Lemmings Plus VI - Development Topic [100% - Preparing Release]

[namida]

I can't see myself making a 4th graphic set for LPVI, so it's likely just going to be these three.

Of course, just six musics (plus one for the final level) might get boring... so I've decided to select an additional, third music for each graphic set. They'll be from the same source (Ace Attorney 1, 2 or 3), of course. I've only decided on the third one for Basement so far, though.



Anyone ask for zombies, and yet another alternate Bridge background?

"The Bridge To Heck"
30 lemmings*, save 28
SR 50
2 climbers, 1 bomber, 2 platformers, 2 builders, 6 bashers, 1 cloner
Save 30 lemmings

* Excludes clones and zombies

Release version

[namida]

I've updated the demo to include three more levels (two of which are in the Basement style, which previously wasn't in the demo), as well as ensure it has the latest version of all levels it already had.

[namida]

Just hit 40 levels!

Here's the 40th level to be created.

Release version

[namida]

Time to reveal the rank names.

From easiest to hardest, the rank names are Sane, Loopy, Manic and Delirious.

Still no final decision on how many levels per rank. Possible options I'm considering are:
- 15 levels per rank (60 total)
- 10 levels for Sane, 15 each for Loopy and Manic, 20 for Delirious (60 total)
- 15 each for Sane and Loopy, 20 each for Manic and Delirious (70 levels)
- 20 levels per rank (80 total)

At the current time, the number of levels I have that are suitable for each rank is very unbalanced. For Sane, I only have five levels (two of which are included in the demo - Peak Point and Builderdash). For Loopy, 9 levels (three in the demo - Rocky Road Part II, Dareful Drop and Work In Progress). For Manic, I have by far the most, at 15 levels (including Secret Garden and A Lemming Is Born); and finally, for Delirious, 11 levels (including Swampflower). In particular, Sane has very few, which lead me towards the possible 10/15/15/20 structure. If I wanted to go for 70 or 80 levels, I could make this (for 70) 10/20/20/20 or use 15/15/20/20 again, or (for 80) 10/20/20/30 or 15/20/20/25. Another possibility, of course, could be giving Manic instead of Delirious the most levels. There were no complaints about the uneven rank sizes in LPO2, but would having an over-the-place order like 15/20/25/20 be going too far?

Another thing I have to take into account is the level entered into the current contest. This means I can't publicly release LPVI until that level gets eliminated, though I would think it's fair game to release LPVI privately to testers anytime once the contest enters the playing phase (and if need be, I could always just release it to them with the contest level removed). This sets a likely timeline of a public release no earlier than mid-September. This means I've got quite a bit of time to work on levels, and thus, a higher level count is possible. And we're nowhere near the point yet where levels are starting to be filler-y.

[nin10doadict]

I think uneven ranks are fine. I did 30/25/20/15 for Casualemmings and didn't get any sort of complaint about it.

[namida]

"Catch Me If You Can?" (position not yet determined)
10 lemmings, must save 9
Spawn rate 85, locked

1 climber, 1 bomber, 2 platformers, 2 builders, 2 bashers, 1 digger

Interestingly, this level has been solved by four testers; all four came up with a different solution, all of which I'd consider acceptable. My solution is different again.

Release version

[namida]

I've decided to officially make the target for Lemmings Plus VI, 80 levels.

I'm most likely going to go for a 15/20/20/25 or 15/20/25/20 level spread, but I'm not completely ruling out 20/20/20/20 at this stage. It all depends on how difficult the levels I come up with are.

Currently, I have:
Sane: 7 levels
Loopy: 10 levels
Manic: 16 levels
Delirious: 11 levels

[namida]

So, I've found that while Bridge and Garden are fairly well distributed throughout the pack, there's a stronger concentration of Basement levels in the earlier parts than the later parts. Clearly, I need to come up with some more hard Basement levels... (Also, Loopy is a bit short on Garden levels, but I'm sure that'll be easier to fix.)

[namida]

And, we've hit 50 levels!

Level #50 is much more interesting than level #40 was.

"Wacky Way"
Save 32 of 36
Spawn rate 73
1 bomber, 1 platformer, 6 builders, 2 bashers

Release version

[namida]

So, despite the late start, Basement has well and truly caught up to the other styles; with the counts now being 18 each for Bridge and Basement, and 17 for Garden.

The levels in each rank have also somewhat evened out. Sane is still a bit behind at only 9 levels, but now Loopy and Delirious have 14 each, and Manic 16. I've decided at this point that I will go for a 20 levels per rank structure, rather than 15/20/20/25 or 15/20/25/20.

Also, I added one more level to the demo, "High Stakes".

[namida]

This level might look rather plain, but solution-wise it's very interesting.

I was a bit unsure about this level, so I sent it to all testers. So far, two have managed to solve it, finding four different solutions between them. I myself knew of two solutions, one of which was different from any of the tester solutions. So in short - yet another level with many different, yet acceptable, solutions.

"Lemmings For All!"
Save 20 of 20
Spawn rate 80
No time limit
2 climbers, 1 blocker, 1 platformer, 1 builder, 1 basher, 2 miners, 1 digger

This level is placed in mid-Delirious.

Release version

[namida]

Lemmings Plus VI has now hit 60 levels!!!

Here's the 60th level.

"Reticence"
Save 28 of 30
Spawn rate 65
No time limit
2 climbers, 1 bomber, 1 blocker, 1 builder, 3 bashers

It's not a particularly noteworthy level otherwise, though it does have two fairly different solutions.

Release version

[namida]

While Manic may have been in the lead for much of LPVI's development, Delirious has taken the lead - it's now just two levels away from being full. (Of course, it's possible some levels might get bumped down to Manic.)

Interestingly, despite having only two level slots remaining, Delirious still lacks a first level. I just don't feel any of the levels I've made so far for it are suitable to be its first level. (Manic has a somewhat similar predicament with its final level, for that matter.)

[namida]

There haven't been any new levels for a couple of days, but that's just because I was busy fixing backroutes in existing levels, no need to panic.

There are a couple of levels that put me in a really tricky spot. They have/had a solution that's a clear backroute, yet at the same time, had lots of alternate (acceptable) solutions I liked. The only ways I can think of to block the backroutes, would also break many of these alternate solutions. (Although on one of them, I just thought of another way that might not break anything, while writing this post.)

In one case, I went ahead and made the fix (this is also the one I just thought of a better fix for). The other one, I'm really not sure whether to change or not... I initially was okay to accept the solution in question when only one person had found it, but now it's turning out to be the most common solution, and one tester did mention it felt too easy (as well as similar to other levels)... :/

[namida]

"Lemmings For All!"
Save 20 of 20
Spawn rate 80
No time limit
2 climbers, 1 blocker, 1 platformer, 1 builder, 1 basher, 2 miners, 1 digger

So, this level. As much as I loved the variety of solutions that were emerging from it, there was one particular solution that was a bit of a problem. It was becoming a bit too commonly found, and more so, those who found it invariably commented that the level was relatively easy (while those who found other solutions were thinking it was well-placed).

So I made a slightly changed version, but with the catch - "there's no guarantee I'm going to use this modified version, I might keep the original".

Fortunately, it's looking like even this version still has a decent variety of solutions - so far, two testers have re-solved it; one found the intended route, one found another alternate route. I myself also confirmed one further alternate route.

There's no change to the skillset from the original version, but there's now 25 lemmings instead of 20 (it still requires 100%).

Release version