PVP Fight! Bobby Muir's GDP Portal Level

Portal 2 is a great game introduced by Valve to follow up their widely successful and extremely innovative Portal title.  The game involves the player using two portals, one orange and one blue, to solve various puzzles laid out before them.  Unlike the predecessor however, Portal 2 took to the new approach of introducing the idea of Co-op gameplay, as well as furthering the use of the steam workshop to promote the public into building their own levels.

Game Design and Production II has introduced what I believe to be one of my favourite school assignments I have come across to date.  Building a Portal 2 level for marks.  Its a great idea to promote level design and I personally found it to be an assignment with purpose, that also promotes fun.  This blog post however will not be focusing on the levels I have created.  Instead, I will be playing one of my classmates levels, reviewing and critiquing as I play.  For the assignment I have chosen Bobby Muir's classically named "Bobby Muir's GDP Portal Level" to review.  So get your Portal gun ready, and lets go on an adventure.

As shown by the screenshot above, the entrance area to the level is a little underwhelming.  In the distance I can see two droppers, with a fairly lengthy drop to where they land.  After looking above and below and seeing portable walls, my initial thought is that I will have to use a momentum jump here to complete a task.  Sure enough, after using the cube to trigger a pressure plate, an angled plate appears on the upper deck of the jump area, now allowing me to use momentum to jump with the ball over to the ball pressure plate.  It was fairly easy to figure this jump out and I felt as though it set an off tone so early in the level.  I feel as though a different location would be better suited for this jump, as it is seems very out of place and possibly added at the last minute.  

An issue I had with this area occured while trying to launch myself towards the pressure plate suited for the ball.  After gaining too much momentum, I became entrapped in the cage holding the pressure plate, shown in the image above.  Since there was no portable walls around me, I had not choice but to restart the level.  This did not make for a very pleasant start to the level at all.  A simple fix that could have been added, was a room behind the plate with a single portable wall.  This would allow for an escape path, should the player become entrapped in the cage.

Overall however, the room was pretty entertaining.  I can see what the designer was going for, making the player feel as though they are doing a slam dunk with the ball into a hoop!

The Central Hub

As I moved forward in the level, I came to what seemed to be the central hub of the level.  With two adjacent rooms, it seemed like this area was at one point meant to be the starting zone for the character, but was changed at the last moment.  In the one room, I found a room filled with tractor beams, as well as a couple floor and pedestal buttons.  I decided that since I had already solved the slam dunk puzzle, I would move into this room next.

After carefully examining what each button was responsible for, I realized that this zone was going to require careful portal placement, as well as precise timing with the buttons.  What this room require was for portals to be placed on opposite sides of the room, a portal in front of each floor button.  The player must then press both pedestal buttons as quickly as possible.  One triggers the turning on of a timed tractor beam, while the other drops the cube into the first tractor beam.  The player must then portal to the other side of the room to trigger a floor pressure plate, triggering sensitive beam that move the cube to the next position.  In one swift movement, the player must then move through the portal on to the other floor button, grabbing the cube as it falls and moving it to the final position.  From here, the cube is grabbed by the tractor beam triggered by the pedestal button earlier, and moved to the button where it comes to a rest.  Once I moved back into the main hub, I realized that this puzzle had disabled another one of the traps preventing me from exiting (The first being disabled by the slam dunk.)

 

This room really fell short in my mind compared to the slam dunk room introduced to the player earlier in the level.  It was quite easy to complete (only taking me a couple of minutes to solve)  and the reward is not granted to the player in an entertaining fashion like the slam dunk.  I feel as though more of the in game items could have increased the skill needed for this zone, as well as the fun factor.

Next up in my adventure was what I believed to be the final act of Bobby's level.  Since there was only one trap left before the exit was safe, I thought I would be out in no time.  I was wrong.  As I entered the next room, I noticed a few interactive items before me.  I had a laser cutting off my path, a laser cube close by, and a laser receiver high out of reach.  I also noticed that on the far end of the level, the laser receiver led to a lift that would bring me to an unknown area.  I knew that I had to somehow transfer the laser on to the wall across form the receiver to activate the lift.  So, after some carefully placed portals the lift was up and running, without me on it.  To solve this little issue, I found that placing the portal ONLY while I was on the lift was the way to go.  

The lift brought me up to a solitary pedestal button.  Being the overeager person I am, I pressed the button, only to discover that it led around the corner to the trap preventing me from leaving.  So, I headed back to the main room, only to find that the trap had reactivated before my eyes.  It was here that I was hit with the solution, and the reason as to why he had a speed gel spawner in the middle of the room!  Through the use of portals, I was able to hit the button, enter through the portal I had created from the button to behind the speed gel, and speed my way through the trap, just narrowly escaping death!  It was a great finish to the level that left me tense and excited.  

It was a very well executed level by Bobby, but there was one issue that I found.  It was too short.  It was entertaining while I player, but just as I was getting into the level, it was over.  After timing my first run I completed the level in under 5 minutes.  To help add some more depth to the level, I would suggest that Bobby add another room to the central hub.  I really enjoyed escaping the last trap, so I suggest that he utilize this throughout a whole room, creating a constant feeling of excitement and near death experiences for the player.  For his first level however, I was very pleased with how it turned out and I would definitely recommend Bobby Muir's GDP Portal Level to all who play the game.

Escape never felt so good!