[NeoLemmix] JWPack V2 (my first 5 lemmings levels)

[JW]

Hi there,

A little while ago I found out about NeoLemmix, the editor is really fun to use, so I tried making a few levels.

I think the levels might only work on NeoLemmix, I'm not sure if this would be better in the NeoLemmix board, sorry if I posted this in the wrong place.

Here's some screenshots:

http://imgur.com/a/TinE0

The download for this pack is in the attachment of this post, I saved them as individual level files (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to merge them all into one file). Hope you guys like them!

EDIT: Also I don't know if neolemmix can record replays (I've mostly spent time playing with Lemmini), if it does, please post them, I'd be interested to see your solutions!

EDIT: Version 2 Released! Contains 1 new level, and some edits to the existing levels.

[Wafflem]

Welcome to the forum, JW!

Yep, these levels do indeed work on NeoLemmix, and you posted in the right place; the NeoLemmix board is meant more for discussing NeoLemmix features such as the player and the editor, the graphic set tool, custom NeoLemmix tilesets, and reporting bugs and suggestions.

I've played all four of your levels and I'd say two of them are Tricky difficulty, while the other two could be in early-Taxing.

Measure Once, Cut Twice - interesting level in that you have a 2-minute time limit. I'm not sure if my solution is intended, but this level looks like it could have multiple solutions.
One Way, Another Way - that level reminds me of Mayhem 6 "One Way Or Another" mainly because they're both dirt levels and the titles of both are very similar. It is mostly a builder level, but I like the way you have to save the left side - build a safe bridge using a lemming from the right side so the left-side lemmings won't fall into the abyss.
Watch that first step! - this level is interesting because it has no diggers, and uses zig-zag miners to go down the dirt instead.
The Dynamic Duo - now this one is the hardest of the four, as it has a 1-minute time limit and a small skillset. I thought the solution was very clever in the end, though I'm only left with one miner and one digger. Best one of the four!

Attached are all of my replays!

To put all the levels in one pack, all you need to use is the Flexi Toolkit.

If you'd like, you can also submit your levels to the NeoLemmix Community Pack. The NeoLemmix Community Pack is in need of some easy levels, and your levels could work for that.

[Minim]

I thought just by considering the difficulty per Wafflem's post that I might do these levels as well. I'm pleased to say that I've solved them all, complete with alternative solutions in comparison to Wafflem's. I ended up saving more on 'Watch that first step' than Wafflem did.

I cheated a bit on 'The Dynamic Duo' first time round by slowing the second lemming down, but I did do it properly eventually. I wonder if that level is actually eligible under the current Level Design Contest rules?

Anyway, here are my replays.

[Proxima]

Nice levels. I found all of them to be pretty fun and not very hard. On "One Way, Another Way" it's not actually necessary to use a lemming from one side to help the other, it's possible to do the two sides entirely separately. Up to you whether that's okay or you want to enforce a tighter solution.

The only criticism I'd make is that, on "Measure Once, Cut Twice", the hatches are right up against a similarly coloured patch of terrain, and it was annoying having to work out or guess exactly where the terrain ended.

I didn't save any replays, but if you like, I can do them again and try to make sure I do the same solutions    I saved 76/80 on "Watch that first step", 100% on the others.

[Proxima]

I redid the levels and saved replays    All basically the same solutions as I used the first time, except this time with a bit more care I saved 78/80 on "Watch that first step", which is probably the maximum.

[IchoTolot]

Played through them and they were pretty nice levels indeed

Especially the "Dynamic Duo" has a really nice trick in it

The 2 dirt level were a little bit too builder focused for my taste though

Also I would cut the timer from at least the marble and the 2 dirt levels as it contributes nothing to the overall solution.

My solution replays are attached to this post

[Nepster]

The levels aren't too hard, but much fun!

