[NeoLemmix] Lemminas (64 Levels) [Difficulty: Medium] [1.06 UPDATE]

[kaywhyn]

Nice! Although, the basic difference between low and high-res in NL is that high-res is twice the amount of pixels in the same amount of space.

Right

For illustration, here is a low-res and hi-res image of a walking lemming (note that these have been resized for the purposes of comparison). As you can see, the hi-res image (on the right) has much greater depth and detail, allowing for different shades of colour as well as a more defined shape, even though they are the same size:



So, although a good quality display may make the lemming on the left appear bigger, and perhaps the colours look great as well, you can only get the high-res shape and detail from the lemming on the right.

Thanks for this. I definitely see a big difference here. However, since I'm playing Lemminas, surely it would had been better to provide a comparison of the Lemminas sprites in low-res and high-res

Unfortunately, the color purple is a huge turn off for me. It's a color I dislike and so it confuses me why some people like it. Of course, we're all different, and I'm certainly not going to hate on those people who do like purple

EDIT: Of course, some people may prefer the low-res look, since it's how the lemmings used to look originally on platforms such as DOS, Amiga and MacIntosh. However, for the purposes of playing Lemminas, since the sprites were designed specifically for NeoLemmix 12.8's new high-res mode, it seems a shame not to showcase them as intended, in all their super-pixel glory!

I grew up with the Dos version of Lemmings, and this has nothing to do with me preferring to play in low-res at all. Instead, my reason for doing so is just because I've been doing so well with the settings I have enabled and those I don't for a really long time that it kind of made me reluctant to go into the settings just to enable high-res. Also because everything already looks great due to my laptop display which still manages to look really good even in just FHD. For that reason high-res I likely can't get a whole lot prettier looking visually than it already is. Plus if I was so bent on getting very good looking graphics then I would had gotten the UHD 4K display for my laptop instead of FHD, of course. However, I decided that I don't need a breathtaking UHD 4K laptop display, as I can do just fine with the FHD display. The higher cost of the UHD 4K display is a reason I didn't get it, but it's not the only reason. Just that I really don't need a 4K laptop display. Especially since I already kind of have that in a way with my cell phone with how the display is OLED, which honestly isn't as impressive I thought it would be

Again, it's not because I have anything against it, because I do love high-res, as I have said that I liked Lemmini/SL for that very reason. Like most others, I absolutely appreciate the effort and lengths you went to get high-res available for NL It's kind of like how yes, I'm like you in that I don't mind playing with skill shadows disabled, especially since pretty much everyone here grew up with the game without the convenience tools, but truthfully I'm kind of reluctant to disable it just because I'm so used to them showing before it became an option to enable/disable when they have been enabled by default for so long

This being said, I'm not going to go back and re-record the entire Magical rank and the first half of the Sensational rank with the high-res mode on

No, of course not! I wasn't suggesting that at all I like your idea of having 2 videos in low-res and 2 in high-res, for comparison.

I know you weren't suggesting that. I was just letting you know that I have no intention to go back and re-record the videos of my LP in high-res mode. It's not worth my time and especially in this one my LP will no longer be as authentic since it won't be a blind LP anymore due to how I now know 32 of the levels

Anyways, I'm really enjoying watching your videos so far! Keep up the great work

Thanks a bunch for the kind words Also thanks for watching me take on your pack on video. More to come, of course

[Proxima]

EDIT: Of course, some people may prefer the low-res look, since it's how the lemmings used to look originally on platforms such as DOS, Amiga and MacIntosh.

Macintosh Lemmings was hi-res. Indeed, there was a suggestion at some point to use the ripped graphics from that version for the standard tilesets in NL; I'd be happy to help that happen but, as with so many things, it's really hard to find time....

[WillLem]

Low-res lemming sprites are not limited to fewer shades of color. They just use less shades - but there is no technical limitation forcing them to do so.

I think I was referring more to the example given, but quite right, you can absolutely use different shades of colour for low-res sprites. In fact, the Lemminas low-res sprites are multi-shaded. Case in point:

I definitely see a big difference here. However, since I'm playing Lemminas, surely it would had been better to provide a comparison of the Lemminas sprites in low-res and high-res

I copied the above example from another post. But, absolutely, here is the same comparison but with a walking Lemmina:



Although the low-res sprite can indeed be multi-shaded, the finer detail afforded by the double pixel density of the high-res sprite still allows for a more accurate and more pleasing use of shading.

