WEBVTT 1 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.879 All right, guys, final piece of content here from Valve. I'm sitting 2 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:30.559 here again with chet Jay and Eric, and we are now going to talk 3 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:35.359 in detail about the plot and some of the various ins and outs of Portal 4 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:41.719 two. Uh, don't don't listen to this spoiler field. Yeah, spoilers 5 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:43.840 are coming up. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna say, yah 6 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:47.079 know, like you'll your enjoyment of Portal two is gonna be diminished significantly if 7 00:00:47.079 --> 00:00:50.520 you have not already played through the game. Uh so, uh, you 8 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:55.560 know, buy it, be warned, right and they come back pause? 9 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:59.920 Yeah, play it, come back, rewind it, yeah, remake, 10 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.960 sit right, and honestly, even not just I'm I'm this is gonna be 11 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.959 open spoiler zone for anything. So any if you don't like spoilers in general, 12 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.560 let's warm up when you got first. Eric, Yeah, So it 13 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:15.120 turns out that in Shutter Island, Leonardo DiCaprio crazy the whole time. Actually, 14 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:19.840 mate, I still haven't seen that. It's in my Netflix queue and 15 00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:25.040 now you don't have its watch and it's in my Netflix instant watch q the 16 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:29.760 instant watch Quell. You better take it off then dangerous it could be all 17 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:32.560 right, it's a spoilers. Seriously, that's saved. That saved you like 18 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:37.599 seven or eight hours. Tell me it's not a very good film, all 19 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:44.000 right, let's not valve. Valve doesn't like Martin Scorsese. People Valve like 20 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.840 Shutter Island a whole lot. A few people have a tattooed on them. 21 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:51.280 Tell me about the animal King? What inspired the Animal King? Getting back 22 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:55.120 to portal two, everyone's should be looking at jay. Uh, what inspired 23 00:01:55.159 --> 00:01:57.400 the animal King? I think it was just the idea of picking something as 24 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.879 Atlantish as possible. What was then it was a sentient gas cloud or something 25 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:05.959 in cloud, very star trek. I love the idea of just a corporation 26 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:10.479 essentially covering its butt with even the most outlandish possibility of what happened to the 27 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:14.599 earth. You know, it was the idea that they didn't know, like 28 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.000 they had this plan in place so they could keep testing for whatever reason, 29 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:22.360 even you know, if something really awful happened, and then they're just kind 30 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:24.400 of listing it like maybe this, maybe this happened, Maybe this happened. 31 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:29.680 Averature science is not bound by governments or you know, religions or ethics. 32 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:34.000 They they're science samon sense nothing. But if there should be an animal king 33 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:36.879 thousands of years from now, they've got to cover. Yeah, they got 34 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:40.159 a cover. Then Richard Lord, who's kind of the mastermind behind those little 35 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:45.680 infographic videos, kind of came up with the idea of the giant leopard print 36 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:51.680 turret in the un It was funny, I don't know where. And then, 37 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:53.560 uh, well, now as super spoiler, you imagine, did you 38 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:58.120 notice that the animal King is there at the end? I did. I 39 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:00.080 did notice. It's not just fake, there's real. Yeah, the Animal 40 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:04.080 King is real. We can spoil that here. Look look for that. 41 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.840 If you didn't see it the first time, pause, rewind it, play 42 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:12.039 the whole game again. That's that's right. So this game, you know, 43 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:15.919 you really dig into a lot of the backstory and of aperture science. 44 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:21.039 You know, we see the Cave Johnson stuff, we see something you know 45 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:27.199 kind of uh at least you know the the the aperture aesthetic over the years. 46 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:31.240 Like, how much like unseen backstory do you guys have for this or 47 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:35.039 is it is most of it kind of out there in the game. You 48 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:38.199 want to talk about the six page Bible, you weren't Yeah, no, 49 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:40.240 no, there. Uh, there's some stuff. I mean, we tried 50 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:46.159 to work it out in our head kind of what might make sense. But 51 00:03:46.840 --> 00:03:51.280 you know, honestly, uh, we like, if we thought of it, 52 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.639 it was good. We were trying to it's really good. Let's not 53 00:03:55.680 --> 00:04:00.280 put it in the game. So you guys are the native Americans of video 54 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.879 game writing, Yes, we use it well, yes, uh. Having 55 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.080 said that, we cut a lot of stuff as well. Yeah, No, 56 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:09.039 a lot of stuff didn't make it on the cutting room floor. I 57 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:13.919 guess the aperture that we just felt rather than just regurgitate more of the same, 58 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:15.960 why not? What was what were they like in the fifties? What 59 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:17.839 were they like in the seventies? Right? It just gave us more. 60 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.800 I guess I'm more a complex vision of the company where we kind of got 61 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:27.000 to check out. I don't know what would it be like under the regime 62 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:30.480 of this different guy who was clearly not Gladys, right, he's the antithesis 63 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.720 of Gladys to a point. But there's definitely there's a there's a turning. 