Holy Crap: Portal really *could* be Game of the Year

[wumpus]

I thought you guys were just kidding around with that Portal GOTY thread (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=39154). C'mon. A three hour pack-in novelty gun game as GOTY? Seriously?

But after finally playing through Portal, I'm stunned. It really is that good. It's the first Valve game I've played since Half-Life that actually recreates the wide-eyed thrill I had when playing through Half-Life the first time.

I had forgotten how good it feels: the euphoria from experiencing something unique, something unlike anything you've played before, with a gripping storyline that compels you to finish. It manages to be both poignant and deeply funny at the same time. I can't even remember the last time I've laughed this much during a game. The feeling of greatness was palpable, something I savored the more I played.

I don't know if I'd call Portal GOTY, solely on the basis of length. But it's easily the best thing Valve has done since Half-Life-- and it should be an absolute must-play item on any gamer's checklist this year. Or any year for that matter.

Kudos to the Valve team. The orange box is shaping up to be a worldbeater when it contains the glory of Portal and TF2.

Now if you could just reboot the Half-Life franchise with the kind of design genius you just showed us in Portal, and less of the tepid mediocrity we got in Episode 2.

[Enduro_Man]

I'm ashamed to say I voted for "I am a retard" in Charles' poll when I was only halfway through Portal. At that time, I thought that QT3 had lost its collective marbles. I didn't "get it" until, oh, five minutes into Behind the Scenes. At the very least, let Portal be a lesson to developers about the huge amounts of goodwill created by a fleshed-out and satisfying ending.

I'm still loath to call it GOTY in the year of BioShock, though, and would like to weasel out of choosing a winner by citing the legal precedent of "Apples vs. Oranges". I wonder what the reaction would have been had BioShock been released after Portal.

[Talisker]

Portal has the best level of the year, but I can't really say I'd give it GOTY m'self.

[nutsak]

Did you mean to hit "New Thread" instead of "Post Reply", Wumpus ?

[Ben Sones]

I satisfied with anyone who is at least willing to admit that this three-hour novelty game is in the running. Yeah, it really is that good. I'm loath to finger anything as my personal game of the year with so many games still on the way, but Portal is definitely on the short list.

[Jonathan Crane]

I'm loath to finger anything as my personal game of the year with so many games still on the way, but Portal is definitely on the short list.

The list of short games, that is.

[Jay Adan]

Did you mean to hit "New Thread" instead of "Post Reply", Wumpus ?

Oh, look! The topic police have arrived!

[Ben Sones]

The list of short games, that is.

The list of short games that are better than most of the long games I have played this year, yeah. It's also a very short list: Portal is the only game on it.

[nutsak]

Oh, look! The topic police have arrived!

Yes, they have. You're under arrest for being a cake eater.

[Jonathan Crane]

The list of short games that are better than most of the long games I have played this year, yeah. It's also a very short list: Portal is the only game on it.

I kid because I love. Portal really highlights the idea that editing down can really produce something special. I can imagine an 8 hour version, where the extra challenges were mandatory being really, really frustrating. As it is, short, sweet and perfect.

[Charles]

I thought you guys were just kidding around with that Portal GOTY thread (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=39154). C'mon. A three hour pack-in novelty gun game as GOTY? Seriously?

This is where I mock people for participating in a thread about a game before finishing it.

[Bill Dungsroman]

I thought you guys were just kidding around with that Portal GOTY thread (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=39154). C'mon. A three hour pack-in novelty gun game as GOTY? Seriously?

But after finally playing through Portal, I'm stunned. It really is that good. It's the first Valve game I've played since Half-Life that actually recreates the wide-eyed thrill I had when playing through Half-Life the first time.

I had forgotten how good it feels: the euphoria from experiencing something unique, something unlike anything you've played before, with a gripping storyline that compels you to finish. It manages to be both poignant and deeply funny at the same time. I can't even remember the last time I've laughed this much during a game. The feeling of greatness was palpable, something I savored the more I played.

I don't know if I'd call Portal GOTY, solely on the basis of length. But it's easily the best thing Valve has done since Half-Life-- and it should be an absolute must-play item on any gamer's checklist this year. Or any year for that matter.

