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03-08-2007, 12:39 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Quote:
GDC 2007: Portal Hands-On
I jumped through what and landed where?
by Charles Onyett
March 7, 2007 - Portal, part of Valve's Orange and Black boxes to release this Fall, differentiates itself from the other games included, Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2, in that it's not a first-person shooter. It takes place from a first-person perspective, but it's essentially a puzzle game. We got a chance to play through a few introductory stages at GDC in San Francisco, and though we didn't get to see very much, we saw enough to know we wanted more.
The setup in Portal is simple. You have one gun that can shoot two portals, one to enter and one to exit. You can blast these onto any part of the environment that isn't metallic. Jumping and picking up environmental objects, like boxes, are your character's only other abilities. Though your abilities may seem simplistic, their applications are not. Since you can set a portal on non-metallic surface, which may be oriented at any angle, you have to think in three dimensions. The game also conserves your momentum when entering and exiting portals. If you drop from a great height into a portal onto the floor, you'll come flying out the exit portal at a much greater velocity than if you'd just casually stepped into the first one. Along with yourself, items can also be sent through portals at varying speeds.
There's certainly quite a bit of potential here, and after playing the initial puzzles we were itching to see how complex this game could really get. It took us a little while to get acclimated to the thinking required for Portal's challenges. Looking up is just as important as down and to the sides, and learning the kinds of effective entrance and exit portal placements takes a little practice. This is one of those games you really need to play to fully understand, as it has a very different feel from most products out there.
Your goal in Portal is to look for non-metallic surfaces, comprehend how they're oriented in relation to each other, then place portals in the appropriate positions to allow your character to reach the exit. In the tutorial stages the rooms we moved through were nearly entirely metal, meaning the puzzles weren't all that difficult since there were limited spots to plant portals. The first area required us to toss a portal up on the ceiling to allow an oscillating energy sphere to pass through and exit down to a generator that opened way to the next challenge. The next few were a series of momentum puzzles, solved by dropping a portal onto a floor section and jumping through from a great height. Since we'd put a second portal on a vertically oriented tile high above, our ensuing exit tossed us onto a higher platform, allowing us to reach the door and head to the next section. In the final area, we had to do a series of platform ascension exercises through the same method, then deal with a box at the top level. We grabbed the box and dropped down to place it on a pressure pad on a lower ledge. By portal hopping back up to the top ledge, we saw the door was now open, and we proceeded through for the end of the demo.
According to Valve representatives, Portal will have a storyline that'll occur within the Half-Life universe. What that precisely means is still vague, however, as they were reticent to mention any more specifics, other than the game should take about five hours to complete. That is, of course, assuming you don't get stuck on any of the puzzles. The game will be included in Valve's PC Black Box, which includes Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2, and the Orange Box for Xbox 360, PC and PS3 that includes the previously mentioned games as well as the original Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1. As for the future of Portal, Valve representatives were optimistic about it launching as a solo product, likely including console and PC platforms. We'll keep you updated.
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These game will be weird but fun... very weird... but very fun.
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