64 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:40.360 There's a moment in that game when when Gladys and Cave are suddenly align and 65 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:43.920 in tune with each other. There is I think what mom, we talk, 66 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.120 we're talking about the Lemons, the Lemons to Lemonade. Yeah, that 67 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:48.399 that speech where she gets all pumped up. Yeah. So, and clearly 68 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:55.519 they're both maybe more invested in their own actions and their enthusiasm for what they're 69 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:00.399 doing than they are in your personal safety. I would say that's like the 70 00:05:00.439 --> 00:05:03.759 aperture way. So yeah, that's the corporate culture of aperture. But yeah, 71 00:05:03.800 --> 00:05:08.000 they definitely are on the same page. At some point, I keep 72 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.439 like talking spoiler free, but I forgot we're in the spoiler zones so I 73 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:13.439 can say whatever I want. I mean, the thing that Kay has been 74 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.360 kicking around for years as a character, and we've had various incarnations, but 75 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:18.639 he's just one of those guys just refused to go away. I mean, 76 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.040 he's been out of the game so many times, but he just keeps kind 77 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:24.319 of sneaking his way back in. I think actually, the Lemons, the 78 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:30.240 Lemonade speeches, that's the one through age A long time ago. Oh so, 79 00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:32.800 so here's a question if you guys remember this. A few years ago, 80 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:36.240 after Portal two, I believe, had been announced that there was someone 81 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:42.199 had had leaked out that here's the whole story of Portal two that didn't we 82 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:45.560 hadn't announced yet at that point. Oh no, no, oh yeah no, 83 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:48.120 he was a casting agent and posted that up on a forum and then 84 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.680 somebody ran with it. You know, I think I pretty deliberately kind of 85 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:56.079 went around that because I did enjoy the first portal so much. I'm like, 86 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:59.519 I don't want to have this ruined, even if it's fake, because 87 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:01.439 if it's fake, what if I end up liking the fake thing better than 88 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:04.519 the real thing. So those lines are not in the game now, but 89 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.079 if you go back and find it, I think they do speak the fact 90 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:11.120 that originally Cave had a much different role and all. That's all I'll say. 91 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:12.959 But yeah, so, I mean, even just seeing that, you 92 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:17.399 can see the various attempts we've had with Cave and the various roles at given 93 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.519 points in time he's had in this game. Yeah, so, if you 94 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:24.879 didn't read the casting sheet, it turns out that most of the stuff that's 95 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.519 in the casting sheet isn't actually in the game. Game kind of went in 96 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:30.759 a different direction ultimately. I mean, it did make it sound like the 97 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:33.079 little bit that I did see made it sound like, oh, this is 98 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:35.560 going to be like complete throwback. You're not going to see any of like 99 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.600 the modern stuff. It's going to be set in you know, in the 100 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:43.959 sixties or whatever, which you know, you it's it's I there's there's something 101 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:49.560 very satisfying of the you know, the the physicals, the vertical physical space, 102 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:55.519 also representing the timeline of of aperture, as though you're just like they 103 00:06:55.560 --> 00:07:00.439 just they start at the bottom and then they just kept building each decade on 104 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:02.920 top of the next aperture, essentially much like New York City built on New 105 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:05.839 York City. Just they just and that was one of the things. Again, 106 00:07:05.879 --> 00:07:11.639 we've always had this view of aperture that if they screw something up, 107 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:15.800 they just literally cement in the building, break it up literally, speak of 108 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:17.920 it again, just break it over and then build some new stuff on top. 109 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 And so I mean that speaks a lot in the fifties areas in the 110 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:24.560 seven you can kind of see these bricked in walls, and that's something again 111 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:27.680 we one of other things you don't really like explicitly state, you want to 112 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.000 kind of just suggest, and it's there for people if you want to kind 113 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:33.199 of poke around. You can see all these ideas of experiments gone wrong. 