Bat's Co-op (Portal 2 Co-op)
A series of levels revolving around co-op.
This originally started as I got more interested in Level Design, and being in high school I didn't really have that much knowledge of game engines. Making the levels in Portal 2 with the level editor allowed me to bypass the need to learn a game engine and just get into making a level/puzzle.
I hadn't had much of an idea as to how difficult these were when I first made them. I have not looked at them in years, I finally had them downloaded and played through them to see how difficult they were as I forgot how to do them.
Bat's Co-op 1
.jpg)
Bat's Co-op 1 Gameplay / Solution
Co-op Test 1 is the first level I made in Portal 2. I tried to create a level that forced the player to really think about the order in which they do things. I also wanted parts of the level to be used multiple times to get things to work for the players. So in turn this map as a bit of back tracking.
My goal was to make a map that needed two people to work together to get through the level. Each section requires something from both players otherwise they cannot progress. One may need to aim a laser into portals, the other needs to hold a button to uncover the portal surface. Things like these where you need both players and one can't progress alone.
While playing through this level, I found it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, I haven't played portal 2 in years and had to refresh myself of the mechanics. This may have been slightly easier that it should have been because out of the two levels, I remember more from this one or at least parts of it. The only thing that gave me issues was when I did something in the wrong order, which meant I either had to back track or do the whole puzzle again. Other than the back and forth the level is not that difficult, but it did require a bit of thinking to get through it.
Bat's Co-op 2
Bat's Co-op 2 Gameplay / Solution
This is the second map I made in Portal 2. This level is a bit more of a mouse in a maze type puzzle. One player activates things for another player to progress.
My goal was to really get the players thinking, this is also meant to have a bit of trial and error. The players need to experiment with the buttons and lasers to figure out the solution.
When I downloaded this map, I had no memory of this puzzle. I remember seeing it, but that is all. Playing it as if I was playing for the first time was actually pretty interesting. I got to see first hand how it would feel to play my own level like a person who never played it before. I will admit that I actually got stuck playing this, it was pretty difficult. Then I saw a potential exploit and thought, "Oh no, did I just overlook an exploit that can allow me to skip the whole level?" Luckily, my young self actual found that exploit and had made a fix to prevent it. I did not think that a level I made from a 2018 to actually be that difficult and use the game's provided tools well.