DavidLems (70 levels) [Difficulty: Medium - Extreme]

[kaywhyn]

Hi David,

After plenty of struggling, I've managed to solve both the first two ranks. My replays are attached. Also, link to my LP: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJtTPz6PJEoXrGylqQIEWnVZ. Enjoy!

General Feedback

DavidLems is David's second level pack, after The Lemmings Have Grown. There are 4 ranks here, with the first three having 20 levels each while the final rank has only 10 levels. Two of the ranks here have the same name as in the previous pack, 100 metres and 400 metres, with the remaining rank, 200 metres, appropriately inserted between them. The final rank of "One minute" I'm guessing is an entire rank of levels each having a 1-minute time limit and seems to have been inspired by the One rank of PimoLems, for which Pieuw did exactly that.

In contrast to the previous pack, DavidLems is far harder, almost akin to ONML's difficulty compared to L1, but DavidLems' difficulty far exceeds ONML. I haven't played a pack this hard in a really long time. However, as I have stated plenty of times, I relish difficult levels in the game of Lemmings and will happily take them on. There's been plenty of great levels here which I deem LOTY nomination worthy for next year's LOTY. Plenty of the levels have had me constantly come up at least a skill short, so it definitely reminds me of when I played through Lemmings United a few years ago. David has definitely improved tremendously in his craft since his first level pack. Though I'm currently a bit into the 400 metres rank, I'm convinced that David was inspired by plenty of levels/packs that he might had played and seen the solutions to. I even see some inspiration from my own levels in some of the solutions! However, one of them I don't think came from mine, as it came a few months after David released this pack In any case, it always makes me happy to see levels from others where I can see some inspiration from either one of my levels or from some others that I have played and solved

Needless to say, DavidLems really reminds me of NepsterLems in plenty of ways: Small to medium levels in size, very minimal skillsets, and there being so many possibilities that look like they could work but they don't, i.e, levels with very high entropy, as Icho would put it. Only, IMO DavidLems is far harder and it doesn't stick to only the classic 8 skills like Nepster's pack does. Also the levels in general here seem to be much smaller in size in contrast to plenty of levels in The Lemmings Have Grown pack. David truly has amazed me at how he managed to make extremely deceptively difficult levels here! As plenty can attest to, including myself, these levels with minimal skillsets give the appearance of an easy level but in actuality are quite difficult if done properly. These were most definitely done right!

Finally, DavidLems continues to impress me in the visual designs of the levels, as I would expect from someone like David, given what I've seen in his first level pack which absolutely blew me away in how amazing they look DavidLems is also a huge improvement from his first level pack in terms of the puzzles/solutions

100 metres Rank Feedback

Being the first rank of the pack, these are the "easiest" levels of the pack. However, in my experiences these are considerably far harder than the first rank levels of his previous level pack. In addition, there still seems to be a very wonky difficulty curve. For example, I got stumped on the very first level of the pack for a good 25 minutes or so. Even though it only gives you two miners, IMO this level is way too difficult to be the first level of the pack. It needs to move down to later in the rank, and I believe there's one suitable level I found in which it can swap positions with.

Spoiler

100 metres 1 - Magic Circus As mentioned, this is way too difficult to be the first level of the pack. It's not an easy puzzle to work out in any way, especially as I didn't realize both miners need to go out to the left for a while. The splitters also complicates matters. So yea, this needs to move down to later in the rank

100 metres 2 - Zero gravity Not as difficult as the previous level, but it's still challenging. It can still be hard to figure out who to assign the gliders in order to be able to collect the pickups in the most efficient way possible. It's clear the floaters cannot collect them at all.

100 metres 3 - Underwater Ok and decent level, though having to constantly babysit and assign the swimmer skill to every Lemming until you collect the pickups is pretty annoying IMO. At the same time, I personally am not much of a fan of levels where you need to repeatedly spam the same skill. It was also annoying to figure out where to start bombing through the thick terrain in order to collect the pickups. I had to constantly readjust the positioning of the bombers before I finally collected them successfully.

100 metres 4 - Queen's palace (episode 1) Good level to start off the series similar to the previous pack, except this one is found every 4 levels instead of at the halfway point and then again as the rank finisher. The key here is to realize that the builder will connect with the floating platform if you place it correctly and therefore allows the Lemmings from the right entrance to come over to the left side where they can drop them safely and not splat due to the splat pad after bashing away the staircase.

100 metres 5 - Steel Deceptively difficult and uses a really neat trick that I've already seen before in Insane Steve's World (bombing at the right spot to make a previously surmountable step up a wall in order to take away the pixel of the staircase to now make it insurmountable)

100 metres 6 - Not all paths lead to the exit! Difficult but one of my favorites. I especially love the isolation of a worker to be the swimmer/climber to hurry to the critical spot to dig so that no one gets by him and therefore won't be able to exit later. Nice job wit this level!

100 metres 7 - Parachute or paragliding Another nice level which demonstrates the effects of updrafts quite well with a floater and a glider. The key is realizing to have the glider go into the little nook, not have him go over the top at the first instance, as he will arrive too early before the builder at the bottom can catch him. The glider will be able to get over the top after coming back to the left.

100 metres 8 - Queen's palace (episode 2) It's all down to timing. It's all in finding the right RR to make all the timings work out. Nice level!

100 metres 9 - The dreams forest Even though there's only 1 Lemming in this level, this is still pretty hard. The skillset might seem like plenty, but at least in my solution all the skills are used and must be used properly. As a result, it's not easy finding the most efficient way through the level. Getting the button to make the exit appear especially complicates matters. That being said, I would consider reducing the precision, especially with the jumping. As I and some others have said, "just because you can doesn't mean you should" when designing levels in NL I at least take care to allow some leeway in skill assignments, as I in general don't like it when people fail my levels due to not placing a pixel-perfect skill correctly

100 metres 10 - Pacific Islands This really appears to be a breather at first, but how wrong I was! For a while, I kept fiddling around with the stacker and builders to try and get the swimmer to dive under the island where the right entrance is, but that would take one too many builders you're provided. In the end, I like the solution, especially with stacking to contain the right entrance and then bashing with the lone Lemming from the left entrance in such a way that it doesn't release the crowd so that he can get the button. It reminds me of a United level that did this. However, I think some in the NL community wouldn't like this due to being a huge builderfest over a very huge water gap even though all of it is done with the lone Lemming on both sides. Could probably be done with a far smaller water gap without the level being too much of a loss At the same time, this seems to be the only really builder heavy level, and so this would be considered ok!

100 metres 11 - The walls Starting from this point on through 100 metres 15, I don't have the original video recording as I foolishly didn't check to see that OBS was actually recording when in fact it wasn't Anyway, this I would consider easy for its position and could be a suitable candidate to swap with 100 metres 1. Pretty good level here, with a few red herrings that you can fall for. I especially love the platforming to go over the OWWs, especially the cloning to allow the left-facing one to hit terrain and stop and go on ahead to do the rest of the level for the others. Also the miner must hit steel, as he will climb the far left and splat otherwise.

100 metres 12 - Queen's palace (episode 3) Another good level with a devious trap with the lower left teleporter, as there's no way to escape if anyone uses it. Once you realize that, this is quite an easy level despite the 99RR. Bashing can be tricky, but you must make sure no climber hoists and gets interrupted. The timing luckily always works out with the climbers getting past and then building at the top to catch them. Nice detail with turning the 4th Lemming back around at the bottom with a builder.