114 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.319 But it's all like in the corners and the shadows kind of thing. This 115 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:42.519 is, though much more traditional narrative than the original part like the original Portal 116 00:07:42.759 --> 00:07:47.519 Is is very much it's it's almost exclusively implied and minimalists. Yeah, and 117 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:51.759 and very very minimalist. This there's there's there's more exposition. You know, 118 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:56.720 there's more characters there. You know that well, there there are characters beyond 119 00:07:56.759 --> 00:07:59.879 just you know, glad us in that you're kind of you know, voice 120 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:03.839 a scope I guess right, I mean, you just can't maintain this many 121 00:08:03.879 --> 00:08:07.160 hours of game. We have scope and pacing, you know, the minimalist 122 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:13.399 vibe or aesthetic. We kind of believe me if we could have written fifteen 123 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.519 lines of dialogue, yeah, I don't think we didn't. We didn't go 124 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:20.639 down that path. But yeah, there's no way in Portal To you're gonna 125 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:22.720 start off and like, oh is there a story or not? What's going 126 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:24.839 on? And you gotta jump in? I mean you could you know, 127 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:28.720 we were able to leverage the sort of minimalist thing, uh to sort of 128 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:31.720 launch into a surprise story that you didn't even think there was going to be 129 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:37.039 a story that cat is out of the bag in portal too. So I 130 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.480 think there's also a sense of why why repeat yourself? Right? I mean, 131 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.000 this isn't just this isn't just fast or harder, more challenging portals this, 132 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:46.919 I mean just to have the opportunity of, like, let's have some 133 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.320 alm with some new characters, let's throw let's mix it up a bit and 134 00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:54.039 see what happened. So I have a question early on Wheeley is uh is 135 00:08:54.080 --> 00:09:00.240 talking about it where Glass can't remember talking about how you know there was there 136 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:05.200 is the event where where Chell kills Gladys, and then there's a period in 137 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:11.120 which nothing happens and then yeah, yeah, that's that's sweetly, Uh, 138 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:15.039 what's going on there? Like obviously like I don't I don't feel like there 139 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:18.799 was necessarily ever a payoff for that line in the game, or are you 140 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.039 guys seating stuff there? Well? So one, it's from his perspective, 141 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:26.120 so we're getting this idea. He doesn't know that you are, in fact 142 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.000 the person who overthrew Gladys, So the idea there yet kind of have to 143 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:31.799 listen, there's a lot going on, but he's talking about, Uh, 144 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.480 there was this guy who came and beat up Gladys. There's one line that 145 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:41.799 uh yeah, the uh you know, then then this person escaped and no 146 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.399 one's seen him. Since it was a nice little throwaway line. It was 147 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:48.519 just this idea that he's talking to you about this supposed male hero who came 148 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.120 and overthrew everything, not knowing that you are in fact the hero. And 149 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.679 then I think it is if you haven't played the first game, it kind 150 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:58.000 of gives you a really quick little recap kind of thing, and then obviously 151 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:00.559 you you know, he figures it out and it gets rack, and if 152 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:01.720 you have played it, it's this cool moment of like, oh, you're 153 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:05.200 dumb, ask you're talking about me. So so I kind of I read 154 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:11.960 it as being like so obviously like not like leaving out information so deliberately that 155 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:16.080 clearly there has to be something in that in that period so well, I 156 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:18.879 mean we do cover that in the comic that's out now of what happens between 157 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:20.600 one and two? Are you talking about that? Yeah? Yeah, I'm 158 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:24.840 talking about like this the space that we says like that period when nothing happens. 159 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:30.720 So I would argue, from Wheatley's perspective, really nothing of importance happen 160 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:31.960 yeah, again, this is all this I mean from his perspective, he's 161 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:37.039 been sitting down there, Yeah, pretty much afraid to jump off the broken 162 00:10:37.159 --> 00:10:41.279 end for for a long time. But again, a lot of that is 163 00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:45.360 just I mean, it's boring just to spell it out right. I mean, 164 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:46.879 there is that sense of it. He could have prattled on for every 165 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:50.000 single, you know, little minuscule thing that happened. And the nice thing 166 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.159 is the plot of Portal one is fairly easy to summarize in a couple of 167 00:10:54.200 --> 00:10:58.720 sentences. But yeah, so I think just exactly what Chet said. It 168 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:05.759 hopefully lets old players or new players, gives them a recap of what happened, 169 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.960 and then old players, returning players get this added benefit of realizing that 170 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:16.799 Wheatley doesn't know that you're the person who took GLaDOS down. And I would 171 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.080 argue that there is a payoff when you wait GLaDOS up and she acknowledges you. 172 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:24.960 The payoff is Wheatley's like, holy shit, that's you. Uh. 173 00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:31.320 Obviously did not work for Ryan, but I was I would know, I 174 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.879 well, I was so caught up in in watching the Resurrection