Macintosh Lemmings was hi-res. Indeed, there was a suggestion at some point to use the ripped graphics from that version for the standard tilesets in NL

I was referring to the old black & white version:



Looking more closely though, the lemmings sprites actually do look like they might be the higher resolution kind - they look chunkier and more detailed than the Amiga/DOS versions.

[kaywhyn]

I have solved all of the pack. So, here is my full set of replays for all 64 levels. I've already provided the link to my LP several posts above, but for convenience I'll go ahead and leave the link here as well so that all the replays and LP are in the same place.

Lemminas LP link: Kaywhyn's LP of WillLem's Lemminas level pack. Enjoy! Note that the solutions in the replays are the exact same as the solutions you see in the LP The advantage of the LP is so you can see solutions to multiple videos at once, while for the replays you would have to load the game up first and then find the replay for each level, which can definitely be slower this way, but at least you can time skip and fast forward parts of the solution.

Feedback on the Pack

Regarding the pack, what more can be said than what I have already said over and over in the video descriptions? This is quite a well-done and excellent pack. I absolutely had a blast playing through it and LPing it so much The only thing I'm disappointed about is how Pandemonium 9 took several videos before I finally solved it, while all other levels took only 1 video to solve At the same time, the LP ended up being 11 videos long, just like 2 of my other LPs: Doomsday Lemmings and Lemmings Migration. It seems like 11 videos is the magic number here when it comes to me LPing

Truthfully, other than Pandemonium 9, the only other hard level in the pack for me was Tricksy 9. Interesting the hardest levels in the pack both happened to be remakes of two levels from the original Lemmings. The only other one I struggled with was Sensational 13. Obviously Pandemonium 9 was the hardest for me due to how it took 3 videos before I finally solved it. For Tricksy 9, the video unfortunately is not the original recording, as I found out, to my horror, after I had played through Tricksy 9-13 that I didn't have OBS open So, the only video that isn't the original is Part 5 of the LP. The rest of the LP is the original recording. I actually ended up struggling with Tricksy 9 far longer than what you see in the video. Probably an extra 10-15 minutes added on top of how long it took me to solve the level in the video is accurate. As a matter of fact, in the Tricksy 9-13 batch, except for Tricksy 11, I ended up taking longer than what you see in the video on all of the levels. Probably anywhere from 5-10 extra minutes would be accurate. Tricksy 12 was another difficult level, although I say the solution is a bit more obvious and hence even in the original recording I didn't take anywhere near as long as Tricksy 9. Tricksy 13 is another, although only the end part is difficult. Everything else before that is easy. 

Honestly, Pandemonium wasn't that difficult at all. It was definitely a letdown that the final 3 levels of the rank/pack that's in the final video of the LP were so much easier than some of the earlier levels of the rank and Tricksy. However, I would say that Tricksy is probably your best rank of the pack, followed by Pandemonium being a close second. Some of the Tricksy levels are much harder than many of the Pandemonium levels. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the challenges offered by the last two ranks of the pack very much


Feedback on the Magical Rank

This was quite an enjoyable first rank! Pretty good variety and very well designed levels to boot

Magical 1 - Welcome the Lemminas! Excellent level to start off the pack! Great design too.

Magical 2 - We Like to Dig Too! Nothing too special other than just one skill and done.

Magical 3 - Mind the Gap Another great level

Magical 4 - Lemdon Bridge Great destructive skills only sans digger level. Somewhat more difficult than the previous 3 levels, but this one's still very easy.

Magical 5 - Lemmina Loop Prevention Service Great level and introduction to the teleporter for the tileset and pack. I wonder if the teleporter/receiver graphics can be better made to make it clear that the animated star sprinkles is a teleporter/receiver, as I originally thought they were just background decoration. If anything, they can almost be mistaken for the culled slowfreeze/radiation. To be fair, I paused just before the preplaced lemmina touched it and hence it took me by surprise.

Magical 6 - Just Keep Swimming Another great and easy level, although nothing too special.

Magical 7 - Lemminas Luv M.C. Escher First level of the pack to use neutrals, as well as buttons that need to be pressed to unlock the exit. I love the unlock exit sound Very easy, although as you have seen I totally forgot to clone before the level ended in the first attempt

Magical 8 - Pyramids of Lem (Under a PepsiCola Sky) First real puzzle where you have a full 8 skillset. Even then, it's an open-ended level and still quite easy. Love the level design and the PepsiCola at the ceiling.