Kudos to the Valve team. The orange box is shaping up to be a worldbeater when it contains the glory of Portal and TF2.

Now if you could just reboot the Half-Life franchise with the kind of design genius you just showed us in Portal, and less of the tepid mediocrity we got in Episode 2.
Jesus Christ, wumpus. All that deserved praise you heap onto Portal and then you disqualify it as a GotY candidate because it's too short? That's kind of a lame con matched up against all the pros you listed, dude.

[stusser]

I wouldn't disqualify it for length, I just don't think it's better than Bioshock. Portal does have the best ending of the year. Probably the best ending of the past 5 years.

[Destarius]

Portal does have the best ending of the year. Probably the best ending of the past 5 years.

Some endings have been cinematic, some endings have been sufficient. This is, for me, absolutely the first time I've seen an ending and laughed so hard and thought "This is PERFECT!".

[Charlatan]

Well, even if Portal isn't GOTY, maybe we can nominate it for Computer Game Song of the Year.

[Shiroko]

It's definitely the coolest game of the year, the length is just fine. Any more than that and the game would be worse.

It could use extra challenges to download.

Funniest game I've seen in a couple of years for sure.

[Rock8man]

Playing through Portal really makes me yearn for more short and sweet games that you can play through in two or three short gaming sessions. I find myself going back to Portal even though I've finished both the main game and the Advanced challenges. I'm well into some of the other challenges in the game now, and 9 hours into the game, and still having fun with it. More games should use this model of short core game, with additional levels and challenges surrounding the core game to add more replayability.

[MattKeil]

As someone said in the other Portal GotY thread, no matter how great a short film is, it still can't win Best Picture. It will be interesting to see the debate over whether a three hour pack-in game that can't be bought separately (yet) can be considered for GotY status.

Phantom Edit: Myself, I reserve GotY judgment until Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mass Effect are out.

[Lizard_King]

So, any of the fans of this game playing it on a 360? I say this as the temporarily (gaming) computer disabled.

[madkevin]

I did. Why?

[Lizard_King]

I did. Why?
Just wondering if its excellence transcended the mouse/gamepad divide. I've been hesitant to get TF2 for that reason.

[slantz]

I've got it on 360 too. Through odd circumstance, I own orange box on both PC and 360, but I'm playing all the single player stuff on 360 (and loving it).


Just wondering if its excellence transcended the mouse/gamepad divide. I've been hesitant to get TF2 for that reason.
Not looking to start a controller vs kb/m debate here, but my personal preference lon the single-player stuff leans towards 360, and my experience playing Half-Life 2 (proper) and Portal there have been great. Though I watched some people playing Portal on PC, and there are a few rare instances where snap precision would have been nice, (especially for the post-game time trials,) but it's totally unnecessary.

TF2, however, for my tastes, was a different beast. If anything, I found the balance to be different, with Scouts (on cap the flag) and Engineers (everywhere) being more powerful because it's harder to precision aim at a scout blazing by, and turrets are the one 'class' completely unaffected by slower and/or less precise aiming. I think healing for Medics is probably inflated a bit too, because in many cases damage is being dealt slower because the aiming is different.

TF2 for 360 isn't bad in my judgement, but it's hardly the poster child for multiplayer FPS on consoles. Made-for-console games like Halo or GoW certainly fare better on the console in that regard.

[WarrenM]

Yeah, it works fine on the 360. I played all the way through it there and it was pure greatness.

I'm now playing TF2 on the 360 and it's great as well.

[Pentadact]

Oh, look! The topic police have arrived!

To be fair, this is the absolute least necessary new topic I've ever seen in my life. And that includes "Ignore this" "Delete me" and "Test". In fact, there are weird threads that crop up on the Garry's Mod forums where people ask to be banned, and duly are. Even they were a more worthy use of forum index space than this, since they served some dark, masochistic purpose. This thread is even less productive than committing forum suicide.

This post adding to it, on the other hand, was entirely necessary and highly useful to everyone.

I think even if you lopped the end off Portal like a carrot, it would still be the most unusual and funny game in several years. Only the obscure existence of Narbacular Drop stops it short of being the most original major game of the decade.

