Playing NeoLemmix with a Gamepad

[WillLem]

OK, so I've decided I'm going to have a go at mapping the NeoLemmix controls to a Gamepad. I've chosen the Wii Classic Pro Controller, since it can be plugged into my PC using the 8bitDo GBros adapter for basically 0 lag and it has 14 usable buttons and 2 analog sticks.

Here's my thinking, mapwise. Obviously I've had to choose the most essential commands for mapping to buttons:

Button	Hotkey	Function
L-Analog-Up	Mouse Move	Mouse Cursor Up
L-Analog-Down	Mouse Move	Mouse Cursor Down
L-Analog-Left	Mouse Move	Mouse Cursor Left
L-Analog-Right	Mouse Move	Mouse Cursor Right
-	-	-
R-Analog-Up	Mouse Wheel Up	Zoom In
R-Analog-Down	Mouse Wheel Down	Zoom Out
R-Analog-Left	Mouse Move	Spring Mouse Cursor Left (for level scrolling)
R-Analog-Right	Mouse Move	Spring Mouse Cursor Right (for level scrolling)
-	-	-
D-Up	+	Increase Release Rate
D-Down	-	Decrease Release Rate
D-Left	Left Arrow	Direction Select L
D-Right	Right Arrow	Direction Select R
-	-	-
Select	W	Select Walking Lemming
Home	N/A	N/A (Cannot be assigned)
Start	O	Replay Insert Mode
-	-	-
A	Left Mouse Button	Left Mouse Button Click / Skip Forward 1 Frame
B	Right Mouse Button	Right Mouse Button Click / Skip Backward 1 Frame
X	Num0	Skip Forward 100 Frames
Y	Backspace	Skip Backward 25 Frames
-	-	-
L-Bumper	Down Arrow	Previous Skill
R-Bumper	Up Arrow	Next Skill
-	-	-
ZL-Trigger	F	Fast Forward
ZR-Trigger	P	Pause

Here's a shortlist of my other most-used commands, which I may swap in if I find I'm using them more than any of the above:

Current Hotkey in grey

Show Athlete Info A
Quit Esc
Max RR Num+
Min RR Num-
Nuke N
Cheat Delete
Slow Motion >
Save Replay S
Load Replay L
Highlight Lemming U
Cancel Replay C
Edit Replay E
Toggle Music M
Toggle SoundX
Restart R
Release Mouse Enter
CPM Toggle Caps Lock
CPM Hold V
Toggle Shadows H
Show Used Skill Counts :

[WillLem]

After an initial test, I've decided to swap out Cancel Replay in favour of Select Walking Lemming, since Replay mode can be cancelled simply by clicking anywhere in the empty screen, and this tends to be how I cancel Replay mode when playing using a Mouse and Keyboard anyway. Meanwhile, the ability to select a Walker from behind another active Lemming seems like it'll be very useful for finer control.

I've considered adding in the Highlight Lemming function, but I tend to find this very fiddly to use even with a Keyboard and Mouse, so I'm unlikely to reach for it all that much. If I find that any of the other buttons I've assigned are mostly redundant, though, I will reconsider putting this one into the setup; maybe the function will make more sense to me on a Gamepad...

Pause and Fast Forward are both very useful in the Trigger position, so I'm leaving these as they are (I originally had these assigned to Start and Select, but found that I used them a lot so it makes sense to have them in a more readily accessible area of the pad).

The large Skip Forward and Skip Backward buttons didn't get used much, but I was testing using the first few levels of L1 which don't require much skipping. Fast Forward was more than sufficient to get through the slower parts of the levels, and since I've played these levels a million times I never needed to do large Backward skips.

I can imagine that the skip buttons will get used way more when playing levels I'm less familiar with.



Overall thoughts so far:

NeoLemmix is great when played using a Gamepad! It adds another layer of tangibility which, whilst slowing down the gameplay somewhat, helps to bring back some of that feeling of "herding kittens" which permeated original Lemmings. I didn't use the finer game controls during the initial test, so I'll have to play a more complex level which requires more detailed and precise inputs to get a sense of how it handles for more intricate gameplay.

More on this later!

[WillLem]

I've now played through all of L1's Fun rank in just under 30 minutes with the above setup. I was able to perform quite intricate actions such as Bash-cancelling to create a "staircase" through terrain, and with some practice I was able to control more than one Lemming at the same time at opposite ends of the screen without too much difficulty* (for example, continuing the worker lem whilst rescuing the Blocker in Worra Lorra Lemmings).

It will take a bit more practice to become deft enough to use this setup for the later levels, but I'm enjoying the setup thus far and I'll likely continue through the rest of the game with it at least.

It's unlikely that I'll adopt this as my go-to for playing NeoLemmix in general, but it's at least a fun experiment!

*I later realised that I could've used the Replay Insert Mode, which I have designated to the "Start" button. I'll likely need to make much more use of this as the levels get more difficult.

[namida]

Couldn't tell you what software I used, but I tried this general idea myself a very long time ago - well, NeoLemmix didn't exist yet at the time, it was with Lemmix. It was fun for a little while, I could see it being a reasonable option in a controller-only arcade style PC setup for sure, but it's definitely not ideal.

One thing I do recall doing is using combinations of buttons in several cases. In particular, I recall having skill select mapped to L2/R2 + X/Y/A/B, though couldn't tell you which one mapped to which skill. This is less feasible now that there are 21 skills instead of 8, and less necessary now that previous/next skill hotkeys are an option, but the general concept could well be useful for other things - perhaps for example, L2 + X/Y could be longer frameskips, with the buttons alone being just a single frame?

[WillLem]

One thing I do recall doing is using combinations of buttons in several cases ... perhaps for example, L2 + X/Y could be longer frameskips, with the buttons alone being just a single frame?

Good shout, I thought about doing this as well. X could potentially be mapped as a "hold" button to allow A, B and Y to perform different "shift" functions, thus adding an extra 3 buttons. It's something I'd definitely consider if I get into playing with the Gamepad setup more often.

I'll probably record some gameplay today to demonstrate the fluidity (or not!) of the controls so far.