This Portal 2 map that I made for MI 330. It is entirely built within Portal 2's built-in level editor. This level editor is very easy to use but also very restricting in terms of quantity of items allows within a map. For example, I literally could not add one more light to this map. If I do so, I get a warning telling me that I exceeded the limit. The goal of this level is to complete the two side puzzles and then use their rewarded cubes to solve a central puzzle which allows the player to reach the exit. I'm very proud of the final product.

This was a very difficult map to make. Its difficulty doesn't come from making the puzzles themselves, that part was easy, but rather making the puzzles be able to be understood by other players. This map really tested the iterative process of making a map and responding to feedback. My first version of this map could not be beaten by anyone other than me and my brother (who happened to find some skips that I needed to fix) and one of the TAs spent a whopping 45 minutes trying to beat this level and they couldn't. Clearly, there was an issue with my level.

To address this feedback, I watched everyone's playtests and looked to see where they got confused on what to do next and then I would either move an object or add a light to make the solutions more obvious. I also removed any distracting walls or objects and limited the amount of portal-able surfaces in order to limit user error. I then made some parts of the puzzles have natural steps to them. This can be seen on the left puzzle with the three boxes. When you initially walk in, you can only spawn in one box. Originally, you could spawn all three but playtesters were overwhelmed and couldn't figure out what to do. Anyways, once you place the first box in the correct position, the next box drops. Once that one is placed in the correct position, the third one drops. Once you have the third one, it is very obvious on what you need to do next because right in front of your face is a flipped panel which aligns with the beam catcher. The right puzzle barely went through any changes because it isn't that difficult to understand what you need to do.

In the end, the TAs informed me that they loved the changes that they made to my map and they could see how I addressed their feedback. I'm very happy with the final version of the map and I think this one really tested my skills. It's hard to make a puzzle map that is fun to play...