Its length in itself is not a problem for me, but it would need to allow even more freedom and variety to compete with something like TF2 for the best game this year.

[Lizard_King]

I see. I guess I'll have to give it a whirl.

[madkevin]

Just wondering if its excellence transcended the mouse/gamepad divide. I've been hesitant to get TF2 for that reason.

Worked great for Portal. I'm replaying HL2 before I dive into the Episodes, and the only real differences are 1) pretty generous auto-aim, and 2) controllers makes the vehicle sections much, much easier for me.

[worm]

I just found myself wishing the puzzle engine was as good as DROD's. I think it will be pretty obvious it's not if lots of user content ever comes out for it.

They made six levels, and I feel they admit to this in only having those six as advanced/challenge levels. Now doing the advanced stages required some honestly clever tricks. The least steps and least time challenges just seem to stem from all the tricks you'll learn on least portals, and I still think least steps is kind of obnoxious for a FPS.

I'm really proud that I got myself down to 13 portals on level 15. However, only 15 and 18 actually require you to be clever at all. The others all involve one hit or miss tricks. That's my major problem with it, I don't think the puzzle engine at all allows for much more than what was in the game. It's definitely a step up from Narbacular Drop, no lie. I just don't see them taking everything much farther without making things much more physics puzzley.

[Fugitive]

One thing I wish they'd done with the achievements was to split them up into separate ones for the portal, step, and time challenges. There's no way I'm getting gold on the step and time ones, but it would help to have a bit more motivation to finish off the portal ones, at least.

[slantz]

One thing I wish they'd done with the achievements was to split them up into separate ones for the portal, step, and time challenges. There's no way I'm getting gold on the step and time ones, but it would help to have a bit more motivation to finish off the portal ones, at least.
Preach the word.

Also, the time (and possibly step) challenges would be clearly easier on PC, but I don't think they changed the benchmarks accordingly.

[stusser]

They could easily add different mechanics to the puzzles. For example, little marching lemmings robots that need to be shepherded through portals to the end, bowling, pinball, etc.

[Gary Whitta]

It's definitely the coolest game of the year, the length is just fine. Any more than that and the game would be worse.

This is something that most of the length whores on this and other boards have overlooked. The length is perfect for the kind of game that it is. It would have been easier to make the game longer simply by padding it with transitional filler as most FPS games do, but with Portal you're almost ALWAYS in the midst of a particular challenge or puzzle; each one leads immediately into the next.

Most really good ten-hour games don't have three hours of gameplay this good.

[Ben Sones]

As someone said in the other Portal GotY thread, no matter how great a short film is, it still can't win Best Picture.

Neither can animated films, no matter how long they are. Just because the motion picture academy has a rule about something, that doesn't mean that it makes any sense.

[Quaro]

What is 'Game of the Year' anyway? You guys are talking like there's some actual award to be arguing over.

[BlueJackalope]

I'm ashamed to say I voted for "I am a retard" in Charles' poll when I was only halfway through Portal. At that time, I thought that QT3 had lost its collective marbles. I didn't "get it" until, oh, five minutes into Behind the Scenes. At the very least, let Portal be a lesson to developers about the huge amounts of goodwill created by a fleshed-out and satisfying ending.

I'm still loath to call it GOTY in the year of BioShock, though, and would like to weasel out of choosing a winner by citing the legal precedent of "Apples vs. Oranges". I wonder what the reaction would have been had BioShock been released after Portal.

Pretty much what you would expect. Gamers have the attention span of a kitten in a yarn factory. "Portal was cool but OMFG have you played Bioshock!?"

[Ben Sones]

So what, if we like one thing, we're not allowed to later like something else? Nobody is saying that Bioshock sucks or is yesterday's news or anything. But it's not like a person has to pretend that they don't love Portal just because they already said that they love Bioshock.

[BlueJackalope]

So what, if we like one thing, we're not allowed to later like something else? Nobody is saying that Bioshock sucks or is yesterday's news or anything. But it's not like a person has to pretend that they don't love Portal just because they already said that they love Bioshock.

Yes. That's what I was saying. You can only pick one.
Quick! Choose! NOW!

