Lix Community Level Set

[ccexplore]

Haha, my luck that the one day I have no time for the forums, the set gets updated. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

When I have free time, I shall start finalizing the various levels of mine that have been accepted and/or under consideration, like sorting out the decoration in "100% built...".  I'll also PM geoo on "House of..." and "Won't Get..." as there are still discussions to be had over solutions to feature/eliminate.

There is one little thing I could use everyone's input though.  For "Won't Get Fooled Again", I'm not really sure about the current color of blocks I'm using in that level, and is opened to a color change.  The 5 colors I can go with are:  cyan/light-blue (current color), pink, light green, yellow, light purple.  Just review Matt's "marble" set to see the colors.  If anyone has any strong dislikes of any particular colors in that set, let me know.

[geoo]

Ok, here's another quick, somewhat rushed update, so I finally catch up with things again.
Added: buridan, changing, chargeofthelix, chasm, downamong, eyeoftheneedle, lixology, quickTurnAround, wellmeetagain.
And Fnargl, well spotted. I was actually going to rate it "one point something low", though I set it to 1.7 now seeing you're apparently having troubles with it.

I just wanted to get everything on the list so it's clear whether to use the subfolder "wip" for these or not (the answer is "no wip folder" for the levels I just added, but "wip" for everything that gets posted from now on).
I think right now there's only 2 wip levels left not on the list, brickout-B8b (which I still have to solve) and house of flying lixes B/C.

Comments on the levels:
Buridan: I'm not sure whether I'd call the builder behavior a glitch, because it's the most logical thing to happen. In some earlier version the digger would stop once he had not enough terrain under him without completing the stroke, always leaving a small ledge, which is horrible from the viewpoint of puzzles. So now the digger stroke gets completed, and the digger floats partially in midair for a short while, but you can always assign a skill to a worker lix, so it's just consistent that you can do also in this case. I mean it works in basically all versions, that when the digger digs down terrain while under its center there's no terrain, you can assign any skill (the one strange exception is that you cannot assign a blocker in Cheapo in this case). Builders also continue building if you bomb away the bridge they are standing on at the moment. I've suggested having the digger remove the whole layer of pixels in one go which would eliminate all these issues (like being able to cancel a digger using a miner or a blocker), not sure whether Simon will change this though. In any case, I attached a left and a right solution. The left one is very similar to my previous solution, not making use of that behavior though.
Changing of the Guards: This one's pretty tricky, I found a pretty efficient solution, but no really clean one. Not sure what you intended for this level. Solution attached.
Down among the dead Lix: basically the same comment as above.
Lixology: Included it now, but feel free to redesign if you want.
Quick Turn Around: Found a different solution than Proxima, haven't found a truly elegant one though. Solution attached.
Eye of the Needle: Ah, reading Proxima's post I see that the confusion is not about the direction of the OWW, but the blocks they are supposed to be applied to. I guess I found the 64x64 block you climb up at the beginning big and low enough to be considered "big" and "at the bottom". x_x My fault, sorry for the confusion. Anyway, the solution I found that ignores the potential OWW seems to be the only other solution to me, and it can easily be eliminated by a buzzsaw above the gap. As Proxima said, I need to build over the gap in order to turn the floater around while making a gap that allows me to bash along under the steel to the right. The next version of Lix will allow to bash under the steel using a single bomber hole, but this can be fixed by putting a 2px layer of terrain at the bottom pf the gap. Execution was surprisingly easy the first time I did it, as I placed the climber bomb very high and then the timing worked out magically. But a second runner could probably make things more flexible in terms of execution. The version on the list only differs in the buzzsaw I added for backroute elimination (so I think even without an OWW there shouldn't be backroutes now), but feel free to change it somehow else. Again, really excellent level.  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" /> Your levels keep getting better and better, keep at it!
Just wondering, you said you don't like English very much, are you a native speaker? You grammar seems fine, it's just that your posts read a bit like a stream of consciousness at times. I know about forgetting things I want to post, especially with larger posts, so whenever I have an idea I just take down a note. I just suggest reading over the post and editing a bit if necessary. I guess as a writer you'll have to that as well http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />. (Or perhaps not, Proxima would probably be able to tell you more. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" class="smiley" />)

For The Last Laugh, I chose the revised version which doesn't feature the alternative solutions.
Matter of Perspective: Yeah, the latest solution you attached is intended.
EDIT: Forgot to note, I updated "Buy one get one free (Part 2)", so you can give it a try again. I think you haven't had a go at the latest version of "Alien Invasion" yet either.

