It's pretty interesting on it's own, and if you check out the gallery you will see just how extensive their research on the subject was. They covered pretty much every corner of the land with photo proof on where each location is actually found. Apparently this is only part of the equation though. The team has been working on a portal mod for a while now, that closely resembles the storyline found in Better Living Through Science and Ponies (Probably one of the best crossovers on the site). They need some help though! If you know anything about the source engine, primarily creating textures/models, you can contact [email protected] to off your assistance!
The image above is a very rough draft version of the boots found in the story (A combination of portal guns and longfall boots).
74 comments:
Portal with ponies!? I think I need to go change my pants
ReplyDeleteMy god, that map of Equestria...do you know how useful this would be to creating an acurate presentation of Ponyville in a game like Garry's Mod, Minecraft, or Second Life!
ReplyDeleteSETH, I LOVE YOU!
Oh man, I didn't actually expect someone to actually make a MLP portal 2 mod.
ReplyDeleteI hope this is awesome.
Oh bugger. My personal layout of Ponyville is a bit different from that. Oh well, close enough.
ReplyDeleteWe need a complete one with the locations of the other towns like Manehatten and Hoofington.
ReplyDeleteThat crossover is possibly in the fandom's top 3 crossover fics list.
ReplyDeleteWould LOVE to play it.
Cool map is cool.
ReplyDeleteI see the design of the portal gun employs the gun and boots separately instead of a hybrid at the end of the hoof, but hey it looks like it allows easier running though.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those guys who made the Second Life ponies are working on this too? The pony templates could be used for more than just Second Life or is my idea too out there?
ReplyDeleteNifty shoes, one shoots blue portals and the other orange.
And that's just the front two, the back two fire purple and red.
Map needs a legend. You can reason what most of the circles are, but they're just that. Differently colored circles (and paint brush strokes).
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for this o.o
ReplyDeleteThere are no words in any language that can describe the joy that I am feeling right now.
ReplyDeleteWow, great map, that's some labour of love. And the portal mod, can0t wait! ^_^
ReplyDeleteNicely done with the top view map. Did your research and complied it all into one. Great work.
ReplyDeleteThe 2.5 Portal/Pony fic: I loved it. Excellent read. I was especially glad that they added a special chapter for Celestia vs GLaDOS scene. It blew my mind.
Also, I'm lovin' the portal mod.
The amount of research that went into this is amazing. Well done.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteIf you go to the DArt gallery, there is a version of the map which is properly labelled.
This is relevant to my interests. A Portal mod based on Better Living? MUST. HAVE.
ReplyDeleteI kinda felt GLaDOS was a bit too typecast as evil in that fic (she was turning nice towards non-rebuildable test subjects by the end of Portal 2, thanks to no more "voices" telling her what to do), but it was one of the best crossovers I have ever read. (I mean really, GLaDOS was the only out-of-character character.)
ReplyDeletei imagine that as ponyville. i think o equestria are a kingdom around the size of ireland.
ReplyDeleteLove the portal mod but yeah a MAP AWESOME sauce
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things counter to nature and common sense with a circular river surrounding a town. What if there's a flood? Does Ponyville has sufficient levees to withstand that amount of water? This whole thing could go Pony Katrina at any moment.
ReplyDelete*runs off to make tasteless PMV, "Celestia doesn't like Earth ponies".*
A map like that would be great for garry's mod ( especially because legion of ponies just made a garry's mod server and needs a map ).
ReplyDeleteCool map, I always assumed that Carousel Boutique was located more to the center of town than to the south eastern edge.
ReplyDeleteSometimes this fandom truly scares me.
My problem with the map is that they put canterlot to the northeast in the labeled version.
ReplyDeleteIn the opening credits, you can see the morning sun and canterlot in the background, this would make the sun appear to rise in the north. This boggles me :|
There's a labelled version if you follow the source. Only thing I don't agree with is how close Cantelot is. I'm sure it's in the mountains much further back, and just looks close because it's so big. They do travel most of a day to get to the Gala.
