Sparring Match...

Huehuehue

No, seriously that’s what the level is called. This blog is going to cover a sparring match between Jordan Thompson and myself where I review his Portal 2 level, describe his design considerations and state what works and what doesn’t. I’m definitely not going to go over how to solve the level or what to do to get to the exit, but I’m sure I’ll given enough away for you to figure it out for yourself. My job here is going to be to focus on what Jordan’s level does well and where its falls short, what mechanics appeal to me and what leave me questioning his intentions. If you haven’t player “Huehuehue” you can do so now, the level can be found here.

And for those of you who have never player Portal 2 before, go play it. Play it now. Here's a quick video to familiarize you with the elements available in the editor.

In the beginning...

As a designer, Jordan makes use of several of Portal's elements in his level. He uses cubes, spheres, reflective cubes, droppers, button, lazers, phase walls, excursion funnels, glass platforms, sentries and glass panels. Not only does he make use of these elements with their intended purposed in mind, he also uses them to accentuate the primary mechanic in Portal...portals! As soon as you step into his level, your gaze is directed towards the excursion funnel on the other side of the room that hasn't been activated just yet, leading the player to assume that activating the funnel is going to be an objective of the overall puzzle. The player isn't wrong; it is, in fact, your first objective. 

An alcove on the immediate right of the player reveals a button that links to a cube dropper.  

The immediate first instinct of the player is to hit the button and watch the cube drop onto a portalable floor. 

This doesn't exactly serve Jordan's purpose. His intention is to make sure that the player hits the button with a portal on the floor and one at the other end of the tunnel below where lazers are blocking your every move. 

This way, when the player pushes the button, a cube drops down and propels it with momentum onto the button that can't be seen simply by looking down at the tunnel. 

However, the player's first instinct is to carry the cube through the portal (or at least that was my first thought), use it to block off the lazers and then drop it on the button. The button, by the way, switched the lazers off. This is why it would be ideal for momentum to do the work for you. While Jordan's idea was well thought out, basic instinct leads us to brute force our way through the lazers as the information we have is that lazers harm us and that cubes are used to block them from doing so. We forget about the idea of momentum being used to propel objects forward. Why else would the cube be dropped on to a platform lower than the one the player is standing on? Well, to remind us that we aren't meant to simply carry the cube but to let it drop down through a Portal. This was a good design decision, but perhaps if the player was able to see the button the cube is supposed to fit into when he looks down at the tunnel, then maybe he wouldn't think it was meant for the purpose of blocking the lazers. Let's move on to the next part of the level, light bridges and timing. 

Light bridges and timing

Portal over to the otherside of the room and proceed into the next section of the puzzle. 

The first visible elements are a light bridge and a sphere-button. As this puzzle is contained in one room, it is clear that this part of the puzzle needs to be solved on its own and doesn't rely on elements outside of the room. However, the antline leading outside suggests that the mystery to be solved links other parts of the level together and probably aids in forward progression. The player is immediately made aware that depressing the button is the objective of the room and the light bridge is what we're going to use to figure it out. So a sphere-button needs a sphere to activate it, we need to find a sphere! Working our way down the stairs reveals exactly what we're looking for, our way out.

The antline guides our eyes towards the small alcove which is where we expect we will find out answers, but how do we get all the way up there? Maybe the light bridge can help us out here. Of course it can. Once we reach the button we need to know what it does. For those tracking the antline leading to the phase wall, you've already figured it out. It's clear what needs to be done now so where's the challenge? Where's the pleasure in figuring it all out? Well that's where timing comes in. By restricting the amount of time the player has to walk down the corridor and back to the sphere to place a portal before the phase wall goes back up, the level attempts to test how well you work under pressure. 

This is foreshadowing obstacles that require your attention to timing later on in the level. The first timing event is simple and is made to warm you up before the real challenge later on. This way, Jordan presents the timing mechanic in a controlled environment where the player is pressured but doesn't feel like it's a life and death situation. 

It's easy enough to get the cube and place it where it needs to be, but what exactly has this done for us? Let's find out!

Place the sphere on the button you say? Easy enough.

Hey! It's the excursion funnel from before! 

Players who are familiar with the mechanics of Portal 2 elements will realize that the funnels are meant to transfer objects or the player from one location to another, usually an area they haven't been to before. It is immediately clear where we need to go. Here, Jordan uses a familiar element for its most basic purpose, maintaining the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). This brings us to the next challenge, platforms and timing.

Going up!

The first visible element here is a button amongst the abyss of harmful swamp. Here Jordan makes use of "the Void" to pull the player's attention towards the main mechanic of this part in the level, buttons and platforms. Clicking the button reveals a raised glass platform and the very familiar deadly ticking of a timer we've heard before. Since Jordan already tested the player's proficiency with timing, we already know what's supposed to happen here. Press the button, jump from the glass platform to the stable one just ahead. Simple enough.

