Lix Community Level Set

[Proxima]

Two versions of The Crimson Room, a level I was sharing on IRC last night. (Thanks to Clam and Rubix for testing!) I tried two different backroute fixes -- version A has lasers; version B removes the climber, but has one more builder and basher. Both versions still have at least one alternative solution anyway. I can't decide which version to use -- or perhaps I should just go back to the original, i.e. A without the lasers. None of the solutions are trivial, so perhaps it doesn't matter so much. Opinions would be welcome.

[Proxima]

Any input with regards to changes or inclusion on whatever is in this archive is appreciated. I noticed in Proxima's level rating list there's already a preference for which of minimac's levels to include and which not.

Here are my thoughts on each of minimac's levels.

Strong include
All over the place -- Excellent puzzle level, could do with improving appearance
Heavenly skies -- Another very good puzzle as it's not easy to find a route that doesn't run out of builders
The Almighty Sawblade -- Great puzzle, horrible background colour
Some like to run (Part 2) -- Another excellent puzzle
Welcome to Puzzle World -- Good level; requires minimac's puzzle terrain and I don't know whether that's included?

Weak include
Blocked by a snowball -- Easy, would be a good addition to the Simple set
Going round in circles -- Okay level, but rather easy to see what to do, can be brute-forced
Ground digging -- Fairly good level for allowing the player to discover interrupted basher and miner techniques, but a bit nasty with precision
The Giant Mushroom -- Decent puzzle, could do with improving appearance, change the fling-bomber for a normal one?
Dude, where's my shovel? -- Okay as a simple puzzle to introduce the trampoline object. I would change my vote to "exclude" if we already have something filling that niche.

Weak exclude
Balancing together -- Tedious to implement the solution
Cross hairs -- Interesting, but a bit too similar to the PimoLems level "Precision Bombing"
Descendants -- Overly large and not very interesting, brute-force solution
Not too straightforward -- Quite a fun jumping level but very easy, most skills are unused. Possibly the solution is a backroute.
Scalding hot water -- Rather tedious building level, requires minimac's terrain

Strong exclude
A freakish shade of red -- Invisible terrain
Lust for a bust -- Nuke level, tedious trial-and-error
Grab your umbrellas -- Very annoying use of fling objects
Some like to run -- Identical to Part 2 except it requires 9/10 (and Part 2 requires 10), but saving 10 is not very much harder
Take a dive -- Annoying trampoline level, fortunately backroutable

[mobius]

despite objections, I've made a major change to my level 'eye of the needle' because I felt it was way too hard and annoying. Precisely; I broke it into two separate levels. "Eye of the needle" should be the familiar one, which has the main trick I thought of first for this level. "Absolute Zero" is new but it uses a trick I've only seen once in a level by geoo. This one hasn't been backroute tested. Also I didn't test it thoroughly enough to see if it's really annoying precision wise. I basically tested it until I could solve it so hopefully nobody gets too frustrated with it. I could most likely be adjusted.

[mobius]

I'm only part-way done this. There are more to fix. See attachment

EDIT: I just realized I shouldn't have posted that folder yet--I actually haven't tested all of them thoroughly. 90 mph is one I know I definitely haven't worked out completely. Also I messed up some of the names.  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />


lix levels to remove: these are levels I really don't want in the set

Torcher chamber -- solution involves dumb precision.
six gaps five builders
Diggin' the Air (pieuw)
critical procedures- (I plan on keeping the repeat level which is ISteve's Solution)
riddle me this --can be solved with a glitch (besides I just don't find it very interesting)


Levels I'm ok with letting go (but not asking they be removed):
Slippery Pete
bibblidi-bobblidi-boo (pieuw)
Escape the Pit -- almost a remake of a Revolution level I changed my mind about this level. Unless it really needs to be removed.
the last mile
Leap of the Locust


levels that have been altered:
these are all the levels I've made changes too. Some have major changes to the solution while some were just small aesthetic things. I noted if I changed the title.

exit stage right - 90 mph down a dead end street
roundabout (added skills)
cold irons bound - a short sharp shock
3-1 - Three's Company
Fearful Symmetry - Cold Irons Bound
A Giant Leap for Lixkind -- The Final Sacrifice
That Pesky Gap -- Born Under Punches
Too far to walk ---made changes but haven't tested thoroughly. I made the level smaller.
Trivial Matters - Fracture
Wrong Way - Big Block
It Takes Time to Build
Dilemma - Passing Engagement
Over my head - I don't remember what the old solutions was, I like my current one which Akseli found also. I think it used to have backroutes anyway.


new levels!
these are levels that I made, I'm not super-adamant on them being added.
big block (part 2)
Don't Leave me Hanging! (BulletRide)
I may make a few more.

