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The Importance of Portal
Team Fortress 2 and Episode Two may have been more anticipated elements of Valve's Orange Box offering, but it's the charmingly small Portal that's been getting a lot of attention in the last few days. MTV's Multiplayer blog thinks the game has the move of the year, and the Gamers with Jobs site offers up a convincing argument why Portal represents a significant step forward for storytelling in games: "Portal is an object lesson in interactive storytelling. We in the media are so fond of shaking our heads, scratching our beards and looking for the "art" in videogames. Well it's time for us all to shut the hell up. This is it. It's in this finely crafted, lovingly rendered piece of short-story literature. Honestly, I'd be surprised if the authors themselves see it as the accomplishment it is. It's a simple set of mechanics, a few pages of sound-booth dialog, a handful of textures and repetitive level designs. But then, a novel is only made up of 26 letters, black ink and white paper. And most artists of lasting brilliance don't recognize the importance of their own work. And how many now-revered musicians and painters died unknown and broke?" If you still haven't heard it, Jonathan Coulton's 'Still Alive' (the ending theme to Portal) has been in my head for over a week now. Just try to get it out of yours.
I purchased the Orange Box primarily for Episode 2 of Half Life. After all, that was the main event. However it was Portal that impressed me the most. It wasn't just the original concept of game play, nor even the intriguing (and somewhat creepy) story. That game was just plain different. The puzzles were all quite challenging, but never annoying or frustrating, and the story unfolded in such a manner where you just had to continue to find out more. No one watching you in all the observation rooms? That's odd. The cake is a lie?? What does that mean? What is up with this computer? In the beginning you think there is no story, it's just a collection of physics puzzles showing off the portal trick. Imagine the surprise when you find out the story is really quite engaging (and again, somewhat creepy). Portal is short, but it was by far the most enjoyable part of the Orange Box. I really hope they continue this series somehow.... now off for some cake ;)
For those interested a 2D version of this game portal can be played here
Same team wrote an earlier version of this two years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narbacular_Drop
http://www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com/
Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
Seriously, what?
Storytelling, depth, intrigue, and good writing are important, and have been forever.
Portal has succeeded to meet these age-old criteria. It is a quality piece of work. This has always been 'important' with respect to any product. So.. yea.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
For any fellow Quake players who enjoy trick maps: get Portal now! This has to be the most fun I've had since beating maps like rjartvf1 for the first time. Okay, so the maps don't involve a super large amount of it, but the potential is endless for map makers - it doesn't have Quake's physics but this is the Next Big Thing we've all been looking for.
Portal is stocked full of humor and puzzles. I'd recommend it to anyone.
What impressed me the most about Portal was that I was never frustrated with the inability to find my way through a puzzle, in fact, the portals in Portal are the most useful gameplay device here. Dropping boxes on turrets, catapulting yourself hundreds of feet in the air through constantly shifting Portals to reach a far away place. The dialog had me in tears sometimes, it was cynical, sarcastic, funny, and more all at once. And all it was was a disembodied voice floating in the vaccuum. Portal blew my mind as a game, I don't think I've enjoyed something as puzzle orientated as Portal was before. And the ending... oh the ending.
Warning: A few spoilers included.
:)
I agree with a lot of the commentary on portal, and at the end of the game I was wondering "did anyone actually stop when they got burned to death?".
But this author is too impressed with himself. Portal shows what kind of game can be produced when the production team isn't trying to make an "epic" game... have you ever compared the list of credits for half-life and hl:ep2? See how many more people are involved? Is the game that much better because of it? Valve is producing episodes instead of new games because people want more of the story, and it's not a bad thing, but the company seems to be adding more and more people to produce what is effectively a shorter version of HL2 each time... and they don't need to develop the engine or tools!
The new weapon added is nice, but it's not revolutionary. Other than the weapon, this game was just more of the same... story telling, driving a vehicle, shutting off force fields, crawling in tunnels. Can't valve do that more, and more quickly, than two years per episode?
However, portal made the orange box worth it.
One other thing about valve not making a lot of progress... Counter-Strike: Source has been unaltered for a long time. Not to say it's not still fun, but why haven't there been at least some new things added to keep it fresh? Maybe change out some weapons, or add a few new ones? Remove or balance the overpowered weapons?
