Great adventure! This map requires frequent use of F6-F7. In that way I never needed any of the "backtracking" corridors. They were, in fact, confusing, because I had to ignore them. Never used the reverse funnel button. I just put the cube in front of the laser grid, went back in the chamber with the reverse button and portaled the cube through the grid into the speed gel room. Great fun! Thanks!

it took me a while but i finnaly figured out the answer to the laser grid over the pit that i needed to get the cube across to the tunnel with the button on the celing: stand on the ledge,put a portal on the wall high behind me on the same side as the tunnel,drop the cube straight down, fire the second portal beneath it, then after the cube gets to the button, lasers and fizzer,turn off,time to follow but on the left side.

Catsy
that was an adventure.
quicksave was my companion here :)
even quicksave could not help my cube, at the end.
I did get lost after the cube went up through the laser field.
the 1st time it was out of my sight.
while looking I went to the area with the cleansing gel. (prematurely)
but when found the cube, I think I did intended solutions from then on.
very good map :)

Overall 4 of 5. Unclear in any areas, such as the part with the laser and row of turrets. But nice and long. The beginning sequence really made this map. The ending seem overy simple considering the rest of the map.

That was fantastic. It's now one of my favs. I have never played a map quite like this, well to the extent of this map. It was tricky in areas but not over the top. Gotta love quick save/load. I am amazed at how many people don't know about it. Sheesh its not like it's a new concept to the game. Thanks for making this. :D

Very sinister ending. Excellent map.

That... was AMAZING!
I loved figuring out the whole thing ^-^
I only had 1 problem and it was an error on my part: Right after the part where all the turrets are destroyed and the beam connects, I must have missed that the connection caused a laser field to be active that hadn't been there before. And it took me a while to realize that i had to put the cube in the way. I felt dumb after xP lol

Gave up after screwing up the first hallway about 15 times. :(

cool

Replayed to make sure, and while some puzzles are made shorter upon another attempt, they're by no means short enough to be though of as a 'continue corridor', to wit:

• The funnel puzzle, while shorted, must still be dealt with;
• The checkerboard area must be traversed;
• The laser-gate must be deactivated;
• The laser-gate 'fling' must be resolved; (though one can only imagine how one loses the cube at this point)

Also, there's a sequence break as follows:
• After completing the funnel-puzzle, one may look up to the laser-gate fling and portal onto the ceiling, skipping the bulk of the map.

Again, there's some very good stuff here, but the backtracking is an unnecessary burden on the player.

Wow!! What an excellent test.. Well done:)

There are shortcuts back to the beginning which open up as you pass each puzzle.

Map has several fantastic ideas on display, but unfortunately the enjoyablity of the map is all but killed by significant punishment for failure; there is no 'continue', you must start from the beginning . This could be alleviated by a sort of 'continue corridor', that unlocks linearly with button presses as the map progresses.

Pros:
• Several ingenious ideas on display;
• Appealing geometry and design;

Cons:
• Consequence for failure is abusive to player;
• Occasionally unclear direction;

Is the way back down through the short-time-lightbridge for these players "forgetting" the cube in the speedroom? In my first try I jumped at the end of the speedway and died because i couldn't imagine that the long way without speedgel (half way between the fields) would not slow down too hard. And if it is intendet to push the cube the other way this was not clear.

With the way down I was confused how to get over the laser fields because I first wanted to get over it by stilting with the funnel. But it isn't possible to get with the funnel up to the laserfield, only alone or with the new cube.

So it is a hard but good level.

This map was incredible. Great job

Wow amazing map and so prety diffcult - crasy^^

Yeah, I mean those bars. I tried to use those for both momentum building and as a 'launching spot' on their sides.

When you say the beams on the ceiling, are you talking about the "bars" of blocks in the speed gel room? They were primarily to add visual interest to the room, and there's only so many ways to do that in PeTI. I can probably do something about that in Hammer now. As for the rest, you have a point about keeping things straightforward when introducing the player to a new puzzle mechanic. I'll see about making things clearer with Hammer editing, and I will see if there are alternate solutions I can add to the tractor-and-laser room without trivializing it.

Although reading your comments you say it's an alternate way, which might be the case, but IMO it's too hard to pull off to be considered fun.

I suggest that to avoid confusion, you get rid of the beams on the ceiling for that part. Either have a checkerboard pattern on the ceiling too, or just push them up so they're just strips of portable walls on the ceiling.You could go even further and remove portable walls on the left hand side so it's not possible to attempt using the cube and momentum in any way (which is what I tried, and found impossible, since either the cube doesn't exit the portal straight or not enough momentum was built, or too much was built and it hits the final ceiling beam). That way, frustration in that part can be kept to a minimum.I found with my first map it's not a good idea to have too many red herrings when you require something new of the player, especially if they can't verify instantly that is not possible and the correct solution.

