''Portal'' is a series of
first-person puzzle-platform
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
video games developed by
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
. Set in the ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
'' universe, the two main games in the series, ''
Portal
Portal often refers to:
* Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel
Portal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
'' (2007) and ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...
'' (2011), center on a woman,
Chell, forced to undergo a series of tests within the
Aperture Science Enrichment Center
The Half-Life (series), ''Half-Life'' video game series features many locations set in a dystopian future stemming from the events of the first game, Half-Life (video game), ''Half-Life''. These locations are used and referred to throughout the se ...
by a malicious
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
,
GLaDOS
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is a fictional artificial intelligence, artificially superintelligent computer, computer system from the video game series ''Portal (video game series), Portal''. GLaDOS later appeared in ''Th ...
, that controls the facility. Most of the tests involve using the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" – nicknamed the portal gun – that creates a human-sized wormhole-like connection between two flat surfaces. The player-character or objects in the game world may move through portals while conserving their momentum. This allows complex "flinging" maneuvers to be used to cross wide gaps or perform other feats to reach the exit for each test chamber. A number of other mechanics, such as lasers, light bridges, tractor funnels and turrets, exist to aid or hinder the player's goal to reach the exit.
The ''Portal'' games are noted for bringing students and their projects from the
DigiPen Institute of Technology
DigiPen Institute of Technology is a private, for-profit university in Redmond, Washington. It also has campuses in Singapore and Bilbao, Spain. DigiPen offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in Computer Science, Animation, Video Game D ...
into Valve and extending their ideas into the full games. The portal concept was introduced by the game ''
Narbacular Drop
''Narbacular Drop'' is a 2005 puzzle-platform game developed by Nuclear Monkey Software. It was the senior game project of students attending DigiPen Institute of Technology. The gameplay consists of navigating a dungeon using an innovative port ...
'' and led to the basis for the first game. Another game, ''
Tag: The Power of Paint'', formed the basis of surface-altering "gels" introduced in ''Portal 2''.
Both games have received near-universal praise, and have sold millions of copies. The first game was released as part of a five-game compilation, ''
The Orange Box
''The Orange Box'' is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, ''Half-Life 2'' and its first stand-alone expansion, '' Episode One'', had previously been released as separate ...
'', and though intended as a short bonus feature of the compilation, was instead considered the highlight of the five. Its success led to the creation of the much longer ''Portal 2'', which included both single player and cooperative player modes; it too received near-universal critical acclaim. In addition to the challenging puzzle elements, both games are praised for their
dark humor
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
, written by
Erik Wolpaw
Erik Wolpaw is an American video game writer. He and Chet Faliszek wrote the pioneering video game website Old Man Murray. He subsequently worked for game developers Double Fine Productions and Valve, and is known for his work on video games inclu ...
,
Chet Faliszek
Chet Faliszek (; born 1965) is an American video game writer who has worked for companies like Valve and Bossa Studios, having been involved in the story writing for series such as ''Half-Life'', ''Portal'', and ''Left 4 Dead''.
Career
Faliszek ...
, and
Jay Pinkerton
Jay Pinkerton (born June 15, 1977) is a Canadian humourist known for co-writing, with Erik Wolpaw, the story of Valve's video game ''Portal 2''. A former editor of both Cracked.com and ''Cracked'' magazine, ''PlayStation World'' magazine referr ...
, voice work by actors
Ellen McLain
Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''Portal'' video game series, the Combine Overwatch in ''Half-Life 2'', and the Administrator, the an ...
,
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
, and
J.K. Simmons
Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He i ...
, and songs by
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...
. A number of spin-off media have been developed alongside the games, and several of the game elements have become parts of
Internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
s.
Setting and characters
![Aperture Laboratories Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Aperture_Laboratories_Logo.svg)
Both ''Portal'' games take place in the fictional "Aperture Science Enrichment Center". Aperture Science was founded by
Cave Johnson
Cave Johnson (January 11, 1793 – November 23, 1866) was an American politician who served the state of Tennessee as a Democratic congressman in the United States House of Representatives. Johnson was the 12th United States Postmaster Gener ...
(voiced by
J.K. Simmons
Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He i ...
) and originally sought to make shower curtains for the military. Its research happened upon the discovery of portal technology, and soon became a direct competitor with
Black Mesa Research Facility
The Black Mesa Research Facility (also simply called Black Mesa) is a fictional underground laboratory complex that serves as the primary setting for the video game ''Half-Life'' and its expansions, as well as its remake, '' Black Mesa''. It als ...
(from the ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
'' series) for government funding. Johnson acquired the rights to a disused salt mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they started building a labyrinthine set of offices, laboratories, facilities, and test chambers. During this time, Johnson became poisoned from exposure to moon dust, a key component of the paint needed for the portal placing technology, and became increasingly deranged.
