Portal developer commentary - Revision history

Dogman15: /* Developer commentary mode */

2026-02-17T02:52:16Z

Developer commentary mode

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:52, 17 February 2026
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	== Developer commentary mode ==		== Developer commentary mode ==

	The '''developer commentary mode''' is a game mode where the commentaries can be found as floating speech bubbles in several rooms of the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. After finishing the game, the developer commentary mode gets unlocked in the main menu. The commentaries are activated by pressing the [[Controls#Actions\|Use Item]] action key on them, and can be stopped in the same way (note that some commentaries can alter the visuals or take temporary control of the ~~test subject~~ while they are playing). Take notice that the test subject can't get any ~~achievement~~ while ~~testing~~ in developer commentary mode.		The '''developer commentary mode''' is a game mode where the commentaries can be found as floating speech bubbles in several rooms of the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. After finishing the game, the developer commentary mode gets unlocked in the main menu. The commentaries are activated by pressing the [[Controls#Actions\|Use Item]] action key on them, and can be stopped in the same way (note that some commentaries can alter the visuals or take temporary control of the viewpoint while they are playing). Take notice that the test subject can't get any achievements while in developer commentary mode.

	== Commentary text ==		== Commentary text ==

Just1edit at 15:11, 9 July 2024

2024-07-09T15:11:51Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:11, 9 July 2024
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	}}		}}

			=== Unused ===
	{{Quotation \| Ellen McLain: Voice of GLaDOS		{{Quotation \| Ellen McLain: Voice of GLaDOS
	\| In the beginning, when I came in, I was just supposed to recreate the sound of a computer-generated voice. Just recreate it. And that's what I did. And there was no emotion involved; I just listened to the sound of the computer, and I repeated what I heard. But as the game continued, I was supposed to get more and more emotion into the computer, into GLaDOS. And she developed into a very sweet, passive-aggressive person.		\| In the beginning, when I came in, I was just supposed to recreate the sound of a computer-generated voice. Just recreate it. And that's what I did. And there was no emotion involved; I just listened to the sound of the computer, and I repeated what I heard. But as the game continued, I was supposed to get more and more emotion into the computer, into GLaDOS. And she developed into a very sweet, passive-aggressive person.

Just1edit at 09:02, 9 July 2024

2024-07-09T09:02:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:02, 9 July 2024
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	=== Test Chamber 06 ===		=== Test Chamber 06 ===
			{{Quotation \| Randy Lundeen
			\| To make puzzles deeper than just teleporting to the exit, we had to include surfaces that won't hold a portal, which are formally introduced here. We experimented with several surface designs before we settled on this one, whose visual noise and reflectivity make it easy to identify at a distance.
			}}

			=== Test Chamber 07 ===
	{{Quotation \| Jeep Barnett		{{Quotation \| Jeep Barnett
	\| Originally, these scaffolds ran on electrified tracks. But, crafty playtesters would hop along the rails to the exit, bypassing the puzzle entirely. We tried to solve this by killing players as soon as they touched the rails. That solution ended up being too much of an over correction, as even skilled playtesters were getting frustrated by these one-hit kills, in the more complex puzzles later in the game. Making the scaffolds run along immaterial beams of light solved both problems.		\| Originally, these scaffolds ran on electrified tracks. But, crafty playtesters would hop along the rails to the exit, bypassing the puzzle entirely. We tried to solve this by killing players as soon as they touched the rails. That solution ended up being too much of an over correction, as even skilled playtesters were getting frustrated by these one-hit kills, in the more complex puzzles later in the game. Making the scaffolds run along immaterial beams of light solved both problems.
	}}		}}