Last time I checked CS:S had over 20,000 active game servers on the net. That's got to be close to or THE most popular team based shooter around.
What are all those people doing?
As to the end of portal, I think it fits in the half-life continuity before the events at Black Mesa in HL1, and probably prior to the incident with Borealis. I base this on the outdoor view of the building at the end of the game. I would actually have been pleased to end up on board a ship instead of outside a building
GlaDOS is the best computer villain since Shodan.
I think if Valve is smart they'll release a Portal 2, as well as increase the crossover between Portal and Half-life. Maybe Gordon will discover a portal gun onboard the Borealis, or maybe he'll meet the female heroine of Portal. Wondering where Portal and Half-life 2 meet will add a lot of freshness to the HL2 story and game.
I can't wait to see what games people develop with the portal generation code in the half-life SDK.
Erik
In the developer commentary, they mention that this was made impossible to stop people being afraid of portals - it'll just squeeze you out of the portal you're standing in when you move/close it or the other one.
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
I noticed a similarity between Portal and Super Mario Bros DS insofar as it is a relatively simple game where the story mode can be blitzed through quite quickly... but the real meat is in taking the time through each stage to clear it 100% Okay... the story mode in Portal is short... really short... I think I clocked in under 3 hours on my first run. But if you add the second run through the story to get the "Camera Shy" achievement (which is a friggin nightmare!)... then the third run through to get all the commentary (which took my already massive appreciation for both the game itself and the passion and attention to detail of the people at Valve to even greater levels) that adds a significant amount of play time. The commentary run won't take long but that Camera Shy one will. Then you have the six advanced maps which, with the exception of the last one, are reasonable enough that most players should get through them without too many headaches. Cue the challenge levels... seriously... they are absolutely ridiculous. For those who don't know... the challenge maps take the latter levels of what I'll call the Aperture-sanctioned tests and impose restrictions/goals on them: "Least Portals", "Least Steps", "Least Time" That's where the next 40 hours of my Portal gametime are going to be spent... trying to nut those out. The bronzes are going to be pretty easy for anyone who can clear the story mode but silvers are quite a lot harder and some of the golds I can't even conceive solutions for. My point? Yeah, this game might only be 2-4 hours to get through the story but if you want to 100% this game without a walkthrough... you're talking serious flighthours. Even once all that is done... notice that maps can be imported... wait for the new challenges and maps Valve will surely put out to satisfy demand... and then wait until the map-making community get onto it. I can't wait to see some of the user-created content for this game. Portal is like turning a Rubik's Cube into a video game.
A computer without a Microsoft Operating System is like a dog without bricks tied to its head
I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Best end credits ever.
Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
If you can't see how a small team creating a fun, unique, and interesting game relying on mechanics instead of thousands of man-hours worth of art might be important to an industry currently weighted down by a thousand similar "next gen" "HD" games that play like bad renditions of the same things we played ten years ago, you need to rethink your hobbies.
For the last ten years or so the gaming industry has seemed to be all about franchises, once-a-year iterations of games with little content and less innovation.
Portal isn't about the plot--the plot helps it be endearing, but as you say it's "not-so-indepth." That doesn't mean it's bad (as you seem to imply), it just means that it's light. It's a humorous game. Nobody is claiming it's Faulkner. What it is is a capably done small-team game with mechanics which can lead to a thousand iterations of interesting puzzles (there are already a few custom maps with interesting puzzles involved). There are already several custom maps.
There is no video game written as well as East of Eden or Blood Meridian. That's not the point of video games; the point of video games is gameplay, and Portal is an absolute masterpiece of gameplay in an industry where that virtue has been forgotten. It's challenging (try the advanced levels and extra challenges if you don't think so) and unique. In addition to that, it's got a well-presented, witty storyline with more funny-per-minute than any game I've played--without resorting to the asinine juvenile humor most "funny" games rely on.
Hiding in your last statement, of course, there's a lesson about preconceptions. I leave that for you to find.
I first heard people suggesting Portal was GotY a week or so ago. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I have to admit that there's some merit to the suggestion. The game is innovative, compelling all the way through, and Penny Arcade has already called it "the best thing on [Orange Box]", which puts it ahead of some very good games. (Obviously some people will disagree with PA, but personally it's a toss up between Portal and TF2 for me, so seems reasonable).
No, its jump through portal instead!
