Was a very enjoyable stream today where we went through quite a lot of entries from most authors! 

Stream is over!

Simon

This is about CE 1.1.1 (NeoLemmix Community Edition) released in 2026.

There are several rulers in 1.1.1:

./rulers/fall_distance.png
./gfx/helpers-hr/fall_distance.png
./gfx/helpers/fall_distance.png

These are still namida's ruler, i.e., the ruler that prompts people to mismeasure because it's longer than 63, and nobody looks at the little dots in the middle.

Instead, CE should ship a thin stick. Attached is what I use. I call it the Caveman Stick in honor of mobius's push for simplicity, and I wield it with valor and satisfaction.

This stick is only 1 white pixel wide in the long middle. It's white-black-white at the end.

-- Simon

CE 1.1.1

There is the option to hide background tiles. This hides non-animated background, but it still shows animated background. There seems to be no way to hide animated decorations.

Please let me hide the animated decorations!

With the CE 1.1.1 set of options, I would have expected the hide-backgrounds option to also hide the unanimated decorations. Reasoning: Either we want to see the level exactly how the designer made it, or we want the bare-bones functionality.

I don't know if anybody wants to see one kind animated/unanimated background, but not the other. Maybe it's better as a separate option, even if it's more clutter and more work for the user?

Maybe reword the options to Show Backgrounds and activate by default, instead of Hide Backgrounds and disabled by default. It's the classic preference to word bool options positively: I want backgrounds, check, I don't want backgrounds, uncheck.

-- Simon

CE 1.1.1

This works:

• Have a level without preview text, but with missing tiles.
  
• Go to its preview screen. The level image contains some checkered question marks.
  
• Attempt to start the level.
  
• NL asks you: Missing tiles, do you want to download the tiles?
  
• Click: Yes.
  
• NL downloads the tiles.
  
• We're back in the preview screen, and the level previews normally.
  

This is a bug:

• Have a level with preview text, but with missing tiles.
  
• Go to its preview screen. The level image contains some checkered question marks.
  
• Attempt to start the level.
  
• NL proceeds to the separate screen that prints the preview text without the level preview image. We can read the custom text.
  
• Click again.
  
• We're playing the level and see lots of checkerboarded question marks instead of the terrain.
  

Expected instead: After step 3 of the failure, NL prompts us to download the missing tiles. You can download the tiles reasonably around step 3, 4, 5, but definitely before step 6 of the failure.

Throughout all this, I have activated the online features in the options.

Example level with preview text and downloadable tiles is Re-Enlistment by Giga. It's in the Level of the Year 2025 pack.

-- Simon

I'm late to the party with the congratulating, but nonetheless:

This is excellent work! I had known that the number of lemmings saved affected the passwords. And I had observed how the penultimate digit, i.e., code[8], stayed the same for several levels and then increased by one letter for the next batch of levels. It was also common to know that the final code[9] was a checksum of the earlier 9 letters.

But I had never investigated the exact foundations. Well done!

-- Simon

I'm currently working on the player/menu screen for Fizzles, and I'd like to discuss one design question with you:

What kind of highscore or statistics system would make sense for a Lemmings-like puzzle rescue game?

The current menu already supports:
- multiple local players
- four difficulty levels per player
- separate progress per player/difficulty
- music and SFX volume controls

My original idea was to add a highscore/statistics screen, but the more I thought about it, the more complicated it became.

A classic time-based highscore does not feel quite right for Fizzles, because I don't want the game to become mainly about speed or pressure. The core idea is still rescuing the creatures and solving the level calmly.

A few possible approaches:

1. Highscore per level and difficulty
Example:
Level 3 / Difficulty 2:
Player A rescued 8/10
Player B rescued 7/10

This is clear, but with many levels it can become a lot of lists.

2. Overall player highscore
Example:
Player A rescued 120 Fizzles in total
Player B rescued 105 Fizzles in total

This is simple and easy to understand, but then the question is:
Should repeated plays of the same level count?
Or should only the best result per level/difficulty count?

The main reasoning is:
The more Fizzles you rescue, the better you mastered the level.

Used abilities are not necessarily a good ranking criterion, because some levels are designed so that the optimal solution requires using the available ability, for example Floater.

So my current question is:

For this kind of game, what would you personally prefer?

- A highscore per level?
- A global player ranking?
- Something closer to "best rescue result" rather than time?
- No highscore at all?

I'm especially interested in what would feel motivating without turning the game into a stressful speedrun experience.

The screenshot shows the current local player menu. Each player can choose a difficulty level, and progress is saved separately per player and difficulty.

Likewise, I am really sorry to hear about your mum Lucia, best wishes to you and your family.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Let's sum up availability for those who have posted so far. Dates highlighted in yellow are potential dates so far that could suit everyone that posted.

Will - July 18/19/23/24/25/26/30/31, August 1/2/6/7/8/9/13/14, Locations: Leeds, Whitby, Liverpool, Blackpool
Flopsy - July 19/23/31, August 1/2/13/14/15/16/22, Locations: Leeds, Whitby, Liverpool, Blackpool (although far)
Kingshadow - no date preference, Locations: Leeds
tanxdx - no date preference, no location preference - flexible.
hrb264 - free most of July, not available August 22-28, flexible with location.

Early days yet and we'll probably have more people join in, let us know if you want to come 

Exhaustive research including the recent Swingadingding (Shadow 5) findings from min-skills-for-gold, nice!

I've added you as a board-specific moderator for this Challenges board. You should now be able to edit ccexplore's first post and add your results. Should issues arise, let me know.

-- Simon

Hi!

I was cleaning up and organizing old files on my computer today when I ran into more unfinished levels. Some of them look fairly complete, while others not so much

They should work on the latest version of NeoLemmix, so feel free to use these levels in any way you see fit!