What's up guys. This is Damien (damientf2), known around Skial for my late night drunken antics in portal2 beta. I have been working in not-so-secret for months on a new version of the Portal 2 beta map, and it is finally ready to be played in. So let's get into it.
Why the Portal map?
I don't even play Portal. But the trade map for TF2 as it has been built and rebuilt several times over the years with multiple variations, lends itself to being an incredibly fun map by itself. For some reason it draws a healthy mixed bag of traders; everyone from F2P's to hardcore Unusual traders as well as alot of high skill players. It is a hub for good business and is always packed, and has become a popular hangout and trading area across the entire TF2 world. Because I consider it my home base of sorts, I have gone out on my own to rebuild the map and bring new features and fun for the community.
What did you change?
The first thing that had to go were the ugly textures. I know it's textures from Portal, and that's what gives it the novelty of it being a 'Portal map', but reading text on those textures is difficult. No one really goes there for the way the place looks. So I've put a flat basic texture throughout the level for the most part.
There are 3 new areas that I've added, most of which came from from player feedback and general necessity. I will try to cover them all briefly.
- Private Room Pods
The first thing on the list was the idea to have private, lockable, light switchable pods. Inspired from the Solitary reality show, I designed numbered octagonal rooms which currently have the most advanced switching system that I know to exist on any TF2 map. The design of this was primarily so you can hide away from the noise and chaos of the level, get away from people standing on the resupply shooting the walls, and to have a peaceful area to be able to read text on a dark background if you wanted, undisturbed. The main features are as follows:
Lockable/Unlockable door which turns on/off occupied light when activated
On/off main lightswitch toggle
On/off team colored nightlight toggle
Pod unlocks/resets on death/leaving the server
The coding that went into having not only one, but 8 pods equipped with these features took months to figure out, as no such level has existed previously to copy and paste from. The pods currently max out the switchable named lighting limitation for the Source engine. Now with private rooms to go to, can we have Frying Pans turned back on plz?
- Bar Room
Above the main spawns, I have built a bar room on each side with team colored party lighting. Considering alot of the late night traders hang out and drink and act silly on the mic, this seemed like a great area to build. It features bottles and trash with physics that can be knocked around the area for fun, as well as a window to look outside and watch the action. Since there are alot of models and props in this area which move around and are expensive on the gpu, the walls are well occulded and the majority items have lower fade distances to keep FPS up when looking at the areas.
- Rubber Rooms
A funny idea that turned into reality, when asking around about what kind of fun things to add to the map, my friend Civus jokingly mentioned to put lunatic asylum rummer rooms in the basement. Since it was an interesting idea, I wanted to see if I could make that happen. I did. And it's hilarious.
There are 4 rubber rooms for each team located in the basement under each spawn. The walls have an invisible push function which let you bounce around the rooms perpetually. If you throw a stickybomb in there it will send you around flying. You are able to stop bouncing by crouching or just walking towards the door area where there are no func push brushes.
Outside of those 3 main new areas, there is a small pool in the middle of the map, as the level was lacking any kind of water. And what is called the "catwalk" is now a giant air duct that you can go inside. And believe it or not, although everything looks bigger and more expansive, the map takes up exactly the same amount of space as the original. It is the same amount of Hammer Units from spawn to spawn.
Other than that, the map is pretty much the same but is a nighttime level now with updated awesome looking angular architecture. My original design was to make everything Tron themed, blacked out and glowing, but it didn't suit the theme of the game or the server. However, alot of the design elements are still present, like the team colored piping and lines on the stairs in the main outside area.
Why "Portal13"?
I'm a Level 13 collector. Additionally, since there have been multiple reiterations of the map, I am going to go and assume this is probably (if not more), at least the 13th version of the Portal Beta map that I've seen, in some version or another!
Are there any problems?
Problems? With Hammer Editor!? Never! Of course there are some issues. There is no cubemap lighting present in the map currently becuase it completely breaks the lighting system, and/or pink & black textures everything that can be shiny. I've struggled with it but to no avail. Also, the optimization could be improved, but that is not my strong suit; anyone with advanced knowledge of hint and skip would be greatly appreciated. My specialty is intricate blockwork and design, but I did what I could, and the map runs very fast in the majority of areas with very few exceptions. There is also currently no "map stamp", but that's not that big of a deal.
Anyway, I appreciate everyone taking the time to read all this. I have found no way to upload this to Steam Workshop. Does anyone know how to do this or can provide an alternative? I want to get this map up and running somewhere!
p.s. I'd love a Skial donator tag! I mean, out of any servers out there, Skial is really my home turf and I am donating something to it. Does this even count as donating? I don't know. Hook me up?
