Feature requests for SuperLemmini V1.03

[Nepster]

Having played most of Colorful Arty's SubLems recently, I missed a few features but found other quirks of SuperLemmini slightly irritating. So here are suggestions for the next version(s):

1) Give possibility to restart (with solution replay) a level directly.
If I missed a skill assignment, I want to correct it as fast as possible. For this I am not really interested in the result or preview screen. So passing them just feel like an unnecessary delay.

2) Backwards framestepping.
Consider levels like "I am A.T.": Assume you misplaced one skill and restart the level. With all the similar skill assignments, how do you know with which lemming you messed up? Once you actually see the wrong assignments, it is already too late and you have to restart the level again. Certainly there are other ways to migitate the problem, but for me the most convenient solution would be to provide a way to go back in time. This doesn't need to be something as sophisticated as in NeoLemmix/Lix; even a single hotkey that always goes one second back in time would already help a lot.

3) Add "advance one frame".
Several of the more quirky tricks in SuperLemmini require frame-precise skill assignments. Having a way to advance one frame at a time helps a lot in removing the frustration that comes from repeatedly missing that one frame.

4) Stop Fast Forward when pausing.
Honestly, how often does one want to continue Fast Forward after hitting the pause?

5) Option to change hotkeys.
For me the three most important hotkeys are "F11" (pause), "F" (fast forward) and the directional select arrows. Unfortunately they are strewn all over the keyboard, so my left hand is continuously jumping around! Given that I am used to a completely different layout coming from NeoLemmix (I use a completely custom hotkey layout there too), I would appreaciate the possibility to use the same layout in SuperLemmini.
PS: If this is too much work, then at least add a hotkey list under "Options" somwhere. This way players don't have to try out all keys to find the ones that are hotkeys.

6) Make searching for level by image easier
Currently if I only remember the layout of a level, but not its name or rank, I have to click on "Play Level", browse to the a level, go to the preview screen and click on "Menu" (if it wasn't the correct level), until I hit the one I searched for. This takes a very long time. I see two solutions to this:
a) The Lix method: Display small preview images when browsing the folder.
b) The NeoLemmix method: Allow jumping directly from preview screen to preview screen.

7) Don't replay the screen movements
When playing a level, I frequently hop around the level and sometimes stay at one location only for a fraction of a second to assign e.g. a climber. Making these jumps when seeing the replay doesn't help at all, because the my reaction time is so slow, that when I realize that I am somewhere else and recognized the place, I am already somewhere else. Even worse, unless you pause the game, the replayed screen movements supersede the player's current actions! So while I might want to watch some other lemmings in the replay, the game automatically jumps back to a different location, just because the screen moved there during the original recording.

[namida]

2) Backwards framestepping.
Consider levels like "I am A.T.": Assume you misplaced one skill and restart the level. With all the similar skill assignments, how do you know with which lemming you messed up? Once you actually see the wrong assignments, it is already too late and you have to restart the level again. Certainly there are other ways to migitate the problem, but for me the most convenient solution would be to provide a way to go back in time. This doesn't need to be something as sophisticated as in NeoLemmix/Lix; even a single hotkey that always goes one second back in time would already help a lot.

3) Add "advance one frame".
Several of the more quirky tricks in SuperLemmini require frame-precise skill assignments. Having a way to advance one frame at a time helps a lot in removing the frustration that comes from repeatedly missing that one frame.

I would consider "back one frame" to be more critical than "back one second" if only one backwards jump length is going to be implemented, for much the same reason as mentioned in point #3.

[Nepster]

I would consider "back one frame" to be more critical than "back one second" if only one backwards jump length is going to be implemented, for much the same reason as mentioned in point #3.

But if you misplaced a miner three seconds ago and have to modify its position, "back one frame" would be very inconvenient. On the other hand, going back one second, then letting the game run a few frames and finally continuing with "advance one frame" is not such a terrible option (though of course simply going back one frame is simpler). So I think "back one second" is a good compromise between "we want to go a several seconds back to place bashers/miners/diggers differently" and "lemming dropped over the edge and now I have to go two frames back".