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Let's spin this post back 20 years, shall we?
The importance of Tetris is the the ART!? Are you kidding?
It has less story than most games. The pieces are all just squares. There is only 1 way to interact with the environment.
The only thing that might qualify it as art is the AMAZING music in the game. I didn't realize that was taken from 19th century Russian composers.
Now, whether you consider Tetris art, and whether you think the situation is comparable isn't really the point. The point is that simple is not bad, and simple certainly does not indicate a lack of art. If anything, it's the reverse--"trying to cram in too much content" often indicates lack of art.
The story is subtle and slowly revealed -- from the growing realization that no human is watching you to see test areas that are broken down to finally wandering behind the scenes and getting the hints of what happened at the facility and the occasional clues that the computer is lying to you. Then there's the gleefully sociopathic devolution of her behavior towards you as it becomes more and more apparent that she sees you as a rodent to run though a maze an euthanize when it's all over.
The way the madness of the computer slowly becomes apparent and the way that she relentlessly screws with your mind -- from telling you that the Weighted Companion Cube will not stab you and cannot talk, but if it does you should just ignore it to the whole cake obsession to the callous way in which she highlights unnecessarily deadly parts of the test and so on -- are both masterful examples of storytelling.
It's good because it doesn't slap you in the face with what's going on. It's also a great example of good dark comedy writing.
"Have I lied to you? I mean, in this room? Trust me."
"That thing you broke isn't important to me. Not any more. It's the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit; it makes shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero."
"Cake, and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test. Thank you for helping us help you help us all!"
"Although the euthanizing process is remarkably painful, 8 out of 10 Aperture Science engineers believe that the companion cube is most likely incapable of feeling much pain."
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
No, this is not a troll. I really want to know because the game looks great. Will it run under WINE or Cedega? Is there a native Linux version?
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
there is only a handfull of games I play more than once (besides shmups) and Portal is one of them... this game is simply perfect in the true sense of the word, as in complete. self contained. completely done.
the story that is presented to you at the begining is as simple as it should be, since you are actually in a test enviroment. the truth is never fully revealed. you have to break the walls and try to discover the truth behind this perfect, clean enviroment. and as always in distopian sci-fi, the truth is much more crude and evil. and perhaps that isn't even the whole truth.
the simple fact that at the end you can beat the test masters is a 180 shift in storytelling. it's another level of freedom to turn the test around and defeat the testers.
very very few games can capture your imagination as this...
the answer to the question "is this art?" is a simple one. How Portal made you feel ? If you felt something, it's art.
I played the beta UT3 demo, and despite the awsome graphics, I didn't felt anything.
the team behind half life 2, ep 1 and 2 and portal are true artist. you really feel something when you play those games.
and also, the cake is a lie. (this is another example that Portal is art. this phrase will be in our minds forever.)
That was funnest 3 hours I've ever had. IMO, you guys are revealing too much info for those who didn't play it yet. My advice - stop reading slashdot and play it NOW :)
I can only point you to this short story:
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
-Ernest Hemingway
That's art, my friend, and its lack of length only adds to its status as such. You don't have to craft an entire galaxy to strike a chord with your audience.
... it takes two cubes just to block one turret,The 'crouch' key is your friend. I mean, it's no weighted companion cube, but it's a good friend nonetheless.
The importance of Portal is the the ART!? Are you kidding?
It has less story than most games. The areas are all virtually identical. There is only 1 way to interact with the environment.
I think it was Erik Satie who said that he considered a piece of his music to be complete not when he could think of no more notes to add, but when he could not think of any more notes to remove.
Think on.
I was just joking around but i guess some people have no sense of humor.. sigh.
I've been playing through it using the latest Wine on Ubuntu, using the Ubuntu Feisty package from Wine's website.
I can confirm that it works just fine and is playable. I've not actually seen what it looks like in Windows, but I suspect the graphics have suffered a little bit. It's completely playable, though.
Sometimes when you put the two portals too close together they glitch a bit and Wine winges in the console about how it doesn't support more than one rendertarget, but I didn't find that this impacted gameplay whatsoever.
However, one possible show-stopper is that the Steam purchasing UI doesn't work under Wine. I had to buy the game in Windows at work and then download it into my Steam client at home later.
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2007/10/15/portal-the-skinny/