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

[WillLem]

Level Update

Here's an update for Sensational 14 Race To The Top. I've removed a tiny piece of terrain to the right of the exit which was there by genuine error.

Simply paste the level into NeoLemmix/levels/Lemminas/Sensational and choose Replace.

Thanks!

EDIT: Please re-download Lemminas to get the latest version - thanks!

[WillLem]

Graphics Update

So, it turns out that my old laptop wasn't as great at rendering colours as my new laptop, and tended to lean towards a blueish hue. As a result, some of the pink shades in Lemminas are coming out ever so slightly differently.

I doubt most people would notice the difference and/or care, but here are some updated graphics for the menu reflecting the changes. I've also updated the pink "milkshake" water object (which was, thankfully, the only graphic in the actual style set that was affected enough for me to want to change it) - the latter will be available via a styles update in the manager, but I've included here as well for those who don't use online features.

Unzip the menu graphics to the root folder of the Lemminas level pack (NeoLemmix>levels>Lemminas)

Unzip the water objects to NeoLemmix>styles>willlem_lemminas>objects

Thank you!

[WillLem]

Skills You Can't Live Without records for the Sensational rank are now in the Record Table following a few evenings of play by Proxima, myself and namida.

I have also arranged the SYCLW results so that that Totals are in order of Most > Least Used.

[WillLem]

The Skills You Can't Live Without records are now complete (pending future improvements, of course!). Check out the Records Table for full records.

Some interesting SYCLW statistics for Lemminas:

Magical
Most Required Skill: Builders (9)
Least Required Skill(s): Cloners, Disarmers (1)

Sensational
Most Required Skill: Builders (12)
Least Required Skill(s): Shimmiers, Swimmers, Disarmers, Blockers (1)

Tricksy
Most Required Skill: Swimmers (14)
Least Required Skill: Stackers (2)

Pandemonium
Most Required Skill: Builders (27)
Least Required Skill(s): Shimmiers, Miners (1)

GRAND TOTALS:

Total Skills: 326
Total Constructive Skills: 130
Total Destructive Skills: 65
Total Permanent Skills: 71
Total Fatal Skills: 0

61 Builders
41 Platformers
28 Stackers
24 Walkers
21 Floaters
21 Fencers
21 Cloners
18 Diggers
18 Bashers
17 Swimmers
13 Climbers
13 Gliders
12 Shimmiers
8 Miners
7 Disarmers
3 Blockers

Played by: DireKrow, Minim, namida, nin10doadict, Proxima, WillLem

[Swerdis]

Hello WillLem,

I am happy to say that I finally finished your Lemminas-pack today. I got stuck in SEB Lems some weeks ago when I decided to start another pack to experience a new sense of achievement (I normally don't play different packs parallel). I thought that your pack might probably be easier than Flopsy's and I was right, but it took me longer than I had thought previously and I had some hard nuts to crack. Regarding individual feedback, I will restrict myself to the Pandemonium-levels. My favourite one from your pack, however, was not part of this rank. That's "Soda Streams" which is a great puzzle and can well be considered a blueprint how to make a fantastic "Three-Lemmings-Level". There was one level in "Sensational" I couldn't play since I missed a graphic piece.

1. Lemmina City Steel Facility

It may be surprising, but this one was the hardest level for me in the entire pack. I wasted a lot of time at the left side, but I always ran out of resources there. This was supported by a tendency that, whenever I spot a piece with one-way-arrows, I feel it must be bashed through. So I was on the wrong track, before I finally found a way to trap the Lemmings at a different place. Great level!

2. Milkshake Party

I now have some more grey hairs on my relatively bald head due to this level which I would consider the third hardest at least of the rank. It's all about how to bring one Lemming down to the bottom and this was not possible without some acrobatic moves. Easily one of the best levels of the entire pack.

