Valve's Eric Wolpaw on Portal 2: Difficulty, DLC, and Steam on the PS3

[Dekstar]

While speaking to Joystiq at PAX East, Eric Wolpaw was asked about the difficulty of Portal 2. "We're going to train you, at no point are we going to ask you to do something that we haven't prepared you to do," he said. It turns out that Valve with their awesome trickery were monitoring people's gameplay through Portal 1, and noticed there were a couple of the more acrobatic puzzles that require "twitchy ninja skills" that a lot of people ended up quitting the game over.[br]Valve want to do away with that frustration by both tweaking the 'tunneling' physics of the portals, and making more effort to make sure people using controllers (whether this also meant mouse+keyboard combinations is not known) have an easier time with maneuverability and the layout of puzzles.[br]As for the trailers for the game that seemed to show some pretty devilish puzzles, Eric noted that the gameplay in the trailers was to show "someone do some crazy ninja moves," meaning the puzzles in the end result may not be as difficult.[br]So what about those of us who are interested in a difficulty boost? What about challenge rooms or DLC? Eric said that challenge rooms won't be shipped with the game, but there is planned DLC. Having said that, though, I can't remember there being any extra challenge rooms for Portal released.[br]On the subject of Steamworks features on the PS3 being used in other games, Eric said that, "I think we're always looking into stuff like that," before adding, "We're not ready to talk about anything like that, but I think it would be great if it happened."[br]The full interview, with some extra tid-bits about Playstation Move support, can be found over at Joystiq.

 

[David.Seth2]

from the article referring to the difficulty of Portal 1:

He added that Valve monitored the game on Steam and that those who quit the game "almost universally" quit after playing one of the two puzzles that are most difficult to execute

I wonder which two puzzles are they talking about?

 

[Destructo-Bot]

I think developers may be seeing difficulty as something which is more negative than it actually is. It feels good to get past something which has caused you great effort to surmount. Sometimes you don't or can't return right away, but finish them later. Just because you have to put a game down for awhile doesn't mean the experience was bad, or that you hate it.

Also, that's what cheat codes are for. Turn on god mode or noclip if you having that much trouble and skip it. Leave the challenge there for those that want a challenge, and leave cheat codes accessible for those that don't. They think they are making the game more accessible, but all they are doing is tuning the game to the whims of quitters and those without the initiative to figure out how to bypass something.

That isn't to say that nothing can be learned from information such as that, but taking the real challenges out of a game isn't the way to do it, I think.

 

[Paulaner]

but taking the real challenges out of a game isn't the way to do it, I think.

Across threads and discussions we usually refer to this as "dumbing down", don't we?

 

[Dekstar]

Across threads and discussions we usually refer to this as "dumbing down", don't we?

While I can see where they're coming from, I'm really not a fan of selling a game to the lowest common denominator, and I agree with Destructo that games should have challenging sections. I think Valve are doing it right by making the difficulty curve less drastic, but it shouldn't cap the skill ceiling, and for that reason I'm not entirely sure what their plan is to challenge us.

 

[hipnotyq]

from the article referring to the difficulty of Portal 1:


I wonder which two puzzles are they talking about?

i'm going to guess...
one of the early test chambers where you have to jump off the ledge with the cube in hand and manually put it in the hole in the wall (above an emancipation grid) while GLaDOS is giving you an atmosphere of extreme pessimism. I play this game over and over and thats still one chamber that I can be stuck on for about 2 mins just because I can't nail the jump + throw of the cube.

the second one I'm going to say is either the one at the end where you need to do about 7 jumps consecutively and the platforms keep getting higher and higher (I think this is one of the last parts of 17 or 18)

 

[MJ12]

^The second one is very easy and doesn't require any "ninja" twitching, it's just about knowing which portal to place next.

