Portal 2 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' Releases 8th May

[ad_hominem]

While the majority of people reading this won't be in desperate need of a more user-friendly way to create Portal 2 maps, some of you may be happy to know that Valve's simplified puzzle creator for Portal 2 is set to release in just under 2 weeks' time.

As hinted at March at GDC, Valve have now announced the imminent release of a puzzle creator for Portal 2. It’s going to be called the Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative, it’s going to be out on the 8th May, and most of all, it’s going to be free.

It’s a puzzle creator that will allow the easy sharing of creations to other Portal 2 players, via the Steam Workshop, with options to publish, vote, and download. And a download will automatically install it within the game. I’d like to see that integrated entirely into the game, so you don’t have to switch out to access it. If not, they’ve got two weeks to fix that. Get to it, Valve.

I'm interested to see just how easy it is to use, and whether it could theoretically be used as an easy way to prototype a specific kind of puzzle. Thanks to RPS for the news.

[cra0kalo]

SO they don't bother to improve hammer and release some decent tools instead they make some shitty level maker great work Valve.

[The Giblets of Jesus]

SO they don't bother to improve hammer and release some decent tools instead they make some shitty level maker great work Valve.

I've actually been lucky enough to try out the beta for the new level editor and workshop and I must say, it is far from shitty. The new editor makes everything infinity easier, and you can even modify maps afterwards in hammer and publish them to the workshop.

At least give it a chance, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Ark11]

[source-maps]

it might be all cool and stuff.. but meanwhile we modders still have to deal with an almost 10 year old buggy development kit

[Epifire]

This indeed does sound interesting, but I still gotta agree with Source-Maps that it doesn't really help the hardcore modders at all. This is still exciting on another note though. Cause guess what guys, Valve is actually thinking in our direction again, so who knows what we might be seeing here in the near future?

This is a start, and at some point they may get down to the nitty gritty and get some upgraded tools to replace our old Hammers. But seriously is they do, just remember I predicted this, if not well hey at least I was almost right.

[Major Banter]

[srredfire]

I like the guy looking at porn because porn is pretty funny.

[source-maps]

This is still exciting on another note though. Cause guess what guys, Valve is actually thinking in our direction again, so who knows what we might be seeing here in the near future?

are you sure? the way I look at it, it feels more like they are looking the other way and catering to the mainstream
which it totally understandable but it suck for people like us

I don't want to sound entitled, but if hl3/ep3 has authoring tools, and they don't bring innovative stuff for us modders to the table.. Valve can suck it and I will move on

[ScarT]

I'm worried that they won't. I really just want to know what we did to them since they're hurting us this way

[Stormy]

hl3/ep3

How many times do I have to say it, IT'S NOT HAPPENING.

On topic, I think it looks like fun. hammer is a pain in the ass to learn and this means that anyone can just pick up the game and start making maps. Wait. That's a good thing why?

[Ark11]

What I want to know, does this actually create working levels, or does it just make those little non-playable ones like at 1:27 in the video?

[Jordash]

It would be pretty useless if the levels were unplayable, so my money is on it creates working levels.

[Epifire]

This is still exciting on another note though. Cause guess what guys, Valve is actually thinking in our direction again, so who knows what we might be seeing here in the near future?

are you sure? the way I look at it, it feels more like they are looking the other way and catering to the mainstream
which it totally understandable but it suck for people like us

I don't know, if they are going this far to make a editor (however simplified this may be) it lets me know they are looking in this direction once again. If they can make some thing like that, they can definitely make a more robust version, and give it a Hammer.

Here is another way of looking at it. Valve has a tendency to promote the idea of certain development pipelines and or sale model (like the TF 2 free to play) or what ever that thing was that they mentioned at the Game Developers Conference. So what I am trying to say is what if this is just a way of them testing a new setup/model? It would certainly make sense since they dropped off the face of the earth for SDK support. What is this is a simplified portion of the new stuff (maybe to be shipped with HL 3)? It seems to good to be true but it certainly makes enough sense, if you see my point.

[source-maps]

lets just hope you're right