Portal 2 developer commentary - Revision history

Dogman15: /* Horrible Accents */ fixed link - that darn ampersand

2026-02-16T08:48:59Z

Horrible Accents: fixed link - that darn ampersand

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:48, 16 February 2026
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	=== Horrible Accents ===		=== Horrible Accents ===
	This commentary node only appears after Wheatley shuts the lights off.		This commentary node only appears after Wheatley shuts the lights off.
	{{Quotation \| Erik Robson, [[Portal 2 Chapter 4 Test ~~Chambers~~ 21 ~~& 22~~ (Escape)\|Jailbreak]]		{{Quotation \| Erik Robson, [[Portal 2 Chapter 4 Test Chamber 21 (Escape)\|Jailbreak]]
	\| The breakout sequence here was originally a lot longer, involving Wheatley talking to you in a horrible American accent, assuming GLaDOS can't hear him. Simultaneously, we'd have GLaDOS commenting on the entire ridiculous exchange, because of course she can hear him. When we playtested the concept, every player made a beeline for the opening. So we either had to ditch all the dialogue or figure out a reason for the player to stand around for five minutes even though they could escape at any time. We ditched the dialogue.		\| The breakout sequence here was originally a lot longer, involving Wheatley talking to you in a horrible American accent, assuming GLaDOS can't hear him. Simultaneously, we'd have GLaDOS commenting on the entire ridiculous exchange, because of course she can hear him. When we playtested the concept, every player made a beeline for the opening. So we either had to ditch all the dialogue or figure out a reason for the player to stand around for five minutes even though they could escape at any time. We ditched the dialogue.
	}}		}}

Dogman15: /* Cubes V. Spheres */ In addition to not knowing where this node is, I also found another typo.

2026-02-16T08:39:25Z

Cubes V. Spheres: In addition to not knowing where this node is, I also found another typo.

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:39, 16 February 2026
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	=== Cubes V. Spheres ===		=== Cubes V. Spheres ===
	<!-~~-This~~ is ~~not yet in its correct loaction~~.~~-->~~		This commentary seems like it should be on {{code\|mp_coop_fling_1}} ([[Portal 2 Co-op Course 2 Chamber 4]]), but there is no commentary node available on that map, and this map cannot be selected from the commentary menu.
	{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott		{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott
	\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.		\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently<sup>[sic]</sup> made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.
	}}		}}

Dogman15: /* Co-op commentary */ added details, but I still haven't found "Cubes V. Spheres".

2026-02-16T07:58:56Z

Co-op commentary: added details, but I still haven't found "Cubes V. Spheres".

