Valve Began Development on Portal 2 as a Prequel

[Tom Goldman]

Valve Began Development on Portal 2 as a Prequel

The original plan for Portal 2 was to literally bring players into the past of Aperture Science.

***Spoiler Alert!!!***Spoiler Alert!!!***
This post contains spoilers for Portal 2, as if you haven't played it yet.
***Spoiler Alert!!!***Spoiler Alert!!!***

Valve already Portal 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103389-Portal-2-Originally-Lacked-Portals], but did you know the game was also meant to take place in a completely different time period? Portal 2 writers Chet Faliszek and Jay Pinkerton revealed in a recent interview that the game nearly included nothing that we knew and loved from the original Portal, because none of it existed yet.

Speaking to Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Pinkerton said that Cave Johnson, founder of Aperture Science featured in Portal 2, was once a much more important character in the game. "At one point two years ago some Cave Johnson dialogue got leaked - so I can now tell you, two years ago Cave was the bad guy in Portal 2 and GLaDOS wasn't in the game," he said. "It was a prequel. We liked the character enough that we snuck him into this."

Anyone that's played Portal 2 could guess as much. The game's sections in the "past" that use Aperture Science gels at first seem like they were tacked on, but eventually make more sense as you get into them.

Faliszek added that people just couldn't stand to live without GLaDOS, Chell, and the Companion Cube. "People wanted more portals, they wanted GLaDOS, they wanted to be Chell," he said. The idea of taking Portal into the past just wasn't going to work, so Valve melded its work with the present Portal time period for the final version of Portal 2.

I think it was a great decision, because not only do we get to be insulted by GLaDOS again in Portal 2, but we get to learn how she (and Aperture Science) came to be. Cave Johnson is no GLaDOS, but he's demented in his own way, so the combination of the two works pretty well.

Source: RPS [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/27/valve-on-portal-2-spoiler-interview-part-one/]

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[Popido]

The more it leaks the better it gets.

 

[PixelKing]

If glados didn't start with the whole "you killed me" routine it could pass for a prequel. Think about it.

 

[Micalas]

So a Portal game without Portals. This seems like the greatest idea ever. I'm glad they decided to change it to a sequel.

Though with enough work they probably could have done something cool. Think of it like watching Cube 2: Hypercube and then watching the prequel Cube 0. Was it more primitive? Yeah. Was it still a death cube? Hell yeah.

 

[XelaisPWN]

The entire second act of the game is kind of like a prequel?

 

[Proteus214]

I think there is still some potential for a prequel considering how much lore they could expand on with "Old Aperture Science" and the idiosyncrasies of Cave Johnson. There is a game there I think; not a big one, but there is something.

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Hmmmm interesting... Seeing the past of portal was actually quite nice. Perhaps they COULD make a prequel

 

[Veloxe]

Thinking about the plot, it didn't really go anywhere. I mean, in the end you accomplished what your goal was a whole game ago. It really was just an excuse to go back to a fun place and experience it's history a little more, which I am totally fine with and loved.

 

[therandombear]

Hmmmm interesting... Seeing the past of portal was actually quite nice. Perhaps they COULD make a prequel

Ye, I loved the old part of Aperture and listening to voice recordings of a "young" Cave Johnson and the farther into the old parts you got the more "recent" the recordings became, and when you get to the lemons part, yes it is hilarious, but you can also hear it in his voice he's a old, sick and beaten old man now.

 

[Svenparty]

The old section of Aperture gave us an idea of what it would be like though I don't think the game would have been very appealing if it had been a larger amount of the old "testing" areas. Portal is all about the sleek parts and then the " behind the scenes".

Glad they decided to focus on expanding GlaDOS although I can't help but feel Portal 2 ended too simply with "order" restored albeit with Chell freed

 

[sunburst]

I might have been okay with that. Cave Johnson is the best character in Portal 2 by far. More of him could only be a good thing.

I just hope the lemons don't become the new cake.

 

[The Sane]

I can imagine it now.. Player character is a hobo and your ultimate goal is 60$! What more of an incentive would a hobo need?

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Hmmmm interesting... Seeing the past of portal was actually quite nice. Perhaps they COULD make a prequel

Ye, I loved the old part of Aperture and listening to voice recordings of a "young" Cave Johnson and the farther into the old parts you got the more "recent" the recordings became, and when you get to the lemons part, yes it is hilarious, but you can also hear it in his voice he's a old, sick and beaten old man now.

"They told me I couldn't fire a man for being in a wheelchair. I fired him anyways. Ramps are expensive!"

 

[Metal Brother]

"I think it was a great decision, because not only do we get to be insulted by GLaDOS again in Portal 2, but we get to learn how she (and Aperture Science) came to be. Cave Johnson is no GLaDOS, but he's demented in his own way, so the combination of the two works pretty well."

I could not agree more. I thought the writing and characters were delightful end to end, and the final product flowed well.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike the CAPTCHAs on this site?

 

[mjc0961]

I can imagine it now.. Player character is a hobo and your ultimate goal is 60$! What more of an incentive would a hobo need?

Why, another $60 of course! All you have to do is let them take you apart and put you back together. Don't worry, they're not banging rock together. They know what they're doing.

 

[The Sane]

I can imagine it now.. Player character is a hobo and your ultimate goal is 60$! What more of an incentive would a hobo need?

Why, another $60 of course! All you have to do is let them take you apart and put you back together. Don't worry, they're not banging rock together. They know what they're doing.

Yay, someone took the hint! Thank you!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Honestly, I'm glad they didn't make a prequel. The way Portal ended--especially with the updated ending--I would have been annoyed that I didn't get to find out what happened next. It'd be like if the next Half-Life game was suddenly set during the decades that Gordon was in stasis. Yes, it's interesting and would probably make for a good game, but that's not what I'm interested in at the moment. Finish the current story, then go back.
Of course, since Portal 2 pretty much did finish the current story, a prequel would be okay by me now.

 

[robert022614]

prequel DLC?

 

[Svenparty]

Of course, since Portal 2 pretty much did finish the current story, a prequel would be okay by me now.

Agreed, Portal 2 seemed to wrap up all the loose ends leaving Chell free and GlaDOS back in charge. Although knowing Valve the ending could be altered again or the wheat fields are just "Aperture Science Imitation Fields"

Could a surprising prequel exist without seeming tacked on? All "The story never told" games are plot holed and rely on nostalgia.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I think it was much cooler seeing the old Aperture Science test tracks in their mangled weathered down condition. It added greatly to the atmosphere. Also if it was "pre-Neurotoxin" there would have been a lot of people around, working in the labs. That would have totally scrapped the sense of Isolation that pervades the game and adds, imo, SO much to the atmosphere. I say they made the right decision.