In ''Portal 2'', the player explores these long-abandoned areas of Aperture, learning that the company had moved from testing on the country's finest, to paid volunteers, and ultimately to forcing its own employees to participate in testing. Near the point of his death, Johnson ordered his lifelong assistant Caroline (voiced by
Ellen McLain
Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''Portal'' video game series, the Combine Overwatch in ''Half-Life 2'', and the Administrator, the an ...
) to be the first test subject for a mind-to-computer transfer; her personality would ultimately form the core of
GLaDOS
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is a fictional artificial intelligence, artificially superintelligent computer, computer system from the video game series ''Portal (video game series), Portal''. GLaDOS later appeared in ''Th ...
(also McLain). Sometime after Johnson's death, the old sections of the facility were vitrified, and a more modern facility built atop those ruins. GLaDOS was built to control the facility and monitor the tests, but researchers found that the computer had villainous tendencies, threatening to kill the entire staff before it was shut down in time. The Aperture researchers constructed a number of "personality cores" that would fit onto GLaDOS to prevent her from turning against them. Despite this, on the day she was officially activated (coincidentally on "
Take Your Daughter to Work Day"), she turned against the researchers and killed nearly everyone in the facility with lethal doses of neurotoxin gas. In the games and the comic ''Lab Rat'', one employee Doug Rattmann survived due to his schizophrenia and distrust of GLaDOS. In trying to find a way to defeat GLaDOS, he finds that
Chell, one of the human subjects kept in cryogenic storage within Aperture, has a high level of tenacity, and arranges for the events of ''Portal'' to occur by moving her to the top of GLaDOS' testing list. GLaDOS remains driven to test human subjects despite the lack of humans.
The player is introduced to Aperture in ''Portal'', which is said by Valve to be set sometime between the events of ''
Half-Life
Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ato ...
'' and ''
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and ...
''. The player-character Chell is awakened by GLaDOS for testing. Chell resists GLaDOS' lies and verbal ploys and succeeds to defeat GLaDOS' core, the destruction creating a portal implosion that sends Chell to the surface, unconscious. Rattmann, who has helped Chell by writing warning messages and directions to maintenance areas on the facility walls and had observed the final battle, escapes Aperture, but on witnessing a robot dragging Chell's body back inside, sacrifices his escape to assure that Chell is put into indefinite cryogenic storage. He himself is critically wounded but appears to make it to another cryogenic chamber, though his ultimate fate is not revealed.
''Portal 2'' takes place numerous years after the events of the first game; the Aperture facility has fallen into disrepair without GLaDOS. A personality core named Wheatley (
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
) wakes Chell from her sleep to help her stop a reactor failure, but inadvertently awakens GLaDOS, who had backed up her personality. Though they defeat GLaDOS by putting Wheatley in her place, Wheatley is overwhelmed with power, sending Chell and GLaDOS, temporarily reduced to a small computer powered by a potato, to the old core of Aperture, where GLaDOS rediscovers her relation to Caroline. They return to the surface where they are forced to defeat Wheatley before his ineptitude with the Aperture systems causes the facility reactors to become critical and explode. GLaDOS is returned to her rightful place and returns the facility to normal. GLaDOS then lets Chell go, realizing that the prospect of trying to kill her is too much trouble. Instead, she turns to two robots of her own creation, Atlas and P-Body, to locate a mythical store of additional human subjects kept in cryogenic sleep for her to continue testing on.
In addition to these characters, the game includes numerous laser-seeking turrets that seek to kill the player-characters, though are apologetic for it; most are voiced by McLain, though some defective ones in the sequel are voiced by
Nolan North
Nolan North (born October 31, 1970) is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles.
After his breakthrough role as Dr. Chris Ramsey on the ABC soap opera ''Port Charles'' in 1997, North moved into voice acting when the show ended i ...
. GLaDOS introduces Chell to the "
Weighted Companion Cube
The Weighted Companion Cube (also simply called the Companion Cube) is a fictional item featured in the ''Portal'' series of video games by Valve Corporation. Initially featured in a single level of the original ''Portal,'' Test Chamber 17, as on ...
", appearing similar to other Weighed Cubes (crates) in the game, but decorated with hearts on its sides; GLaDOS attempts to make Chell believe the Companion Cube is a sentient object and a key to her survival, before making Chell dispose of it in an incinerator prior to leaving a test chamber. Both games feature other personality cores that were constructed to keep GLaDOS in check; the first game includes three cores, the Morality, Curiosity, and Intelligence Cores, voiced by McLain as well as a snarling Anger Core voiced by
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
. In ''Portal 2'', three more such cores (beyond Wheatley) are introduced including the irrelevant Fact Core, the bold Adventure Core, and the space-obsessed Space Core, each voiced by North.
Gameplay
The player controls the main character (Chell in the single player campaigns, or one of Atlas and P-Body in the cooperative mode) from a first-person view, running, jumping, and interacting with switches or other devices. The player-characters are able to withstand large drops, but can be killed by falling in the toxic water of the facility, crushed to death, passing through laser grids, or fired on repeatedly by turrets.
