Portal 2's most powerful untaught mechanic

Portal 2 maps often make use of a mechanic that was never taught in the single player campaign. Understanding it is crucial for anyone looking to solve or fully appreciate many of the great puzzles hiding in the Portal 2 workshop. In this short documentary you will learn all about it.
Discord server: / discord
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Links to the maps that I discuss in the video in order:
- steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
- steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
- steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
- steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
- steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Are you a new player looking to start playing and making some good maps? Consider checking out the following links.
RedSilencer's ''Introduction to the Workshop'' collection:
steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
My ''Reliquiae'' collection:
steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
''No elements'' connection to learn about momentum and portal preservation:
steamcommunity.com/sharedfile...
Looking for more help and info?
Here I explain why many workshop maps are so bad: • Why are most popular P...
Here I explain the process of making a very challenging map: • We designed a complex ... .
And here I explain (in real time) the process of making a simple yet good map: • I design a simple Port...
Thumbnail made by theCCguy. Huge thanks to them!
Their workshop: steamcommunity.com/id/theccguy
Music: made by me.
I often upload my music on my second channel.
There's also / mike-daas-1 and mikeastro.bandcamp.com/.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
03:04 - Why respawns are so powerful
08:55 - Examples of cube respawns
16:08 - Outro

[@Mikeastro]

A new Portal 2 video essay has been released! You can find it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6rOZGtjo66fp6s

[@avrg_dd]

wait, u dutch?

[@Mikeastro]

@@avrg_dd yep

[@teamspen210]

Cube respawns are a critical technique indeed. The funny thing is that Valve actually did teach the move once - in Portal 1's Still Alive bonus set of levels (only on console, or ported via mods). It's in chambers 3 and 4 there. Interestingly they chose to highlight the requirement by putting a red skull on the cube and the pedestal button.

[@busterbunny005]

These maps there fan made though because they are maps from Portal The Flash Version Mappack with some changes.

[@TheSpyFromTeamFortress2]

@@busterbunny005 Maybe, but the fact they decided to keep it in shows that VALVe thought it was a good idea to keep it in.

[@busterbunny005]

@@TheSpyFromTeamFortress2 well yeah I guess, still wasn't made by them though and there was nothing like that in Portal 2 still

[@TheSpyFromTeamFortress2]

@@busterbunny005 …Fair point, actually.

[@coolmcdudely4814]

Not gonna lie, you're badass. I'm a console player and never heard of this set of levels. This felt like portal 3, playing through a new set of portal puzzles.

[@ldidok]

I guess that after couple hundred hours playing maps from experienced authors you simply get used to the move, but I've never really thought about the importance of it. Very cool video!

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

As a few other commenters can attest, the community mod _Portal Stories: Mel_ has a few puzzles that utilize cube respawns in their solutions (especially in the original mode, which is called Advanced Mode nowadays).

[@Mikeastro]

Yep, I am aware of that. For some reason I have never played it but I have heard good things about it

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

@@Mikeastro Also, there's a _Portal_ mod called _Rexaura,_ whose puzzles mainly center around high-energy pellets (including a few new components and a reworked version of the rarely-used _green_ pellets). One of the reworks it brings about is that cubes _can_ be destroyed by energy pellets. Naturally, this brings about a way to do cube-respawn puzzles without requiring access to goo or a cube (re)spawn button.

[@MelodySweetheart]

As a new portal player, when starting to delve into full games from modded Portal 2, this was something I struggled to learn at times. Portal Reloaded DRILLED this into my head because it was more apparent to me since there was a future cube that would disappear if I moved its present counterpart. Not only that, but there were specific puzzles in that game where I needed to have cubes disappear which I could do by using what I suppose is an extension of the cube respawn mechanic.

[@konf99]

This not only introduced me to cube respawning but also sliding cubes with gel, thanks mate and great job!

[@sodiboo]

I think that mechanic (orange cubes) is introduced in coop, but not in singleplayer

[@quadstrike]

@@sodiboo correct!

[@jlco]

It is key to one of the later levels in coop.

[@konf99]

Yeah I didn’t know about the coop levels

[@Mabra51]

Sliding cube is already introduced in the base game.

