Portal 2 Authoring Tools Beta Released

Valve has announced the beta release of a set of authoring tools for Portal 2, allowing users to create their own puzzles and challenges in the name of science. "The Portal 2 Authoring Tools include versions of the same tools we used to make Portal 2. They'll allow you to create your own singleplayer and co-op maps, new character skins, 3D models, sound effects, and music." The tools are available for free to anyone who owns the PC version of the game.

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[simoncpu was here]

There is no cake in Portal 2. Sorry, no cake for you!

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[elrous0]

But there are lemons--lemons that will BLOW YOUR GODDAMN HOUSE UP!!

In game sales.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can I make a map of a hat shop?

best part of narbacular drop

[Anonymous Coward]

Custom maps was by far my favorite part of Narbacular Drop [wikipedia.org], giving much more challenging maps than portal or portal 2. With such a comparatively huge user base, it'll be interesting to see what people come up with.

More challenge

[traindirector]

Like you, I really enjoyed the more difficult puzzles in Narbacular Drop and Portal.

When I finished the story mode in the original Portal, I immediately went on to some of the packed-in challenge chambers and modes for some more complex puzzle solving with portals.

When I finished the story mode in Portal 2, I looked for the more challenging content and found... nothing. It seemed like quite an oversight at first not to even include a feature like that that was in the original game.

I get the feeling it's more difficult to create a good puzzle in Portal than in most puzzle games. Here's hoping that the community will quickly fill that gap with some high-quality puzzles.

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[Samantha Wright]

The demo videos show a lot of test chambers that were cut from the final game; most of which were a lot harder than those in the final release. It looks like Valve decided they needed more polish, which is why we're going to be getting a DLC [thinkingwithportals.com]. For free. So don't fret yet.

If you wanted to be more cynical, you could suppose that Valve was deciding whether or not to make it free (after the five-dollar robot hat thing, they're not exactly afraid of amusement park gift shop pricing) but I think they're going t

Made for consoles

[PhrostyMcByte]

Portal 2 was made with casual console gamers in mind -- you probably noticed that those tricks in Portal that required good reflexes and precise aim are gone. Now all the challenges really just involve figuring out the order to place portals, with lots of auto-aim to help you hit the right spots. It removed most of the skill from the game and left only the puzzle solving.

Don't get me wrong, the later challenges were for the most part fun and reasonably difficult. I'm just looking forward to seeing some m

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[Smidge204]

I don't recall any puzzle in the original game that required reflexes better than basic flinging to solve. You could almost beat the game with one hand literally tied behind your back. In fact with a little practice and planning I'm sure you could beat it with only one hand (either aiming or walking, never both).

=Smidge=

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[tlhIngan]

Actually, if you played through with the director's commentary on, the reason they cut the hard stuff was negative feedback. People were thinking it would be super hard because very fine timing would be reqiured in order to speed up through the portal, place another one at the end while avoiding crushers.

For casual gamers, repeating the same level 10 times because it relies on a lot of coincidental timing is not just a turn off - it's a game killer.

It's the same reason the final level didn't have all the st

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[Blue Stone]

>When I finished the story mode in Portal 2, I looked for the more challenging content and found... nothing.

Valve have stated that there's a big load of free Downloadable Content coming very soon.

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[Machtyn]

Like you, I went in search of usermade Portal maps. I found some, but there were not many and certainly not of the same quality. Perhaps, I should look again. When I do pick up this latest version, I already have an idea for using some gel, ramps, and precise timing to do a puzzle. Of course, I'll have to make sure the idea isn't already in the game ;)

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[eharvill]

Wow, thanks for the link. That's some interesting back story there. And a great success story for those DigiPen students.

Just in time...

[HawaiianToast]

Bin Laden's Hideout should be available in all games.

More stuff to work with

[interkin3tic]

Many new elements of gameplay they introduced, it really felt like there was a lot more they could have done with them than they did, at least compared to the way the portals were used in the first one. I didn't have much desire to play 3rd party maps on the first portal, since I felt like I had seen every concept that could be done with two portals. Not so with portal 2. I was still thinking of things they could do with, for example the hard light bridges by the time the game was over. There's more in

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[ifrag]

none of those new things like the goo

I feel like the goo really has a lot of unexplored possibilities. I was actually expecting to be introduced to it much earlier in the game. The parts that had it were good though.

Hopefully they've got the engine to the point where anything users mash together will be workable in their physics engine. In the commentary to portal 1 the developers mention an edge case where a piston pushes you up through a portal and how they had to do a lot of engine work to get that in, but thought it was worth it simply

There's still science to do

[traindirector]

Hopefully they've got the engine to the point where anything users mash together will be workable in their physics engine.

