Aperture Science Sokoban Testing Initiative (A Portal Demake)

[ede...@gmail.com]

It's a work in progress, in that I need to add some levels with more puzzle to them, but I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7395520

Have to sort out some fussy interaction with portals in corners, then try to streamline my interactions enough that I can do away with a temporary and squeeze in another object or two (gotta have sentries, at least!), but I thought I'd share the Work in Progress with the world.

[zma...@gmail.com]

Seems well implemented and the graphics are cute!

Definitely need some harder puzzles, though, especially because most people have already played Portal.

I found most of the puzzles boring and superfluous; I'd suggest getting rid of levels 1 and 2 entirely, and just starting on level 3 (even that level is pretty almost painfully simple).

A little text-heavy for me too, but that's just a personal preference.

[Dennis Au]

That's so sweet. I'll be looking forward to more when it's done. :)

[Adam Gates]

This is really cool.

[Stephen Lavelle]

build up felt a bit slow, but pew pewing portals felt good, and though the last level of the demo was a pretty ok puzzle game level : )

On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Adam Gates <adamg...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is really cool.

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[ede...@gmail.com]

Version 0.2, now with sounds and sentries and slightly less-finicky portals.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7408131

Thanks for the kind words all y'all. The build-up is definitely slow; I cut off the first level entirely, and have attempted to make these tutorial-ish levels less obnoxiously dull, but it's still gonna open slowly, both to mimic the source material and to allow me to abuse Messages without cramming a dozen before every dang level. Because I am a wordy guy.

Now that all the elements are in, it's time to work on some bigger, better test chambers.

On Sunday, November 10, 2013 12:56:46 AM UTC-8, ede...@gmail.com wrote:

[ede...@gmail.com]

Hm, editing posts is not possible? Frustrating. ANYWAY, it was pointed out to me that in that last version, a player could sneak up on sentries with the help of a crate, and be temporarily immune to their line of sight/laser death beams, which was not what I wanted to happen. Hence, version 0.2.1, in which I went ahead and changed the text colors as well, and fixed a finicky issue of orientation when facing portalled walls from non-portal sides which, it turns out, was all about my not grokking the importance of rule order.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7410872

[Dennis Au]

Hm, have you uploaded the latest version? I think I've run into similar problems as the ones you've mentioned.

I can portal into a square that's covered a sentry's laser death beams without dying, and I can still push past (i.e. perpendicular to) a laser death beam with the help of a crate. 

[Alan Hazelden]

I really love the graphics in this!

I don't think the player should be able to jump into a pit and kill themselves.

--

[ede...@gmail.com]

Haha, whoops! I made lasers deadly but forgot to make SENTRIES deadly as well. Should be fixed now.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7417460

As for throwing oneself boldly into bottomless pits, my gut is to keep that for the time being, because it can make for interesting "narrow ledge" sort of situations where the player can't turn to face the direction they want to fire at, and has to creatively use portals to face the right direction. Same deal with lasers. Don't know if anything will come of that interaction, but I like having it available.

[Joseph Larson]

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

The only thing that could be better would be if you could make it so you could look though the portals, like Portile or ASCIIpOrtal. But the game is pretty solid.

[Tobin Mollett]

Oh, this is beautiful. It feels so chunky and full of possibilities.

[kale...@gmail.com]

I've attempted to build a level using this rules set, as an introduction to puzzlescript.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7450948

Let me know what you think,
-kalev

[Zeigfreid Okugawa]

Wow! This is a humbling demake. I'm looking forward to more!

[Matt Slaybaugh]

That was a lot of fun

[Kalev Tait]

Could stop thinking about this all afternoon… so I created another level.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7458423

Let me know what you think,

-Kalev

[Alan Hazelden]

Kalev, both these levels are really great. Good job! :)

I found a bug in the rules though, there should be a laser coming through that portal but it gets overwritten by the other laser. I guess there needs to be a third laser object for "both lasers", or the horiztontal/vertical lasers need to be on different layers. I notice it's up against the object and the layer limit though, so creative solutions might be needed.