100 metres 13 - Lemmings go shopping (episode 1) Difficult one, but only because there's so many different combinations of pickups to collect. By the Multiplication Principle, there are 5 x 5 x 5 = 125 total combinations to try, which is a lot! Fortunately, in my original recording, I only needed to try 3 different ones or so before I came upon the correct ones. Nice level, and I especially like the building at the bottom in order to make a splatform for the one who gets the button and it also crossing the gap at the bottom.

100 metres 14 - Mushroom picking Easier than the previous level but still challenging. I didn't think the left entrance would be as simple as bashing 5 times so they can reach the exit, as that seemed pretty wasteful to me for some reason Turns out it really is that easy for them, and so the right entrance is far harder to figure out. I like it very much, with a very long basher and then interrupting midstroke so they can step up and then get to the exit. I also tried to see if I could prevent getting a Lemming trapped in the pit before the exit, but seems like it's not possible. However, that's a very nice detail of a basher from the right entrance with freeing him Definitely a really nice tileset as usual

100 metres 15 - The block of blockers The first level of the pack to stump me for a very long time and which took me a total of 2.5 hours or so (with the original recording along with another attempt which I wasn't successful on camera). Indeed, it's quite a hard level but it turns out I pretty much had the correct tricks all figured out very early, I simply missed the tiny detail of jumping from the right in order to use the teleporter and release the blocker that's in front of the receiver and the crowd. I can't believe it took me so long to see this! Seems like I always tend to get caught off guard with not paying attention to which direction you need to jump Very nice level! The level is pretty much perfect in practically every way. The fact the left entrance has only 4 Lemmings it really made me wonder how the heck do I keep all of them safe. Thought I could get away with this, but nope.

100 metres 16 - Queen's palace (episode 4) Another pretty easy one, with one of the builders serving as a splatform while the other is to extend a basher in order to reach the exit.

100 metres 17 - Toys scary Nice one-of-everything level in 9 skill types. At least in my solution, the Lemmings use the same exit and therefore it's a fake disjoint union. I don't know if it's possible for them to use their own exit. Part of me says it's not, as the updrafts seem to have been backroute fixes to prevent that, especially given they're preassigned gliders.

100 metres 18 - On the right rails Nice level, though I realized too late that I made it way harder than it needs to be, since you can actually lose up to 5 here! However, my solution does show that it's possible to save everyone but you do need to fiddle around with the RR until it does work. I especially like how I had to think about how to get the left entrance over to the right side of the level while also being able to hit the button with just one builder. It definitely got me wondering, how is this possible? Nice!

100 metres 19 - Toxic vapors Really hard one but another one of my favorites! The hardest part for me was figuring out how to get the glider into place to bash through the OWW. That was not easy to figure out, let alone the uses of the second basher and the walker. The level did a pretty good job of making me think all shimmiers need to be used at the top, as well as making me think that you need to use the builder in the upper right in order to reach the starting area again to bash the OWW, when in fact it doesn't seem possible as he'll already be a glider himself and therefore can't get there. This is one of the best puzzles I've seen in a while. Great job!

100 metres 20 - Queen's palace (episode 5) Another great iteration of this level to end the rank on. I thought it's especially clever to use the far left pit in order to bash the others free and to not destroy the ceiling so that they can step up and then climb up once they come back to the left. It truly amazes me how many different iterations you can make of this level with 2 climbers, 2 builders, and 2 bashers  

200 meters Rank Feedback

These levels are much harder than the ones in the previous rank. Quite so, as a few levels managed to stump me good and I needed to switch to off camera time to get them solved. Like the previous rank, there's at least one level here that I consider too difficult for its position and will definitely need to move to later in the rank. Even then, some truly remarkable gems here too that I also consider LOTY nomination worthy. This rank in a way reminds me of the Neutrality rank of United, which is a massive jump up in difficulty from the previous rank of Pacifism.

Spoiler

200 metres 1 - Welcome to Agrabah Nice level to start off the rank. The visual details is so nice here! I especially love the Aladdin reference in the title with the city of Agrabah I managed to figure out the level fairly quickly, but after failing with the digger for a time I thought the miner would be needed to help with that. Turns out the digger just requires to be placed very precisely in order to make a climber friendly wall.

200 metres 2 - Addams Family Deceptively hard level, especially given the 99RR. As I suspected, I made it harder than it needs to be, as I checked Armani's solution after solving. Mine is messier in comparison, especially with stoning to fill up the gap by having two gliders go on ahead and only using a shimmier as a delay Still a nice level nevertheless. Apparently David knows about this show, as if you're familiar with it there are portraits of some of the individual family members.

200 metres 3 - Alcohol cherries This is a level that is way out of place in the rank. This has stumped me the longest out of any level in the pack so far. Like 100 metres 1, this is way too hard for its position. It's all down to timing, but I had a lot of doubts as to whether that was the way to go or if there was some other solution that I was overlooking or not seeing. It took me a while to realize the long walkaround by bashing in the starting area properly. Once again, I overcomplicated things with the X-athlete (climber, disarmer, swimmer, and glider). Because I assigned the glider too early, I had no control to get him to the exit. In my solution, assign the builder too late and he misses the exit by a pixel. I somehow had a feeling that we needed to set up a situation where he bounces off a wall and glides the other way so that he doesn't climb to his death where the zombie horde is. There's a far easier way as I've seen with Armani's solution, where you don't assign the glider until he has fallen off the second builder staircase for a bit. This way you have complete control in getting him to the exit. The solution really has to be one of these ways or you absolutely will not get it solved.

For some reason, I didn't think the worker who gets the left button would make it to the correct spot on time given the huge distance he must traverse. Fortunately, this will always work out as long as you assign the correct Lemmings skills. Even then, if you want to, you could always move the exit a few pixels to the left so that it doesn't punish my solution of assigning the glider too early in the level. Then again, Armani's solution is definitely the way to go, so this probably won't be necessary to tweak the level.

200 metres 4 - Queen's palace (episode 6) Bit harder than some of the previous iterations of the level, though my solution is different from Armani's. I built once at the bottom so that when I built at the top before the drop it makes a splatform but also allows the Lemming to fall past the exit trigger. However, in Armani's, he uses timing in order to bridge the gap at the top from both sides in time before the second one from the left entrance arrives too soon. In any case, both of our solutions avoid the climber pickup, as that seems to be a complete red herring. Too bad it destroys the whole having two-of-each-skill right from the very start

200 metres 5 - At scale Another level which I needed to switch to off camera time before I got it solved, but it turns out that I had the solution the entire time, I simply missed a tiny detail at the top. Very nice level, but I would absolutely give me leeway in being able to reassign the shimmier skill after sliding, as he only does so for about a frame . In other words, I would probably make the wall a bit taller or something to allow more sliding before reassigning the shimmier skill. Before I realized this, I kept seeing that the shimmier would keep going to the right, where he'll just fall and splat. The button before the wall at the top also confused me a lot, as I was wondering if there was another way to get it so that I didn't run into the above problem. There aren't enough skills to make up for that, and so you need to get all the buttons in one go. Other than these problems and considering to allow more leeway at the top, this is a great level!

200 metres 6 - Snowy mountains Somewhat of a breather but another good one. This one might be a suitable candidate to move 200 metres 3 to, even though the hardest part is the stacker/stoner combo to make a nice ramp for the others, but I'm already familiar with this trick. Even then, it probably won't be too difficult to figure out, especially as the builders are essentially locked into place given the gaps you must cross with them. What I especially love here is mining in order to shimmy with the underside of the bridge to blow away the terrain to allow the swimmer to climb and get through to the right side to get the right button.

