[Android] Lemmings-like game (WIP)

[LJLPM]

One more-obscure thing that might be worth testing with the eraser-steel combo: If you were to then use a builder in the "erased" area, does the bridge become steel, or does it function normally?

Yes, this is a good point! Thanks!
I've just checked, and inside "Steel+Eraser" areas, bridges act as normal bridges, and not as steel.

Moreover... Gliders are now added

(this is the very-first in-game animated preview in the topic )

[namida]

Oooh, nice!

Be sure to test them very thoroughly. My experience with NeoLemmix is that Gliders have given rise to more glitches than every other skill combined.

This may be a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one.

[LJLPM]

Ok! The 1st tests show good results with no glitch using the gliders. I will perform more tests with different levels though.

Besides, I really struggle with making a nice Dirt-like tileset!!!!!
I tried to remake "Just Dig!" with my custom tiles, but the result wasn't good, so I threw away all my recent tiles.

And, in order to test my "Pillar" tileset, I also re-created "Only Floaters Can Survive This", and I liked the result. Here it is:
(note: "Terrain" tiles are finished for the following 4 tilesets: Pillar, Brick, Marble, and Colors)

[LJLPM]

As I always look for improving the quality of the game, I fine-tuned the source-code recently, and in case you were wondering "since there's no mouse, how will one do to perform precise moves???", then here's a screenshot showing 5 perfectly-stacked bridges So, yes, you'll be able to be precise

[namida]

Out of interest, how is this done?

Given the kind of setup it's being played on, I'm wondering if you've considered (or maybe are already using) a "highlight lemming" feature, similar to what Lemmings 3D has (and it also exists in NeoLemmix, and another Android game that was posted here, "Dopey Clones").

[LJLPM]

Sorry, but there are some in-game features I would like to not reveal until the game is released For now, I can only tell that I tried my best to ensure players could easily perform precise moves and Lemmings selections.

[LJLPM]

I re-worked my "Marble" tileset to get better tiles:

[namida]

Nice.

Re: Gliders; some things I'd suggest checking:
- Can they land properly on slopes of varying angles?
- What happens if they run into a corner exactly?
- What happens if they encounter a downwards slope (above them), does it act as a wall, do they descend at a faster rate to match the slope (either of which may be the intended behaviour), does it glitch?
- Do they interact with blockers properly?
- What happens if they're falling down a gap that's only one pixel wide?

These are just off the top of my head. I'll go through the NeoLemmix changelogs later and see if I can identify anything else that was problematic. (Many, but not all, were related to the glider-updraft interaction, which I presume won't matter for your game due to not having updrafts; but there were a lot that weren't, too.)

[LJLPM]

Thanks for the feedback. Here are the first results:
- 1) ok
- 2) ok
- 3) ok (currently, there's no "updraft" in the game, so this issue should be limited for now)
- 4) ko (slight adjustments to be done) / ok.
- 5) to be tested. / ok.
Everything should be ok soon is ok.

edit: a quick adaptation of ONML's "Thunder Lemmings are Go!" with the game's "Brick" tileset.
- smartphone screenshot + level zoomed-out to show the whole level
(note: level completed on my 1st try, on phone's tiny 3.5" screen (320x480px), with no missed skill-assignment, using this zoomed-out view only)

[namida]

Nice! That actually looks really good.

One thing that does quickly come to mind - those skill quantities look more like 70 than 20.

[LJLPM]

One thing that does quickly come to mind - those skill quantities look more like 70 than 20.

Yes, it's because the bitmap is cropped on the tiny screen (I deliberately chose a smartphone with a small screen, to test the game under non-optimal conditions).
Actually, it is fully readable on most Android4+ smartphones (and, of course, it's ok on tablets ).
I haven't spent a lot of time on this, as the display is fine on most target devices.

[LJLPM]

...I have to fix a nasty bug with the replays...

It looks like I've defeated the sync problem which sometimes occured with replays (at last!)
(I'm happy because this bug bothered me for quite a while!)

Of course, I will perform more tests, but last tests were all ok!

edit: new tests confirm correct Replay behaviour

[607]

Any progress updates on this?

[LJLPM]

well, unfortunately, I had no time for working on the game recently, so there's no interesting news

WIP status :
- I still have issues handling the audio part (without the audio enabled, the game is stable ; but with the audio activated, it sometimes triggers errors during the game (Java's Exceptions): it's annoying). Except this audio thing, everything else works well.
- about the gfx: I still have to create my own Lemmings sprites of course, but also nice "Dirty" and "Fire" tilesets as well. These are the most time-consuming remaining gfx tasks. Then, I will create Objects (doors, traps), and game's action icons (but this shouldn't take too long).
- I've already written some level designs on paper.

[LJLPM]

Today, I took time to create the online database players will use to freely share levels for the Android game (uploads & downloads).

It's something I had in mind for quite a loooooooooooooooong time, and I always postponed this project: now, it's done
Atm, one can only upload single levels (level packs, including multi-screenshots for packs' levels, will follow soon), and I still have to handle the rating features (fun + difficulty rates), but most of the job is done now (actually, it's very similar to http://lemmings-db.camanis.net/levelpack/list).

On the screenshot below, you can see:
- top: a list of 2 levels I've uploaded in the database
- bottom: a page that shows the details of a level stored in the database (level #2)

Uploads and downloads work as expected.

Now I need to find time to keep on working on the game's graphics... (it's a long process!)