[@misharatkevich9808]

TBH, if the game ever taught you that cube respawns _happen_ (I don't know if Portal 1 ever did, but I recall somehow knowing it), the fact that they can be _exploited_ is fair to leave to the player to figure out by themselves in a map that's otherwise not uber-hard. I remember the first time I played Portal Pro (and avoided peeks and trickery to play "in good faith", because I could sense this mod was worth such an approach), and when I figured out the level that uses cube respawning, it was a true revelation, since I never saw it before. I'm now on the lookout for cube respawns in other maps whenever I play them, simply because figuring it out back then in Portal Pro was a shining moment that etched the idea into my mind, strongly enough that I still remember my excitement so many years later. One of the mod's best levels. (The other best level was "Ride", what an ingenious trick!) Does Portal 1 or 2 teach you that cube respawns happen? I don't remember such a moment, yet I also remember knowing that they happen (but not realizing how useful they can be) before playing Portal Pro. EDIT: I just remembered that out of the two maps I've ever made (I love the process, but got away from it because it takes so much time, and then my Win box went kaput and setting it up on a weak Linux laptop is painful), the first rather amateurishly made one was an attempt to exploit upward flings (that's from before I've seen No Element doing this sort of stuff better), and the second map... yep, the second map ("Two Cubes to Win") is a cube respawn map. Just by that you can tell I fell in love with the mechanic the moment I _really_ found out about it in Portal Pro. ;)

[@tigerstyping]

The part in Portal 2 where GlaDOS repeatedly fizzles the companion cube and respawns it sorta demonstrates that cube respawns happen, but it's easy to miss and was probably just put in as a bit.

[@chaos.corner]

@@tigerstyping Possibly it was an introduction but the mechanic got removed from puzzles later as too difficult.

[@MustacheOnMars9]

The are two chambers in the exclusive bonus levels in Portal: Still Alive that uses Respawn Cubes. I believe they're Still Alive Chambers 3 and 4, however I may be wrong. Other than that, I don't believe there's a single Valve Official test chamber that uses Respawn Cubes.

[@solutionchanneliguess2899]

Great stuff! In a game all about teleportation, the ability to teleport a cube without even having to use portals is potent indeed. If I remember right, somebody left a comment on Reliquiae #0 calling it something along the lines of a "funny little niche mechanic," but you've illustrated that that map is just an introduction to almost every puzzle that uses even a single cube. (And there are even more "spooky" interactions for players to discover on their own.) Also, awesome guest appearance of No Elements.

[@nerdlington7655]

Really digging the video essay format of things. I remember the first time I ran into a cube respawn was in the tiny laser puzzle in Portal Stories: Mel. The solution took me like half an hour to spot.

[@ARandomSpace]

Tiny laser puzzle? Could've sworn the first time P: SM used cube respawns was in a Chapter 3 map with death fizzlers and sliding cubes.

[@katerwaul9574]

Using cube respawns to fling cubes with the momentum from the cube dropper is a trick that I loved to use when I made maps back in the day.

[@Darklingfissure]

I remember I was able to solve a test in Portal 2 with a cube respawn. I don't think it was intentional, but I'm glad to know this is a viable mechanic and not brute forcing a puzzle.

[@OneCrafter17]

I just finished playing Portal Stories: Mel for the first time, and I could not come up with a solution to one of the tests that utilizes this mechanic, it's a great coincidence that this video came up when it did.

[@CommentCritic]

Watched this video some time ago but now it popped up again and I'm rewatching it. Just finished Portal Revolution and THIS was something that got me strung up in a few test chambers. Very lovely use of cube respawn. Completely threw me off guard and had me confused. A very powerful mechanic that valve either didn't think about or wanted to make the puzzles more casual friendly.

[@MRFAB1]

Neat video, a lot of people in the workshop don't know about this great mechanic. I have played so many maps where it could have been used but instead they add another cube.

[@portal2chambers]

The Enrichment Center reminds you that the Weighted Companion Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot respawn after being incinerated.

[@TheAmazingHerosquad]

I made my own cube respawn map. I got frustrated while trying to make something complex so it's a small room with a laser field perpendicular to a fizzler and that simple design made for a pretty interesting puzzle. Just goes to show that complex doesn't always mean good

[@TehRealWeegee]

Cube tubes became one of the first things I look at when entering community maps, because that tells me how many cubes I should have to work with at the end, and lets me work backwards to find where each wants to go.

[@Jackson-ub1uv]

I’m currently working on a map, and this video has actually helped me with designing the puzzle, so thank you :)

[@ashisharky]

These video essays have inspired me to get back into puzzle making. I think I might have gotten the spark back I needed to actually work on a chamber set I started years ago.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

I use this mechanic sometimes and I discovered it in the coop multiplayer if I remember rightly, that had a few chambers that either needed it or benefited from using it. I also heard some people didn’t know about sliding cubes on gel until this which shocked me as that’s also needed in coop.

[@Portal2Player]

I would assume that a mechanic this important and fun would make it so the game gets at least... like, one puzzle where this is the case, but I guess not.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

I wish you named it "Intentional Cubekill" base game, especially coop, use cube respawn all the time - in catch timing. But it is used as "try again" option it's the intentional-ity of the kill, to make it teleport _from_ where it was _to_ the start, that puzzle creators abuse

[@AmaroqStarwind]

What I miss: - The Orbs from the first Portal - Adhesion Gel - Ladders - Pneumatic Diversity Vents - Rocket Turrets - The ability to Duck Jump - The “Blue Portals” mod

[@wta1518]

Trust me, you do not want ladders. They sound like a good idea, but then you remember that Valve made this game.

