Why closed portals are sometimes better

[@swifter46ter]

Portal Stories: Mel has one of my favorite uses of null portals. A seemingly innocent and mostly empty puzzle that will drive you crazy if you aren't familiar with them.

[@sitfish1113]

I just played portal stories Mel and some of the puzzles drove me crazy with such interesting solutions. I loved it

[@denizo9263]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAGAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@YUKI6700]

I created "Simplify" on June 30, 2012 which uses this technique, as well as the "Destroyed" series in 2013 with several maps which explained this technique. But the first to use it was Mevious in 2010.

[@XxSteamStreamxX]

Mevious was even more of a pioneer then I already thought he was.

[@misharatkevich9808]

Yes, Portal Pro's "Reach" was my first thought. Not that "Reach" was difficult to solve, the options were so limited it essentially guided you to the concept, serving more as a tutorial for the move than as a puzzle, so I didn't think much of it at the time. PS:Mel came out much later, of course, but its use of a null portal in chapter 3 is a _very_ crafty one.

[@XxSteamStreamxX]

@@samuelboczek1834 Yeah he got back into it somewhat recently, over the past year he's been uploading his blind playthroughs for various maps.

[@israelRaizer]

how did he use it in 2010 if the game released in 2011?

[@YUKI6700]

@@israelRaizer Portal 1 was released in 2007

[@camerson1313]

The concept of null portal had been around a while before Olshi's map, but before the term was introduced, people used to refer to it in several different ways (usually something like "blank slate"). Also, I think I remember at least a few authors utilizing the mechanic long before Olshi. There was one author in particular who'd used the concept numerous times, which I couldn't remember the name of. But upon watching this video I did some digging, and discovered (or rediscovered) that it was the author YUKI_67 (one of the very old and forgotten classics). It's possible he played a role in the initial wide spreading of the idea. The collection of his titled “Destroyed” (from 2013) featured several applications of the concept. I could also swear the concept had been known even before then too, but that was so long ago I'm not sure who, when or what was the true origin.

[@camerson1313]

Upon even more thought, the earliest usage I know of is the first bonus level of Portal Pro, and that was released in 2010.

[@jacio]

also there are some levels in mel that uses that mecanic

[@YUKI6700]

Yes I had created the "destroyed" series in 2013, but before that I had already created a map which used this principle and which was called "Simplify" on June 30, 2012 (impossible to put a link, thank you KZbin !) it's only 1 years later that I had the idea to create the 'Destroyed' series because obviously nobody used this technique which was nevertheless amusing. Yes, I also believe that Mevious was the first to use this technique. Camerson1313, I didn't know you played my 'destroyed' series at the time. Thank you for your comment.

[@Axodus]

The man, the myth, the legend, @@YUKI6700.

[@GeneralPurposeVehicl]

I thikn I used a few of them in Portal I.

[@qwertyqeys]

I've used null portals in the past during the game's campaign just as a convenience feature, it's nice to have a predictable trajectory for a cube

[@xd3athclawx554]

I was gonna say werent these in the main game from the start, and you have to use them to beat some of portal 1s challenge maps with gold medals consistently too

[@Pikana]

Yeah, I used them all the time normally in the regular game just for more control over my portals. It's annoying sometimes trying to set things up with everything open.

[@Kiwi2703]

Same here, I thought this was gonna be some special new awesome mechanic, as the first few minutes of the video hyped it so much, and it turns out to just be using regular closed portal as a lot of people have been using in the campaign since the game launched... bit disappointed but oh well

[@user-vc1gd4jg1f]

I used the null portals to beat the co-op level with the long hallway of crushers

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Thank you, I thought I was losing my mind for a second. While these examples are more refined, I definitely remember this concept from the base game.

[@soullessneutral8226]

8:45 moving portals are in the game, they are just disabled by default. The only instance of moving portals in the game is the neurotoxin generator map in the main story.

[@theneoreformationist]

But they didn't get the physics calculated properly. The ones in the story cannot be reached by normal means, so it didn't matter.