Measure Once, Cut Twice: The easiest of the four levels. I would prefer to have the screen start at the right end of the level, so that the exit is visible right from the start. Otherwise a very good level.
One Way, Another Way: I am not too happy with all the building required to solve the level, but given the various places to use terrain removal skills the level was still fun.
Watch that first step!: Interesting level. I am only missing a bit more decoration like grass on the earth, ... Currently the level looks a bit bare.
The Dynamic Duo: Nice level, even though my solution is probably not exactly intended...

[JW]

Wow, lots of replies!

I've played all four of your levels and I'd say two of them are Tricky difficulty, while the other two could be in early-Taxing.

Great! That was around the difficulty I was hoping to make. I figured I'd keep it simple at first. There's some more specific strategies I had in mind but maybe that would be a good thing to do for a Mayhem / Taxing version of the same levels? (like how the vanilla game did a couple times)

Measure Once, Cut Twice - interesting level in that you have a 2-minute time limit. I'm not sure if my solution is intended

Your replay is really close to my solution actually, I was able to save some builders but my run was slower.

One Way, Another Way - that level reminds me of Mayhem 6 "One Way Or Another" mainly because they're both dirt levels and the titles of both are very similar. It is mostly a builder level, but I like the way you have to save the left side - build a safe bridge using a lemming from the right side so the left-side lemmings won't fall into the abyss.

It was actually inspired by "One Way or Another", that's one of my favorite levels! It's intended to be a mix of Mayhem 1 (Steel works) and Mayhem 6 (One Way or Another); in fact some of the tricks on this level I used for my solution for Mayhem 6.

Watch that first step! - this level is interesting because it has no diggers, and uses zig-zag miners to go down the dirt instead.

I probably should have upped the number of lemmings you needed to save, maybe this would be more interesting if you would have to start out with a low bridge so you could save the lemmings coming out of the right door sooner?

The Dynamic Duo - now this one is the hardest of the four, as it has a 1-minute time limit and a small skillset. I thought the solution was very clever in the end, though I'm only left with one miner and one digger. Best one of the four!

Nicely done! I like your idea

The NeoLemmix Community Pack is in need of some easy levels, and your levels could work for that.

Sounds interesting, anyone's welcome to use my levels for a pack if they like

I cheated a bit on 'The Dynamic Duo' first time round by slowing the second lemming down, but I did do it properly eventually. I wonder if that level is actually eligible under the current Level Design Contest rules?

I didn't know about the contest, I had a couple other ideas for 2 lemming levels

Also how did you slow down the second lemming? Was it by repeatedly using bashers in thin air?

By the way, "The Dynamic Duo" was inspired by a solution I came up with for "The Great Lemming Caper" (Mayhem 13)

The only criticism I'd make is that, on "Measure Once, Cut Twice", the hatches are right up against a similarly coloured patch of terrain, and it was annoying having to work out or guess exactly where the terrain ended.

Good point (I probably missed that because I usually dug farther to the left), I'll avoid doing that from now on.

I redid the levels and saved replays    All basically the same solutions as I used the first time, except this time with a bit more care I saved 78/80 on "Watch that first step", which is probably the maximum.

Your One Way, Another Way solution was very close to mine, I was actually originally intending for players to spiral staircase up the right side (I didn't think of mining through the terrain on the right to allow lemmings to fall down the right side for some reason); I'm not sure how I missed that you could just dig then mine (I feel a little silly now)

The "Watch that First Step" playthrough was close to what I was intending, at one point I considered setting it up so that the players would be forced to build a lower bridge to save the lemmings from the right door sooner, but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea so I padded out the lemmings count a bit and added more skills and time.

My solution replays are attached to this post

Measure Once Cut Twice: That was pretty much my exact solution
Dynamic Duo: Very cool run, I like the way you used that digger / miner at the end to get around the trap

I think you're right about the timers, originally I experimented with a tighter time limit for the marble level but it seemed more fun without it (the short time version required extreme precision with builder placement and miners, which just meant you had to play it over, and over, and over... )

The levels aren't too hard, but much fun!

Measure Once, Cut Twice: The easiest of the four levels. I would prefer to have the screen start at the right end of the level, so that the exit is visible right from the start. Otherwise a very good level.

Very good point, now that you mention it, I'm not sure why I shifted the camera over.