[@AmaroqStarwind]

@@wta1518 The first Portal had them in behind the scenes sections

[@wta1518]

@@AmaroqStarwind Not ones that you could climb on. All of the ladders broke off as soon as you tried to climb on them in the first Portal.

[@ahmed4363]

Why use ladders when you holding a fu*king wormhole portal creation device

[@AmaroqStarwind]

@@ahmed4363 Portals can’t solve every problem. --------------- Half-Life 2 fans after playing Portal: “I wish I had a portal gun.” Portal fans after playing Half-Life 2: “I wish I had a gravity gun.”

[@forivall]

I was worried that this would be some kind of speedrun strat like shooting a portal while partway through another one, but I was pleasantly surprised that it's a genuine puzzle mechanic! Once you started talking about cubes, I started guessing that it was cube respawns, but I couldn't think of many ways it could be used. I haven't played portal 2 since the year or 2 after it was released, but KZbin recommended me your video on bad maps, so I watched that, and that's what had me a little worried about elitist strats. Now, I know somewhere to go to start looking at good maps, and I'll check out new workshop portal 2 stuff again soon!

[@jahcode6132]

I remember the first time I discovered Cube Respawn as a mechanic. I solved a custom puzzle I was stuck on for over an hour by figuring out the cube respawn. I felt great for working on the puzzle and not giving up.

[@MegaChickenfish]

I remember this mechanic being in some of the portal 2 mods like Mel in particular heavily integrated it, but since portal 2's base game never taught it I was really frustrated with the puzzles until I figured it out.

[@omegahaxors3306]

If you take the original portal logo and reverse it on itself, it makes the word PooP. This fact has been living in my head rent free for over a year now.

[@craftboy338]

I remember once I made a multi-room test chamber where the gimmick was you'd be using the same cube spawner for multiple rooms. After you finished the first room the door closes behind you, so if you lose the cube, it would respawn back in the first room and be inaccessible, right? Except I had set it up so after you leave the first room, the floor beneath the cube spawner opens, and the cube will fall into a complicated setup of faith plates and emerge from an opening in the second room, which closes after the cube goes through. It's an entirely pointless design since the player can't see any of this but I was quite proud of it.

[@cyber_dragon_123]

Chapter 2, chamber 6 in the main game can be solved with a cube respawn. GLaDOS even tells you "press the button again." You just have to be a good listener ;)

[@LB_]

I thought momentum storage was the bigger missed opportunity, given that it only occasionally comes up in co-op and never in Portal 1 or 2 singleplayer, and it uses the mechanic the games are entirely based on. Cube respawning is primarily a lore mechanic, since a more pure puzzle game would just allow you to rewind when you messed up. Exploiting the lore mechanic as a puzzle mechanic is indeed very cool, but it's a lot more arbitrary than the natural conclusion of momentum storage. 10:02 why does that font make T and k look weird? I sat there for a minute trying to decode what I thought was a hidden message but it was just a weird font... 15:46 Mel used cube respawns a lot, didn't it?

[@sodiboo]

What's momentum storage? The only thing I can think of is course 2, chamber 6 (multifling) where on the first part, you can do it solo and if you miss the last portal you end up going in an endless loop. Is that what you're talking about?

[@LB_]

@@sodiboo Nope. Play some No Elements maps and you'll learn it: place portal A on the floor beneath a portablable ceiling, and portal B on the floor beneath a cliff you can jump from. Then jump into portal B. After coming out of portal A, refire portal A at the ceiling and go through portal A. Now coming out of portal B, you have stored your momentum from the fall, and you can relocate portal B to a place you need that momentum and spend it by doing the reverse process. This is Momentum Storage.

[@wta1518]

Yeah I don't know what that guy was on about. Cube respawns are required in at least 3 chambers off the top of my head (the lead one, the first Virgil test, and the last test).

[@LB_]

@@wta1518 Yeah that is what I thought, strange that someone could think otherwise

[@softy8088]

@@LB_ Sorry, that doesn't make sense. In what you described, you gain momentum falling into portal B the first time, and then LOSING momentum every moment thereafter since you're going up (out of portal A on the floor, up to the ceiling into A, then immediately out of B on the floor, still going up.) Also if you relocate portal B (which is directly beneath you) you'll just land on the floor.

[@blueberrymuffins119]

When I played portal revolution I discovered that their first few tests use this; because I never experienced this before, it took me a little bit to figure out lol.

[@theliopleurodon]

I've noticed that portal stories Mel utilises this mechanic a few times. It's very clever and got me stumped until I realised it was possible to do!

[@daxaroodles]

This trick is partially used in the mod ‘Portal Reloaded’.