Magical 9 - Send Them Soaring Too easy. Nothing special other than making sure all of one entrance gets all of one floater skill, while all of the other entrance gets the second floater skill type. Determining which entrance gets assigned what is quite easy, but one needs to be aware of the key difference between the floater skills. Perhaps it can be made clearer that the gliders will turn bounce off the star and go in the other direction instead of land and continue walking to the right, as I honestly thought they were going to keep walking on to the right and die. To be fair, it can be quite difficult to tell if gliders will land and keep going forward, or if they're going to bounce off and glide in the other direction.

Magical 10 - Just Shimmy! First level of the pack to make extensive use of the shimmier. Very nice and easy level here!

Magical 11 - I'll Go First... Probably my favorite level of the rank, and definitely the level that made me think for a while before I realized the solution. Excellent puzzle!

Magical 12 - Climbing in the Moonlight I'm not much of a fan of using stackers to get up the level, since most of the time you need way more stackers than builders to get up the level. Not to mention spamming the same skill over and over with the same lemming gets dull and repetitive quite quickly. Levels that have a lot of stackers also tend to be difficult for me, but I think it's more to how I'm not as familiar with the stacker mechanics than the other skills.

Magical 13 - Believe in Yourself! The only no skills level in the pack and the first to use an updraft. I still stand by what I said about this one being completely pointless, but of course I did read your reason for including the level instead of removing it. If anything, this could probably work better as a first level of the rank rather than late in the rank like this. Strato did something similar in a LWT level, although it taught about using the RR to reduce losses to traps.

Magical 14 - Lemminas Go Forth Probably the hardest level of the rank, although it's still somewhat easy. I'm sure there are better ways to do the bottom right crowd than the way I did it. One can still finish with a lot of skills leftover despite the somewhat limited skillset.

Magical 15 - A Jumper Would be Handy! Interesting remake of Take a Running Jump from the original Lemmings. Also another 1 Lemmina level. Very easy considering that you only have platformers at the start. Also the level that made me realized that I forgot to enable high-res before recording due to the wall of text on the right side of the level

Magical 16 - Revenge of the Ice Cream Monster Very nicely designed level! It's still cool that you included a locked and an unlocked exit in the same level. You already addressed whether it's possible to get to the right exit, which I concluded too quickly that it isn't. Quite an easy level for the rank finisher.


Feedback on the Sensational Rank

Not that much harder than the Magical rank, as this was still quite an easy rank.

Sensational 1 - Worra Lorra Lemminas! Another excellent level to start off the rank! I really liked this level a lot even if it was a short one. Not sure why it's necessary to have 300, although I got to admit the level looks cool with all of them on the screen.

Sensational 2 - Dimples Too easy as well. Nothing too special here, although I can certainly see why the level is named Dimples due to the gray circles on each side

Sensational 3 - Backroute to the Future Clearly a play on the movie Back to the Future. Just to let you know, I haven't seen any of them, although I did go on the ride at Universal Studios in Hollywood a really long time ago. Love the Tetris pieces you put in the level! As the title suggests, very easy to backroute.

Sensational 4 - Pillars of Venus Way too easy. Love the way it looks like a remote control with the button on top of the steel block.

Sensational 5 - See You On The Other Side Somewhat difficult, but only because I made an incorrect assumption about the glider walking on to the right instead of bouncing off and gliding in the other direction again for the end part. Even before that, this level still takes some thought to solve. Still a nice level, though. I would definitely consider moving the unicorn statue out of the way, as one can easily make the mistake of thinking it's solid, like I did, when it is actually background and non-solid. However, it is animated by blinking, so perhaps that's a giveaway that it's background

Sensational 6 - Hurry! Too easy. Love the sense of urgency of preparing the way with the bottom Lemmina for the top Lemmina before she arrives. The time limit even creates that adrenaline rush, hence the level title.

Sensational 7 - The Melting Block Very easy as well, though I have a feeling this isn't quite intended as it's probably not supposed to be that easy.

Sensational 8 - The Continuum A bit more difficult than the previous levels, but it's still easy. Made easier by how the Lemminas in the middle are stuck in an infinite loop, and so you need to use the lone lemming at the far left to do most of the work at first. After that, you could use any to forge the rest of the path, although I kept using the lone one to do the rest of the level.