[@jetison333]

Technically, the portal on the moon is moving.

[@theneoreformationist]

@@jetison333 The broken physics on that move literally ended the game

[@theneoreformationist]

@@jetison333 Actually, I was wondering why moon rocks were so expensive if you can literally just put a portal there, set up a equalized pressure room on earth, and shovel them through. They would be pretty much free as long as the portal doesn't close.

[@soullessneutral8226]

@@jetison333 even if that were the case, the portal on the moon is part of a cutscene where Chell may or may not be already dead lol

[@TheJimmyCartel]

Oh ye mighty algorithm, let thy blessings be bestowed upon this humble video, in thy limited but much appreciated Mercy.

[@olegmoki]

Well, it was, and it was recommended to me

[@Mits_]

So happy to see portal content in my recommended lol

[@catchara1496]

It worked

[@IanOPadrick]

Babe, new copypasta just dropped

[@karl_look]

thanks

[@lefthandedscout9923]

I'm pretty sure the "null portal" mechanic is used in game to cause you to trap yourself in one of the chambers prompting unique dialogue, so it's clear the level designers at Valve knew of the applications when making their maps.

[@lotus_cz4508]

Wasn't that Portal 1?

[@lefthandedscout9923]

@@lotus_cz4508 both games have situations where you can trap yourself and get special dialogue.

[@lotus_cz4508]

@@lefthandedscout9923 then I have not found those in P2. Time to have a look around

[@lefthandedscout9923]

@@lotus_cz4508 Oh, you should. They're somehow even more sarcastic in Portal 2!

[@michaelwerkov3438]

any idea what maps these are? i dont have the game installed but want to look it up

[@sinom]

"Didn't want to bother with programming moving portals" Except for that one level in the campaign where you have to cut the gas tubes using a moving portal. I always thought that was weird

[@Voltorb1993]

If you could move Portals, it has some weird implications. Let's say you get a loose piece of portalable wall. You shoot a portal at it, shoot the other portal somewhere else, take the wall with the first portal and walk through the other one. What happens? Anyway, yeah, that one puzzle in the main campain is really weird because it goes against the estabilished rules.

[@lolcat1382]

Fun fact, the code is there to allow all moving surfaces to have portals, but the physics kind of break when you go through one, which is why it's so far away in that level. It sets a value from 0 to 1 when you enter the level and sets it back to 0 when you leave, which is why it only works in that level. Another fun fact, just leaving that level midway through allows you to carry that value to other levels and use moving portals there, which is interesting

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

The main issue with moving portals is that momentum has to be multiplied in a weird, convoluted way, and they didn't want folks to get too confused/disoriented by it. The portals need to be 100% reliable in order for the game to continue being a logic puzzle, rather than a test of reaction times

[@dylanzlol7293]

@@Voltorb1993 What would happen in that example that you would end up crushing yourself to death

[@tylerherr4288]

theres a difference in a moving portal and a rotating portal

[@BrixVGM]

Was this really something people hadn't thought about? I knew that you could 'store' cubes on closed portals for as long as I can remember

[@visathief]

I have been a portal fan for years, but never really dove into the community workshop maps, these videos have opened my eyes to ideas I never even thought of using! Well done!

[@domonkosludvig3314]

When I only watched youtube videos about portal, before playing it myself, I was convinced that there was a button in game for when you want to close your portals, because I realised its puzzle potential. Now I feel proud for realising that, and knowing that other people had similar thoughts makes me happy.

[@bacedih7273]

same

[@FunctionallyLiteratePerson]

I think there was a Minecraft mod (or something) that had a clear portals button or I just have false memories of using such a keybind

[@domonkosludvig3314]

@@FunctionallyLiteratePerson daaaaaang you are in my mind... you are correct! thats probably why I thought there was a button for that, and from there I came up with the cube resting on null portal idea in the main game! Ive been encountering intelligent commenters left and right in the last few days (on all kinds of videos)... what is going on? The world regained its intelligence? Ofc there are the usual nobrains, but at least not all is that! This makes me very happy!