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:58, 16 February 2026
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	=== Airlocks ===		=== Airlocks ===
			This node opens up the airlock to the next area, and is the only way to continue forward in commentary mode.
	{{Quotation \| Garret Rickey		{{Quotation \| Garret Rickey
	\| Airlocks were introduced mainly as a way to allow players to focus on individual puzzles. In some of our early investigations, areas contained puzzles that were meant to be solved as a group, as well as others that were for individual solution. But we found that if players could move freely between them, they logically assumed that the individual puzzles were part of one big puzzle. This had bad results. For clarity, we created these airlock-like spawn rooms that act as checkpoints between puzzles. Once both players enter the airlock, we lock off access.		\| Airlocks were introduced mainly as a way to allow players to focus on individual puzzles. In some of our early investigations, areas contained puzzles that were meant to be solved as a group, as well as others that were for individual solution. But we found that if players could move freely between them, they logically assumed that the individual puzzles were part of one big puzzle. This had bad results. For clarity, we created these airlock-like spawn rooms that act as checkpoints between puzzles. Once both players enter the airlock, we lock off access.
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	=== High-Five ===		=== High-Five ===
			This node opens up the airlock to the next area, and is the only way to continue forward in commentary mode.
	{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott		{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott
	\| We noticed that after playtesters had solved a difficult puzzle together, they'd sometimes pause before funneling through the exit door to repeatedly jump up and down in excitement. We realized that these meeting points would be the perfect time to allow players to high-five each other and celebrate their victory in style. Our first interface attempt had one player initiate a high five by holding their hand up and waiting, the other player could join in by selecting the same gesture. If they were standing in the correct positions relative to each other, they would pull off a high five. But learning the correct places to stand was too difficult. So we decided to automatically move the bots into the correct positions for the high five. Sometimes, however, the player who wanted to high five would be left hanging as the other player ran ahead without accepting. Increasing the time that the initiator waited with his hand up gave the other player time to return and accept, but being frozen in place for more than a few seconds was too frustrating. So finally, we made players auto-accept the team gestures. Now, when the mood strikes either player, the game always ensures a successful celebration.		\| We noticed that after playtesters had solved a difficult puzzle together, they'd sometimes pause before funneling through the exit door to repeatedly jump up and down in excitement. We realized that these meeting points would be the perfect time to allow players to high-five each other and celebrate their victory in style. Our first interface attempt had one player initiate a high five by holding their hand up and waiting, the other player could join in by selecting the same gesture. If they were standing in the correct positions relative to each other, they would pull off a high five. But learning the correct places to stand was too difficult. So we decided to automatically move the bots into the correct positions for the high five. Sometimes, however, the player who wanted to high five would be left hanging as the other player ran ahead without accepting. Increasing the time that the initiator waited with his hand up gave the other player time to return and accept, but being frozen in place for more than a few seconds was too frustrating. So finally, we made players auto-accept the team gestures. Now, when the mood strikes either player, the game always ensures a successful celebration.

Dogman15: copying from the editor's note left by the editor who added this originally

2026-02-16T07:28:17Z

copying from the editor's note left by the editor who added this originally

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:28, 16 February 2026
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	=== Rattman’s Den ===		=== Rattman’s Den ===
	Note: This commentary node, hidden in a [[Doug Rattmann#Known dens\|Rattmann Den]], must be deciphered using the same methods used during the [[Portal ARG]] and [[Portal 2 ARG]].		Note: This commentary node, hidden in a [[Doug Rattmann#Known dens\|Rattmann Den]], must be deciphered using the same methods used during the [[Portal ARG]] and [[Portal 2 ARG]]. Rattman's Den commentary node is encoded as SSTV, containing three presentation slides.
	{{Quotation \| Adam Foster, [[Portal 2 Chapter 3 Test Chamber 17\|Pull the Rug]]		{{Quotation \| Adam Foster, [[Portal 2 Chapter 3 Test Chamber 17\|Pull the Rug]]
	\| Portal 2 Announcement ARG		\| Portal 2 Announcement ARG

Dogman15: removed duplicate commentary node quote

2026-02-16T05:40:21Z

removed duplicate commentary node quote

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:40, 16 February 2026
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	=== Flight Paths ===		=== Flight Paths ===
	{{Quotation \| John Guthrie, [[Portal 2 Chapter 2 Test Chamber 6\|Trust Fling]]		{{Quotation \| John Guthrie, [[Portal 2 Chapter 2 Test Chamber 6\|Trust Fling]]
	\| The catapult trajectory lines seen here allow us to visualize where the catapult will deliver a player or a physics object. We can differentiate the speed and trajectory for players and other objects. The yellow lines are for physics objects, and green is the player's trajectory. Sometimes we need to have a different value to accommodate the shape of the objects being catapulted. What works for the player may not work for an object, and vice versa. For instance, it was common for a box to make it to a ledge while the player would smack into the side and then fall into the slime. The visualization tools helped us debug these types of problems		\| The catapult trajectory lines seen here allow us to visualize where the catapult will deliver a player or a physics object. We can differentiate the speed and trajectory for players and other objects. The yellow lines are for physics objects, and green is the player's trajectory. Sometimes we need to have a different value to accommodate the shape of the objects being catapulted. What works for the player may not work for an object, and vice versa. For instance, it was common for a box to make it to a ledge while the player would smack into the side and then fall into the slime. The visualization tools helped us debug these types of problems
	}}		}}