of Gladis is 175 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:39.240 a pretty great intense moment early on in the game. Yeah, we argued 176 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:43.759 with the animators, toned down the awesomeness and the animation so people could focus 177 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.279 on the dialogue. Yeah, did not listen, did not Uh So, 178 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:52.440 speaking of kind of this this, you know, the the implication of the 179 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:56.399 inference. Uh, one of the things I noticed early on, having like 180 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:01.159 literally just the day before, played through uh the original portal first time you 181 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:09.559 hear glad to speak clearly much more human sounding voice. Well like the filtering 182 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:13.840 or whatever. The effects are much much lighter, not not as heavily modulated, 183 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.399 And I was wondering, like, I wonder if this is you know, 184 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.279 if this is a kind of a very deliberate move to to humanizer, 185 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.519 and then you get to that payoff when you start realizing, oh, you 186 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:28.279 know, she she actually does have this human character or at least some piece 187 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.840 of her inside of her. Yeah. So, I mean, obviously that 188 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:39.639 was deliberate, partly because she's obviously closer towards a more human sounding voice at 189 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.320 the end of Portal one than she is at the beginning of Portal one. 190 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.960 She already kind of moving towards this human voice, and we just wanted to 191 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:50.840 push it a little bit farther to start her from a place that was close 192 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.279 to where she ended in Portal one, but we moved a little bit forward 193 00:12:54.360 --> 00:13:01.279 and then she gets more human as the game progresses is and then uh weight 194 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:05.120 we're in spoilers something, and then resets herself at the end. But yeah, 195 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:07.480 the idea, I mean, just to take it right off the bat 196 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:09.120 from Portal one. I mean she did go undergo an arc, so just 197 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.879 we didn't want to nerf that arc and take a rape back to swear one. 198 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:16.279 Let's talk about potatoes. Well, how did you know what she was 199 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:20.159 called potatoes? What inspired? Uh? Where did you pick that up? 200 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:24.200 The potatoes? Gag? Oh you didn't actually say potatoes, or did you? 201 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:26.840 I said, I said potatoes. Yeah, he didn't know, he 202 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:30.399 know, he said potatoes. There's a potato, there's a potato. It's 203 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:33.159 pretty calling your potatoes. I don't think we ever actually say that in the 204 00:13:33.159 --> 00:13:37.000 game. Always I'm literally talking about potatoes. Oh, just the plural of 205 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:43.080 potatoes, yeah, or of potato. Okay, we so in the when 206 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:46.360 we first thought it up, we refer to her internally as potatoes, which 207 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:52.799 is, uh, potatoes, pause now for laughter. And I could have 208 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.159 made that a lot, thank god, we even put that in the game. 209 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:58.519 Yeah, well so, so even beyond the potato gag, there is 210 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:05.720 actually a some sort of long lost connection to the origins of Gladys with the 211 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:07.960 with the potato gag. No, well, no, we just when she's 212 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:11.799 in potato form, we just call her potatoes. Uh. Well, actually 213 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:15.759 he made you sound a lot smarter than Yeah, Actually were you should just 214 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.919 said yes, let me anyway, you're sawing a subconscious level. No, 215 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:24.519 no, I just glasses into potato. It's funny when she's called potatoes. 216 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:30.639 So so okay, So obviously there's you know, the potatoes create electricity boat, 217 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.519 Like, what what line of thought brought you to? We're gonna put 218 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:35.639 Gladys in a potato and stick her on the end of the portal gun for 219 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:37.840 half the game. So we knew we wanted to bring her low. That 220 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:41.440 was a huge point with it. We were like, we have to take 221 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:45.159 this character someplace new and interesting and let's strip her of her power. And 222 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.039 so that was cut from you know, from day one, that was it. 223 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:50.360 It was just what were we gonna do with it? And originally were 224 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:52.600 gonna put her in a core like Wheatley was in. Originally and I think 225 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:58.240 we were all just walking one day and just stumbled on the idea of a 226 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.679 potato battery, and it just felt so right. It seems like the most 227 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:03.840 demeaning thing that you could possibly do to gladdoms, and we put her in 228 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:09.440 a you know, one point two volt the potato battery. The more we 229 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:11.200 talked about it, just the visual was there in all our heads and we're 230 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:13.879 like, oh, we have to try this. We have to try and 231 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:16.240 convince the rest of the team this is the way to go. Yeah. 232 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.120 And also we wanted her to be with you but