[Colorful Arty]

Good suggestions! Also, the advance 10 seconds key is a good option too, I find I use that a lot in NeoLemmix.

Also Nepster, I almost always want to fast-forward after the pause; I find it a bit annoying at times NeoLemmix cancels fast-forwards with pausing, but that's just because I am used to SuperLemmini.

[namida]

The problem here is that you lose the exact timing of when you assigned it by going back one second, cancelling, then advancing - and could quite possibly miss it again. Ideal would be to have both, but if only one will be present, my vote would go to back 1 frame.

For the record: Lix offers 1 second and 1 frame for back; 1 frame and 10 seconds for forwards; the keys these are assigned to can be customized, but the times cannot. NeoLemmix by default has keys set up for 1 frame, 1 second and 5 seconds back (as well as an instant restart, essentially "back to frame zero"), and for 1 frame, 1 second, 5 seconds and 10 seconds forwards; the user can custom configure as many different keys and durations as they like (prior to the custom configurability being added, NL offered the same ones as Lix does). I don't recall seeing any cases where Lix users (or NL users prior to the introduction of fully-customizable frameskip keys) have complained that these options are inadequate. So, this may be a good starting point - offer 1 sec and 1 frame backwards skips, and 1 frame and 10 sec forwards skips.

[IchoTolot]

Another thing for the list:

REMOVE TIMED BOMBERS !

Nobody needs those! They are just a hassle for the player!

[Colorful Arty]

Or make walking bombing an option, but not necessary. Timing the bombers is a skill lemmings players should have.

[IchoTolot]

Or make walking bombing an option, but not necessary. Timing the bombers is a skill lemmings players should have.

Alright rant mode activated

No option! This would be inconsistant and make everything even worse!

It's a skill noboy even should have to have in the first place! The puzzle solving skill of a Lemmings player is key and not this crap!  What advantage does it bring other than restarts? 

You have to guess how far a Lemming walks in 5 secs insteat of precisely explode it at the exact frame you want. Just an unnessesary hassle which makes levels and the whole engine worse by a whole lot.
This has wasted a lot if not of the MOST solving time in my live

Another thing: Building/walking from the right against a wall seems to cause a too early turn, it is very/too dificult in SuperLemmini to build+bash through a wall from the right

[Simon]

offer 1 sec and 1 frame backwards skips, and 1 frame and 10 sec forwards skips.

These values assume performant framestepping. We assign a long miner, realize that it's misplaced, and have to backtrack 1 minute. We would like to hold down the 1-second-back to undo the miner within a few seconds at most. The first tap goes goes back exactly once, and key helds, after a while, go back repeatedly, quickly.

If back-framestepping is expensive, other values may be more appropriate, like 15 seconds back and 1 frame back.

Timing the bombers is a skill lemmings players should have.

Alright rant mode activated No option!

-- Simon

[Colorful Arty]

Hate to break it to you Icho, but not everyone hates walking bombing as much as you... As long as they are used in moderation (cough cough Havoc 20) they are great skills. I don't really see how judging the distance it will take for a bomber to explode is any different than judging where a builder will end after a long bridge or a miner's location at the end of a mine. And I am not trying to provoke you.

[IchoTolot]

Hate to break it to you Icho, but not everyone hates walking bombing as much as you... As long as they are used in moderation (cough cough Havoc 20) they are great skills. I don't really see how judging the distance it will take for a bomber to explode is any different than judging where a builder will end after a long bridge or a miner's location at the end of a mine. And I am not trying to provoke you.

What exact advantage do they have over the instant bomber?

They provide extra puzzles does not count as instant bombers provide the same puzzle without the aiming part!

+ there is no good way around from the miner/builder judjing! Here there is ---> away with the countdown     fewer judgement!

IRC chat:  <SimonN>pro feature: when you have builder chosen in the panel, and you hover above a lemming, the game draws the silhouette of the resulting bridge, were you to assign to this lemming

this could be a nice thing

[Proxima]

I don't hate timed bombers at all. I quite enjoy the challenge. And yet I completely support the request to remove them from the engine.