--

[ede...@gmail.com]

Ha hah, oh man, I'm super excited about the enthusiastic response, especially from Kalev; fantastic levels, especially the first one with only two portallable surfaces. Great stuff!

Alan, thanks for pointing out the laser issue. I started trying to fix it today and, uh, fell into a coding rabbit hole, and have emerged with this:

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7463081

There are a couple new levels at the end, but really this is a features update:

One-way sentries! The old, all-directions sentry is still coded in too, but having one-way options will (I hope!) increase some puzzling options by not requiring players to have enough space to get a crate in between themselves and the lasers. Related the that:

A new kind of button! Shine a laser on it (directly OR routed through a portal!) to open the door. Hah hah, making sentries useful!

A "Next Portal" marker! It's built into the level goal: shines blue or orange, depending on what's next. Why? Why not!

Anyway, the first room is just a place where you can see all the new stuff hanging out.

I THINK that's all the features I can cram in. That's all I DARE cram in. I've got some objects working triple-duty here. Although weirdly enough, unless some weird portalling issues show up that I didn't notice before, I have cleared one object entirely out of the rules, somehow. Pretty excited about that.

Anyway, head spinning with arrows and brackets, must stop for now. Thanks for all the kind words!

[Alan Hazelden]

Lovely! :) Those should open up some good puzzle possibilities.

Possible to make the next-portal colour appear on the gun? I'm thinking you could do that with an object on a layer behind the player, with the gun pixel being transparent and some of the other pixels on the player being floor-coloured where necessary.

Also would like it if the player doesn't disappear when she steps onto the goal? Doesn't look good IMO.

If either of those suggestions makes your head hurt, then let me know and I'll have a go at it myself.

[Stephen Lavelle]

(I notice that you can't shoot portal bullets through portals, maybe that's better for puzzle design, though...)

[Kalev Tait]

Awesome.

Love the new elements, and enjoyed the one of the new puzzles I could play (more on that below)

Need to try creating a puzzle with these new elements. Other elements I'd love (though I understand you're almost out of object types... why is that anyways - why does the engine limit number of objects?) would be:

- laser redirection cube

- fizzler field (turrets and cubes are destroyed, can't shoot portals through, lasers pass through fine, player can pass through, but all portals are removed when they do

- (maybe) different buttons control different doors

One bug with the current version:

- Standing on a button when the next portal to shoot is blue doesn't trigger the doors

One thing which might be a bug, or might just be a different understanding of the way turrets should work:

- Turrets always face the same direction, even when pushed through a portal that change the player's direction

And a couple of issues with your new levels:

- The third to last level has no player

- In the second to last level, the player can't shoot portals.

And lastly, if you would like to include the levels I built in your version, you are more than welcome to.

[ede...@gmail.com]

Ah, the silly mistakes I make at midnight. New version in which every level actually has a player, and portals work when they should (I think!):

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7469738

Also seem to have remedied that nextshotblue/button bug, but I'm not sure how, exactly. And made it so the player doesn't disappear when she steps on the goal, by the expedient of having the player destroy the goal when she steps on it.

That's all for now; gotta go do non puzzlescript stuff for the day. Thanks!

On Sunday, November 10, 2013 12:56:46 AM UTC-8, ede...@gmail.com wrote:

[Kalev Tait]

The second last of those puzzles is pure evil. Love it!

[Zeigfreid Okugawa]

So, the second last puzzles is _not_ bugged? Sigh... back to the drawing board!

[Zeigfreid Okugawa]

I got it! I got it! Yes, that was silly.

[onr...@gmail.com]

@Stephen: I recall hearing that in the game Portal was based on (Narbacular Drop) you could shoot portals through portals but it was removed in Portal for reasons. Also the protagonist of Narbacular Drop had bad knees.

@ede...: This is really cool and interesting, I ought to try and make some levels with it myself. I'm getting a lot of ideas for things to add as well but they could be severely hampered by the limited number of objects - Buttons and other switches could be made into power sources which are connected to things by dotted lines, and in the editor you could draw the lines and thus set up links to multiple elements.

