I have some minor/major complaints to the unfinished version currently.

Thanks for the feedback - most of those things are already on the todo list, but it's nice to see that they are actually missed!

• Cannot nuke making me wait for time to be up.

Yup, nuke doesn't work yet. You can use the back button though to immediately exit a level.

• The select right and left buttons do nothing.

Directional selection isn't implemented yet, nor is the planned skill-selection mode (select droid/lemming performing a specific skill).

• Special levels are blank.

No support for VGASPEC levels yet.

• Very lacking of menu currently (That is very understandable as it is not yet finished.)

This is currently my biggest todo.

• No multiplayer!

Unlikely to be implemented for Droidlings. If so, it won't be for a while.

• Black background (Theory why this is: DOS version?)

Droidlings is definitely based on the DOS version, but I thought the orignal Lemmings games all used a black background? What color would you expect?

• No sound or music.

This is one of those things that are a bit difficult - I can't use the sounds or music from the original game, so adding sound/music is a question of getting appropriate replacements. As such this won't be happening any time soon, unfortunately.

• Scrolling too far on the level viewing screen can get you lost.

Infinite scrolling... added to the todo list, nice catch.

• Level viewing screen has no stats!

This ties in with the no-menus.

• No character selector.

Do you mean selecting between Droid/Lemmings? Currently the character animations are loaded from whatever files are provided (MAIN.DAT).

• You can choose any level (For those who do not know what this means, the original lemmings has you to play each level.)

Also ties in with the menu structure. Tracking level statistics (most saved, time) is also planned, as are challenges.

• Needs Lemmings 2: The Tribes, The Lemmings Chronicles, and Lix level support.

Unlikely since these have additional skills and file formats.


As I mentioned, I don't know when I'll get arround to doing any of the above, but thank you for the feedback!

Since you asked so nicely, I decided to post the in-progress version of Droidlings http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=760.msg16271#msg16271" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">here: http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=760.msg16271#msg16271

Please leave feedback and create some levels!

Alright, since you asked so nicely, I decided to post the in-progress version of Droidlings http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=760.msg16271#msg16271" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">here: http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=760.msg16271#msg16271

Unfortunately, Droidlings is still missing a lot of polish (menus, more robust level pack support, progress tracking), but since the gameplay itself is fully implemented and I probably won't have time in the foreseeable future to keep working on it, I figure I might as well release what I have... Who knows, if I get enough feedback it might even motivate me to make some time!

So, here's an APK with the current state (very, very alpha) of Droidlings. It includes the 5 levels I have made so far, and also has support for loading the original DOS Lemmings levels (currently just Lemmings and Oh No More Lemmings). To load the original levels, you will need to copy the original dos lemmings files to "/sdcard/Droidlings/Lemmings" and "/sdcard/Droidlings/OhNo". The DAT files must be located directly within those directories (e.g., "/sdcard/Droidlings/Lemmings/MAIN.DAT). Sorry that these paths are currently hard-coded, this is part of the "more robust level pack support" that I mentioned above.

What you can do to help?
1) Give me feedback!
2) Create levels using the graphic sets from http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=609.msg13318#msg13318" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">this post: http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=609.msg13318#msg13318
3) Create additional graphic sets and accompanying levels (in order to avoid legal issues with Sony, NO assets from the original game may be used).

Originally I was planning to make Droidlings a paid (99c) App on the Play Store to cover my investment in hiring an artist to draw the graphics, but if at least half of the levels (that's 63 levels deemed worthy by me to make it into the game) are contributed by the community, I'll make Droidlings free (if and when I complete it) and possibly even OpenSource it.

I tried and tried to get that to work, but I never made it http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" /> Fixed now, barely, but since it was only doable pixel-perfectly, it seems reasonable that the fix is done pixel perfectly as well.

I've also added a new level which I know has several solutions, but I'm sure you'll find more all the same http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

Another level for you to find backroutes to. The snake pit.

Have fun!

Yay, finally a solution that's more or less like I intended http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" /> My solution dug the other way (from right to left), but your's uses the same concept and actually uses a builder less.

I wasn't too happy with the steel underneath (looked too clunky, I may need to work on the graphics some), so I instead used windows to prevent the route below. Hope that doesn't open up any new backroutes...

Time to start working on some new levels!

Since Droidlings needs to be able to load the original data files (for when the user provides the assets from the original game), I decided to store the new graphics sets in the same format to make loading uniform. Honestly I never really considered a different format, but now I've got the tools to quickly generate .dat graphic sets, so it's not much of a hassle.

Oh, and yes, of course, 3 new backroutes for three levels http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" /> No idea how to fix the city one, but I've hopefully taken care of the other two http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

Thanks!

Wow, 3 backroutes for 3 levels http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/embarrassed.gif" alt=":-[" title="Embarrassed" class="smiley" /> You really are harsh http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

The missing steel in "Afraid of heights" was due to a bug, not sure what happened there, but it should be fixed now.

