Conclusion
If you read all the way through this guide and made it to here, congratulations! It certainly makes me happy and humbled that someone took interest in monoportal map-making, as well as take my advice, ideas and suggestions into consideration. I’m very thankful for your readership and interest in what I had to present! Needless to say, this guide is the product of my personal experience with mapping, and reflects my individual thoughts on mapping practices. You may find that you don’t agree with some points in this guide, and that’s not only reasonable, but expected – everyone has different views and opinions on most subjects, and puzzle design is no different.
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I would like to thank everyone who encouraged me to make this guide, as well as those who contributed with suggestions, ideas, fixes and more. Special thanks to Demon Arisen for helping me with reviewing the grammar and spelling of this guide. Many thanks to TeamSpen210 for helping me with some technical aspects of Beemod and its autoportal. Also thanks to HankyMueller for helping me review some of the concepts covered in the Mechanics section.
While this version of the guide is “finished”, it can always be expanded or improved upon. If you have any suggestions, would like to point out mistakes, request more clarity in certain matters or ask me to cover subjects I haven’t otherwise – for instance, monoportal bootstrapping, or autoportal behind grating – please do let me know. The more people point out ways to improve this guide, the more people it’ll help in the long run.
I would also like to mention that I deliberately avoided tackling most edge case scenarios and circumstances that slightly twist some of the observations made throughout the guide. The reason being that a lot of creative monoportal puzzles will intentionally change things up as to keep them fresh and different. This guide should be seen as a “starter’s pack”, or a baseline, and you should actually explore venues that were not covered in this guide. For instance, how about having a portal behind a fizzler also act as a pocket?
Finally, though it goes without saying, this is not a rulebook. This guide is as reliable as one’s subjective view and opinions can be. You are still free to make maps following your own practices, and my practices are not necessarily the best either. You must weigh in the topics covered here, compare them with your previous knowledge of these subjects, and judge whether or not my advices are worth it to you.
I don’t personally take map requests, as those can be rather time-consuming and demanding, but if you find any good monoportal maps or make one you’d like me to check, you may do so in the comments below. Do keep in mind I am making no promises of playing anyone’s maps or putting the ones I play in my Monoportal Hall of Fame. I may or may not provide feedback on puzzles sent my way, so don’t be disappointed if yours don’t make it through. Remember that the reward of making a great job is greater than the reward of earning a spotlight!
Happy map-making, and I hope to see you guys on the other side of the monoportal!
Monoportal Hall of Fame
This collection includes some of my favorite monoportal maps in the Portal 2 workshop. Some are mine, most are from other authors. They vary in difficulty, aesthetics, techniques, elegance, etc. You can try them by checking this collection:
And now, we shall close off the guide with a deconstruction of each entry on the collection. Below, you can see a table for mechanics, logic and position for each map in there. Some maps might feature multiple of each. This is so that you can see, in practice, how each of the topics covered by this guide applies in practice by playing around with an interactive example:
| Map | Mechanics | Connections | Autoportal placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partnership | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Anti-bootstrapping moving autoportal Beam replacement moving autoportal |
Hierarchy | On wall, at floor level |
| Punishment | Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall |
Static/Singular autoportal | Behind fizzler On wall, at floor level |
| Pondering | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto wall |
Static/Singular autoportal | On ceiling |
| Pull the Leg | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall Beam replacement moving autoportal |
Hierarchy | On wall |
| Passenger | Teleportable entities onto wall Flinging out of autoportal |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, higher up |
| Reverberate | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Portal management Switcheroo moving autoportal |
XOR links | Behind fizzler On wall, at floor level |
| Stalemate | Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall Portal management Anti-bootstrapping moving autoportal Beam replacement moving autoportal Switcheroo moving autoportal |
Hierarchy | On wall, at floor level On wall, higher up |
| Axiom | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall Flinging into autoportal Flinging out of autoportal Portal management |
Static/Singular autoportal | On floor |
| Anodyne | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, at floor level |
| Amber | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Flinging into autoportal |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, at floor level On floor |
| Monochrome | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto wall Flinging into autoportal Flinging out of autoportal Portal management |
Static/Singular autoportal | On floor |
| Mono Portal Play | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto wall Flinging into autoportal Flinging out of autoportal |
Static/Singular autoportal | On floor |
| Inverted | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, at floor level |
| Stargazing | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall Flinging into autoportal Flinging out of autoportal Beam replacement moving autoportal Switcheroo moving autoportal |
Latest input | On floor On wall, at floor level On ceiling |
| Tragedy | Pocketing Flinging into autoportal |
Static/Singular autoportal | On ceiling |
| Confined | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto wall Beam replacement moving autoportal |
Hierarchy | On floor |
| Once Upon a Time | Fizzler workaround Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall Portal management |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, at floor level |
| Immortal | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Flinging out of autoportal Portal management |
Static/Singular autoportal | On floor |
| Meltdown | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Portal management |
Static/Singular autoportal | On wall, at floor level |
| Dissector | Fizzler workaround Teleportable entities onto autoportal Teleportable entities onto wall |
Static/Singular autoportal | Behind fizzler On wall, at floor level |
| Phantom | Pocketing Teleportable entities onto autoportal Flinging into autoportal Flinging out of autoportal Portal management |
Hierarchy | On ceiling On floor |
Final remarks
This post is an adaptation/transcription of my original guide on Steam, which can be found here:
Extra thanks to Michelle Sleeper for hosting this website and allowing for map-making enthusiasts like myself to share their knowledge with the world.
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Tags: Autoportal, Level design, Mapping, Monoportal, Portal 2, Puzzle, Puzzle design