	=== Test Chamber 07 ===		=== Test Chamber 08 ===
	{{Quotation \| Chris Chin		{{Quotation \| Chris Chin
	\| Even though layering player training was a design goal from the start, we still ended up introducing some concepts too quickly. For instance, this used to be the first energy-ball redirection puzzle. Playtesting revealed that this puzzle introduced too many new concepts at once, which ended up frustrating a lot of playtesters. In response, we inserted two test chambers before this one to make the energy-ball redirection training more gradual.		\| Even though layering player training was a design goal from the start, we still ended up introducing some concepts too quickly. For instance, this used to be the first energy-ball redirection puzzle. Playtesting revealed that this puzzle introduced too many new concepts at once, which ended up frustrating a lot of playtesters. In response, we inserted two test chambers before this one to make the energy-ball redirection training more gradual.
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	{{Quotation \| David Kircher		{{Quotation \| David Kircher
	\| We previously talked about how we handle static portal collision. But collision with moving objects on the other side of the portal is a completely different and equally hard problem. Walking onto this scaffold was a very iffy proposition for the first few months of development. We solve the problem of colliding with these dynamic objects by cloning the objects from one portal to the other and strictly controlling what objects are allowed to collide with each other and how they're allowed to collide.		\| We previously talked about how we handle static portal collision. But collision with moving objects on the other side of the portal is a completely different and equally hard problem. Walking onto this scaffold was a very iffy proposition for the first few months of development. We solve the problem of colliding with these dynamic objects by cloning the objects from one portal to the other and strictly controlling what objects are allowed to collide with each other and how they're allowed to collide.
	}}

	~~=== Test Chamber 08 ===~~
	~~{{Quotation \| Randy Lundeen~~
	\| To make puzzles deeper than just teleporting to the exit, we had to include surfaces that won't hold a portal, which are formally introduced here. We experimented with several surface designs before we settled on this one, whose visual noise and reflectivity make it easy to identify at a distance.
	}}		}}

TestSubject17: /* Commentary text */ Reorganized quotes by Test Chamber/room. Some in the Escape Sequence may not be right as I was going off of memory. Later I may add a brief description on where each node is.

2023-06-11T22:06:26Z

Commentary text: Reorganized quotes by Test Chamber/room. Some in the Escape Sequence may not be right as I was going off of memory. Later I may add a brief description on where each node is.

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Caitseith: Syntax correction

2014-05-26T20:47:58Z

Syntax correction

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:47, 26 May 2014
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	== Developer commentary mode ==		== Developer commentary mode ==

	The '''developer commentary mode''' is a game mode where the commentaries can be found as floating speech bubbles in several rooms of the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. After finishing the game, the developer commentary mode gets unlocked in the main menu. The commentaries are activated by pressing the [[Controls#Actions\|Use Item]] action key on them, and can be stopped in the same way (note that some commentaries can alter the visuals or temporary control of the test subject while they are playing). Take notice that the test subject can't get any achievement while testing in developer commentary mode.		The '''developer commentary mode''' is a game mode where the commentaries can be found as floating speech bubbles in several rooms of the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. After finishing the game, the developer commentary mode gets unlocked in the main menu. The commentaries are activated by pressing the [[Controls#Actions\|Use Item]] action key on them, and can be stopped in the same way (note that some commentaries can alter the visuals or take temporary control of the test subject while they are playing). Take notice that the test subject can't get any achievement while testing in developer commentary mode.

	== Commentary text ==		== Commentary text ==

Caitseith: Added a small intro. Plan to add a list of commentaries locations

2014-05-26T20:46:09Z

Added a small intro. Plan to add a list of commentaries locations

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:46, 26 May 2014
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	'''''[[Portal]]'' [[developer commentary]]'''.		'''''[[Portal]]'' [[developer commentary]]'''.

	== Commentary ==		'''Developer Commentaries''' are recorded audio commentaries about the creation of [[Portal]], that can be found once the test subject has completed all the tests and finished the game.

			== Developer commentary mode ==

			The '''developer commentary mode''' is a game mode where the commentaries can be found as floating speech bubbles in several rooms of the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. After finishing the game, the developer commentary mode gets unlocked in the main menu. The commentaries are activated by pressing the [[Controls#Actions\|Use Item]] action key on them, and can be stopped in the same way (note that some commentaries can alter the visuals or temporary control of the test subject while they are playing). Take notice that the test subject can't get any achievement while testing in developer commentary mode.

			== Commentary text ==
	=== #000 ===		=== #000 ===
	{{Quotation \| Erik Wolpaw		{{Quotation \| Erik Wolpaw

Seb: + commentary

2011-04-29T06:48:10Z

+ commentary

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