Very clever and new ! Thanks for creating

this one took me a couple days to solve. very interesting.

Perhaps this is the wrong decision, but I had enough and one cube) a very impressive card that capture the imagination, good job, thank you!

Nice mechanics. I think I solved it the right way. Put 2 cubes on eachother where both lasers come together. Used a portal to fonish it.

Wow! this was tough,based on the previous comment I think I did everything right. Very clever and very inovative map, maybe a bit confusing in the beggining but as you say there not much you can do, without putting up big signs saying "This side is stationary" :) Very nice work

Unfortunately there isn't much I can do to improve that, if I change the signage such that it represents the room you're in the player may not realise that only one side moves. Thanks for playing.

I was a bit confused about the buttons at first. When you first enter the chamber you assume that the button down brings the half where you are one down. But surprisingly if I was on the exit side it brought me up. But when you find that you have to see it if one half is a big elevator and buttons of both side work for that half it all becomes clear. Very nice!

They both solved in slightly unintended ways however the map has since been changed to prevent those. As for the floating cube glitch, there is little I can do to prevent the player using it but the map can definitely be solved without it.

Oh, I see. It's the one in the DeathWish's and TCJ's videos.

I don't know what you're referring to as the "whole glitch". If there is a glitch it's NOT the intended solution. Could you describe more or take a screenshot?

Wait, is this whole glitch the only solution? because if it is, then it sucks. That's not how portal maps should work, you know.

Was going to ask exactly what 'Eddie' did, glad to know i figured it out correctly. Cool map and fun mechanics

yes, thanks for playing ;)

Thanks Innocentive. Signage modified and screenshots updated, feedback on the new signage is welcome.

Sorry, I may have been unclear. What I suggested was: leave four buttons only but have just one arrow for each of them indicating where pushing this button will move the room you're standing in ... I think it wouldn't be more confusing, rather the opposite. Take the intital position of the rooms for instance: The static room would have arrows pointing down at the buttons and the 'moving' part would have arrows pointing up. This obviously needs changing signage after pressing a button but that really isn't diffcult to build in Hammer.

Anyhow, I understand if you wanna leave it the way it is... ;)

That type of signage would likely just cause more confusion, making the player think that one button will move it up and the other will move it down. The player may even think that both sides of the room move opposite directions, when in fact only one moves. I wonder if there's some 'nice' way to indicate to the player that only one side moves?

Glad you enjoyed it ;)

True, I could have put one cube on the other. I had tried that first but not found the right 'combination' so I played on with the 'glitch' and forgot that they can go in top of each other...

About the indicators: I would just show one arrow per pedestal button indicating where pressing it will move the room you're standing in. The thing is that it took me quite some time to realize that, from the initial position, the moving part of the chamber always moves up first, never down.

BTW, I forgot to say that this test chamber is amazinly good. I had lots of fun solving this :D

I wouldn't say the mechanics are new, it's just a combination of elements that most players should know about from single player namely moving portal surfaces, lifts and lasers.

You did everything as intended, except right at the end...I assume the floating laser cube is the glitch that you're referring to, and no it isn't intended. You didn't notice that you could do exactly what you did to exit, but with one cube balanced on the other?

I considered making real indicators, the question is should they show where the room is, or where it's going to? Also how would I indicate this, maybe with indicator lights next to each of them?

The solution to this chamber may indeed be medium difficultty. But finding this solution is quite difficult because of the entirley new mechanics. I'd say that it takes an average Portal player at least ten to 20 minutes to figure out how the rooms interact with each other even though the concept isn't too complex.
I recorded a video of how I got out . I'm using a glitch and I wouldn't be happy if this was intended. Also, I think that you could improve this chamber by making the arrow indicators real indicators about where the room will be moving on pressing each button. Like it is now it's always a bit confusing I think. Ral indicators wouldn't make the puzzle easier but the navigation in the chamber.

I believe you fixed it, Seems you put the exit door on a delay. Good job!!! Very challenging chamber.

Thankyou very much for the video, that was a very tricky way to exit. If you get a chance would you mind trying again, I believe I've prevented that solution.

Very nice chamber took me awhile but was able to exit using only 1 lazer, and 1 reflective cube. Here is my video showing how I exploited it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7huCHlgw08

Wow, I really liked the shifting of the rooms, I never seen that before!
But to much confusing for me, cause first i would lose my portals then i wounldn't.
It took sometime to figured this chamber out.
I'll differently check out more of your work Prototype.

I would have been bummed to read in the description "difficulty: easy" after needing quite some time to solve the puzzle. Adding another dimension to the test makes it a brain twister and it certainly takes some time to adjust. Very rewarding in the end.