[mobius]

on the above post: just let me know of any real concerns with the levels. Otherwise if they're fine I'm fine with them.

below is a redo of my level "tower of babel". I couldn't find the old one in the pack maybe I or someone took it out. If there was already a level just like this then forget about this one. In any case, I made this one better. It's still an easy level however.

[NaOH]

Hi everybody,

I just noticed this community level set and, while I'm not very good at making levels, I'd still love to be able to help. So, I'm playing through the level set (might take me a long time) and I'm hoping a fresh pair of eyes will be useful. For now, I'm going to compare this level set (which I presume we could consider the proposed "default" Lix campaign) to the original Lemmings one.

I've intentionally avoided reading most of this thread so as to keep my perspective unbiased and not to spoil anything. I'll go back and read it later after I've reviewed the first chunk of the levels. So, if I mention something that's already been discussed, I'm sorry.

Starting with the first few levels, here are notes I took about structure and how these serve to introduce the player to lix. I'm assuming the player has at most skimmed the tutorial, and is smart enough to figure out the basic controls.

Levels 1 - 30

I like that it starts off with the humble "Any Way You Want" level. If you look at the first ten or so Lemmings levels, each is extremely minimalist and straight-forward to solidify game concepts. I'm assuming here that the starting levels of this pack are meant to serve as an introduction, and the later levels are the puzzling ones. You might even want to follow that pattern -- have a hidden tutorial by making the first 15 levels map to each of the 15 skills. But I like the current setup.

Next up is "Confusing Fractals," which is aptly named. The level is cool and all, but it's very intimidating to a new player despite its simple solution. I feel like topography should be introduced slowly, one axis at a time, and especially not with a mesmerizingly complicated level design. I'd recommend moving this one later on.

Level 3 -- I'm going to bold these now -- "Alternative Methods Recommended" is a clever way of introducing a lot of skills at once. It forces the player not to re-use the same skill too many times -- you might even want to lower the skill numbers down from 10 to 5. One thing I found confusing was the dark/bright pattern of the platforms, which made it look to me like there was a grid of blue dots and not a series of thin platforms. You might want to space the platforms out more and change their texture so that the player can more easily understand what's going on. Certain skills are a little overwhelming, though -- I feel like jumpers, climbers, cubers, and blockers don't belong here.

Level 4, "Lix Potion Number Nine," is a good introduction to traps. I'd nix the red lasers though, as they are distracting and simplicity is important so as not to overwhelm the player.

Level 5, "Building Block Maze," is a perfect difficulty jump. It allows players to re-use the skills they've learned, but makes them think through the level. It also is forgiving with skill number -- players get plenty, so they don't have to worry about running out yet. I'd actually recommend keeping it to just construction and destruction skills and blockers, and cut out the extraneous jumping, running, climbing skills, and parachuting skills, and maybe even remove the cuber and fling-bombers; too many tools is overwhelming. The micromanagement movement skills should be introduced later, I think.

Level 6, "Get Down from There!," is similar to Building Block Maze insofar as it gives the players a large tool-set and lets them explore it. I'd recommend slightly restructuring it so that the lix won't spill over the edge and die until the player is ready, or they might panic. Even then, this level should be moved later on a little; it's about the same difficulty as level 13 (see below). Again remove some of the overwhelming, extraneous skills.

Level 7, "Goblin City," is good. Encourages players to learn how to scroll because of how interesting the rest of the level is. Consider changing the red bar to a different colour, because it looks scary, like a trap or something.

