Post Mon Feb 28, 2011 11:18 am

Portal Mechanics

Another paper I wrote for my video game class. :) Enjoy!

Portal takes place in the Aperture Science laboratories across multiple levels called test chambers. You are a test subject that has to navigate through these chambers that are set up to be puzzles, under watch of Aperture Science and the computer software GLaDOS. To get through these chambers, the player is guided by GLaDOS to using the portal gun to shoot out warp points that the player, and other objects, can pass through. To exploit these portals, players can use momentum to fling themselves all over the map in order to reach buttons, get over obstacles, or reach the end of the level. Throughout the game, GLaDOS is speaks brokenly and says many things to make the player think that it is corrupted or evil. After the player finishes the last test chamber, it is clear that it corrupted when GLaDOS tries to destroy the main character of the game in a pit of fire. After escaping this part, the player must go through the background of the test chambers to reach GLaDOS’s main components and destroy them because it becomes clearer that it has killed off everyone else in the laboratory.
Portal creates many different emotions than usually created in puzzle video games. Though this game is a first person shooter, the character does not go around and kill other players or characters in the game. The player is helped out by the robotic narrator and actually has to ‘kill’ ‘her.’ This is symbolization that tugs at the human mind… The player has an omnipresent controller that can see everything at all times and knows what will happen. Destroying it creates an emotional ideal of becoming greater than perfect, or ‘above God’ in a way. Also, the obvious corruption of GLaDOS shows that not only does this narrator have a kind of personality that is shown through the funny puns and a kind of wit, but it also aligns either good or bad. (Morally bad in this case.) As for the level themes, throughout the initial test levels, all of the levels are white and futuristic, while the second part is grudge-like with an ending of destruction.
Major gameplay elements for this game includes obstacles, boundaries, walls, and gravity. There are many different kinds of obstacles like androids that cannot be passed without being shot, gates that must be opened with buttons or other switches, and the light balls that can destroy a human if it comes into contact with it, while it is also used as an activator for many switches. For boundaries, there are walls and gates that prevent you from moving past to the end of the level without solving the puzzle of that level. There are also points where the player must jump because there is a boundary of poisoned water below. For walls, there were many different kinds: Some prevented portal use, while others allowed it. The last exploitable element is gravity. As mentioned before, gravity can be exploited to fling the player over obstacles.
The game designers make it unclear why they chose these elements or how they come to think of them. Some of the levels and many design aspects are genius and doesn’t seem like someone would have thought of elements that were so clever. Many of the exploitable tools and obstacles are basic and used in many other games to create a certain difficulty level. Obviously, the creators of Portal wanted a certain level of difficulty, so they included aspects of other games that worked well.
I do not believe there is a greater point than pure fun that the designers were trying to go for in Portal. They created this whole new dimension of gaming that never was thought of before. The designers were not trying to become innovative, but they did create a very innovative game.