By Nathan Grayson on April 28th, 2012 at 12:00 pm.
Once Valve gets around to releasing its magical future goggles, I’m hoping it’ll just start constantly beaming clever trailers for its games straight to my eyeballs. Between TF2′s “Meet The ___” series and Portal’s cavalcade of comedic excellence, I could spend all the rest of my days awkwardly cackling to myself on buses, in restaurants, and while committing the most unforgivable crime of them all: wearing sunglasses at night. Everyone will hate me and take tremendous pleasure every time I stumble blindly into low-hanging signs or taller-than-ordinary children. Which brings us to Valve’s latest bit of advertorial brilliance: the story justification for the Perpetual Testing Initiative, as narrated by Aperture founder Cave Johnson.
It’s out on May 8. I want to be a giant squid monster. And in the game. So then, does this balance out the immaterial trailer forces of the universe after yesterday’s somewhat regrettable showing from Ubisoft?
28/04/2012 at 12:08 Dawlight says:
Hilarity aside, I’m going to take the last few seconds of this trailer as an accurate representation of the final product that is the new editor. That is one slick-ass looking level editor.
28/04/2012 at 12:26 DrScuttles says:
Garry Newman tweeted a link to a youtube video of the editor in action, and yes, that’s exactly what it looks like.
I tried Hammer or Worldcraft or whatever it was years ago, got scared and ran away. But this looks great.
28/04/2012 at 14:42 hench says:
Looks neat. Hopefully they’ll update Hammer with CS:GO. It’s such a primitive tool to work with.
29/04/2012 at 21:15 Domino says:
New working link, for the time being :) Press release is out tomorrow anyway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9yR-B7xIl8
30/04/2012 at 15:11 Richeh says:
Hah, I love the honesty of the video; “we just simply add a laser, compile and… it, uh, doesn’t work because there’s a little more to it than that.”
“It’s a bit rough for a commercial map, you wouldn’t want to make a game out of it, but it’s great for jotting ideas down.”
All brilliantly honest, nothing anyone could reasonably hold against it, but I think also not something a commercial company, even Valve, would put in a real public communique. Which is a bit of a shame.
28/04/2012 at 12:44 jon_hill987 says:
Slick maybe, but that slickness looks like it will come with a heavy price, the price being flexibility.
28/04/2012 at 12:54 LTK says:
You are building test chambers from a collection of square panels and puzzle assets. How much flexibility are you going to expect?
28/04/2012 at 12:55 fitzroy_doll says:
Even for serious creators this will be useful for rapid-prototyping ideas and level layouts. Looks very handy.
28/04/2012 at 13:26 subedii says:
Indeed. And you can load up the levels in Hammer after that as well.
Seriously, this is a Good Thing.
28/04/2012 at 15:02 jon_hill987 says:
Ah, I didn’t realize they had released Hammer with Portal 2 support yet, that being the case the lack of flexibility in this does not matter.
29/04/2012 at 00:20 dsi1 says:
You’re missing out then, just a couple weeks after release there were some insane custom maps released.
I remember one using world portals to do physics defying stuff.
28/04/2012 at 13:19 LionsPhil says:
But that’s fine, because if there’s one kind of game that can thrive with sort-of-cubey-tile-based mapping, it’s the puzzler.
I suspect you won’t be able to make behind-the-scenes overgrown maps, or at least make them well, but for chambers it should be pretty great.
28/04/2012 at 13:37 Bhazor says:
Theres definitely a loss of control. My fear is that this will lead to a Little Big Planet problem where because everyone can make a map you end up with millions of the fuckers and the good ones are outnumbered 10,000 to 1.
But it’s good they’re finally getting rid of the Hammer tools or what ever they were called. Those were getting really outdated.
28/04/2012 at 14:38 Donjo says:
Accessibility comes at a price I suppose, but a vast amount of maps isn’t an expensive one :) Hammer tools haven’t been got rid of, it will still be necessary to open maps in Hammer to fine tune.
28/04/2012 at 18:55 RobF says:
I wouldn’t say it’s a problem with LBP, it’s awesome. I love that I might stumble into “my first map” or “here’s something I did for my kid” or “because I can” things.
If you want the best of the best, that’s what the curated picks are for. But man, no. Not a problem. It’s amazing what some people are doing there.
28/04/2012 at 20:34 Phantoon says:
yeah, like the dude that built a working calculator off rotary wheels
28/04/2012 at 14:37 nibbling_totoros says:
How could this possibly be MORE flexible? Telepathy?
28/04/2012 at 15:20 Xocrates says:
You understood it in reverse. Flexibility being a price means it’s LESS flexible, but MORE slick.
28/04/2012 at 20:37 Phantoon says:
His ability to understand things in a linear fashion was an expense for his telepathy.
30/04/2012 at 03:31 Geen says:
Tentacles. They ARE pretty flexible.
28/04/2012 at 12:15 airtekh says:
‘Meet the Pyro’, bottom of the screen at 1:12 ?