[slantz]

To those who said there's not much else that could have been done with portal (without adding twitch-type stuff), I disagree. The turrets added a whole new element to the game, as do the boxed turrets in the advanced challenge. And even the stuff that was there all along -- crates, crate dispensors, triggered movments, those energy balls, and so on all have a lot of life left in there.

And there's still lots of environmental stuff that can be added and combined to interesting effect.

Note that I'm not arguing that Portal should have been longer. I get game fatigue easily and liked it as it was. But the well is hardly dry.

[jfletch]

I thought Portal was extremely cool, but the pacing was pretty poor - I got through the first 15 levels in about 45 minutes, and the next 3 in about an hour, and the last level just dragged on and on and on and on. It wasn't particularly challenging or anything, it was sort of all the same shit you did in the training levels. I guess that's the point, but I really think this could have been handled better.

I think people are freaking out over the ending more than anything else, which really was one of the best I've ever seen. Overall, it's not GOTY and probably wouldn't be in my top 10, but top 15 or 20? Definitely.

[Bill Dungsroman]

I think people are freaking out over the ending more than anything else, which really was one of the best I've ever seen.
Awesome. It sure was a great ending, but Portal also had a great beginning and middle. I'm freaking out over the entire game from top to bottom, soup to nuts.

[Kunikos]

The meat of the game is pretty good, but I think GLaDOS is stealing the show and will certainly remain more memorable for a lot of people.

I'm eagerly awaiting Portal 2 or Half-Life: Portal or whatever else that involves portals and GLaDOS. :)

[Tom McNamara]

I'm really proud that I got myself down to 13 portals on level 15. However, only 15 and 18 actually require you to be clever at all. The others all involve one hit or miss tricks.

I've been impressed by the player ingenuity on these challenges. I saw a Youtube video of the first challenge done with two portals.

[Sarkus]

Oh, look! The topic police have arrived!

Seriously, though. Why are there two threads about the exact same topic? Did those who missed out on playing Portal right away feel they needed their own thread to discuss this? Is having the exact same discussion somehow necessary?

This thread is bringing nothing new to the table.

[wumpus]

Yes, this is the first time in the HISTORY OF Q23 that there have been (gasp) TWO THREADS ABOUT THE SAME GAME! (cue dramatic music)

And my thread isn't a shitty poll.

[worm]

I've been impressed by the player ingenuity on these challenges. I saw a Youtube video of the first challenge done with two portals.
Gee, getting three portals on that was a box chucking fucking nightmare. I just checked it out. He's not even using portals, it's nice to realize that I can just rig doors open, it's just evidence that the puzzle stuff has it's limits. I definitely think DROD: TCB is more GOTY-Y than Portal.

[nutsak]

http://www.deadbored.net/qt3/blu.gif (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=1124394&postcount=307)

[Bill Dungsroman]

Yes, this is the first time in the HISTORY OF Q23 that there have been (gasp) TWO THREADS ABOUT THE SAME GAME! (cue dramatic music)

And my thread isn't a shitty poll.
No, it's a shitty thread.

[Not One Of Us]

nutsak wins.

[Sarkus]

Yes, this is the first time in the HISTORY OF Q23 that there have been (gasp) TWO THREADS ABOUT THE SAME GAME! (cue dramatic music)

And my thread isn't a shitty poll.

That's a gross simplification. When was the last time there were two threads discussing the EXACT same thing about the EXACT same game? It's one thing to have two threads, one on say impressions and one spoilers. This is a new low in "My opinion is so important I'm starting a new thread so it doesn't get lost in the thread that already exists about the same thing."

[Derek French]

They could easily add different mechanics to the puzzles. For example, little marching lemmings robots that need to be shepherded through portals to the end, bowling, pinball, etc.
I think I just had a little joygasm at that thought. Could you please e-mail Gabe, like RTF now, please?

Pretty much what you would expect. Gamers have the attention span of a kitten in a yarn factory. "Portal was cool but OMFG have you played Bioshock!?"
And that makes Portal win again, since the ole SecuROM vs. Process Explorer thing with BioShock. All I have to do is reinstall Windows on my box to fix some of the demonic posession stuff that I have going on.