ccx: For "Won't get fooled again", I'll still try to find the intended solution myself first. There's also the mixed color blocks in the marble set (only the smaller ones though). I'm about to rework the smaller blocks and the tessellation pattern so that the shading for all blocks looks consistent, this shouldn't have effect on the color choice though. Though you could also mix them, I find the combination of cyan/pink and mixed color blocks pretty nice which I used in Stepping Stones (2P). In the end, the possibilities are endless, unless you insist on keeping the level monochromatic. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" class="smiley" />

[Proxima]

Changing of the Guards: Oops. Should have checked the height of that ball above the exit. Moving it 16px higher (attached) should solve the problem.

Buridan's Lix: Left route could be fixed by moving steel and trap lower so you can't build to turn round there. However, that right route is really bad and I don't see a possible fix, so it looks like the level has to be scrapped anyway.

EDIT: Or maybe not. Try removing one builder and requiring only 9/10. Both intended solutions still work, but the right-exit solution can't save 10/10 without the fifth builder, whereas the left-exit solution can (it didn't use all the builders anyway). That's appropriate, since it's nice to reward the player for finding and carrying out the harder solution. But of course it's possible that the lowered save requirement introduces new backroutes. Unfortunately I won't be able to do any more testing today, but I'll get onto it as soon as I can.

Down among the dead lix: Your solution is different from mine (attached) but you used all skills and yours seems suitably difficult to work out, so I wouldn't call it a backroute. I think with better timing, my solution might also save 51/60, but I haven't tried yet.

ccexplore: Just avoid yellow, the yellow blocks look fine in combination with others but not when they're used to build the entire level. By the way, when I was looking back through the old forums recently, I found a topic where you recreated some original levels to enforce challenge solutions and asked the rest of us to contribute titles. My suggestion for Taxing 18 was "Ascending and Descending", which met with approval, so I just thought I'd suggest that title again, as I find "100% built by Lixes" to be a bit bland.

[geoo]

Yeah, I think there might be multiple solutions to "Down among the dead Lix", but none of them is very easy to find.

Changing of the Guards: I'm afraid that doesn't fix it, same backroute.

I'll wait for the backroute-fix update for Buridan then.

Found another solution to "Won't Get Fooled Again", saving 94/100, not exactly elegant though.

[Proxima]

Okay, on Changing, I've moved the lower platform with the exit 16px down. And checked that the intended solution still works.

Buridan, I've removed one builder and required only 9/10, as well as moving that steel and trap 8px down. As I said, I know without testing that both intended solutions still work, but this may introduce new backroutes -- I've had no time even to think about this change, let alone test. I do know that if this doesn't work, nothing will, so I figure I may as well upload and see if you can come up with anything.

[geoo]

Solved the new version of Buridan. For the right side I got a somewhat more complicated route working now, needs digger cancelling. I also got a route for the left side which I quite like (makes use of the shoveling behavior though), and notably, it also works if you move the red bar up by 4px. This would eliminate the 'glitch' route, which I think at this point might be the first solution a player would stumble across, considering the difficulty of the other routes.

A different solution to Changing of the Guards this time, might be intended.
While looking for solutions to Changing of the Guards, I came across an interesting solution idea, and made a slightly modified version of it. (I hope you don't mind; I just named it Part 2 for now). With the minimal change, it currently might still have backroutes (in particular I'm not sure whether the intended solution to the original level can be optimized to save 8, I seem to run out of time for that), but it should be easy to eliminate backroutes because:

The solution only needs 3 skills (using more can aid with execution though, so you don't need to pick a good RR), and the exit platform can be moved down 16 pixels if needed.

[Proxima]

Fascinating. Both solutions to Buridan's Lix are new to me, but I don't consider them backroutes, and it's nice to have a wider variety of solutions, considering the difficulty of execution of my originally intended ones. I also like the fact that there's an easier-to-execute left route that saves 9, leaving saving 10 as a challenge. So, this might indeed be a good version of the level, unless new backroutes are discovered  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

Changing: Same solution concept, different execution; I put SI to 1 at the start and use one of the right lixes as the athlete. I'll have a look at your Part 2 now....

[chaos_defrost]

Backroute fixes to current levels.

A Matter of Perspective has no climbers now, from what I can tell that removes the known backroute.
Chasm has a bit of map redesign and a trimmed skillset.