[@NOCKSCITNEY]

Ah yes, I remember playing Null:Portal for the first time and being amazed, it is indeed a very subtle move that as you say, is being used more and more. But much like the Ghost Cube, it's one that is always something I tend to look for when running through a map solve. Another fantastic video and explanation around the subject Mike! :)

[@codrutx]

8:37 Portal 2 actually supports moving portals. The reason the portal is destroyed when the panel its on moves is because moving portals are kept hidden behind a console command. In the entire game moving portals are only enabled in 1 map, the one where you sabotage the neurotoxin machine.

[@csonweedagain5054]

Didn't the commentary say they made code for that map specifically to work or am I misremembering?

[@Lernos1]

@@csonweedagain5054 Not quite. Moving portals are indeed available anywhere in the game, and they are disabled by default, with a console command able to bring them back. The neurotoxin room is, in fact, no exception: moving portals don't work there, the variable to enable them doesn't get flipped when you enter it. Instead, the portal you shoot onto the moving panel to cut the neurotoxin tubes with lasers is nothing more than a pretty picture. A fabrication, an illusion. It is not a true moving portal mechanically or code-wise, just an image of one. And it was a pretty smart solution, actually.

[@wr3nche5]

i just got back into the portal series after playing the bridge constructor game after a friend bought it for me. i never really got into the workshop for 2 that much because the levels were either very low quality (saw your video on that, which introduced me to your channel) or too big brain for me, but your videos on workshop-introduced mechanics like this one and the collections of quality levels you've linked are making me see a whole new part of the Portal world that i've never really explored that much before, and it's really cool! i can't wait to explore it more and discover its potential!

[@DimentiosLoyalest]

I watched to about 1:22 before deciding to try the map on my own. Obviously I knew I'd have to close one of my portals at some point by nature of the video itself, and it was pretty obvious when it was, but still took me about 40 minutes. Once I figured it out I cackled like a maniacal villain while exclaiming under my breath "I got it! I got it!"

[@kip258]

8:39 - Moving portals actually are fully-working within the game, but there's a check such that if a portal moves, it immediately closes. This was likely a design choice to reduce complexity of puzzles and to not confuse players, but the functionality is there! There are some mods and maps that take advantage of this by removing the check so that portals stay open, but this comes with a quirk that portals play the opening animation again when they stop moving.

[@fazerer8022]

fully working might be a bit of a stretch

[@kip258]

@@fazerer8022 true. Weird things happen if you try to fling into or out of a portal that's rotating. Interestingly, a moving portal can affect your momentum accurately! Eg, if you fling through a stationary portal and the exit portal is moving vertically by some speed, your exit velocity will be your falling speed + the portal's vertical velocity!

[@lordjzargo7940]

Null portals are also used in Portal Stories: Mel and Portal: Reloaded

[@Kenadian]

I love these videos so much. I dedicated a lot of my childhood to playing with the portal 2 level maker and it makes me so happy to learn about all these cool mechanics, and maps I never knew about. This will definitely get me back into exploring the workshop. Keep it up!

[@MicrowaveVII]

But then i had a very good idea i used f5 Sed using f5 gave me a whole new prespective and i was able to see a chest i couldnt have seen before

[@Kenadian]

​@@MicrowaveVII OMG-

[@orion5106]

Ive thought about this for many years, im glad it has a name :)

[@corwin6650]

I love this concept so much. I played Olshi's level before watching the rest of the video and was blown away by the sheer brilliance of that ending - combining null portal with ghost cube in one incredibly satisfying button press. I realized while watching the video that I actually used something similar to this in a very unusual way in one of the fairly crappy levels I made years and years ago, although I don't think it counts as full fledged null portal because it wasn't directly taking advantage of having an unlinked portal pre-placed, just the idea of needing to purposely fizzle your portals. It was a small restricted-surface chamber where the only way to get out was to spread Repulsion Gel on a raised platform to bounce up a shaft and get to the next section of the level. The platform was one of only two portalable surfaces, and the other was on the floor over a gel dispenser - so the gel would boomerang between the two portals infinitely, UNLESS you fizzled both portals when the gel was in the air over the raised platform, which would let it finally hit the floor. You didn't mention gel at all in this video, I assume since it doesn't have much potential with actual null portals, but who knows? Could be something there.

