Bethesda designer makes Portal level

by Justin McElroy { Nov 5th 2007 at 10:54AM }

It's no secret that the hearts of Joystiq are almost exclusively the property of Portal. Sure, we have dalliances with other games, but we always know on which side our digi-bread is buttered. So it's a comfort any time we hear we're in good company, like today when we learned that Bethesda level designer Daryl Brigner had cranked out his own custom map for the game called "Ren Test 2." You can download the files here and see the download instructions here.

After spending a few minutes with the map, we can report that it is pretty difficult. It's also pretty brilliant, with a few mechanics not used in Valve's game that we don't even want to ruin for you here. If you're a Portal junkie who's hard up for a fix, you need to download this now.

Tags: bethesda, orangebox, portal

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

fuzzbunny @ Nov 5th 2007 11:02AM

does anyone else get a warm feeling inside when a developer makes free content for someone else's game?

Blast Processing Megadrive @ Nov 5th 2007 6:24PM

Orange Box has touched everyone's hearts. Particularly Portal and TF2, though.
Fanart, papercrafts, custom plushes... All in the name of Companion Cube.
And for Halloween, MANY dev teams dressed up as the TF2 classes. LucasArts, Volition, Nihilistic, EA LA, etc....

Jerk Face @ Nov 5th 2007 11:02AM

I love Portal with every part of my body, including my pee pee.

d-pad @ Nov 5th 2007 11:02AM

Is Source available as an SDK? Can people easily mod their own portal levels?

Jerk Face @ Nov 5th 2007 11:03AM

You bet your ass it is, though I don't know how easily one could make a Portal level.

Einhanderkiller @ Nov 5th 2007 6:49PM

The Source 2007 SDK has not yet been released (although it will be soon), but there is a way to make Portal maps using some workarounds.

http://www.portalmaps.net/mappingtips.php?file=How%20to%20setup%20hammer%20for%20Portal

Neebs @ Nov 5th 2007 11:12AM

Ooo, be back in an hour to report how much I sucked at this level.

Sean @ Nov 5th 2007 11:17AM

*obligatory post about fapping to the Companion Cube*

FidliousWong @ Nov 5th 2007 11:20AM

The companion cube is the only male character in that game....

Sean @ Nov 5th 2007 11:26AM

So, I should have used fapping over instead of fapping to. Sue me!

Tyler @ Nov 5th 2007 11:27AM

the companion cube is whatever you need the companion cube to be

readerr0 @ Nov 5th 2007 7:10PM

At least they can still play Crysis, i don't think the xbox360 and ps3 can do that due to their lack of power Slaziman :)

(Cryteks words on the power thing not mine)

Crysis is an unfair comparison really, it is meant to the THE top of the range graphics. Its meant to look totally bad ass. A fairer game would be unreal tournament which runs great on any system.

readerr0 @ Nov 5th 2007 7:12PM

aww that reply was meant for the reply chain below =\

ShortFuse @ Nov 5th 2007 11:31AM

Xbox 360's XNA is a piece of crap. If Portal gets a strong modding community, I'll have to buy the PC version too.

WiNG @ Nov 5th 2007 11:35AM

Yeah this is why PC > console. Also graphics. And free online gaming. And superior controls.

And this:
http://www.helium.com/tm/662922/chaos-darkness-internal-speakers

Geist @ Nov 5th 2007 11:53AM

Hell yes. Have fun turning 180 degrees in half a second, controller users!

rdj75 @ Nov 5th 2007 12:04PM

@Geist

What? Its definitely obvious that the pc platform is infinitely more flexible than any console but what the hell kind of statement is that. You can easily adjust the sensitivity of the controller on any shooter. I play a few shooters on the pc using my 360 controller and to be honest, yes sometimes I am the "pwner" and sometimes I am the "pwnee" but in general it seems that the gap between kb/m vs analog sticks has gotten alot closer.

Hello @ Nov 5th 2007 12:10PM

Controls are a matter of preference, PC Fanboys.

Geist @ Nov 5th 2007 12:22PM

Perhaps my statement was a little...gruff. But still, the way the analog joysticks and mice work are two different ways of control. It's not just about sensitivity or speed, but about the level of control.

Geist @ Nov 5th 2007 12:27PM

Oh, and 'Hello', there's a reason that the PC version of Shadowrun had to have gimped mechanics when it came to playing against console users.

Shagittarius @ Nov 5th 2007 12:50PM

If you believe on an even playfield that joystick is comparable to M/KB you are delusional.

Zach S @ Nov 5th 2007 1:13PM

Yeah! PC! I just love having to upgrade it every year so that I can actually play games that are coming out. Because I have the money to do that!

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 1:51PM

If you've got the money to burn, I'm sure it's nice getting to buy all those FPS's and RTS's and... ??

MMORPG's?

...

The top three best games ever are on the Xbox 360 too? And I don't need a 1000$+ rig?

...

I see.

arrrgh @ Nov 5th 2007 1:58PM

+1 to the fact that joysticks no matter how you adjust the sensitivity can never match the speed and accuracy of the mouse/keys.

sry deluded kids. Consoles are great, but for FPS, PC=win in the controls department.