[mobius]

I just realized 'quick turn around' looks similar to a level by insane Steve. No copying of ideas was intended there. (I haven't solved that level in his set, so Idk if the solutions is at all similar or not). Your (geoo) solution was not the intended but it's not that much different than mine. Mine was: Dig twice with two lixes next to each other so your create a step to the right just right for one lix to turn around and climb up to go and build but trap the rest, then have one digger mine to stop and the other start bashing and he never stops (he's one lost) then use a bomb to free the rest when the builder is finished.

here's something I noticed a while ago but forgot; In a 'long long way to fall' there's a tiny gap in the terrain near the exit but the lixes walk right over it. Why is this?

Now here are two levels, one is a remake of Mazulems "Four Lemmings and a Funeral" My title is four Lix not Lixes because Lixes didn't sound right to me in this case but '100% build by lixes' sounds good idk why, you can change it if you want.
Also, I like the German word for funeral; Beerdigung, sounds like a alchohol drink. On that note, English is my native language, I just... that's a whole other topic. I didn't realize until after joining this site that apparently Lemmings is more popular in Europe than in America? I didn't even know Lemmings was made in England until I was reading the instruction manual for Revolution a few years ago and it said some word for umbrella like "brolly" or something like that and then "that's umbrella for you non British types" So that's why nobody where I live has barley even heard of Lemmings? http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />

Second is another level by me. I'm afraid this one is a little frustrating to execute as well (sorry) but I had a hard time trying to implement this trick in the first place and had to give up and change everything twice. If this one doesn't go well, I'll scrap the idea. Also I'm open to a better title suggestion. (I've been stealing titles from chips challenge). I promise to try and create levels that are not this frustrating in the future. (I know you said Eye of the needle wasn't so bad but I frustrate easily) Sorry for another long post.

(note: for Four Lix and a Funeral, you need the thin terrain I posted on the feedback thread)

[geoo]

Solved both levels, though my solutions look like backroutes to me.
Interestingly, I associate "Four Lemmings and a Funeral" with a level by SgB/Fleech, which happens to have the same name, but is a completely different level.

I think I'll place the thin terrain pieces somewhere else in the end (the underworld ones fit perfectly with the Underworld style, and the others could fit in Marble), but it's fine if you put them into geoo/abstract for now.

here's something I noticed a while ago but forgot; In a 'long long way to fall' there's a tiny gap in the terrain near the exit but the lixes walk right over it. Why is this?

Horizontally, physics are low-res for most part. So to determine whether one low-res pixel is solid, two adjacent graphical pixels are checked, and if one of them is non-transparent, the pixel is considered solid. This should be the cause here. It's a bit misleading in this level, but I think in the listed version it's fixed.

Also, I like the German word for funeral; Beerdigung, sounds like a alchohol drink.

Hahaha, I find it funny you keep filling in the German fields. I mean, I speak German and yet I don't fill them in. Though I think if someone chooses German in the language menu, he'll be greeted by a lot of blank-named levels, except for yours. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />

Oh, and if my memory serves me right Lemmings wasn't made in England, but Scotland. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

But yeah, I think the userbase here isn't as USA-heavy as in some other communities.

[mobius]

yes, torture chamber is a backroute, but is fortunately easily taken care of by getting rid of one platformer. don't know why I didn't see that one.

as for 'four lix... I'll have to check if that's possible in the original, I think it may have been but I'm sure the creator intended on a more interesting solution.

[Nortaneous]

I keep trying to make hard levels, and I keep failing.

[Proxima]

Torture Chamber: didn't download the new version, but completed the old without the extra platformer. I was going to use a similar title for a level, but it's okay -- I doubt I'll have time to design many new levels anyway, especially considering how many of mine still remain to be remade (and several of those will require considerable de-backrouting work). Incidentally, was the layout of this level inspired by the classic "Fall and no life"?

Stick-up: managed to save enough without any clever tricks, just optimising a straightforward method.

Four Lix: Found a backroute. After looking at geoo's, it's the same idea, just carried out slightly differently.

[ccexplore]

Found another solution to "Won't Get Fooled Again", saving 94/100, not exactly elegant though.

Hmm, I did overlook that one somehow.  A little annoying to execute I guess, but kinda a nice solution if you ask me, not sure it's a solution I'd personally feel the need to remove.  But it can be killed if you don't like it much. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

That said, looks like I'll be sadly busy for rest of the work week, so expect level updates to be slow. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />

[finlay]

I didn't even know Lemmings was made in England

It wasn't made in England, it was made in Sco— oh never mind, I don't even care anymore.