Valve's Portal (Orange Box)

[vjvj]

Is anyone else playing this?

I'm finding myself thoroughly enjoying this game. It's hard for me to say the mechanic is "innovative" (I can't help but think something similar has been done before), but it is nevertheless extremely refreshing and the puzzles are uniquely interesting to solve.

[Sharpfish]

Is anyone else playing this?

I'm finding myself thoroughly enjoying this game. It's hard for me to say the mechanic is "innovative" (I can't help but think something similar has been done before), but it is nevertheless extremely refreshing and the puzzles are uniquely interesting to solve.

narbacular drop... which portal IIRC is derived from in concept (and the indie authors acknowledged/paid).

[vjvj]

narbacular drop... which portal IIRC is derived from in concept (and the indie authors acknowledged/paid).

Right, my understanding is that the principal developers on Narbacular Drop (great name) are now employed by Valve. I can see why.

[Klaim]

I Heard that too.

The gameplay is verry interesting, the physic impact is more important than narbacular drop ...

But what i enjoyed the most was

the AI that is mad ! Listening to it's complains and strange psychologic speach was a real pleasure!

[Diragor]

I love it. Coolest puzzle game since The Incredible Machine, and the most innovative thing from a major company in a long time. The humor was completely unexpected and really kept the game entertaining for me. Awesome end credits, too. :) Speaking of that, here's a tidbit of trivia for the music fans and/or musicians: Mike Patton is the voice of the Angry Sphere.

Anybody else think that the difficulty went from "simple tutorial" to "very challenging" rather quickly in the mid-teens? I finally got through it all, but now I'm completely stumped on one of the bonus advanced maps. I'm determined to not cheat and look it up, so I may be stuck in that room for quite a while. It's even more frustrating than the big, complex rooms full of possibilities because it's a simple setup with seemingly no possible way to get where you have to go.

[sillytuna]

Seconded. The Orange Box is a great set of titles.

HL2 Episode 2 is excellent, TF2 is coming along nicely (finally) and has lovely visuals, and Portal is wonderfully scripted and a nice, unique title to play.

Valve deserve a lot of credit and I honestly feel they've moved the goalposts a little for larger developers out there.

[NothingLikeit]

Right, my understanding is that the principal developers on Narbacular Drop (great name) are now employed by Valve. I can see why.

They principle developers are. It just goes to show the value of getting involved in the IGF competition. (which I will do next year)