Level 8, "Leap of the Locust" is a bit weird as a tutorial. For one, it's too restrictive on the number of lixes to be saved -- beginning players should be allowed to make some mistakes. Also, there's no way to cover over the pit completely, which gave me the feeling that I hadn't truly "saved" my lixes, like there was still danger lurking there. I don't think it's good to force players to micromanage their lixes this early on to prevent them from dying. Furthermore, it took me a minute to realize what to do here, and since I'm a veteran player that might mean this level is too hard for its placement.

Level 9, "Pipe Dream," is a good level which allows creative solutions, just like 5 and 6. I'd actually recommend putting it right after or right before 5; 5 is a construction-focused level, and this can be a destruction-focused level. Again, maybe remove the extraneous movement skills.

Level 10, Diamond Dash, is a good follow-up to Pipe Dream and Building Block Maze. Focuses on both construction and destruction. Again, maybe remove the extraneous movement skills.

Level 11, "Little Miner Puzzle (part 1)" is an excellent tutorial to specifically teach mining. It's also a good introduction to vertical scrolling. I'd recommend putting it very early on, possibly even the first level (very first level probably shouldn't have scrolling, though). Definitely before the more open-ended levels like 5, 6, 9, and 10.

Level 12, "Minimalism," is a good way of introducing some of the movement skills; this one is walking and fling-bombing. However, I'd restructure it slightly so that the player can save all the lixes just by using walkers to save half and bombers to save the other half; don't force walking and bombing together, especially since this level requires dexterity and/or repeated pausing to assign the skills in time. The player doesn't even know the skills' hotkeys yet (!).

Level 13, "Snake," is another open-ended level like 5, 6, 9, 10. Note how the skillset is much simpler. It's also a good challenge step up from the others; actually about the same difficulty as 6, which should be moved later.

Level 14, "Fear of Heights", is interesting as it fails under "Just Dig" logic, making the player think more critically what looks like a straightforward level. but remove the floater skill as it's not necessary -- or else make the drop bigger. We still haven't gotten a good floater introduction yet. Also, allow the player to lose a few lixes. Things are starting to get a little tricky.

Level 15, "Snow Really," is another good open-ended level. Teaches about climbers and about sending one loner lix up ahead of the pack to carve the way. This is actually my favourite level so far, I think; feels a lot like Lemmings. I'd recommend removing the cuber and jumper; blocker and builder work as fine substitutes and I still feel like the skillset should be small. Title should end in a question mark.

Level 16, "The Road Not Taken", is kind of weird. Why is there a door encased in steel? Why does the level wrap horizontally? The random tiny platforms hovering around is also confusing. The level also makes it easy to build into the ceiling (a weird game mechanic that the player shouldn't have to worry about yet) and encourages use of floaters -- something we still haven't introduced properly. I do like that it's another open-ended level, but it has some problems. This should either be moved later on or stricken all together. Sorry.

Level 17, "Think Fast!," is a nice way of building up the player's dexterity and making them consider using hotkeys. Also introduces them to bridge physics - what happens when a lix walks into a bridge from the "wrong" side? Either put this level after the floater introduction (which still isn't a thing), or remove the floater skill altogether. Also, give some more wiggle room on the allowed lix deaths.

Level 18, "Climb to Freedom!," is a nice way of making players think of re-purposing digger-tunnels as up-tubes instead of down-tubes. Also good to show what climbers can deal with (straight walls) and what they can't (bumps). Remove the unnecessary basher, though, and give the player a few more bridgers to use. Death count is still too restrictive.

Level 19, "Cuber Replacement," is a little confusing. Cubers should have been introduced before this level. The spawn rate kind of fast. Also, remove the greyed-out cuber icon; it's also confusing. The builders could be swapped out for more platformers to keep the concept simple. This level is good for encouraging out-of-the-box thinking with skills, but maybe it should be moved later on after the skills' uses have been more firmly established and reinforced in the player's mind. Plus, it takes a little finesse to get it to work right; seems like medium-difficulty to me.

