Wed, Oct 12, 2011 | 02:23 BST
Portal 2′s plot partially inspired by panic
Valve has revealed that one of the key plots of Portal 2 came about when the writers realised they’d made a terrible mistake. Spoilers ahead.
Speaking at GDC Online, as reported by Gamespot, Valve writer Erik Wolpaw said the writers had quite different intentions for the sequence in which Chell carries GLaDOS around as a potato, which fell through at the last minute.
“We had envisioned it as this buddy cop thing, where you’d be together and you’d be bickering and it would be awesome,” he said.
“It honest to God did not occur to us that the buddy cop thing doesn’t work if one of you is quiet. It’s funny now, everybody’s laughing, but it was a true moment of incredible panic for us when we realized we’d painted ourselves into a corner.”
The writing team scurried to compensate for the oversight by finding GLaDOS something to talk about, quickly inventing the sequence of events in which GLaDOS discovers her origin.
“We run into that a lot with the silent protagonist, even at this point,” Wolpaw confessed, despite Valve’s breadth of experience with its two quiet heroes – Chell and Gordon Freeman.
In discussing GLaDOS’s back story, Wolpaw shot down rumours that Valve wrote and then cut a scene involving violence between Aperture founder Cave Johnson and assistant Carolyn.
“That is absolutely not true,” he said. “It’s insane.”
4 comments
#1
ukutkryxkerez
12/10/11, 2:39 am
ggggfgjdffg
#2
Dannybuoy
12/10/11, 7:31 am
What ^ said. Exactly my feelings… I loved the part with the potato. Genius stuff. Shame the baking soda volcanoes didn’t play any part
#3
IL DUCE
12/10/11, 3:24 pm
Yeah such a genuis game…Portal 2 definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played
#4
DSB
12/10/11, 3:43 pm
This is easily my game of the year. Saints Row 3 could still clinch it, and Arkham City might surprise me, but unless that happens, this is the ticket.
I reckon the closest second would be The Witcher 2. Had it had a more complete story, it would’ve been it.