@Re0 Thanks for playing and solving it. Glad you enjoyed it.

I finally finished it without any prompts.Thank you for this map! It's great.

@Freddy @Josch
Hey thanks for playing and great job solving the puzzle. Really appreciate all the time and effort spent in solving it.

You know that the map isn't easy when it takes you 90 minutes alone to figure out again how to get to checkpoint 3 - and finally we did it! Thank you for this map!

We just beat this map.
It took us about 3 Weekends and in total more than 24 h of banging our heads against the wall.
Awesome map! We loved it... and hated it... and now love it.
Thanks for sharing!

I now consider myself an advanced Portal Coop Player ;D

~ is MVP!!

@xlongyang Great job cracking this map.

It took us about 3 days to completely solve it. Now we are confident that we have mastered the quantum physics from Harvard.

you and your friend are required to have a degree in harvard and major in quantum physics to be able to beat this map

@Deputy Dog, thanks for playing

We gave up and followed the video. Still confused! We thought it looked familiar but didn't realize it was a Dr. Fauli map until seeing the description. No wonder it was so hard!

@Flush, Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to save progress across sessions.

me and my friend are playing this right now...it's one of the best ones we've ever done. it's super hard lol. is there a way to load the checkpoints in between play sessions?

Awesome! I've uploaded the fix for that bug as well. Thanks again.

Oh, yes. My friend found an unintended solution first, and then, after many hours of thinking, he solved your map in intended way. I just thought, that I need to report you about this bug.

Hey, thanks for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed playing the map. Thanks for finding out that bug. I will upload a fix soon. I hope you found the intended solution as well. Cheers.

Absolutely incredible puzzle! I and my friend played many hard maps, but this... This is something unbelievable! Thank you very much for this hardcore! After many hours and tries my playmate finally solved your map. Well, now he feels happy and free :) And me too, of course.

By the way, my friend found an unintended solution. I recorded a video, you can watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlZB2LR1sh4&feature=youtu.be

You have a huge talent and potential. And I'm looking forward to your new map. Thank you!

Hey, thanks for playing and your comment. Good job in clearing the map. Glad you enjoyed it even if it may have been frustrating at times. I'm planning to make another one of similar complexity but with auto-portals sometime in the future.

At 4 am there was the breaktrough ... Everything fitted together (in theory), so I stood up, turned on the pc, started Portal 2 and checked if i was right. And really, this worked! Finally I could fall asleep!
Thanks for this great map (the most complex and challenging coop I ever played, including my own maps, till now I thought, these were complex ) and "grrrrr" for a very short night!

Epic! Me and my friend played your map at the last weekend. He came up with "this one could be challenging ..." and it took us about 2 hours getting to checkpoint 1!! So far, so good. After checkpoint 1 it got worse ...
We tried to solve the puzzle for several additional hours without success, paused playing and decided to change our strategy! Now we wanted to reach the next checkpoint and guess what? No success! On sunday we gave up (for this time), because my friend had to leave. But, as you might know, going to sleep with an unsolved problem in mind can be a fault. My brain got stuck in your map and didn't want to turn off! So I was lying in my bed thinking of how to get to the exit in your map! Sleep? Far away!

Hehe, well it did take me a monumental amount of time to design it so I can understand.

Complexity level 9000... even the walkthrough video is too much for our humble brains ;-)
Brainteaser? Nope. Absolute mindfuck: yes.

Cool, its not vastly different but yeah it should be a fun little challenge. You should figure it out easily since you've already solved the previous version.

sounds interesting - i might check it out next week. :)

Ah yes, sorry about that, I never noticed it until now. I've fixed it. Yes there has been a few minor changes that make the first part a little different. But once you complete the second step the solution is essentially the same. I've removed the solution video for now cause i have to record the new solution sometime.

77... and solution video is gone... did you manage to find a more complex way? :)

btw: will you ever realize your spelling error? ;-)
I feel a bit violated

Thanks for playing anyways.

Hey dude,

thanks for you comment, but I cannot say more than DrFauli because I am his P2 Coop Partner and gave up because those maps are tooooooooo complex for my little dumb brain. ^^^

So he had to finish it alone (see below)! ;)

But my *thumb up* is save.

We're really enjoying the map so far. Sadly we couldn't complete it in one sitting as one of us had to leave (it was late) but we will definitely continue soon. This is part 1 of our playthrough anyway: https://youtu.be/OwUiT7jJqTU

Nothing significant was changed. Fixed some textures and antlines. Removed the fizzler under the angled panel that caused cubes to get fizzled. Also made it so that you couldn't shoot and enter the laser portal using ninja tricks. I have a bad habit of uploading after every change so it got to 13 changes.

You have uploaded 13 changes to the map, since I started playing it.
What did you change?

About the tutorial thing:
Too bad the thinkingwithportals (TWP) community board is gone.
They had a lot of usefull stuff on almost all portal related topics.
Including map design and advanced help with hammer, texturing, scripting, etc.

When I was building my 'Bridge Building' map, the info on the site helped a lot to
get some ideas and advanced internals on map making and optimizing.
I also had help from 2 very good mappers that playtested the map several times for me.
The map still has a reference to the TWP community board, because how usefull it was.

