So, like, are we all just too busy playing it right now, or what? 
Bought it today, beat it today, loved every second of it. Thoughts?
pre-ordered
got it the second it released, played for 10 hours
beat campaign and co-op
<3
Thought it was to short for fifty bucks honestly.
Getting to see the history of Aperture science evoked a lot of emotional response to the game as well as that awesome reference to Half-Life 2, the empty drydock of the Borealis. I was amazed at how well they captured emotion in the characters through excellent voice acting, realistic motion, and expressions. The musical accompaniment of the game was top notch, with the interactive environment altering the music heard to increase ambiance and intensity. Starting out in similar test chambers to the original (albeit potato-plant overgrown) was a really nice touch as it gave you a sense of nostalgia as well as an anchor to estimate the passage of time between the first game and this one. Overall, I think valve did an excellent job and am now excitedly anticipating the release of Half-Life 2 Episode 3. I need more Aperture dammit! Give me my Borealis!
Just beat Portal 2 campaign, and to be honest, I want to see what the world is like outside, at the end of the game. Besides mentioning Aparture science in Half Life, and Black Mesa in Portal, do you think theyāll ever actually cross the stories over? What happened between Portal 1 and Portal 2, with Chell in her deep sleep? How did the world come to and end, and what year are these games even set in?
Edit:
Are these sources reliable? http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/timeline.htm
http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_oā¦f-Life_universe
The wikia is probably somewhat reliable, considering itās a wikia written by the avid fans of the game series. Iām not sure about the other one, though.
So Valve picked me along with 40 other mappers to be a beta tester for the upcoming level editor! Iāve had a chance to mess around with it, and I must say that I am very impressed with the interface and overall design. Mapping tools like Hammer look like the most complicated thing in the world next to this new editor, but donāt be fooled. I was able to produce pretty complex and aesthetically pleasing chambers with the current limitations it has. Being a Beta, itās obviously incomplete, so I canāt really finalize any ratings.
Basically, if you like designing levels, and love Portal, you will absolutely love this new editor! Even if youāre an experienced mapper, you can still utilize it to produce basic templates of your maps, and then export them to Hammer for adding in all the extra details. This saves a lot of time and effort.
In conclusion, if you have any questions, Iāll try my best to answer without breaking the NDA.
Are you allowed to reveal when itās coming out? If so can you tell us the date?
Is it more like Hammer (itās roots Iām sure), UDK, or CryEdit?
Edit: Just saw itās in-game. More like Cube2 then?
Donāt know when itās coming out. Itās still incomplete, and theyāre adding in new features for us to use over time.
If you want an idea of what the editor looks like, these are some publicly released āteasersā that Valve made:
These are very close to what the actual editor looks like, but not quite.
Everything is represented pretty much the same way as the screenshots. The view is entirely 3D though, and uses the same effect as the Sims, where the obstructing walls are made invisible depending on your angle.
So itās not actually āIn-gameā, but rather a click and drag thing?
No, it is an in-game thing. That is the map editing screen, but you can hop into test mode at any time you like and test out your map.
So like Cryengine then? Haha.
So Valve has personally invited me to come visit their headquarters. They want me to meet their teams and specialists (especially level design and audio).
I am so excited!
Edit: Anything you guys would like me to inquire about?
Ask them if they know how to count to three.
If they still want you to come tomorrow?
Oh Iāll be going sometime in late April. They told me to email them when I was ready.
Do some infiltration work, find anything with a 3 on it and watch out for Gabe and his knives.
You mean gabe and his cake?
My first map (should be simple): removed due to breakage and bad editor
My second map (a challenge): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fileā¦ls/?id=68680145
My third map (simple solution, if not obvious): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fileā¦ls/?id=68680145
Edit: Absolute smallest portal-less test possible in the editor: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fileā¦ls/?id=68689263