What’s up the guys at Valve, giving us all this new content for Portal 2 after only a year of being released? Coming on May 8th, the “Perpetual Testing Initiative” DLC will be available for those science lovers looking to take a page out of GLaDOS’s book and do a ton of testing.
The “Perpetual Testing Initiative” will allow players to design test chambers, physically create them, share them with other players online, and then play them. You can even create the puzzles without having to leave the game either using the “simplified puzzle maker”. IMO, this is one of the best things that can come to the Portal scene, making test chambers your own personal playgrounds to share with the world.
After installing the DLC, players can use the puzzle maker to publish their Portal 2 maps directly on the Steam Workshop, where users will be able to browse and play maps, as well as vote on them too. The puzzles will automatically download to your Portal 2 game once selected. The only downside for this update is that co-op features will be implemented in a later update after Valve has beta tested it thoroughly. Bummer.
Chet Faliszek has also mentioned that Left 4 Dead 2 was on deck for the Steam Workshop add-on as well, making it easier to browse and download user made maps without having to go through other sites (which is pretty nice!). The plans for this puzzle creator were revealed last year at the GDC:
You’ll see the Steam Workshop coming from there, then to Left 4 Dead and then we’re going to keep using it,” said Faliszek. “It’s not just for the modders, it’s for the players. It’s a super easy way to consume the creations of other people that are just really hard to do otherwise.
Again, the DLC will be arriving on May 8th to PC and Mac users only (which sucks for 360 players, I know). Still, it’ll be interesting to see what people can come up with for Portal 2 all around the world.