Sensational 9 - Delaying the Inevitable Very nice puzzle and solution! Another favorite of mine. Once again, love how you have the Tetris pieces scattered in the level.

Sensational 10 - The Strange Boutique Nice looking and somewhat easy level, with the fireboxes at the top and the car with pickups at the bottom in the water, as well as the interesting looking grass vine trap from the rock tileset. Might be an altered version of it. This time, you have the unicorn out of the way so that it doesn't interfere with the level, although it looks cool with it above the exit. Level makes very good applications of the cloner skill.

Sensational 11 - The Refrigerator Easy level. Nothing too special here. I like how you have to release both crowds from below.

Sensational 12 - Falling Forever Ok, another somewhat pointless level, since it's initially another no skills level until you collect the pickups. It's quite easy, but I can see that it can be difficult for a less experienced player, if one isn't aware of teleporter overload. Also, I think this might be the first level that I have seen where multiple teleporters can go to the same receiver.

Sensational 13 - The Unnecessarily Tall Pillars Probably the hardest level of the rank despite a somewhat minimal design and being a 1-of-everything level, giving the appearance of a deceptively difficult level Indeed, the level stumped me good for a time, and it certainly didn't occur to me to clone after the builder is done, which explains why I struggled, but I still like this level very much

Sensational 14 - Race to the Top! Can be tricky but it's still somewhat easy. One must multitask and work on both sides simultaneously to ensure you won't run out of time. I believe long after I have solved this level I found out that you had a modified version of the level that removes an overhang that prevented the left Lemmina from climbing into the water? This certainly took me by surprise when she fell back down instead of getting into the water. Probably would had been better to simply pack the modified level into the level pack itself rather than offer it as a download, particularly since I didn't find it until much later and it requires going through a lot of the pack topic itself, meaning it's quite difficult to find it.

Sensational 15 - Many Jumpers Would be Handy! Somewhat more difficult than the Magical version, but it's still easy. Solution is definitely different from the first version.

Sensational 16 - Escape from Crystal Mountain Reminds me of Magical 16 due to how there's two exits again, one locked and one unlocked. This time, it's much clearer that both exits are possible, not like in Magical 16. Easy for a rank finisher as well. Very nice level design as well. The fire blowtorch trap was a nice addition to the unicorn statue placed near the tip of the horn. Again, I would move the statue out of the way so that it doesn't interfere and there's no confusion as to whether it's background and non-solid or solid.


Feedback on the Tricksy Rank

Now the levels are finally getting hard and challenging me appropriately. Most of the hard levels I remember are from this rank.

Tricksy 1 - Who's Doing What? Nice puzzle to start off the rank. I definitely had to think here in order to solve the level.

Tricksy 2 - Lemmina PepsiCola Research Event Nice and easy one. Hidden trap here, but the dripping animation gives it away. The only critique I have is it's impossible to tell whether she is close to falling off the left side at the bottom due to the lizard trap. I think namida suggested to use "no overwrite"?

Tricksy 3 - The Milkshake Machine The only difficult part is the beginning, easy and nice level otherwise, especially the design is nice.

Tricksy 4 - Konbanwa Lemmina-san Obvious reference to Konbanwa Lemming-san from the original game. Definitely harder due to the many buttons scattered all over the level. Also the level is closer to the Mayhem version rather than the Fun version due to the time limit, but it most definitely requires 2 minutes, as it's impossible to do in just 1 minute.

Tricksy 5 - Lemmina Drops The level doesn't look anywhere like the Lemming Drops version of the original game, so I'm not sure if the title is supposed to reference that level. Somewhat easy level, though it can still be difficult. Here I say more tricky than difficult. I totally didn't realize that there was more of the level in height.

Tricksy 6 - Day of the Daredevils! Part III Probably one of my favorites of the rank. Somewhat difficult, but I think the only hard parts are knowing when to clone so that the pickup can be collected, as well as a somewhat precise builder assignment for the end with one of the gliders to make her bounce off and turn around. Luckily, this has been observed a few times in some earlier levels, and so it didn't take me too long to realize this at the end.

Tricksy 7 - Easy Peasy Lemmina Squeezy No disarmer solution here. I say the level is somewhat ironically named, as it can still be somewhat of a difficult level. Still easy, though, so it's still aptly named to an extent.