Revised to fix the flip panel (thanks ProfDave64)

Very nice map,took me some time to finish.Enjoyed and had fun.U can maybe take a look at this one https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=142987052 .

Ah, I didn't even think of your method for pointing a cube upward . The only way I thought to do it was how DeathWish808 did it in his demo video -- standing on it, so that it rolls 90 degrees, and then it is considered to be pointing upward .

I agree that you shouldn't make the whole floor solid just to create a "small hole." I'm not sure exactly how you might convey that a certain 1x1 square is "important." Make a 3x3 section of floor solid, then put a 1x1 glass in the middle of that? Or do some Hammer trick to put little arrows in the glass? ("Arrows" idea inspired by the level "Decay 3.")

It could even be the addition of an earlier room in the level that is totally barren except for a laser on the wall, a laser catcher in the ceiling, and a reflector cube. ("Early foreshadowing" idea inspired by Mevious.)

I'm totally blue-skying. I think maybe I enjoy brainstorming design ideas more than I do playing the game! :-)

Nice one :) when I was expanding the instances I must have accidentally deleted the brush that stops the cube falling into the flip panel, I'll fix that.

I believe valve made it that way to allow easily aiming the cubes. I thought it was fairly well known that you could point a cube upwards And following your logic in part 2, "unless I was under the cube looking upwards", you're holding a portal gun, and that floor's portalable... portal on the wall and a portal on the floor. Hold the cube through the wall and viola it's pointing up

About the small hole idea, I considered it, but I think making the rest solid would make it harder if you can't see the whole puzzle at once. (it may take the player a while to even find the exit)

Thanks very much for playing and the comments/demo's, I'll play that level soon.

P.S. I hope you find my demo files my novella worth of comments helpful, or at least interesting.

If so, can you please check out my new level? -- Save the Cube, Kill the Turrets

PART 3 OF 3

Now that I know the trick, I went back and read all the comments, and I think I agree with something that BadMoon might have been trying to say -- about how you could give the player a hint.

Maybe he meant that rather than having the whole ceiling be glass, instead have a lot of it be solid, with a single 1x1 glass hole -- telling the player "Hey, there's a reason for this single hole here"...?

To be honest, even with that hint, I'm not sure I would have figured it out. Once I believe that a certain action is 100% impossible, I don't usually try to do it. :-)

I did figure out that I could yo-yo up and down by the elevator button , but without the extra piece of info, my brief bit of athleticism was just me havin' a bit of fun!

This level is very clever! It has trickiness to spare! I wonder, if it would be worth considering a slightly different solution that would be solvable by a more casual player (like me).

PART 2 OF 3

The solution to this level involves a partial "correction" to the flaw built into the original game -- the inability to aim a cube any direction you would like. It turns out a player can now point a reflected laser upward as well. (Is this already well known in the Portal community?)

Without knowing that, I was dead in the water.

I actually *did* try standing on top of the cube and rotating it from above. I figured maybe the game engine was screwy enough that [/spoiler]the cube would shoot downward, since I was working on it from above. (After all, it always fires *forward* from my position.)[/spoiler] But that didn't get me where I wanted. And, boy, in no version of my mental picture did it occur to me that I could get the laser to emit *upwards*, unless I were somehow down beneath the cube, looking upwards.

PART 1 OF 3

Interesting... I was totally unable to keep the faithplate open without using both portals on it , so I just watched most of DeathWish808's playthrough. I have a couple observations:

1. His Portal-brain works at least ten times as fast as mine. While he finished in 10 minutes, I'm sure I wouldn't have finished in 100 minutes. I probably spent 10 minutes just sticking cubes inside the rotating panel apparatus!

2. Reflector cubes have always had a built-in physics issue. Specifically: Why can you only aim them certain directions? If a real life reflector cube existed, I'd be able to aim it any direction at all -- X, Y or Z. However, I guess Valve decided that the interface couldn't support that, so they put an artificial constraint on it: You can only fire it horizontally, straight forward, in the direction you're facing.

I guess I accepted Valve's constraint long ago, to the point where I don't even question it.

One more quick trick for you... With a simple laser, and a rotating panel, watch as I telelport a 20-pound reflector cube through a solid floor! :-)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/zyvgh9

Ahh, this level is definitely more refined than Part 1!

I'm stuck, for now, but I sure have learned a couple interesting tricks you can do with one of those flippable panels and a couple cubes!

I take it I'm on the wrong track if I'm trying tricks like this:

http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/7Dk2Cb6X2XUNz7q5%2BM%2B54g ?