ReplyDeleteYes, the map is very very nice. Now I can actually picture where everything is in Ponyville. My one qwip though, as previously mentioned by Tylendal, is that Canterlot is much too close (infact at this scale it's RIGHT next to Pony ville, the length of just three town squares away. That's walking distance!)
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, a spectacular job on the map. Hopefully as more information regarding locations arise, the map will become even more accurate and then maybe some detail will come.
As for the portal mod, I can greatly appreciate that myself, as I am also in the process of making a map pack for it (not great with the programming, but still learning!) and still I can only imagine what they have to do to get the whole thing off the ground.
I do hope that the modders can perhaps expand the story a little (Yes, that was a qwip I had with the story, I will proudly admit it). While I did greatly enjoy it... well, maybe that's why I want the expansion. I want MORE.
I am really glad that this news was posted, because I wouldn't have found that amazing story otherwise. Thank you.
Interesting mod! Shame that the boots are so ugly rather than the more-refined design used in the story.
ReplyDeleteYES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!
ReplyDeleteI HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF THIS EVER SINCE I READ BETTER LIVING THROUGH SCIENCE AND PONIES; IT WAS THE FANFIC THAT GOT ME INTO READING FAN FICTION!!!
@Velvet
ReplyDeleteHey, it never really describes what the boots look exactly like in the story, so I had to play with the hand I was dealt. Plus, it's a rough model for now. I'm still trying to make it look better, so just bear with me.
@Anonymous 4:02
ReplyDeleteIf it makes you feel better, we do plan on adding to the story with the mod if we can. :)
@VFX Kid
ReplyDeleteI always pictured the Portal "nozzle" as being downward-facing, with the Portal-shaping arms and the Longfall flange being blended into one.
Of course, as a game mod rather than a piece of fiction, certain concessions for interface, models and playability would likely have to be made...
At any rate, that map is stunningly-thoroughly researched! Musta been quite the task.
I'm also amazed that the animators had that much consistency!
It reminds me of a review of Rango I read, where the reviewer blocked out a chase scene and realized the town's map stayed consistent throughout.
Quality always shows through. :D
I'll try and answer all of your map questions so far here.
ReplyDelete@Tylendal and Anonymous 4:02
Keep in mind that I did say the map is "Intermittently not to scale" due to only having rough guestimates/relations between buildings to work with. Canterlot is definitely not that close to Ponyville, nor is it that size in comparison, but it is close enough that two ponies could run around it and its surrounding mountains not just once but twice in the course of a day. If I was to show the true size, the map would have to be at least twice as big with the entire top half of the map made up of mountains and empty space.
As for traveling most of the day to get to the gala, if you look at about 3:20 in ep 26 you'll see that they started their trek after the sun had gone down and were able to reach Canterlot even moving only at a leisurely trot with no trouble whatsoever.
@Anonymous 1:50
ReplyDeleteAccording to Lauren Faust (as recorded on the Friendship is Magic wiki: http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Equestria - Trivia section), "[T]he Everfree Forest is west of Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres is southwest, and Fluttershy's cottage and meadow are located between the orchard and the forest. Canterlot is northeast of Ponyville..." The laws of perspective do not always hold true in this show, and neither does the location of the sun. Perhaps Celestia was messing with the ponies that day? Also, I do know for a fact that the map of Ponyville in the title animation does not match up to what's in the show. Just pull up any episode and look for the location of the joke shop and spa during Dash's flight to see what I'm talking about. The title animation is always some of the earliest animation, and a lot of things hadn't been finalized yet.
@Saddlesoap
ReplyDeleteWell, the thing is that the flange isn't the only part of the regular long fall boot- it also has those shock-absorbing pad areas, so I wanted to include those too. Plus, having the portal nozzle facing downward would make it taller than a regular pony longfall boot, which would make it difficult to walk, so I went with my design for practicality's sake. I can understand your concern, though.
@Anonymous 1:22 (I wonder why I'm mostly only getting questions from anons...?)