Both games are generally divided into a series of test chambers; other sections of the game are more exploratory areas that connect these chambers. Each chamber has an exit door that must be reached, often requiring that certain conditions have been met such as having weighed down a large button with a "Weighted Cube", effectively a crate. These puzzles require the use of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, the portal gun. The gun can shoot two portals, colored differently for identification, on any flat surface that is painted with a specific paint containing moon dust. Once both portal ends are placed, the player can walk the character between them, or carry objects with the portal gun through them. Portal ends can be re positioned as often as necessary, but certain actions, such as walking through "emancipation grills" or moving a surface with a portal will cause the portals to dissipate.
A critical feature of portals is that they retain the magnitude of momentum when an object travels through it; as stated by GLaDOS to the player in the first game, "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out". When portals are placed on non-parallel planes, this can create the effect of "flinging". Commonly, one uses gravity to build up their momentum when they fall into a portal, which flings them out of the other side to gain speed and distance that normal jumping and running could not generate. A leapfrogging effect can be used by placing portals in series during this flinging, gaining further momentum with each use.
Portals will also allow light and other objects to transfer through them, and numerous puzzles involve using portals to manipulate bouncing energy balls, lasers, "hard light" bridges, and tractor beams to access new locations or direct objects to specific receptacles that must be activated to open the level's exit. ''Portal 2'' introduces "mobility gels" that can paint surfaces, including turrets and cubes, that can also move through portals though not directly by the player. The gels can create a surface that repels the player (Repulsion Gel), increases the player's speed (Propulsion Gel), or allows the surface to accept portals (Conversion Gel).
History
The concept of ''Portal'' came from ''
Narbacular Drop
''Narbacular Drop'' is a 2005 puzzle-platform game developed by Nuclear Monkey Software. It was the senior game project of students attending DigiPen Institute of Technology. The gameplay consists of navigating a dungeon using an innovative port ...
,'' a student project from the
DigiPen Institute of Technology
DigiPen Institute of Technology is a private, for-profit university in Redmond, Washington. It also has campuses in Singapore and Bilbao, Spain. DigiPen offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in Computer Science, Animation, Video Game D ...
. The game included the aspects of placing portals on any flat surfaces and using them to maneuver around levels.
Valve's employees, attending a DigiPen career fair, saw their game and shortly later offered the entire team jobs at Valve to help expand on their idea.
Valve originally saw ''Portal'' as an experimental game to be included with its upcoming compilation, ''
The Orange Box
''The Orange Box'' is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, ''Half-Life 2'' and its first stand-alone expansion, '' Episode One'', had previously been released as separate ...
'', alongside its release of ''
Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' and ''
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...
''.
To give the game character, a minimal story, tied loosely with the ''Half-Life'' world, was written by Valve's
Erik Wolpaw
Erik Wolpaw is an American video game writer. He and Chet Faliszek wrote the pioneering video game website Old Man Murray. He subsequently worked for game developers Double Fine Productions and Valve, and is known for his work on video games inclu ...
and
Marc Laidlaw
Marc Laidlaw (born August 3, 1960) is an American writer of science fiction and horror, musician, and a former writer for the video game company Valve. He is most famous for working on Valve's ''Half-Life'' series.
Biography
Laidlaw was b ...
.
They needed a character to guide the player through the game, coming onto a polite but humorous artificial intelligence, which would ultimately become the character of
GLaDOS
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is a fictional artificial intelligence, artificially superintelligent computer, computer system from the video game series ''Portal (video game series), Portal''. GLaDOS later appeared in ''Th ...
.
''Portal''s release with ''The Orange Box'' received near-universal praise, with the standalone game earning an aggregate
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
rating of 90 out of 100.
With success of the game, work on an expanded sequel began nearly immediately, expanding the development team from 8 to about 30-40 programmers.
Initial ideas for ''Portal 2'' retained the idea of solving puzzles through scientific concepts, but eliminating the use of portals altogether; these versions did not fare well with test audiences nor with Gabe Newell, Valve's president; these ideas were dropped though saved for potential reuse in a different game by Valve.
''Portal 2'' development was restarted specifically to keep the portal concept but adding new elements to freshen the gameplay.
[ Also available as iPad or Steam application.]
During this period, Valve had witnessed another student project out of Digipen, ''
Tag: The Power of Paint'' which allows the player to spray paint onto surfaces to alter their behavior, and brought them into Valve, though not initially as part of the ''Portal''.
The ''Tag'' team had found a way to incorporate their paints with real-time fluid dynamics code previously made by Valve, and soon their concept for paints had become the "conversion gels" as part of ''Portal 2''.
Valve included a co-operative play mode, based on their own observations and stories from players about working out the solutions to ''Portal''s puzzles in a group environment.