[jabroni]

I've been impressed by the player ingenuity on these challenges. I saw a Youtube video of the first challenge done with two portals.
Wow, some of those are insane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkjTGZrIKZI). I can't wait to see a speedrun of the whole game.

[wumpus]

This thread is bringing nothing new to the table.
And you are?

Portal is awesome. It deserves every thread it gets. Plus, I hated that stupid poll.

[Gordon Cameron]

I wonder if you could effectively integrate a portal gun mechanic into one of those jumpy low-grav multiplayer maps like "Morpheus" for UT. I guess you'd need to come up with some reason why it's advantageous to be zooming all over the place though.

[tromik]

Definitely single player game of the year for me. I know I won't play anything else this year that will even come close. Great atmosphere, great gameplay, great story, great ending. Combining skill with logic like this was a fantastic idea. Sure, it was only three hours long, but it satisfied like nothing else. Also, it was just so refreshing and so different.

While I am looking forward some sort of expansion or sequel, I'm really excited about what Portal might inspire other developers to try.

[ARogan]

Just finished portal. I was going to finish ep2 first but quickly got bored (how long do I have to keep killing ant lions???!!??). I agree with all the positive comments posted. It was just an amazing experience.

[malkav11]

As someone said in the other Portal GotY thread, no matter how great a short film is, it still can't win Best Picture. It will be interesting to see the debate over whether a three hour pack-in game that can't be bought separately (yet) can be considered for GotY status.

Phantom Edit: Myself, I reserve GotY judgment until Call of Duty 4, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mass Effect are out.

Que? Portal can be bought separately. It's $20. Admittedly, you can only do this through Steam, for PC, but I don't really see any need for other avenues.

[Gordon Cameron]

Yeah, I bought Portal separately via Steam as I am too broke at the moment to shell out $50+ for the full orange box. I heard so much buzz about Portal I just had to try it out.

[John Sansker]

What is 'Game of the Year' anyway? You guys are talking like there's some actual award to be arguing over.

There is an actual award.

Most, if not all gaming magazines single out a game for "Game of the Year",
one game gets the overall top honor.
Then there are sub categories like "First Person Shooter of the Year", "Real Time Strategy of the Year" and so on.

Head down to your local store that sells games, check out the Half Life 2 box.
Prominently displayed on the front is this darling little gem of a quote from PC Gamer magazine "The Best Game of All Time".
Lending credence to the rumor that the PC Gamer staff has access to a time machine.

[tromik]

What is 'Game of the Year' anyway? You guys are talking like there's some actual award to be arguing over.
Tom Chick provides the winner with props stolen from various television studios.

Soren Johnson won a lovely suit that fit Dave Foley when he didn't weigh over 200 pounds.

[metta]

Speaking of Herr Chick, is there anywhere he has weighed in on Portal? I wonder what he thinks about the game.

[tromik]

Speaking of Herr Chick, is there anywhere he has weighed in on Portal? I wonder what he thinks about the game.
I saw him playing Testchamber 17 yesterday. Analyze at will!

[Tom Chick]

I tend not to read threads until I'm done with a game. Unfortunately, I had no idea what WCC was and I ducked into that thread and had it spoiled for me.

But I finished yesterday and I loved it. I have no idea about this silly "Game of the Year" talk -- you people would snip and fuss at each other a lot less if you'd just use less loaded terms like "Personal Favorite of the Year", but where's the fun in that, right? -- but I am confident that Portal will likely be one of my favorite games of 2007. Short game, yes. "Just" a puzzle game, yes. One-trick pony, yes. But none of those takes away that it's still one of my favorites.

And, yeah, of all the redundant threads, this is one of the reduntantest! Way to go, wumpus! :)

-Tom

[tromik]

"Just" a puzzle game, yes.
"Just" would indicate that it's the opposite of "simply a puzzle game," but the "yes" indicates that you think it is "simply a puzzle game."

Which it totally isn't.

[Ben Sones]

I tend not to read threads until I'm done with a game. Unfortunately, I had no idea what WCC was and I ducked into that thread and had it spoiled for me.

If only we had spoiler tags!


