joined the forum/public portal-map giveaways!
I say again, if I spent a long time making a map, I'd want as many people to play it as possible.
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I've been thinking about something like that for a while now..
So, would anyone be interrested in such a group?
if yes, here are some rules I'm thinking of:
-every giveaway you make has to be hidden in a portal 2 map (is this even possible for a group giveaway?)
-you can give every game (if there is an area restriction, please say that before!) also, say which game it is
-you don't HAVE to make a giveaway, but it is recommended (but take your time to comment productively)
-don't give hints, except you are the autor
-don't be an a**hole(:
-you need Portal 2 (how could I forget that?)
-private-giveaways only:
-only put a part of the code on the map, post the rest in the private section.
These rules should prevent the maps from being found by non-group members.
There is a group now, If you still have any suggestions feel free to comment(:
Thank you, great community:D
EDIT: I'm inviting now - NEW RULES ADDED!
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