It is sad to see it gone. So much information lost.

I'd like to make an wheatley style puzzle one day. Or maybe even port this to a wheatley theme. Can't find any basic tutorials on it though.

I personally do not mind that you used the golden fizzler. Players can figure out what it
does very early and it is always clear how it works and when you have to disable it.
It actually is quite a clever way to achieve what you were aiming for without ruining the
entire map with more and more senseless elements that would confuse the players.

Raising the laser portal did not seem strange to me either, but I see why you did not
like it in comparison. It is still clear that there is a surface and how to use it and it
does not look bad or out of place, even if it is quite high.

About your spoiler-part: i totally agree. Took me long enough to figure it out and I liked
that move very much.

I always start to create my maps with the ingame puzzle editor to get a fast blueprint
and a stable map with a good puzzle first. And only if I feel like the map deserves a
special design, I start using hammer for the actual construction from scratch, but by
looking at the blueprint to get the already working puzzle into a nice design.

But Hammer is really taking up too much time - even after you get used to it.
So I prefer the ingame editor (after creating or improving many prefabs for it with hammer).

My "Hakuna Matata", "Beyond Imagination" and the whole "brainteaser" map series were
all created with the ingame editor only. I did not edit any of these maps within hammer.
But the prefabs used within these maps were edited or created with hammer editor to speed
up the process of creating these maps and making it easy and fast to edit the maps.

Congratulations on solving the test. I'm so glad that you managed to complete it and find the intended solution. It was difficult to enforce it and the map went through so many iterations to fix many unintended solutions that I discovered. The laser portal had to be raised to prevent a coop cube handoff. I wasn't a huge fan of that change because it looked better earlier but it had to be done. I didn't want to add the gold fizzler either, but I didn't see an elegant way around it. I think that getting the reflector to the tilde button is the toughest part of the puzzle and that's why it was deviously hidden in the center of the solution to obscure it further. I do hope to make more maps in the future when I have an ample amount of time again. Working with hammer was time consuming if anything. I still have no idea how to make a pretty theme with it.

I really love how you reuse almost all the elements in the map a few times.
even the side room next to the laser room was used twice - amazing
Took me quite some time to notice that you intended to use that room so early and I
only noticed it when the cube was on the button and the laser suddenly had
an important meaning to get the portals back in place.

All in all great Portal 2 brainteaser map with logic based puzzles and a non-linear
approach to the solution. I could not have solved the map without looking for the
possible smaller steps and the "big picture" in the right order - all combined. :D

I am still overwhelmed by the complexity of the map.
moving the weighted cube from the triangle to the tilde button, by respawning
it with the reflector cube, still managing to keep the portal in the laser room was hard
and I got stuck right after that step, because I did not notice I had to do something
important with the reflector cube at this moment.

and also: moving the reflector cube from the triangle button to the tilde button
was very difficult to figure out. But when I noticed how to switch the players
and keep the portals open I was so happy and astonished that I did not see
that this move was even possible.

Finally managed to solve the map today (alone in splitscreen) . :)
Took me around 13 hours in total, mostly because my head was stuck at my own
maps solution and because your map is far more complex than mine.

There are so many steps required to shuffle the cubes around - truely amazing.
I enjoyed that and was proud to figure it out in the end and after trying around
what is possible and what leads to a dead end. :D

The map is a good example for a true brainteaser:
- obvious and easy to execute puzzle-steps (but only in the right order)
- no hidden elements and only logic required to solve the puzzle

Really well done - love this map. Great work, thank you.
Now please start to improve my other maps or create your own brainteaser from scratch. :)
I want more great challenges and new maps to explore.

It's been a pleasure. When I used to play community maps earlier, it seemed like every puzzle involved getting into the head of the creater to see what fancy move is needed to crack the puzzle. It was only after I ran into the beyond imagination series and then the brain teaser series did I realise "Hey I already know what all moves are possible, then why can't I solve it yet". That's when I truly appreciated how complex a game Portal 2 could be and it was due to the brain teaser series. I really do hope to see more maps like them in the workshop. It's a shame that they don't do as well as the more casual maps.

I just realized I want to say 'thank you'.
It is great to see the concept of my map in your improved and polished map.

I always hoped for someone to build a complex map, like I enjoy to do.
Because I wanted to solve a map, where I don't know the solution yet.

So yeah, thank you very much for working on improving my concept with your
ideas and adding more complexity to this map. I enjoy this a lot. :)

I also know how much time it takes to build a map and how annoying it can be
to get stuck with some engine related problems or even puzzle related brainfreeze. :D
So this 'thank you' is here for you to know that I appreciate your work.

You are welcome. :)
I am glad I was able to help you solve this small issue.

When I created my Bridge Building map, I have spent around 3 hours figuring out
a way to prevent the placement of portals outside of the placement helper (or in another angle).
When I finally found a good way (without blocking the portals from sharp angles) I created
the prefab and I am using it for my maps ever since. Huge help and less drama. :D

Thanks for the custom placement_helper. They don't seem to hinder normal portal placements at all which is great. I've updated the map to include them.