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	{{Quotation \| Phil Co, Finale 4		{{Quotation \| Phil Co, Finale 4
	\| We wanted to be scientifically accurate in this puzzle, figuring that there'd be a slight delay before you'd see a portal on the moon, since light takes 1.4 seconds to travel the distance. But playtesters would shoot the moon and instantly turn away, thinking nothing had happened. They didn't realize they actually had shot the moon. We tried and rejected a few different approaches to communicate the effect, including a cheat involving quantum entanglement, before settling on the current solution to this problem.		\| We wanted to be scientifically accurate in this puzzle, figuring that there'd be a slight delay before you'd see a portal on the moon, since light takes 1.4 seconds to travel the distance. But playtesters would shoot the moon and instantly turn away, thinking nothing had happened. They didn't realize they actually had shot the moon. We tried and rejected a few different approaches to communicate the effect, including a cheat involving quantum entanglement, before settling on the current solution to this problem.
	}}

	~~=== ARG ===~~
	~~<!--Need to re-examine this node to find its location.-->~~
	~~{{Quotation \| Adam Foster~~
	\| While making Portal 2, we explored our way through vast quantities of reference material. Inspirations included photos of NASA’s Apollo and Shuttle programs, CERN’s particle accelerators both modern and obsolete, industrial robots, derelict Soviet space shuttles, overgrown temples, Brussels metro stations, seedy American motels, junkyards filled with rocketry equipment, Chinese apartment blocks under construction, Polish shipyards, neutrino detectors deep underground in nickel mines, corporate headquarters from a variety of eras, commercial nuclear reactors, experimental fusion reactors, rain-sodden book depositories in Detroit, peculiar cameras, forgotten space probes, you name it.
	}}

	~~=== Cubes V. Spheres ===~~
	~~<!--Need to move this to co-op.-->~~
	~~{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott~~
	\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.
	}}		}}

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	{{Quotation \| Chet Faliszek		{{Quotation \| Chet Faliszek
	\| Writing GLaDOS for co-op introduces some interesting problems. In single player you can count on players paying attention and being caught up in important moments. In co-op, you can count on the two players chatting about what they just did as GLaDOS delivers an important line. To help with this issue, we broke up the story beats into smaller sections so players don’t become impatient. We also repeat the points multiple times to insure the message sinks in even if you missed it a few times. Lastly, we also give players room to talk. For example when you die, there is a two second beat for you to laugh or yell before GLaDOS speaks. It is important to give those places for players to speak because the best part about co-op is the shared experience.		\| Writing GLaDOS for co-op introduces some interesting problems. In single player you can count on players paying attention and being caught up in important moments. In co-op, you can count on the two players chatting about what they just did as GLaDOS delivers an important line. To help with this issue, we broke up the story beats into smaller sections so players don’t become impatient. We also repeat the points multiple times to insure the message sinks in even if you missed it a few times. Lastly, we also give players room to talk. For example when you die, there is a two second beat for you to laugh or yell before GLaDOS speaks. It is important to give those places for players to speak because the best part about co-op is the shared experience.
			}}

			=== Cubes V. Spheres ===
			<!--This is not yet in its correct loaction.-->
			{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott
			\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.
	}}		}}