ReplyDeleteI never thought of it that way... Scary! Quite frankly I've only seen 3/4 of the river as we have yet to see practically anything on the North side of town. The river does definitely cover the south and east sides of town, as well as start traveling along the west and north sides. The only proof I can offer that the river does actually go all the way around is located in the top right of this ref guide on Applejack's Map (in which left is apparently North of all things): http://aurebesh.deviantart.com/gallery/31093498#/d3kfqej In other news, the Cutie Mark Crusader's map is surprisingly vaguely accurate. Who knew?
Now you're thinking with pony portals.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest now, I always thought pony guns (of any sort) would be shoulder mounted.
ReplyDeleteThis would also be why there is no gun based violence in the MLLP universe, as it would require highly advanced shoulder mounted (Manual and atomatic) turrents.
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteWell, I can see how that would make sense, but as you can see, in the fanfic, it goes on the hoof, so that's what we're going with.
That sounds awesomely awesome.
ReplyDeleteI do hope it will still have the Portal Athmosphere that I love so much though.
@Heavy Weapons Pony
ReplyDeleteWe intend to stick to the established Portal look and feel as much as possible. No worries. :]
And soon begins a Minecraft project. Godspeed, ponies.
ReplyDelete@VFX Kid
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong, but with the way the gun is designed right now, wouldn't that be incredibly hard to aim with?
It'd be like having a glove with a pistol coming out of the wrist... not exactly "gun-like"...
Also, how does the "button" concept work? I mean, how would you be able to switch between blue portal and orange portal if you don't have thumbs?
I'd imagine that each gun would be a single-portal device, rather than a dual, with the one on the right being an orange portal gun, and the left being a blue one. That'd make sense, even though in the fic they have 4 dual-portal device/long-fall boots... I dunno.
On a vaguely related note, will you be doing the "unrestricted portals" idea, or dropping it in the name of gameplay?
@Anonymous 8:39 - I can answer a couple of those questions.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the aiming, try getting on all fours like a pony. Now, pretend that the portal aperture on your imaginary long fall portal boots is on the bottom of your palm, then aim for the wall, floor, and ceiling. Then, pretend it's on the front of your arm. I don't know about you, but I find it just ever so slightly easier to aim for all three areas if it's on the front instead of on the bottom, particularly upwards. There are other reasons for this (real world space requirements and a desire to not launch a portal every time we take a step among them), but this is my personal favorite.
The button? I'd think it would also be on the inner front of the boot. Jerk your hoof inside the boot towards the front left, Orange portal. Jerk towards the front right, shoot the other one.
Also, we're probably not going to use the rear guns ingame. Going back to the being on all fours example, can you imagine launching a portal like that? Maybe behind you, but that's about it. They were spares in the fic, and they'll probably remain that way ingame, designed to replace a front boot if it stops working for some reason.
Lastly, we will do our best to have "unrestricted" portals. Our Source "expert" has found the required changes needed to make any surface portalable, so we should be able to make it possible to portal onto whatever we'd like while still keeping it impossible to place one on certain odd surfaces that just aren't conductive to portal formation. Remember how Johnson said that the moon dust gel is great for putting portals on? Some things just have the exact opposite effect, even with an unrestricted gun.
@Skyclimber
ReplyDeleteHmm... negative conversion gel, huh? I wonder... since the gel was made from MOON rocks, shouldn't the opposite of that be SOLAR ash? The MLP series even has a moon/sun motif to it, to boot...
...clever... *tips hat to you*
@Skyclimber
ReplyDelete...wait a minute, if the button is on the inside of the boot, won't it activate when you fall or take a step?
@Anon 9:26
ReplyDeleteAfter some brief deliberation, we have come up with a solution that does not involve magic or large amounts of luck. Inside the boot is a false bottom that the pony stands on. The buttons are kept in recess located just below the bottom on either side of the middle. To fire either button, the pony just needs to shift their foot to the side, then stretch.