With this feature, they sought the ability to enable cross-platform play of ''Portal 2'' between computers and consoles through Steamworks. This led to a surprise reveal by Newell that not only would ''Portal 2'' be on the
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
platform, after previously stating the difficulties in supporting this console, but that it would include support for cross-platform play between personal computers and PlayStation 3 players through a limited Steamworks interface.
Valve brought in writer
Jay Pinkerton
Jay Pinkerton (born June 15, 1977) is a Canadian humourist known for co-writing, with Erik Wolpaw, the story of Valve's video game ''Portal 2''. A former editor of both Cracked.com and ''Cracked'' magazine, ''PlayStation World'' magazine referr ...
formerly with ''
National Lampoon'', and ''
Left 4 Dead
''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...
'' writer
Chet Faliszek
Chet Faliszek (; born 1965) is an American video game writer who has worked for companies like Valve and Bossa Studios, having been involved in the story writing for series such as ''Half-Life'', ''Portal'', and ''Left 4 Dead''.
Career
Faliszek ...
to assist Wolpaw with the larger story. They built on the character of the Aperture Science facility, providing a deeper story for GLaDOS and Aperture's CEO Cave Johnson, as well as developing several concepts for "personality cores" ultimately to the creation of the Wheatley core character.
''Portal 2'' was similarly released with high praise with a 95 out of 100 score on Metacritic. Valve has continued to support the game through the release of two separate
downloadable content
Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enablin ...
packages, one introducing a new co-operative campaign,
and a second that incorporated an easy-to-learn level editor that allowed players to make their own test chambers and share these through the Steam Workshop to others. Further on this, Valve has created a special version of the ''Portal'' level editor to be used alongside its "Steam in Schools" program as a means of using the game and editor to teach students about physics, math, and other lessons; Valve released this version of ''Portal 2'' free for educational use.
Exploring options for a full-scale VR game in 2017, Valve experimented with ''Portal'', but found the portal systems disorienting in VR; instead, they returned to the ''Half-Life'' series and released ''
Half-Life: Alyx'' in 2020.
In April 2022, Erik Wolpaw urged Valve to make ''Portal 3'' saying "I am also not getting any younger. We are reaching the point where - it's crazy to think –
e're literally going to be too old to work on Portal 3. So we should just do it." In September, Ellen McLain also called for ''Portal 3'' saying she was willing to star in it and asked fans to: "Write in. Email Valve. You've got my blessing,"
Games
''Portal''
''Portal'' was initially released in October 2007 as part of a compilation game called ''
The Orange Box
''The Orange Box'' is a video game compilation containing five games developed and published by Valve. Two of the games included, ''Half-Life 2'' and its first stand-alone expansion, '' Episode One'', had previously been released as separate ...
'', alongside ''
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half-Life 2'' combines shooting, puzzles, and storytelling, and ...
'' and its two episodes and ''
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...
''. Valve considered including ''Portal'' as a bonus feature of the compilation; the game was purposely kept short such that if it did not meet expectations, players would have the rest of the content of ''The Orange Box'' as a "safety net".
''Portal'' has since been repackaged on Windows as a standalone game in April 2008.
A Mac OS X client was introduced simultaneously with the release of the Steam client for that platform in May 2010; as part of its promotion, the game was released free of charge for both platforms during which at least 1.5 million players downloaded it.
''Portal: Still Alive''
''Portal: Still Alive'' was a standalone version of ''Portal'' with additional content for the
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
, released in October 2008. The game included new achievements, additional challenges from the existing test chambers, and additional non-story levels based on those found in the
Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
-based ''Portal: The Flash Version'' created by We Create Stuff.
''Portal 2''
''Portal 2'' was released as a standalone game in April 2011 on both computers and consoles. It is considered as one of the
greatest video games of all time
This is a list of video games that multiple reputable video game journalists or magazines have considered to be among the best of all time. The games listed here are included on at least six separate "best/greatest of all time" lists from differ ...
by numerous publications and critics. It received acclaim for its gameplay, pacing,
dark humor
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
, writing, the voice work of McLain, Merchant, and Simmons, and its challenging but surmountable
learning curve
A learning curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between how Skill, proficient people are at a task and the amount of experience they have. Proficiency (measured on the vertical axis) usually increases with increased experience ...
.
''Portal: Companion Collection''
''Portal: Companion Collection'' is a compilation of both games and ''Still Alive'' content released for
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
on June 28, 2022. The
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
was developed in collaboration with
Nvidia Lightspeed Studios
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as ''n''VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 199 ...
.
''Portal with RTX''
In September 2022,
Nvidia
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
announced it would release an updated version of ''Portal'' with
real-time ray tracing
In 3D computer graphics, ray tracing is a technique for modeling Light transport theory, light transport for use in a wide variety of Rendering (computer graphics), rendering algorithms for generating digital image, digital images.
On a spectr ...
, as a free DLC for owners of the original game on PC. It was released on December 8, 2022.