Dogman15: /* Singleplayer Commentary */ Finished chapter 9

2026-02-16T05:33:32Z

Singleplayer Commentary: Finished chapter 9

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:33, 16 February 2026
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	\| While testing this map, we often saw playtesters fixate on the excursion funnel and try to use it to get to the other side, forgetting that they had a portal gun. To remedy this, we added the destruction event that happens just before this chamber. This requires the player to portal through the floor and out of a wall to cross a gap. Once the player enters the test chamber, they are presented with the exact same scenario, but in a different context.		\| While testing this map, we often saw playtesters fixate on the excursion funnel and try to use it to get to the other side, forgetting that they had a portal gun. To remedy this, we added the destruction event that happens just before this chamber. This requires the player to portal through the floor and out of a wall to cross a gap. Once the player enters the test chamber, they are presented with the exact same scenario, but in a different context.
	}}		}}

	~~<!--bookmark for in-progress editing-->~~

	=== Mash-Up ===		=== Mash-Up ===
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	=== Crushers ===		=== Crushers ===
	{{Quotation \| Cayle George		{{Quotation \| Cayle George, Finale 1
	\| We had a bunch of levels that used the crusher panels in ways that made the test chambers more dangerous. After showing some of these levels in press demos, we got feedback that viewers were getting the impression that Portal 2 was going to be too difficult since players would have to time events such as running or falling through a portal with not getting hit by a deadly crusher. We decided to save these for the escape, when Wheatley tries to hold you off.		\| We had a bunch of levels that used the crusher panels in ways that made the test chambers more dangerous. After showing some of these levels in press demos, we got feedback that viewers were getting the impression that Portal 2 was going to be too difficult since players would have to time events such as running or falling through a portal with not getting hit by a deadly crusher. We decided to save these for the escape, when Wheatley tries to hold you off.
			}}

			=== Excursion Funnel ===
			{{Quotation \| Dave Saunders, [[Portal 2 Chapter 9 Holmes Vs Moriarty\|Finale 2]]
			\| In this excursion funnel ride, playtesters would often end up shooting the wrong portal at the critical moment and killing themselves. This ruined the moment for players, who often didn't quite understand why their excursion funnel hadn't been redirected. As a solution, we now detect when the player places the wrong portal in hopes of saving themselves; we help them out by moving their other portal under the excursion funnel source. This effectively makes the section foolproof, by allowing the player to shoot either portal to save themselves.
	}}		}}

	=== Preparing For Wheatley's Lair ===		=== Preparing For Wheatley's Lair ===
	{{Quotation \| Alireza Razmpoosh		{{Quotation \| Alireza Razmpoosh, [[Portal 2 Chapter 9 Morton's Fork\|Finale 3]]
	\| When playtesting the final boss battle, we found players were confused about what to do when they entered Wheatley's lair. Our solution was to train the player by having them break glass paint pipes a level earlier. This lets them learn the mechanic without any time pressure before they have to fight Wheatley. This also trains the player to redirect the bombs Wheatley throws at them.		\| When playtesting the final boss battle, we found players were confused about what to do when they entered Wheatley's lair. Our solution was to train the player by having them break glass paint pipes a level earlier. This lets them learn the mechanic without any time pressure before they have to fight Wheatley. This also trains the player to redirect the bombs Wheatley throws at them.
	}}		}}

	=== ~~Cheating The Speed Of Light~~ ===		=== Punisher ===
	{{Quotation \| ~~Phil Co~~		Available nearby the two bins full of corrupted cores.
	\| ~~We wanted~~ to ~~be scientifically accurate in this puzzle, figuring that there'd be a slight delay before you'd see a portal on~~ the ~~moon~~, ~~since light takes 1.4 seconds~~ to ~~travel~~ the ~~distance~~. ~~But playtesters would shoot~~ the ~~moon and instantly turn away~~, ~~thinking nothing had happened. They didn't realize they actually had shot~~ the ~~moon~~. ~~We tried and rejected a few different approaches to communicate~~ the ~~effect, including~~ a ~~cheat involving quantum entanglement, before settling on the current solution to this problem~~.		{{Quotation \| Joel Shoop, [[Portal 2 Chapter 9 Finale\|Finale 4]]
			\| There was a lot of debate over how to properly punish Wheatley at the end of the game. Killing him seemed too severe, given how much we’d grown to love the character. On the other hand, simply letting him out of the GLaDOS body with a slap on the wrist seemed unacceptably anticlimactic. Having him sucked out into space with the Space Sphere seemed like a happy middle ground that everybody could get behind.
	}}		}}