Moving walls!

Walls that flip over to become white or black!

And of course deadly lasers, how could we forget them?

[Alan Hazelden]

In this level:

......m###m
####m.mw..m
#P..mmm.*.m
#a........m
#hh.......m
#hh.......m
#hh.a...mdm
#.bmm##.mom
##mm..##mmm

I tried pushing a sentry onto the button but it didn't work :(

Also, bug: in this situation:

#######
#...w.#
#.p.*.#
#..####
#a*#...
#..#.q.
####...

If you push the crate and walk into the horizontal laser, the player dies but there's no sound because the laser is actually overwriting the player rather than killing her.

If you push the crate and walk into the vertical laser, the player doesn't die! Amusingly, she'd die if it wasn't sentry | player | wall, because without the wall the laser would pass through her, appear on the other side, and then she'd be next to a laser and die.

[Alan Hazelden]

Also the second-last level seems not too bad? The sentry didn't even become relevant at any point.

I'm finding the third-last and last levels harder (haven't solved either yet), did it get updated silently?

[ede...@gmail.com]

@ Alan Sentries not setting off buttons is purposeful; they're too light, which is why they can be pushed around by crates. I'll make a point of mentioning that at some point in a future update. As for the difficulty of the levels, I dunno, I didn't make any secret updates. Just different folks havin' different troubles, I guess. When I DO drop the next update, though, it'll have lasers working correctly, thanks for pointing that out.

@ Kalev and onr..., all good ideas for additional features, but yeah, object limits! That said, I THINK I can get a second button-and-door group, which MIGHT also be usable to turn walls into metal or back. More experimentation will be needed.

No new update this time, but it's coming!

[Alan Hazelden]

I don't think it would break any of these puzzles to have sentries activate buttons? It seems more intuitive to me that they would.

I think I still have a preference for not being able to commit suicide by jumping into a hole. Now you have lasers, if it's important that the player not be able to reorient themselves (as in the second-to-last puzzle), you could replace a hole with a laser to get that effect.

If you're adding objects I think you'd probably get more mileage out of fizzler fields than anything else suggested.

[ede...@gmail.com]

Okay, it was... surprisingly trivial to add fizzlers. Like, really quite easy, although I'm not 100% sold on the visual; the dark blue pixels are, alas, required, because the fizzler is ALSO the thing what tells the goal what color the next portal is going to be.

Anyway, it prevents shots and it kills sentries and crates. It's keen.

Also, got metal walls that turn portal-ready and back when the button is pressed. These seem to be working. Like, surprisingly well. Which means I'm sure there's ridiculous buggy behavior hidden in them somewhere, I haven't met it yet.

No new levels, just a playground for the new items:

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7478038

Still only have one button circuit, even though it can do neat new things. I'll keep at it.

[Kalev Tait]

An interesting bug with the latest version, best described with a reductive example:

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7483493

[ede...@gmail.com]

Good catch, Kalev! I'll get that ironed out in the next version, I just need to take the lasers out of the portals at the end of each turn.

[Kalev Tait]

Three things:

1) Fizzler should disable all currently active portals

2) There seems to be a bug where the end target doesn't register a win if the player doesn't have a portal gun

3) I made a few more puzzles, playing with single direction turrets: http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7491441

[Alan Hazelden]

I found it surprising that I couldn't have a portal on two sides of the same wall. Makes sense with the puzzlescript limitations though.

Bug: in the attached image, pushing the sentry into the portal will kill the player, but won't play a sound. It's the same thing as the earlier bug I reported: the laser is overwriting the player.

--

[Aaron Steed]

Pity there isn't any layers left to stick portals on different layers. That would solve having two portals on one tile (though you'd have to clean up two portals of the same orientation stacked).

This is good stuff and it would be nice to see a complete campaign as opposed to 3 levels at a time.