Yeah, the extra fizzlers always get in the way from a seemingly easy solution. It's very hard for me as well to see shortcuts given the complexity. I can't be absolutely sure if a step is really needed or an easier way exists. It's also difficult for the player to know if they are making any progress since the entire time you are just one light bridge away from the exit.

I've also noticed the placement_helpers not working sometime. And the placement_helpers never work when you place a portal with a taunt. I have no idea how to fix that though since it seems like an engine issue. And there is one move in which you absolutely need the placement_helper to work, which is when placing a portal in the weighted cube spawn room from the lower floor.

I just spent 40 minutes on your map, trying to find a shortcut / unintended solution.

While it was easy to get the cubes in the right position and enable the light bridge,
it was impossible to get the player with the portals out of the side-rooms.
Always stuck at a fizzler or completly out of reach to get back outside.

The interesting part was: all the steps work perfectly fine and it looks like you can
solve the map with just a few steps. Cubes are in place, portals are in place, bridge
to the exit is activated, but then you realize at the very last step, that you cant get
outside to reach the bridge without losing the portals. :D

It is rather funny how often that might happen while solving small parts of the map. :)

btw: I noticed that your placement_helpers do not work all the time.

The very first thing I tried, was to solve your map exactly the way I would solve my own.
Did not get very far though, but it was enough to see most of your changes. :)

I also enjoy these non-linear puzzles even if it takes forever to solve them.
Sometimes I have to take some notes to remember the ideas I had for the solution,
because with higher complexity it is hard to remember the good steps (and forget the bad).

Too bad there are not enough players that would enjoy these kind of maps.
Seen it with my own brainteaser maps - the casual Portal players dont want them.

I can imagine there always being one hindrance at a later stage in a plan. The non linearity is what makes it really hard. That's what i loved about the original (and pretty much all the brainteaser maps). How non-linear it was. The next configuration was never obvious. Which is why I've added hints in the description to help people know what configurations they should be working towards. The last part of the solution is very similar to yours.

The tilde button is as you said very important as it opens up the ceiling portal and allows you to shoot a portal into the weighted cube room from outside and helps connect the 2 parts of the map. The triangle button however is given more importance by many players I've seen but there are many ways around it using the laser button. Much of the intended solution does involve not having a cube on the triangle button.

I'm glad you are enjoying the map. It makes creating it worth it.

You have really managed to rework the map in such a way, that the solution is in sight but
also hidden at the same time. Approaching the map step by step by only solving the next
obvious part wont get you to the exit. The level of complexity requires to analyse each portal
and cube configuration first, before you can start to solve the actual puzzle in the right order.

When I first played your map I did not realize how many more steps you added, because it
still looked like the same concept. But after ~7 hours of looking around and trying things out
I cant seem to find a shortcut and altough I know the basic concept, I still cant reach the exit
with my order (and the amount) of steps.

I enjoy this map. Great feeling to figure out another step and still end up at another fizzler. :D

I thought I had finally found the solution today, but got stuck at another fizzler. :D
Shuffling the cubes around is difficult if you don't know the next steps.
Looks like I have to do more cube shuffling and/or respawning to get it done. (guessing)

There are still a few steps of my maps solution present and I keep thinking,
that I have to use them - but they dont work on your map. ;)
At least I figured out the order of some early steps by try & error. ^^

I am quite sure the last few steps on your map are still more or less the same
as on my map. So the end seems easy enough... still need to figure out the middle, though. :D

Thanks for all your comments. Really appreciate it. Like in many of your maps, I've tried to add constraints in such a way that they don't make the next move obvious but will hinder certain strategies at a later stage.

And yeah, you are right that the tilde button is the single most important button in this puzzle. Most strategies involve that being pressed. The other important ones are the laser button and the triangle button. To really arrive at the solution its necessary to analyse what strategies are feasible in a given configuration of cubes.

I can already see that your map has a higher complexity than mine.

I have spent another 2 hours on your map in local splitscreen to try some stuff alone.
The only thing I know for sure: the tilde-button is very important for the intended solution.
But how, when, who... still need to figure that out. :)

I noticed that you might have managed to create a very complex solution, which requires
to reuse most of the elements several times. Well done. :)
When I worked on my own map, I always wanted to reuse the elements some more,
but never really managed to pull it of the way I was hoping to do it.

Quite amazing what you did to the puzzle by changing a few things around.
You have earned my respect by getting me stuck in 'one of my own maps'. :D
The description of my map now features a link to your profile and this map. =)

I will let you know about my progress on your map.
Might have to solve it alone in splitscreen, because my buddy already gave up. :D

Hey DrFrauli,

Thanks for the feedback. Really means a lot.

As for the puzzle, I've tried to incorporate various strategies that I've seen being used in the map so the actual solution is a bit complicated. It involves a bit of cube shuffling and respawning to get them to the right place. So it does involve a lot of steps. The intended solution did take me just under 12 minutes to record so you can imagine. I'm not sure if the intended solution is forced because there may be a completely different way to solve it that I didn't think of.

Anyways have fun with the puzzle. I really appreciate it.

Thanks