Tricksy 8 - Stainless Steel Lemminas Somewhat easy level. I solved this level without the basher pickup, although watching my video now I realized that it was incorrect to say that the pickup is a red herring. Indeed, it is possible to collect it and so save everyone rather than lose the regular Lemmina.

Tricksy 9 - POOR WEE CREATURETTES! Remake of POOR WEE CREATURES from the original game. Hardest level of the rank. As previously mentioned, I ended up struggling with this level longer than what you see in the video, since I don't have the original recording (OBS wasn't opened). I would say an extra 15-20 minutes longer than what it took me here is accurate. I did see your intended solution and I definitely ended up overcomplicating the solution by how some parts of it are quite fiddly.

Tricksy 10 - Down the Rabbit Hole Another difficult level, although not overly hard. Quite intimidating due to the sheer height of the level. Probably an extra 5-10 minutes longer than how long it took me here is accurate.

Tricksy 11 - Lemminas Recurring The easiest level of the Tricksy 9-13 batch. Solving time here should be close to how long it took me in the original recording that I unfortunately don't have.

Tricksy 12 - Soda Streams Somewhat hard level, although this is another favorite of mine. Very nice level and puzzle that definitely required me to think about in order to solve. Probably an extra 5-15 minutes longer than how long I took is accurate here. There's the structure from Going Up as well as with the ghostbuster trap instead of the electric orb trap.

Tricksy 13 - Nessy II Somewhat difficult, although I say more tricky than hard. The only hard part is the end part. Certainly more interesting than Hunt the Nessy. Probably an extra 10-15 minutes longer than how long I took here is accurate.

Tricksy 14 - No I in Team Starting with this level the rest of the rank and pack is authentic with the video being the original recording. Excellent level and puzzle! One of my favorites as well. Easier than the previous batch of levels (Tricksy 9-13).

Tricksy 15 - Just a Second... Definitely reminds me of namida's The Longest Second level, so I wonder if you got inspiration from that level? Way too easy if played while paused, impossible otherwise. I especially love the creative use of using a shimmier jump for the far right one to get into the exit Not sure if it's possible to finish before the alarm clock ringing sound goes off.

Tricksy 16 - The Crystal Cobwebs of Mt. Katie Another nicely designed level. Yet another very easy rank finisher level. This time, only 1 exit.
   
Feedback on the Pandemonium Rank

As previously mentioned, I felt the final rank was easier than the penultimate rank, hence Tricksy was your strongest rank of the pack.

Pandemonium 1 - Lemmina City Steel Facility Yet another excellent first rank level! One of my favorites of the rank. Not hard but at the same time not easy either. Bashing into the steel can be hard to realize, though, especially since it almost looks like he won't be able to bash into it.

Pandemonium 2 - Milkshake Party Another great level which is probably my favorite of the rank. Difficult but not overly hard. It definitely took me some time to think about how to get a Lemmina down to the exit area, and I absolutely loved what you wanted to achieve it. Well done!

Pandemonium 3 - Nightmare on Lem Street III There was a second one? I wasn't too much of a fan of this level, although it's still a fine one. Can be difficult, but it's still not too hard.

Pandemonium 4 - Lemgate Nice level. It's hard to tell that inside the rings the blue stuff is background, though. Still, this was a visually nicely designed level. Not a hard level at all, but at the same time not easy either. I somewhat liked it.

Pandemonium 5 - The Cheery Cola Conundrum Somewhat nice looking level, if only a bit dull because of mostly just the red color. Bit difficult, but it's still somewhat easy.

Pandemonium 6 - L-PoP Pointless level, as it's simply bomb repeatedly until you get down safely. Made really easy due to untimed bombers and a very lenient save requirement. I can only imagine with timed bombers how much more annoying and difficult the level would be.

Pandemonium 7 - Falling Forever Part II Somewhat difficult, but this was somewhat another favorite of mine. The solution is just awesome to watch when it comes together correctly.

Pandemonium 8 - Staircase to Nowhere III Where were the other two versions? A level that's annoying for me due to repeatedly spamming the same skill over and over so many times, although admittedly I probably could had made the level less annoying on myself. I definitely sounded very bored while palying the level

Pandemonium 9 - With a Twist of Lemmina Please By far the hardest level of the rank and of the entire pack. It's surprising how I ended up struggling so much with this level, when I didn't struggle anywhere near as much with all the other levels. The only level of the pack that required multiple videos. I later realized that while writing the feedback for Pandemonium 2 that the trick I used in that level ended up being used here when I was finally successful. Not sure why it took me so long to figure that out. I also watched your replay and the only difference is I swapped the walker for the cloner for both the beginning and end.