Spin-off and related media
''Aperture Hand Lab''
Aperture Hand Lab is a roomscale VR video game co-developed by Canadian studio Cloudhead Games and Valve, released free for Windows on June 25, 2019. It is a tech demo set in the Portal universe that showcases the functions of the hand, knuckle, and finger tracking technology used by the
Valve Index
The Valve Index is a consumer virtual reality headset created and manufactured by Valve. Announced on April 30, 2019, the headset was released on June 28 of the same year. The Index is a second-generation headset and the first to be manufacture ...
.
''The Lab''
''The Lab'' is a VR game developed by Valve that as part of its partnership with
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
and the VR headset, the
HTC Vive
VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote appl ...
. It was described as a "room-scale" VR experience, consisting of about a dozen small experimental experiences that highlight the use of VR; such include experiencing a fully panoramic view that has been stitched together from a number of photographs, a
physics game
Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion.
H ...
where the player attempts to launch
personality cores into piles of boxes using a catapult, and a bow-and-arrow based game. ''The Lab'' was announced at the 2016
Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
, and was released free on April 5, 2016, following the public release of the HTC Vive.
''Aperture Desk Job''
''Aperture Desk Job'' is a free game set in the ''Portal'' universe released on March 1, 2022. It is a demonstration of the various features of the
Steam Deck
The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer developed by Valve Corporation. Released on February 25, 2022, the Steam Deck can be played as a handheld or connected to a monitor in the same manner as the Nintendo Switch. It is an x86-64-v3 devi ...
handheld system. In the game, the player works as a
quality assurance
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
checker for toilets manufactured by Aperture Science in its early years. They are guided by the personality core Grady (voiced by
Nate Bargatze
Nathanael Lee "Nate" Bargatze (born March 25, 1979) is an American comedian.
Early life
Nathanael Bargatze was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 25, 1979, the son of Carole and Stephen Bargatze. His father is of Italian descent and is a fo ...
) through the steps, but as the game progresses, mishaps in the automated factory lead Grady to suggest that the player develop a weaponized toilet as an invention to pitch to Cave Johnson (voiced by Simmons).
''Bridge Constructor Portal''
Valve licensed the use of ''Portal'' to Headup Games and Clockstone Software, the developers of ''Bridge Constructor'', to develop ''Bridge Constructor Portal''. The game follows the same type of gameplay as ''Bridge Constructor'', where players are tasked to create a bridge from a limited set of parts to cross a river or chasm, using physics simulations to test if the bridge will hold up against traffic crossing it. ''Bridge Constructor Portal'' adds in elements from the ''Portal'' series, such as portals, as part of the construction challenge. The game is set within Aperture Laboratories, with the puzzles monitored by GLaDOS. The game released on December 20, 2017, for personal computers and mobile devices, and later in 2018 for
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
,
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
consoles.
''Portal 2: Lab Rat''
To help the Lab Rats develop the fictional history of Aperture Science, Valve created a digital comic to tell the story of the "Rat Man", a schizophrenic who is unseen in the games themselves but creates murals and scrawlings that guide Chell in both games. The comic, "Portal 2: Lab Rat", takes place both during and after ''Portal'', explaining the events that led to ''Portal 2''.
The Rat Man's artwork appears early in ''Portal 2'', where it retells the plot of ''Portal''.
Michael Avon Oeming
Michael Avon Oeming is an American comic book creator, both as an artist and writer.
Career
Oeming is a fan of ancient mythology, having written or drawn several projects centering on the Norse gods. He frequently collaborates with long-time fr ...
, who had worked on comics for Valve games ''
Team Fortress 2
''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...
'' and ''
Left 4 Dead
''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...
'', and Valve in-house artist Andrea Wicklund drew the comic. Ted Kosmatka wrote most of the story with input from the ''Portal 2'' writers. The 27-page comic was made available online in two parts about two weeks before the game's release
and was also bundled with the game itself.
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...
has published "Portal 2: Lab Rat" in a printed anthology of Valve comics, ''Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories'', in November 2011.
In the comic, Doug Rattmann (also known as The Rat Man) is a scientist working in the Aperture facility. He escapes GLaDOS's initial neurotoxin attack, but suffers symptoms as his
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
medication runs out, causing hallucinations of his Weighted Companion Cube talking. Noticing that Chell is uniquely tenacious among the test subjects held by Aperture, Rattmann moves her to the top of the queue of testing subjects, thus starting the events of the first ''Portal''. After Chell defeats GLaDOS, Rattmann escapes Aperture, but returns against the Companion Cube's objections when he sees the Party Escort Bot dragging an unconscious Chell back inside and into a disabled cryo chamber. He ensures that Chell is kept in indefinite
suspended animation
Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...
, but he is shot by a
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
in the process. He then enters a stasis pod himself, leaving his fate afterward unknown.
