It’s been a couple of weeks since the first Portal 2 DLC pack, titled “Peer Review”, was at last released. I’m still working on my review of it, but as with the Portal 2 critique, it’s turning out to be a bit bigger than expected. However, in an interesting turn of events, it turns out that post-release support for Portal 2 is not limited to the game itself, as Geoff Keighley’s digital story “The Final Hours of Portal 2″ has also received a fairly substantial piece of “downloadable content”, in the form of a large new chapter dedicated to the development of Peer Review, titled “Unlikely Architects”.
Unlikely Architects was just released earlier today, for free, obviously. It’s 10 pages long, and has been placed at the end, just before “The Art of Rattmann”. It focuses on how the DLC came about, and how it evolved, from its inception in late April to its release in early October. More importantly, it talks about the way some developers, “unlikely architects”, as Keighley puts it, whether they’re professionals or amateurs, can find and harness the potential within them, in order to open the gates to a whole new career.
There’s a lot of great stuff about early visions of the DLC, but the really interesting stuff comes near the end, where Keighley is shown a level browser that allows players to download and upload user-created custom maps from and to an easy-to-use interface. Think LittleBigPlanet. Of course, LittleBigPlanet wouldn’t be what it is without its simple, yet incredibly versatile level editor. So Valve is working on a brand new map creation tool that will make level design as simple as editing a photo. Using the universally loved isometric infographics, this program will allow you to easily move testing elements and sculpt architecture in real-time. The best thing? They’re looking into giving this level editor a voice and a personality. Imagine hearing GLaDOS throw a passive-aggressive remark after you delete a testing element from a level.
It remains unclear if these are the authoring tools Valve has been working on for a while, as the story implies these new Portal 2 tools haven’t been in development for that long. We also don’t know if this simplified level editor might get ported to the consoles, nor if it will be present in the second DLC pack. But what we do know is that we will probably be seeing the level browser interface within the second Portal 2 DLC pack, to be released on all platforms.
So what does the new Portal 2 SDK look like? Well, take a look:
Looks pretty promising. We can’t wait to hear more about it. Be sure to check out the Final Hours of Portal 2. It’s really, really great, and it’s also quite cheap. You’re getting a lot of bang for your buck, even if the PC porting process seems to be rather lackluster.
10 Responses to ““Final Hours of Portal 2″ Updated With New Chapter: “Unlikely Architects”, Featuring A Look At The Upcoming New Portal 2 Level Editor, And More!”
i’m looking forward to setup a level the finish it up with Hammer
This stupid “SDK” will create a sea of low-quality, unoptimized maps, in which good maps created with Hammer will drown.
Freaking finally. A sane SDK editor.
Hammer is really, really, really, REALLY frustrating. It should have been updated half a decade ago.
Pretty cool new SDK, but i still like hammer more :/
I’m curious on how it will work.
But if it means no errors and leaks, I approve of this.
I hope Hammer will still be there.
Looks cool. The new editor looks like it should bring a new group of level designers too, if it works the way it looks.
Wow! Thanks Valve, looks awesome, except it’s not Episode Three.
WONDERFUL! Seems like Geoff has learned a few thing from VALVe on what makes people happy
Oh god, yes.