One Way, Another Way: I am not too happy with all the building required to solve the level, but given the various places to use terrain removal skills the level was still fun.

Yeah, I went overboard a little, I sort of wanted a longer version of "One Way or Another", I think next time I'll incorporate more of "Watch out, There's Traps About"(Taxing 2)  instead of doing something that requires so many builders.

Watch that first step!: Interesting level. I am only missing a bit more decoration like grass on the earth, ... Currently the level looks a bit bare.

Good point, I probably need to do more detailing in general

The Dynamic Duo: Nice level, even though my solution is probably not exactly intended...

Nope,  that solution wasn't intended, whoops! I'll have to think of a way to prevent that.

Thanks again for playing!

[Minim]

I cheated a bit on 'The Dynamic Duo' first time round by slowing the second lemming down, but I did do it properly eventually. I wonder if that level is actually eligible under the current Level Design Contest rules?

I didn't know about the contest, I had a couple other ideas for 2 lemming levels

Also how did you slow down the second lemming? Was it by repeatedly using bashers in thin air?

Exactly like Nepster's solution. By digging four strokes before bashing with the other lemming. To prevent that problem from reoccuring, I suggest that you add some steel on top of that starting platform.

[JW]

New version of the pack: 1 new level and fixes to the other levels

New level: "Journey Through The Depths"



Notes about this level:

Number of lemmings: 40
To be saved: 30

Skill set:

Climbers: 10
Miners: 50
Bashers: 1
Builders: 1

All other skills: 0

This level is quite long, what do you guys think?

[namida]

In regards to that segment near the start with the one-way arrows (image attached for clarity), you'll have a much tidier-looking result if you change the piece at the end of the bar (the one with a purple box around it in the image) to have the "One Way" flag turned off.

If you prefer, in the NeoLemmix Editor's options there's an option to turn this off by default for newly-placed pieces. The reason such an option exists is because some people were confused as to why one-way arrows appeared to be not working when the default was to have the option off.

Since no one directly answered this yet: To save a replay file, the default key is "U" (you can reconfigure this). You can do this at any time during gameplay, or on the postview screen. There's also an option in NeoLemmix's settings to automatically save replays upon successfully completing a level.

From the looks of things, it looks like you got the level images by taking screenshots in the editor? There are two easier ways to do this. The first is to (in the editor) go File -> Save As, and choose PNG file from the dropdown box. However, this can be inaccurate in some cases; you can get a more accurate image by saving it from the game. To do this, press (assuming you haven't changed from the default keys) I on the preview screen. (You can also press I while playing to save an image of the level in its current state.)

[JW]

Thanks, very useful tips!

- I didn't know about the one way flag, I'll fix that, when I designed the levels I assumed the only way to make a part of the terrain one way was to drag an arrows object over it
- Yeah, I was taking screenshots in the editor, it was kind of low res and tedious, that I keyboard shortcut and the Save As -> png are neat options, I'll do that from now on
- The replay saving tip is good to know too, I will most likely enable automatic replay saving when I play other level packs

[namida]

- I didn't know about the one way flag, I'll fix that, when I designed the levels I assumed the only way to make a part of the terrain one way was to drag an arrows object over it

You still need to place them, but turning this flag off makes the individual terrain piece "immune" to one way arrows. So by doing this, you can create parts where non-one-way terrain overlaps one-way terrain.

Click for a sample level map (from Lemmings Plus IV) that uses this feature

Twisted 7 "Corrupt Shelter"

Notice how the rough terrain at the bottom is not one-way, even in the parts where it overlaps the terrain that is one-way. This is because the stuff at the bottom has the one-way flag off, but the stuff higher up has it on. Then, the one-way arrow object is placed over the whole thing.

This feature is pretty much unique to NeoLemmix (though I think SuperLemmini might have it too? Not entirely sure on that off-hand; at any rate, Lemmini certianly doesn't have it.)

[JW]

Thanks, I fixed the arrows. Also, through that same dialog I figured out how to use the flip / rotate flags.