''The Final Hours of Portal 2''
''The Final Hours of Portal 2'' is a digital book written and created by
Geoff Keighley
Geoff Keighley () is a Canadian video game journalist and television presenter. He was most known for hosting the video game show '' GameTrailers TV'', and for co-hosting the now-defunct ''G4tv.com''. Keighley is also a freelance writer whose w ...
. This digital book gives insight on the creation of ''Portal 2''. Keighley had previously worked as an editor at
GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
, writing several 10,000-word "Final Hours" pieces on various games where he visited the studios during the late development phases to document the creation of the game. One piece, "The Final Hours of Half-Life 2", allowed Keighley to interact with Valve during 2003 and 2004 and talk with the staff as they completed work on ''Half-Life 2''. Keighley wanted to recreate a similar work for ''Portal 2'', with focus on making it an interactive work for the
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
.
Keighley was granted "fly on the wall" access to Valve when ''Portal 2'' was being produced.
The initial iPad release was written by Keighley with work by Joe Zeff Design, a studio that had also produced digital applications for ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine.
The interactive work provides movie clips and short applications to demonstrate the various mechanics of the game and stages of the game's development. The work was later ported into a non-interactive eBook, and into an application with the same iPad interactivity on the Steam platform.
With the iPad and Steam version, Keighley is able to offer live updates to the work; upon release of the "Peer Review" downloadable content pack, the work was updated with an additional chapter discussing the creation of the new content and what new features players could expect in the future from ''Portal 2''.
''Potato Sack''
The
Potato Sack
A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fibres ...
was an A.R.G (
alternate reality game
An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.
The form is defined by inten ...
) conceived by Valve and 13
indie video game developers
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
* Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
* Indie game, any game (boa ...
as a prelude to the release of ''Portal 2''. ''Portal 2'' had been announced by a similar game, where a patch applied to the Steam version of ''Portal'' in March 2010, provided clues heralding the official announcement. The Potato Sack game, launched on April 1, 2011, led to the reveal of "GLaDOS@home", a spoof of distributed computer challenges, to get players to cooperate on playing the independent games as to unlock ''Portal 2'' on Steam about 10 hours before its planned release.
''Portal: Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game''
A
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
version of ''Portal'', developed by
Cryptozoic Entertainment
Cryptozoic Entertainment is an American publisher of board and card games, trading cards and collectibles based on both licensed and original intellectual properties. The company is well known for its "Cerberus Engine Game", the catch name for i ...
with oversight from Valve, was released in 2015. Titled ''Portal: Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game'', the game is based on players manipulating their tokens - which are representative of unwitting test subjects - through various test chambers in the Aperture Laboratories. The goal being to test the most lucrative chambers while attempting to stall the progress of other players. Valve had approached Cryptozoic with the core concepts of the board game, which the publisher found only needed small modifications in gameplay for the purpose of balance.
Merchandise
Valve has sold several ''Portal''-based prints, T-shirts, and other memorabilia through its own store, often riding on the popularity of certain memes that the series has created. When first released, both were sold out in under 24 hours.
Valve also has partnerships with other vendors for similar merchandise.
WizKids has released collectible miniatures of the turrets, cores and companion cube(s) within the game.
Appearances in other video games
The series' main antagonist, GLaDOS, was included as the dealer in ''
Poker Night 2
''Poker Night 2'' is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to '' Poker Night at the Inventory'' and, like its predecessor, features characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Ne ...
''. This game features portal themed unlockables such as playing cards, table and room. Wheatley is also featured as a bargaining chip. A ''Portal'' based downloadable content for ''
Zen Pinball 2
''Zen Pinball 2'' is a pinball video game developed by Zen Studios for the Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Android, and PlayStation Vita. The game was announced on April 9, 2012. The first PlayStation versions were released on September 4, 20 ...
'' ''Pinball FX2'' was made in collaboration with Valve and
Zen Studios
Zen Studios is a Hungarian video game developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary and offices in the United States. It is known for its game franchises, ''Pinball FX'' and ''Zen Pinball'', a ...
.
The crossover video game ''
Lego Dimensions
''Lego Dimensions'' is a Lego-themed action-adventure platform crossover video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox One and Xbox 360. It fo ...
'', which incorporates the use of Lego minifigures with a special gamepad, includes ''Portal''-themed elements, as demonstrated during its
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 (E3 2015) was the 21st E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 2015, with 52,200 total attendees.
Major exhibit ...
trailer. A ''Portal''-themed level appears as part of the main story campaign, with
GLaDOS
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is a fictional artificial intelligence, artificially superintelligent computer, computer system from the video game series ''Portal (video game series), Portal''. GLaDOS later appeared in ''Th ...
playing a significant role in the game's plot. A Chell minifigure was released that comes packaged with buildable sentry turret and companion cube; the figure unlocks an additional level and open-world area based on the series when used in-game.
The ''Portal'' levels include Easter eggs based on Doug Rattman hiding himself away. The game also features a new song written by Jonathan Coulton and performed by Ellen McLain that plays over the end credits.
