A Dead Aperture- Custom Map [WIP]

[AceAstren]

Hello all!
So, I have spent the last couple of hours making a level that's going to be part of a Map, and I thought you guys might like to try it.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32663046/Wrecked_Apeture%20.zip

Just place the unzipped file in the Map packs file in your Mari0 folder
[Instructions to be added later]
Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/hsong

So, Enjoy, post the many bugs you find here
P.S, it's only one level so getting stuck on the first flag isn't much of a bug as it is an annoyance

Changelog:

Code: Select all

4/4/2012:Began Creation
4/4/2012: Fixed "castle" entry, Fixed Sneaky entry (To a degree, you can still get in but going backwards.), General Clean up (It looks slightly nicer now)
5/3/2012: Added 1-2, Cleaned up and added new textures, Added screenshots

[NealHatesMath]

Thoughts (I'm writing this as I'm playing). Won't be so much a bug report as it will be a stream of consciousness.

1-1
*Off the bat I screwed around in the opening area, just for kicks. Not sure if it's intentional, but it's a nice place to just set up portals and jump around. I like it.
AND DOWN THE PIPE I GO:
*First issue I see is that I can portal to the hallway above right off the bat. I'm not sure if that's intentional, but I would remove the option to skip out on the very first obstacle.
*I like the puzzle idea, but possibly clean up the area after the lava jump. Maybe make the far right side (where you place the light bridges to reach the top) a solid wall, so that it's cleaner and gives the player more wall to use. Portal is awesome because it leaves a lot up to the player. By limiting the bridge placement to two possibilities (by having three tiles and staggering the rest), it makes the area seem a bit forced.
*Also, I thought the gap was there to force the player to light bridge across it. If possible, make the gap larger (so it can't be jumped across). That would add another level to the light bridge usage.
AND ON, TO THE MOON DUST STUFF:
*It took me a sec to realize you can control the red laser, not just the blue. I enjoyed this area, the concept is fun. Again, if you can, clean up the lava in the following area. By giving it a containment area (bricks holding it in or something) it makes the level look better and make a bit more sense.
*I cleared the level both on the top and the bottom. It doesn't look like the button on top does anything, so I assume that's there for a later purpose.

All in all, I liked it. I think that you should remove or limit the upper hallway (the area you can use to skip all the obstacles) and clean up the borders a bit. Nice work, you make me want to start making a map.

-Neal

[AceAstren]

Thoughts (I'm writing this as I'm playing). Won't be so much a bug report as it will be a stream of consciousness.

1-1
*Off the bat I screwed around in the opening area, just for kicks. Not sure if it's intentional, but it's a nice place to just set up portals and jump around. I like it.
AND DOWN THE PIPE I GO:
*First issue I see is that I can portal to the hallway above right off the bat. I'm not sure if that's intentional, but I would remove the option to skip out on the very first obstacle.
*I like the puzzle idea, but possibly clean up the area after the lava jump. Maybe make the far right side (where you place the light bridges to reach the top) a solid wall, so that it's cleaner and gives the player more wall to use. Portal is awesome because it leaves a lot up to the player. By limiting the bridge placement to two possibilities (by having three tiles and staggering the rest), it makes the area seem a bit forced.
*Also, I thought the gap was there to force the player to light bridge across it. If possible, make the gap larger (so it can't be jumped across). That would add another level to the light bridge usage.
AND ON, TO THE MOON DUST STUFF:
*It took me a sec to realize you can control the red laser, not just the blue. I enjoyed this area, the concept is fun. Again, if you can, clean up the lava in the following area. By giving it a containment area (bricks holding it in or something) it makes the level look better and make a bit more sense.
*I cleared the level both on the top and the bottom. It doesn't look like the button on top does anything, so I assume that's there for a later purpose.

All in all, I liked it. I think that you should remove or limit the upper hallway (the area you can use to skip all the obstacles) and clean up the borders a bit. Nice work, you make me want to start making a map.

-Neal

Wow, Thank you Neal. I've never made a map before in anything so this is all new to me but I assume this is good.
First off, thank you for the suggestions and compliments you've made, they're going to help me a fair bit.
The top level was intentional but only for testing purposes so i could get from one side to the other without having to do all the tests, Because being lazy is fun.
Cleaning up is certainly on my to-do list, once i work out how to get custom tile sets I want to get one of those in to it doesn't make the lava look funny and the rocks and things. Also wanting to add vines but thats just my association with dilapidation.
I think i may extend the starting area a bit and release it as a playground or something similar.
Thank you for all your feedback Neal :D
-Ace

[trosh]

I think theoretically you could say your levels shouldn't need to have lazy bypasses - normally you can work everywhere with the editor, and combined with good level separation + checkpoint placement going through your puzzles in test run should be enough. Also the portal tool allows you to test how the level works out without having to go through the puzzles.
If you work on a final product straight from the start you're maybe more focused on how the level will be playable and there's less risk of fucking things up with useless editing. Well that's just my opinion anyway.
Good level, though I found the puzzles a little easy for mah taste. (except I was puzzled by one with lasers)

[AceAstren]

I think theoretically you could say your levels shouldn't need to have lazy bypasses - normally you can work everywhere with the editor, and combined with good level separation + checkpoint placement going through your puzzles in test run should be enough. Also the portal tool allows you to test how the level works out without having to go through the puzzles.
If you work on a final product straight from the start you're maybe more focused on how the level will be playable and there's less risk of fucking things up with useless editing. Well that's just my opinion anyway.
Good level, though I found the puzzles a little easy for mah taste. (except I was puzzled by one with lasers)

Ok well a couple of things, When i was testing i went into test mode, where the portals work and you aren't doing anything cheaty, like right clicking to get to a certain point and so forth, and having lazy bypasses was useful if you didn't want to do the same puzzle over and over again, the portal tool annoyed me and you couldn't actually do the with it because all the lasers and such were still entities. Checkpoints don't work as you traverse to a different world and die when you spawn. And the puzzles, well they weren't really puzzles as most of this was me messing about with the editor :P thanks for the feedback all the same :D
-Ace

[AceAstren]

Just added a bit more of an update, and fixed the portal chute thingies, I didn't know they went the other way :P.
Also added some custom textures, broken glass and vines, they aren't much but I think they give the levels more character.

[leobizaz]

uh, i got stuck after first warp

[AceAstren]

uh, i got stuck after first warp

How so? Could you not enter the first warp or die as soon as you spawned?