[@aubymori]

fun fact: cube respawns are officially used in the xbox 360-exclusive portal: still alive, where cubes that are meant to be respawned are marked with a red skull

[@mariotheskeleton1861]

I love how detailed your videos are. You REALLY deserve more subscribers.

[@nicolasandrade7794]

im definently gonna use this in my maps now. this is actually something i first saw in the portal still alive map pack! this video is so good

[@ericsbuds]

the dopamine hit when you finally get the level done and youre soaring through the air and the music surges... man i love these games

[@vinnisvidya]

"Who knew a fizzler could be useful?" foreshadowing

[@leovitiello7424]

Very well-crafted video! I especially enjoyed how you approached it by briefly explaining how to identify different puzzle states. That allows to really get a sense of how powerful the ability to teleport a cube is. Also, thanks for featuring my best of collection and two of my maps as examples! Feels like you're becoming even more famous than before among the Portal community, so it's an honour ;)

[@Seth_M-T]

I think the true genius of cube respawns is how counterintuitive they are. Destroying a cube is almost always seen as a failure that the player must avoid at all costs. This is why the idea of respawning them often doesn't even occur to you, even if you've already done it hundreds of times. To this day, I still die a little inside whenever I see a cube fizzle into nothing, even if that's the correct solution. The best puzzles mess with the player's psychology and punish those that have grown too comfortable following their arbitrary gaming habits. Much like how magic tricks use misdirection to fool an audience.

[@mygills3050]

I always thought that because of how commonplace the cubes are in the game, that players would eventually lose the cube and recognize this mechanic.

[@Jackson-ub1uv]

I’ve just realised that manually activated cube droppers don’t appear in Portal 1’s campaign

[@Nevernamed]

I remember I did something evil using this a long time ago. You had to utilise the fact that moving panels destroy any cubes jammed behind them when they retract.

[@lukelcs8934]

That's just nasty XD

[@AdamJasper18]

After watching you're video on the state of the homepage, I decided to check out the maps you recommended and had a lot of fun with them, until I got to Observatories where I got quite frustrated as I had no idea how to solve it so decided to just give up. I was curious what the solution was so looked up a walkthrough and saw it needed a cube respawn which I would have never thought of. I then went back in and replayed it with this mechanic in mind and had a lot more fun. It's a cool mechanic when you know it but I can definitely see why some are against it with the majority of players likely not ever considering it.

[@SDK2K9]

I should keep this in mind when I play more community maps. Thank you.

[@bakubaku4333]

the first time i had to use this mechanic in a map it blew my mind

[@_GhostMiner]

Cube respawn is used a lot in portal stories: Mel

[@FluxLemniskat]

I'm quite late to the party... great video! You got me with that rickrollingesque wall of text in the middle. ;) I disagree with the comments about the length - it was fine and also a good compromise that pleases different kinds of viewers. The only negative thing that stood out to me was the sped up gameplay here and there (from 12:30 on for example). Especially for the unexperienced players/viewers it might be rather confusing to see a solution that fast (1.3 would still work, I guess). Obviously, that's nitpicky and only a minor complaint. Big thumbs up for the video! 8:13 - Was bin ich sehend

[@martybanks7413]

Someone didn’t have their companion cube disintegrated enough times

[@minerman60101]

I loved that Portal Stories: Mel made amazing use of this mechanic in its puzzles

[@NephilisThylord]

I mean yes cube respawns are a powerful and diverse mechanic, but i wouldnt go as far to say the most powerful. Every mechanic is just as powerful as the other. Each puzzle element can have an entire level built around them with no problems. Cube respawns is no exception as you demonstrated in this video. Don't get me wrong my presception on cube respawning was changed after this video. But ever mechanic can be just as complex given the right circumstances. Also i never considered using orange gel on a cube to slide it farther, i rarely use gel on cubes. Thank you for putting that idea in my head as well. :)

[@HugoBDesigner]

Fantastic video as always! I'd love to see a follow-up exploring other workshop-centric mechanics, such as bootstrapping, null portals, cube/gel juggling and more :)

[@fetterkeks2796]

"Null Portals" sounds super interesting, but I can't seem to find anything about it when i search for it on KZbin. Can you explain it, or link to an explanation? Thanks! (The existence of null portals in Risk of Rain 2 doesn't help my search either lol)

[@HugoBDesigner]

@@fetterkeks2796 A null portal is a portal which stands by itself (therefore closed). It usually involves removing one portal through moving panels or flip panels, in order to permit gels or to block other elements. Look through the workshop for a map called "null portal", which is the quintessential example of the mechanic :)

[@fetterkeks2796]

@@HugoBDesigner oooh got it, thanks a bunch! It's just like Cube Respawning in that you usually never think of it yourself until you learn about it and then you wonder just how the hell you've never thought of such an obvious technique before! It's so simple but I can totally imagine a whole bunch of interesting uses!