Level 20, "Escape the Pit," is another good open-ended one, same difficulty as 13 and 6. I especially like how it forces the player to scroll the screen. Maybe this could be the introduction to horizontal screen-scrolling? Maybe remove the explosions, as they haven't been clearly introduced yet. One thing I've noticed is that the levels have been oscillating between explosion and flingsplosions; it should stay consistent until the distinction has been clearly made. (A level with just explosions, but requiring both types, would be really great for this purpose.) The "the" in the title should be capitalized.

Level 21, "Let's block and blow?," good introduction to blockers and bombers. This could go very early on; definitely makes a good explosion introduction. Also, the title is lowercase; is this intentional?

Level 22, "Pitfall," is a good introduction to floaters. Depending on where this level is placed, (if climbers and bombers haven't been introduced yet) maybe instead of forcing the player to use a blocker, instead modify the terrain slightly to force the use of a climber to climb out of the starting plateau.

Level 23, "Put your lix on ice," is a good, simple level, not too challenging. Remove the extraneous skills (i.e. bomber, floater, jumper, batter), and put this level earlier in the list. It shows how climbers can be used to climb steep slopes, not just straight walls; this should go before 15 ("Snow Really"). There is a small, one-pixel lip on the left-hand hill which halts climbers, but it's hard to notice; either make the bump bigger (and perfectly flat on the bottom so that it's obvious the climber will be reflected), or flatten it out with dark antimatter terrain.  Um, this title also has strange capitalization. And uses the discouraged pluralization of "lix." Edit: nevermind, lix has many correct plurals; thanks, Proxima.

Level 24, "Downpour." This level is flingsane and belongs way farther down the list. I don't know what it's doing here. We haven't even been introduced to jumpers properly yet.

Level 25, "Go Ahead and Help Yourself," is another good open-ended one. Another small difficulty step up from 6, 13, and 20. Remove some of the unnecessary skills cluttering the skill list, though, especially the ones that haven't been introduced yet. Good introduction to multiple hatches.

Level 26, "Let's all go down the Strand"; Same difficulty class as 6, 13, 20, etc. Jumpers should be introduced before this level, though. Doesn't need modification.

Level 27, "Setting a Fundament"; The basic use of cubers needs to be solidified (no pun intended) before this more complicated use.

Level 28, "Suicide Attack" -- what is this flingsanity? There needs to be a simple flingtroduction level first.

Level 29, "You'll Get Over It," is a good difficulty; it's open ended, has a simple skillset. Belongs maybe just after 6, 13, 20, 26 in terms of difficulty. (i.e. it's well placed.)

Level 30, "Against the Wall." So many colours aah! Actually, I like this as an introduction to toroidal levels. It's simpler than level 2 ("Confusing Fractals") and the player already has a handle on basic use of skills (except flinging, jumping, cubing, and blocking, which haven't had a proper introduction yet) and is ready for a new concept.

Summary

• All-in-all, pretty good progression with a few oddball hard levels in there (2, 8, 16, 19, 24, 27, 28, and to a lesser extent 6) that need to be moved.
• (Edit:) Don't overwhelm players with huge numbers of (extraneous) skills in the early levels.
• (Edit:) Also, be merciful and allow players to let some lixes die; in Lemmings, fun and taxing levels had success rates which were usually "bare minimum," not "par."
• Skills need to have simple introductions before they are used in levels. They don't necessarily need to be introduced one-at-a-time (although Level 11 ("Little Miner Puzzle (Part 1)") works well in that regard); I actually quite like how swathes of skills are introduced in each level. Level 3 ("Alternative Methods Recommended") is good that way.
• There are some good, open-ended levels that allow for diverse solutions:
• Level 5 ("Building Block Maze") focuses on construction
• Level 9 ("Pipe Dream") focuses on destruction
• Level 10 ("Diamond Dash") combines construction and destruction
• Level 13 ("Snake") is like 10, but a little more tricky.
• Level 6 ("Get Down From There") Belongs in the same difficulty tier as 10.
• Level 15 ("Snow Really") same category as 6 and 13, but also teaches the player to send one lix on up ahead of the rest of them. Very good.
  