[@MRFAB1]

Great video like always ! The use of the null portal was already a thing back in 2013, Polux made a map called "Cogito I". I was surprised to see this move so early in the workshop because I thought it was something new back in 2016-17 ! Also I know 2 other ways to destroy a portal : -Shooting a portal at the side of a deactivated fizzler and then activate it -Shooting a portal on a wall next to a platform

[@LB_]

Thanks for this comment, I had a feeling these things has been missed :)

[@timotheatae]

...And this is how I realised null portals WEREN'T the intended solutions to the main campaign chambers. I have used this technique SO MUCH, these are such creative applications of it!

[@Isaacfess]

Another unknown technique I have learned from your videos. Great editing and information!

[@e-stah]

Seeing Egypt textures in portal is bizarre

[@darkrozen4110]

You forgot about portalable moving platforms, the 'remove' portal command, and killing the partner in coop

[@magica3526]

and overwriting your partner's portal

[@Architector_4]

Portalable moving platforms are talked about directly at 8:28 (rotation and movement are equivalent for this purpose), and the 'remove' portal command is implicitly shown/mentioned as a cheat at 6:37

[@HugoBDesigner]

1:49 - Yes, Almi is an absolute LEGEND 🙏 5:29 - A true classic Great video as always! I would've liked to see more uses of null portals being shown, such as having open portals blocking a gel surface, like in my map "Three Funerals, Two Coffins". It's also very useful for a lot of puzzles involving portal management, especially with laser redirection. Keep up the great work!

[@Mikeastro]

Thanks for watching! Indeed, there are always things that one has to leave out when making a video like this. I couldn't possibly cover *all* the possible uses of null portals, so I focused on some that I found cool and for which I could find an example with logic simple and clear enough to completely convince the viewer of both the problem and the necessity of its solution. I tried to throw together a mix of elements (gravity, funnel, laser) with different ways to null portal (fizzler, monoportal, angled panel, flip panel) to get a varied set of examples, while also mentioning portal scarcity as a test element and how it naturally leads to null portal ideas. But you are right - there are more ways still, as your excellent map proves. Glad you liked the video overall though :D

[@joltz..2042]

8:36 is entirely wrong. You wanna know why? Neurotoxin Sabatoge

[@HugoBDesigner]

@@joltz..2042 Neurotoxin Sabotage is a special case. Moving portals are enabled exclusively for that sequence, and similar-moving panels at any other point in the game remove portals

[@joltz..2042]

@@HugoBDesigner yes, it's enabled there. But that doesn't mean you can't carry that flag to the next level.

[@TheBoxyBear]

"Didn't want to bother programming moving portals" Except moving portals are already in the game, with extra code to disable them except for this one map in the campaign that disables the restriction so you can use moving portals to destroy the neurotoxin facility.

[@Mikeastro]

Yep, someone already pointed that out. Still, they are hardly functional, because if you would go through a moving portal yourself, your speed gets all glitched up. So I completely understand why they chose to make erasing portals when they would be moved the default setting

[@eriknoorbergen2569]

@@Mikeastro "Still, they are hardly functional, because if you would go through a moving portal yourself, your speed gets all glitched up". Don't ever let a speedrunner catch you after stating this :-)

[@Cobalt_Spirit]

No but, a portal disappears when it moves perpendicularly to the plane it's placed on. In the generator it moves along its plane, which is allowed.