[onr...@gmail.com]

In this scenario if I walk upwards I am killed for no clear reason.
http://i.imgur.com/GrdZMhL.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/GrdZMhL.png

[ede...@gmail.com]

Alright folks, it's the new Aperture Science Sokoban Testing Initiative version, like, 0.9 or something.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7509484

Included in this update:

* About 2 new levels!
* Kalev's awesome levels (with but one tiny tweak to the one with only two portal-able surfaces)!
* Doors and buttons on two circuits!
* Fizzlers that fizzle your portals!
* Doors and flipping walls and laser targets that make noise!
* Portals that don't kill you for no clear reason if there's a laser coming out of them on the opposite side of you!
* Some re-written text, plenty of brand new text!
* Holes that you can still jump into. Honestly, because I think it's funny.
* Still only one portal per tile. Because layers man. But I did fix it so that shooting a new portal at a tile doesn't destroy the original portal!
* Blood, sweat, tears, and cake!

Enjoy!

[Kalev Tait]

Awesome!

As always, a couple of small bugs:

1) The first sentry puzzle is a bit of a hard introduction to sentries at the best of times… but due to the new rules (where shooting a portal at a portal counts as a canceled move) it is no longer possible.

2) Omni directional sentries don't shoot through portals if they are immediately next to them.

The other interesting thing I found, was that the third last puzzle is completable without ever going over the pit and getting the crate that is there.

Cheers,

-Kalev

P.S. The fourth to last puzzle was hard enough that I concluded it was impossible twice before finally figuring it out. I think this is probably a good thing, but I think I might create a few easier puzzles to try and introduce the various elements.

[ede...@gmail.com]

Dang omnidirectional sentries! Alright, that's an easy fix, though.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7511684

As for the first sentry puzzle, it is actually solvable; I went through all the levels to make sure.

Here's an animated .gif of the solution: http://imgur.com/80AndmC

What's funny is that I have never even tried to solve the third from last level without getting the crate from across the pit. The layout used to have the omnidirectional sentries and lasers all along the top row, and I guess I just got into the habit of treating that top wall as inaccessible. Ha, silly of me. I moved the top crate down a tile to make it less obvious that the pit doesn't matter, but yeah, it's entirely unnecessary.

As for the fourth from last level, that one can also be solved with only one of the two crates (although it is even harder that way, I think).

So, yeah, some re-arranging of the levels is probably in the cards. I've been staring at them long enough that I can't even objectively judge how difficult they might be anymore.

[Kalev Tait]

The one block solution on the fourth last puzzle… your right, I don't know which is easier.

[ede...@gmail.com]

It's been a while, but I had some time today: 4 new levels, two previously-unseen objects, and the sad, sad story of the non-functional sentry.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7622082

If there are any other bugs or major problems, I'll fix them up, but otherwise I'm calling this the Finished Version. Thanks everybody for your kind words, and especially Kalev for your level designs!

-Ed

[ede...@gmail.com]

... and then Ed found a half-finished level on an old save, fixed some typos, and dealt with a minor bug involving tossing sentries into holes through portals. Oy.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7511684

Really done, I swear.

[ska...@googlemail.com]

Am Sonntag, 24. November 2013 22:22:15 UTC+1 schrieb ede...@gmail.com:
> ... and then Ed found a half-finished level on an old save, fixed some typos, and dealt with a minor bug involving tossing sentries into holes through portals. Oy.
>
> http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7511684
>
> Really done, I swear.

Ed, what a great game! I have only dicoverd it now, thank you for your work. And thanks to Kalev.
I solved all the levels except for the one with the fizzlers in the middle and only one sentry and one crate, and the button for the crate on the opposite side of the fizzlers:

##mm///mm##
###h.o.h###
#..hhhhh..#
#....f....#
#....f..*.#
#d...f....#
#]...f...p#
###########

Does anyone has a hint for me ;-)
Thanks

[Chris Pickel]

What are you stuck on with it? The initial part where you need to
break out of the corner but can’t walk upwards?

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[ska...@googlemail.com]

No. I do not manage to get the crate over the fizzlers on the button as it is not possible to have the two portals needed for simultaneously on opposite sides of the fizzlers. And I do not see any other possibility to get the crate on the side of the button as it will be destroyed as soon as it touches a fizzler.