200 metres 7 - The labyrinth Tricky one, especially given the 1-of-everything skillset and therefore it's not obvious how to allocate the skills to the 3 Lemmings. Some of my closest attempts would fail because I had nothing to turn the glider around at the bottom and hence he would walk into the bear trap. I would probably make it clearer that the glider can get past the needles trap in the middle without dying, like maybe increasing the distance between the walls or something

200 metres 8 - Queen's palace (episode 7) Nice level, especially with using the nook at the far left to build and then bash away a pixel to stop the basher. I spotted this pretty quickly because one of my current contest levels requires this! However, you couldn't had possibly been inspired by my level, as this was released a few months after you released DavidLems. Instead, I'm guessing you go inspiration from a Castle level in Lemmings Reunion?

200 metres 9 - They were five Back to challenging but a really good one. As it turns out, I was accurate in that the swimmer Lemming serves no purpose whatsoever in the solution, and for a while I thought only the climber would be able to go over the top. However, the glider can too, after jumping. I love the freeing the glider with the climber by digging to do so to prepare the rest of the level. Nice use of the stack in the pit to release the others. I'm sure there are easier ways to get the disarmer ahead of the others to disable the trap instead of it being tight like in mine, though.

200 metres 10 - A whole new world Another difficult one, though to be honest it was pretty frustrating to figure out how to get on top of the steel block to get the basher pickup, especially as that's the only way to do once you realize that the builder absolutely must go where the tiny gap before the exit is. There's no way to reach the exit otherwise. This is another level where I would reduce the precision, as most of the time the jumper would start gliding and therefore wouldn't be able to hoist himself up onto the large steel block.

200 metres 11 - Heading to Krypton Ah, must be a Marvels fan too. At least I think this is from Superman if I'm not mistaken? Wow, what a hard level but it absolutely blew my mind away on how really great the solution is! I feel as if I've seen this trick of mining and cloning him at the top of the staircases in order to keep them going. I can't remember where I've seen it if I have, though. For some reason I didn't think it was possible to set it up this way, but then again there isn't any other way to do the level, as you'll be a destructive skill short without the cloner. Well done with this level, David, one of my all-time favorites!

200 metres 12 - Queen's palace (episode 8) Another great level, especially with the trick of bashing to punch a hole in the pillar in order to allow a climber to get in there to bash the rest of it away.

200 metres 13 - Flooded palace More of a gimmick level than anything else, but the hardest part of the level was figuring out how to get two Lemmings up to the top. Eventually, I remembered the whole using a shimmier jump at the end of a builder staircase in order to start gliding which is enough to get to the top. The bottom exit I realized is a super easy swimmer is the only one who can use it to finish the level.

200 metres 14 - Still steel Repeat of 100 metres 5 but this time you have one less builder. Didn't think the left side was viable this time, though it's a sneaky one, where you need to build to the right at the top in order to land safely at the bottom. Also, I was wrong with using a builder as a delay in the original level in my LP. I was right about there being one less builder though

200 metres 15 - Lemmings are painting I love the visuals here. It was pretty obvious from the very start that this is a level where you need to extend the basher. The hardest part was getting the worker in the right spots to place the platformers. In particular, after turning back to the left it's important to platofrm up the tiny gap first before doing the larger gap after the huge pencil. Seems the glider is a complete red herring here, so don't fall for it!

200 metres 16 - Queen's palace (episode 9) Another great iteration of the level where some timing is needed. It's important to catch a Lemming going back to the left to be a climber, as the builder who builds at the top of the climb will turn around due to hitting his head.

200 metres 17 - Buildings Another hard one but an excellent level! I was confused why there's a preplaced Lemming, but I later figured out it's to be able to bomb at a spot in such a way so that you can bash in order to not break through and the others get into danger. I didn't use the glider, though I think it's there as an easy way to isolate another Lemming in case the basher contains everyone before you get the right number past him first. So, if I said it's a red herring, that's not entirely correct. However, I still stand by my point that the starting platform is really small to work in to contain the crowd and have the correct number of Lemmings go on to do the route. I personally would make it larger to allow more leg room

200 metres 18 - Lemmings are lost in the jungle One of the hardest levels of the pack IMO but another great level! It's another one that I needed some off camera time to solve, but it turns out that just like 200 metres 5, I had the solution the entire time, I simply did a part at the exit platform less than optimally. Instead of platforming back to the crowd at the very edge, the answer is to platform from a bit past the exit coming back to the right. Even though the brick hits terrain, he is still able to continue without getting interrupted. This is important, as he wouldn't be able to close off the gap with the second platformer. I will definitely keep this in mind, though at the same time I might had seen this before but have simply forgotten about it. In my closest attempts, I thought I was a jumper short. In addition, once I realized the importance of where to start platforming, I also kept coming up a skill short, but that is because I assigned skills to the wrong Lemmings. I kept having the other worker be the swimmer after platforming once, but this won't work, as the miner will always finish in time before the swimmer gets a chance to turn around. I thought it had to be this way in order to have skill in the end to save the one who collects the gold. However, it was all about platforming twice with the one who does this job, as this will allow you to have the necessary shimmier to save the swimmer later. Well done with this level, David!

200 metres 19 - Crystal dream Another hard one but once again another great level. Another one where you're very short on destructive skills with the major ones being the laser and the miner. However, this one was easy to figure out where they go. Another hard part that is a nuance is the wall at the bottom near the exit. Turns out it's just a simple build once a Lemming turns around and this increase in height is enough to allow the others to take a detour to the left to allow the builder enough time to finish. I pretty much saw the blocking to turn a laser and miner early in the solution and so this one isn't so bad. If anything, this one is just a tad-bit easier for me than the previous one. Great tileset as usual!

200 metres 20 - Queen's palace (episode 10) To finish off this fiendishly difficult rank, we get another nice rank finisher in another iteration of the level. Once again, all down to timing, but luckily maxing out the RR for 2 Lemmings works out pretty well. The double OWAs make the solution pretty obvious, but well, sometimes that's the way it is with levels  

I can't wait to look at your solutions. But I don't think this pack will seem too difficult for you. You've already solved some (very) difficult packs, including Armani's Lemmings Halloween 2023 , which I'm currently playing. It's not easy !

I appreciate the compliment in you thinking that your pack won't be hard for me due to having solved a lot of really difficult packs, including Lemmings United, Lemmings Plus Omega 2, Lemmings Uncharted, and NepsterLems However, this turns out not to be the case, as this pack is really kicking my behind quite badly As mentioned before, this pack really reminds me of NepsterLems. Definitely take a look at that one if you haven't yet. It's an amazing pack that manages to be quite difficult despite being only a classic 8 skills pack. DavidLems has a lot of bite, but I personally love hard levels in the game of Lemmings, so I will gladly take them on, including this pack of yours I just didn't expect the pack to stump me so badly as it has been. Then again, I've returned to Lemmings after a 3-month hiatus, so perhaps I've rusted in the meantime and hence have forgotten and overlooked even some "simple" things in levels. Again, I will carry through for as long as I can until I finish the pack

Yes, Armani's Lemmings Halloween 2023 pack is quite a difficult pack, but you're not alone with struggling with it, as I did too when I LPed his pack. It might not be anywhere near as hard as Lemmings Uncharted, his first pack, but it's difficult in plenty of places in both ranks. It's another pack that I didn't expect to also stump me badly. I do agree with Armani's assessment that the zombie levels in the second rank are in general easier than the first rank, which doesn't have any zombie levels. I guess it's kind of a good thing, considering I tend to struggle a lot with zombie levels. If you want a really fiendishly difficult zombie pack, take a look at namida's Doomsday Lemmings. Armani's zombie levels in his pack don't come anywhere near as difficult as namida's pack.