[@vibaj16]

@@Cobalt_Spirit No, moving at all breaks it, unless the setting for moving portals is turned on (which only happens in that one map)

[@InfraredScale]

​@@eriknoorbergen2569imagine trying to escape a speedrunner

[@sodiboo]

Clicking on this video, i thought i was gonna learn about a new concept. Then, as soon as you pulled out the first example, i realized i have definitely used this in the past. I'm pretty sure it was on official levels too. I never thought about how someone can, well, think about this as a mechanic and delicately design around it, because to me (after >700 hours playtime) it just seems like an obvious extension to how portals behave. You place a portal here under the cube, then when you can no longer see the surface the cube is on, you place the other portal. I never even thought to name this, and it's fascinating to see the thought process behind them. I guess never thinking about it is the sort of behavior that leads to thinking you discovered something completely new, as you said you thought for your map. Fascinating.

[@hate_love1250]

I can't believe there's still things I don't know about this game- Especially it's one of my first video games from my childhood. I really thought I knew everything to know about this game and yet here I am, learning even more. I'll have to check out that Ghost Cube video later too considering I've never heard of it. This game never ceases to amaze me.

[@ghammer9773]

It's 2022, Portal 2 has been around for over a decade, and new stuff is still popping into the workshop! Total winner they got with this one

[@Blodwynnn]

The ratio of views this video has to subscribers your channel has is quite the injustice! You’re clearly someone educated, involved and passionate about this game and community and I appreciate the content provided greatly. I’ll be subscribed from here on and I plan on giving some of the maps you mentioned a try for myself later on! Thanks for the awesome super interesting video :)

[@mika_tastrophe]

If these videos explaining the more subtle concepts used in Portal 2 community maps would've come out a few years ago, they would have been some of the most valuable info to me as an aspiring puzzle creator. Very cool stuff, the explanations with all the different examples in different maps were easy to understand but not boring even if you knew about this move already. I especially liked the little history lesson about the origins of null portals and where the name came from, and the way you built up to it in the intro with your own personal experience with null portals. Also very glad you touched on the panels destroying portals thing, because that took me a long time to figure out before I was more confortable with null portals as a concept. One thing: Moving portals are actually possible to have in Portal 2, you can enable them via cheats. They're used in exactly one place in the campaign, where you cut the neurotoxin generator pipes off with a laser. If you as a player try to pass through these moving portals, though, it glitches out the game and gives you a massive speed boost, so it was never used anywhere else. They're even used as a speedrunning strat in some runs! Anyways, banger video as always. Very cool that you're doing your part to keeping the Portal 2 puzzle design community alive, keep it up!

[@PhantomEye11]

I came up with this on my own too! :) Kinda similar to the alternating platforms example. I was quite new to designing puzzles, and I used a fizzler as a part of the puzzle the player has to use multiple times, and then you put the cube in a funnel with a closed portal, walk to the other side of the map, place the other portal and open a timed fizzler. Was quite proud of coming up with that solution

[@Jmcgee1125]

I made a map that required you to do this and later stumbled on this video. Thanks for the puzzles in the description, was fun to try out other ways to use it. 8:38 they did make moving portals work (see Neurotoxin Sabotage), but it has some very wonky physics. If you want to enable it wherever, do sv_allow_mobile_portals 1. sv_allow_mobile_portal_teleportation is already set to 1 by default, so you shouldn't need to change that one.

[@richardmillhousenixon]

Don't you love it when you feel like an absolute genius only to log on and find out that 100 people have already thought of that same thing? I know I do (not)

[@mathematicalmachinery7934]

2:30 I spent the entire time you were in that room reminding myself that portal bumping was cheating.

[@SK-by6qd]

Portal bumping isn’t cheating, it’s a glitch. The only time any glitch is cheating is when playing a category that disallows it, like No Major Glitches in this case (since Portal 2 doesn’t have a true Glitchless category for several reasons).