• Level 20 ("Escape the Pit") is in the 6, 13, 15 class.
• Level 25 ("Go Ahead and Help Yourself") is another step up in difficulty. Good introduction to two hatches.
• There still needs to be an introduction for: jumpers, blockers, runners, batters, bombers, and fling-bombers.
• Do not switch between bombers and fling-bombers until the distinction has been made clear.
• Keep in mind that early players won't know basic things like hotkeys. "Minimalism," for example, is tough as-is without hotkeys.

Everything is really good so far and I look forward to playing the rest. Maybe I could contribute "Sanity Threshold" (pictured) from the occult tileset, if that makes it into the game?

[mobius]

Coincidence that NaOh posted this before I did. I wanted to post something of this nature forever but never got around to playing the levels until recently.
Thanks for the comments on my levels.

--------
some thoughts on the difficulty;

I rate Let's block and blow and suicide attack slightly higher
[excellent levels btw, I've never played these before. I liked Decompression method too.]

Other than that, the beginning is pretty solid.

I think Piewu's levels Erbalunga and Uphill are harder than their position.

[Proxima]

Thanks for the feedback -- let's hope this helps give us a bit of momentum to get this thing finally finished off!

I should say, I don't have any official status beyond being one of the main level contributors, and I've been away from IRC for a long time, so you may well have heard more recent news than me. But as far as I know, the list is still in order by geoo's opinion of difficulty -- the plan was to get together and hash out an ordering, but geoo has been busy with other things (as have we all) -- it isn't meant to be taken as a draft of the sequence they would appear in the game. That said, your feedback highlighting the problems with using their current arrangement as an ordering should be very helpful whenever we do manage to get round to working on one.

Some replies about my own levels:

4 (Lix Potion Number Nine) -- The lasers are necessary to encourage the player to take the route through the traps. A 100% solution is possible by another route, but I wanted this to be a level the player could pass easily, then come back and look for the 100% route later. I hadn't intended this to come as early as geoo has placed it.

7 (Goblin City) -- One of several conversions from my old Cheapo levels. I'm not displeased with it, but I think the original version, in the Lemmings marble style, looked much better  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" />  Fair point about the red pipe.

9 (Pipe Dream) and 10 (Diamond Dash) have the full range of skills because they were converted from 2-player levels, and I didn't really think about that as a consideration. I agree that the movement skills could be cut out.

23 (Put your lix on ice) -- Those are good suggestions. Not sure where you got the idea that the plural "lix" is "discouraged"; Simon has said that lix, lixes, lixen are all acceptable, and across the set of level titles, "lix" is the most popular by a substantial margin.

Comments on some levels that aren't mine:

2 (Confusing Fractals) -- I agree. We need a level that bridges the gap between the extremely easy Any Way You Want and everything else, but this isn't it.

3 (Alternative Methods Recommended) -- I think this is harder than Steve's other Fun levels, because the thin platforms make you run out of miners and diggers and then you need to handle the drop, with a fairly high 40/50 requirement. I really don't think this should come this early.

16 (The Road Not Taken) -- The horizontal wrap and tiny platforms are essential to the later version of this level, "Dream the Impossible Dream". (The fully enclosed door isn't essential, but it did suggest the titles of both versions, so I suspect it's staying.) I agree this is one of the more complex N-of-all-skills levels and should come later.

[geoo]

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I'll read through it thoroughly once I have time! I just caught some Wifi here, so a few notes:

First, the current level order that you see is basically just the complete level list, sorted by the current difficulty rating. I want to hand-arrange the levels into the ratings in the end, based on my opinions and your feedback. Especially for the first rating I intend to arrange the levels in a good difficulty curve, and also design some specific levels for the first rating that introduce some stuff that re-appear in later levels, or things like that. So especially for that the feedback you gave will be pretty useful.

Second, we plan to have a dedicated set of tutorial levels introducing the basic mechanics. Maybe 15 levels or so, maybe two tiers (Like in Rubix' current tutorials, one with advanced techniques), also trying to build on top of each other to some extent so the player will remember the skills/mechanics and not forget about them immediately again.