28/04/2012 at 12:20 Dawlight says:
I think you may actually be correct. Unless anyone else can think of some other Valve-related character or thing that spews fire toward the sky in a flamethrowery fashion.
28/04/2012 at 12:50 Dana says:
Episode 3.
28/04/2012 at 14:14 Mr. Mister says:
Why wouldn’t they show a screen with a HL3 logo and then a BSOD?
28/04/2012 at 12:36 CheesyJelly says:
Yeah – that matches the still from the video they’ve got on the TF2 site.
28/04/2012 at 12:18 Syra says:
lol there’s so clearly one guy watching porn around 1.17
28/04/2012 at 19:56 Skabooga says:
Ha ha! It’s the realistic touches that really make it shine.
28/04/2012 at 20:40 Phantoon says:
Yes, and there’s the guy with the massive diamond from one of the earlier videos too!
02/05/2012 at 04:42 droid says:
Not to mention the diamonds produced as waste by the corner cutting machine. But since that’s not its primary purpose they just let them fall to the floor.
Correction: It has a rack of diamonds that it cuts with, it replaces the cutting diamond after each cut.
28/04/2012 at 12:21 Mr. Mister says:
Okay, thisn is the first time I’ve seen such a magnificient icnlusion of the map building tools into the lore.
Oh, silly multiverse…
28/04/2012 at 12:22 Tran says:
Some of the best stuff in the trailer was actually the text in the bottom left that you need squint *really* hard at in some cases
28/04/2012 at 12:39 Dawlight says:
“This is not a dramatization. An Earth where mollusks have created an advanced land-based society with wholly inappropriate bipedal keyboards is guaranteed to exist.”
Genius.
28/04/2012 at 12:51 LTK says:
I was just about to point that same tidbit out. This stuff is hilarious.
01/05/2012 at 17:15 Phantoon says:
I’m convinced all comedic genius comes from both ex-members of Old Man Murray.
28/04/2012 at 13:28 LionsPhil says:
Have you noticed that the octopus-aperture has different door logos?
28/04/2012 at 14:03 lurkalisk says:
Percentage of peanut dust in atmosphere: 34%
Sounds fun.
30/04/2012 at 03:36 Geen says:
On that planet, soylent green is lobsters.
28/04/2012 at 12:38 Howling Techie says:
People have been analysing the video and the clip on one of the monitors is a clip of meet the pyro (it’s the same part of the video where Valve got the preview shot from that they use on the TF2 website), and that is clearly an Octopus!
But otherwise, I look forward to searching through hundreds of terrible maps to find the occasional good ones.
28/04/2012 at 12:41 Inigo says:
So how long has Danny Elfman been working at Valve?
29/04/2012 at 09:55 Craig Stern says:
Sounded more John Williams-y to me.
28/04/2012 at 12:45 Drake Sigar says:
I’m gonna’ bust out and find me a nice Japanese girl.
28/04/2012 at 13:01 Tei says:
In Steam theres the 1920×1080 version of this video :D
I hope this is really a isometric builder, I think Doom2 as a simplisted map builder too, but that was literally ages ago.
28/04/2012 at 18:22 Grey Ganado says:
There’s a 1920×1080 version on Youtube too. :D
29/04/2012 at 01:38 soldant says:
Doom 2 was sector-based, not true 3D geometry (i.e. no rooms over rooms or floating platforms) so you could have a really simple, grid-and-line-based map editor. That goes for all the sector games (except DN3D which did have limited room-over-room support, but it was a rendering trick). The problem with things like Portal (or going back as far as Quake) is that you have true 3D geometry, so the map editor now becomes a lot more complex.
This new one is great, but as others have said it’s not going to be as full featured as Hammer. Which is expected, but I also wish they’d rip the heart out of Hammer and make something that doesn’t suck.
28/04/2012 at 13:15 Ergates_Antius says:
Has squids?
28/04/2012 at 13:16 UnravThreads says:
That’s an octopus, not a squid.
28/04/2012 at 13:23 LionsPhil says:
Indeed. Shame on RPS for disrespecting octopodes in this manner.
28/04/2012 at 13:28 subedii says:
Octodad would be terribly offended.
28/04/2012 at 13:31 Bhazor says:
Poor misunderstood octopususususes.
28/04/2012 at 14:47 cw8 says:
Poor Paul will be rolling in his grave for this error.
28/04/2012 at 16:24 TheCentralGovernment says:
I demand that the rights of the octopuses (octopi?) be recognised !
28/04/2012 at 13:31 Crane says:
Ya know what kinda man can tell the diff’rence ‘tween an octopus and a squid?
That’s right, a ceph-lover.
Ya like those godless, rubbery tentacles, do ya?
Break his arms and legs, boys!
28/04/2012 at 13:44 westyfield says:
Sorry bud, but octopuses have arms, not tentacles.