	=== ~~Excursion Funnel~~ ===		=== Wheatley Attacks ===
	{{Quotation \| ~~Dave Saunders~~		This commentary node is the first and only one available upon entering the [[Central AI Chamber]].
	\| ~~In this excursion funnel ride~~, ~~playtesters would often end up shooting the wrong portal~~ at ~~the critical moment and killing themselves~~. This ~~ruined the moment for players~~, ~~who often didn't quite understand why their excursion funnel hadn't been redirected~~. ~~As a solution, we now detect when the player places the wrong portal in hopes of saving themselves; we help them out by moving their other portal under the excursion funnel source~~. This ~~effectively makes the section foolproof~~, by ~~allowing the player to shoot either portal to save themselves~~.		{{Quotation \| Kutta Srinivasan, Finale 4
			\| Wheatley used to have different kinds of attacks, other than lobbing bombs. At one point, we tried attaching several turrets to him that he could point at you. This proved too punishing, however, and they were removed. We also tried crusher panels that Wheatley could try to smash you with. This, once again, proved too punishing since players were focused on what Wheatley was doing and would often get hit by a crusher they weren't looking at.
	}}		}}

	=== ~~Punisher~~ ===		=== Cheating The Speed Of Light ===
	{{Quotation \| ~~Joel Shoop~~		This commentary node is in the Stalemate Resolution Button room, inaccessible until all three corrupted cores have been attached to Wheatley.
	\| ~~There was~~ a ~~lot of debate over how~~ to ~~properly punish Wheatley at~~ the ~~end of~~ the ~~game~~. ~~Killing him seemed too severe, given how much we’d grown to love~~ the ~~character~~. On the ~~other hand~~, ~~simply letting him out of the GLaDOS body with~~ a ~~slap~~ on the ~~wrist seemed unacceptably anticlimactic. Having him sucked out into space with the Space Sphere seemed like a happy middle ground that everybody could get behind~~.		{{Quotation \| Phil Co, Finale 4
			\| We wanted to be scientifically accurate in this puzzle, figuring that there'd be a slight delay before you'd see a portal on the moon, since light takes 1.4 seconds to travel the distance. But playtesters would shoot the moon and instantly turn away, thinking nothing had happened. They didn't realize they actually had shot the moon. We tried and rejected a few different approaches to communicate the effect, including a cheat involving quantum entanglement, before settling on the current solution to this problem.
	}}		}}

	=== ARG ===		=== ARG ===
			<!--Need to re-examine this node to find its location.-->
	{{Quotation \| Adam Foster		{{Quotation \| Adam Foster
	\| While making Portal 2, we explored our way through vast quantities of reference material. Inspirations included photos of NASA’s Apollo and Shuttle programs, CERN’s particle accelerators both modern and obsolete, industrial robots, derelict Soviet space shuttles, overgrown temples, Brussels metro stations, seedy American motels, junkyards filled with rocketry equipment, Chinese apartment blocks under construction, Polish shipyards, neutrino detectors deep underground in nickel mines, corporate headquarters from a variety of eras, commercial nuclear reactors, experimental fusion reactors, rain-sodden book depositories in Detroit, peculiar cameras, forgotten space probes, you name it.		\| While making Portal 2, we explored our way through vast quantities of reference material. Inspirations included photos of NASA’s Apollo and Shuttle programs, CERN’s particle accelerators both modern and obsolete, industrial robots, derelict Soviet space shuttles, overgrown temples, Brussels metro stations, seedy American motels, junkyards filled with rocketry equipment, Chinese apartment blocks under construction, Polish shipyards, neutrino detectors deep underground in nickel mines, corporate headquarters from a variety of eras, commercial nuclear reactors, experimental fusion reactors, rain-sodden book depositories in Detroit, peculiar cameras, forgotten space probes, you name it.
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	=== Cubes V. Spheres ===		=== Cubes V. Spheres ===
			<!--Need to move this to co-op.-->
	{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott		{{Quotation \| Matthew Scott
	\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.		\| Weighted spheres first appeared in one of Portal 1's advanced chambers. For Portal 2, we accidently made them bouncy and it was too much fun chasing them to change it. In co-op, we wanted players to use teamwork to catch an object, and while a cube might have landed safely, a sphere will bounce and roll out of bounds. So, in this chamber we drop a bunch of spheres as a fun visual reward, and we wanted to trick players into saying 'balls' over the microphone.
	}}

