Portal 2 Custom Level Mod
Series of puzzles designed around a single mechanic in Portal 2
Made with the Portal 2 Editor
Level overview
Contents
Project Synopsis
Download Instructions
Design Breakdown
Additional Design Notes
Postmortem
1. Project Synopsis
This custom Portal 2 level was created for a level design jam hosted by Steve Lee, a professional level designer who has worked on iconic titles like Dishonored 2 and Bioshock Infinite.
This level design challenge had two themes: Non-Violence and Verticality.
Additional information about the level design jam can be found here.
2. Download Instructions
Install Portal 2 on Steam.
Go to the project’s workshop page and click subscribe.
Launch Portal 2.
Click Community Test Chambers → Play Single Player Chambers → Repulsion Gel Test Chamber by JJ.
3. Design Breakdown
4. Additional Design Notes
Intentions
The level was designed around a single mechanic: the repulsion gel, which creates extremely bouncy surfaces. This mechanic was chosen because of its relevance to the design jam’s verticality theme. Other mechanics were not used as core components in any of the puzzles because I wanted to create an experience where a single mechanic is introduced and explored in depth. Each puzzle in the level requires the player to come up with a creative use of the repulsion gel or use the gel to interact with more primitive mechanics of the game such as portals and momentum.
Inspirations
Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch artist who is known for his illustrations of hyperbolic structures. His unprecedented use of perspective always deeply resonated with me. Although a non-Euclidean geometry was impossible to create in the Portal 2 editor, I wanted to incorporate some of his ideas into my level, which led me to designing a structure that connects the beginning of the level with the end. This looping design pattern is also commonly used in the industry to prevent scenarios where the player has to backtrack to the entrance, which could feel tedious.
By adopting a looping design, the final layout allowed the player to clearly view the end goal of the level at the very beginning and set up a memorable scene at the end where the player could view the beginning of the level before exiting the test chamber.
Relativity by Maurits Cornelis Escher
Verticality
Verticality was one of the themes for Steve Lee’s level design jam. Components that emphasize verticality were placed in various sections of the level to celebrate this theme.
Lights showing the elevator’s path and the gel dispenser
Vertical lights guiding the player’s view to the exit
Launchpad separating the first and the second section of the level
Elevator connecting the second and the third section of the level
Constraints
Portal 2’s editor had constraints on the overall size of the test chamber as well as how many objects could be present in the level. These limitations were never an issue in the planning phase where puzzles were separated in different projects. Simply assembling all the puzzles in a single project would have been impossible due to these limitations—the level had to be optimized. My solution to this problem was to use angled plates and fizzlers in one of the puzzles to modify the existing structure. This approach essentially allowed me to create a dynamic space where resources could be shared between two different puzzles.
Modifying an existing structure
5. Postmortem
For this project, I found myself spending a considerable amount of time in the planning phase where I collected inspirations, recorded specific metrics, and sketched potential layouts. Having most of the level planned out before working in the editor kept the overall process more organized and allowed me to design with clear intentions behind each part of the level.
Through playtesting, I was also reminded that it is easy to unintentionally make parts of the level too challenging. Adding signifiers and clarifying objectives through environmental assets allowed me to adjust the difficulty without drastically modifying the structures of the puzzles.
With these takeaways in mind, I look forward to designing another puzzle level that challenges players in creative ways.