3 things I don't like about neolemmix

[ericderkovits]

1) the top and sides are dead zones. example in original lemmings mayhem 23-going up... when the lemming goes to the top right of the wire he walks off and dies. in lemmings he is supposed to turn around. in neolemmix, one has to use a blocker there.

2) no speed up in oh no more lemmings wicked level 2-inroducing SUPERLEMMI. no speed up without using fast forward. Even Superlemmini has this as a speed level.

3) many times the cursor changes the size of the playing screen and it's annoying when it happens when trying to finish the level.

Superlemmini doesnt have these issues.

and I don't like that it has no option for timed bombers as in the other ports games

[namida]

For #1, the sides used to be solid (and steel), but it was decided, after much debate among the community, that this should change. IIRC, for a while this was even a mixed case, where the top of the level was solid, but the left and right were not, but eventually it was decided that no - it's preferable that all four edges work the same way. The conversions of the official levels generally add terrain at the edges in cases where it was critical to the solution, though not in cases where it wasn't (such as that one, where you can easily use a blocker or just go left). I'll definitely concede that there are valid arguments for either behaviour, but ultimately, this is just what was decided for NeoLemmix. FWIW - I'll note that "the edges are solid" is not true for every original version of Lemmings. On DOS, the left and top are solid but the right is not (but the left also behaves a bit differently to a normal wall). On Amiga, the left and right are both solid. On Win95, the edges are nonsolid.

For #2, NeoLemmix's design philosophy is that the difficulty should come from the puzzle, not from execution. SuperLemming mode is not consistent with that; as it only adds fake difficulty by speeding up the gameplay; there's nothing new you can do, or anything normal you can't do, as a result of it. Therefore, SuperLemming mode has no reason to exist in NeoLemmix. (In the past, SuperLemming mode - along with several other, NeoLemmix-specific, gimmicks, did exist, but it was decided not to keep them.) EDIT: And regarding your note about timed bombers, exactly the same thing applies there too. It's just execution difficulty, it doesn't add anything to the puzzle (in fact, it takes one possibility away: with timed bombers, you cannot explode a lemming in the first 5 seconds after he spawns; which you can do with instant ones). It should also be noted - I'm not particularly worried if it harms the experience of playing the original levels, because NeoLemmix's focus is on custom content; being able to play the official levels on it is just a bonus.

I'm not sure what you mean by #3.

[ccexplore]

If you're just going to play the official levels, I'd suggest either using an emulator (eg. DOSBox, WinUAE, etc.), or to use the LemmixPlayers that replicate all the original behaviors (in DOS) of the games down to glitches.

[Minim]

I'm not sure what you mean by #3.

I understand what this user's saying and I sometimes get this. Sometimes the user accidentally touches the mouse wheel button while moving the cursor around the screen, particularly if holding a handheld one. While that changes the level's zoom feature, it also changes the size of the cursor. It's not a big deal for me as it can be reverted by moving the mouse wheel the opposite direction. Hope this helps.

[WillLem]

I'm beginning to understand the distinctions between NeoLemmix and other Lemmings platforms: it's far more about custom content than playing the original game. This is perhaps NeoLemmix's best feature.

Along with custom content comes various potential issues such as not knowing what's steel and what's terrain, unusual-looking exits and teleporters, vastly unfamiliar level designs and layouts, and of course the author's style and flavour which often dictates the way that a level is played.

NeoLemmix aims to address this by assisting the player as much as possible, with these various tools:

Framestepping - not just forwards and backwards 1 frame, but you can customise Hotkeys to step forwards and backwards as much as you like, including to last skill assignment and next shrugger - this last one is a godsend for builder-heavy levels.

Direction Select - perhaps a fairly standard feature for Lemmings platforms nowadays as it seems to exist on all of them, this is also a very useful tool and saves a lot of time.

Skill Shadows - Allows very precise movement through the level, and the ability to know exactly what's going to happen when you make the skill assigment.

Clear Physics Mode - Reveals everything about a level: what's steel, where the exits are, where any trigger areas are for that matter. Whilst I don't use this very often, I can't deny that it's an important tool to have, particularly when playing a custom style that's visually very busy.

Untimed Bombers - As Namida said, this allows for bomber explosions within the first 5 seconds of spawning, and it allows precise placement of bombers as well.

I'd say the biggest irony of the NeoLemmix philosophy is that, via its player-assist tools, it makes things like precise skill placement and hidden objects a complete non-issue, and yet it still vehemently rejects these things as being an occasionally valid part of the game.

Unrelated to OP's 3 but sparks discussion, therefore moved to separate topic: Hidden objects in NL, part 2 -- Simon

Ultimately, though, I'm learning to love NeoLemmix for what it is and what it offers: fantastic custom content, an array of features and skills, and an active community surrounding it. Perhaps the cost of its many benefits is the need to adhere to, or at least accept, very strong views on design and gameplay philosophy. I'm learning to accept them.

I do agree with you, erciderkovits, that NeoLemmix does take something away from the experience of playing the original game, and that's why I'm campaigning for SuperLemmini to establish itself further as a platform for those who appreciate the more execution-focused style of gameplay offered by Amiga, WinLemm, and DOS. Emulators are great and everything, but it's better to have an actively maintained platform that at least offers modern player-assist tools whilst keeping them optional - SuperLemmini has the potential to be just that.

So, I'd urge you to focus on helping to make SuperLemmini better: make suggestions and join the discussion on the feature requests topic, encourage other users to give it a try, and ultimately learn to appreciate the luxury of choice that we have as fans of Lemmings. That's what I'm doing, anyway.