Pandemonium 10 - I'll Just Wait Here, Shall I? Very good level! Another favorite of mine for sure. Much quicker solve than the previous level. I realized the solution almost right away.

Pandemonium 11 - Mary Poppins' Land II Clearly a remake of the original Mary Poppins Land from the original game. Another very easy and quick solve, making two quick ones in a row. Nothing too special here, though. The end part resembles Feel the Heat, particularly with the two fire blowtorch traps from either side.

Pandemonium 12 - Erm... Not as quick of a solve as the previous two levels. My solution uses two extremely precise skill assignments. It nearly fails had the wall still been too high in the top left and middle right. I watched your replay after I solved this level and I can't believe I didn't see solving the level in that manner when I have played so many levels of getting into fencer/miner tunnels by canceling midstroke with a walker to create a staircase and leaving the terrain in the tunnel intact.

Pandemonium 13 - Constellations II I wasn't too much of a fan of this level due to all the building that needs to be done. It can also be a bit fiddly due to the tiny stars. Very easy level once you get all the pickups. Also finally confimred that the fairy is background. You can tell from watching the series that I resisted turning on CPM to confirm my guesses on what was background.

Pandemonium 14 - Save Us! Easy level as well, though I was a bit annoyed with having to constantly spam stackers. I definitely could had made the level easier by deploying the bashers after containing the crowds, but I went for a stackers only solution. Indeed I wonder if that's the talisman I unlocked. I also mentioned that levels that give lots of stackers tend to be hard for me, but this one wasn't that bad at all. This is also why I usually avoid using stackers if I can help it.

Pandemonium 15 - Nothing is Impossible I believe you made another level with the exact same title, and so the level was rendered easy due to how I remember that level uses diggers to horizontally bashed. The only thing is that all the diggers have to be place precisely, i.e, right when the lemming is touching the wall every time, in order to get through the OWW. Even if I hadn't played the other level before, this level is still very easy to figure out, since it's impossible to go over the top due to the time limit. You'll run out of time long before you do. Obviously the level was inspired after I showed you the Snow Palace level for Superlemmini.

Pandemonium 16 - Rendezvous at the Mountain Part II Easy level for the final level of the pack. As a matter of fact, I said that the final 3 levels in the final video of the LP that it was a complete letdown that they were very easy, final levels compared to some of the other ones that were harder. At least this level is way more interesting and harder than the original Rendezvous at the Mountain, which was the final level of the original game, due to the save requirement. Nice use of inaccessible exits.


Once again, excellent job with this pack, and one I can highly recommend to others to play if they haven't yet. This pack seems to be way better now than the earlier versions from what I read, although I probably would not had liked to play the early versions of the pack when most of the levels were suboptimal than they are now due to how there were elements that are generally not liked by most of the community, in particular the hidden stuff, since I'm one of those players who thinks everything required to solve the level should be visible from the get-go. Like you, I don't mind the occasional hidden traps, but if it happens a lot in a short amount of time, then I will mind and will start getting annoyed. Occasional use is fine for the variety.

[WillLem]

Wow, thanks for the detailed feedback Kaywhyn, I'll have a proper read of it at some point. Just a quick reminder in the meantime - it's worth putting spoiler tags around your feedback just in case it gives away the solution for others!

I really appreciate you taking the time to LP this pack, it's really useful watching through the videos and seeing how different aspects of the levels and tileset are interpreted by another player. It will definitely come in handy for Lemminas II

[kaywhyn]

Wow, thanks for the detailed feedback Kaywhyn, I'll have a proper read of it at some point. Just a quick reminder in the meantime - it's worth putting spoiler tags around your feedback just in case it gives away the solution for others!

That's why they're not in spoiler tags because I deliberately avoided giving away any of the solution! Obviously I put them in spoiler tags otherwise

I really appreciate you taking the time to LP this pack, it's really useful watching through the videos and seeing how different aspects of the levels and tileset are interpreted by another player. It will definitely come in handy for Lemminas II

My pleasure. Thanks for the suggestion of your pack to LP

[Strato Incendus]

I know I promised my replays to this ages ago, but it seems like those were among the things that got lost when my laptop crashed for good in autumn. So I just played the first two ranks (partly "again") tonight. Replays are attached.