	~~=== Wheatley Attacks ===~~
	~~{{Quotation \| Kutta Srinivasan~~
	\| Wheatley used to have different kinds of attacks, other than lobbing bombs. At one point, we tried attaching several turrets to him that he could point at you. This proved too punishing, however, and they were removed. We also tried crusher panels that Wheatley could try to smash you with. This, once again, proved too punishing since players were focused on what Wheatley was doing and would often get hit by a crusher they weren't looking at.
	}}		}}

Dogman15: /* Singleplayer Commentary */ Finished chapter 8

2026-02-16T04:55:21Z

Singleplayer Commentary: Finished chapter 8

Show changes

Dogman15: /* Singleplayer Commentary */

2026-02-16T01:51:36Z

Singleplayer Commentary

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:51, 16 February 2026
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	=== Frankenturrets ===		=== Frankenturrets ===
	{{Quotation \| Matt Charlesworth, Test		{{Quotation \| Matt Charlesworth, [[Portal 2 Chapter 8 Frankenturrets\|Test]]
	\| The Frankenturrets were an attempt to show one of the ways Wheatley has been spending his time since he threw the player down into the Underground. Using his limited brain, it didn't seem like he could have come up with a lot, so the idea of using objects he'd have access to seemed appropriate. The turret and the cube are the two most iconic portal objects and the frankenturret is little more than a crude combination of those two objects. The hermit crab animation when you pick the cubes up began as a necessity because we really needed to make them act like cubes when you held them. It ended up being so cute that it became a simple job of making the turret widen its eye and shake its head a little, to convey to the player that these things were disrupted, and had no idea who or what they were anymore, and also to make the player feel sympathetic towards their plight. We used a combination of in game physics pushes and canned Maya animation to allow the player freedom to move them wherever they wanted, line up races between them, or even set them up so they would walk, inevitably to their doom, into a fizzler.		\| The Frankenturrets were an attempt to show one of the ways Wheatley has been spending his time since he threw the player down into the Underground. Using his limited brain, it didn't seem like he could have come up with a lot, so the idea of using objects he'd have access to seemed appropriate. The turret and the cube are the two most iconic portal objects and the frankenturret is little more than a crude combination of those two objects. The hermit crab animation when you pick the cubes up began as a necessity because we really needed to make them act like cubes when you held them. It ended up being so cute that it became a simple job of making the turret widen its eye and shake its head a little, to convey to the player that these things were disrupted, and had no idea who or what they were anymore, and also to make the player feel sympathetic towards their plight. We used a combination of in game physics pushes and canned Maya animation to allow the player freedom to move them wherever they wanted, line up races between them, or even set them up so they would walk, inevitably to their doom, into a fizzler.
			}}

			=== Wheatley's As Level Designer ===
			{{Quotation \| Aaron Barber, Test
			\| Wheatley's first test was really fun to make because we wanted it to feel like he was a first-time level designer. We see a lot of maps where people try using different textures or lights to write words or put their names on the walls.
	}}		}}