;)

[tromik]

When do we get to talk about what's actually happening in Portal? Where are all the people? Sure, they were all gassed to death, but someone had to be alive in there to add the morality unit. And where are the other subjects? What are all the other units for in the cake room?

I'm assuming that all of this occurs before the Black Mesa incident, or maybe during the Black Mesa incident.

[Tom Chick]

The gameplay in Portal is "just" a puzzle game. The narrative, however, is anything but. So, yeah, you kind of have to figure out a new label. It's not really a shooter. But it is played from first-person!

I really dug some of the puzzles, but overall, that Lode Runner* "find the exit" challenge doesn't do a lot for me, even if it does have a cool gimmick. Fortunately, Valve had the presence of mind to let guys like me off the hook after four hours.

-Tom

* I'm sure there's a better example, but the only other one I could think of was that PSP game, Exit. And no one would have known what I was talking about.

[tromik]

The gameplay in Portal is "just" a puzzle game. The narrative, however, is anything but. So, yeah, you kind of have to figure out a new label. It's not really a shooter. But it is played from first-person!
No, it's definitely not a shooter. But I think it's more than a puzzle game. A first-person action-puzzle adventure-mystery maybe?

[Gordon Cameron]

edited for great spoilers!

[Houngan]

When do we get to talk about what's actually happening in Portal? Where are all the people? Sure, they were all gassed to death, but someone had to be alive in there to add the morality unit. And where are the other subjects? What are all the other units for in the cake room?

I'm assuming that all of this occurs before the Black Mesa incident, or maybe during the Black Mesa incident.

Check out the spoiler thread, speculation abounds.

H.

[jabroni]

When do we get to talk about what's actually happening in Portal? Where are all the people? Sure, they were all gassed to death, but someone had to be alive in there to add the morality unit. And where are the other subjects? What are all the other units for in the cake room?

I'm assuming that all of this occurs before the Black Mesa incident, or maybe during the Black Mesa incident.
You're looking for the 4th Portal thead: http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=39136

[metta]

You're looking for the 4th Portal thead

And jabroni reveals themself to be dry as an old soda cracker :)

I laughed.

[GregB]

Since the other "Portal is Game of the Year" thread is completely derailed, I figure I'd post here. In my "Player Driven Game Design" class, my students are completely obsessed with Portal. So much so that when I arrived for class this morning I was met with this:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff162/Capt_Donut/StudentCake.jpg

I love these guys!

[tromik]

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff162/Capt_Donut/StudentCake.jpg
OMG those haircuts!

[Bill Dungsroman]

OMG those haircuts!
The dude in the hat rules, though.

[Soapyfrog]

The goggles do nothing!!!!

[Ben Sones]

Kisuke Urahara is in your class? Awesome.

[John Sansker]

Since the other "Portal is Game of the Year" thread is completely derailed, I figure I'd post here. In my "Player Driven Game Design" class, my students are completely obsessed with Portal. So much so that when I arrived for class this morning I was met with this:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff162/Capt_Donut/StudentCake.jpg

I love these guys!

Not one single female.....

[Rogen]

I think the length is perfect. It really is hard to overstate my satisfaction with this game.

[Rogen]

Not one single female.....
the one with the glasses on the right might be a mustachioed female

[Wholly Schmidt]

I think the length is perfect. It really is hard to overstate my satisfaction with this game.
I'm making a note.

[mkozlows]

I think the length is perfect. It really is hard to overstate my satisfaction with this game.

It's a measure of Bioshock's quality that killing little girls actually made me, a jaded and manipulative gamer, feel guilty and slightly uncomfortable.

But Portal actually made me feel guilty and slightly uncomfortable about throwing a crate into a pit.

That's pretty damn impressive.

[GregB]

Not one single female.....

Oh, I've got a few women in my class. They chose not to be in the photo. And based on the comments already posted, they chose wisely.

[tromik]

Oh, I've got a few women in my class. They chose not to be in the photo. And based on the comments already posted, they chose wisely.
I'm sure their haircuts are fine.

[Wobbo]

Kudos to the Valve team. The orange box is shaping up to be a worldbeater when it contains the glory of Portal and TF2.