not have to move on 233 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:22.559 a rail like wheat leaks, and we knew that in the underground it was 234 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:26.200 gonna be tough to get a rail going. We didn't want you to have 235 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:30.440 to carry her around. We wanted something also small enough that it could be 236 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.360 visible to you at all times, but you know, not obtrusive. So 237 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:39.320 it's there's this thing where when we're trying to solve you know, you have 238 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.240 the broad strokes of the story. Then you're trying to solve like the moment 239 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:46.440 to moment problems, and you'll come up with solution and it starts clicking off 240 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.759 boxes like it solves this problem solves this problem. It's funny, you know, 241 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:54.360 and that's when you generally know that it's the right, right solution. 242 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.879 So did you always know that that she was going to end up becoming kind 243 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:03.519 of a at least for a time, a sympathetic character. She's she is 244 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.159 still kind of sympathetic by the end, like she she has gone from or 245 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:11.559 you know, maybe it's just it's it's it's coldly calculating, but you know 246 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.919 it's it's it's easier for her to not kill you than to kill you. 247 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.279 I mean, certainly not from square one, but there was a point where 248 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.840 it struck us like, wouldn't it be great if we could do kind of 249 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:23.200 a buddy cop where we actually have you and Gladys kind of team up against 250 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.279 a new enemy. And so it was. It wasn't always the potato, 251 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.159 but it was there was a certainly a sense, I think probably at least 252 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:32.440 a year or two back, where we're like, we gotta we gotta try 253 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:33.879 this. It's too good at too good an idea not to try. The 254 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:37.639 one thing too is you know you're writing character, you're writing Wheatley, and 255 00:16:38.759 --> 00:16:42.240 you know, if I had my way, you know, every everything we 256 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:45.360 ever do every character gets their chance to be the villain because it's so awesome 257 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:48.879 to see a character, you know, when their villainous. It's it. 258 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.399 You know, how is a particular character villainous when they become villainous? You 259 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:55.879 know Wheatley, uh, just an idiot? Yeah, bad at villainy. 260 00:16:56.080 --> 00:17:00.720 Yeah, as the hill name is just terrible at it. And that was 261 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:04.799 that was another interesting because Gladys is this super smart, you know, conniving 262 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:08.279 person. So the idea of of as Eric just said, it's a different 263 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:11.440 kind of daydre because this guy has no idea what he's doing. And that 264 00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:15.880 gave us a lot more opportunities in the last act to have some fun with 265 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.240 that. And we I don't know if we did. I like the idea 266 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:22.559 we did, probably the idea of you know, it's a puzzle game and 267 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:25.759 it's about being smart, so it'd be kind of interesting to have you know, 268 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.880 the boss monster, for lack of a better term, be the world's 269 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.680 greatest moron, you know, right, Yeah, I put you in the 270 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.839 death trap, death trap after death trap, Yeah, constantly thwarted. Let's 271 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:42.000 talk about the moon. Let think of that. When when did we get 272 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.559 to the how did we get to the moon. So we got to the 273 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.279 moon. I believe it was an Easter Egg at some point. Yeah, 274 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:52.119 well I think it might have been. Josh Wire, who's project lead, 275 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.000 was like, oh, you know, would be cool Easter egg. Uh, 276 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.759 well, back up one more step. We had discussed at some point 277 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.240 were like, well, how far can the portal gun fire? I'm oh, 278 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:04.160 I guess it's far. We've never really said I guess it fires as 279 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.839 far as you know it fired anything that you pointed at, and Josh was 280 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.359 saying, well, oh, it would be great if we had an Easter 281 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.279 egg where at some point you can see the moon and uh, you know, 282 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.920 off some beaten paths somewhere, and you shoot a portal on it, 283 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:19.960 and if you shoot a portal on the wall, it sucks you out and 284 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:22.519 kills you. And we'll do a fake ending, like we'll have a fake 285 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.960 song. And we love the idea because it was like, I think the 286 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.000 idea was three minutes, literally three minutes into the game, you could do 287 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:32.000 this. Yeah, that credits roll and we have a sag about the three 288 00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:33.440 minutes of the game when they're showing you all the things you did. Yeah, 289 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.480 yeah, oh, we're we have a retrospective of the first three minutes 290 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:40.759 of the game, and remember the time you got sucked out into the moon. 291 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:44.119 