In any case, happy to hear you're doing well and that I think you'll enjoy my LP of another one of your packs! I do apologize for the long videos, as well as any long periods of idling I might have done on some levels where I haven't done anything on screen in a while. Even then, hope it's still enjoyable watching me solve your levels

New roadblock is currently 400 metres 3, but I'll figure it out eventually, just like I have with all the other levels of the pack without any help

[David]

Hi kaywhyn,

When you have finished my pack, I will update it and provide detailed feedback level by level.

I have already started to fix some issues (in about 10 levels). No backroute yet, but you have sometimes found alternative solutions close to the intented solutions. I'm also thinking about swapping levels because, like you said, some are too difficult.

--> Level 200 meters 4 has a HUGE PROBLEM: the solution you found doesn't work for me.

Spoiler

When I play this level, the lemmings that build the stair step (and fall to the left of the exit) die when he hits the ground. In your LP, however, it survives! In theory, your solution isn't possible. Does anyone have an explanation?

Armani has found the intended solution.

edit by kaywhyn: Spoiler tagged a part of your post!

[kaywhyn]

@David

I checked my replay for 200 metres 4 on both 12.12.5 (the version I'm playing your pack on), as well as 12.13 RC and it works on both. There's no bug or issue with the Lemming surviving However, what is the issue is why my replay doesn't work for you.

Spoiler

Building the step at the top does make the fall splat height by a pixel, however to compensate for that building right next to the exit also raises it by a pixel and therefore makes the fall survivable. What's happening here is that the Lemming actually lands on top of the builder step at the bottom instead of on the ground. You can see this by framestepping with CPM on. Notice for a frame he land on the staircase and then in the next frame he descends a pixel when he walks off the step. Thus, no bug or issue here with him surviving!

Anyway, happy to hear from you and that you're enjoying my LP of your pack!

[David]

Sorry, I looked too quickly, I hadn't paid attention to the stair step at the exit. It's a brilliant alternative solution !
I really like your LP. Moreover, you made me laugh with your mother's snoring.

[Mobiethian]

David, I wanted to give you a shout out that you've done an amazing, extraordinary job with your level pack! I want to thank you for providing these levels to us for figuring out. Very entertaining!

I don't play hard levels often, but I've watched the LPs and you've done so great! Keep up the work, you're really good at it.

[David]

Thank you very much Mobiethian. I am very happy that you like my level pack. There are some amazing level designers in this forum. I don't think I'm one of them but I've progressed quite a bit since my first pack.

[WillLem]

Hi David,

Eric has reported on Discord that the Slider fix present in NeoLemmix 12.13-RC and SuperLemmix (all versions) results in the following behaviour on level 100 Metres 18:

NeoLemmix 12.13-RC solve
SuperLemmix solve

Thought it best to bring this to your attention in case you wanted to fix this level

[David]

Hi WillLem,

Thank you very much for letting me know. I fixed the issue.
I'll probably update my pack once kaywhyn has solved all the levels.

[kaywhyn]

I've solved the 400 metres One minute ranks and therefore have solved the rest of the pack My entire replay collection is attached and of course more feedback

400 metres Rank Feedback

Although there is one more rank of 10 levels afterwards, this is pretty much the third and final main rank of the pack. Thus, the hardest levels of the pack are pretty much here. Indeed, I would consider many of these levels to rival the difficulty of the Genocide rank from United and the Aquarius rank from Uncharted. Meaning, I agree with Crane's assessment that the 400 metres rank quite possibly even goes all the way to "extreme" difficulty! In addition, I'm inclined to also agree with Crane that there's really only a few levels in the Chaos rank from his Cranium pack that go up to "extreme" difficulty, so we both seem to agree that the 400 metres rank of DavidLems is much harder than the Chaos rank of Cranium. It's not to say that Lemmings Cranium isn't a really hard pack, because it most definitely is, but rather the 400 metres rank of DavidLems is way more likely to have a vast majority of players stumped for a really long time. Indeed, a quick glance back at my DavidLems videos, a lot of levels have me doing an attempt one on camera and then I spend a really long time/a few days off-camera before I finally get the level solved. Not so with Lemmings Cranium, as I often was able to get the Chaos levels solved within a somewhat reasonable amount of time within the same day or so.

I essentially describe DavidLems as "NepsterLems but far harder and one which uses all 21 NL skills rather than just sticking to the classic 8 skills." It very much reminds me of NepsterLems because of how the levels are generally small/medium in size (except for one really wide level in the 100 metres rank but in general DavidLems all tends to much smaller level sizes, in contrast to the many very big and wide levels in The Lemmings Have Grown pack) with very minimal skillsets and there being so many possibilities (very high entropy, as Icho would say) that look like they could work but ultimately don't, therefore resulting in very deceptively difficult levels, all of which are very typical of Nepster's levels/pack. Needless to say, to a very large extent I think David has managed to succeed in creating a NepsterLems-like pack with DavidLems!

Despite the 400 metres rank being extremely hard, there are still a lot of true gems here that I consider LOTY2024 nomination worthy!

Spoiler

400 metres 1 - Jasmine O.o one of my favorite Disney princesses from a really awesome Disney movie Very nice level with an image of Jasmine on Carpet. I definitely remember some Aladdin levels from your The Lemmings Have Grown pack Quite honestly, this one was a bit more frustrating than it needed to be, though I admit that I quite likely self-inflicted a lot of extreme precision here. Now I'm really curious what your intended solution is here, in regards to the other slider skill you provided which I didn't use, similar to Armani The very end is quite messy what I did

400 metres 2 - Purple rain The only special thing here is bombing away terrain so that you can platform and clone, but otherwise isn't anything special. Also there aren't that many possibilities at all here, so this one was a pretty quick solve.

400 metres 3 - The infernal moat Another case of a level that's way too difficult for its position this early in the rank. This one managed to stump me very badly for a few days. There are so many possibilities here that look like they can work but they don't: I've tried to bomb the very top of the pillar in order to get a shimmier all the way across in order to build to get a climber to the top exit, interrupting a destructive skill midstroke so that you can seal off the 1-pixel gap with a builder so that no one else can follow, but then you run into problems with dealing with the "just" splat height with the shelf coming back to the right, as well as not being able to build twice in order to use the underside to shimmy to get to the upper exit, and I've even tried tunneling underneath the OWW from the right side to see if I can create the situation of allowing a swimmer to climb up the pillar but instead he always dives underneath and gets back into the tunnel he makes. Most importantly, I kept falling for the use of mining in order to turn everyone back to the right where the bottom exit is. All of these make for an extremely deceptively difficult level

Ultimately, it's really just an extension of the previous level, just with the miner to do so in order for the builder to keep going uninterrupted. It's really interesting, as one night I was wondering, "what if the pillar wasn't there, would it be possible to build on top of the OWW in order to reach the upper platform?" So I tried it and indeed it does work, you just need to place the bomber very carefully and also get the miner timing right. All in all, a really nice solution with so many red herrings, and who knew that you do indeed go through the OWW with a basher from the right side But yes, this level absolutely needs to move further down the rank!

400 metres 4 - Queen's palace (episode 11) Somewhat of a breather (in general these Queen palace levels serve as nice breathers in between all the really hard levels ) but still a nice one. I have a climber left, but I'm sure its purpose of delaying the other Lemming to give the main one enough time to do the work to keep the other safe is the same as how I used one of the climbers. Then again, one can do the left part easier with RR manipulation.

