Momentum Encounters

Portal 2

Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle game where the player is tasked to go through a myriad of tests using the signature portal gun. The portal gun creates up to two portals, one blue and one orange on any white color surface to navigate through thought-provoking puzzles. Both must be placed together to go through one or the other. The portals can do a wide number of things from simply allowing the player to reach a new area, to moving boxes, to allowing a tractor beam to go forward and more.

Steam Workshop

Momentum Encounters

Level Designer

Time Frame: July 1st 2023 - August 18th 2023
Created using Portal 2 Community Test Chambers and Hammer Editor
Focus on use of verticality and enemies
Continuing to practice environmental storytelling
Received feedback from McMullian to further improve the level with another perspective

Their LinkedIn:

1-2 Starting here is a swift takedown of an enemy showcasing their presence throughout the level and the fun of taking one down even if in a basic way. Then we can turn to highlighting the next identity of the level being the ability to use momentum gained from falling to go through portals. This allows the player to reach areas where the player cannot simply portal up to.

3-7 The player will first see a button that they cannot reach and must find a new way to reach it. Once getting up top left the player can now reach the other side where they will be directly in the line of sight of an enemy. The player must quickly fire a portal to the exposed area before the enemy can shoot them down to reach the button. Upon activating the button the player must creatively escape the area they have before simply using the new white tile to allow momentum to reach the side with the enemy where they can finally defeat the annoying enemy.

8-11 The exit is now in sight but heavily guarded by an enemy and one that the player needs to portal behind cover just to avoid getting shot at. Going to the left again will lead the player to see another enemy behind a set of white tiles that can be used to get behind the enemy and defeat. Now with a different view, a button is in front of the player allowing the player to use the height they have as a source of speed and the portals to use that momentum to reach the button. The button allows the player to reach the end using momentum again to defeat the last foe and end the level.

Planning

After some research, I finally realized my shortcoming, the lack of verticality in my levels. With this insight, I went into Portal 2 a game I am comfortable designing and seeing what I can do to create a unique experience for the players to enjoy.

With a core idea in mind, I wanted to craft a level that could best showcase this new mindset and know the exact mechanics. In Portal 2 when going through a portal a player's momentum continues to go allowing the player to reach areas not possible. It creates a unique mechanic that I and as I learn other players enjoy. Another idea I wanted to go with was including enemies as they force the player to carefully plan out their movement.

Puzzle Design

Goal- Create an environment to best utilize portal momentum to help the player navigate to defeat enemies.

Teaching the players to use the momentum to help them defeat the enemies
Use verticality to help create more varied environments for the player to go through and act as facilitators to help with portal momentum
Ensure that moving through the level is satisfying and intuitive
Clearly communicate the challenge the player needs to overcome to move on

Implantation of Goals

Using the goals as guidance I began work on crafting the Portal 2 level. One priority would be setting up the player to handle defeating enemies and using portal momentum. This was setup through setting up the ideas individually. First with dispatching an enemy in front of them, then set up the momentum puzzle. The water is used to help limit the players options and thus allows them to come to the conclusion of gravity as they can't walk over to the area seeing if they can fire the portal gun in a different spot.

To further achieve my goals I also wanted to use verticality to help create more memorable space for the player to transverse. In the final section I have a large pit that the player will likely fall in being spotted by the turret to the left. This large pit also is used to help reach the button they need to activate to reach the end. The trick is using a portal for the player to fall into and a portal that will exit out of with the momentum from the fall.

Playtesting Feedback

I was fortunate enough to have my level playtest Conner McMullian who helped provide me feedback on an early version of my level. The biggest takeaway was how obtuse my level was to go through. For example at the start to reach the platform in front of the player they needed to put a portal on the floor of the platform instead of the wall behind it. This forced the player to do this bizarre movement of getting out to continue on. If it is on the wall the player simply walks from one wall to another with little trouble.

This open my eyes for me on handling challenge. While the initial way is harder its not in a interesting way, all it does make a normally smooth intuitive action into an annoying one. It help me consider how the player feels when moving and ensure these types of interactions are only using in more appropriate situations.

Takeaways

Things that I learned:

This further experience with an exploration into Hammer and further looking into level design, in general, was greatly needed. I felt I was more considerate of my choices in the structuring of my level and was striving to make the best experience for my player. The use of vertically made me realize how flawed my previous designs were and how I can further improve my level's design in the future.

I also was able to further my knowledge of Hammer Editor itself through being using more complex optimizing, checkpoints, and even adding voice lines. All were great additions to help further improve the player's experience when going through the level.

Things that I would do differently:

Fizzler Gates Use

The more a do reflect on it I feel like the fizzler gate wasn't used to its full capabilities. The fizzler gate is an object that prevents the player from shooting shots from the portal gun through and removes any activated portals the player has when going past it. I feel like I only scratched the surface of what it is capable of which makes the object feel forgettable in my level unlike the other features like portal momentum and enemies which I felt were better highlighted in my level.

Too Dark

The lighting in the level feels too dark when going through. This was a common experience people left to me on Steam and it got me thinking about it. After looking through both other levels in the Workshop and Portal 2 itself I believe in this idea. I made adjustments to the lighting to create a better difference between areas, although I think I might have overdone the editing. I should have used more reference on how to handle lighting, although now I can see how that expectation can be seen within my level, and would like to thank those who took the time to provide those thoughts to me. Lighting is always critical, although I should be careful about making many adjustments when handling it.

Closing thoughts

This was a great learning exercise for me and one I want to further capitalize on with future projects. This sense of verticality helped me create far more interesting levels that will allow for memorable experiences for players to go through which is my goal. I want to create a memorable and fun experience with anyone who will play through my level that can allow the game's features to shine. I hope I can bring this to any project I work on in the future.

Once again huge thank you to Conner McMullian for both reaching out to me on playtesting the project and their feedback without them the level wouldn't be in the state it is.