So it seems I'll be on the road again for the next month, but afterwards I'm trying to allocate time right now where I'll really just be at home, and having some time for this. Overall, I would still like to stick to 280 (7x40) levels in total which we're going to exceed with the current bunch of levels plus the levels I want to design for the first rating, plus whatever else is still rolling in from you, so I was thinking of compiling a list of the levels that have been strongly considered for inclusion, and maybe ask for feedback for 20 or 30 (or however many) levels that have to be put aside to get back to 280 levels. Also (cf rating name thread) we still need a seventh rating name (possibly with additional adjustments to other rating names, so I like the 6 we have quite a lot).

[geoo]

Ok, here's an update. Links to the level archive and list in the first post of the thread, as usual.
The update news are below (I actually haven't been able to thoroughly test all the updated levels, so I put notes in the level list file).

But first, a few things (what to do next).

Not all (albeit most) of the levels are quite top-notch. Therefore I will look over the levels at some point, and compile a list of levels that I'd be fine being scrapped, or that I feel need some prettifying in order to stay. I encourage you to do the same. If you have complaints about any existing level, or downright dislike one, post it! Maybe (just maybe), we could scrap so many to go back to 240, making things a little shorter, ensuring quality, and solving the issue of the 7th rating?
At some point I'll try to arrange the levels into the ratings (though before that I should find out whether we'll have 6 or 7).

But with the discussion about the first rating that has been sparked, I think this is a good opportunity to get the first rating arranged, as that's the most important one in some sense too.
I'll assume that the player will have played tutorial levels, that introduced the functionality of each skill and object, but that he doesn't necessarily remember all of these perfectly well.
We already got quite a bit of material, but already noticed that some things are missing (like a level that fits into the slot following 'Any way you Want'). I feel that the levels should get the player more accustomed to the skills, so rather than having all the skills present in all the N-of-each levels, I agree with Amanda that's a good idea to limit the choice (i.e. strip the skill selection of some of the existing levels). Though in addition to these, to mix things up a little I think the first rating should also have a few puzzle levels (like 'Little Miner Puzzle' where the player is fully aware what the skill does, and now has to solve a puzzle with it), and maybe some techniques (sending climber and mining down, climber bomb, etc; these two already seem to be covered, though maybe not in the most basic setting).
I'd like this discussion to keep going on, with e.g. suggested level ordering or a few new levels to fill in the gaps. I'll chip in in a month or so when I'm back from one of my vacations.



Update news:

Updated:

Code: [Select]

anyway.txt
finale.txt
prelude.txt
putyourlix.txt
rhapsodyinblue.txt
towerofbabel.txt
'Put your Lix on Ice': Added bump at the left as per Amanda's suggestion. No other changes yet.
'Any way you Want': New version with Proxima's extended terrain.
The others: New versions that Proxima/Mobius uploaded


Added (haven't added them to _order.X.txt, so they appear at the end of the folder in Lix):

Code: [Select]

allover.txt
almostincommensurable.txt
blocked.txt
cornerstone.txt
crosshairs.txt
deathorglory.txt
feelthepressure.txt
goinground.txt
grounddigging.txt
heavenly.txt
labyrinthofdespair.txt
panicattack.txt
sanitythreshold.txt
sevenpillars.txt
solareclipse.txt
someliketorunpart2.txt
thealmightysaw.txt
thecrimsonroom.txt
thegiantmushroom.txt
theob3lisk.txt
theroadgoeseveron.txt

I attached a solution to 'The Crimson Room (B)', which I included for now. This choice is somewhat arbitrary, based on the fact that I found the lasers in the other version a bit hard to see at the beginning. I'll have to solve the other version too.

I included a notable portion of minimac's levels, based on Proxima's feedback. This is tentative, I think some of them definitely need some prettifying. Might also taking some of them out in the end, but I want to include rather more than less at this moment.


I haven't included any of mobius' changes yet. Things in his archive seem pretty messy as it stands, for instance, 'Whispering Wind' is completely broken (linebreaks missing).

I haven't solved 'Absolute Zero', it looks like I'm missing something. I'm very fond of the original 'Eye of the Needle', though this one seems to employ an additional idea, so it's nice as a standalone level, or maybe for that idea to be incorporated into Eye of the Needle. Don't know yet.