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	{{Quotation \| Kutta Srinivasan		{{Quotation \| Kutta Srinivasan
	\| Wheatley used to have different kinds of attacks, other than lobbing bombs. At one point, we tried attaching several turrets to him that he could point at you. This proved too punishing, however, and they were removed. We also tried crusher panels that Wheatley could try to smash you with. This, once again, proved too punishing since players were focused on what Wheatley was doing and would often get hit by a crusher they weren't looking at.		\| Wheatley used to have different kinds of attacks, other than lobbing bombs. At one point, we tried attaching several turrets to him that he could point at you. This proved too punishing, however, and they were removed. We also tried crusher panels that Wheatley could try to smash you with. This, once again, proved too punishing since players were focused on what Wheatley was doing and would often get hit by a crusher they weren't looking at.
	}}

	~~=== Wheatley's As Level Designer ===~~
	~~{{Quotation \| Aaron Barber, Test~~
	\| Wheatley's first test was really fun to make because we wanted it to feel like he was a first-time level designer. We see a lot of maps where people try using different textures or lights to write words or put their names on the walls.
	}}		}}

Dogman15: /* Singleplayer Commentary */ Finished chapter 7

2026-02-16T01:30:50Z

Singleplayer Commentary: Finished chapter 7

@@ Line 224: / Line 224: @@
 {{Quotation | Jay Pinkerton, PotatOS
 | The character of PotatOS was actually the hardest one to crack for us, and was the last character to get recorded. We’d always wanted to switch things up for the sequel, so that GLaDOS would become your unwilling buddy cop partner against a new threat, but this ended up being far more entertaining as a concept than in execution. It’s one thing to have an omnipotent villain chastising you while you’re testing. It’s quite another to have a little potato on your gun doing the same. Playtesters wanted to tear her off the gun, and we didn’t blame them. So we were faced with the unsettling prospect of making dry, robotic supervillain GLaDOS more human and relatable. This ended up being one of the hardest writing jobs in the game.
 }}
@@ Line 271: / Line 297: @@
 {{Quotation | Dave Saunders
 | In this excursion funnel ride, playtesters would often end up shooting the wrong portal at the critical moment and killing themselves. This ruined the moment for players, who often didn't quite understand why their excursion funnel hadn't been redirected. As a solution, we now detect when the player places the wrong portal in hopes of saving themselves; we help them out by moving their other portal under the excursion funnel source. This effectively makes the section foolproof, by allowing the player to shoot either portal to save themselves.
 }}
@@ Line 296: / Line 312: @@
 {{Quotation | Joel Shoop
 | There was a lot of debate over how to properly punish Wheatley at the end of the game. Killing him seemed too severe, given how much we’d grown to love the character. On the other hand, simply letting him out of the GLaDOS body with a slap on the wrist seemed unacceptably anticlimactic. Having him sucked out into space with the Space Sphere seemed like a happy middle ground that everybody could get behind.
 }}
@@ Line 306: / Line 317: @@
 {{Quotation | Matt Charlesworth, Test
 | The Frankenturrets were an attempt to show one of the ways Wheatley has been spending his time since he threw the player down into the Underground. Using his limited brain, it didn't seem like he could have come up with a lot, so the idea of using objects he'd have access to seemed appropriate. The turret and the cube are the two most iconic portal objects and the frankenturret is little more than a crude combination of those two objects.  The hermit crab animation when you pick the cubes up began as a necessity because we really needed to make them act like cubes when you held them. It ended up being so cute that it became a simple job of making the turret widen its eye and shake its head a little, to convey to the player that these things were disrupted, and had no idea who or what they were anymore, and also to make the player feel sympathetic towards their plight. We used a combination of  in game physics pushes and canned Maya animation to allow the player freedom to move them wherever they wanted, line up races between them, or even set them up so they would walk, inevitably to their doom, into a fizzler.
 }}

Dogman15: /* Singleplayer Commentary */ Finished chapter 6

2026-02-16T01:02:25Z

Singleplayer Commentary: Finished chapter 6

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