Now if you could just reboot the Half-Life franchise with the kind of design genius you just showed us in Portal, and less of the tepid mediocrity we got in Episode 2.
Valve did not make Portal, the design team behind Narbacular Drop did.

[RepoMan]

I didn't feel guilty about incinerating the WCC. I felt like the hearts painted on it were another manipulation by the rat bastard psycho lying AI who was mindfucking me so relentlessly. I did feel like the cube was damn handy and I felt some affection for it in a thanks-for-saving-my-life way, but not in an OMG-it's-alive way. At all. So, um, there.

Wobbo, Gabe hired the entire Narbacular team. So they all became part of Valve before they started working on Portal. So technically you're wrong.

[Rock8man]

Valve did not make Portal, the design team behind Narbacular Drop did.

.... who are a part of Valve now, so it follows that Valve made Portal.

[tromik]

Valve did not make Portal, the design team behind Narbacular Drop did.
It seemed that both parties had a lot to say in the commentary, so I assume that both work on it.

[Chuck Jordan]

Wobbo, Gabe hired the entire Narbacular team. So they all became part of Valve before they started working on Portal. So technically you're wrong.
But that makes it sound like he's just wrong on a technicality, and doesn't cover the ways he's more fundamentally, horribly wrong. If Valve had put this game (http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html) in with the Orange Box, you wouldn't be seeing anywhere near the same reaction as you are to Portal. The portal concept itself is one of the coolest to hit games in a long time, but the real genius of Portal was knowing how to better use the concept.

[Kunikos]

I'm making a note.

HUGE SUCCESS

[Kunikos]

The dude in the hat rules, though.

Yeah, where the hell do I buy an Urahara hat? That rules.

Edit: Oh, right, Ebay (http://search.ebay.com/urahara).

[Supertanker]

The cake is awesome, did you actually have some?

Being a veteran geek during college, I've sported hair pretty similar to some of those guys. I don't think of those as "haircuts" so much as "minimum necessary steps to keep hair out of my face." There's a missing style component.

[schurem]

i just finished the game and i experienced something i havent experienced in a LOOOOOOOONG time : awesome end-game credits that were satisfying and awesome adn funny and cool and AWESOME! YEA!

[Kunikos]

GregB: what school are you teaching at?

[IndridCold]

apologies if this has already been posted, but the inevitable marriage of the portal gun and Half Life 2 has been cobble together already...


http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/10/video-half-life.html

[Tom McNamara]

Gee, getting three portals on that was a box chucking fucking nightmare. I just checked it out. He's not even using portals, it's nice to realize that I can just rig doors open, it's just evidence that the puzzle stuff has it's limits. I definitely think DROD: TCB is more GOTY-Y than Portal.

The thing about chucking the box is that the "use" key just causes you to drop it. You have to use "MOUSE1" to actually throw it a little. And you have to hop forward at the same time. It's actually not as tricky as it sounds. Once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a bicycle.

Doing the running jump/grab at the beginning, though... that's tricky.

[GregB]

GregB: what school are you teaching at?

Wombat and I both teach at Champlain College in beautiful Burlington, Vermont. We work in different different departments, but because of our gaming chops we're often called upon to teach some of the low level courses in the Electronic Game Design major.

[Kunikos]

Wombat and I both teach at Champlain College in beautiful Burlington, Vermont. We work in different different departments, but because of our gaming chops we're often called upon to teach some of the low level courses in the Electronic Game Design major.

If you don't mind me asking, what do you normally teach?

[Erik]

Valve did not make Portal, the design team behind Narbacular Drop did.

I just went and asked the people who made Narbacular Drop and they assure me Valve made Portal.

[wumpus]

Need. More. Portal.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Man, I heard Old Man Murray made Portal. Screw Valve.

[Not One Of Us]

And Team Fortress Software made TF2.

What the hell does Valve even do anymore? Oh, Half-Life.

[Papageno]

How do you check and see how much time you spent playing it? I just finished it tonight, and that was 12 kinds of awesome. Anyway to listen to the end song independently of the game?

[Pentadact]

And Team Fortress Software made TF2.

What the hell does Valve even do anymore? Oh, Half-Life.

Actually that was made by Microsoft.