 

[Avoidist]

I don't think what they are saying is that we are going to coast through these puzzles, nor do I see that from any of the trailers seen so far (and I can't see a reason why those puzzles would not end up in the game) - merely that some of the more twitchy puzzles and puzzles under time stress will feature less.

That puzzle where you need to activate 2 timed switches to take away the 2 shields and shoot the plasma ball into the catcher wasn't too player friendly, nor was the one with the timed switch just above jumping height and the rotating 90 degree plasma ball shooter.

The bit where you had to launch yourself over a pane of glass by using a portal on the floor and jumping into a second portal in an adjacent room also took several tries by my recollection, and that was a particularly tedious thing to do.

Finally that one part during the escape when you have to place a portal low on the wall and jump a good distance from a pipe suspended over goo, while timing to make sure you land on another pipe you have placed the exit portal above which goes in and out wasn't exactly easy either.

I don't think we should be too concerned - the "escape" section of the first game was probably the best part in my mind and yet in many ways it was much less challenging than some of the test chambers leading up to 19. "Fun" and "Challenge" certainly need not be correlated, or we wouldn't watch movies or do an arts degree. In addition I think we'll find that some puzzles are in fact more challenging to figure out than in the original game, especially when playing through co-op.

 

[kineaesth]

one of the early test chambers where you have to jump off the ledge with the cube in hand and manually put it in the hole in the wall (above an emancipation grid) while GLaDOS is giving you an atmosphere of extreme pessimism. I play this game over and over and thats still one chamber that I can be stuck on for about 2 mins just because I can't nail the jump + throw of the cube.

I'm pretty sure (and I just loaded up Portal to check) that you don't need to throw anything anywhere: you can just shoot a portal through the hole in the wall and then pop the cube through the portal. Although one of my favourite things about Portal is solving puzzles in ways they certainly weren't meant to be solved!

 

[ríomhaire]

I think one of them is probably the first time you have to execute the double fling. It took me a good few tries to get it right and there's no introduction to it other than some pictures on the floor. I hope Valve add the challenge levels sooner rather than later. Also they were going to ship a "harder" difficulty update for the Half-Life 2 games, which still hasn't come about. I know they want everyone to have fun but some of us are just better at these games than others and want more of a challenge.

 

[Dekstar]

I know they want everyone to have fun but some of us are just better at these games than others and want more of a challenge.

My thoughts put so concisely. This is why challenge rooms are so important; not all the more interesting (though difficult) puzzles can make it into the main plot, so they need to have somewhere to be.

 

[StarBob]

I can't recall a single moment of this game that required any "ninja" movements. As far as first person action goes I feel like it required very little in terms of quick reactions. There were a few puzzle sections where I was like "what?" and just sat there for a moment. But never once a situation where I said "damn you gotta be quick to do this." Hell, most Megaman games had jump puzzles required more dexterity than the original portal.

Portal's design and the core of the gameplay are so unique and so entertaining that I honestly wouldn't mind being frustrated with difficulty as much as I would your average game. I guess they aren't just selling the game to me though, they're selling it to everyone and most people can't be bothered committing more than 12 minutes a day trying to accomplish something.

 

[Paulaner]

Well, I know that modern games are way more easy than games from the past. Play some C64 platform and let me know. But, come on, Portal was a hard game? I finished it in a few days, and I'm not that good. As StarBob said, in a room or two I had to stop and think, but that's the fun in playing puzzle games. Dumb down too much and you drop the challenge. Valve, please, don't do it.

 

[Lucid]

I'm one the people that quit the game because of some crazy puzzle. ;(

I should probably get around to trying it again.

 

[Shakermaker]

I'm one the people that quit the game because of some crazy puzzle. ;(

I should probably get around to trying it again.

FOR SHAME!







Really though, for shame. Go play it again. The last part of the game was what really blew my mind.

 

[Lucid]

Sir, yes sir.

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm one the people that quit the game because of some crazy puzzle. ;(

I should probably get around to trying it again.

I played the entire game in one sitting. It's great. Go play.