[@Code_Null]

@@HugoBDesigner im sorry the fuck did I just read? HOW DID I NEVER THINK OF THIS?! What is bootstrapping, what is cube/gel juggling…i mean that kinda sounds obvious but still, I NEED TO KNOWWWWWW!

[@altoidsours]

I started Portal Revolution and it has a lot of these. I was so confused at first, because I've never played any workshop maps or anything. When I clicked on this vid I had a feeling it was gonna be about that.

[@portobellomushroom5764]

Challenge mode for Portal Stories: Mel was my first major introduction to the mechanic and once I realized what was going on it made the puzzle so much easier

[@DukeDukeGo]

15:50 That user said it isn't in Portal Stories Mel, but I've just started playing that today and I'm pretty sure it's required for one of the first puzzles with cubes The one where you have 2 cubes and a platform that comes down when the button is pressed, but to get back up the cube needs to be respawned

[@grygoo2680]

You're right. There's another one towards the end where you have to respawn a laser redirection cube to unlock the exit. And in advanced mode I found several times I respawned cubes in order to complete puzzles

[@Klockorino]

Portal Stories: Mel uses this mechanic a ton, which I thought was neat.

[@claytonhiggins7526]

Great vid! Cube respawns are definitely one of the most important aspects of puzzle making. Can't wait to see more video essays from you! Something I've been thinking about recently is the concept of "rooms" and logical sequences. Do you expect to touch on those sorts of things in later vids?

[@Mikeastro]

I am certainly planning to make more videos in this style :]

[@misharatkevich9808]

That's actually a more general thing that can be extended beyond just Portal and applies to many puzzle games. "Rooms" are the intuitive way people are going to try to decompose a bigger problem into smaller ones, since it's so natural. This allows a crafty level designer to take advantage of this natural behavior and make problems that aren't so easily decomposable, or even to intentionally design a puzzle in a way that actively encourages incorrect decomposition due to "rooms" and "logical sub-problems" only LOOKING like they match each other. Making sub-problems seem separate even when they're actually interconnected is a specific design skill that takes time to get good at, but if you can pull this off, it's almost guaranteed to make for a difficult puzzle. Mevious likes to do this at times, and it always works. This is actually one extra reason why cube respawns are such a powerful design tool -- they allow the player to impact the game while being basically arbitrarily far away from that impact. This allows the designer to rely on this to create all sorts of non-obvious connections between sub-problems, especially with complex chained moves like "kill cube 1 to close a fizzler that kills cube 2" being a thing you can do, adding an extra logical layer of indirection since you aren't even using cube 2's button directly... or how about placing a cube in a small chamber where the only way out is through a toggleable fizzler, then flinging blue gel into the room to make the cube bounce? So many things you can do from far away. The potential for non-obvious interconnections is huge, and is really, really easy to see just from Mike's examples alone.

[@Mikeastro]

@@misharatkevich9808 Definitely; perhaps I should have stressed it more that respawning cubes is close to the only way to make stuff happen at a distance. I phased it only in the context of moving cubes but sometimes you care more about what that changes about other elements than wherever the cube ends up

[@Code_Null]

@@misharatkevich9808 you sure you shouldn’t get a scientific degree? Because all the words that i saw probably could make someone go insane. And i thought I was smart.

[@misharatkevich9808]

@@Code_Null Haha, I think it's more that I (unfortunately) can write unnecessarily long sentences, especially when rushed. The trickiest words here are likely "problem decomposition" (a term I admittedly lifted straight from an actual science paper about grading Sokoban puzzle difficulty), "sub-problems" (but if you understood the previous one, this one is easy), "interconnection" and "indirection", all of the other words seem quite normal to me. It's mostly the sentence length that might make it hard to read. I'm currently trying to become a programmer, so... :P

[@CubeAtlantic]

the Portal games are just so unique, & distinct from other games in my POV.

[@ashisharky]

"You shouldn't need to" Yes but the fun part is that if you never encounter it before then you won't expect it. It's very clever

[@ruzgar1372]

IIRC Portal Stories Mel utilized this technique a lot and when I first solved a test with this technique I remember my mind being blown

[@xmeo209]

That's why i love Portal: Revolution.

[@zxuiji]

I'm just waiting for the next iteration of portal mechanic, paired nth portals, basically you hit the triggers multiple times to decide which nth portal you want to create/move, however all nth portals up said nth portal will be moved (and destroyed on the next trigger hit), this means you have to plan for nth portals before the 1st portal in the series

[@TChapman500Gaming]

Well, it's too late to implement this on the map I'm currently working on. But for the map that I have available, you do have to respawn one of the cubes at least twice.

