Lemmini - Lemmings for Java - public Alpha

[0xdeadbeef]

Finally my humble efforts to port Lemmings to Java have reached a state in which I think I can release it for a (more or less) public alpha/beta test.
I came up with the name "Lemmini" which is the scientific "tribe" name for lemmings since it not in direct conflict with the trademark "Lemmings". Sounds a little silly in my mother tongue, but maybe not as much in yours

Please note that you need a (legal) copy of "Lemmings for Windows" to actually play the game. Lemmini is just a game engine which needs the resources of "Lemmings for Windows to run" ... mainly for legal reasons.
I'd recommend to keep the CD-ROM in reach or to copy the WINLEMM folder from the CD-ROM to your HDD since future updates of Lemmini might need to extract the resources again to reflect changes in the resources.

Secondly you'll need a Java runtime environment (JRE). I'd recommend to download the latest version "JRE1.5 Update 6" from here:

http://javashoplm.sun.com/ECom/docs/Welcome.jsp?StoreId=22&PartDetailId=jre-1.5.0_06-oth-JPR&SiteId=JSC&TransactionId=noreg

After installing Java and having your copy of "Lemmings for Windows" ready to hand, you are prepared to visit my Lemmini homepage:

http://home.arcor.de/0xdeadbeef/lemmini.htm

As described there, you might either run/install Lemmini as a Webstart application by clicking to the according link on the site (and answering all the following questions with "yes") or you can download the file "lemmini.jar" directly, copy it somewhere to your local HDD and start it with a double click. The advantage of Java Webstart is that this will automatically check for updates and download the latest version of Lemmini. Then again if you don't like that or don't have a permanent internet connection, you might want to stay with the Jar.

I'd call Lemmini a playable Alpha at this point, because a few game features are missing. Most noticeably you can play all levels from the beginning, the level codes are given, but you can't enter them anywhere and there's no kind of "game over" screen whatsoever.
Then again, all Levels of the Windows version (+5 additional levels) are in, the levels are completely playable, also music, sound and user interface are finished or at least nearly finished.
I tested quiet a lot during the last days on five different systems and had no crashes lately, so I hope it's more or less stable. Then again, I could only test on WinXP systems. So it might crash, refuse to work or behave strangely on different operating systems. Last time I tried in Linux, it crashed while loading resources. But that was some months ago and since then I reworked all the resource names to avoid conflicts with uppercase/lowercase file names. So it might work under Linux, but it's kinda unlikely.

About resources: the game needs almost no CPU-time during normal gameplay on the five systems I tested, where the lowest one was an 1.6MHz Centrino Notebook. It eats much more resources in "fast forward" mode, but this is a different story (limitations in the current Java runtime under Windows). The RAM consumption is about 60MB, so I guess if you have 100MB free, you shouldn't have problems.

The intention of this public alpha/beta test is to get feedback on the following topics:

- Does the game work (well) on your system (especially Windows versions before XP, Linux and Mac)?
- Is the timing ok (release rate, movement of lemmings, animation speed of lemmings, level objects like traps etc.)?
- Is the behaviour of lemmings ok in detail (height of obstacles, falling height, digging speed etc.)?
- Do the Traps and other level objects work as they should (also entries, exits)
- Are the level names, order, start position ok? Are all levels fully playable and "winnable" with the default solution?
- Anything else strange/wrong compared to the Amiga/DOS/Windows version?
- Are there glitches, bugs, crashes, freezes etc. ?

If this is ok with the Moderators, I'd suggest to post comments in this thread. Please don't spam me with emails or PMs for every little comment or issue. Also I'd ask you to keep this beta test internal to this forum for the moment.
And PLEASE don't ask for "Lemmings for Windows"! It's still on sale and I ask you to respect the rights of the copyright holders. I bought my copy at eBay for just 5P as I started this project, so I think this should not be an issue.

Anyway, I can neither promise that Lemmini will work (well) on your system nor that I will consider/comment any issue discovered during the test. Please be aware that this is a spare time project any my interests may and will change from time to time.

Hope you enjoy it...

[Proxima]

And PLEASE don't ask for "Lemmings for Windows"! It's still on sale and I ask you to respect the rights of the copyright holders. I bought my copy at eBay for just 5P as I started this project, so I think this should not be an issue.

That's entirely reasonable, but on the other hand I hope you agree that it's entirely reasonable of me not to want to pay for another version of Lemmings when I already have Lemmings for Mac and Cheapo. Pity; I'm very interested in your project!

[ccexplore]

Don't worry, I know what you mean. &#A0;I'm pretty sure I have a copy of Windows Lemmings somewhere on my home computer. &#A0;I never installed it, but it doesn't matter since Lemmini only needs the graphics resources which are just files.

I'll post it up (probably just the graphics files) as soon as I can get to it, and it'll stay up until they arrest or sue me, ha-ha.

In the meanwhile, may I suggest Google?  If I recall correctly that's how I got hold of my copy......