[@mathematicalmachinery7934]

Oh I meant like for my own enjoyment. If I’m using glitches to avoid solving custom levels it takes away a lot of the fun and creativity for me. (This is only for me specifically though I’m not speaking for anyone else). When I make puzzles I make them with glitches in mind, so a lot of my chambers require glitches to solve - I just treat them as another form of basic movement. But when someone makes a long chamber that you can just walk to the end using glitches, it feels like cheating - going through the walls of the maze isn’t really solving it. Literally, in this case. (Again, I’m only speaking for myself here. Not for anyone else. This is purely about my enjoyment playing custom levels I’ve never seen before and solving them for the first time.)

[@TChapman500Gaming]

I believe "Manifold" was the first map that introduced me to *BOTH* null portals *AND* ghost cubes as vital puzzle mechanics. I have seen cube stacking puzzles before, but "Manifold" used it in a way that I literally thought could *NOT* be the solution to the puzzle. And the fact that most of the puzzles on the workshop are bad must have compromised my ability to critically think about the solution.

[@SagaEf]

8:37 moving portals are probably not used to avoid situations in which you push two portals directly above and below one another together.

[@vamsigagjew1535]

Thanks for your videos man! I always thought I sucked at making logically hard portal 2 puzzles but then you inspired me to disprove myself.

[@psychological_atom]

Nice video of the null portal. I wish I had a null portal map that I can use as an example in your video, but it’s hard to make one though since you need a lot of ideas to think of the core concept. Hopefully this video will help me.

[@exotic816]

A great example of null portals is the first chamber of the Testing track Lima Whiskey in the popular Portal 2 mod Portal Stories: Mel, where the player is able to use null portals to pull a cube through a fizzler.

[@leovitiello7424]

Nice video, once more very useful for all Portal players! The introduction was especially effective in my opinion, very nice story-telling there. By the way, I'm not sure 100% sure, but as it happens I might have discovered this particular mechanic with Excess Access, back in the day. So you DID introduce it to some players at least ;)

[@notadog5734]

Awesome video! I was familiar with the concept but i never heard the phrase "null-portal". This is your best video so far imo.

[@DonYagamoth]

I think those 2 stacking cubes would've stumped me for quite a long time... Neat

[@panickal]

Nicely made high quality video. Enjoyed watching. Excited for anything you may post in the future!

[@leroymilo]

So I paused the video and played Eccess Axcess at the verry beginning of the video, when you showed its description. At first I was japed by the retracting stairs, then I searched an accessible fizzler (because the title of your video kinda spoiled the whole thing), then I searched for other solutions to destroy a portal and it was far from infuriating. Great map, great concept and all these maps that you linked for me to discover!

[@deokureta108]

I never heard of null portal before but before i watch the part where you explain it i'll test the map !

[@akeem2983]

I remembered how one of the testchambers from Portal Stories: Mel uses null portal and I needed 3 days to figure it out

[@Pnezyx2056]

"Nice, and very clear, superb example of NULL PORTAL-" cuts for some reason that made me laugh

[@NapalmNarcissus]

You need to be smart to solve the puzzle, but smarter to make it. Awesome work, awesome video.

[@simonkhouryAU]

Very well edited and informative. Thank you!

[@grimkreeper598]

Ah yes, Thinking *without* portals

[@solutionchanneliguess2899]

I originally thought my time had passed for leaving comments on these videos, but apparently they can help boost the video's relevance in the algorithm, so I'm going to come back and leave messages on them. One thing I think you touched on passively that I liked was how null portals are a natural consequence of the fact that portals can be placed independently. I personally find that this makes them the most subtle and interesting of the more commonly-discussed 'advanced mechanics;' as much as I like ghost cubes, they feel like the result of an independent design decision, and even cube respawns/droppers are facilitated by the fact that Valve chose to allow connections into the droppers. Null portals are near-innate to the portal gun, even if moving portals were permitted or a large number of other changes were implemented.

[@NotAghostSpeedruns]

One of my friends sent me a map with this concept a couple weeks ago, and after cheesing the whole level, I managed to solve the first half intended. Pretty difficult stuff to think of for the first time.