A cosmetic set based on the Companion Cube was released as a visual replacement for the "Io" character in Valve's
multiplayer online battle arena
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that im ...
game, ''
Dota 2
''Dota 2'' is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to ''Defense of the Ancients'' (''DotA''), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.'' ''Dota 2' ...
''.
GLaDOS guest stars in ''
Defense Grid: The Awakening'' in a full-story expansion. Atlas appears as a player-character in the downloadable content package for ''
Runner2''. P-Body is a playable character in the Windows release of ''
Super Bomberman R
is an action- maze game developed by Konami and HexaDrive. The game was first released worldwide as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch in March 2017, and later for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in June 2018. Part of the '' ...
''. In April 2018, set of seven ''Portal''-themed DLC levels were added to ''
The Ball''.
A few ''Portal'' characters, including Chell and P-Body, feature as avatar customization items in the game ''
Fall Guys
''Fall Guys'' (formerly known as ''Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout'') is a free-to-play platform battle royale game developed by Mediatonic. The game involves up to 60 players who control jellybean-like creatures and compete against each other ...
'' for 5 crowns each.
''Portal'' has appeared in the game ''
What The Golf
''What the Golf?'' (stylized in all caps as ''WHAT THE GOLF?'') is a video game developed and published by Triband. It was originally published on Apple Arcade subscription by The Label on 19 September 2019.
Gameplay
The game revolves around ...
'' as a set of levels.
GLaDOS appears in a sub-quest in ''
Cyberpunk 2077
''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary know ...
'' as a murderous AI driving a taxi and eventually tries to kill the protagonist.
''
Evil Genius 2: World Domination'' includes a free ''Portal'' themed expansion pack which adds ''Portal''-themed rooms and traps to the game.
Unofficial media
''Portal Stories: Mel''
Portal Stories: Mel is a single-player
mod
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
of ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...
'' developed by
Prism Studios.
''Portal Stories: VR''
Portal Stories: VR is a single-player
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
fangame
A fangame is a video game that is created by fans. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fangames attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay, and characters, but it ...
of ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...
'' developed by
Prism Studios.
''Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative''
Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative is a 2014
first-person puzzle-platform
A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action game, action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform game ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by the Aperture Tag Team.
''Thinking with Time Machine''
Thinking with Time Machine is a
single-player
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
mod
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
for ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...
'' developed by Ruslan Rybka, also known as Stridemann, and released by SignHead Studio.
''Portal Reloaded''
Portal Reloaded is a 2021
single-player
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
mod
Mod, MOD or mods may refer to:
Places
* Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band
* M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...
for ''
Portal 2
''Portal 2'' is a 2011 puzzle-platform video game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The digital PC version is distributed online by Valve's Steam (service), Steam service, while al ...
'' developed by Jannis Brinkmann.
''Mari0''
Mari0 is a
fan-made
Fan labor, also called fan works, are the creative activities engaged in by fans, primarily those of various media properties or musical groups. These activities can include creation of written works (fiction, fan fiction and review literature), ...
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
that combines elements of the video games ''
Super Mario Bros.
is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game ''Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for th ...
'' and ''
Portal
Portal often refers to:
* Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel
Portal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
''.
''Portal: No Escape''
In August 2011,
Dan Trachtenberg
Dan Trachtenberg (born May 11, 1981) is an American filmmaker and podcast host.Rachel Kurland, Scare Tactics Pay off for Cheltenham’s Dan Trachtenberg'. The Jewish Exponent. March 14, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2017. He is best known for directi ...
released a
fan film
A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more ...
based on the series called ''
Portal: No Escape''. The video would later go viral.
During the 2013
D.I.C.E. Summit
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...
, Valve's Newell and film director
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
announced plans to partner to create films on Valve's properties, including ''Half-Life'' and ''Portal''. In an interview in March 2016, Abrams stated that while he has been working on many other projects since, he still has plans to direct these films in the future, with both films in the writing stage. In an "ask me anything"
thread on
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
in January 2017, Newell confirmed that Valve is still working on this film.
In education
The ''Portal'' games have found application in educational aspects outside of game development. The first game was praised as an example of
instructional scaffolding
Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning ...
where the student is first given an environment to learn new tools with sufficient hand-holding, but these facets are slowly removed as the student proceeds. At least one college,
Wabash College
Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts cur ...
, introduced ''Portal'' as part of required coursework; at Wabash, the game is used as an example of
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman (11 June 1922 – 19 November 1982) was a Canadian-born sociology, sociologist, Social psychology (sociology), social psychologist, and writer, considered by some "the most influential American sociologist of the twentieth ...
's dissemination on
dramaturgy
Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the Representation (arts), representation of the main elements of drama on the stage.
The term first appears in the eponymous work ''Hamburg Dramaturgy'' (1767–69) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ...