[Mindless]

A couple of things I've noticed:

• CPU usage is higher at the level intro screen than when playing the level.
  
• The wrong password is displayed -- the password for the NEXT level should be displayed, not the password for the completed level.
  
• Some sounds are chopped off (e.g. "Oing" and the tool selection sound.)
  
• Floaters seem to fall too fast, but this may just be in my head.
  
• The digging animation looks like it loops before it completes.
  

All in all, it's very well done. (Especially the mouse handling.)  ;D

Now for feature requests:

• Full-screen mode, if possible.
  
• Explosions similar to Lemmings or Cheapo
  

[0xdeadbeef]

A couple of things I've noticed:

• CPU usage is higher at the level intro screen than when playing the level.
  

Hm, on my machine it's between 0 and 2% in any intro/briefing/debriefing/game screen. Only fast forward needs more.

• The wrong password is displayed -- the password for the NEXT level should be displayed, not the password for the completed level.
  

Oops, you're right. I'll change that in the next release...

• Some sounds are chopped off (e.g. "Oing" and the tool selection sound.)
  

Did you try to select another Mixer in the Sound Menu? Also make sure that your using JRE1.5 Update5 or above. In earlier versions of the JRE, short sounds were not played correctly. The sound code itself is correct and works flawlessly on several machines.

• Floaters seem to fall too fast, but this may just be in my head.
  

They should be accurate on pixel/frame basis, but if anyone can confirm, I'll check again...

• The digging animation looks like it loops before it completes.
  

Hm, looks ok for me. Can anybody confirm?

All in all, it's very well done. (Especially the mouse handling.)  ;D

The mouse handling is a bit jerky since the mouse cursor is software drawn to be "in sync" with the game. And indeed I already doubled the frame rate.
BTW:  I thought you'd praise the music
And you should really read the scrolltext

[Mindless]

• Some sounds are chopped off (e.g. "Oing" and the tool selection sound.)
  

Did you try to select another Mixer in the Sound Menu? Also make sure that your using JRE1.5 Update5 or above. In earlier versions of the JRE, short sounds were not played correctly. The sound code itself is correct and works flawlessly on several machines.

I restarted the game and the problem disappeared.

All in all, it's very well done. (Especially the mouse handling.)  ;D

The mouse handling is a bit jerky since the mouse cursor is software drawn to be "in sync" with the game. And indeed I already doubled the frame rate.
BTW:  I thought you'd praise the music
And you should really read the scrolltext

Doesn't seem jerky to me. :/

And the music is good too.

[Proxima]

OK, thanks to some files that ccexplore supplied I'm able to test this out!

I've only tried one level (1 Tricky: This should be a doddle) so far, and noticed the following things:

* On the intro screen the level number is "0" for some reason.
* I'd much rather have a music system like the Mac version -- music fixed for each level -- so that I don't always have to hear the Cancan! It's OK, but there are much nicer musics down the line.
* A big one. When two lemmings are under the cursor, the one already doing a skill has priority, as it should. BUT if the skill you're trying to assign is inapplicable, that priority doesn't get overridden! E.g. the first lemming builds over the gap, the second lemming comes up behind and needs to be given a builder also. You can't do it because the first lemming has priority but he can't be given another builder skill.
* Changing the release rate caused the game to crash.

[0xdeadbeef]

* On the intro screen the level number is "0" for some reason.

Ok, this and the wrong levelcode will be fixed in the next release.

* I'd much rather have a music system like the Mac version -- music fixed for each level -- so that I don't always have to hear the
Cancan! It's OK, but there are much nicer musics down the line.

The music is fixed for each level. And the first level "Just dig!" has CANCAN as fixed music like the Amiga had. So I don't really get the problem.

* A big one. When two lemmings are under the cursor, the one already doing a skill has priority, as it should. BUT if the skill you're trying to assign is inapplicable, that priority doesn't get overridden! E.g. the first lemming builds over the gap, the second lemming comes up behind and needs to be given a builder also. You can't do it because the first lemming has priority but he can't be given another builder skill.

Indeed there's no (intentional) priority handling at all. Indeed, just by chance, the "youngest" (which entered the level later) lemming has priority at the moment. I must admit I'm not sure if there was any designed priority handling in other versions. At least I did not had the impression when playing the windows version and can't really remember for the Amiga version.
It might be a little confusing however, since the "type" of the "lemming under the cursor" is displayed and if there are 4 different types, which one's name should be printed. At this moment, the name is that of the one who will get the skill
However I could implement something like that if there's demand for it. I put it on my list.

* Changing the release rate caused the game to crash.

Hm, this doesn't sound too good. Any more more input on this issue? Like: Does the game just exit or is a error message displayed? If so, could you post it? Does this happen always or sometimes, at first press or after N presses etc.?
Does it also happen if you use the keyboard shortcuts ("+", "-")?