Then I have a few more levels lying around that are not included yet, for I think backroute reasons, or multiple versions, or something like that.

brickout (Anyone who's seen the solution wants to try backroute fixing?)
house-of-flying-lixes (Don't know ccx' intended solution, and I think mine might be a bit too technical)
downfall (two versions I think)
four lix and a funeral (backroutes)
in my time of dyin (not sure why, looks very messy though)
is there alix in the house (backroutes)

[mobius]

Go West, Backslash(s) was a really nice level. I also liked Can't reach it don't need but haven't solved it yet.
I really loved Lix Cannon too, By Ben Bryant, is that a remake or someone who used to be around here? I don't remember that name.

I found a possible backroute to Impetus by IS.

-----------
more levels I'm ok with letting go:
when the levee breaks, a lix on the edge!, play ball!, watch ye step (IS's but I remade it and he never made any comments about it), so close yet so far away, the last laugh, u can eliminate one of the "lixes in motion" I don't care which, Division of Labor

I was afraid of that about Whispering Wind [five for fighting] because it was like this before I did anything to it, unless it was an issue with my notepad http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/huh.gif" alt="???" title="Huh?" class="smiley" /> You can just forget about the changes I made to it and use the original.

Absolute Zero implies a trick used in one of geoo's Lemmix levelpack 2 (the small one). I should really try and embellish it a little, but I don't know if I'll get to do that soon. If you want to keep the old Eye of the needle that's fine. You can either scrap the 'easy version' or not.

in my time of dyin was my level I think?
downfall was also my level?
four lix and a funeral
I don't think "is there alix in the house" was mine, but if it was

You can scrap all of these.

[Simon]

I consider Lix Potion Number Nine very tricky for newer players, closer to 0.8 through 1.0 than the current 0.1. The compression trick is not obvious. The first solution I found was block, dig down the leftmost pillar, and bash underneath the lowermost traps, cancelling the basher mid-stroke.

Decompression method (make 9 blockers, then mine underneath them) may or may not be harder than it -- it doesn't allow such a backroute and forces you to see the main trick, but the skillset guides one to the trick unlike Potion's 1-of-each skillset. On Decompression method, I'd give 9 blockers instead of 10 to make this guide even stronger.

-- Simon

[Proxima]

Ben Bryant's two levels are remakes (by me) from the Cheapo set "sg1". I don't think he's been seen since the days of the old forum. (The whole set is very good and I'd love to remake more levels from it, but... there's the matter of finding time, and we have enough levels now.)

I'm also strongly in favour of keeping the old Eye of the Needle; it's a much better puzzle because the solution is well hidden, and there is (at least) one nice red herring that it's easy to be fooled by.

"Is there a lix in the house" was yours, mobius. I'm not going to dig out the post now, but I recall you said it was meant to be an easy level with multiple solutions, so geoo's worry about backroutes is unfounded. However, I think it's not a particularly strong level and we could drop it.

As soon as I have time, I'll go through the whole collection and give my feedback on weaker levels. If we do stick with 7 ratings, perhaps the extra one could be "Nasty" (between Daunting and Vicious)?

geoo's solution to Crimson Room (B) is interesting, different from mine. I'd like to see your solution to (A) before making a decision about which to keep.

[NaOH]

Renamed "Sanity Threshold" (a kind of boring name) to the more apt "Skulls, Sludge, and Steel." The level previously named "Sludge, Skulls, and Steel" (note the difference in the title) now has a different name or something. Or maybe it will be forgotten. Or maybe I'll call it "Steel, Skulls, and Sludge" to be difficult. Perhaps all six combinations will be realized over time.

Also, I've fixed an obvious backroute in the newly-dubbed "Skulls, Sludge, and Steel."

[mobius]

I consider Lix Potion Number Nine very tricky for newer players, closer to 0.8 through 1.0 than the current 0.1. The compression trick is not obvious. The first solution I found was block, dig down the leftmost pillar, and bash underneath the lowermost traps, cancelling the basher mid-stroke.

Lix Potion Number Nine-- [isn't this the level with a bunch of factories?] I didn't find any compression was necessary, since you can lose a lot  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/huh.gif" alt="???" title="Huh?" class="smiley" /> unless I have an old version.
Although I agree that I don't think I give it 0.1 rating.