Alright, I've completed that part with the gel and the cube now, and the rest of the map. Don't worry, it's not like I hate long maps or most of this map (in fact it was quite good), but the problem is that the first time playing, if a player gets stumped on a part after spending like 45 mins to an hour on it already, it's very frustrating to quit, because it sort of feels like you've wasted all that time. I think that solution is quite cool and original. And yeah, I knew about the tractor reversal, but I wondered what you thought about that alternate solution :P

As for the tractor reversal: while the cube is blocking the laser beam, go through to the other side. Use the blue tractor beam to push the cube up against the grating to your right. Then switch the beam to the opposite wall, which pushes it towards you. Now reverse the beam to start pulling it towards the opposite wall, and as soon as it clears the grating switch the beam to the wall on the left. Then step off the button and let the blue beam carry it into the next room.

With all that said, there is only so much you can do to hint at solutions in PeTI, and this was the last map I made before starting to transition to Hammer. At some point I'll see about going back and adding some signage and texture hints.

Sorry the map wasn't to your taste, Waterhandle. I do enjoy playing long test chambers myself, and I build the kind of chambers I would want to play. But to be honest *any* test chamber can take upwards of an hour if a player gets stumped by it. Once you know how, you can run through this one in around five minutes. Regarding the two puzzle elements that frustrated you:

The painted cube: no cube-tossing necessary. I hate cube-tossing. All you have to do is start at one end of the room with the painted cube, build up momentum on the speed gel, and let go of the cube when you get to the end. Not throw it. Not aim it. Just let go. It'll slide through the tunnel and bounce to the other side. You can also accomplish the same thing with an infinite acceleration, but it's much trickier than simply running straight at the barrier and letting go.

And I had a similiar problem as the other person where it took me a long time to figure out that particular button reversed the tractor beam. After thinking I thought had an alternate solution that I thought would've made for a cool puzzle: use the beam and the cube to temporarily block the lazer to get through the lazer field, and let the cube pass through the other lazer fields with the beam. The problem was that there wasn't nearly enough time to get from the area to portal the beam and slip past the lazer field, but then I realised I could put a tractor beam on the far right side, get the cube against a wall there, then let the cube fall down in the correctly placed beam and slip through, and wait for the cube to pass through. I thought that was great, but then the lazer was just a bit too low for the cube to block. Maybe consider that as alternate solution?

Honestly, why do you feel the need to make maps that take upwards of an hour? Exhaustion eventually sets in, especially when I'm meant (I think?) to perform some trick with tossing a red cube with precision and just the right amount of momentum that seems nigh impossible to pull off, 3/4 into the map. The map was doable before, well, with quick saves at least. I eventually quit because I couldn't pull it off. I tried both looping the painted cube and shooting the wall in the back, or looping the cube for a little bit and shooting a portal on the beams, but either it hits the next beam, or goes through, and falls in the water. Not fun.

Great puzzle, Catsy, and the map was also really pleasing to look at. And, I can't beleive what you did to my Companion at the end, you monster!

Thanks Kenn! I replied to your detailed comments on the forum in the map contest thread. A pity I had to withdraw.

Excellent puzzle map, added to my favorites collection, and will be highly rated in the contest.

I see. Totally valid! :)

Oh that? I just chucked it in & grabbed it on the other side. Like this: http://dropcanvas.com/xbinr
In retrospect, that was not a wise move on my part.

Leonhard: I'm guessing you found some other way to get the cube safely to the next room?

Very nice, although I'm still not sure why I'd need to turn the central funnel orange (not to mention that it took me too long to figure out that that's what the button even did).

The end: ow, my soul.

no problem, it was for science :3

@Timoteeei: Aha! I see what you did, and yes, that would trap you. Easy to fix: I've added a laser barrier where the cube comes up (where the player should never need to go) so that it kills you if you try doing that. :) No other way I can prevent that without also blocking the cube. Thanks for finding that!

@ThatGuy007: Thanks! I'm glad the speed gel part went over well; I was wondering if the solution would stump a lot of people since it's not a technique that's really taught in the campaign. But yes, quicksaves are your friend.
@sekti: The life of a Companion Cube is a sad and lonely thing. Especially if you're one of the Cubes stuck in a warehouse for a few hundred years waiting for a loving test subject to bond with.

Great map! had a lot of fun.
Only the very end was gruesome and sad. I'd have never pressed that darn switch, had I known what would happen! :'-(

A very rewarding experience, challenging in places but nothing you can't figure out by looking at the puzzle and thinking about it. Lost an embarrassing amount of companion cubes on the first section, can't stress enough the importance of F6 quicksaves after you get past that bit. Particularly liked the speed gel and cube part, never see that done before.
Overall, a great puzzle, well worth the thumbs up.

Download demo [dl.dropbox.com] how i got stuck

No, this not that thing what i'm talking about, i'll just make a demo, and u'll see =)

Thank you, Timoteeei! Hm, I can see how one might do that but I'm not quite sure how to prevent it. Although, in a worst case you should still be able to go back and dispense a new cube, right? That would fizzle the one on the button, resetting the funnel and allowing you to quickly run through the first puzzle to get back to where you were.

You monster! poor companion cube...

Wow! So amazing puzzle! Sometimes felt as co-op play and too sad about the CC, especially if lose this one.

I found only one way to stuck - if you will leave cube on reverse funnel button and jump into it you will get stuck