Portal 2 ARG Unleashes Flood of Concept Art

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Portal 2 ARG Unleashes Flood of Concept Art

Valve's confounding Portal 2 ARG has at least given us one thing we can understand: dozens of gorgeous concept art images.

The alternate reality game Valve is currently running for emails [http://www.amazon.com/Portal-2-Playstation-3/dp/B003O6E3C8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302539658&sr=8-1] sent by Gabe Newell. Trying to understand it right now is like trying to understand why dogs have tails. Thankfully, those of us without brains like Sherlock Holmes can still enjoy one aspect that has come out of it: concept art.

These dozens of images were siphoned out of secret login screens found in the Potato Sack games. The art shows alternate Portal 2 covers, new outfits and looks for Portal [http://www.amazon.com/Orange-Box-Pc/dp/B000PS2XES] main character Chell, concept art for Portal 2's co-op bots (and other bots), and scenes from Aperture in addition to what look like motivational posters that would have been placed around Aperture's HQ.

Here's the Portal 2 cover art:

[gallery=192]

And Chell:

[gallery=193]

The robots:

[gallery=194]

And finally, Aperture:

[gallery=195]

Who knows if this is really concept art, or part of the ARG, or just created to mess with fans, but it's cool nonetheless. I really want to know what that giant chicken is all about.

Portal 2 will be available on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on April 19.

Source: Valve ARG Wiki [http://valvearg.com/wiki/Valve_ARG_Wiki]

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thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
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This looks really neat. I actually got to play a couple of levels of Portal 2 the other day, and I'm super excited for the release.
 

icyneesan

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Feb 28, 2010
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God, this is such a awesome thing to do for Portal 2, imagine what they'll do for Episode 3's release! I'm expecting something like Gordon Freeman's face ectched into the surface of the moon with a giant LASER.
 

thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
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HankMan said:
thenumberthirteen said:
This looks really neat. I actually got to play a couple of levels of Portal 2 the other day, and I'm super excited for the release.
O.O
HOW?
It involved an awful lot of rope and a chisel.

Actually there was a demo at Kapow Comic Con in London last weekend. It was only 2 levels, but I got to see a couple of the new features like the Arial Faith Plates. GladOs was still her usual snarky self.
 

AlphaAnt

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Apr 1, 2010
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icyneesan said:
God, this is such a awesome thing to do for Portal 2, imagine what they'll do for Episode 3's release! I'm expecting something like Gordon Freeman's face ectched into the surface of the moon with a giant LASER.
0.o
Now if they don't do this, I'm going to be pissed!
 

Invariel

The Wizard That Did It
Apr 10, 2009
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The 10th image of the Aperture series has two typos in the text. Intentional? Good show, Valve.
 

Jonny49

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Mar 31, 2009
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thenumberthirteen said:
HankMan said:
thenumberthirteen said:
This looks really neat. I actually got to play a couple of levels of Portal 2 the other day, and I'm super excited for the release.
O.O
HOW?
It involved an awful lot of rope and a chisel.

Actually there was a demo at Kapow Comic Con in London last weekend. It was only 2 levels, but I got to see a couple of the new features like the Arial Faith Plates. GladOs was still her usual snarky self.
I spent a while waiting for a guy to finish, and in the end gave up. I was surprised that it was meshed in with the other games, I was expecting it to have it's own little section, similar to what Operation Flashpoint had.

Instead it got stuck with Cars 2 o_O

OT: Some of that box-art is brilliant. Way better than what they actually stuck with.
 

sooperman

Partially Awesome at Things
Feb 11, 2009
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Personally I'd be happy with box art that is similar to the original's but with more color or something. All of those extra shapes and needless diagrams seem too complicated.

Also, why is there concept art for Chell? She already has a design and a ragdoll in Garry's Mod. Even her ankle braces look fine, though some of the art looks really interesting.
 

V TheSystem V

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Sep 11, 2009
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Invariel said:
The 10th image of the Aperture series has two typos in the text. Intentional? Good show, Valve.
That image had 3 typos. Tomorrow had an extra 'M', and too had only one 'O'. Aperture Science had an extra A. Two of them needed to cut down on half of the overused letters, one had to put in a letter.

2 cut downs. Or HALF.

3 typos.

Half Life 2 Episode 3.

Now I'm really getting paranoid about this whole ARG thing.
 

Android2137

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Feb 2, 2010
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...That gallery of cover art is so much better than the one I saw on Steam... Especially the eye ones and the one with panels that make me think of Magritte. Why didn't they go with either of those?
 

The Youth Counselor

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Sep 20, 2008
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It appears artists came up with some really hideous costume ideas for Chell...and apparently wanted to change her race. I'm glad that they finally settled on the Michelle [http://www.cracked.com/funny-6301-michelle-rodriguez/] Rodriguez [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091112121326/jamescameronsavatar/images/2/2d/Trudychacon.jpg] look.


PS:

PLEASE TELL ME THE GIANT CHICKEN IS IN THE FINAL GAME!
 

thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
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Jonny49 said:
thenumberthirteen said:
HankMan said:
thenumberthirteen said:
This looks really neat. I actually got to play a couple of levels of Portal 2 the other day, and I'm super excited for the release.
O.O
HOW?
It involved an awful lot of rope and a chisel.

Actually there was a demo at Kapow Comic Con in London last weekend. It was only 2 levels, but I got to see a couple of the new features like the Arial Faith Plates. GladOs was still her usual snarky self.
I spent a while waiting for a guy to finish, and in the end gave up. I was surprised that it was meshed in with the other games, I was expecting it to have it's own little section, similar to what Operation Flashpoint had.

Instead it got stuck with Cars 2 o_O

OT: Some of that box-art is brilliant. Way better than what they actually stuck with.
I know. You could easily have missed it. When I first saw it I thought it was Portal 1 because there was so little fuss. I mean there was LEGO Batman in the same line of XBoxes which came out years ago. I would have really loved some Portal Swag like I got from Red River (T Shirt and Badges).

Though it was an unexpected highlight of the convention.
 

castlewise

Lord Fancypants
Jul 18, 2010
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Just an FYI. A lot of these images contain secret second images which you can find using photoshop. Those images are of various locations in Seattle. People found the locations IRL and when you map all of them out using google maps it (mostly) spells the word PRELUDE. Thats actually what the state of the ARG is at the time of writing.
 

The Youth Counselor

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Sep 20, 2008
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Sgt. Sykes said:
I wonder how much the box art artist at Valve earns. I mean, he/she just needs to put out like one piece of work ever few years. Lulz.
There are multiple artists, and they have to put out a lot of concepts that go through testing from both focus groups and the general populous.

Dhabih Eng drew the cover artwork for all the Half-Life games, Andrea Wicklund did the Left 4 Dead games, and I'm guessing somebody at EA with access to clip art and Excel did the Orange Box. They went through loads of drafts just for the boxes alone, and both also did loads of concept art, modeling, texturing, animations and etc...