(Outside Wall)[Skinny section of False Bottom]{button}[Wide stretch of False Bottom]{button 2}[Skinny section of False Bottom](Outside Wall)
@VFX Kid
ReplyDeleteWell, it says the projector of the barrel extends along the length of the leg. I believe there were earlier images of it too.
@Saddlesoap
ReplyDeleteAh have t' agree with Saddlesoap there
Like a slightly-modified portal gun mounted on their forelegs that they can stand on
@Velvet
ReplyDeleteWhere did it say that? I don't recall any mention in the fanfic.
Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device + Long Fall Boot = ASLFPDB... it makes sense if you don't think about it.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing for voices, by the by? I'm pretty sure that there are some good, authentic-sounding GLaDOS vocaloids out there for GLaDOS, and Chell doesn't talk, but what about the MLP characters? Are you not featuring them or will you have voice actors? Or will you just be using prerecorded clips?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm aware, we're going to have actual voice actresses. We'll start the search about 80% of the way through the mod for all the different parts, but that's not going to be for a while. Who knows, perhaps we'll be able to convince the original people to contribute their voices? Just as big a pipe dream as having a Jonathan Colt-on song in the credits.
ReplyDelete@Skyclimber
ReplyDelete>Portal 2 mod
>Unique Maps
>Unique Storyline
>Unique Characters
>Unique Gameplay Mechanics
>Unique Voices
...ALL OF MY MONEY!!! ALL OF MY INTERNETS!!! ALL OF MY BITS!!! EVERYTHING I HAVE EXCEPT FOR MY COMPUTER!!!
...hey, you know, Valve is pretty pony nowadays... have you ever brought this idea to them? I'm pretty sure there may be several people there who would kill to work on a project like this (and, hey, what's a few more weeks to wait for Half-Life 2: Episode 3?)... it wouldn't have to be official or anything, that'd leave a lot of legal paperwork, but you never know... even just one Valve programmer/designer so much as giving in-depth advice could work wonders for this thing...
ReplyDelete@Anonymous 7:17
ReplyDeleteWe've certainly thought about it. Some help from Valve, even from one person on the side, would do wonders, as you said.
You know what I'd like to see? Conversion gel on hard light surfaces. Think of the possibilities... >:D
ReplyDelete@Cyberfox
ReplyDeleteThat would only be helpful in co-op mode, and would be annoying as hell for both level designers and players in puzzles...
Bronies won't stop with the Portal stuff, will they? Good. >:D
ReplyDeleteOmG, I'm hella impressed by all that Equestrian cartography!! That's just what I like to try and envision, to put the whole location into perspective...that's excellent...they sure did an amazing job of actually researching, thinking it through, and laying it out there!
ReplyDelete@ActionScripter9109 DO IT, FA- er, FRIEND!!!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. A hard light could be turned on/off via a switch.
Ah, I see you've put up a blog, YouTube, and Twitter for this! Awesome, now I can stalk this project without having to come back to this page!
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean you'll be releasing footage/info/previews/etc. soon?
(Also, I like the name "Thinking With Ponies". That was what I thought Better Living should have been named, too...)
@Anonymous 12:46
ReplyDeleteYou already found it? Sheesh, that's some good detective work there. As for previews... maybe ;)
@ActionScripter9109 "Turns out I'm good at finding things..."
ReplyDelete@Anonymous
ReplyDeletePoor Ruby. :(
The project blog is up. http://thinkingwithponies.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete@Anon 1:22
ReplyDeleteThe ponies control the weather, remember?
I loved that fic, and I just have to see someone LP this once it's done.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete.____. i ... i ... My gods... .-.
ReplyDeleteplease please please tell me the mod is coming along!
ReplyDeleteif it can be done with Silent Ponyville, it can be done with PonyPortals. LET THE TESTING COMMENCE FORTHWITH!
ReplyDeleteSo... is this still being worked on?
ReplyDelete@abrachoo
ReplyDeleteYup. I actually just tested the latest version yesterday. It's coming along nicely. No more images for a while though. Don't worry, we're working on it.