[@FerrybigGaming]

I never enjoyed playing the puzzles in Portal stories mel. Most puzzles depended on this technique, but there was never a tutorial level for these, like the base game teaches you

[@Templarfreak]

i would argue the first time it shows up is a pretty decent tutorial, you need to move the cube off the button and there's only one way to do that: by respawning them. and its quite straight-forward in showing you that you *can* do this very easily in that puzzle, because you can easily do it by accident a bunch before you ever actually figure it out

[@ender7278]

This one seriously fucked with me going straight from Portal 2 to Portal Stories: Mel.

[@Nevernamed]

Funny thing, you can actually bounce off Frankencubes that have been coated in blue gel. It's a weird bug that I've never seen in a map before. The frankencube itself doesnt become bouncy, but it becomes a movable bouncy platform that you can carry and take with you. You can also nudge gel globs with cubes while they're in mid air. I once made a puzzle where it was impossible to get gel up onto a ledge using your portals, but you could get a gel glob right next to the ledge and use a cube to push it over.

[@Mikeastro]

Ooh I didn't know that first one. Interesting stuff

[@XxSteamStreamxX]

I believe for that first one I saw it being used in an old toncica map, kinda crazy how many ideas this game has seen in the community maps, and it still feels like we are always seeing new ones as well

[@FluxLemniskat]

I used it in my first map and also saw it in toncica, camerson and polux Maps. Anyway, it's a bit frustrating to execute IMO. It's better to stay away from it.

[@tristenarctician6910]

i like this mechanic. i've used in a few maps i've haven't published yet. it's kind of hard to used when the Franken's legs are out, and also to grab the cube immediately bouncing off it

[@spinningninja2]

I remember Portal Stories: Mel caught me off guard by incorporating that mechanic

[@NotAghostSpeedruns]

Even from a speedrunning perspective, cube respawns are generally unhelpful in the sp and coop full game categories. The only place it could be useful is on repulsion intro, but I think the top full game runners do a seam shot out of the first room now. Even without that, there are consistent lineups to stick the button there, so cube respawn exists as a kinda slow route if trying to cube clip into the second room.

[@iMorands]

The best map that teaches this mechanic is in Portal Stories: Mel. It's a very simple laser puzzle, but for someone that never played much workshop, the solution was mindblowing!

[@rongpirson5250]

I'm pretty sure one of the puzzles in the chapter "the return" has respawning cubes, although its not used super complexly

[@frostics.]

I'm all for videos like this but I think the mechanic should almost always be shown quickly first then have the content creator explain what it is. both for the viewer to be hooked and so that they dont get bored and immediately skim the video to find out what the creator is talking about. which I did then had to rewatch entirely because I spent too long trying to pinpoint where the actual mechanic started.

[@Mikeastro]

Hmm, I'm sorry to hear that. Did the chapter feature not work? It should say where the examples start in the video progress bar

[@frostics.]

@@Mikeastro the mechanic itself is lost in that chapter, the sectioning is good but you still have to actually find where the mechanic is shown in full from start to finish which is what I struggled and ultimately gave in to. good video all in all and learnt a cool new thing but ill still hold my point

[@Mikeastro]

@@frostics. Your feedback is much appreciated. Thanks for stopping by :]

[@schniemand]

In the campaign, the option to request a new cube from the same dispenser is only there to avoid soft locks. It'd be too obscure to use it as a part of intended solutions without explanation. I like its use in custom content, but still, it's obscure and there's no guarantee the player even knows of this behavior. And even if they do, it can feel so obscure to them that they might very rightfully think using it for solving tests is probably a cheaty unintended workaround. It's relatively mild, though. I've seen much stupider stuff in custom content. Like tests that required the player to transport a cube in an excursion funnel sideways by continuously moving the source portal inch by inch to one side. It's not impossible to figure out but it is just incredibly stupid when the intended solution feels like cheating. It's very much preferrable when tests make it clear what's intentional and what isn't, avoid obscurities, and avoid need for precision/tight timing while executing the solution. (I've also seen tests where you actually had to shoot a portal in a specific spot in a short window of time while being rotated by the game in the intended solution. Not fun. Again, it feels like you're cheating because you're using a solution that involves something that's difficult to execute and not to plan, so it feels unintentional.) Anyway, cube respawns are relatively cool and allow for some interesting stuff. It's just that there's a rabbit hole of really stupid things you could put in a test to make the intended solution feel like cheating that map makers really shouldn't fall into. (Unless the very intentional gimmick of the map is being obscure and this is clearly communicated to the player, I guess.)

[@XxSteamStreamxX]

That's why as a map maker its really in your best interest to try to be consistent with what you include in your maps as possible, if you start including stupid stuff without disclosing it you might upset those that consistently play your maps and tend to avoid those stupid methods that they thought you would avoid. That said, I think the respawn mechanic is definitely a mechanic of the game that should be exploited due to its very predictable and consistent nature, it really does open up the possibilities of using 1 cube dropper a lot more in unexpected ways, such as justifying where the cube dropper is located in the first place.

