Lemmings Plus IV - Development Topic (Release in ~5 minutes!)

[namida]

Indeed. Development's probably going to also going to start speeding up a bit from here - had the bae staying over this week, which generally means less time spent on Lemmings; on top of that graphic sets are almost finished and that's often the slower part for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it's ready for pre-release testing within a week or two at the most; though I'm not saying that's a set release date.

[namida]

My entry into the level design contest uses the Candy set; as per contest rules I've had to include a copy of the Candy graphic set with the entry. As such, I'm now generally making the Candy graphic set available for anyone to use.

The latest version of NeoCustLemmix already includes a copy of it. Here's the file so that it can be used with the editor (put it in the "styles/NeoLemmix" folder); from the next update I'll include it there by default. Other LPIV graphic sets will be made available at some point after LPIV's release.

[GigaLem]

I might make a short level pack and take a break from GigaLems 1.5 & 2

[namida]

Just made one of those levels that takes insane amounts of testing and revising to get right - but it's a level that I feel well and truly fits near the end of Insane. Probably full of backroutes at this stage, but I need sleep at the moment so I'll investigate that more later.

[GigaLem]

I shall Call it
"Candy Coated GigaLems"
4 ratings 48 levels
and the ratings are
Sweet, Crunchy, Fizzy, & Sour

[namida]

Hm... for 48 levels, you might want to use more than just one graphic set, especially with ones like the Candy set that are designed for a game that has more than one set. The Candy set is in particular quite limited in terms of objects (although it does have a decent variety of terrain styles - the very-rough-edged sprinkles, the rounded lollipops, etc); outside the in-almost-every-set types, the only objects it has are a splitter and a triggered trap.

Personally, I even felt the one graphic set for Doomsday Lemmings to be slightly limiting - and that's it despite it being specifically designed for a game with only one graphic set, and as such, having more variety of terrain and objects than an average set would. There again, who knows - if you think you've got enough ideas for it, by all means, go for it!

It might be better to discuss your packs in your own topic, though...

[GigaLem]

That time will come when i make the logo

[namida]

About 10 8 hours until the public demo will be available!


In other news, I've begun working on the final level. It's a freaking behemoth in terms of raw size, though probably not the hardest level (IMO, out of the levels I've made so far, Insane 18 would be the hardest, with Insane 16 as a very close second). It's not my tallest or widest level so far (not entirely sure about widest; tallest would be "Drop Them Lems" from LPOmega), but I think it has the largest total area, since most of my other very-tall or very-wide levels are usually small in the other dimension; whereas this one is fairly large in both. So far (and it's not complete yet), 541 terrain pieces and 35 objects (of which only one is a no-effect object).

[namida]

Alright, rather than rely on me being at the computer and paying attention to the time at the exact point (or as close as possible to it) that the demo is releasing, I've set up a link which in the meantime tells you exactly how long is remaining until release - and once the demo is released, this link will automagically act as a download link rather than a countdown.

http://www.lemmingsforums.net/lpiv_demo.php

So, no need to worry about waiting for me to upload it even once it hits midnight - as soon as it hits it, you can use that link to download it.

[607]

Alright, rather than rely on me being at the computer and paying attention to the time at the exact point (or as close as possible to it) that the demo is releasing, I've set up a link which in the meantime tells you exactly how long is remaining until release - and once the demo is released, this link will automagically act as a download link rather than a countdown.

http://www.lemmingsforums.net/lpiv_demo.php

So, no need to worry about waiting for me to upload it even once it hits midnight - as soon as it hits it, you can use that link to download it.

Oh, that's very cool! I'll be asleep at that time, though, so...
But I like how you did that.

[namida]

No worries - the demo isn't going to disappear (until the full version is released).

[namida]

AND the demo is now out! Enjoy!

[namida]

So, here's the first thing I'll reveal from the 4th graphic set (the demo doesn't contain any levels in it; though it does have levels in all of the other three).

Attached is an image of the exit.

In terms of level counts, I'd say this graphic set is catching up nicely to the others, though I haven't done a proper count for quite some time now.

[Wafflem]

I wonder what this graphic set is. Judging by the shape of the exit, the green stuff and the rather crooked torches, it could either be the wastelands, temple ruins, art, farm, gulf war, rainforest, or swamp. Hm...

[namida]

Based on feedback received so far about the demo, I'm considering moving "Platform Panic" to Insane, and "Unhealthy Diet" to Twisted. The latter does have a backroute, but even one person who found the intended solution said they felt it was too easy for Insane.


I also finally wrote a quick snippet of code (or rather, slightly modified the one I use to quickly output a list of level names for use in the official game voteoffs) to count up the number of levels in each graphic set.

Results so far:

Candy: 8
Space: 13
Clockwork: 9
4th graphic set: 9

If you take into account that the Space graphic set is used for the once-per-rank level, and thus only count that once instead of 4 times, that'd be 10 space levels; meaning all graphic sets are used quite evenly so far. Though maybe I should make a few Candy levels next, before it falls behind too much...