Understanding Games in Culture - Task 1

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 Understanding Games in Culture - Task 1

For this brief, I've been told to analyse a game of my choosing and write an informational piece that is enjoyable for all readers. For this brief, I've decided to research about Portal 2.


Portal 2 is a puzzle-platform game, developed by Valve. It's the sequel to it's successor, Portal. It was released in 2011 and it took place several years after the events of the first game. Portal 2 featured the main story campaign & a 2-player Co-op story where you solve a series of test chambers with someone you're playing with.

Technology & Platforms of the Time
Portal 2 is available for both dated & current platforms such as the PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 & Xbox One (due to backwards compatibility) and very recently, in February 9, 2022, it'll be released for the Nintendo Switch as part of their bundle, Portal: Companion Collection and for Valve's own gaming system, the Steam Deck. 
    
Though, Portal 2's technology is somewhat outdated in today's standards, the game mechanics in the game blew gamers minds at the time due to the fact that the fluid simulation was superb & almost realistic. One of them was the gels game mechanic. The gels were a huge puzzle element in the second half of the game; it was necessary for the player to use them, in order to proceed to the next test chamber. There were four of them;

Repulsion Gel - The Repulsion Gel is a light blue substance that, when you coat it on a surface, it acts like a trampoline. Which means if you jump on it, you jump really high. Any objects such as the cubes or the turrets which interact with this gel either bounce away, if a section of the floor is coated, or they can bounce everywhere across the room if they're coated with this gel. 

Repulsion Gel







Propulsion Gel - The Propulsion Gel is an orange substance which increases the velocity of the player if they run on it, making them run faster than their normal speed. Any objects such as the cubes or turrets which interact with the gel, can slide across, if a section of the floor is coated with this gel. And if the cubes or turrets are coated with this gel, their friction is reduced causing them to slide across the floor easily.

Propulsion Gel


Conversion Gel - The Conversion gel appeared as a white, grey-ish, substance which was made from ground moon rocks. When in use, the conversion gel makes a good portal conductor, meaning if a surface can't open the portals, coating that surface with the conversion gel can inverse that disability, making it open portals. 

Conversion Gel



Cleansing Gel - This may be water but, the cleansing gel is used to wash away any of the other gels that an object, like the cube or a turret, maybe be coated in. It doesn't affect really anything other than surfaces or objects that have been coated.

Cleansing Gel

Another game mechanic of the game which has only been introduced in Portal 2 was the Excursion Funnel. The Excursion Funnel, also known as a Tractor Beam, was a light, glowing funnel which was able to defy gravity but it's also able to allow the player or anything, such as the cube or a turret, to travel along the direction of where the funnel is going. Unless the funnel is reversed. The Funnel can be passed through the portals, and can be used to travel far, far distances, which can make it very useful for solving puzzles with them. 


The Excursion Funnel is also useful for transport. It can be used to transport gels from one section of a test chamber to another. Because of this feature, it's useful to coat larger areas of the surface, and since the player can enter through it, can be a mode of travel for the player to travel across large gaps. 

There was another gel, which was unfortunately cut from release due to it causing technical & emotional issues. and that was the Adhesion Gel. The function of the Adhesion Gel was, when it was coated on a wall or a ceiling, it could allow the player to walk on said coated wall. The reason why it didn't work was that it failed to serve it's function in the game & playtesters felt disorientated considering that they had to continue to think with portals whilst they're walking on walls & ceilings. So it was, eventually, cut from the game entirely. The appearance of the Adhesion Gel was a dark purple gel; 


Although cut from the game, major fans of the game, resurrected this scrapped game mechanic by making their own variations of it which provided the same purpose. 

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