The Level Solving Contest #1

[Minim]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the first LSC: Level Solving Contest.

As the majority of voters have picked NeoLemmix over Lix as their choice of engine I have gone ahead and created a custom built NeoLemmix level for you to play with.

I've carefully researched everyone's opinions and arguments on which criteria should be prioritised first in terms of competition and this is the order of priority I've come up with for this level.

1. Total Lemmings saved
2. Skills saved
3. Time taken

So here are the rules: The players will play individually for this contest. You must simply solve the level, and then upload a replay of your submission with your name contained in the filename to my Personal Messages box (not on this thread) by 14:00 UTC on December 27, 2018, in other words, you have just over a week. This I hope should allow enough time for anyone who may be taking time off for Christmas but still wish to take part. You can submit more than one replay if you think you've made an improvement, but only one of your replays will be selected as the final result. An example leaderboard will be displayed and ordered like this:

1. Jamie: 50 Lems, 45 SS, 1:04.22 TT 
2. Rick: 50 Lems, 45 SS, 1:06.59 TT
3. Carl: 50 Lems, 43 SS, 1:02.73 TT
4. Grace: 48 Lems, 46 SS, 1:03.86 TT

Key
Lems: Lemmings Saved
SS: Skills left over
TT: Time taken

The winner is the player who saves the most lemmings. The tiebreakers will be Skills left over, followed by the fastest time to rescue the 61st lemming. The Skills left over will be added up at the end of the replay, not by the time you save the requirement.

The winner will get to choose the next level for a competition, as well as select their own criteria and choice for prizes. Obviously I can't be the winner because I'm the host, but thanks to Simon's advice I'll enter the contest anyway just for fun. If he/she decides to upload their own level then they are exempt from winning the next contest, but can still enter if they want to.

Now here's a basic description of the level posted in the attachment below: It has four entrances. Each entrance is placed in separate corners and has a group of lemmings with different athletic abilities, with the exception of those in the top-right corner. With 80 Lemmings and 100 skills provided, you must rescue all four entrances for your result to count. I wish you the best of luck and have fun! Oh, and Merry Christmas.

Here is the list of players that have sent their replay:
* Nessy
* geoo
* SQRon188
* Nepster
* Flopsy
* Mandelsoft
* ccexplore
* Ichotolot
* Simon (w/Forestidia)

[Flopsy]

This is a nice concept as well as a nice opening level for this contest.

Question about how the results will happen, will everyone's replays get published? I feel like it would be interesting to see how other people solved this level myself but obviously some people might object to this.

[Simon]

Thanks for stepping forward with the map! 2018-12-27 seems tight, my schedule is dense until end of year. Still, I'll happily give it a reasonable shot.

Can Forestidia and I work as a team? We'll spend time together IRL and it would be nasty to withhold ideas. Or is teamwork too big an advantage?

(Also bonus rant! NL's insane hotkey remap dialog. Probably takes longer to remap 20 keys than to optimize the solution. I should file issues. At the very least, one should kill the horrendous popup on the first time you press find-key, put these instructions passively onto the main form.)

-- Simon

[Minim]

Thanks for stepping forward with the map! 2018-12-27 seems tight, my schedule is dense until end of year. Still, I'll happily give it a reasonable shot.

Can Forestidia and I work as a team? We'll spend time together IRL and it would be nasty to withhold ideas. Or is teamwork too big an advantage?

The rule explicitly states that the players must play individually, but OK then. I'll let you off. It is only the first contest after all. We'll see if your "team" plays well enough to win or comes up short.

This is a nice concept as well as a nice opening level for this contest.

Question about how the results will happen, will everyone's replays get published? I feel like it would be interesting to see how other people solved this level myself but obviously some people might object to this.

Thanks for that comment. I was thinking even though I didn't mention it in the OP that I would upload only the winner's replay, but I could compile them together in a zip file to see how our results compare. Like you say, we'll see if anyone disagrees with this.

[Simon]

here are the rules: The players will play individually for this contest.

Ah. Sorry, I didn't catch this, and Ctrl+F+"team" produced nothing.

In that case, I'm good with either no cooperation, or a team entry for fun (seems fairest), or a team entry fully qualified. Will consult and report back to you!

I would upload only the winner's replay, but I could compile them together in a zip file to see how our results compare. Like you say, we'll see if anyone disagrees with this.

I agree that the host should publish each submitter's strongest replay.

-- Simon

[IchoTolot]

I have nothing against one 2 player team here.    But Minim has the last word here.

Also I must give kudos to the map. A lot of different things to do, enough skills to experiment, a ton of routes to take. You can do very different attempts to bring the skill count down.

I would be ok with my replay getting published in the end. I might make a video as well to share my thoughts.

[Simon]

All right, Forestidia and I would like to enter as a team then, for fun (not eligible for prizes). Even though Minim allows us to enter for prizes, we explicitly don't wish to enter for prizes. That's fairest for everybody.

-- Simon

[MandelSoft]

It's indeed a nicely designed challenge level! Kudos to Minim!

I have given it a try and after one serious run, I managed to save a lot of lemmings. Something tells me there must be a better solution that saves even more. If I find a solution that saves them all, I probably consider the challenge to be finished for me. Let's see...

[SQron188]

I've had a knack at this and I think I'll submit my solution before my trip on Christmas Eve.

[Minim]

So just over 4 days left until the contest ends. I've just updated the OP to remind everyone that if you're uploading a replay your name must be written on the file. This is just to prevent mix-ups. Thanks.

[IchoTolot]

How about writing the names of people who already submitted a replay into the first post, just like in the level contests?

[Minim]

Good idea! I've done that for you.

[Minim]

The contest is now closed. I've collected your results and now I will add them all up on a separate page.

[ccexplore]

Darn, I had an improvement to submit but came a few minutes too late.  Oh well, assuming the late submission doesn't count, at least my slower solution has some entertaining bits so to speak.