3. Nightmare on Lem Street III

"The Great Lemming Caper" was my favourite Level in the original game and I was curious to see what you made out of that. You transformed it to a totally new experience though I can understand why Namida refused to play it. It feels a little flamboyant with 100 Lemmings, 99 RR-Rate, 4 entrances, zombies, teleporters and a locked exit. I am not the biggest fan of such nick-nack though I muss confess that, when I tried to solve it, it worked surprisingly straightforward. Not my favourite level, but that's of course always a matter of taste.

4. Lemgate

This was one of the harder Pandemonium-levels, at least for me. Nice basic concept. What I don't like about this level is, that there is some degree of luck involved here. I spared one walker in the end, but couldn't reproduce the same solution every time.

5. The Cherry Cola Conundrum

This was like a total cakewalk though I think I backrouted this level. I am not sure if's intended to do all the work at the left and the right side with one Lemming only. I still like this level somehow - maybe it's because I appreciate Cherry Cola. It's also the beginning of four very easy levels in a row. But the hammer fell down after this foursome, I can tell you.

6. L-PoP

I didn't go for the talisman here, but after placing a blocker at the right side, I just had to bomb through and watch out for the fall distance. Though I like occasional breathers, this one felt a little TOO easy for the final rank.

7. Falling Forever Part II

Where is part 1? After having understood that these eyes on the left side aren't just pure decoration I could solve this level quite quickly. How to use the cloner here was also quite obvious.

8. Staircase To Nowhere III

This is the second level I feel a bit misplaced in the highest rank. It almost played itself. Of course, it could be made much more difficult by radically reducing the amount of walkers. But from a designers perspective, I can understand that not every level should be made as hard as possible. Just to give the player some leeway.

9. With a Twist of Lemminas Please

Here it is: This level has driven me nuts. I found three totally different ways to save 31 Lemmings, but not 32 Lemmings. Never before, I felt the urgent necessity to transform that stupid Glider into a Floater. One day later, I changed the approach completely and I surprisingly found a way. I'm quite sure, it's not the intended one. Very good level, though.

10. I'll Just Wait Here, Shall I?

Nice idea, but I almost saw the solution immediately. That's because I solved "Tribute to Benny Hill", from Insane Steve's world, my favourite levelpack so far.

11. Mary Poppins' Land II

As one can see from my youtube-video this one took forever, due to pure waiting. Probably I did something wrong - but the solution, which wasn't hard to figure out, worked. Not among my favourites.

12. Erm...

A late highlight of the Lemminas! Though I'm quite experienced in these kind of levels, I had no clue about the approach in the beginning. But then, it dawned on me that it's the stacker which is the key skill here. It's still took a while since this level also demands some timing. Very good work here!

13. Constellations II

I had similar feelings to Pandemonium 3 here, though there were only 4 Lemmings. This level looked extremely fiddly und difficult to solve at first, but turned out be very straightforward. The major problem was where to land with the two Gliders on the left side though they shouldn't turn around.

14. Save Us!

I like this level for it's idea. In my first attempts, I placed the stackers side by side. This trapped some Lemmings - and I hadn't enough bashers to free them. So I decided to place the stacks on each other - which resulted in the talisman.

15. Nothing is Impossible

This is a trick-based level. If you know this trick (like I did) it's incredibly easy, if not, it has the potential to drive people to despair.

16. Rendezvous at the Mountain II

A gorgeous level for its visuals. I was a little shocked when I saw all of these pickup-skills. After giving it a try, I realized that none of them are really required. Since it's also not necessary to work simultaneously from both sides, this level turned out to be fairly easy. Like in the original game and in ONML, the last one is not the hardest - you adhered to this tradition.

I'd like to see more Lemminas one day! Though I most admit that for the moment, I have enough of these pink, purple and pastel shades :-)
All of my solutions can be found on my yt-channel.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Vidusaka/

Greetings, Swerdis

[WillLem]

My favourite one from your pack... That's "Soda Streams" which is a great puzzle and can well be considered a blueprint how to make a fantastic "Three-Lemmings-Level"

Thanks! It's sort of a remix of Going Up! but I wanted to make sure that Swimmers were used. The Tricksy rank is by far my favourite, I think Pandemonium ended up being quite messy in parts - I was being a bit too ambitious with some of the designs (particularly Lemgate, which was a complete nightmare to put together!).

