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This is what Portal 2's competitive multiplayer looked like (and other cut concepts)

At a panel during GDC, Valve's Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw showed off some stuff from the cutting room floor, including the game's lost competitive multiplayer, alternate ending, and more.
Andrew Yoon
8
Portal 2 started off as a very different game: one without Chell, GLaDOS, or even portals. Speaking at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Valve writers Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw talked about the many concepts they had to throw away before they crafted the game that ended up being one of the best games of 2011. For example, what's that above? It's a rare look at the game's canned competitive multiplayer mode. "While it's fun for about two seconds to drop portals under people and things like that," Wolpaw explained. "It quickly just devolves into pure chaos."

An alternate intro to the game

The original concept for Portal 2 featured a different main character, but the concept behind how the game would start was largely the same. Here, the player is waking up in a gorgeous environment designed to look like paradise--but it quickly falls apart in The Truman Show-fashion, revealing that the player has been trapped in a relaxation chamber for an unknown period of time.

Betty replaced GLaDOS

Before deciding on reviving GLaDOS for the sequel, Valve explored setting Portal 2 in the past. It would be a prequel without portals, one where Aperture Science's Cave Johnson would be the villain. Without an ominous robotic overlord threatening your life, Valve played with a number of ideas for robotic partners--like Betty, seen above.

Co-op had players retrieving human artifacts

The co-op story was also different. Originally set after the events of Portal 2, GLaDOS originally sent the robotic pair on quests to find human "artifacts" in order to become more human. One such artifact was this comic, obviously inspired by Garfield.

Chell would've no longer been mute

Portal 2's original ending was quite the opposite of the astronomical finale gamers were ultimately presented. One concept had players needed to use a voice command to take back control from the game's final villain. Poking fun at Chell's apparent muteness, the game would fade to black as Chell uttered one word that would close the game--"yes."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • Shacknews legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
    reply
    March 8, 2012 10:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, This is what Portal 2's competitive multiplayer looked like (and other cut concepts).

    At a panel during GDC, Valve's Chet Faliszek and Erik Wolpaw showed off some stuff from the cutting room floor, including the game's lost competitive multiplayer, alternate ending, and more.

    • one random winner legacy 10 years
      reply
      March 8, 2012 10:24 AM

      All very interesting ideas, hopefully they find a way to put them in their other games.

      • Finchypoo legacy 10 years
        reply
        March 8, 2012 11:59 AM

        I'm really curious to see the inevitable tie between Half-Life and Portal worlds. We all know its happening if we played EP2, Just really curious how it happens.

        • MOOMANiBE legacy 10 years
          reply
          March 8, 2012 12:25 PM

          It's not, unless valve completely reverses their previous stance. When portal 2 was first announced they stated that going 100 years in the future was a deliberate choice so that the different tones of the portal games and the half-life games didn't end up clashing. Other than the existence of the borealis, it seems like they've backed off of tying the universes together anymore.

          • Serpico74 moderator legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
            reply
            March 8, 2012 7:28 PM

            Half Life 3 is presumably about you going to the Borealis, that was where they were headed to at the end of Episode 2. Chell and Glados and all that stuff isn't going to factor into the plot, but Aperture Science is definitely a part of the Half Life universe

    • freshyk legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury ultra mega
      reply
      March 8, 2012 1:18 PM

      Dorfeldt is awesome.

      • MOOMANiBE legacy 10 years
        reply
        March 8, 2012 3:30 PM

        I wish they'd left that in the game somehow.

    • kaddar0 legacy 10 years
      reply
      March 8, 2012 3:22 PM

      I really want to try the multiplayer competitive portal, even if it sucks. I think the way they could do this is make portal guns work like runes in quake1 ctf, whereby it is hard to find them, and when you do, people seek to kill you, and otherwise give players normal gravity guns or other weapons to use against the portal gun welder.

    • Vorlonesque legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
      reply
      March 8, 2012 6:55 PM

      Portal Combat?

    • nwillard legacy 10 years
      reply
      March 8, 2012 7:31 PM

      I really have to wonder what the developmental state of a lot of this stuff was. A lot of it looks like it was AT LEAST partially playable. I hope they revive the content in some way, so much of it looks so good.

    • passingstranger legacy 10 years
      reply
      March 9, 2012 12:37 AM

      All I want to know is what F-stop was. That's all I want to know.

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