What if it was about introducing ”a new puzzle element” each time? They had some good mechanics but testers asked ”‘where’s my portal gun?’”
”One of the ideas was: what if the Portal franchise is, instead of always being about Portals - which’d be tough because it’s called Portal - but what if it was always about introducing a new puzzle element that you’re going through?” said Portal 2 writer Erik Wolpaw.
”It’s about Aperture Science, and now you’re going through this new testing track with this new element.” The studio tried using the Gravity Gun and ‘paint’ which is Portal 2’s property-manipulating gel. While it worked the portals were missed too much.
”We pretty quickly found that, even though we had a couple of pretty interesting mechanics, that people would always, to a person, every play tester we had would say, ‘Yeah this is alright, but where’s my portal gun?’” added Wolpaw.
Portal 2 releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC next year. Could you accept Portal being about Aperture Science and the challenge of new puzzles without the trusty portal gun?