It was said on the moon. And then we realized, like, 292 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:45.759 we're putting all this burning, all these calories, put all this effort into 293 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:48.160 it for something that well, there was two things going up. The other 294 00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:53.000 one was much like Portal one until you know, relatively laying the project, 295 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:56.480 We're like, what are we gonna do? What's going to happen at the 296 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:00.240 end, And again there's a series of problems. We didn't want to roy 297 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.200 Wheatley because people still kind of liked Wheatly, and so we didn't want to 298 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:07.759 destroy Wheatly, but we needed to get him out of the chassis. We 299 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:12.359 needed GLaDOS. We wanted GLaDOS to save you, which leads into the you 300 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.000 know, the surge of emotion, which he does that let's her locate Carolyn. 301 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:21.240 And we wanted it to be spectacular, but in a fairly ridiculous, 302 00:19:21.240 --> 00:19:23.960 over the top way, and uh so we're you know, we're talking about 303 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.039 it, talking about it, and the easter egg actually made it into the 304 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:30.200 game, and play testers who found it it was a consistent high'd be like, 305 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.640 list your highs of the game when the moon thing was hilarious. So 306 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:37.559 at some point we're in a meeting trying to hash this out. Yeah, 307 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:38.920 and it's just like, why didn't we think of this six months ago. 308 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:41.880 Let's move it from the easter egg and make it something. This solves all 309 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:47.680 the problems. Wheatly get shot out into space. Oh. There was also 310 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:49.200 we had one of the spheres who we knew wanted to be. Uh. 311 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:52.480 We just had this thing where we wanted it to be like kind of rain 312 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:57.559 manish, just wanting something desperately and that's all it wants. And then we 313 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.119 were like, oh, it wants to go to space because then it gets 314 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:03.480 to go to spin again. That spear, it was another one that's been 315 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:07.319 around for just ages ages space. You didn't originally say space, but the 316 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:11.400 idea it was just this kind of monosyllabic spear, I want to go I 317 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:11.759 want to go here, I want to do this, I want to do 318 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:14.720 that. And we're like, oh, what if he said space? Yeah, 319 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:15.920 and he gets to go to space and he gets a genuine he's I 320 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:21.480 think he's the one character in my mind who gets the genuinely happy ending and 321 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:26.559 that voice that is Nolan North. He's the voice of all the games. 322 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:30.319 Yeah, every game, every character, he's all this, he's all the 323 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.920 Corrupt Cords at the end, and he's the Defective Turrets as well. Yeah, 324 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.720 it's a lot of fun working with him. Yeah. Jay had worked 325 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:40.880 with him on a game Jay had worked on earlier called This is Vegas, 326 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:44.440 and uh, yeah, he impressed the hecking of us just with how many 327 00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:48.000 voices you could do. So the idea was just let's bring him in and 328 00:20:48.160 --> 00:20:52.480 have him you know, you have to point that microphone at him. There 329 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:55.400 I go, yeah, pointing at my chest. Yeah, no, your 330 00:20:55.519 --> 00:20:57.759 chest has nothing to add. Well, I was laughing at off camera. 331 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:00.680 You can't. You can't say it's no camera that you were just openly laughing 332 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:07.960 at Jay forever I played This is Vegas. So oh nice, probably one 333 00:21:07.960 --> 00:21:12.640 of the few in Vegas. In fact, the final midway trip. I'm 334 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:15.640 made sure I was working there at that point. Defensive j Nolan North was 335 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.759 able to recite when he came in to do the recording two years later. 336 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.960 Uh, lines of dialogue verbatim from This is Vegas. Yeah, I mean 337 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:26.880 when I was on there, they let me get pretty NC seventeen I have 338 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.039 no idea what eventually made it into the game though, But but either way, 339 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:33.359 yes, that this is Vegas. I think he ended up by the 340 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:36.319 end of it, he was doing like half the voices on it. So 341 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:40.599 he just really you guys, like the mel Blanc of a video game voiceover. 342 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:42.720 So we Eric, what do you think blank or blank? I think 343 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:48.559 it's blank. Canada might be set. What do you think? Was blanch 344 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:53.839 blanche? Alright? So alright, alright, alright, So back to the 345 00:21:53.839 --> 00:22:00.599 moon here. So so we established earlier in the game that at least some 346 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:07.720 sort of portal technology is using uh moon or it is involving moon srushup moon, 347 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:11.240 crush upon rocks. So I was thinking about this while I was playing 348 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:14.599 the game in fiction, and this is the kind of thing that that that 349 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:18.359 I was more more talking about as far as kind of backstory in fiction, 350 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:30.240 what determines a portable surface? Uh? Portaable? Yeah, portalable surface huge 351 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:33.680 seven? Is portallable a word? Or is there a better word for portable? 