400 metres 5 - Bash and dash This one very much reminds me of a level from LPO2, except this one involves keeping a basher going in the other direction with only stackers, rather than a fencer and platformers and stackers to help with it. In a way, I guess I didn't have to really complain here, as the fencer is far more easily cancelled compared to the basher in NL, but this one is still very difficult to set up correctly and therefore it's just very hard in the execution. Indeed, my reaction was, "oh hell no, David did not just go there with this one" However, I'm told that David has decided to replace this with another level, which I think I'm fine with The big saving grace here is David at least provided a lot of surplus skills for once so that running out of skills while setting up the super fiddly situation is never a problem.

400 metres 6 - Cloning lab Another hard level but a pretty good one. The most difficult part of the level was seeing the use of the blocker, which is for bombing another one in order to release the blocker but still providing him a way to get into the bomber hole in order to bash at the very top. At least in my solution it's very precise, but Armani shows that my way isn't the only way to do the upper left area. Another hard part was getting a non-glider to do the bashing, as a glider would walk into the trap in the upper right corner. Also I'm not sure why it took me some time to see that you can just mine from the left side at the bottom rather than need someone to come from the other side to do so. In a way kind of reminds me of Crane's "Cloning Vats."

400 metres 7 - In the library Not as hard as the previous level but still challenging. This one was a quicker solve, with the only hard part being how to cancel the digger without actually assigning anything to the digger. The answer is to use a faller to bomb in order to stop the digger. Only this way allows you to have the necessary skills to get the level solved. I do believe this is the first custom Lemmings level that completely enforces this bombing a faller trick to stop a digger. Nice!

400 metres 8 - Queen's palace (episode 12) Pretty much another extension to 400 metres 2/3 in that it's another case of keeping a builder going uninterrupted both times. The zombies are a non-problem completely here.

400 metres 9 - The lifts Another really hard level but is one of my favorites of the pack A lot of red herrings here and quite a deceptively difficult level even with just mostly bashers/builders. At one point I thought maybe the ceiling route is the way to go as I couldn't quite figure out how to get a non-glider to the bottom middle area to build to stop the glider from getting into trouble, but you don't have enough skills to do so, especially as the basher isn't able to destroy the floor to allow the others to drop down to the exit. They would need help from the right side to do so. Also I kept fiddling around for a really long time with stacking in front of the teleporter and then finding the correct basher placement to make a hole so the others can step up from the left side while no one else besides the swimmer/glider uses the teleporter, but I couldn't get it to work and gave up in frustration after a while. Turns out that's a completely wrong way to go about the level and other than the extremely difficult timing in the bottom middle area to build and stop the non-gliding shimmier, the level has a very clean solution. Well done with this level, David!

400 metres 10 - After the space shuttle explosion The concept is cool and all (stacking underneath the receiver in order to keep the laserer going uninterrupted, as well as using a blocker to turn the laser in order to free all 3 neutral groups, but this level was super frustrating to do, as most of the time I didn't have a Lemming nearby at the right time in order to bash away the stack to stop the laserer so that the left-most neutral group does not go out to the left to fall down and splat If this trick of stopping the laserer with a nearby basher isn't important, you could always provide another walker so that the timing is completely eliminated. Or, if you still want to keep this part in (part of me says yea, keep it), maybe you can make the walkway smaller so that there's less walking and therefore a higher chance of having a Lemming close by at the right time. Yet maybe another option is to simply increase the Lemming count slightly (maybe anywhere from 15-20 ) so that the timing isn't as frustrating, as most of the time I kept running out of Lemmings to do the whole lasering and blocking to turn him.

Also another frustration that resulted was making sure no one uses the teleporter coming from the right side before the worker was done platforming up the gap. This took a while to figure out how to do, especially with it involving a lot of RR manipulation. This is heavily compounded with the very small Lemming count and when these are combined resulted in a lot of frustration.

In summary: Great level, just very frustrating to execute because of the Lemming count and how most of the time the player probably won't have a nearby Lemming to bash the stack to interrupt the laserer at the right time. Also, I'm not sure how the game determines who to teleport first, the laserer or the blocker. I had cases where the latter happened before the former, which cannot happen because the laserer would had stopped long before the teleporter is ready to take him. I don't think there's anything you can do about it to always guarantee it will take the laserer first every time, though. So, no fault of yours at all

400 metres 11 - Lemmings go shopping (episode 2) Far harder than the original episode back in the 100 metres rank and which Armani accurately describes as "hit or miss" in that you either get the level solved very quickly, or you're quite possibly stuck here for a really long time (like I was ) or forever otherwise. Indeed, some set of 3 pickups get you very close but ultimately doesn't result in a solve. Instead, you really need to think outside the box and realize that you must collect 4 sets of pickups. I think eventually after a while I realized if I had another of this skill yada yada yada it would be level solved, and then I was able to make the connection that you somehow need to get out of one of the pits to collect more skills. I originally thought to build and then jump, but he will always hit his head when doing the latter. Then it finally dawned on me after a while that that's the whole purpose of the stacker. It doesn't play any role in the main solution with the crowd, just on the far left side to collect pickups. The rest was easy after that, but you still need to determine the best sets of pickups to collect. Really nice level here, though!

400 metres 12 - Queen's palace (episode 13) Another nice one, especially with sending up another climber while the first one builds at the top in order to bash away the staircase so that when the builder hits his head to turn back to the right he can drop down and build to the OWW to bash away the bottom portion of it at the top. Reminds me of I believe a level from MobiLems.

400 metres 13 - You have to charm the snakes! Pretty much the only level of the rank that I consider a breather, though I'm not sure if 400 metres 3 needs to move this far down (the only other possible candidate I think is 400 metres 7, even though it doesn't really extend the concept used in 400 metres 2). I'm already aware of stopping a miner midstroke so that you can use the nook to platform and therefore get up the miner tunnel. Same thing with platformers still being able to disarm traps, that's not new to me either. The hardest part was just timing the climbers in order to get the glider ahead at the right time in order to drop down and disarm the snake trap so that the platformer doesn't get interrupted so that the next time you assign the skill he can close off the gap completely. Overall, the solution is quite easy to see here, just the timing can be tricky to get correct. But yea, pretty much a breather level.

400 metres 14 - The impassable walls Good level up until the use of the blocker to turn a basher but the former also gets released. For some reason, I didn't think it was possible to still be able to make a staircase when doing this. I'm probably just not remembering it correctly, because I think I always had it so that the basher always makes a full stroke or never makes a step up. Even then, regardless of how it's actually done, I personally don't like the basher/blocker trick, as it's very unintuitive and doesn't make much sense IMO. After completing the pack, I didn't realize you adopted Armani's solution as the new intended one for the end part. I think yea you can revert it back to your original solution, as it's still pretty difficult this way but it at least won't rely on this very obscure behavior that would escape a lot of players, as they will very likely not even think of it at all or try it.

400 metres 15 - Dexter's lab Wow, really hard one but yet another favorite of mine! That is a very long shimmier, which I realized very quickly but it was very hard for me to realize how to set it up. The small detail I missed was being able to bash to the right at the top without needing to also invest a digger. I kept doing it from the right side, which absolutely requires a digger too. The timing is really difficult to get correct here, but that seems to be the whole purpose of the walker skill. If anything, probably more walkers can be provided, but it's not absolutely necessary. Even when I finally figured out the correct setup, the only other thing I forgot about was not lasering the top left area before the shimmier gets there first. In my solution, I needed the digging to be done at a time where I wouldn't get anyone to fall out going to the left and therefore get trapped at the bottom on the wrong side. This required a bit of tweaking, though probably with some RR manipulation it can be done way more easily every time. Well done with this level, David!