[Chmera]

I played it on my father's Windows 98 and compared it with WinLemm. There were a few problems:

*Walking speed too fast
*The terrain height that causes the lemmings to turn around is too high(the lemmings were walking something like halfway up the right side of the top chamber in Just Dig)
*No music whatsoever(most likely computer-specific, but still...)

[0xdeadbeef]

*Walking speed too fast

How much too fast? On my system, Lemmings for Windows run too slow. Indeed on minute game time takes much longer than a minute. Please check how long a minute game time takes for Lemmings and Lemmini on your system.

*The terrain height that causes the lemmings to turn around is too high(the lemmings were walking something like halfway up the right side of the top chamber in Just Dig)

That's a slope, not an edge.

*No music whatsoever(most likely computer-specific, but still...)

Did you turn it on? I think it's disabled by default.

[DragonsLover]

Yep, I'm playing it on Win98 SE and, well...

* The Lemmings, objects and toolbar are constantly flashing (that's a little bit annoying) and I think it causes the game to lag
* Fast Forward Mode doesn't work
* The game hangs after a while and requires to be closed using Cttl + Alt + Delete. And after, then, the music repeats a tiny part of the song constantly and it's pretty annoying. I need to restart my computer to avoid that! The only thing I did is to increase the release rate to 99 and when almost all Lemmings enter the exit: Crash! without any reasons.

Music works and I don't think Lemmings are walking too fast. I didn't tested the terrain height problem, but it seems to be ok too.

[ccexplore]

Indeed there's no (intentional) priority handling at all. Indeed, just by chance, the "youngest" (which entered the level later) lemming has priority at the moment. I must admit I'm not sure if there was any designed priority handling in other versions. At least I did not had the impression when playing the windows version and can't really remember for the Amiga version.
It might be a little confusing however, since the "type" of the "lemming under the cursor" is displayed and if there are 4 different types, which one's name should be printed. At this moment, the name is that of the one who will get the skill
However I could implement something like that if there's demand for it. I put it on my list.

I'm pretty sure most versions of Lemmings that are close to the Amiga version use the same priority system.  Unfortunately I haven't at the moment work out the exact system yet, but what Ahribar said is definitely true, and it's also true that roughly speaking, the "youngest" gets priority except when someone's a non-walker.  And there's no confusion about the "type of lemming under the cursor" -- whoever has the highest priority for a skill assignment, his type is displayed.

The skill assignment behavior is not negotiable in my point of view, it's way more important than your framerate.  Skill assignment is too fundamental to the gameplay.  When I have time I'll get to the bottom of this and report back how exactly it should work.  And don't forget about the right mouse button either......

[0xdeadbeef]

Yep, I'm playing it on Win98 SE and, well...
* The Lemmings, objects and toolbar are constantly flashing (that's a little bit annoying) and I think it causes the game to lag

That's bizzare since all the drawing is done offscreen and then always the complete screen is copied to the front buffer at once.
I will have to think about how this could happen at all...
What kind of machine are we talking about??? What kind of videocard do you have? Do you know if it supports DirectX?

* Fast Forward Mode doesn't work

What does that mean? Is the speed of lemmings and timer not influenced by pressing the button (or "f") or is the icon not even "pressed"? What about CPU load when playing and when using FF mode?

* The game hangs after a while and requires to be closed using Cttl + Alt + Delete. And after, then, the music repeats a tiny part of the song constantly and it's pretty annoying. I need to restart my computer to avoid that! The only thing I did is to increase the release rate to 99 and when almost all Lemmings enter the exit: Crash! without any reasons.

If it hangs: does the menu still react? When you say it crashes, did it exit or freeze? No error message?

Music works and I don't think Lemmings are walking too fast. I didn't tested the terrain height problem, but it seems to be ok too.

Something at least...

[0xdeadbeef]

The skill assignment behavior is not negotiable in my point of view, it's way more important than your framerate.  Skill assignment is too fundamental to the gameplay.  When I have time I'll get to the bottom of this and report back how exactly it should work.  And don't forget about the right mouse button either......

Well, actually the game it quite playable despite of this and none of my private test players noticed that while they noticed changes in framerate at once. But of course they are no hardcore lemmings freaks.
I will put it in if there's demand for it and there is time for it (there seem to be more urgent issues like crashes and redraw problems on Win98). However I'm a little perplexed by the phrasing "not negotiable". I mean, at the end I'll have to decide what I can or want to do and what I can't/don't.

[Proxima]

The skill assignment behavior is not negotiable in my point of view, it's way more important than your framerate. &#A0;Skill assignment is too fundamental to the gameplay.

Right, and specifically on the problem I pointed out, if there are two lemmings under the cursor and one cannot take the skill (e.g. "builder" is selected and one of the two is already a builder) then the priority MUST pass over to the other lemming. This is absolutely vital to the gameplay. (Yes, the game is still playable, but there are situations where you can't do something you want to and should be able to.)

About the music problem, if you have fixed the music for each level, then level 17 Fun should have music #17, level 18 should cycle back to music #1 (Cancan), and so the level I was playing, 1 Tricky, should have music #14, no?