Feature Request: Next Level button

[keiya]

I'm liking the Lix engine for a lot of things, but it really, really needs a 'next level' button in single player mode. Going out to the menu and selecting the next level works, but it kind of breaks the flow. Is that something we could see soon?

[Simon]

Note taken. It's a good suggestion.

Should the button progress to the next level, or instead to the next unsolved level? Should there be two buttons for these? Last level of a directory shouldn't leave the directory for simplicity, at most it should go back to the beginning of the same dir.

-- Simon

[keiya]

I'd probably just go to the next level - if the player is hopping around, they're going to want to use the menu anyway.

[namida]

If I'm not mistaken, the consistent behaviour amongst most official Lemmings games (though IIRC WinLemm is an exception) is to go to the next level, not the next unsolved one.

[chaos_defrost]

I vote for "next unsolved level." If you're playing through the levels normally, a lot of the time the next unsolved level will be the next level sequentially, but if you skipped a level, went back and got it, and the next level is one you already solved, what's the point?

For the purposes of this game, the vast majority of the time "next level sequentially" and "next unsolved" are the same. For the exceptions, "next unsolved" is more useful. Maybe make the label for the button "next level" if the next sequential level is not solved, and "next unsolved level" if it has been.

[Proxima]

I vote for "next level": then the button remains useful when you're replaying the levels after having solved some of them. Also, having "previous level" and "next level" buttons would help with the case where you accidentally click on an adjacent level. You could still reach the next unsolved level by clicking "next level" several times, whereas a "next unsolved level" button wouldn't help with reaching the next level any time that is what you want.

[Simon]

I'm currently thinking about offering both buttons, and the usual full hotkey configuration for them in the options. I feel the love for both buttons myself, even though it bloats the current end-of-game dialog.

Next level should be disabled iff the bottom level of a directory has been played.

Next unsolved level should be disabled iff all levels in a directory are solved. It's not necessarily disabled when all levels below the current one are solved, this button will wrap back to the beginning of the directory.

Maybe it's not going into the very next release, but next-level button is a short-term goal in the Lix wishlist. I'm planning to make a physics-bugfix release first with the soft time limit in singleplayer, because that affects physics, and it's yet to be implemented.

(New game versions with physics changes require everyone to update in order to play multiplayer. Without physics changes, people can have whatever version they like. I strive to condense all physics changes into a single release.)

Proxima: I'm planning to have the next-level button in the end-of-game singleplayer menu. Since you mention clicking them repeatedly, do you want them on the main game screen? That one has run out of space in the panel as I see it...

-- Simon