GLaDOS (Evolution)

Throughout Portal's 2 years of development, the ending was changed quite a number of times, going from a simple escape from an abandoned facility to a battle against a floating cube of rollermines before its final rendition of a giant feminine ai supercomputer. This page aims to explain and display all the known eras, screenshots, and other such information concerning GLaDOS and the escape throughout Portal 1's development.

Prospekt Era Escape (Lab_lvl3a)

Prior to the conceptualization of the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center, the story followed an unnamed test subject through a Nova Prospekt-esque facility. What is presumably the final level of this era of development, referred to as the "Prospekt Era," is found in the Portal 1 leaked mappack, titled "lab_lvl3a." This gauntlet of mini-challenges has the player going throughout the behind-the-scenes areas of the facility in order to locate 4 car batteries in order to restore the power to the facility and unlock the front door.

Noteworthy points

Lab_lvl3a contains the most Prospekt-era content of any leaked map due to it being an actual full map from the era. With this, the map file contains portions of 3 separate era chambers, chambers 0, 13, and 18, as well as the nomenclature for said chambers. What is interesting about this, is that, although chambers 0 and 13 use logically sound names (intro_lvl and intro_lvl7,) Chamber 18 is an outlier and a conundrum in itself, having a name that would place it past this level (lab_lvl4.) There are a plethora of theories behind the reason for this name, ranging from that the map was conceptualized after the creation of lab_lvl3a to that lab_lvl3a wasn't actually the final escape map and that the exit would have looped back around. For the time being, however, there is no definitive evidence behind any of this, and, with how bizarre some map names for Prospekt-era Portal are, it may very well just be coincidental.

Gallery

The offices, the first section of the map, found before returning auxiliary power.
Ditto, with the power restored.
The battery found inside one of the office rooms.
The Aperture logo before any batteries have been found.
Ditto, with 1 battery.
Ditto, 2 batteries.
Ditto, all 3 batteries.
The Kitchen, set ablaze by a turret and broken gas pipe.
The lounge, located directly next to the kitchen, also on fire.
The storage closet located next to the lounge.
Test Chamber 0's observation deck.
Ditto, Chamber 13.
Ditto, Chamber 18.
The broken ceiling in Chamber 18's deck, allowing the player to access another office.
Said office.
The fizzlers past the front desk's doors. Note that, although the models are correct, they are using the incorrect textures, as their originals have been lost.
Freedom.