What is Digg?66 Comments
- LemonChicken, on 08/28/2008, -6/+51Can we do it now?
...this was a triumph? - idiggarsenal, on 08/28/2008, -3/+39I'm making a note here HUGE SUCCESS
- inactive, on 08/28/2008, -3/+37It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
- zerhynn, on 08/28/2008, -3/+36Aperture Science:
- ph070sh0p, on 08/28/2008, -3/+36We do what we must, because, we can.
- Fozefy, on 08/28/2008, -2/+31mmm, this article just made me want to go play portal again. :D
- lolcoderer, on 08/28/2008, -3/+31For the good of all of us.
- Garofoli, on 08/28/2008, -3/+30Except the ones who are dead.
- Overcyn, on 08/28/2008, -3/+29But there's no sense crying
- septicmadman, on 08/28/2008, -4/+29You just keep on trying
- Acglaphotis, on 08/28/2008, -3/+28Over every mistake.
- legoalert33, on 08/28/2008, -4/+28Now you're thinking with portals.
- Shaflugi, on 08/28/2008, -4/+28'till you run out of cake.
- psg188, on 08/28/2008, -3/+25and you make a neat gun
- rrc589, on 08/28/2008, -4/+26and the science gets done.
- vp0ng, on 08/28/2008, -3/+23for the people who are still alive.
- Bertram23, on 08/28/2008, -4/+24I'm not even angry.
- Korvon, on 08/28/2008, -2/+21Even though you broke my heart,
- jonborthwick, on 08/28/2008, -4/+23I'm being so sincere right now
- ryansimbalist, on 08/28/2008, -6/+24And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a beautiful line.
And we're out of beta.
We're releasing on time.
So I'm GLaD. I got burned.
Think of all the things we learned
for the people who are still alive.
Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE.
HAHA. FAT CHANCE.
Anyway, this cake is great.
It's so delicious and moist.
Look at me still talking
when there's Science to do.
When I look out there, it makes me GLaD I'm not you.
I've experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are still alive.
And believe me I am still alive.
I'm doing Science and I'm still alive.
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive.
While you're dying I'll be still alive.
And when you're dead I will be still alive.
STILL ALIVE - arunforce, on 08/28/2008, -2/+20and killed me.
- Gorzki, on 08/28/2008, -0/+18I don't care how "simple" the code is, or it was to create the game.
I DO think it's interesting that Valve took such a "simple" concept and created something as amazing as Portal was. - Llanowar, on 08/28/2008, -1/+18*cries over this mistake*
:*( - archer104, on 08/28/2008, -0/+17Except this one.
- LiveeviL, on 08/28/2008, -2/+17And tore me to pieces!
- magness, on 08/27/2008, -0/+13Nice job showing your keen copy/paste skills there.
And props to the submitter for linking to the printer friendly version. - undershirt, on 08/28/2008, -0/+11Digg needs more articles like this, I mean really. This is awesome.
- jkaechler, on 08/28/2008, -0/+11Portal: Game of the year. For good reason.
- Shaflugi, on 08/28/2008, -0/+10This would only be simple if it were really just regular teleportation.. relocating the player, while keeping their momentum. The catch here is that Source has a physics engine, so it's a bit more complex than that. I find it really cool that they made it possible to stand halfway in a portal and half out.
- valindar, on 08/28/2008, -0/+8I remember in the developer commentary they talked about having to recreate objects you could see through the portal. When you look through a portal, any cubes or objects you see are actually completely new ones from what are behind you for instance.
If you haven't played through the game with the commentary on it's well worth it. They talked about a lot more interesting tidbits and design issues than just that. - identitymatrix, on 08/28/2008, -0/+8While the velocity and orientation transformations of the player compose most of the player's experience with portals, from a programming point a view the integration of this concept with the physics engine was the most interesting part, and I'm a bit disappointed that that element was not demystified.
I haven't listened to Portal's in-game commentary in months, but if I remember correctly, the developers mentioned how they had to duplicate the physics bodies in the parallel space on the other side of the portals to handle collisions correctly.
Anyway, on the topic of Portal's physics engine, I always wondered how it could perhaps be generalized for more interesting scenarios.
