Aperture Tag

Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative
Steam artwork
Developer(s)	Aperture Tag Team
Publisher(s)	Aperture Tag Team
Designer(s)	Eugenio Roman
Composer(s)	Harry Callaghan Christopher McEvoy
Engine	Source
Platform(s)	Windows OS X
Release	July 15, 2014
Genre(s)	Puzzle-platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative is a 2014 puzzle-platform game developed and published by the Aperture Tag Team for Windows and OS X. Unlike the official Portal series, the gameplay revolves around a paint gun rather than a portal gun, that fires two kinds of gel, one of which gives the player a jump boost and the other a speed boost. The game takes place after Portal 2 and the player is guided by a personality core Nigel to complete puzzles in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center.

The player encounters mechanisms such as the "fizzler", rotated walls, and Pneumatic Diversity tubes that transports the player. The game also features new characters, voice acting, along with a co-op mode that includes a level editor. The game's development began in March 2013, passed through the Steam Greenlight system in January and February 2014, and was launched on Steam on July 15, 2014. Aperture Tag was praised for the paint gun, level design, and custom sountrack, but the writing, voice acting, and Nigel were criticized. Upon release, the community complained about the pricing; Portal 2 is required to play Aperture Tag.

Like the Portal series, Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative is a puzzle-platform game played from the first-person perspective, in which the player must solve puzzles in "test chambers".^[1] The game features a single-player mode.^[2] While solving the puzzles, the player is provided with a paint gun that fires two kinds of gel, repulsion and propulsion, instead of a portal gun like in the Portal series.^[1][3] The two gels were featured in Portal 2; repulsion, colored blue, gives a jump boost and can be used as a bouncing pad, while propulsion, colored orange, provides a speed boost to the player.^[1][4][5] The repulsion gel can also be used to move cubes and disable turrets.^[3][6] Unlike the stationary locations of gel in Portal 2, however, the paint gun allows the player to apply the gels to most surfaces.^[3][7]

The campaign consists of 27 test chambers,^[8] including re-used chambers from Portal 2, and the player is guided by a personality core named Nigel.^[1][3][9] At the start of the game, the player must solve linear puzzles without a paint gun, avoid turret fire, and divert laser beams with cubes.^[1][3] Once the paint gun is obtained, the player can only use the repulsion gel; the propulsion gel is unlocked later in the game when the difficulty of puzzles increases unsteadily.^[1][3][5] With both gels available, the player can navigate through the rest of the chambers, which are non-linear in design.^[3] By the end of the game, test chambers are themed with different biomes, including forest and ocean.^[10]

The game also features puzzles that must be solved as fast as possible and toxic floors that kill the player upon collision.^[1][3] Throughout the game, the player encounters additional mechanisms such as buttons, spikes, and portals that cannot be placed by the player.^[1][5][10] Additions to Aperture Tag include the "fizzler", which disables and reactivates one or both gels on the player's paint gun when the player comes into contact with the feature, and rotated walls, which are used in speed puzzles.^[1][3] The game also takes advantage of transparent Pneumatic Diversity tubes, a cut part of Portal 2, that move the player from level to level instead of elevators that are present in Portal 2.^[7][10] While traveling through the tubes, the player can see other test chambers and old parts of Aperture Science facilities.^[10] The game does not feature the complex physics of Portal 2 and mostly relies on static features.^[1]

Aperture Tag features two endings, and the game can be completed in approximately 3 hours.^[3][5] The game also features a modified level editor, allowing users to create their own maps, which can be utilized in the single-player or cooperative modes.^[2][8]

Aperture Tag takes place in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, following the events of the Portal 2 cooperative campaign.^[7] The Aperture Tag test subject appears near end of the cooperative campaign.^[7] After waking up in a stasis chamber, the player is introduced to basic controls of the game as well as a personality core Nigel, who was designed by GLaDOS.^[7] Nigel then guides the player to the paint gun while defeating turrets.

Once the player has acquired the paint gun, they must complete sixteen test chambers. Initially, the repulsion gel is only available to the player until the seventh chamber, when the player are given the option to use the propulsion gel. After completing the sixteenth chamber, Nigel informs the player that the Aperture Laboratories Stability Stable Energy Reactor must be deactivated. The player then must flee the reactor as quickly as possible. After the escape, the player finds themself in a set of chambers that are styled after different biomes. At the last chamber, the player can choose one of the endings. In the first ending, the player fights against turrets, and Nigel separates from the player, who subsequently burns in a fire pit. In the alternate ending, which is unlocked by closing the fire pit with a button, Nigel, as ordered by GLaDOS, allows the player to return to surface, which is later revealed to be a simulation.