The first problem is that as things stand, you are forced to use timed bombers any time the bomber skill is useful to your solution concept. Climb-bombers and fall-bombers are extremely versatile, and it's impossible to "stabilise" them with blockers to remove the timing aspect. For walking bombers, you can sometimes use a blocker or even builder to stabilise the lemming, but as the level author, often you can't afford to give the extra skill because it would create backroutes. I've made many levels for older engines like Cheapo, and former versions of NeoLemmix and Lix, where the requirements of the puzzle and the engine forced me to add an unnecessary bomber-timing aspect, and these levels were much improved when ported to the new versions with instant bombers.

A deeper problem is that NeoLemmix and Lix already have sophisticated rewind-and-replay, and this thread is requesting something similar for SuperLemmini. Once you have that, there is no challenge to timed bombers any more; they just add annoyance and unnecessary extra time spent rewinding after mistakes.

The game has changed since the days of original Lemmings, and we have to keep up. The puzzles have gotten much more complex and intricate, and the rewind-and-replay system is essential to facilitate the puzzle-solving process. The fans who are still enjoying this game, still making new levels for it, twenty-five years on, are the ones who love the amazing puzzles that can be created in the Lemmings framework, and want to spend their time scratching their brains over a cleverly hidden solution -- not replaying a section again and again to start a walking bomber from a precise place.

[Tsyu]

Just so you guys know, I want to release 0.103 pretty soon (which should fix all problems related to case sensitivity), so any new feature that isn't simple to implement will have to wait until 0.104.

1) Give possibility to restart (with solution replay) a level directly.

I think I can add this to 0.013. Would it be fine for now if it's placed in the Level menu (the menu-bar item, not the one that lists levels), just below Restart Level?

4) Stop Fast Forward when pausing.

I'll add this as an option to 0.103.

5) Option to change hotkeys.

I actually meant to add this to 0.102, but since I was slow to work on that I didn't implement this. It should be coming to 0.104, though.

6) Make searching for level by image easier
Currently if I only remember the layout of a level, but not its name or rank, I have to click on "Play Level", browse to the a level, go to the preview screen and click on "Menu" (if it wasn't the correct level), until I hit the one I searched for. This takes a very long time. I see two solutions to this:
a) The Lix method: Display small preview images when browsing the folder.
b) The NeoLemmix method: Allow jumping directly from preview screen to preview screen.

I'll add the NeoLemmix method to either 0.103 or 0.104 (hopefully the former). The Lix method isn't nearly as simple to implement, however, but I do agree it would be nice to have.

7) Don't replay the screen movements

I'll also add this as an option to 0.103.

2) Backwards framestepping.

3) Add "advance one frame".

To be honest, I consider these features to be cheats, similar to save states and slow motion in emulators, so I feel that these shouldn't be available during normal gameplay. With that said, forward frame stepping is already available if you enable cheat mode (enter 0xdeadbeef as a level code, then press C while playing a level): just click any part of the level to advance the frame. And I am willing to add a checkpoint system, though I doubt it would be anywhere near easy.

Another thing: Building/walking from the right against a wall seems to cause a too early turn, it is very/too dificult in SuperLemmini to build+bash through a wall from the right

I'll see what I can do to adjust this.

IRC chat:  <SimonN>pro feature: when you have builder chosen in the panel, and you hover above a lemming, the game draws the silhouette of the resulting bridge, were you to assign to this lemming

this could be a nice thing

I'll look into adding this to 0.104.


Regarding timed bombers, I don't want to remove them completely, though I'm willing to make them an option to level designers (and even make instant bombers the default). I still want the built-in levels to use them, though.

[namida]

I think I can add this to 0.013. Would it be fine for now if it's placed in the Level menu (the menu-bar item, not the one that lists levels), just below Restart Level?

That should be fine, as long as you give it a hotkey too.

[IchoTolot]

It is shown here in Lemmini: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN0ExnM6m2w

If it's possible with the basher tunnel, then it should also be possible with a miner.


Edit: Damm this should have gone into the SubLems topic     But I'm sure the miner/climber thing is fitting here as well