[@MrGermandeutsch]

I have similar thoughts about angled surfaces and lightbridges. I believe these two, even combined, have some amazing potential in puzzles.

[@impartialeclipse4874]

Maybe not in the main games, but it was used multiple times in Mel and maybe once or twice in the time travel one I forgot the name of

[@Posby95]

Portal Reloaded?

[@joseluispcr]

I maded a puzzle where you had a cube that in the begning of the puzzle got in the blue gelly. But you needed he to be pressing a button to open the door to the exist. The way to solve was to trow the cube in the exist door so a new one falls and you catch it before it turns blue so you could use it. It was the only place where could be destroyed

[@Mikeastro]

Clever!

[@Theminecraftian772]

The first time I had to learn about the cube respawn mechanic was in Portal: Reloaded. It was amazing when I figured it out.

[@DownDance]

Great video! I agree, but like every other mechanic, you always put it into consideration when you just heard of it once, therefore it's losing difficulty for the experienced individual.

[@ldidok]

I think it's less about difficulty and more about expanding your repertoire as a map maker / puzzle solver. For well built puzzles, their difficulty might come from the logical thread that ties individual moves such as "respawning a cube". The move itself is not hard to spot for someone who knows it, but understanding how that move can be part of the solution of a certain puzzle is the cool thing about it.

[@DownDance]

@@ldidok I have to agree

[@ManIkWeet]

This video is 3x longer than it should've been

[@daiyahigashikata]

don't watch it then

[@ManIkWeet]

@@daiyahigashikata I didn't fully watch it and left a warning for future visitors

[@ikagura]

Basically like 99% of video essays.

[@V13STOP]

When I see a cube with a respawner that is low enought or accesible I dupe it. If you destroy the cube, take the new one and move it up and down thru the hole that it felt quick enought, the game gets confused and sends 2 cubes on the pipe. I respawn it again and get both. They have an interesting mechanic, because if you fizzle one both get destroyed + there is a bonus cube for skipping some of the level. It works with weighted and companion the best. Reflection cubes often get stuck (this doesn't mean the others don't. Be sure to not flick it too hard and always quick save before because you can't reset them after that). The edgeless safety cube (the ball) get multiplyed a lot. I once got 4 of them from 1 dropper. Im not sure about franken cubes if they can be dupped. Well, this is another reason why portal is one of my favourite games. Just by the fact that is so broken makes it so funny to play and you never know what to expect.

[@Mikeastro]

Yep, I'm aware of this glitch. Always place your cube droppers at least two voxels high to prevent this!

[@FluxLemniskat]

You can also edit dropper instances in hammer to prevent that.

[@V13STOP]

And don't put them near walls with portable surfaces ;)

[@maxwellcannon8999]

Portal stories mel did a great job introducing this mechanic

[@aquagirl555]

the first time i came across a map that required me to respawn the cube to move it off a button stumped me until i lost my portals and had to respawn the cube i rememebered respawning a cube made the previous one get distroyed, thus being the key to solve the puzzle

[@joking_oregon1]

I think the closest thing you get to a cube respawn tutorial is the companion cube level where glados incinerates it when you try to solve the puzzle and makes you wait for it to drop from the ceiling again, im sure theres more examples of that before that level but im just going off the top of my head

[@freshysaml]

Cube respawns make me think outside the box (ba-dum-tss).

[@Gamesaucer]

I have some thoughts about that comment shown at the end. - There are some puzzles in the game where cubes need to be moved from a distance with portals or funnels, explicitly to get them _away_ from somewhere, rather than _to_ somewhere. Going from portaling away a laser cube, or pulling a cube off of a button with a funnel, hitting the respawn button isn't that big a logical leap. Respawning a cube is a valid way of removing it, and having to get rid of cubes _is_ an official mechanic. - Similarly, moving a cube, e.g. from one button to another, is another common mechanic. It's just reusing what you already have. You can think of reusing a cube in terms of first getting rid of it, and then using the now free cube in its new location. If we can infer that respawning a cube is a valid way to remove it, then it's also a valid method of cube reuse. - This leaves just one potentially problematic idea: having to respawn a cube in order to use it in the first place. While I think that idea is fine as the core element of a simple puzzle, I do think that in most cases having to respawn a cube for it to be useful at all is too unintuitive. If there is an impetus to remove the cube because it's doing something that it no longer needs to be doing, this is a straightforward logical step. You first remove it so that you can use it again. Simple. But if the cube is not doing anything in the first place, in a player's mind it's not an active piece, and so they will likely not have that thought. I think this last idea is a valid one, and separates bad cube respawn puzzles from good ones. The principle is this: the player should not have to remove an inactive piece of the puzzle in order to solve it. Therefore, communicate clearly that pieces are active when they are. If a cube needs to be respawned, it's active. If it seems that the cube isn't currently in use, it appears inactive. So in order not to overwhelm the player, active cubes need to _look_ active during complex puzzles. Cube respawns are a great tool, but they don't automatically make a cube look active when in play, which makes them easier to misuse than other tools. Of course I don't know what the actual puzzle was that led to that comment being made, but I do think that this is an important criticism. Hard puzzles are fun when putting together the pieces takes thought and effort, not when _finding_ those pieces takes thought and effort.