[@TheGreatSeraphim]

1:30 What you described is called Convergent Evolution. Where two separate entities come to the same result.

[@dolphiner7003]

Brilliantly explained as always, kept me engaged the whole time even though I’m quite experienced in the mechanic. I feel you’ve gone so far both commentary and presentation wise ever since the isotope video; you sound a lot more confident, and the little wholesome excitement now and then _(there’s nowhere to move our portal to! How puzzling!)_ made me smile through the whole video. Looking forward for more :D

[@Mitsunee_]

I remember nearly a decade ago when I decided to pick up portal as my first serious speedrun (nvm that I somewhat tried Fire Emblem Awakening a few years prior) and was surprised to learn that there is indeed no hotkey to destroy your portals, something I remember doing in both games and even remembered specific points where I used that like in escape01 just past the rocket turret.

[@loctite417]

I remember the first time I tried to solve Olshi's null portal. I was too stupid to figure it out but the solution hit me like a brick

[@GunnarClovis]

This channel is really popping off lately

[@jeyphr]

Editing is on point! Great job!

[@linguini1517]

not puzzles, but closed portals are op in the portal 1 speedrun as well. if you close one portal while saveglitched (usually with something called a fizzle spot, or by jumping into a fizzler) you get rid of the wacky saveglitch collision while maintaining your shot separation. this is how the ch18 inbounds saveglitch works, as the second to last shot shoots the saveglitch portal onto an invalid surface (or rather it tries to place it at an invalid angle) that is really far away from you. that distance is about the same distance from the bottom to the top of the large momentum puzzle at the end, allowing you to place a portal at the end, saveload to cancel camera wackiness, and simply go through a portal at the end.

[@im_n0_pro]

great music btw

[@Mikeastro]

@im_n0_pro Thank you :D

[@ihavenoideadanny]

"Programming moving portals" Neurotoxin Sabotage: am i a joke to you?

[@nonymouswisp8176]

This reminds me of how portal storys Mel utilized the button to retrieve your cube

[@Poncholie]

damn ive been using null portals even since the main game

[@NeroDefogger]

I noticed it before chamber 19 of the first game, it looked extremely obvious to me that no being able to erase the portals could lead to problems, but I also noticed a lot of white surfaces on the levels so you can at least move your portals

[@idkjustleavemebeplease]

Uploaded 8 days ago? Holy shit?!? Portal still has a puzzle based community? I need to log into the workshop.

[@Nerketur]

another simple use for null portals is a map where the portal starts open, but needs to be closed to have something drop on it to give it enough time to be collected or used by the player

[@dalistrata4]

this is wonderful. you've gained a new fan.

[@maxdon2001]

Great video! Very interesting concept!

[@Fx_Explains]

I had many ideas and thought no one have ever have then, but with a single Google search, i always found out that i was wrong and many had similar or same idea even before me.

[@Mikeastro]

The pain is real :[

[@The_Epicness9000]

Material Emancipation Grills: We were bad, but now we’re good

[@ozrencupac]

Its a horrible feeling when you think you discovered something but it turns out people knew about it for a long time

[@lielie2948]

lol

[@Anklejbiter]

the puzzle at 6:43... I remember playing that one and being stuck on it for hours. Kinda strange, in retrospect the solution seems so simple and obvious.

[@Mikeastro]

Great work solving it! It's a sly trick that is not easy to spot :]

[@lyanreehan]

if they eventually do make portal 3, this HAS to be a learned campaign mechanic as an homage to you map makers.

[@esWhistler]

the glitchless speedrun for Portal 1 actually uses a null portal in chamber 17 (the one with the companion cube) to grab a camera in the correct position to use it later

[@cutiefy9550]

Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

[@ChaosNe0]

I love these cool mechanics. Is there a list of all of them somewhere? I'd love to go and think of own puzzles with those in mind.

[@astrobacon7yearsago]

1:59 I got an ad it said OOOH WHATS THAT 💀💀💀

[@yol_n]

Imagine if someone did a portal 2 puzzle that actually used C++ pointers. Hell on earth!