, ''
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
''The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life'' is a 1956 sociology, sociological book by Erving Goffman, in which the author uses the imagery of theatre in order to portray the importance of Social relation, human social interaction; this approac ...
''.
At a mid-2011 presentation at the 2011
Games for Change
Games for Change (also known as G4C) is a nonprofit organization. The organization provides support, visibility, and shared resources to individuals and organizations using serious games for social change. It also runs the G4C Student Challenge ...
Festival at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, Gabe Newell stated Valve's intention to direct ''Portal'' and ''Portal 2'' towards education. Newell stated that Valve "doesn't see divide between making a game that can do well and be educational", and was already working with schools to develop lesson plans around the game. In one example, Valve brought in students from nearby
Evergreen School to watch them interact with the game in an educational setting. As part of this effect, the company promoted ''Portal'' for free use by any user during September 2011.
In speaking at the 2012 Games for Change Festival, Newell said that the response to these efforts was praised by educators.
Their efforts culminated in a "Teach with Portals" program that Newell announced at the Festival. The effort is built on a standalone "Puzzle Maker" that incorporates the level editor for ''Portal 2'' that was released as free content for the game in early 2012. Valve had built the Puzzle Maker with the aid of educators, as to make it suitable for lesson plans as well as making it as easy for teachers to use to construct such plans. The Puzzle Maker is not limited to physics, but designed to be modular so that other fields, such as fundamental electronics or chemistry, could be included.
The "Teach with Portals" initiative is built atop of a stripped-down version of the Steam client, "Steam for Schools", that is designed to be used in schools, allowing instructors to control the installation of the games and lesson plans on the students' computers. These tools, as well as copies of ''Portal 2'' and the Puzzle Maker, are being offered for free for all educators.
Film adaptation
In February 2013, Valve president
Gabe Newell
Gabe Logan Newell (born November 3, 1962), nicknamed Gaben, is an American businessman and the president of the video game company Valve.
Newell was born in Colorado and grew up in Davis, California. He attended Harvard University in the early ...
and film director
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
announced that they were to collaborate on a film adaptation of the ''Portal'' series. In 2016, Abrams stated that the film was in the scriptwriting stage. Abrams confirmed in May 2021 that the film adaptation was still in the works as they were still working on a script for the film from
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
.
In popular culture
Several elements of the ''Portal'' series have entered popular culture, typically as bases for
Internet memes
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
.
*During ''Portal'', the player explores areas outside of the test chambers where scrawled messages left by Rattmann and others warn of GLaDOS' deception. In particular, while GLaDOS promises that Chell will receive cake for completing the training courses, the messages alert that this reward does not exist, and that "
the cake is a lie
"The cake is a lie" is a catchphrase from the 2007 video game ''Portal''. Initially left behind as graffiti by Doug Rattman to warn that GLaDOS, the game's main villain, was deceiving the player, it was intended to be a minor reference and esot ...
". The phrase became an
Internet meme
An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
, leading to numerous cake-related jokes, as well as its adaption as a term relating to a false promise. When writing ''Portal 2'', Wolpaw stated that they were so sick of cake jokes that they purposely avoided any reference to that, save for one subtle nod.
*In one ''Portal'' level, the player is given an inanimate weighted cube with hearts on its side, called the "Weighted Companion Cube" by GLaDOS. GLaDOS proceeds to assert that the cube is not alive and that it cannot speak, GLaDOS encourages Chell to ignore the cube in the event that it does speak. The player is required to use the Weighted Companion Cube to complete the level, but to exit the level, the player must then drop the Cube into an incinerator. The Weighted Companion Cube became a popular item to include on ''Portal''-themed merchandise.
*''Portal'' credit sequence plays over the song "
Still Alive
"Still Alive" is a song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game ''Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and subject of the song, GLaDOS. ...
", composed by
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...
, and, in its original form, sung by Ellen McLain in the GLaDOS voice. The song, sung from GLaDOS's point of view as considering her defeat as "a success", contributed to the positive response of the game as well as highlight Coulton's work to players, and leading to Valve bringing back Coulton to record a credits song for ''Portal 2''.
*The portal gun is one of several weapons used alongside ones from other game and film franchises within in a climactic fight for the 2021 film ''
Free Guy
''Free Guy'' is a 2021 American science fiction action comedy film directed and produced by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, and a story by Lieberman. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkars ...
'' which takes place within a video game.
*In 2022,
GEICO
The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is a private American auto insurance company with headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is the second largest auto insurer in the United States, after State Farm. GEICO is a wholly owne ...
released a commercial entitled "The Gecko Visits Portal", featuring elements from the ''Portal'' games such as a test chamber from ''Portal 2'', with McLain reprising her role as GLaDOS.
References
External links
*
{{Subject bar, portal1=2010s, portal2=Speculative fiction, portal3=Video games, commons=y, d=y
Fiction with unreliable narrators
Science fiction video games
Video game franchises
Video game franchises introduced in 2007
Video games adapted into comics