Portal 2's Educational Version - An Obscure Part of Valve's History

Did you know Portal 2 had an official Educational Version? Most people didn't, and I wouldn't fault you for not knowing it either, so thankfully, here's a video covering the mysterious Educational Version of Portal 2.

This video would not have been possible without Wertercatt and Christsnatcher cracking open the files to Portal 2's Educational Version for the first time ever, so major credit to them! A download can't be provided for reasons explained in the video.

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Hey everyone, the name's Ossy Flawol!

[OssyFlawol]

I forgot to add context as to why I talk about Portal’s physics for so long in the intro, since that is a remnant of an earlier script draft, but essentially, the VPhysics Engine was seen as really impressive and lended itself nicely to use in classrooms. Oh, and by the way…

[DaRealBruner]

I'm surprised not a lot of people discuss this version of Portal 2, especially considering all the unique assets made for it.

[roi-]

Imagine having to write an entire essay on “the part where he kills you”

[Kayla-qfzy]

So, I actually remember playing this version in school! I was in the STEM program at my middle school so it made perfect sense. It was actually what got me interested in Portal in the first place. I don’t remember it too much, but I remember being able to play maps that my classmates made.

[mooney]

Using physics time control as a gameplay mechanic would make for an EXCELLENT mod.

[indigodotradio]

my favourite part is when Ossy Flawol says ''It's flawolin' time'' and flawols all over the place

[wolfclck]

It's such a cool thing, folks. 2022 has been the year of Portal without even the slightest question. Catch the action as it happens live, people! We're livin in history!

[GagePurple]

the re-enabled pings are most likely used to critique the student's level and point out which parts are good, bad, confusing, and REALLY confusing by simply pointing out the exact things that they are talking about

[TheRealRobertBlarg]

HOLY SHIT. My mom's a teacher (elementary school though so probably doesn't have a whole lot of practical use for this unfortunately) but this is still so RAD.

That physics pause mechanic looks legit awesome and would be amazing to see in a full fledged mod. Maybe a mod that somehow ports the Educational Version's unique features like the Contraption Cube over as a mod for base Portal 2 along with a full campaign/mini-campaign featuring the different versions of the Contraption Cube, etc.

Call it the Aperture Science Reeducation Enrichment Initiative. Have a Companion Cube version of the Contraption Cube called the Companion Contraption Cube or the "C-Cubed Cube". Lot of fun possibilities.

[caymorris]

I played this years ago when I was nearly done with school. I convinced a teacher to apply for the programme so we could get a copy. I didn't get much of a try with everything, maybe only half an hour, but I swear the contraption button was working when I played it.

[AceTheOcarinaMaker]

This is so cool! I never knew about this version. I really wish the new testing elements in this were in the base game.

[Collnel]

The stop of time to solve puzzles sounds a lot like the F-Stop concept valve had in mind after portal 2

[ShignBright]

Pff, the fact that cubes fall slower as they get lighter goes against physics. Because they both have the same air resistance (as identical cubes) they should fall the same speed.

[Simte]

This is absolutely great. For us stem teacher having access for this kind of resources is a treasure.

[Darkvapour]

10:12 - There's a convar "contraption_cube_test 1" that does something with the lightmeter, if you enable picker and ent_text on the cube there's something that says "signal strength:" when the convar is set to 1 the signal strength goes higher and lower, the light on the cube going round seems to reflect this. When the convar is 0, the signal strength is 0 and there is no light.

You can also use ent_text on the contraption cube button type and you can see this also has signal strength, it is always zero until you put the contraption cube on it and the convar is 1. It also glows red when there's signal, the brighter the red, the stronger the signal is. If the convar is 0 then there is no signal strength and it does not glow red.

[MrGermandeutsch]

I remember accidentally discovering the Feedback Ping Tool during Portal 2 CooP a few years ago.
It's still in Portal 2, but it will softlock you in Singleplayer as you're not supposed to use the ping tool in Singleplayer at all.

[pavuk]

4:57 wait, physics doesn't work like this, acceleration is not affected by weight, if we ignore air friction. They have greater force but not speed because acceleration of free-falling is constant (sorta) for every object

[CreeperOnYourHouse]

I'm disappointed that the lighter cubes fall slower, but some of it makes sense. 1kg for something so big? Effectively a feather.

[DessDragon]

I wonder if the light ring on the cubes is related to the missing cube button

[dr_quantum]

Damn I remember I’m elementary & middle school I was OBSESSED with all things portal after watching Portal 2. While trying to incorporate Portal into my school project I stumbled upon the Teach with Portals website and sample lesson PDF and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Great to see it’s been unearthed by the public to play with!