Portal 2

Portal 2

Magician's Boxes
22 Comments
Steve3Dx 15 Jun, 2023 @ 11:42am 
your video has the ground level white panels but the actual puzzle does not have ground level White panels
Bisqwit  [author] 28 Jan, 2020 @ 6:02am 
Either way, it would require editing in Hammer, which Valve has chosen to not make possible for my current operating system.
2.71828182845904523506 28 Jan, 2020 @ 4:59am 
@Bisqwit Or place a player collision floor, that way the turrets can fall down but the player can't
Bisqwit  [author] 26 Jan, 2020 @ 6:55am 
@Furro Confirmed: There is a possibility to reach the little goo pit if you rush to it. I was also able to duplicate your experience with the same findings: It is indeed possible to get stuck in the mechanism of a moving angled plate; not just in this puzzle, but anywhere.

However, this is not something that a random player is likely to come across (at least someone who doesn’t know the console kill command, so considering the fact that the Puzzlemaker only runs in Windows and I don’t run Windows nowadays, this is a very low priority problem for me.
Also, to fix it, I would need to edit it in hammer and add maybe a kill trigger inside the pit; it’s just not possible to do that in Puzzlemaker due to its limitations. So it would be even more complicated.

The third option would be to remove this little joke altogether, but who wants that?
2.71828182845904523506 2 Jan, 2020 @ 3:52pm 
Hey! I was replaying this gold piece, when I found myself able to die in the Goo of the last puzzle if I reach too quickly.

Now I'm stuck in the Fake Floor (just above the Goo) and the only way out is by issuing the kill command or something along those lines.

Plz fix :p I love your work
Bisqwit  [author] 19 Aug, 2018 @ 9:03am 
Thanks Slate!
lol 18 Aug, 2018 @ 5:49pm 
Ingeniously-crafted level! I thought my solution was cheesing it, but was surprised to find out I solved it exactly as intended.
Bisqwit  [author] 14 Jan, 2017 @ 5:53am 
Thanks Weeaboo-san!
prrg 13 Jan, 2017 @ 5:52pm 
Really cool test. The bug allows for tons of new creative ideas.
Solving the actual test was surprisingly easy (or maybe that's just me?), though putting the cubes in the correct position without them falling out was a pain in the **s
Bisqwit  [author] 23 Feb, 2016 @ 5:41am 
The lessons taught in the beginning of the puzzle are:
Part 1: You can stack three cubes to force a ceiling button.
Part 2: When a laser beam is shining through a lens cube, you can remove supporting cubes and the cube stays suspended in air.
Part 3, lesson 1: A cube that has laser going can stay suspended in air as long as a laser goes through it, even if the source of the laser changes while the cube is there.
Part 3, lesson 2: The enabling laser can also be vertical.


In the actual puzzle, you just have to piece these three things together, i.e. the stack of three cubes does not need to have three cubes, the bottom ones can be removed; you do this by ensuring that a laser is always shining through the topmost cube, even if it comes from the floor, and the laser can later be replaced with another laser without dropping the cube . (2/2)
Bisqwit  [author] 23 Feb, 2016 @ 5:40am 
That's why I hate laser cubes. Slanted cube positionings are (IIRC) never part of my intended solutions, but there is absolutely no way to prevent people doing that.

I inserted the three-part teaching module in the beginning of the chamber precisely to teach the player the tricks necessary to complete the chamber, so that they will not be dumbfounded and try something completely stupid that is ultimately dependent on physics-engine randomness & luck. (1/2)
TropiKo 22 Feb, 2016 @ 9:24pm 
really weird and frustrating but beautiful level
blind solution
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4zxjhgopjenhxbx/MagicianBoxesByTudor.dem?dl=0

This is exactly up my alley. I've grown to not expect glitchy solutions from your puzzles and I was surprised how 'intuitive' for me these were.
Braig46 3 Jul, 2013 @ 2:10am 
Yeah ! It was difficult especially in the end, but i did it :D
Bisqwit  [author] 2 Jul, 2013 @ 10:07am 
elYa19: Did you play through this chamber?
Braig46 2 Jul, 2013 @ 10:01am 
Bisqwit  [author] 2 Jun, 2013 @ 10:45am 
I added a tutorial section in this map. I'd like to hear your feedback about Trivial Pursuit or False Security , if you please. I also just changed Trap Door to no longer require a glitch, since the value and role of the glitch in that map was really neglible. None of these require crazy stuff like tilted cube placements or placing many portals mid-flight.
toncica 2 Jun, 2013 @ 8:49am 
I did watch your video and I can't really say which "solution" I would prefer. Since it's always done with a glitch it's never legit in my book, so I'm having a hard time looking at it as if there were a right solution and unintended solutions.

If you like me to do more blind runs please recommend some of your maps which don't use glitches or have something in it that's in deep gray area.
Bisqwit  [author] 2 Jun, 2013 @ 8:30am 
Thanks for playing. Yeah, unfortunate for those who don't skim descriptions before playing. The appeal with glitches is the additional level of puzzle they give. The bad part is that you don't exactly know which glitches you need. This puzzle could seriously use a part that teaches the rules first. I will consider adding it! I have been afraid that pinpointing the exact trick you require would give away the entire solution. I see now that it may be necessary nevertheless.
At 5:50, you were almost about to get the right solution, but I don't know what made your cube fizzle. It shouldn't have happened. Maybe you accidentally pointed it towards the laser receiver in the floor, which triggers the (re)spawn of the cube. In any case it seemed to discourage you from trying again for a minute. How unfortunate.
In the end, you did discover most of the intended components, but your solution was quite different from anyone else's so far. You could watch the "intended solution" video if you like.
toncica 1 Jun, 2013 @ 7:22pm 
Thank you for pointing out that a glitch has to be used. Unlucky are those who don't read the description before playing. Usually I wouldn't play a glitch map but I gave it a shot this one time. Probably the same "lucky positioning" as the others. I don't get why making a map with glitches when you could make proper puzzles though.
Blind run demo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16159596/magicians_box.dem
Geneosis 9 May, 2013 @ 10:25am 
Oh, really well thought for the solution to get the third cube ^^ Maybe I would have imagine something like that if I didn't found that inclinated cubes could stay static too X)
Bisqwit  [author] 9 May, 2013 @ 9:26am 
@Geneosis Thanks for playing and for the demo :-) For the first part, until deactivating the kill-field, you found essentially the same solution as my friend did. It makes me sad. The right solution is so much simpler and cooler and not subject to lucky positioning, but I'm running out of ways to make it more obvious... But in the second part you eventually found the right solution. The official walkthrough video for this map can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcQP4u1WxHg
Geneosis 9 May, 2013 @ 7:13am 
Lol, this is probably the most glitchy puzzle I ever solved XD Really liked it anyway ;)
Blind demo here [www.sendspace.com].