Test Chamber 13
Turret relocation via Portal
Old and new Portal guns
Detail of props in the player’s chamber at the start of the game. Designed to fit Portal’s slick aesthetic, these distinctive items help the player recognize the chamber where they started after walking through a portal for the first time.
Detail of the energy ball launcher and catcher that the player encounters at many points during Portal. Designed to look like a cohesive set, the devices activate lifts and unstationary scaffolds.
Sketched concepts of the portal gun. The Portal team went through many iterations in the design of the device.
The final design of the portal gun integrates the gravity-gun prongs and the clean lined monochromatic Portal prop aesthetic. The indention on the top of the portal gun, as well as the glass tube, display the color of the portal that you last shot.
One of many concept studies for GLaDOS. As a central character in Portal, the design team wanted to build a space that brought a great deal of attention to her. GLaDOS’ body is designed to look highly complicated and mechanical, yet, at the same time, feminine.
As the Portal team evolved the design of GLaDOS, they incorporated a large disk into her form. Ultimately, the team felt that her form, as shown, was too small.
A nearly final design concept of GLaDOS. The Portal team retained the more complicated body from the first concept image while incorporating the disk elements to represent each aspect of GLaDOS’s personality modules.