There was one level in "Sensational" I couldn't play since I missed a graphic piece.

Ah yes, looking at your YouTube channel it seems you're missing the styles used in level 10... the downloads manager should be able to sort it (if you have online features enabled). If not, it's namida_psychedelic and flopsy_special that contain the pieces you need... they'll be in the styles download.

1. Lemmina City Steel Facility It may be surprising, but this one was the hardest level for me in the entire pack

You're not alone there, a lot of people have said this one and With A Twist Of Lemmina, Please! are the two hardest in the pack. This one's had a few backroute fixes as well; it's one of the few levels I wanted an exact solution for. Despite that, your solution is in fact yet another backroute! It's very difficult to enforce using the left side of the level. Buuut that's OK, I really like your crowd control method so it's a pass, for sure

2. Milkshake Party I now have some more grey hairs on my relatively bald head due to this level...Easily one of the best levels of the entire pack.

Haha thanks!

3. Nightmare on Lem Street III...You transformed it to a totally new experience though I can understand why Namida refused to play it. It feels a little flamboyant... Not my favourite level, but that's of course always a matter of taste.

Fair enough, this is definitely one of the least popular levels. It's actually one of my favourites, I love how many different possible solutions there are!

5. The Cherry Cola Conundrum... This was like a total cakewalk though I think I backrouted this level

Nah, again - this one's intended to be fairly open-ended. Everyone comes up with a totally different solution, so it's all good.

7. Falling Forever Part II Where is part 1?

In Sensational

8. Staircase To Nowhere III This is the second level I feel a bit misplaced in the highest rank... But from a designers perspective, I can understand that not every level should be made as hard as possible. Just to give the player some leeway.

Yes - I'm all about there being an ebb and flow rather than a consistently increasing difficulty. It's good to have the odd breather level, for sure.

9. With a Twist of Lemminas Please Here it is: This level has driven me nuts... One day later, I changed the approach completely and I surprisingly found a way. I'm quite sure, it's not the intended one. Very good level, though.

Your solution was remarkably similar to Armani's - this one and the intended one seem to be the only two possible solutions to this level (so far!).

11. Mary Poppins' Land II As one can see from my youtube-video this one took forever, due to pure waiting

I'm not sure why you built over the teleporters... not doing so would have cut the time in half, for sure! Also, not allowing too many lems to group in the lower area helps to avoid a long wait as well. For future ref, I'd advise customising a 50-frame-skip Hotkey to speed up situations like this! For what it's worth though, I apologise for your wait, and I sincerely hope you used to the time to have a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits

12. Erm... A late highlight of the Lemminas! Though I'm quite experienced in these kind of levels, I had no clue about the approach in the beginning. But then, it dawned on me that it's the stacker which is the key skill here.

Another quite popular level - it's actually not one of my favourites, but it's one of those ideas that I got first thing in the morning after a night of playing Lemmings! Your solution is in fact not intended -

Spoiler

it's meant to be solved using animation cancels!

But, it's a great solution nonetheless.

15. Nothing is Impossible This is a trick-based level. If you know this trick (like I did) it's incredibly easy, if not, it has the potential to drive people to despair.

Hence the title; the hope is that players won't lose hope! I guess it is a very trick-based level. I'm going to try not to do too many (if any) of those for Lemminas II - I want the sequel to be more consistently accessible throughout.

Btw, was the pack's music included in your download? I noticed that the regular Lemmings music was playing in the videos... totally OK if that's by choice, just wanting to make sure that it's available.

Anyways, thanks for your LPs and your kind comments, Swerdis. I'm very glad that you enjoyed the pack!