Aperture Tag was developed and published by the Aperture Tag Team.^[1] The team, led by Mexican^[11] developer Eugenio "Motanum" Roman, took inspiration from the Tag: The Power of Paint game, whose concept of paint gels was used in Portal 2.^[2][7][9] Roman played the game once Valve announced the addition of gels in Portal 2, after which Roman began considering the paint gun and gel concepts.^[7] After attending a Valve-hosted closed beta for the 2012 Perpetual Testing Initiative update, Roman asked Valve employees if they had planned on adding a paint gun to Portal 2.^[7] They responded that while a weapon_paintgun file was in the game, it did not do anything and had been dropped entirely from Portal 2.^[7] Roman then began working on his paint gun model.^[7][9] The paint gun that Roman used in Aperture Tag is a modified version of a paint gun from a Portal community modder that approved Roman using their design.^[7]

Prior to creating Aperture Tag, Roman also designed maps in the Source engine editor.^[9] After creating the initial paint gun map, Roman received praise from the Portal community.^[7] The development of Aperture Tag officially began in March 2013; the game was designed using Portal 2 Authoring Tools in the Hammer editor for Source engine games.^[7] After visiting Valve offices again in May 2013, Roman decided to make Aperture Tag a full modification release instead of a map pack.^[7] By the end of the year, all chambers were designed out.^[7] Benjamin Thomas Blodgett helped program the compilation of maps in the modified in-game level editor.^[7]

The Aperture Tag Team submitted the map pack for Steam Greenlight in January 2014, in order to publish the game as a standalone mod.^[9] "A mod offers me more freedom. I can change the menu, viewmodel, etc. And it makes developing this much more easier", Roman said.^[9] Aperture Tag was approved by the Steam community through the Greenlight system on February 19.^[12] Prior to the release of Aperture Tag, demo levels of the game were available on the Steam Workshop.^[6] Aperture Tag was released on July 15, 2014, with a price tag of US$7, for Microsoft Windows and OS X platforms.^[8][13][14] Roman was initially undecided on whether to publish the game with a price tag or to make it free of charge.^[9] Aperture Tag became the first mod on Steam to not be released for free.^[13] Considering that it is a mod, users must own Portal 2 to play Aperture Tag.^[2][15] The game was one of the top 300 on Steam in 2014.^[16]

While in the demo levels the voice of Cave Johnson was only present, in the full release of the game, Nigel received a custom voice actor.^[2][6] The game features a custom soundtrack composed by Harry "Harry101UK" Callaghan and Christopher McEvoy, as well as the song All These Walls by Abarax.^[2][3][17] The game has its own Steam Trading Cards.^[2]

Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer rated the game 58 points out of 100, stating that Aperture Tag "lacks balance and grows repetitive, but provides a handful of good puzzle chambers if you're willing to pay for them".^[1] Additionally, he also said that some puzzles contain inadequate design and that some are "satisfying to solve".^[1] Jarret Redding of Mash Those Buttons said that "the gameplay and overall atmosphere fit very well with the world that Valve build" and that he enjoyed playing the game.^[3] In regard to the re-used Portal 2 chambers, Redding said that "it was interesting approaching these chambers with a different tool (The Paint Gun), and solving it differently".^[3] He also praised the non-linear puzzles that are present in the game for making the player think unconventionally.^[3]

ValveTime stated, "[Aperture Tag] looks great, it plays well, and it lasts 2–3 hours. Giving it good value for money".^[18] They also praised the visual and level design for its gameplay mechanics and variety, level design structure, polish degree, soundtrack detail consistency, and map scale without affecting performance.^[18] However, they also criticized the pacing of the story and dialog falling weak many times.^[18] Journalist Steven Brasley praised the design, scenery, and progressive increase of difficulty like in the Portal series and wrote that Aperture Tag "adds a unique and fun new challenge to the diabolical and dangerous test chambers of Aperture Science".^[10]

Heikki Hurme of Finnish video game magazine Pelit rated Aperture Tag 75 out of 100, saying that Aperture Tag has a "fun idea, but amateurish execution" (on hauska idea, mutta harrastelijamainen toteutus).^[5] Hurme criticized Nigel, saying that he tries to mimic Wheatley from Portal 2 and that he acts like a "douchebag".^[5] Livingston also said that "[Nigel's] jokes certainly aren't funny" and that he had trouble deciding what his personality is.^[1] Redding said that Nigel's dialogue is not on the level of Wheatley's.^[3]

Livingston praised the concept and mechanics of the paint gun and the auto-save system.^[1][6] He also compared the quality of voice acting, writing, and level design with Portal 2, noting that Aperture Tag lacks the quality.^[1] Brasley said that the story is "bland" and criticized the voice acting, describing it as "dull".^[10]

Rock Paper Shotgun listed Aperture Tag as one of the best Portal 2 mods.^[19] Wired and Computer and Video Games magazines reported that upon release, the Portal community complained about the US$7 price tag and for not releasing it for free; Wired also reported that the community complained about poor writing and voice acting.^[13][20]

• Official website (archived)
• Aperture Tag at MobyGames