For "Don't quit on me", I raised the height of the central pillar a bit more, which should make building over impossible...

In "The way is shut", I have no idea how to get rid of/avoid that top-of-the-level-glitch without redoing the top-left side, so I guess I'll have to leave it. Droidlings makes everything outside of the arena steel, so the glitch you used won't work http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/devil.gif" alt=":evil:" title="Evil" class="smiley" />

Thanks for testing! I'm amazed at how difficult it is to eliminate backroutes!

Oh, and the flickering pixels in the brick set's exit should be fixed as well. Thanks for spotting it!

Nice, thanks!

And you found the intended solution at least for one level (Afraid of heights)...
I hope I fixed the backroutes on the other two levels, let's see what other backroutes remain http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

Thanks, I've updated the zip with the appropriate changes. I'll have to delay fixing of the pixel flicker until I get home though, I hope it's an easy fix.

How do you open replays for custom levels in lemmix? Is it possible from the level editor? Or do you need to somehow load the levels in the lemmix player? For some reason none of the keyboard shortcuts available in the lemmix player work within the editor preview (F2) for me.

Once I've finished the remaining two sets, I'll host a contest for level design, probably with some amazon gift certificates as a prize. Any levels made up to then will automatically be entered, so no need to wait. Stay tuned http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" />

It has taken a lot longer than planned, but I've finally reached the point where I can start to share some contents from "Droidlings", my in-progress Android remake of Lemmings. First up: 3 of 5 new graphic sets!

For those of you who don't remember this thread from half a year ago, "Droidlings" will feature small, not overly intelligent androids with the same set of skills and problems as our beloved Lemmings. Provided with the appropriate data files, the game will also be capable of loading Lemmings levels.

Since I needed to hire an artist to help draw the graphic sets, the game will be available on the market as a both a paid app and a free "lite" version with a limited selection of levels. However, I am releasing the graphic sets to the public in order to get feedback, and, hopefully, to get some help in designing levels.

Please note that by using these graphic sets, you agree to let me use any levels created with these graphic sets for "Droidlings", or for any other purpose as I see fit.

In order to use the graphic sets with Lemmix, you will need to append the contents of "LemmixStyles.ini" to the LemmixStyles.ini file located in the Lemmix directory. You might also need to adjust the common path directory of the pack, depending on where you extract the Droidlings subdirectory. By default, CommonPath=C:\Lemmix\GameData\Droidlings\.

If you use some other editor/player, you will have to figure out how to use the graphic sets on your own http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/winktounge.gif" alt=";P" title="Wink-Tongue" class="smiley" />

The Examples subdirectory contains a few sample levels, one for each graphic set. Hopefully the levels are not too simple, even for the lemmingsforums crowd...

Looking forward to hearing your feedback and suggestions, and hopefully to seeing a few new levels!
Cheers,
Johannes

Yay, I got it working! Thanks for the tip with the strange entrance order - considering how the entrance works that actually makes a lot of sense. Other things I was doing wrong: I didn't set the animation flags correctly (that's why nothing was animating), and I thought the preview image index specified a frame, whereas it actually specifies an offset from the start of the data section (that was causing the source rectangle invalid error).

I've attached what it looks like in Lemmix now. The tiles I posted before are only a small portion of the entire tileset - I don't want to publicize the tileset quite yet.

Interesting that Lix gets the colors wrong, I guess it uses a hard-coded palette rather than the one at the end of the ground file. I guess that will limit editing to Lemmix.

TC,
Johannes

I'm working on a couple new tile sets for my Android clone of Lemmings, and am having some problems writing a valid ground file (one that works with lemmix). The terrain pieces weren't very difficult, but I'm having some problems with the object information.

Specifically, whenever I load an object in Lemmix (except for the exit for some reason), I get the error "Source rectangle is invalid." Objects display fine in the object selection menu of the inspector window, and also display in-game (F2), but are not animated correctly (the entrance starts slightly open, then opens and jumps back to closed for the last frame, the exit and all other objects don't animate at all).

Trying to start the original game (vgalemmi.exe) shows the level preview correctly, but crashes when I try to start playing.

Are there some hard-coded assumptions the game (and lemmix) make about the animation of the objects? Or about the size of the object? Is there some data I'm forgetting in the ground file?

I've attached an excerpt of one of the tilesets for anyone who has any idea about what I'm talking about  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/huh.gif" alt="???" title="Huh?" class="smiley" />
Thanks!
Johannes

p.s. Yes, I will release the complete tilesets to all you fine folk soon. In fact, I will be holding a level design competition for anyone interested in contributing some levels for the clone. Stay tuned!

For the Android Lemmings remake I'm working on, I'm considering whether to include a mini-map or not. Personally I don't recall ever having used it, but I want to ask the "pro" players whether they deem it important.

Seeing as Lemmings 2 did away with it, I guess even the makers didn't consider it all that useful? What are your thoughts?

p.s. Scrolling will support fling-gestures, so the mini-map shouldn't be necessary to scroll to a different screen location.