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Portal 2 >  Workshop > blur's Workshop > Reflection Gel Testing Initiative: Live Fire > Discussions
Reflection Gel Testing Initiative: Live Fire
Description Discussions1 Comments9 Change Notes
Szarps; 25 Feb, 2017 @ 3:11pm
Reflection gel initiative as a whole
Alright I gave this theme a chance but this map is definetly the drop that broke the glass or however the saying goes. The idea is good but from the first map it can be appreatiated that the execution is not only close to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ impossible, but also annoying as it can be and more too. When I had to take down the last turrets I could not find any possible way to do it "as intended" and I ended up saying "♥♥♥♥ this now this is my way" so I fry the sh! T out of them from unconventional Angles because it was absolutly impossible to create the intended path for the laser that will kill the 3 of them at once, it just cant be done, there isnt enough portal surfaces.

The whole collection has a horrible focus on really tight way to solve them which feels horribly inflexible (most of them having blue portal gun, HUGE MISTAKE), on top of that is that even when it doesn't in every ocassion pointing the lasser to where they should go takes more time than actually solving the puzzles.

Even more is that when I solved this map with my way I felt absolutely frustrated, it didnt took something from me to arrive to a solution as it took me lack of patience due to bad design.

Conclusion: what is that pissed me off the most? mostly the impractical way this mechanic works, takes to more time and effort to point it where I want/need than solving it. But at the same time on a close degree, another thing that really annoyed me was that if we take all the inconviniences this crocked mechanic brings, the underlaying logic and way that the puzzles are created, are actually good, so as I blasted through them maps, I couldnt stop from thinking there was a person out there wasting their time, effort and creativityon something that from the very start just doesnt work.
My suggestion would be that you just ditch this idea and focus on making puzzles based on other, already existing, better polished mechanics. This concept is just furstrating and inflexible, and given that this has to be used on everything the experience becomes frustrating and inflexible. Looking forward other puzzles

Side note: I really liked the ambientation and overall architecture

P.S.: 1000 characters limitation on comments
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blur  [developer] 23 Sep, 2017 @ 11:25pm 
Late reply, but thanks for the feedback!

There's definitely a reason this mechanic didn't make it into the final game. But I guess someone's gotta try the best they can to make it feel like it fits. It feels kinda like conversion gel in a way, where levels are either free to the point where they aren't even puzzles anymore or are just way too restrictive to be fun. I tried to make the mechanic more approachable in chambers like Gel Gymnastics where the way you coat the panels wasn't strictly uniform, but I suppose the solution itself is always going to be the same.

Live Fire I think was my weakest in that regard, just a super long confusing laser path that's finnicky to aim properly So yeah, I definitely get the criticism
Last edited by blur; 23 Sep, 2017 @ 11:26pm
#1
Szarps; 26 Sep, 2017 @ 5:31pm 
Originally posted by Chicken Permission:
Late reply, but thanks for the feedback!

There's definitely a reason this mechanic didn't make it into the final game. But I guess someone's gotta try the best they can to make it feel like it fits. It feels kinda like conversion gel in a way, where levels are either free to the point where they aren't even puzzles anymore or are just way too restrictive to be fun. I tried to make the mechanic more approachable in chambers like Gel Gymnastics where the way you coat the panels wasn't strictly uniform, but I suppose the solution itself is always going to be the same.

Live Fire I think was my weakest in that regard, just a super long confusing laser path that's finnicky to aim properly So yeah, I definitely get the criticism

Hey man I appreciate you took the time to reply to a "relatively" old comment. First I wanna apologize for the aggresive way I communicated my reflections upon the design. In hindsight I remember been quite frustrated and a bit mad in the relation of how frustrating it was versus all the potential I saw in the level design (cause it was really good and saw so much potential for fun puzzles and intricate solutions that did look interesting even at first glance). it came to a point that I felt the struggle of all the time it would have took to create all of this and the end result not living up to its potential solely because the mechanic on which was based wasnt polished and grew even more mad and frustrated cause I really wanted to work. Anyway I will try and revisit it and see If I can provide better and more constructive criticisim for this particular tests.
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