29/04/2012 at 01:46 Ravenholme says:
And squid technically have two tentacles and 6 arms.
29/04/2012 at 03:51 emertonom says:
Actually squid have two tentacles and *eight* arms. A total of 10 noodly appendages.
30/04/2012 at 03:39 Geen says:
And one of the “tentacles” happens to be his ****.
29/04/2012 at 10:48 Srethron says:
That’s no octopus. It’s a space station.
28/04/2012 at 13:20 RagingLion says:
“Look at that sad little octopus .. huha.”
I want that to become a new meme. I just don’t know in what context it could get widespread usage.
29/04/2012 at 01:26 marcusfell says:
In reference to a commenter who is clearly wrong/confused?
29/04/2012 at 16:29 vivlo says:
i do promise to try.
29/04/2012 at 16:49 kud13 says:
“L-l-l-look at you, octopus. A pathetic creature of hemocoel and tentacles, scuttling through my test chambers. How can you challenge a perfect, deadly neurotoxin dispensing machine?
here’s my attempt
28/04/2012 at 13:34 Suits says:
One dude with a censored monitor :o and apparently you can create maps with one hand
28/04/2012 at 14:06 Dozer says:
By bashing your hand repeatedly on the keyboard, no less. I think I’ll use that technique to write comments fvdbd sfrewsbsdfer3wbvde fb rdeebg fbv
28/04/2012 at 14:59 Mistabashi says:
I’m fairly sure bashing your appendages on a keyboard is how 70% of the internet was made.
28/04/2012 at 16:42 identiti_crisis says:
“Mr. Bashy” sounds like a pet name for just such an appendage… : P
28/04/2012 at 19:29 caddyB says:
oıoıhhıfgıy8hıoşlmouıp8976fbjlşy80mşl0yh8hv llıugvobyxırsze5uguobğkpşml pg7y7dt5xsrue
28/04/2012 at 14:40 Tuskin38 says:
haha, the disclaimer at the bottom left during the “How it Works” part
“This is not a dramatization. An Earth where sea mollusks have created an advanced land-based society with wholly inappropriate bipedal based keyboards is guaranteed to exist”
28/04/2012 at 15:21 Big Murray says:
That … is a very sweet looking level editor.
They’re obviously delivering on their promise to update Hammer into something less painful than having root canal surgery. I’m just worried that it’ll lose a lot of the functionality in the process. If it has a friendly UI interface while having options to go deep into the mechanics of it … I’ll be a very happy bunny. And also hoping that they’d roll it out to all Source games.
28/04/2012 at 16:48 identiti_crisis says:
I may be wrong, but I don’t think that this editor is intended to supplant Hammer (I still have to stop myself from calling it Worldcraft.) There’s a video further up the comments where a beta tester opens up his creation in Hammer; I guess the idea, for serious modders / mappers, is to use the new editor to prototype puzzles and spaces and then fine tune and optimise everything in Hammer.
Hopefully Hammer can be “updated”, too, without losing any flexibility. That’s a bit more involved, though.
28/04/2012 at 16:14 Doomsayer says:
Only a matter of time until someone gets a Portal 2 level to be a computer.
28/04/2012 at 17:31 LTK says:
You know, even in a game that doesn’t consider itself to be a sandbox, I think it might even be possible.
28/04/2012 at 20:01 Skabooga says:
I’m envisioning a series of launching pads and cubes, or maybe lasers and laser activators.
28/04/2012 at 20:08 LionsPhil says:
Cubes?
Turrets. The sound of Science is “aaaaAaaa*dakkadakkadakka*AAAaAaAAA”.
29/04/2012 at 04:43 emertonom says:
Lasers sound simplest. Lasers A and B are outputs and are refracted or reflected (I forget quite how they operate–it’s been a few months) to aim in the same direction. Laser detectors A’ and B’ activate doors, or platforms, or what-have-you to in some way reversibly block lasers A and B. That makes a NAND gate; perform induction at your leisure.
It’d be way harder to do with dispensers of blocks or turrets, aerial faith plates to redirect, pressure plates and what not. You’d have to worry about getting the blocks back off the pressure plates, and avoiding the streams colliding, and synchronizing clocks, and all sorts of stuff.
It might be more awesome, however.
28/04/2012 at 17:18 PopeJamal says:
Valve has been in dire need of a new editor for years. Spend more than five minutes in UDK for a comparison, and you’ll wonder why anyone would still consider using Hammer.
I’m pretty sure this also coincides with their “teaching kids physics stuff with portal” initiative. Good stuff!
28/04/2012 at 20:23 Sparkasaurusmex says:
Puchasing Portal II on May 8.
29/04/2012 at 01:46 Ravenholme says:
Valve make me so, so happy.
That video left me grinning
29/04/2012 at 04:52 CptSqweky says:
0:55 – Soylent Green is made of Lobster!
29/04/2012 at 05:35 Shadram says:
Only on Earth-5912228342. On Earth 1, it’s [SPOILER].