Aperture Science High Energy Pellet
This article is about the Aperture Science energy ball. For the Combine ball, see Energy Ball. |
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| Aperture Science High Energy Pellet | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Faction | |
| Type |
Energy ball |
| Usage | |
| Used by | |
| Game information | |
| Entity |
prop_energy_ball |
| Designer(s) |
Scott Klintworth[1] (launcher and catcher) |
The Aperture Science High Energy Pellet is a testing element used in the Test Chambers of the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center.
Contents
Overview[edit]
- An energy ball that kills Test Subjects in a single hit and thus must be avoided at all costs, it is used in Test Chambers to allow Test Subjects to proceed further, by opening doors, raising or lowering platforms, or activating Unstationary Scaffolds. To do so, the ball is launched by its launcher and must reach its catcher. Most of the time Test Subjects have to direct it through a portal so that it reaches the catcher. Once placed, the catcher closes, holding the ball inside, the ball launcher stops creating energy balls, and the linked object(s) opens and/or activates.
- High Energy Pellets tend to disintegrate after a few seconds, typically twelve or sixteen seconds. A new one is then deployed after a short delay.
- It also includes a green variant that never disintegrates. It is seen in Test Chamber 19.
- The High Energy Pellet is first introduced in Test Chamber 06 and is present in most of the following Test Chambers. In Test Chamber 17, Chell must use two corridors where Energy Pellets come and go. This is where the Weighted Companion Cube is introduced to protect her against the balls.
- It can also be used against Sentry Turrets. However it just pushes them and does not destroy them.
- The Pellet appears to recharge when going through portals, which will lengthen its life by six seconds if its current lifetime is less than six seconds.
Behind the scenes[edit]
- The High Energy Pellet is identical in almost all aspects to the Combine Energy Ball; it has the same appearance and the same sound effects, but it instantly kills the player.
- The Energy Ball Catcher is based on the Combine Socket Generator. It was originally a shrunk-down version of the Socket Generator early in development, as evidenced by unused entities inside the Energy Ball Catcher and a far deeper hole behind the catcher than is necessary for the final model.
Trivia[edit]
- Although the Pellet itself is not used in Portal 2, the launcher and catcher both make appearances. In GLaDOS' Test Chamber 01, the launcher and catcher are seen being replaced with a Thermal Discouragement Beam emitter and catcher respectively - GLaDOS later remarks she had just finished the Discouragement Redirection Cube before Chell defeated her in Portal 1, explaining the change. In ruined Test Chamber 07, the launcher's workings can be seen; however, the launcher to be yellow cone-shaped device much larger than the actual launcher on the workings. In the ruins of Test Chamber 19, the Pellet Launcher can be seen but the reciever cannot.
- The cone-shaped device poses a continuity problem between the two games: the launcher in Test Chamber 18 is attached to a rotating panel, which is fully functional despite lacking the bulky apparatus.
- The High Energy Pellet has missing textures and sounds in Portal 2 unless the material and sound files it uses are placed in the game files or packed into a map.
Gallery[edit]
Portal[edit]
Pre-release[edit]
High Energy Pellet launcher model from 2005, from the Portal leak.
More recent High Energy Pellet launcher model, from the Portal leak.
Retail[edit]
High Energy Pellet launcher model.
High Energy Pellet catcher model.
Different in-game screenshots of launchers and catchers, from Scott Klintworth's official website.
In Test Chamber 07.
In Test Chamber 08.
Launcher next to the upgraded ASHPD in Test Chamber 11.
In Test Chamber 13.
In Test Chamber 15.
In Test Chamber 17.
In Test Chamber 19.
Portal 2[edit]
Concept art of a destroyed High Energy Pellet launcher in a ruined Test Chamber 07.
Concept art for an Aperture Science High Energy Pellet catcher.
Ditto.
Office furniture models, along with a catcher model.
A High Energy Pellet about to hit a Test Subject on an Aperture Science propaganda poster, titled "Courage is Not the Absence of Fear".
An active High Energy Pellet catcher in a ruined Test Chamber 07, with Wheatley waiting on the right.
High Energy Pellet launcher.
High Energy Pellet catcher.
List of appearances[edit]
Main games[edit]
Other[edit]
- Portal: First Slice
- Portal: Still Alive (Non-canonical appearance)
- Portal ARG
- PotatoFoolsDay ARG
- The Final Hours of Portal 2
- Portal Pinball (Non-canonical appearance) (Emitter and catcher only)
- Lego Dimensions (Non-canonical appearance)
- Bridge Constructor Portal (Non-canonical appearance)