352 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:38.880 I think we ended up with portable, uh, but portallic port portallic? 353 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:48.319 That came up anyway, what were we saying? So? In fiction, 354 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:52.440 I guess there's some coding that. So the implication is that there was 355 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:56.680 some other surface that didn't involve ground up moon rocks, but that wasn't as 356 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:03.079 reliable as ground up moon rocks. So we could say but that the surface 357 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:07.319 property is something that is painted with this. Uh. You know, something 358 00:23:07.319 --> 00:23:11.680 that's portable has to be made portable by putting sub substance on it. Okay. 359 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:15.960 For instance, the moon, the Moon's all portable because it's all made 360 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:18.799 out of moon rocks. Okay. Should also be noted that we are all 361 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.079 science expidence. No, it doesn't have to make actual science sense as long 362 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:26.000 as there is some sort of internal logic though. That's that's the key. 363 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.799 It's it's similarly like we see these these new elevator rooms and we see stuff 364 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:34.640 that looks more advanced than the testing facilities that we saw in the first game. 365 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:38.559 Uh, that one. There is no fictional explanation for it. That's 366 00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:42.400 kind of like just the upresing, slight reimagining of you know that you did 367 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:45.480 in half half Life one to half Life too. It's just a matter of 368 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:49.319 kind of rethinking some of that stuff. But but then I wonder, like, 369 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:53.400 you know, how how long has it been since there were any people 370 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:59.240 at Aperture Science or at this particular facility. We kind of purposely played fast 371 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.599 and loose with the lin line, Yeah, just in case he because we 372 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:06.000 didn't think it was absolutely that important at the end of the day, it's 373 00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:08.880 been a long time. But having said that, you shouldn't read too much 374 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:14.200 into the redesigned elevators like that specifically, is just something that we did to 375 00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:17.359 make portal. It's just make it look cooler. To make it look cooler. 376 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:22.200 Yeah, yeah, there isn't There isn't some other other other thing that's 377 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:27.559 working on facilities or the implication is just isn't that someone came in and built 378 00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:32.200 these in the interim of nothing has happened in the interim. So if you 379 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:34.240 had a good explanation, yeah, that would be the time to share it 380 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:37.519 with us. Uh yeah, like to hear it. What do you what 381 00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:42.960 do you guys think of the you know, the old cloning theory as far 382 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.359 as Chell is concerned. What are your thoughts on that stuff? What didn't 383 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:51.480 hear about the oh so the so one of the theories that I had heard 384 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:55.799 was that at least this is this is regard to the original portal. Uh, 385 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:00.279 the the Ratman dens as as you call them, the notion that that 386 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:06.160 was actually a previous version of you that Gladys had been running. Did this 387 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:12.160 Did this theory come out after Moon? No, it's pre move Uh nothing, 388 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:18.680 okay. I was just wondering if we had a lawsuit on our hands 389 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:21.359 because we could now say, yes, that was our intention all along. 390 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:26.559 That wasn't the intention was? It was not. There's no cloning as far 391 00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:30.039 as I know, And in fact, your answers lie in the comic book, 392 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.680 which is now out early explicitly. I don't know if you've reread the 393 00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:36.000 comic. I didn't know. I didn't know there was a comic there. 394 00:25:36.119 --> 00:25:37.200 It came out a couple of days ago. It's up on the website, 395 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:42.039 and it ties together. Ratman is the start. It shows the Roman. 396 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:45.200 So yeah, that that'll that's gonna blow that theory out of the water. 397 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:51.519 And also we're in the spoiler zone the ending of co Op, which you 398 00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.559 haven't seen yet. Oh, I'm actually spoiling it for you. All right. 399 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:02.319 Uh, there's anyway no cloning? Okay, none? Well yet? 400 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:04.400 Yeah, I mean there could do. Do you think we need more cloning? 