[Kareem]

Anyway to listen to the end song independently of the game?

The video of the end credits with the song is here:

http://files.filefront.com/Still+Alive/;8795400;/fileinfo.html

I can't find the download link for the song alone right now.

[Fugitive]

How do you check and see how much time you spent playing it? I just finished it tonight, and that was 12 kinds of awesome.
If you go to your SteamID page under the community tab, it'll show how long you've been playing your games in the last two weeks.

[Rob_Merritt]

If you go to your SteamID page under the community tab, it'll show how long you've been playing your games in the last two weeks.

I wish they went the Xfire route and kept a running tab of your play time.

[Papageno]

Wow, I must really suck--It says I took 6.7 hours to finish it. I wonder if that includes all the time the app was running or all saves and reloads or something.

[Rob_Merritt]

My 7 year old just finished Portal and he had some interesting comments


********spoilers if you haven't finish*********
He said that your character is the good part of the bad computer, she killed herself to stop the evil part for honor
**************************************

Pretty deep for a 7 year old.

[Quaro]

!

That is pretty good! Is that word for word?

[Kryten]

Wow, I must really suck--It says I took 6.7 hours to finish it. I wonder if that includes all the time the app was running or all saves and reloads or something.

I heard Jeff Green took 17 hours to finish it :)

<3 GFW Radio.

[Unicorn McGriddle]

That's a pretty good theory. GLaDOS does have a genetic component.

I like it, particularly because it suggests that the protagonist knows what's going on from the start. Stilt Girl has this weary, knowing look about her that doesn't say "innocent victim," or at least not "innocent victim without experience." Plus, the leg gear.

My initial assumption was that she was a key scientist on the portal project (or at a stretch, an android research assistant), and she was taking the first test run through the obstacle course to make sure it was working before sending in the test subjects. She may even have been responsible for the design of the self-reconfiguring course complex or the AI to manage it. Of course, these ideas had to be discarded as I got further in the game.

[Ben Sones]

I heard Jeff Green took 17 hours to finish it :)

<3 GFW Radio.

That's only because he had to leave the keyboard every ten minutes or so to go chase the kids off his lawn.

[Preachy Preach]

SPOILER:-


IF you took as long to finish the end sequence as I did (mainly trying to drop the balls into the incinerator...), there's a line of dialogue about how 'you're not a scientist, you're not an employee, you don't even work here' - which ties into all the references to 'bring your daughter to work day' earlier in the game.

[Sarkus]

SPOILER:-


IF you took as long to finish the end sequence as I did (mainly trying to drop the balls into the incinerator...), there's a line of dialogue about how 'you're not a scientist, you're not an employee, you don't even work here' - which ties into all the references to 'bring your daughter to work day' earlier in the game.

However, that also works for the line about you being a bad person because only bad people get sent here and the reference in HL2:EP2 that says Aperature was known for cutting corners and discarding ethics to get things done.

I personally think that Portal takes place after HL1 but how long after is hard to say. We know it's after because of the aperaturescience.com data from the guy who's locked inside, which tells us something bad has happened outside. I'd be surprised if it's the HL2 timeframe, however, mainly because the outside world you see at the end looks a lot cheerier than the outside looks like in HL2. If that's the case, then the "character" we will see in the future is most likely the computer and not the player character.

Fun to speculate, though.

[Iron Xides]

SPOILER:-


IF you took as long to finish the end sequence as I did (mainly trying to drop the balls into the incinerator...), there's a line of dialogue about how 'you're not a scientist, you're not an employee, you don't even work here' - which ties into all the references to 'bring your daughter to work day' earlier in the game.

I thought that line went "full-time employee."

[malkav11]

But that makes it sound like he's just wrong on a technicality, and doesn't cover the ways he's more fundamentally, horribly wrong. If Valve had put this game (http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/narbaculardrop.html) in with the Orange Box, you wouldn't be seeing anywhere near the same reaction as you are to Portal. The portal concept itself is one of the coolest to hit games in a long time, but the real genius of Portal was knowing how to better use the concept.

Indeed. Narbacular Drop was why I wasn't really that excited about Portal before it hit. Great concept, underwhelming execution.