[Swerdis]

Hey WillLem,

thanks for your reply. I think I will download the missing piece to play the remaining level. No, it was by no means intended to use the regular Lemmings music. To be honest, I almost can't listen to it anymore and I'm happy for every pack that doesn't use it. But for some reason, I didn't get your music working - which is strange, since I never had those problems with any other pack. Yesterday I started SubLems - not to confuse with SEBLems :-) - and among the greatest things of that pack is the unique music that EVERY level has. I'm actually very music-sensitive - and a bad tune can almost ruin an entire level for me :-)

Greetings, Swerdis.

[WillLem]

But for some reason, I didn't get your music working - which is strange, since I never had those problems with any other pack

I've double-checked the latest download in the OP and it seems to work fine. What seems to be the issue? Let me know and I might be able to help.

[WillLem]

Following the release of NeoLemmix 12.10 and its fantastic Menu screen overhaul, I've updated the Lemminas menu graphics (again!) as well as the rank (group) signs, which I felt also needed a bit of a tidy up.

For those who haven't yet downloaded the pack, the main OP download has of course been updated. However, those who already have the pack and would rather not download everything again, just the graphics have been attached to this post.

Simply drag and drop the images into "NeoLemmix>levels>Lemminas". The rank graphics have been sorted into the individual rank folders, so these will need to be copied across into the correct directory within levels (Magical, Sensational, Tricksy and Pandemonium respectively). When prompted, choose to replace the current images. For the most part, they are simply the current images but with a nicer font and resized to match the dimensions of the new menu.

Please let me know if you have any trouble with this, I'm more than happy to help.

[WillLem]

Please note that the Records Table has now been merged with this post. I've also fixed all the links I could find in the replies, so this is now the place for everything Lemminas

[kaywhyn]

All rightie WillLem, it's finally time. I have just started LPing Lemminas Here is the link to my LP: Kaywhyn's LP of WillLem's Lemminas pack.

So far, I have completed all of the Magical rank and half of the Sensational rank. I will post back with my replays and feedback when I get through the rest of the pack. Great pack so far, and as usual I'm enjoying myself a lot with providing the community my LPs. I'm not playing with high-res on, although let me make it clear that I have nothing against it. It's a very welcome addition, and I'm sure the community appreciates you providing the graphics and your expertise on it. It's probably just me exhausted and hence I'm not really thinking clearly, but when I tested it quickly on Part 2 of my LP I didn't see too much of a difference. I guess I expected it to be way more mind-blowing with high-res on than what I did see. In any case, I can make do without it, I'm probably just not getting much out of the experience visually by having it disabled. Perhaps if it was available right from the early get-go of the NL days I would definitely had kept it enabled or if it was on by default.

[WillLem]

Thanks for uploading Kaywhyn! I'm really enjoying your LP. Just watched the Magical rank so far but I'll definitely be watching the rest of it as well. I've left the following comment on the video, but here it is for easy reference in case you want to reply here:

Comment on Kaywhyn's LP of Rank 1 - Magical

Nice work Kaywhyn! It's great to see these levels being played 😆 some comments for you:

You are indeed pronouncing "Lemminas" correctly (i.e. 'Lem-ee-nas') 👍

Well done for spotting that stars can turn Gliders 😉

I also prefer Pepsi to Coke 😎

I'm glad you enjoyed "I'll Go First", it's probably this rank's only real "puzzle" level, it seems very suited to your playing/solving style

I sometimes fumble solutions when I'm recording LPs as well, I think it's a normal part of learning to play the game whilst thinking out loud and making interesting comments at the same time. You're good at LPs though, keep it up and you'll get more used to it

Level 13 is purely to demonstrate the updraft/exit combination (which may come in handy later) 😉 It's been a somewhat controversial level, with most feedback saying that it's basically pointless. But, I just liked it too much to remove it from the pack!