401 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:11.759 Would that make it? Would you guys, like some cloning ideas, 402 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:18.680 we'll take them. Uh, we're running out of time here, guys. 403 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:23.680 But I'm just curious, like what what elements or maybe even just kind of 404 00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:32.119 specific moments, uh, that that you felt really, uh, we're nailed, 405 00:26:32.119 --> 00:26:36.319 and really that you find personally satisfying in portal too, that you know, 406 00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:40.799 moments that that you helped you know, create, or even just that 407 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:42.759 that we're very satisfying to see if in the finished game. For me, 408 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:47.480 real quick, uh, end of the first Stephen Merchant session was my high. 409 00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:51.440 That was when I knew we'd gotten something, or even just just just 410 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:53.000 doing it in the studio, just because up to that point you got the 411 00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:56.119 character in your head, you got the voice in your head of what you 412 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.079 think he sounds like. But it's always different the first time you were an 413 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:03.119 actor of body and I remember the first four hour session and there was Steve 414 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:07.640 Merchant and just walking out going like this is going to be great Erica and 415 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:11.119 anything game that that is the same for me, I mean that was the 416 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:15.480 most the scariest moment, the one Jay just to going in to record Steven 417 00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:18.000 Merchant, not knowing if this is gonna work, if it's gonna be good, 418 00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:21.799 and you know, we went all the way to London and you know 419 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:25.079 it was a big deal. Uh. And then knowing I'm not even saying 420 00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:26.759 after the first session, I'm saying, fifteen minutes in, it was pretty 421 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:33.400 obvious that he was super invested in and it was great personally in game, 422 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:36.640 I mean, there's a bunch of moments that I like. I really like 423 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:42.559 the uh the wheatly uh cladows switch over. I thought it tread a Tread's 424 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:47.319 a kind of nice line between being dramatic and funny at the same time. 425 00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:51.480 So, I mean, I guess that would be a personal high for me. 426 00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:53.480 I think that's a part where just lots of stuff came together, the 427 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:57.880 animation, the music, the acting. Uh. For me, I think 428 00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:02.400 my favorite beat is one of the ones that came on absolutely at the end. 429 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:07.119 It's just the idea that Gladys has this immensely emotional, satisfying character arc 430 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:11.720 and then just deletes at wholesale, learns a lesson, and then learn a 431 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:14.759 valuable lesson here today and now it's gone. I also like that she learns 432 00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:22.799 a lesson from deleting the lesson recursive lessons chetting anything for for you. I 433 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:25.559 just really like when you go back to Wheatley and he's taking control and you're 434 00:28:25.559 --> 00:28:27.200 with GLaDOS, and I mean, he's just the moron running the place and 435 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.599 it's kind of like guess, kind of hell, yeah, I probably wouldn't 436 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:37.319 do much better. I don't know. JM chetted valve our heads surrounded by 437 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:40.559 he's seen this before. Yea, I will do that. I'll do that. 438 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:42.319 Oh god, that's horrible. That's really put the two of them together. 439 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:45.119 Wait can we just do that test again? Yeah, that'll do it. 440 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.720 No, No, that won't do it. So I'm gonna name Can 441 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:52.960 I name two more things? Or keep naming them? So there are two 442 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:56.799 things closer to the end as well. There's a moment when Wheatley's dangling out 443 00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.640 there and he's like, you know, let let go let I can still 444 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:04.359 fix this. There's this actual I just like the idea that he still thinks 445 00:29:04.359 --> 00:29:07.480 that. I mean, it's it's it's sincere on his part, like I 446 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.720 can still fix this, I can make this right, and he wants to 447 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.440 get back in there and do it. And then I also I like just 448 00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.319 the very final beat where the boss Monster offers you a sincere apology for all 449 00:29:18.359 --> 00:29:22.359 the trouble he's caused. I've never seen that in a game before, just 450 00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.759 like because you kill him a lot and they scream, But I've never had 451 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.640 a boss monster come on and be like you know what, Yeah, you 452 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:33.880 are right. I am super sorry and actually really legitimately contrite about it. 453 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:36.759 Yeah, I am so sorry for all the trouble life. If I had 454 00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.119 to do well again, would have done it differently. I apologize. Well, 455 00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:42.039 yeah, I think that's that's going to do it for a time here, 456 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:45.480 gentlemen, thank you so much, both for your time here and for 457 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:51.240 for Portal two available now. But you already know that because you played it. 458 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:53.720 If you're listening to this man, if I haven't played it, uh, 459 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:56.400 we were kidding about the spoilers and buch other stuff in there. You 460 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:00.400 should still probably describing another gay Yeah, yeah, the next call of duty. 461 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:04.279 That's what I've just been talking the game, actually laying down the gun, 462 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:07.720 like call of duty is gonna have to go like to the sun or 463 00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:11.880 something to top going to the mood. Well, it turns out this whole 464 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:34.759 podcast was just a tree all right, and scene