By the way, was this level in any way inspired by my "Don't Stop Shimmying Til You Get Enough"? Very similar concept, just without one-way force fields

400 metres 16 - Queen's palace (episode 14) Very nice concept with extending a basher with builders so that when he uses the teleporter he continues to bash through the wall in the upper left. However, this proved to be frustrating, due to what I think is a bug in that Lemmings can get infected before the receiver door opens, as they get zombified when the animation of the receiver starts when a zombie is in front of the receiver trigger. Luckily, the solution still works even with this "bug," but yea, I found it very annoying that I'll submit a NL player report to namida/the community later on about it.

400 metres 17 - You have to go find a disarmer! Hard one too but another great level! I especially love the use of the shimmier jump in order to get on top of the platformer bridge on the far left. Interestingly enough, the hardest part of the solution for me was bashing and then interrupting midstroke so that the disarmer can still go through to the right while not allowing the crowd to go out to the left to their deaths. Maybe the precision can be reduced there a bit, but probably not necessary since one can just adjust the positioning of the basher. Also one needs to realize the trick of bombing a Lemming trapped between two closely placed blockers in order to release both the blockers and the crowd all in the same direction. That one I realized very quickly, but you also need to keep in mind it works only with an odd number RR.

400 metres 18 - The building site Ok level but not exactly one of my favorites due to how much fiddling you need to do in order to find something that works. In particular, I tend to be quite bad at solving levels when there are a lot of stackers provided You don't need to change the skillset, though. I think plenty of players here aren't good at using stackers to solve levels. I do like the start with platforming where the builder is working in order to turn him around to build across the gap before the others turn back around and arrive too early before it's done, though! Open-ended level, it seems, as there seems to be multiple ways to do the level. Not sure if it's possible to have any spare skills, though!

400 metres 19 - Angkor temple Quite possibly the hardest level of the pack, along with 400 metres 11. Indeed, for a time I was wondering how the heck do you get out of the starting area, with the answer only coming to me when I noticed a Lemming descending on those yellow tiles. Now that I think about it, I do believe one of GigaLem's levels make use of this, so I must had forgotten about this since Even after figuring the start out, my biggest problems come from the bottom middle area with the splat pad. I kept having trouble figuring out how to turn a worker around, as for a really long time I kept thinking that you need to use a blocker in front of the locked exit. It's probably not possible, as you need to get up the middle to be in place to bash the blocker at the start free from the right side of the thin steel blocks. The part that took me the longest to figure out was that you can actually bash back to the right in order to leave a builder step past the steel that the neutrals can land on and then fall the rest of the way down safely, though this is pretty much safe by just a pixel. Consider giving more leeway and making it clearer that the rest of the drop isn't fatal This should had came to me earlier, as the 3 yellow tiles in the starting area pretty much all serve as "hints of sorts."

Other things I kept thinking must be the answer is bashing away the terrain so that the neutrals don't drop onto the trigger of the splat pad (really good red herring!) but then I don't have a way to turn around the worker at all. Complications also came from being able to get into the neutral area to get the button due to the blocker, as I think I kept running out of the interruption skills, along with bashing through the square from the right side. Before I realized the builder past the steel wall trick, I kept thinking the worker needs to climb up the left side, not the right side. Great level in the end which is pretty much the final really hard level of the pack (the only hard ones after this IMO are both One minute 9 and One minute 10)!

400 metres 20 - Queen's palace (episode 15) A very quick solve but a really nice level to finish off the rank. Just another case of "extending" a basher.   

One minute Rank Feedback

As the player might guess, the levels here are all ones with a time limit of 1 minute. Also if you have played it, the rank seems to have been heavily inspired by the One rank of PimoLems, which I know David has played through back around the time he released his first level pack The Lemmings Have Grown. While most of the levels here aren't anything too special compared to the One rank of Pieuw's pack and that if you great levels of this style that I recommend looking at PimoLems for that, I still applaud David for trying to imitate this style of levels from the latter's! The One minute rank is pretty much in a class of its own in terms of difficulty, where these aren't anywhere near as hard as the levels in the previous 3 ranks. The hardest levels of the rank IMO are both the final two, with One minute 5 being a close third to them.

Spoiler

One minute 1 - Lemmings think they are kangaroos! Ok level to start off the rank, though personally didn't like it too much due to how much fiddling you need to do in order to find something that works. You really need to know the jumper mechanics well and how to use them properly at the right spots to save time efficiently. There were plenty of times where I was too slow by some frames, even one solution not working by a single frame! The right-most exit is definitely the hardest one to get to on time.

One minute 2 - Athletes and triathletes Pretty much a breather, though I was a dummy here and didn't realize that the top Lemming can get out to the left without being a climber He absolutely must help the left-most Lemming by being the one to disarm the traps in order to give him enough time to make it to the exit, as the RR is locked and therefore you cannot speed up the completion.

One minute 3 - The judgment of the soul Yet another really easy one, as the straightforward normal solution (with the only added caveat being that you need to get an additional worker by building over the pit) works to my surprise. For some reason I thought the miner would be too slow to release them

One minute 4 - Romantic walk A bit harder than the previous two levels, but this one wasn't too bad either. The hardest part of the level was getting the left-most button, but even that is just a simple digger with the tail end of the Lemming train. The really high Lemming count is a worry in regards to the 1 minute time limit, but luckily it's not super tight at all.

One minute 5 - In Midas' palace Even harder than the previous level but a really good one! I didn't realize what the digger was for for a really long time. I only realized what it was for after I always kept running out of time without using it. It is pretty precise, though, so maybe another one where there can be some more leeway in its placement

One minute 6 - U-turns Repeat of 100 metres 1, except you have a 1-of-everything skillset AND a 1 minute time limit (of course! ) rather than infinite time. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that easy with just digging, building, and mining, though even this solution isn't easy, as I still needed to do some RR manipulation in order to finish on time! I still enjoyed this level very much, even if it didn't take me anywhere near as long as 100 metres 1

One minute 7 - In the dark woods Isn't this a level from The Lemmings Have Grown? Nice level, and the release with the bomber was a nice touch, though it was uncertain until I tried it. Guess that's why the steel is placed the way it is in the level. I especially love the epic spooky music in this level! If it is a level from your previous pack, it should had had this track, but you didn't know about custom music at the time, so it's understandable

One minute 8 - Rayman's cave Somewhat hard, but only because I was very confused as to how to get the worker home on time if he needs to make the long walk back from getting the button. It should had been obvious that using the twisted pieces to shorten the time spent on the far right side after 1 or 2 tries is the way to go, but honestly I didn't think it would work because of the terrain looking too thick to allow a step up through it. Great level with this tileset!

One minute 9 - Lemmings play in the garden Hard one but a great level! Kept fiddling around incorrectly with the platform at the top trying to make a step up in order to bash to the left, when in fact that's a completely wrong approach to the level. Instead, the answer is to rely on a steep enough slope to place a blocker so that Lemmings can still slip under him from the left but will be contained on the other side so that you can do the work with the final two Lemmings. The bomber is very precise, but this was very hard to see in order to get past the up arrow in order to climb on the right side to get into place to get the others up through to the platform. Then I need to tweak the digger placement a few times so that the crowd doesn't catch up to the builder too soon. Pretty tight on the time, but that was just the way I did the early parts of the level.

