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Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

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Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#41

Post by majewsky »

pxx wrote: post #29
ahelwer wrote: post #28

Recently tried replaying portal 2. The graphics aged just fine over the past decade; unfortunately the same is not true of the writing and humor. Has a very reddit-circa-2010 vibe. I guess comedy is one of the more difficult fields in which to create a real classic, because of changing social mores but also because most humor relies on novelty. Few video game memes have been beaten to a more thorough pulp than “the c…

Isn't this sort of like saying that Shakespeare's works are bad because they're full of clichés?? The game in question is the _origin_ of said memes.

The trope you are looking for is called "Seinfeld is Unfunny": https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunn...

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#42

Post by footlose_3815 »

fartcannon wrote: post #18

Valve is great. Especially in comparison to some other game companies. Were this a Nintendo project, the devs would risk at best a Cease and Desist. The vibe I get from Nintendo is that they would probably flog their fan-game devs if they could legally get away with it. Let's see if Bethesda, under Microsoft, maintains their support of mods.

[dead]

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#43

Post by Shared404 »

Datenstrom wrote: post #23

Tangentially, my main game for almost the past year has been Splitgate which is heavily inspired by Portal (and Halo). If you like portal and arena shooters it is definitely worth a try. At the top competitive level especially having Portals in a FPS makes for interesting, intense, and fast paced games. It also makes camping essentially impossible.

Thank you for this pointer - I've often thought that an arena shooter with portals would be fun, and actually thought about trying to mod Xonotic a couple of times to pull it off (I obviously never did - couldn't quite grok the build system or the code at the time).

I looked this up on steam and noticed it's f2p, have you noticed any negative impact from that?

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#44

Post by DerekL »

lukifer wrote: post #34
jordanpg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upgrading to Catalina has nearly knocked me out of the gaming scene altogether. It might be enough to ensure that my next purchase is a PC, despite finding Windows loathsome.

Given the Herculean efforts (and superb results) of Rosetta and Rosetta 2, I'm still appalled that Apple couldn't have found a way to keep running 32 bit apps, even at a performance hit through some level of emulation or containerization. In addition to countless classic games being dead in the water, my Mom was completely blindsided by the change, suddenly losing access to several old-but-trusted productivity apps,…

If you have an Intel Mac, it looks like Parallels Desktop will run older versions of Mac OS X.

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#45

Post by danhau »

pram wrote: post #15

One of my favorite gaming moments ever is the transition from the old test shafts back into the enrichment center (which leads to the finale) The area is like a bunch of platforms supported by gigantic springs. It made me stop and appreciate how mysterious, thoughtful, and interesting the entire environment was. I really just wanted to explore more of the depths after experiencing it.

Fully agree. Even Portal 1 did it for me starting right with the first chambers. Those pipes and cables emerging through the orange glow behind or underneath some platforms. What is that glow? Why orange? Where is that coming from? Where does it lead to? What's going on behind these white, sterile walls?

The Portal games have this mysterious, unnerving feeling of being trapped and it makes you want to explore and peek behind the curtains. And the Devs let / make you do that. They knew what they were doing.

I'm starting to think that the environment / facility is the real antagonist. GLaDOS merely enhances it.

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#46

Post by ranguna »

> Desolation runs on an in-house modified version of the Source Engine

The "improved" lightning is not improved at all. Source 2 relies even more on backed lightning rendered on gpu farms because valve cares about majority of the people with non optimal gpus playing their games at 4k in vr, that's why you see crappy unreal engine games running 40 fps whilst HL Alyx is running at 90 with way better graphics. The desolation team is basically saying "welp you better get a 4090 Ti Super or you won't be running this at 120" .

Aside from that, I which them the best of luck, fan made portal games are always a treat.

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#47

Post by PoignardAzur »

Datenstrom wrote: post #23

Tangentially, my main game for almost the past year has been Splitgate which is heavily inspired by Portal (and Halo). If you like portal and arena shooters it is definitely worth a try. At the top competitive level especially having Portals in a FPS makes for interesting, intense, and fast paced games. It also makes camping essentially impossible.

I've always thought there was some potential for shooters with portals, but when I see Splitgate, it's not really it.

For me, a Portal shooter would include stuff like grenades, gun nests, smoke bombs and flashes, guns that are really heavy and slow you down, etc. Stuff that would reward maneuvering and outsmarting your opponent, ambushes, and lateral thinking.

Gameplay hightlights would be the moments where your opponents thinks they're sneaking up on your by shooting a portal behind you, only for you to sneak up on them because you knew they'd come out of that portal; sniping someone through their own portals, etc.

Splitgate just feels like an arena shooter with lots of teleportation.

Re: Portal 2: Desolation is giving the classic puzzle game a graphics overhaul

#48

Post by Datenstrom »

Shared404 wrote: post #43
Datenstrom wrote: post #23

Tangentially, my main game for almost the past year has been Splitgate which is heavily inspired by Portal (and Halo). If you like portal and arena shooters it is definitely worth a try. At the top competitive level especially having Portals in a FPS makes for interesting, intense, and fast paced games. It also makes camping essentially impossible.

Thank you for this pointer - I've often thought that an arena shooter with portals would be fun, and actually thought about trying to mod Xonotic a couple of times to pull it off (I obviously never did - couldn't quite grok the build system or the code at the time). I looked this up on steam and noticed it's f2p, have you noticed any negative impact from that?

I haven't seen any of the usual shady f2p dark patterns which is another reason I've stuck around Splitgate for a while. It was refreshing and honestly I was getting really tired of games predatory approaches. The community has really been great too, I haven't ever really hung around a games discord/twitch/community events before. There are "supercustom" events every weekend where people get together to play curated community maps which has been great but also from the variety there makes me think the game has barely even started tapping the potential they could have with non-traditional arena maps enabled by the portal mechanics.
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