Figuring out the up and down and matching that with the resulting events was the biggest trouble I had. Once I knew what to expect, I turned to what was expected of me. Took just a little fine tuning and a little fancy juggling to put the exit in hand. Very nice puzzle and you did excellent on the construction. Great map. Thanks. When you find tim, try my 'Smoke and Mirrors' or 'Houston We Have a Problem' .

Yep that's exactly the intended way =) I'll try it soon.

Great puzzle! I did solve it, but am not sure I found the intended solution. Then again, maybe I did... Anyway, here is how I finished it:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/id/lorddhaf/screenshot/884115325739317079

Since you obviously like tricky puzzles, you might like this one:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=154380850
Should you find the time to play it, please leave a comment!

This map was an awesome new concept cant wait for more

I did enjoy your map(s). The problem is with myself. When I can't find the solution within 15 mins I really start to get frustated not at how hard the map is but, rather how I lack the intellegence to solve it. Please disregard any uncontrolled outbursts.

Thankyou vey much for your video. Based on feedback from you and DeathWish808 the difficulty has been changed to medium. The map has also been edited slightly, preventing (I believe) your trick to turn on the second laser. The edit has also (again, I believe) prevented both Test Chamber Junkie and DeathWish808's methods of opening the exit.

Perhaps if I made an easier map you'd enjoy it? (In reference to the end of your video "I hated every minute of it")

@DeathWish808 sorry, I accidentally deleted your comment while selecting the window

After 40+ minutes of painful trial and error.. i present to you Prototype-Hammer8-Moving Room 2 . Share it with your friends =)

Thanks for playing and recording your blindrun. I'll consider increasing the difficulty rating, but I'm trying to keep my ratings consistant (if I call this medium/hard, then what do I call Geltastic?) You solved it fairly quickly, hence the easy rating.

You used a "different" way to get the second laser cube, but that was never meant to be very hard. You're method to turn on the laser is the intended one, although it's easier if you put a portal on the floor next to the pedstal and jump through that (instead of placing both in flight) The (floating cube) ending obviously wasn't the intended way, I may try to prevent that.

I'm curious as to why you stood on the boundary (jamming the moving room) and shot a portal? I can set the room to kill you if you jam it, but was hoping players wouldn't try it...

Well, I remembered to record this one when I started playing and it's a pretty tough one. I definitely would not consider it easy. (Your intended solution is easy to execute, but conceptually tough). I'd say this should be about medium or so for experienced players and definitely hard for casual/newbs.

Cool concept as well. Never played a map like it. 5 stars!

I do play maps to beat them, but first priority is to break them if I can. I think I did at least 1 or maybe 2 things that's not intentional. Let me know.


Blind Playthrough: http://youtu.be/gzCoHuyJb_k

Hi Prototype. I will try your map soon.

Very good puzzle. Creative and clever. I had to work hard to solve it. Brilliant. Thanks.

Oh, nice to hear that I was not thinking even more complicated.
I first discarded the idea of keeping the momentum throughout the rooms, cause there was nothing really obvious to start from. It's just a lot of work, if you are not sure that you can reach the button afterwards.
The idea with the glass ceiling is more a personal aversion for pushing turned cubes through the room. For me it's like doing the dishes. ;-)

But again, really great map, thanks for that!

That is exactly the intended solution =) I'm glad you think the solution is practical.

I still don't really understand your suggestion...I'm guessing the portalable plate would be on the ceiling in the lower moving room but I don't understand the second part...most of the dividing section is glass?

OK, now I am quite sure, that I found an unintended way ;-)
To turn the plate without a portal I put one cube in the lower and the other cube in the upper stationary room. The one in the lower I turned upside pointing through the glass ceiling to the upper cube which finally turns the plate. With the rooms in normal position the plate turns without the need of a portal and with the possibility to move the rooms without destroying the cubes.
For activating the laser I moved the moving rooms totally up and started in the lower moving room, which is the only one with portable plates high enough to get momentum. From there I changed in the upper stationary room near the button for moving rooms. While keeping momentum I pressed the button and moved the rooms in "normal" position. Then I placed a portal on the turning plate to jump to the button to activate the laser.

I know some of your other maps and considering THEM this solution is imho quite practicable.

I don't understand your suggestion, which "ceiling" are you talking about? It is possible that you found an unintended way to activate the laser, would you mind explaining how you did it?

It's easy/medium relative to the rest of my puzzles. For long time players it should be quite easy, but for new players it may be medium. (or possibly hard)

Grat puzzle, but far away from being easy!
Activating the second laser is the hardest part. You could give a little hint, otherwise I expect some people to become frustrated. E.g. place a portable plate on the ceiling and make the ceiling out of glass where you can turn the cube.