One minute 10 - Rock'n'fall Another hard level but a really good one to finish off a very hard pack The entire solution is not easy to see at all even though some parts should be quite clear due to the 1-of-everything skillset. Along with some proper RR manipulation, sending out two workers over the top, one of which is a climber because by that time the digger is already too low, is a great touch. Except for the floater, all of them are used to great effect in the solution, though my only critique of the level is due to the very precise bomber placement. I would consider loosening that up and giving more leeway, but if that's not possible, then it's ok, I guess. You do need to rely on the knowledge of climbers being one-pixel inside so that you can bomb further when climbing than when he isn't. 

Once again, @David a job well-done with this pack! One of the hardest I've played in a long time but is absolutely one of my favorite packs of all time Maybe a few backroutes here, but maybe they're all intended/acceptable. Looking forward to your feedback and am happy to hear you're enjoying my LP videos of your pack!  

[David]

Honestly, i'd rate some of the "400 metres" levels as "Extreme" difficulty!  I'm having a bit of a playthrough myself after watching kaywhyn's "Let's Play".

Sorry Crane, I didn't see your message. I just asked kaywhyn what he thought. I was thinking of putting medium-very hard, but since he seems to agree with you, I'll probably put medium-extreme. Thank you.

kaywhyn, I will provide detailed feedback soon.

[kaywhyn]

It's tough, because I can definitely see the majority of players being stuck for days in the 400 metres rank with plenty of the levels. In this case, that would be "extreme" difficulty. At the same time, I could see your classification of Medium - Very Hard working, but personally it's like really close on the very high end, like essentially borderline of Very Hard/Extreme for the 400 metres rank. I can still see a few problem levels in the previous two ranks too, but save for a few that are currently very misplaced way too early in them, most of the very difficult levels come at the end of the rank and hence it does make think that fairly decent players will be fine for the most part for the 100 and 200 metres ranks. Then I can see your classification working here. However, very advanced understanding of the NL mechanics will be needed in order to get through the 400 metres rank, as I don't see much chance for those players who even have the least decent bit of understanding of them of beating the rank. Then the "very hard" difficulty label on the high end of the difficulty would be very misleading for this pack.

Needless to say, I say Medium - Extreme is fine here despite most of the levels of the pack across the 3 main ranks being "hard" and with some levels near the end of the first two ranks being "very hard"

[David]

Thank you for this relevant answer kaywhyn. I really didn't think this pack would be so difficult! Anyway, you and Crane know how to gauge the difficulty of a level better than me. I therefore choose "medium-extreme".

[David]

Hi kaywhyn,

My first pack was a mishmash of everything I had done for years, since discovering Neolemmix. It was a bit messy. DavidLems is more accomplished. Since 2020, I have discovered and tried some level packs that have fed my imagination and I have listened a lot to the advice of players (including you) who tested my previous pack; in this pack, the level titles are in english, there are only two levels with a lot of builders, there is no unnecessary time limit, and the objects (unlock button and exit) are generally clearly visible.

Thanks for your feedback and for your compliments. I'm very happy that you enjoyed this pack and I didn't think it would be so difficult (for you). Following your LP, which was exciting to watch , I made little changes to about fifteen levels and swapped a few levels to better flatten the difficulty curve.

Generally, you found the intended solution, but for a few levels, you found an alternative solution (often more complicated).

1) 100 metres rank:

Spoiler

100 metres 1: I didn't think this level was that hard. In fact, you have to think about marking the path; the lemmings have to go to the top exit or the bottom exit, without detours. You just have to dig the ground in the right direction, that is to say use the miners to the left after a lemming turns around. It's not necessary to change the RR. So I moved this level to the middle of the rank: I limited the number of lemmings per exit (it will be easier) and I brought the 3 floors closer by one pixel (so that the number of lemmings above the top exit is visible).

100 metres 2: Very good. I could reduce the drop height, but I think it fits well with the spatial spirit.

100 metres 3: Intended solution. Indeed, nothing is practical in the water. But hey, I thought it was funny.

100 metres 4: Intended solution.

100 metres 5: Intended solution. I don't know (or don't remember) Insane Steve's World. I don't know if I've seen this trick elsewhere. Where can I find this level?

100 metres 6: Perfect! I made a little change in the scenery (I added a few blocks at the bottom right) to avoid an alternative solution.

100 metres 7: Well done! But there is a better way to coordinate the two builder lemmings.

100 metres 8: Yes, this level is deceptively difficult. You just have to pay attention to the timing.

100 metres 9: Your solution is very close to mine. However, there was a much simpler way to avoid the mosquito (Moskito): you just had to build a bridge with two platforms, which allowed you to keep the jumpers to jump on the statue and come back. Also, Armani found another amazing way to solve this level.

100 metres 10: Well done! It could have been easier by using the basher to destroy the stacker wall (and free the crowd) and the palm tree at the same time. In this case, you have to build the bridge connecting the two islands before using the basher (plus, you save a builder).

I think some in the NL community wouldn't like this due to being a huge builderfest over a very huge water gap even though all of it is done with the lone Lemming on both sides. Could probably be done with a much smaller water gap without the level being too much of a loss  At the same time, this seems to be the only really builder heavy level, and so this would be considered ok !

I understand, but unlike my previous pack, I used few levels with many builders. I think 15 builders for this level is not too excessive.

100 metres 11: Expected solution. The trap was to try to clone the basher. But you quickly saw that it couldn't work. I demoted him to the beginning of the rank.

100 metres 12: That wasn't quite the solution I had intended. This level can be solved differently. I fixed the issue by removing a piece of ceiling.

100 metres 13: Well done! It's not quite the same solution as mine, but you used exactly the skills intended to get there.

100 metres 14: Yes, this is the expected solution. There is no real trap.

100 metres 15: Very good! I'm surprised it took you so long to solve it, because, from the beginning, as you say, you already had all the good ideas and you were very close to the right solution. By the way, I didn't think it was that hard. It's hard to properly assess the difficulty of your own levels. I moved it to the beginning of the 2nd rank.

100 metres 16: Perfect!

100 metres 17: Well done! I didn't think you'd do it so quickly. I made it impossible for each lemming to use its own exit by putting the updrafts (no, it wasn't to fix a backroute, I thought of that before! ).

100 metres 18: Well done, but it's a little backroute: your solution is a bit complicated but you managed to save all the lemmings! The intended solution uses the same technique: a builder to make a bridge and access the button, but not in the same way. I fixed the issue by adding a one-way-wall. I put it a little earlier in the rank.

100 metres 19: Well done! This one wasn't easy. It's a real puzzle: you have to do it step by step.

100 metres 20: Very good!

It truly amazes me how many different iterations you can make of this level with 2 climbers, 2 builders, and 2 bashers

I'm amazed too! This shows that you can create a lot of different puzzles with few tiles and few skills.

2) 200 metres rank:

Spoiler

200 metres 1: This level is easier than it looks.

200 metres 2: Little backroute. Solution a little different from mine. You were not far from the intended solution though. I lowered the height of the first table.

200 metres 3: Yes, this level is probably too difficult. Well done! You have to be precise. The intended solution is the one found by Armani. So I won't change the level by moving the exit. Sorry. However, I moved this level to the next rank.

200 metres 4: Perfect!!! Nice alternative solution. As I already wrote, the intended solution is the one given by Armani. The pickup skill is a red herring.

200 metres 5: After two or three tries, you were very close to the right solution. And then, you tried a lot of different things before finding the trick. Well done!

but I would absolutely give myself leeway in being able to reassign the shimmier skill after sliding, as it only does so for about a frame

So I made the solution a bit easier by reducing the precision for digging and building the stairs (you can't make it any simpler!).

