User talk:Mr.p.kiwi
Tables
Constructing tables here!
Trying to create good looking tables! ...You know, for the articles; but they need to reach perfection somewhere. If YOU feel like it, you can create a table here too, so that everyone can learn, including yourself. You can experiment on this page all day long - just leave your name as the title of the table, so that it'll be more organized.
To do such a thing, you would need to do something like this:
{| class="standard-table"
|+ your name goes here
!Header
|-
|Table
|}
For example:
| This will be a header | This will be a header2 | This will be a header3 |
|---|---|---|
| Column1; Row1 | Column2; Row1 | |
| Column 1; Row 2&3 | Column3; Row2 | |
| Column2; Row3 | Column3; Row3 |
External Links
Portal 2 Themes
A set of in-depth articles about the aesthetics of Portal 2. These few pages are based on Rubrica's tutorial posted on Thinking With Portals[1].
- Destroyed
- Restore
- Behind the Scenes
- Old-Aperture
- Clean
These tutorials will not cover the cooperative's campaign use of the themes; however the methods of using each theme will be described and can be used when detailing a cooperative testing track.
Gallery
Destroyed
The Aesthetics of Portal 2This Portal 2 aesthetic theme is displayed during the beginning of the single player campaign, in the Aperture Laboratories chambers closest to the earth's surface. It is characterized by rusted, decayed, and moldy areas filled with debris, broken glass, swaying vegetation and cables. The lighting is harsher than other areas in the game, and has distant skylights through plants and wires which cast big shadows. Soundscapes include noises by crickets, cicadas and birds.
Level transitions are usually placed in elevators surrounded by plants, with debris floating through the tubes. Some test doors are broken or malfunctioning.
In-Depth
In the single-player campaign this was the first theme the player had encountered, and consequently had been designed to be visually striking and to leave as big an impact as possible on the player. This theme is supposed to everything feels very organic. On that note, however, do not confuse this with being dynamic; the player must get the feeling that everything is dying if not already dead, that this is the end, and that they are in solitude. The official campaign uses the theme only for two things:
- Tutorials - very simple cube and button based testing and momentum puzzles
- Plot advancement
However don't limit yourself to such simple tests. As stated above this theme is designed to leave an impact on the player so if you have a simple yet innovative and unique puzzles, or those with brilliant moments of epiphany (colloquially known as 'aha' moments) use this theme. If you have a new testing element to show off, this sort of striking theme might just ingrain it in the player's mind forever.
Noticeable Elements
The destroyed theme is characterized by the very organic feel of it, the vegetation is the most iconic element of the theme, while the skybox lights the map.
Skybox
The main source of light in this theme is the skybox Skybox lighting is actually very easy to create, and it's the most prominent source of lighting in this theme. The easy bits come first; go into the Map menu and select map properties. Next, find the key value that says what the skybox texture should be, and change this to sky_white - no folder, no file extension, just that. Next, create a brush where you want the skybox to be; naturally, make sure it seals the map from leaks, as always. Texture this brush with tools/toolsskybox. Now comes the somewhat more difficult part; setting it up to project light. This isn't actually that difficult, but it's a little more so than the previous steps. Create a light_environment entity and place it anywhere inside the map. Now, you could just stop there, but it's bad practice to ever use a perfectly white light, so I like to use the setting Valve uses in their maps. Use these exact key values:
Angles: 0 280 0 Pitch: -80 Brightness: 255 247 217 250 Ambient: 255 247 217 400 Sun spread angle: 5