I really enjoy playing your maps. You are one of the greatest map builders I know... Me and my friend are playing maps from workshop very often – recent and popular tests, trying to find and rate new awesome authors. Unfortunately around 80% of all maps we ever played (2,5k), were castles, sandboxes, mazes, turret war maps, hallways and corridors - all dark and crowded with hundreds of elements connected by webs of kilometer-long antlines. So as you can see, I am now really desperate for some real thinkers; When you published your last map (Transport), it was holiday for me...

I would be delighted to contribute to this discussion.
Speaking from my experience, I would really enjoy some plain, fundamental portal-based maps, if you know what I mean. Maps, where are preferably only portals, no other elements.

I am not nearly as good as you at map-designing, so I can't build my own perfect test.
Thank you. I am looking for all your upcoming test chambers.

@Vader:
I do not only create maps, but also play them. (I am around 1000+ coop maps played)

So I can totally agree with your statement: There are way too many sandbox maps and
really dark or messy rooms, hide and seek with no cooperative gameplay whatsoever. =/
Turrets, hundreds of catapults or labyrinth maps seem to be all around. =/

Some people just don't care what they upload and some of them don't understand that
their map is public and will be played by people, who are looking for good maps.

It can also be very messy to create a puzzle with the ingame editor. The antlines for
example are a total mess by default. I am using antline magnets and antline routers,
so my maps can have some decent antlines, which are not too messy or confusing.

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My brainteaser series mostly uses single portal surfaces, fizzler + laser-fields and
different floor-levels to add some difficulty. I have also played some 'no elements' maps,
where momentum is used - but it is hard to get these maps shaped for cooperative play.

A good example of a very basic, yet very difficult portal- and logic-based map would be
my 'theory-driven', which I created within the Hammer World Editor. Did you play that map?

Since we seem to agree on the quality of the workshop maps, I would like to ask you
to think about other map ideas and if you have any, please let me know. I am always
interested in new ideas and it can be so much fun for me to try these out on a new map. =)

Would love to see something in the style of the isolation room in Nyskrte's Impetuosity where each players is locked in a separate room and only one of them can go out at a time, but it never feels boring for either player as it requires teamwork and communication. Something like that but harder and with more DrFauli-esque position switches between the players, maybe even requiring them to switch rooms.
In terms of elements; fizzlers, light bridges and grav lifts are great, I enjoy paint a lot less. Definitely agree about the timing/ninja skills, your maps are great because they require good logic instead. Also, the only thing that is sometimes annoying is in maps like transport and beyond imagination 4, if you screw up or try something that isn't correct, you can have a huge reset time to get back up to where you were.

Thanks for your feedback and the ideas.

If you are looking for coop maps, where only one player can go out,
while the other has to watch on remote_view and then they switch,
here you go: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/workshop/filedetails/?id=207740863

I personally don't want to build maps like this. I want to keep my own style. :o)

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I know it can be annoying, if the loss of portals forces the players to redo a lot of steps.
But it is quite a bit difficult for me as a mapper to create complex maps, that alow easy
regain of portals at any time without messing up the puzzle too much.

I do agree with you: losing your portals and having to do all the steps again, can be
quite messy and annoying. But at the same time I really enjoy these complex puzzles
and in the end - when you solved it - it is just so nice to know you solved it. :o)

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One idea would be to add 'checkpoints' like 'doorways' or other connections/shortcuts,
after you solved one step. But then I would have to double check each step of the
solution, because I don't want players to get up there, die... and then just use the
shortcut. And if you ever tried to create a complex map, then you know how hard it
can be to prevent these shortcuts and unintended solutions. ^^

Another problem might be, that I always try to connect each part of the map, so
that the map has to be played as one big map. I just like the idea of adding steps
to the final solution and having multiple rooms with one big puzzle.
This will lead to complex puzzles and at the same time it can get annoying if you
use the wrong portal or lose it... =/

Advanced Accessory

@Dr.Fauli. You Will make a next map ?

Hopefully! <3

Well, it has been almost 2 years since my last map and I am currently not playing Portal 2 at all.

I kinda have some ideas for 1 or maybe even 2 more map-series (4 or 5 maps each), but there
is a lot going on in real life that I have to focus on. So when I have some time to play, I prefer
some relaxing and enjoyable/fun games, rather than forcing my brain to think of good puzzles.

I am also quite annoyed by Valve not fixing the bugs within Portal 2.
As a mapper I have to try to work around these, which takes time and a lot of effort.

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... so in short: ideas for new maps are there, but time and motivation to actually work
on them and playtest them and polish them... not so much (at the moment).

Maybe I can bring myself to work on a map for only 1 or 2 hours a week or twice a week,
which would eventually lead to more motivation, when the first map is getting ready. :)

If I get the motivation, the next maps would probably have medium/hard difficulty,
kinda like the "Hakuna Matata" series.