LemFan's various packs

[LemFan]

Some of the later rank levels are very hard!

[namida]

Given that I haven't played Mega Lems and that Lemmings Plus Omega is my own pack (and it's quite hard to judge the difficulty of one's own pack), I cannot answer that question.

However, one piece of advice I'm going to reiterate - difficulty is not the sole measure of how good a level / pack is. Yes, I am aware that you think that people just want hard levels. Difficulty alone is not what makes a pack good - take a look at GeoffLems, which is a relatively easy pack compared to most custom packs these days, but is still very highly regarded because, despite not being too hard, the levels are interesting and fun to play.

What is a cheapo pack?

"Cheapo Copycat Lemmings Game" - often shortened to just "Cheapo" - was a Lemmings clone that was used in the early-mid 2000s for custom levels. Basically, you could think of it as like the NeoLemmix of that time.

[jkapp76]

Wow! I haven't even started the last pack of yours.

I did make a logo and signs for this pack if you want them.

[LemFan]

How hard are the levels?

[LemFan]

Hopefully in about 10 years there will be a Lemmings Plus VII and LPO3 and there could even be a LPVIII IX AND X.

[namida]

I didn't play this pack, but I took a quick look at the previews, and I think the same advice I gave you in the NumLems topic will hold true here as well.

I'd like to make some suggestions for how you could go about creating your next pack. These tips should help you produce a better result, and in particular, to remember "quality over quantity".

For your next pack, create 30 levels. Don't think about what order they should be in; don't try to remember what order you made them in. Just make 30 levels. Spend at least three weeks on this. If you've finished them all after the first few days, go back and work on improving them. Look for backroutes. Add decoration. Make the (non-decorative) terrain look nicer. Cut out tedious bits. If you realise in hindsight that one of the levels isn't so great, get rid of it and make a new one to replace it.

Once you've got 30 levels, at this point, try and sort them from easiest to hardest. It's okay if this isn't perfect - it's not really a big problem if (just as examples) level 7 is slightly easier than level 6; it's more of a problem if several of the levels in the 21-30 range are among the easiest in the pack. Once you've done that, leave it for a few days, then come back and take another look - anything you're having second thoughts about in the order? If you want to go a step further here - instead of using all 30, pick only the best 25 to put into your pack, and throw away the other 5.

Finally, give it one more round of testing - play through the pack, see how it feels. This is also a point at which in general I'd advise to have someone test the pack for you and give feedback, but it can be tricky for newer authors (especially those with a history of rapidly releasing packs) to get others to agree to test - still, if you can, do so, and pay attention to their feedback. Paying attention doesn't have to mean you blindly follow everything they say; but it does mean you should at least give consideration to it and try to understand why they're saying it.

Only once you're sure that your levels are good quality, and that you're happy with the order - then it's time to release the pack.

Yes, this means it will take a long time until the pack is ready. That's fine - good things take time to make. Aside from the example I mentioned of Lemmings Plus II (which, as noted, was worked on basically full-time), all of my large packs took at least a few months to make. Some other creators of highly regarded packs took even longer - IchoTolot's Lemmings United was in development for several years before it was ready for release. You simply are not going to be able to create something of the same quality, if you're pumping out 100+ level packs every few days - this isn't a criticism of your abilities, it's simply unrealistic for anyone to churn out good-quality, well-tested levels at that kind of rate.

And once you do release it - don't obsess over how "hard" it is. That is not the most important attribute of a pack. Indeed, ultra-high difficulty can even be off-putting to some players. Once again, I suggest looking at GeoffLems as an example of how a (relatively) easy pack can still be great.

[LemFan]

That is what I am going to do, go back over the pack.

[WillLem]

Difficulty alone is not what makes a pack good - take a look at GeoffLems, which is a relatively easy pack compared to most custom packs these days, but is still very highly regarded because, despite not being too hard, the levels are interesting and fun to play

Amen. I personally get very put off by packs that start out too hard, and rarely play past the first couple of levels if that's the case (the only exception to this is mini-packs / single-rank packs which advertise themselves as being particularly challenging - in these cases, I'll usually want to play some of the designer's other content first, if it exists.)

A good pack will always give the player a chance to get warmed up and get used to the designer's style for at least 10-15 levels, ideally even the entire first rank. Think of it as a "getting to know you" phase - very important for a difficult puzzle game which you hope the player will spend hours of their time with!

EDIT: Since posting this, I've started playing your other pack MegaLems, which does indeed have a "Fun" rank with warm-up levels. Very good so far, I'll give some more feedback when I've played more of the pack (and in the actual pack topic, of course!)

[WillLem]

I'd strongly recommend using Eric's fixed version of the pack, posted here, as the base version of this pack (i.e. from which further edits may be made) - check it over and put it in the OP if you're happy with it.

[LemFan]

The levels are tricky.

[LemFan]

How hard is the rest of the pack?

[LemFan]

Here is my next levelpack. 64 levels in this pack across 4 ranks, Normal, Offputting, Strange and Unalike. This pack is tricky throughout the whole pack, this pack isn't really a walk in the park. It is not that easy.

[LemFan]

Not finished yet, still in development. This pack is going to contain 250 levels across 5 ranks, so that's 50 levels per rank. I am currently in the middle of the second rank now. I have still got 3 more ranks to go before I create the levels.nxmi textfiles to make it into a playable pack.

[LemFan]

I have made another 22 levels of this pack, hopefully it will be released in about a week. I am currently in the 3rd rank.

[IchoTolot]

I merged the 2 topics.