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 2:01PM

True, but consoles win in the value and convenience department. Paying less for the same graphics and not being held hostage by nVidia (or ATI if you swing that way...) for drivers every time a goddamn game comes out FTW

Blazur @ Nov 5th 2007 2:04PM

Agreed. The level of control a mouse/keyboard offers when playing a FPS can never be rivaled using a joystick. There's just no arguing that.

It does suck having to upgrade your PC every 3-4 years to stay ahead of the curve. But if done wisely you can stick to only a few components (processor, vid card), and the price can be comparable to getting a new next-gen console. The benefit is you get to use it for doing work as well if applicable.

Slaziman @ Nov 5th 2007 2:06PM

Every 3-4 years? No matter how much you spent on your computer even 2 years ago, you won't be playing Crysis at max settings. 3 years ago? MAYBE at low settings.

Jreg @ Nov 5th 2007 12:18PM

Could anyone give an idea of what the level is like (for console players)? I would really like to know what kind of gameplay is being thought up with portal dynamics... good ol' thinking with portals. mmm mmm

gonk @ Nov 5th 2007 1:30PM

rotating room

DBuck_Eye @ Nov 5th 2007 1:32PM

I can't get the level to load. I select it on the load level creen and press load and nothing happens/ Anyone else having any difficulties?

Conda @ Nov 5th 2007 1:43PM

hah, i found this level yesterday completely by accident, and spent a lot of time messing with it after that

Feep @ Nov 5th 2007 1:52PM

An excellent puzzle, and I recommend everyone who has played Portal on the PC to give it a try. It's more difficult than anything found within the actual game, including Advanced, IMO.

The gimmick is a rotating room, which is quite well-done. The hardest part of the puzzle is an energy ball deflection, which has a very elegant (though complex) solution. However, due to the rotating room mechanic, the hit detection on the walls is quite iffy, and many people are solving it by "getting lucky" and managing the send the energy ball every which way until it kind of glitches and activates the sensor. Do yourself a favor and solve it for real; there is no need to set off the ball at anything other than right angles.

The only other complaint is that apparently the designed used non-standard surfaces, and sometimes a portal will not stick to a surface it should stick to. This is rather rare, though, and not a deal-breaker.

I highly recommend this! Go for it. And don't give up.

Adam Danielson @ Nov 5th 2007 2:36PM

I can't get the effing energy ball into the tube...I assume there is a correct way to do this other than the aformentioned "getting lucky" but i'll be damned if i can figure it out....

Acceptable Risk @ Nov 5th 2007 5:24PM

Try the door after you hit the high switch. The answer to the weighted sphere will become apparent when you get to the next room.

RenStrike @ Nov 5th 2007 2:57PM

To those of you having problems getting the map to run:

The problem could be that you didn’t extract the files with the “retain file structure” (or something like that) check box checked. Here are how the files should be extracted.

within your “username”/portal/portal/maps folder.

-ren_test2_readme.txt
-graphs (Folder)
---RenTests (Folder)
------ren_test2.ain
-RenTests (Folder)
---ren_test2.bsp
---ren_test2.bns

Alternatively:
-Make sure you have the console enabled by going to Options/Keyboard/Advanced, and check the “Enable Developer Console” checkbox.
-Then hit the tilde key,”~”, and type “map ren_test2? without the quotes, and hit enter. Then the map should load.

Good Luck!

Einhanderkiller @ Nov 5th 2007 6:51PM

I played this map around 3 weeks ago but didn't really like it. Some of the wall sizes make for odd Portal placement. Hopefully that'll be fixed with the Source 2007 SDK release.

shaoron @ Nov 5th 2007 10:56PM

the most important question is...

do we finally get the cake at the end?

Zorink @ Nov 5th 2007 11:56PM

Just beat it, and it was amazing.

Zorink @ Nov 5th 2007 11:58PM

But no still no cake...

EL_RIEL @ Feb 15th 2008 12:24PM

*SPOILERAGE!!!*

No cake but not "pretty difficult"

got energy ball after 2 attempts, its easy to guide the energy ball to the initial room, then from there its easy to get it out to the cage after you put the right portal in the right place before rotating the room again.
You just need a fresh energy ball so it can last enough while you get out the initial room , get back to the rotate button, activate it and get back to the energy ball to portal it to the cage.

I lost lot of time in finding the first switch to change the inclination on the first platform, lol, i never saw the button.

Very nice map!!!
now i need more. >:(

Ted @ Nov 6th 2007 4:52PM

*Spoiler Warning*

When you got to the end and went back into the elevator did everything go black but without saying you'd completed the level or anything?

All I could see was my reticule but I was still in control and the map didn't say 'completed' or anything like that.

EL_RIEL @ Nov 6th 2007 5:03PM

yeah , you end in the elevator and thats it!! no cake no final song, if your read the "readme" xD it says the level ends when you open the elevator door.

Best Regards!!

merf1350 @ Nov 6th 2007 8:31AM

Nice Level, very hard. I think I have it figured out, I just can't get the timing on the energy ball. Still Kinda disappointing though, not what I thought from the pic. We need a real Escher lever, now that would be fun and could really get mind bending.