Tips and Tricks on Portal 2 Testchamber Editor

Overview

Portal 2 has earned more of my respect with the Community Testchambers. And since I have no idea how to operate the more complex Hammer World Editor, I’ve been making chambers in the classic editor. However, there are some tips and tricks that some people may not have any clue about their existance, they don’t know how to perform them, or they already know them. Either way, I would like to show a few tips and tricks for the classic Portal 2 chamber editor. Please note that there could be WAY more of thes than i mention on this list. And that’s not because I’m to lazy to write them down, I just don’t know them. And without further ado, lets get started!

Rotating Any Cube

One thing that I noticed right of the bat is that there is no obvious way to spin normal cubes that have no dropper. You can only spin the Laser Redirection Cube. Or can you? it’s simple, really, all you need to do is to take a Laser Redirection Cube and remove its dropper. Now rotate the cube in any position that you want, then change it to whatever cube you want to use. when changed, the programming remembers the rotated state and applies it to the new cube. Note that when changing it to a Franken-Turret, it will be backwards. Why it does that is beyond me.

Using In-Game Photos as Thumbnails

Anyone who has been in the Portal 2 Workshop long enough would see that chambers that have been made with Hammer World Editor have fancy Thumbnails. Chambers made with the classic editor have Thumbnails that are just a photo of the chambers from the editors view. And to change that you have to upload a photo. Well it doesn’t have to be like that all the time you know.
To change the angle of the chamber that the Thumbnail shows off, simply move your camera, rotate the chamber, and zoom into it. When you save and publish it, The camera angle will be kept for the Thumbnail to show it off. Take this screenshot for example.

Give Beginners a Second Chance

In every game, there is always beginners. People who have started the game not long ago and have no idea how to play. Those people. Some testchambers are made for beginners to play and learn a little somthing about whatever game they’re playing, but not much on the Portal 2 Workshop. I don’t know why, but making chambers that are more of like a teacher will keep beginners from rage quiting and start looking up cheat codes. For a beginner level, remove the deadly goo from any pit(s) and add Portalable Walls. That way, they have a better understanding of the Portal Gun, and how to use it to get out of traps. For each beginner level, Try making one object pop up more than the rest. That way, beginners can understand what’s safe, and what will make them rage quit.

Use the: “Speed Gel Bounce Gel” Trick

I know, I know, thats not what its called. Im refering to the trick where you run across a line of Speed Gel with Bounce Gel at the end. Therefor, when you run across and hit the Bounce Gel, momentum is kept to have you flinging across from point A to point B, and so on. This trick, when editing your chamber, can be used two different ways: One is to place it down, making the section easier for beginners,(The Easy Way) or you can make it to where players will have to activate the gels to place it down.(The Interactive Way)

Add Rising Platforms in Goo

Rising Platforms are one of the only objects that can be placed in goo. When deactivated, the player will have to activate the platforms for any use it has in your chamber. Wether it be to save a cube from falling into the goo, or to just get across. Trust me, I’m not here to tell you how to make your chamber.

Activate Appuratus from Hidden Rooms

Let’s say you want to have an area with a hole in the floor, then when the player enters the chamber, Angled Panels will flip up to cover the hole. Now, this might sound tricky at first, but it’s really easy! All you need to do is create a seprate room that cannot be accesed normaly, (A room that can only be accesed via noclip) and create a button on the floor with a cube dropper above. So, when the player enters the level, there will be a short delay before something happens. Make sure you’ve connected the button to whatever apuratus you want to activate and change the buttons Connection Visibility to none

Thank You!

Thanks for taking the time to read these tips and tricks. This thank you also goes out to

and other contributors to Portal 2. I love the game SO MUCH!