Good puzzle, but it's too bad that you're not actually draining the goo. Good job at making it hard to tell that you're not in the same room, though.

@mechtakendall If you liked that one, check out a new collaboration map I just finished with a mate, took a month to make and playtest thoroughly, but it was worth it. https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=88181921

Nice job! Difficulty 7/10 Design 10/10

You must tell me how you do that drainage thing.

@toncica I may just have to live with alternate solutions, I never liked the sky cage anyway.

http://youtu.be/buV8LAanHHU

http://youtu.be/buV8LAanHHU

http://youtu.be/buV8LAanHHU

I don't consider that breaking the room. The end position of the cubes is always the same, there were merely different ways to achieve that. You didn't need to change anything in the room, since none of those ways skipped a part of the puzzle. The danger is that the room starts to look strangely convoluted...
If you absolutely insist that one cube has to be destroyed, I'm afraid I have to tell you it's still possible to avoid that. Leave the first cube in the position that disables the fizzler on the ceiling. Then bring the second cube to the position that's intended for the first one to activate the stairs. Voilà.

@toncica I must say I'm impressed. I hope I've fixed it now, but you seem to have a knack for breaking this room ;)

Apart from portal bumping, which is a stupid bug and doesn't count, there is the possibility for cube throwing. With all the fizzlers the cubes get destroyed too often though. This is the most likely variation to succeed imo: http://youtu.be/8ZW3vUj5D9M

@toncica Ok, how about now.

No longer possible to skip the laser room. The other part got more complicated. But hey, cubes are expensive! ;)
http://youtu.be/ZU0wtRTDMVg

@toncica Try that.

@toncica nicely done, will have to fix those, thank you. :)

Very sneaky. :D
Well done and entertaining. Difficulty was nice, finally something that's not solved in under 5 minutes like most maps floating around. The laser room was the hardest part. I did not destroy any cube, got it with flinging. Thought you placed the portal surfaces intentionally for that, but probably not. You can also fling to the button and skip the laser room (end of video).
http://youtu.be/3P_3pEPnTmE

Very nice and difficult chamber. Nice sleight of hand as well.

how do you drain the water?

Timer lengthened.

ok ok, when I get back from holidays i'll ease up on the timer :P

I got it!!!! Yeah baby! woohoo.... ok calm down. On the upside - nice puzzles - well thought out. Also, good trickery. It really looks like you are doing what you appear to claim in the title and description, but you are not. But excellent hollywood trickery! One thing though, the timer on that last light bridge is too short. It's easy when you know what to do, but after dying twice trying different things, it gets annoying. Remember, it always annoys the player knowing what to do, but being unable due to things beyond his/her control. Falling into goo sucks. :-P But it's a great map and congrats on an excellent job!

I enjoyed sitting there and figuring out on my own, was very fun.

@wmdvanzyl Yes that room is a bit devious ;)
I have provided hints and even a video in the comments below if you get totally stuck.

Eish i'm stuck in that laser room... really looking forward to figuring that one out. :-P

Bastard, you need to start working for Valve. This was actually challenging.

Yeah I'm curious how the draining works too? Unless it's just an optical illusion, so you really return to a second and third similar room?

Love the draining mechanic, how do you do that?
Laser room was awesome and made me feel smart when I finally cracked it. Was brilliant how you made me balance each cube on the relay and then destroy one to make it respawn where it was finally needed .
All areas meshed together well. 5 Star map!

WARNING! Video spoiler of the laser room: http://youtu.be/R2GsCUn3TAg

Version 1.2: Made laser room hard. Hint: keep track of which reflector cube respawns where.

Test chamber updated to reflect Tairs and Arcade Fictions suggestions. Thanks guys for helping to make it even better.

Oh, wow. I did not even know you could save in the community test chambers. Shows my ignorance. That changes things. Testing maps is going to be so much easier. :)

I liked the final jump , but I feel like it does require at least one quicksave out of the player, as it did me. Perhaps this could be resolved with an F6 warning in the comments for those unwary?

Okay, but then I think you are unfairly tricking the player into comitting suicide when they first encounter this setup, which stings after they have gone through so much to get there. Also using the light bridge to get across is still very tricky given the timer, so chances are pretty good the player is going to get dropped in the goo a second time and have to go through the level a third time. Of course this is all a matter of opinion, I thought the rest of the map was great. I just think it is a little long to have something so tricky at the end.

@Arcade Fiction The faith plate jump isn't used to cross the goo, remember back to how you crossed the goo at the start.

I think if you are going to have something like that at the end of your level, the overall level should be short to go through again if you want players to give it another try. Wow, did I just write a novel or what? That was actually too many characters for one post so I had to break it up into two. Anyway, please try one of my maps when you get a chance.

I loved the drain bit and thought it very creative. I also really like the laser puzzle early on. I found the timed puzzle with the sphere a little frustrating because once I completed it, it was not apparent what it had done and I did not see the path that had opened for quite awhile. Overall a good map, but a bit long especially for the bit at the end to get to the exit. This last jump can and frequently does result in death unless I am completely overlooking something. Either way the first time I did it hit the upper wall and slid right into the goo. I almost gave up right there because I did not want to go through everything again but I gave it another shot and once I got there I tried to ewperiment with something else to reach the exit and wound up dead again. I did give up after that time.

Agreed with the first comment on the obscurity of the drain mechanic (proprietary secrets?), otherwise loved the map. Nice pacing and difficulty, gave me "yay I'm smart" moments without being frustrating, centered around a novel concept. Only thing I found odd is what was likely the main hook of the laser puzzle which I found quite on accident. Care to give me some feedback on my map? https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=73774783

I like the idea of the water mechanic but it would have been better if it is revealed within view.

Also certain parts of the puzzles I found frustrating.