[@Templarfreak]

ok, let's think about how one can illustrate to the player that a cube is already active the moment the player enters the room and needs to be respawned, and in a very straight-forward way. here is my idea: you have a cube that is underneath a piece of glass on the floor that is blocking a laser, which needs to go to some laser receiver thing say on the other side of the room, a cube spawner right above the glass, and a button right next to it. do you think this illustrates to the player that the cube _is_ doing something and _needs_ to be respawned?

[@Gamesaucer]

@@Templarfreak Yes, I think that works quite well. The cube is already explicitly interacting with other level elements. The presence of the laser itself doesn't even need to really be intended as part of the puzzle. It's more of a conveyance tactic to make players consider the cube as a piece that needs to be removed from its starting position. Though, the most elegant way to do this is definitely to design a puzzle so that the same level element both requires the respawn and conveys that the cube needs to be removed.

[@Templarfreak]

@@Gamesaucer well, the idea was that the cube was otherwise completely trapped under the glass, with no real other means to access it other than to respawn it.

[@Gamesaucer]

@@Templarfreak It's still a plausible way to draw attention to it, even if it's a bit artificial.

[@Templarfreak]

@@Gamesaucer yeah fair enough

[@the1barbarian781]

2:29 square puzzle does contain a light bridge

[@Mikeastro]

True! But I didn't count it as it could also just have been an angled panel bridge

[@hearteyedgirl]

We need respawns of energy pellet

[@yevgeniygorbachev5152]

Cube respawning is big in Poral Stories: Mel

[@lucaswilliams2292]

FYI, cube respawning is a HUGE part of Portal Stories. Most of the chambers need you to fizzle the cube to move it past an obstacle.

[@djsnowpdx]

I credit Mevious for the invention of this mechanic with his map, resurrection.

[@Lychwee]

Great video, algorithm god has picked you

[@linforcer]

I was like "What is this Dutch accent?" and then I saw the name and was like "Oh, ok."

[@klaus.sfc01official71]

15:48 ahh yes next he says beemod is illegal cuz it contains items that are not in the game....(wait were was i?) Awesome vid which really shows how powerful one move can be it can be hard to implement but if implemented correctly it can make a great puzzle out of thin air sometimes :)

[@D_YellowMadness]

It's especially arbitrary because by his logic, new mechanics shouldn't have been introduced throughout the campaign either. If you haven't seen it before, it's unfair, right? We should only have cubes & doors. No portals.

[@S1nwar]

i mean the mechanic is only important if you build a chamber around it^^

[@noyesser]

Absolute genius.

[@bardrick4220]

There's puzzles that use cube respawn in the campaign! True: it wasn't introduced, but you are expected to learn it.

[@PerOculos]

We also have a lot of fun examples of cube respawns which helped us beat least portals world records in regular maps. Check out Krzyhau's Laser Stairs 0 Portals, his Laser Relays 0 Portals, my Propulsion Flings 0 Portals, and Turret Sabotage 4 Portals if you want to see how despawning a cube can be wild.

[@quaironnailo]

9:40 I used the fizzler to bypass the fizzler

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

"Excellent in-game level editor"

[@matveytsarichansky8953]

3:17 not accurate(its true for workshop maps but for maps from the main game its not) actually lets say in the map future starter there is a cube inside a glass room kinda that doesnt have a cube dropper and the weird thing is i thought they didnt add it because you cant destroy the cube in any way even if you stand on the button and throw the cube through the door its impossible because even when the door is open there is an invisible wall that doesnt let you get the cube through so the only way to destroy it is using a bug where you put a portal near the door and you can get the cube through and that will softlock you(it might be possible to bug the button but i have tried and couldnt) but the funny thing is that on the second part of the map there is another cube that you actually cant destroy in any way even with bugs(unless there is a bug i dont know about) but this cube does have a dropper for some reason. other map that i remember that dont have a dropper for a cube is ricochet(there are 2 cubes but one of them doesnt have a dropper)

[@sqorng]

I replayed some parts of the portal 2 co-op yesterday, and I think there is some chambers where cube respawn is decremental to the solving of the puzzle. Can't really pinpoint the exact chamber, cause my memory is kinda meh and I played art therapy, which for some reason causes me to forget everything I played in session