The miner on Level 15 is for an alternate talisman solution: a lot of these levels have been designed with multiple possible solutions in mind, mainly to give the pack replay/challenge value

Finally, it is possible to reach both exits on Level 16 - the left one is quicker but more challenging, the right one takes longer but is more straightforward (or so I thought! 🤔) I guess it goes to show that we all find different things difficult, just like you said!

I'm not playing with high-res on

If you're producing a video of you playing the pack, it's definitely worth having high-res on. The sprites were designed in high-res; their low-res counterparts are nearest neighbour resizes which I didn't spend anywhere near as much time on.

Also, high-res mode definitely looks better. I'm sure that less graphically-oriented people either don't notice the difference or don't really care, but I do for sure!

So yeah, if I have only ONE request for anybody LPing this pack: please put hi-res mode on! Thanks!

[kaywhyn]

I'll respond at both places, although here will be to address the high-res

I'm not playing with high-res on

If you're producing a video of you playing the pack, it's definitely worth having high-res on. The sprites were designed in high-res; their low-res counterparts are nearest neighbour resizes which I didn't spend anywhere near as much time on.

Also, high-res mode definitely looks better. I'm sure that less graphically-oriented people either don't notice the difference or don't really care, but I do for sure!

So yeah, if I have only ONE request for anybody LPing this pack: please put hi-res mode on! Thanks!

It was more that I totally forgot to switch high-res on before I started recording/LPing. I guess that's what happens when I download the most recent version of the pack last night, sleep for the night, and then started recording first thing this morning

Truthfully, I think it has to do with the fact that my laptop display is already stunningly visually impressive. I currently have the latest Dell XPS 15" model, i.e, the Dell XPS 9500, and the display is just visually mind-blowing and a huge improvement over the previous model I had, which is about 2-3 generations behind. The laptop I have is more than just an upgrade of my previously owned model. It's a complete rework. I only have the FHD version, but it's still very nice. Plus I figured that I can make do without the UHD 4k display, which alone increases the price dramatically compared to just the FHD version. So really, even with just an FHD version everything on the display is already very nice looking, which is probably why I didn't notice much of a difference when comparing the high-res graphics compared to the low-res.

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 However, I think what I will do is that I'll record the second half of Sensational in low-res, and then I'll finish up the rest of the series with high-res on. In this way, I have 2 3 videos in low-res to compare with at least 2 videos in high-res. Then maybe I'll see the differences better when I'm watching them on my own later. Then again, my cell phone has an OLED display, and truthfully I don't notice that much of a difference either. So, it probably won't matter in the end for me.

As I have said before, though, your work with the high-res is definitely appreciated, and I'm definitely glad you have made it be available and got namida to incorporate it into NL. It was probably one of the most anticipated features of NL that I was looking forward to, coming from how I was a heavy Lemmini/Superlemmini user for the last 4-5 years and have admired the amazing high-res graphics on those engines before I finally decided to dive into NL last year. Too bad that hasn't turned out to be the case after it has been made available for NL The biggest problem is that no one is forced to use it, it's simply there if one wants to use it. More than how my display is already stunningly pretty even in FHD, though, is how high-res just became an available feature long after NL came into existence, but more than that is because I have been doing just fine with what I do and don't have enabled The problem is kind of exacerbated by how it's tucked in the settings menu separate from everything else on the title screen. I haven't really gone into the settings menu for quite a while, as the Level Select menu is the one I see and use more, as I'm sure is true with most others here.

If high-res had been available long before I started using NL, then I would had been more inclined to have it enabled rather than not. Or, even better, if it was on by default then for sure I would had continued using it and not disable it. Of course, as we all know, NL is its own engine and completely different and separate from Lemmini/SL.

[WillLem]

Truthfully, I think it has to do with the fact that my laptop display is already stunningly visually impressive. I currently have the latest Dell XPS 15" model, i.e, the Dell XPS 9500...which is probably why I didn't notice much of a difference when comparing the high-res graphics compared to the low-res.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

[namida]

allowing for different shades of colour

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. (The higher detail and smoother shape on the other hand is indeed a feature of the resolution difference.)