In some cases I'm a little confused about lemmings not splatting when I absolutely expected them to...

Spoiler

Specifically on the levels "Believe in yourself!" and "Falling forever"

I guess that's intended, but it feels a bit like trolling.

I'm very happy to see another change, though...

Backroute to the future

...that the teleporter on "Backroute to the future" is no longer hidden

[WillLem]

In some cases I'm a little confused about lemmings not splatting when I absolutely expected them to...
---
I guess that's intended, but it feels a bit like trolling.

If you look carefully, you can see that there is an updraft layered in front of the exit door, which prevents the lems from splatting and enables them to drop directly into the exit. It's a design choice which I made purely for aesthetics, there was no intention to troll the player whatsoever.

In response to other feedback already given on these levels, which suggested I place the updraft above the exit (rather than in front of it), I've created a bunch of exit graphics which make "updrafts above exits" look better, and I'll use these from now on to prevent any such confusion in future.

I will note, however, that the first of the levels you mentioned is a self-solving level specifically designed to inform the player as clearly as possible that the updraft in front of the door will prevent them from splatting. I'm surprised you missed that detail, tbh...

Anyways, thanks for the replays!

[Strato Incendus]

Yeah, of course it's a self-solving level, but seeing that something can be done is no use when you don't understand why. Because then you can't rely on it working when you're trying to make that part of your planned solution. Or are you telling me that literally every single exit in this pack has an updraft in front of it?

Because while the updraft is visible, it looks different from the standard updraft, so it's no easily identifiable as one. Plus, if you hover the cursor over it in clear-physics mode, it only says "EXIT", not "UDPRAFT". That is of course a general issue, because updrafts are never labelled in CPM. But in this case, that makes it even harder to tell.

[Proxima]

Maybe Magical 13 should show a normal exit next to the updraft exit, to help the player notice the difference. I agree that it is too subtle, and it caused me some trouble on a later level when I didn't realise that an exit had an updraft covering it.

Just getting back briefly to an earlier point:

I was referring to the old black & white version:

Looking more closely though, the lemmings sprites actually do look like they might be the higher resolution kind - they look chunkier and more detailed than the Amiga/DOS versions.

Not just the sprites; the terrain is clearly high-res. Compare it to NL low-res graphics:



(Also, the b/w Mac version isn't "older" than the colour version; they were released together.)

[WillLem]

Because while the updraft is visible, it looks different from the standard updraft, so it's no easily identifiable as one.

Maybe Magical 13 should show a normal exit next to the updraft exit, to help the player notice the difference.

I won't be changing the layout of the levels now, V1.03 is the final version in that regard. However, what I have done is included a preview text on level 13 to explain what's happening with regards to the updraft, in order to address this issue.

Once again, it was never my intention to troll the player with this feature, I just honestly think it looks better for the updraft to fit over the "doorway" of the palace in the exit graphic.

Attached is the updated level, with preview text. I have of course also replaced the level in the OP download.

[Strato Incendus]

Ah, yeah, aesthetics over strict game fairness. That's my own creed, too, so... touché .

[WillLem]

aesthetics over strict game fairness

Again, there was no intention for the level to be unfair. The updraft is clearly visible, and the effect it has is (almost) impossible to miss. The only strike against it really is that I'm using a custom updraft graphic, which could (and has) cause(d) confusion.

Anyway, the situation has now been rectified. My mission is to achieve good aesthetics and good game fairness, in equal combinations. If something looks good but isn't fair, scrap it. If something is fair but looks bad, improve it. Simple!

[WillLem]

So... it's come to my attention that a level I thought I'd fixed in V1.03 is still broken.

Sensational 16 Escape From Crystal Mountain should have only 1 Lemmina spawn from the far left entrance, and 15 Neutral Lemminas from the far right.

See attached for the fixed version of the level - it definitely works now. The error was due to a bug in an earlier version of the editor which didn't save lemming counts in entrance hatches after an Undo command. As far as I know, the latest version of the editor has this sorted.

I have of course also re-uploaded the pack to the OP with the fixed version of the level included.

Apologies for anyone who may have struggled with this level in its unintended state. Thankfully, it is solvable. However, the intended, fixed version is far better!

[Strato Incendus]

Ah, I was already wondering if it was really supposed to be that fiddly. Thanks for the quick fix!

Even though I have to re-solve it now, it should be much easier to execute this time.