For example, what if the portals were of difference sizes - so that everything that went in the smaller portal came out the larger portal proportionally larger (I think Prey had something like this, but only for the player transformations and not for a physics engine). Or what if the portal hole/surface was skewed - how could that be handled by a general purpose portal engine?
And then there is AI which is a different puzzle entirely. If portal was developed as a more tradition FPS with guns and NPCs - handling the pathfinding, calculating places of cover, etc, would be interesting (and probably confusing). Pathfinding with a portal gun would be really tricky, maybe even NP-complete considering that all sorts of physics manipulations may be required to cross something as simple as a gap.
Basically, the point is there are all sorts of interesting possibilities with the portal gameplay mechanic and as fun as Portal was, I think it is just the beginning. - chubbybubba, on 08/28/2008, -0/+6The best part about portal was using a portal to look at your sweet ass. Don't lie, you know you did it too. Using the portal to check yourself out... perverts.
(on a serious note however, I was always impressed by how realistic your character's face looked. It wasn't the typical dumb blond supermodel look but more like a spicy intelligent Japanese type chick.) - scooterbaga, on 08/28/2008, -0/+4Thanks for the update.
- championchap, on 08/28/2008, -0/+4"Still haven't clocked portal. It's kinda like TL;DR for me, if you know what I mean."
That's you.. that's how dumb you sound. - deltaphc, on 08/28/2008, -0/+3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meedeHieHAE (not a ____ roll)
Also, Prey does *not* have any kind of player transformation. That one scene in the game is actually smoke and mirrors; the portal leads to a completely separate room containing an upscaled recreation of the asteroid/rock, with the glass container as the "skybox". IIRC, you can see this version of the room if you turn on a noclip cheat and explore. - nullx42, on 08/28/2008, -1/+4No, it isn't.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cake - aterimperator, on 08/30/2008, -0/+2More importantly, it's not the same thing as a frictionless tube, because inside such a tube gravity still acts, as well as if you do not enter with a normal vector, you will bounce off the sides (obviously depending on angle and tube length and tube cross sectional area).
- jwoelmer2, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2Portal is an excellent game! The game mechanics really make it wonderful to play.
I miss my WCC!!! Is anyone else having trouble sleeping? - snotrokit, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2I miss my WCC as well. I think I am going to go play a few......
- NeoMatrixJR, on 08/28/2008, -4/+6STILL Alive....
Is it sad I have this song memorized because of DIGG more than portal? - scooterbaga, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2Thanks for the reminder. I completely forgot that portal had commentary.
Reminds me of the first movie I watched with commentary… Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. - inactive, on 08/28/2008, -2/+4speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.
- smurfsahoy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+2It takes away so much of the magic of portal if objects start becoming way bigger, etc. As is, the simplicity is very powerful, and there is an absolute minimum of suspension of disbelief in terms of physics, yet still a maximum of awesome confusion resulting.
- shadywasabi, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Hmm, I think the velocity realignment in the example was a bit oversimplified. The code provided is fine if you want to be shot out in the direction of the normal of the exit portal, but a more correct solution would transform the velocity vector from one portal's normal's vector space to the other's, thereby providing a correct exit angle for the player/object.
For instance, if you were to walk into the portal at a 45 degree angle to the normal on one side, you should pop out of the other end at a 45 degree angle to the exit portal's normal vector. That requires slightly more complicated math.
Still very cool though. - silicon, on 08/28/2008, -1/+2but only if you stick it in a portal...
- sirmasterboy, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1What happens when you put the small portal through the bigger portal? I really wanted to see that.
- sexybobo, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1Valve doesn't portray women as only sex objects for some reason.
Alyx HL2 http://www.halflife2.net/wiki/images/thumb/f/f9/Al ...
Chell portal http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k232/jetgirlart/ ...
Girl from Left 4 dead http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/wp-content/upload ...
Dr. Cross and Dr. Green HL decay http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/Half ...
Pyro TF2 http://www.moreprime.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/0 ... - patsbaseball11, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1This was definitely one of my favorite games of the last year. Not because it was action packed the whole time, but because it made sense. I love how they took a simple concept and made the scenarios increasingly difficult. I think that now we all understand how a portal affects forward momentum...or more precicely, how it does not.
- championchap, on 08/28/2008, -0/+1digg this one.. there was one more "still alive" after the bulk of the song posted above.
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