Not exactly. The timing here is very specific and what I felt was a little unforgiving. I was quite honestly scared for my life, but then maybe this is exactly what Jordan was going for. The jump to the stable platform itself is a stretch and has to be precise in order to land safely. The pressure is on just as soon as you push that dreaded button. Getting across doesn't mean you're safe at all. In fact, that was just a refresher of the timing mechanic, time to really put the pressure on. Looking to your right reveals a whole nother puzzle that isn't yet to be attempted - at least that's what the lazer doorway strongly suggests. A portalable surface can be seen on the otherside, but nothing to portal from anywhere in sight! Maybe the button will solve our problem.

Why yes, it does! But there's no way Jordan's going to take it easy on us now. Oh no, you already know what needs to be done, now let's see whether you can do it when pressure is on you for a longer period of time. Rest assured, once you get to the other end of the room, a portalable surface gets to where you need to be and allows you to move on to the final area of the puzzle, sentries and lazers.

Bulletproof

Here we are at last, the final stretch. Jordan makes sure we know that this is the last piece of the puzzle by tempting us with the exit door. My immediate reaction to this tactic was hope. As soon as I saw what I had to do to get out of here, I knew that I just had to push a little harder to get there. This was well-placed and a good indication of how far I was to the end. Based on the amount of time it took to solve the last couple of puzzles, I knew exactly what was to be expected of this one. This served to demonstrate consistent pacing of the challenges in the level. After going through the terrifying experience of feeling like I could've died at any given moment, this last challenge was quite gratifying. Here, Jordan makes use of a strong center to give the player a hint as to where he needs to go. A button can be seen but sentry lazers prevent you from going anywhere near it, so what now?

Well, the clearly the lazer and the reflector-cube must be of some use. Of course! We destroy the sentries standing in our way to freedom. I have to say that this was one of the most gratifying moment of the entire ordeal in traversing Jordan's level. Burning down the sentries made me feel like Rambo who always manages to end up behind a turret on the back of a jeep by the end of the movie shooting down everyone that crossed him. Even better was the feeling of walking down the glass path with the cube to be placed on the button at the end. I felt like Frodo who finally reaches Mount Doom and walks down the final path to the edge of reason where he will drop the ring into the fires and at last be done with the torment it has caused him. Awesome! Burn the sentries and place the cube on the button, it's time to return to the Shire. 

The panels flip, the player portals over and jumps down onto the launcher which takes you to freedom and the end of the level. The final exhilaration of being launched to victory is terrific and unparalleled to anything I've experienced in a Portal level before, well done Jordan.

Review and Remarks

What Jordan has managed to do here is create a level that uses most of the elements introduced in Portal in their most basic manner that they were meant to be used. But there is nothing wrong with that. He deconstructed the various elements and made them work together to inspire feelings of fear, power, gratification, determination and a heightened sense of accomplishment by making the player work to earn their freedom. He not only does this creatively, but with interesting and well-thought out design patterns. He introduces levels of scale in increasing difficulty as the level progresses. He begins the level with a strong center and has one in every individual challenge (the excursion funnel at the start, the sphere within the glass walls, the platforms amongst the swamp, the pressure button surrounded by sentries, the exit behind glass). Boundaries are created through the use of height and dangerous swamps all around the level and there is a good contrast present between easy and difficult. Areas of increased difficulty tend to be unlit, dark and gloomy (platforms in the swamp), whereas areas with simple challenges tend to be well lit and with more portalable surfaces (the sphere and light bridge challenge). This demonstrates gradients of difficulty as well. 

Jordan not only echoes mechanics that are significant to level completion, but makes sure he changes up the difficult and alters the form and function to provide a significant challenge at every turn. Overall, the level is very well designed and was fun to play.

Now let's move on to some constructive criticism.

One thing that I noticed right off the bat is that Jordan's level is designed for more skilled players who are familiar with Portal design patterns (such as momentum and timed-jumping). Newer players will have to try again and again to beat the level. Most of what he has intended in his design won't be played out the way he hoped because it isn't made immediately obvious. There are areas that could be more openly visible - the cube-button in the first puzzle tunnel and the little portalable alcove in the swamp platform puzzle area. Another observation I made when playing the level is that every piece of the puzzle seems separate from the overall goal of getting to the exit. When beginning we don't really know where the exit is and I found myself wondering when I would get there as I kept playing. Perhaps if Jordan made it clear that solving certain parts brought you closer to the end of the level, then there would be as much "separatedness". AND-gates to the exit door would have also solved this problem. A notable design consideration was that the level begins easy and ends the same way with a bit of a challenge in the middle. This throws off the design pace a little and could be fixed by eliminating the use of the reflector-cube to destroy the sentries and instead having the player use a light bridge with portalable surfaces on the ceiling to block the gun fire. This would take timing (used throughout the level) and aiming skills to perform successfully. 

Other tweaks include moving the light bridge lower to ensure that the player doesn't have to duck down to enter the portal and increasing the timing of some buttons or bringing platforms that need to be jumped-to closer. But these are minor improvements within a really good level that was a blast to play through. 

Huehuehue