I downloaded TAG immediately and I had a ton of fun playing that game. In my wait for Portal 2, the new gel mechanics where shown and in the announcement they said the gels came from the team behind TAG The Power of Paint, who were hired by Valve. The story for Aperture Tag starts way back before Portal 2 was released. So certainly they had plans to do a paint gun, but it looks like it got cut out of the game. There is a weapon_paintgun in the files, and as an entity in the Portal 2 level editor, but it doesn't do anything.

What made you decide it was worth exploring?Įugenio Roman: I am not exactly sure about this.

We spoke with Roman about building the game, how involved Valve was with the project, and how the game came to life.Ĭorrect me if I'm wrong, but the ability for players to paint the walls with the blue and orange gels from a gun, as you do in Aperture Tag, was supposed to be part of Portal 2 at one point, right? Valve cut the mechanic. The game is the brainchild of Eugenio Roman – a dedicated modder of Valve's games – who decided to step up his tinkering to create a full experience with Aperture Tag.

Instead of using the portal gun to make your way through Aperture's labs, players have a new paint gun letting them fire off the speed-boosting and bouncing gel nearly anywhere. It uses Portal 2's assets and and setting, but takes one if its mechanics – the use of the blue and orange gel – to create a completely original experience forcing you to examine Portal puzzles in a whole new way. Recently released on Steam, Aperture Tag rests somewhere between a substantial mod, DLC, and a full game release.

Portal 2 orange gel