200 metres 6: Very good! I moved it to the previous rank.

200 metres 7: That was the intended solution.

I would probably make it clearer that the glider can get past the needles trap in the middle without dying, like maybe increasing the distance between the walls or something

Yes, you're right: I put smaller traps.

200 metres 8: That was the intended solution. Indeed, I didn't take inspiration from your level, or even from Castle level. I must have seen that trick before, but I don't remember.

200 metres 9: Bravo, that's the intended solution.

I'm sure there are easier ways to get the disarmer ahead of the others to disable the trap instead of it being tight like in mine, though.

I honestly don't know!

200 metres 10: It's true, it looks like a level from my previous pack. But I almost removed it, because I don't like it very much: it requires a lot of precision.

This is another level where I would reduce the precision, as most of the time the jumper would start gliding and therefore wouldn't be able to hoist himself up onto the large steel block.

That's right. I reduced the height of the large block by two pixels to make the climb more comfortable.

200 metres 11: The use of shimmiers at the beginning seemed very interesting and not very obvious to me. Well done.

Ah, must be a Marvels fan too. At least I think this is from Superman if I'm not mistaken?

Yes, Krypton is Superman's planet.

200 metres 12: Very good. As in most Queen's palace, the solution is quite obvious, because the're only 6 skills (always the same) and a similar setting. But anyway, I tried to diversify.

200 metres 13: The only difficulty is how to bring two lemmings to the top.

200 metres 14: Bravo! I like this level!

200 metres 15: Well done! Indeed, we should invent a "painting" skill! The difficulty of this level is to think about going back and forth so as not to waste skills. The shimmier and the glider are useless.

200 metres 16: Very good. You're right, you have to manage the timing well at the beginning.

200 metres 17: In this level, you have to use the cloner to contain the crowd at the beginning. But normally, you have to clone the glider. I fixed the issue by moving the platform to reach to the right. Additionally, I improved the design a little bit.

However, I still stand by my point that the starting platform is really small to work in to contain the crowd and have the correct number of Lemmings go on to do the route. I personally would make it larger to allow more leg room

I thought about it, but if I made it larger, even just a little, the cloner would no longer be essential at the beginning to contain the crowd and we could use it later to get the unlock button. The level would no longer be interesting.

200 metres 18: The challenge here is to bring back the lemming that went to press the button. As you said, the solution isn't obvious. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the congratulations. I moved this level to the next rank.

200 metres 19: Well done! Solution intended.

200 metres 20: Well done. Obvious solution again, I agree.

3) 400 metres rank:

Spoiler

400 metres 1: That's good! But using the other slider skill, you could find a simpler and "cleaner" solution. Armani used another technique: stop the miner with another miner. Sorry you had to destroy Jasmine with miners!

400 metres 2: The title of the level is the title of a Prince song, that's on purpose. You found the solution quickly, well done!!! I moved this level to the beginning of the previous rank.

400 metres 3: Well done! It's interesting to see all the attempts you made before finding the right solution. When I created it, I didn't think this level would be so difficult. Moreover, I can't reduce the precision: if I raise the right block or lower the left platform, the shimmier won't be able to come back. I put this level further in the rank.

400 metres 4: Intended solution!

400 metres 5: I wanted to have some fun here... This level isn't my favorite either. That's why I created another level instead with a similar setting. Additionally, I put it at the end of the previous rank.

400 metres 6: Well done! You were close to the right solution from the beginning. As you say, freeing the blocker is not easy to find. I changed a small element of the setting, which doesn't change anything in the resolution of the level.

400 metres 7: Bravo!

400 metres 8: Little backroute! I blocked the RR at 1.

400 metres 9: Bravo! It's perfect! The beginning is the hardest: you have to isolate – then free – a lemming (which isn't a glider).

400 metres 10: What a convoluted solution! The intended solution is much easier! I congratulate you anyway and invite you to look at Armani's solution. I changed a few things to make the level easier to solve: I moved a few blocks and removed a walker.

400 metres 11: Well done, you found the intended solution. I know, it's a pretty tricky level.

400 metres 12: Perfect, as usual!

400 metres 13: I thought this level would be pretty hard. But it's true that the path to take is obvious. I put this level at the beginning of the rank.

400 metres 14: Well done. In the initial version of the level, there was an extra bomber that was used to free the last blocker, when we were next to the exit. But since I saw Armani use this basher-blocker trick, I removed a bomber skill. To be honest, I didn't know this trick when I created this level (now, I remember seeing it before in another level but I quickly forgot about it). I also find this weird (and counter-intuitive). So I just put the bomber back that I had removed. And I put the level at the beginning of the rank.

400 metres 15: Yes, I put two walkers, but if you find the right timing, you can solve it with a single walker. Your solution is close to the intended solution. It may be easier to use the basher (and not the digger) to cross the block with the radioactivity logo.

By the way, was this level in any way inspired by my "Don't Stop Shimmying Til You Get Enough"?  Very similar concept, just without one-way force fields 

I didn't take inspiration from a particular level to create this one, or I did it unconsciously.  Can you tell me where I can find your level? I'll be happy to play it.

400 metres 16: I made sure that the perfect timing is easy to find: you just have to set the RR to 99 and make the first two lemmings that arrive at the wall climb. Well done!

400 metres 17: Here I used several tricks involving the shimmier. The level isn't very difficult if you know them, but you have to think carefully about each step. I decided to remove the pick-up skill glider (which is useless): the skill is given from the beginning.

400 metres 18: Like Armani, you made the level very complicated to solve! You used up the skills quickly, and, during the last obstacles, you ended up with very few skills. Well done anyway! To fix the issue, I removed four unnecessary skills and simplified one obstacle.

400 metres 19: Well done ! This is definitely the most difficult level in the pack. There is an easier method to prevent the blocker from climbing when released: at first, rather than making it climb, simply hover (with the glider) to make it land directly on the block. This way you don't have to be too precise when releasing it. Apart from this detail, you found the intended solution. The other blocker skill isn't useful.

Angkor temple is an archaeological site located in Cambodia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat

I had the chance to travel to Vietnam, but I have never visited the Angkor temple in Cambodia: it seems that it's magnificent!

400 metres 20: I suspected you would quickly find the solution.

4) One minute rank:

the rank seems to have been heavily inspired by the One rank of PimoLems, which I know David has played through back around the time he released his first level pack The Lemmings Have Grown

Yes, I used the concept of PimoLems' excellent rank One.

Spoiler

One minute 1: No, you don't have to fiddle! The second lemming can reach the first exit using only one jumper (and the first lemming will need 9 jumpers). You wasted time making the second lemming pass the first.

One minute 2: It took you a while to find the solution because you wanted to make the first lemming that came out of the water climb up.

One minute 3: Backroute. I extended the distance to the exit.

One minute 4: Intended solution. However, the blocker isn't required.

One minute 5: Good job! The difficulty is thinking about using the digger.

One minute 6: Nice alternative solution. To fix the issue, I limited the number of lemmings per exit (like in Magic Circus).

One minute 7: Perfect! The level looks a lot like a level from my previous pack, but it's not quite the same. And in my first pack, there was no custom music. I improved it a little by changing the left part and I added the blocker skill to have the 8 classic skills.

One minute 8: Great! You don't even have to use the blocker on the locked exit. I agree, this level requires a lot of precision.

One minute 9: Perfect! I thought you would find the right path more quickly.

One minute 10: Perfect!

Also thanks to Mobiethian who made a great logo for my pack!