[@kumpelxd4256]

I didn't saw it in the comments mentioned. But you didn't saw the portable surface on the ceiling at 4:56 which makes this puzzles consistent. And hinders you at being stuck in the cuberoom. I solved every puzzle in the description except null portal before watching the video. And i didnt saw it too and got stuck :'D

[@tfGalvatron1]

I swear this mechanic was used once or twice in the official portal 2 maps. Or maybe I just solved them weird

[@stellarx20]

Oh, that's what it's called when you fizzle your portals so that you can place the first one because you accidentally threw the cube last time when you didn't want to

[@CallmeAlexey]

interesting mechanic. also scares me away from creating my own chambers lmao

[@Mikeastro]

Whoops, that was the opposite of my intent D:

[@CallmeAlexey]

@@Mikeastro just kidding but yeah, brain twisters are hard.

[@Geostationary0rbit]

null portal puzzles existed in the portal 1 community as well just fyi, dont know what they called them, honetly i think it was descoverd pretty soon after moding for the game really took off but always cool to see a sepcific focus on this, I think often it was only the odd room in the puzzles I played in portal 1 never an entire expirence and was ushally timer based, rather than more of a locked room focus you are drawing attention to here.

[@notserpmale03]

8:43 moving portals are in the game, it can be enabled with sv cheats, they’re used in one level of the game, the neurotoxin facility, and if used outside that level they can be very buggy

[@DisplacedDev]

i was so confused until the sandstone map and i was like "oh yeah, that thing." people didn't know about this? i could have sworn the base game had done this before i definitely remember doing this so many times, not thinking it was a trick, and it was one of the many things i would try when trying to solve a tricky puzzle.

[@Jcorella]

With how well put together this video is it's absurd your sub count is less than 100k.

[@-DivineRadiation-]

Oh yea, I already know that technique. It's a cool concept that they sadly don't really use in portal or portal 2.

[@BlackTempleGaurdian]

"probably because the designers didn't want to deal with moving portals" *Glances at neurotoxin production level*

[@eeddgg1]

"The designers of the game did not want to bother programming moving portals" The code is already in the source engine with a conVar to enable it; it's just turned off in all but one Valve-made map when you destroy the SPOILER AHEAD Neurotoxin Generator with Wheatley

[@sinom]

A null pointer does NOT point noWHERE. It points to noTHING. All nullpointers point do memory address 0 that's why they are called NULL pointer so they all point somwhere. But by definition no data can be saved at address 0 so they point to no thing.

[@Mikeastro]

Whoops, you are right. My bad!

[@zoltanzafir5575]

I love this! :) thanks for the video!

[@wackchild]

algorithm comment (good stuff!!! loved the style)

[@Max_Intel]

I actually used it without actually thinking it was a mechanic

[@dustinbrueggemann1875]

Portals actually can remain on movable surfaces! It's a console flag, enabled exclusively for the neurotoxin factory level. It's not a special trick for that level, it's just not used as a mechanic anywhere else in the game.

[@theneoreformationist]

The physics do not work right on moving portals. They are mainly useful in puzzles where you can't go through them, like the neurotoxin generator.

[@ChipInDip]

Mike Daas: *makes an interesting, insightful video about in depth game mechanics using logic and puzzle solving* Comments section: “um actually moving portals are in the game”

[@Mikeastro]

Literally this :|

[@filipsikora4261]

I thought, that the portal is doing something while being not connected, but it is just deleting existing portals, so they won't interfere with our plan. I think, that more suitable name is portal reset.

[@FerrybigGaming]

8:41 Moving portal are interesting. The stationary portal sucks chell in, while the moving one blows her out.

[@Crow_Rising]

I've been subconciously using closed portals while solving tests since I got the game back in 2011 (though usually not to much practical result, and possibly even longer back in Portal 1 but I'm not sure), only to just now realize what I've been doing all this time. Serious mind f*ck.