From only playing the story mode so far, I get the feeling there's more work to do on this front. I noticed some glitchiness in the story without looking for it, especially in carrying objects. Some of the fancier (and even not-so-fancy) elements in the game won't let you carry an object onto or past them. I noticed this especially in the later GLaDOS test chambers. In the one with a line of turrets you burn with the laser, the objects from rat man's area won't go through the panel that slides up. They hit

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[aiht]

>versions of the same tools
Versions?

As in, versions that don't bring up a message box saying "Assertion 'p != np' failed! Get Dave to fix this!" when you enter an out of range value, or whatever.
Let me guess... you've never had to convert an in-house tool to be used by the outside world?

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[asdf7890]

It could mean that the tools have been updated slightly since they were actually used to create the Portal levels. The last work on the levels involving those tools might have been done a couple of months before the release of the game so there could be some bug fixes and improvements made.

Also if they are tools they use for a range of titles they might have removed features that are not relevant to Portal 2, either because they are not implemented at all in that game or would cause problems specific to

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[GameboyRMH]

Haha shoulda thought of that before you bought a console instead of a PC!

Split-screen and level editors on one platform

[tepples]

I'd buy a gaming PC, but its games tend to lack split- or otherwise shared-screen for when friends visit. I'd buy a console, but its games tend to lack level editors. So why isn't it possible to have split-screen play and level editors on the same platform?

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[Medevilae]

Bah. Real multiplayer gaming is done over the internet anyway. :P When you want someone sitting next to you cussing about the way you play, just play the console version on your PC. (Assuming you have money for a big enough screen.)

Multiple gamers in a household

[tepples]

Real multiplayer gaming is done over the internet anyway.

This is true in cases of only one gamer in the household, but as video gaming becomes more popular, it becomes fun for the whole family.

When you want someone sitting next to you cussing about the way you play, just play the console version on your PC.

PCs can emulate only discontinued consoles and the Wii. Why don't more PC native games have modes designed for an HDTV and gamepads, especially since PCs can easily use the same gamepads as an Xbox 360?

Assuming you have money for a big enough screen

HDTVs like my Vizio VX32L can accept VGA and DVI signals from PCs. Six months ago, HDTV penetration in the United States was up to 56 percent [broadcastengineering.com]. So yes, a lot of people do "hav

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[Cley Faye]

Granted, Valve could have added this as a menu option, but there IS split screen for Portal 2 on PC, you just have to fiddle a bit in the config files

http://segmentnext.com/2011/04/20/how-to-play-portal-2-split-screen-coop-on-pc/ [segmentnext.com]

(not tested, but since it's based on the L4D split screen trick that worked...)

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[Medevilae]

Steam itself was in the works (and possibly still so,) of being ported to Linux. They focused on the Mac version, however, and wanted to get it out first. I haven't heard anything recently about it though. :(

Vacuum Tubes

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

In one of the early drafts of the game, there were supposed to be tubes that you (or other objects) got sucked through, to land somewhere else. They were removed, although you can see them in action in the added Portal 2 level of The Ball [theballthegame.com].

Will they be something you can use in your own levels?

Lunar Magic

[tepples]

If you want the player to get sucked through tubes, you can always go get Lunar Magic and edit Super Mario World.

Excellent news

[flimflammer]

I was so excited when I started making portal maps for the original but I quickly realized that there wasn't really anything particularly new about my maps, since the Portal team themselves pretty much explored all the possibilities in the base game.

But with Portal 2, there are so many things I thought of when playing that didn't show up. I think custom maps may definitely be something to look forward to this time.

PC Only?

[Anonymous Coward]

I see that the tools are for your PC (duh), but I don't see any mention if the levels created there will be able to be ported to the console versions of the games. Any word on that?

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[elrous0]

Gabe Newell at Valve said back in January that user created content was going to be made available "on all platforms." Not sure how that is going to work, but that is what he said.

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[Medevilae]

What are they supposed to do, push Sony's DDS right off their own platform?

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[elrous0]

Sony's incompetence isn't Valve's fault. Anyway, it works just fine on the PC and Xbox, if you're that impatient. Sony is supposed to have PSN back up in a few weeks, anyway. Good luck finding anyone on the PC who hasn't already completed the coop section by then. I just finished it on the 360. It was a lot of fun.

Yes, but...

[VortexCortex]

Does it run on Linux?

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[elrous0]

They're working on it. Just keep praying and one day it will happen. But it won't happen until your faith is strong enough.

The possibilities are endless!

[Rhacman]

Great! Now I can work on my brilliant map idea where you redirect tub-girl's 'propulsion gel' so that you can accelerate up the ramp to the goatse exit! If I can get the map done in less than half an hour I might be the first person to post it!