Sorry I'll be blunt.

This is less a Portal map then just engineered griefing. Everything about the map rubs me the wrong way. The unfocused sandbox at the start. The small timers. The lack of signage. The lack of visual connection between cause and effect. The parkour, platforming (wrong game I'm afraid). And so on.

The job of the designer is to present the player with a problem, it's then their job to figure it out. This isn't so much a construction of a problem as much as a mess.

IF you make more maps I hope you step away from the darkside and try to present your puzzles in a clear, more focused, and concise manner.

well designed for this style of test...but not one I personally enjoy. I knew what to do and had the cube positioned and the ball ready and knew what sequence I would push the buttons and where I would place my portals to make everything happen within the time but just couldn't execute it. Guess I like the thoughtful puzzle aspect rather than the fast reflex shooter platformer aspect of the game. The lift/angled panel thing was super annoying. Making the lift go a hair higher would be nice just for a couple extra shot attempts on that panel. I swear sometimes I hit it but the portal wouldn't take...grrrr. Despite not being my cup of tea I could tell that it was thoughtfully put together and some out there will surely enjoy it.

Sorry, I was talking to toncica, I was making comments about his map. I guess I can see the confusion there.

PS If you want frustating, I dare you to give his a try lol.

Execuris why are you talking to yourself? You are the one who made this chamber right?

btw, this is a good chamber except you have to do the same thing over and over again. It is not a test of patience or skill, it's just plain frustrating. Like the part you have to push the button then shoot the portal and then jump down to get to the other side. It is just very frustrating

I'm still struggling with it, but I finally made progress. You've done an amazing job on it. One mind-numbing roadblock after another. After another hour of fiddling around I finally have both cubes on the buttons, and now I stand there staring at that open door just wondering how to get to it.

I don't want to watch your walkthrough because I feel like being shown how to do a puzzle is worse than giving up. I find no satisfaction in solving a puzzle in which I was told the solution lol. I haven't even read the comments because I want nothing given away. I'm so close... you made such an amazing, elaborate puzzle.

You are not alone in finding that puzzle hard to solve. That wasn't exactly the intention, my first playtester said it's not a hard puzzle so I was quite surprised that everybody was struggling with it. I've added a video walkthrough for those who can't take it anymore.

Yeah I had no idea what I was getting into when I took a shot at your puzzle. I worked on it for nearly 2 hours last night. Before I knew it, it was 4:15am so I decided to go to bed and I'll keep trying tonight. It is a very intriguing and difficult map and I'm dumbfounded on it because I keep thinking I figure something out only to find that it really didn't get me anywhere at all lol. Definitely the hardest one I've ever done, and I'm looking forward to the satisfaction of completing it. =)

I'm worried about you being worried about the time it took to solve your chambers. In my opinion it's fine. Solving a test in five minutes does not give me satisfaction. It means I have not been forced to start thinking when going through lots of elements like a knife through hot butter. Maybe I should have warned you when I recommended my map for you to play. I don't expect you to solve it faster then I did yours, in fact it might take a lot longer. Being worried about that I took the opportunity to expand the tutorial section at the beginning to perhaps soften the confusion in the main room.

Your solution to the upper laser catcher was rather interesting. My intended solution for that was to have the reflection cube on the track platform, redirecting the upper laser emitter through portals, and the track platform would move up and down, causing the laser to hit the catcher for a fraction of a second, with the intention of the player being on the weighted switch.

I agree with you about the bowling alley not fitting well. I wasn't really sure what to do with it, because I had originally made that first to entertain my daughter. When she asked me to publish it, I said I didn't want to just publish the bowling alley, so I just whipped up the puzzle room that night.

Anyway, I talk too much, I'm going to do yours now. =)

Thanks so much for the very informative comments! I especially appreciate the video of your blind run. It gives me a lot of perspective on what potentially goes on through the minds/eyes of those playing my maps, and it's also quite fun to watch others play my creations. The length of your videos makes me worry that perhaps my two maps are indeed too complicated.

I wasn't even sure what you meant about the placement of the relay until I personally watched you fall on the cube multiple times. I hadn't even thought of that being a possibility, because during my own runs I had just gone off the side, as you had done in your final "plummets."

Here is my blind run: http://youtu.be/I8_KRJfInck

I have also made a puzzle involving limited time. It's not about reflexes but about the ability to find the not so trivial solution in which time is a factor. Would be nice to see some more testing of it. Let's see how well you function with a ticking clock. :)
http://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=126074936

I expected worse after reading the complaint by Gemarakup. It was tight but doable. When you fail you try to be faster or look out for a more efficient way. The most annoying thing was the placement of the laser relay. It meant that the cube was likely to be in the way where I shot the floor portal to fling to the funnel button. I was landing multiple times on the damned cube.
There's always quick saving which I did but then I never loaded and chose to resume from the failed attempts. Maybe put the turret bowling into a more fitting chamber. It feels strange to have it here after the rush of the first room. All in all I enjoyed the exercise. Thumbs up.

Probably 2 times within countless tries.

If I get enough complaints I'll increase the time on that panel. I just hope it doesn't lead to me having to increase the time on all the other switches as well, kinda defeats the purpose of what I was trying to accomplish as far as difficulty goes. I personally find it to be one of those mechanics that feels rewarding when you finally get it right. Did you manage to complete it, btw?

Yeah, but leaving it like that is making it almost impossible.

But that would make it too easy ;) I find it to be hard as hell myself. The point is to test accuracy, speed, and reflexes. I suppose if I must, I could increase the time by one second, but I'd hate myself for doing so. Hehe =D

I know what I'm supposed to do here, but I think that the timed panel turns off to fast and it takes more than 5 tries to quickly press the button and shoot the panel before the lift goes down and jump into the portal. I'd suggest to make this map solvable, just add more time to the panel.