[ska...@googlemail.com]

Am Dienstag, 17. März 2015 11:48:49 UTC+1 schrieb Chris Pickel:

Damned, I finally made it. I must have been blind not to see that I can shoot the portals right over the holes;-) What an excellent game!

[Nigel Scott]

Damned, I finally made it. I must have been blind not to see that I can shoot the portals right over the holes;-) What an excellent game!

Very much enjoying this game - but I'm confounded by this level:

###########..

#...m...p.#..

#...mm..mmmm#

#.+.{h..ah.o#

#...mm..mmmm#

#...[....]#..

###########.. 

I can get into the left hand chamber, but I can't work out how to get the box out?

Any clues please?

[Ivan Koswara]

I just completed that level. I'll just say that managing to shoot to the left chamber alone isn't enough; you need to mess with the right chamber again after you shoot to the left chamber before you start dispatching the box out.

[Nigel Scott]

On Friday, 20 March 2015 15:31:59 UTC, Ivan Koswara wrote:

I just completed that level. I'll just say that managing to shoot to the left chamber alone isn't enough; you need to mess with the right chamber again after you shoot to the left chamber before you start dispatching the box out.

I need a bigger clue - I can't see what I can possibly do in the right chamber? Or am I doing something silly with the block - I have to move it right first, otherwise I get lasered, but then i can't move it left again?

 

[Ed]

I'm pleasantly surprised to find out that people are still playing this game! Man, now I'm feeling the "mess around with PuzzleScript" itch again. 

Nigel, you aren't doing anything silly with the block; you have to move it right, but after that you don't need to move it left. But notice that it has portal-ready walls above and below it. Like Ivan said, it'll take some futzing around to get a portal in position in the right chamber first. Hope that helps!

[Nigel Scott]

> On 20 Mar 2015, at 17:24, Ed <ede...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm pleasantly surprised to find out that people are still playing this game! Man, now I'm feeling the "mess around with PuzzleScript" itch again.
>
> Nigel, you aren't doing anything silly with the block; you have to move it right, but after that you don't need to move it left. But notice that it has portal-ready walls above and below it. Like Ivan said, it'll take some futzing around to get a portal in position in the right chamber first. Hope that helps!
>

Oh, it’s so obvious as soon as you mentioned the walls above and below! I can’t work out why I didn’t try it before? Thanks!

[gblaz...@gmail.com]

Amazing, dude, keep up the good work!

[Alan Hazelden]

Bumping this thread so as not to derail the one about the other Portal demake.

Has one of the mechanics been broken by PuzzleScript updates? Wall Mounted Safety Targets no longer seem to trigger anything!

Also, looking at the code I'm impressed to see this game was implemented before the 32-object limitation was lifted. (That's gonna make it hard to debug though)

On 12 June 2015 at 10:00, <gblaz...@gmail.com> wrote:

Amazing, dude, keep up the good work!

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[Stephen Lavelle]

oh no, did I break it? apologies if so. let me know if you can narrow down the problem...

[richard...@googlemail.com]

I'm rather late to the party (as usual) but I'm very much looking forward to playing this when I get home from work.

As a PuzzleScript newbie, what's the new object limit? (Crossing my fingers for infinity here.)

[Hand-E-Food]

It used to be 32.  It's since been increased to infinity.  :-)

[Virelsa]

Well I'm loving this so far. Some seriously tricky puzzles in there and I've still got a fair few to get through, I think. The dialogue between levels is nicely in keeping with the source material too.

On Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 8:56:46 AM UTC, ede...@gmail.com wrote:

It's a work in progress, in that I need to add some levels with more puzzle to them, but I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.

http://www.puzzlescript.net/play.html?p=7395520

Have to sort out some fussy interaction with portals in corners, then try to streamline my interactions enough that I can do away with a temporary and squeeze in another object or two (gotta have sentries, at least!), but I thought I'd share the Work in Progress with the world.