Lemmings Quartet (v1.5) [Difficulty: Medium-Hard]

Apjjm · October 11, 2021, 12:22:28 AM

Lemmings usually gather in great numbers to form massive communities...
But in this level pack there are only 4!
Can you guide them through 18 levels using the original 8 skills?

Difficulty: Medium - Hard
If you have completed another community pack you should find most of the levels approachable.
Though some of the later ones will hopefully be a nice challenge for even the more experienced solvers!

Levels
The pack contains a total of 25 levels: 18 in the main rank and 7 extra.
Main rank levels primarily use original/ohno styles, but do take some extra decoration from the lemmings 2 styles in places.

A shell game

Broken warpgate

Music (Optional)
Music download

The levels will look for some ocremix music in 'music/ocremix'. Music credits are in the spoiler below as well as in the zip.
If you do plan on including the music in a video, do check the content policy (There is also a content id list there too).

Spoiler

Thanks to

WillLem for multiple playtests and feedback
Proxima for a really helpful playtest
Namida for help & advice
NieSch for a talisman solution to level 12
Armani for finding backroutes & resolving levels after a few rounds of fixes
Kaywhyn for the great playthrough and talisman solution to level 5

Change log

Spoiler

V1.5.0 - Reverted a change to Quartet 16 and instead made a sign a few pixels taller, this sadly rules out kaywhyn's solution but is in exchange for making the level a bit more robust from potential backroutes involving that sign.
V1.4.0 - Adjustments to Quartet 9, 13, 15 & 16. Talisman added for Quartet 5. Full change notes here.
V1.3.0 - Adjustments to terrain and skillset on 15 to make skillset more even and attempt to fix a backroute. Cosmetic improvements to level 6.
V1.2.0 - Adds one addtional extra level, and some fixes to existing levels. Pre-text added for all the extra levels. Full changelog here.
V1.1.0 - Fixes various backroutes and adds a new talisman. Full changelog here
V1.0.1 - Small decorative changes to the rocks in level 8 and level 13. Tidied up some of the eraser peices in level 8.
V1.0.0 - Initial release

If you want to get hold of an older version of the pack (e.g. to test replays) do let me know!

NieSch · October 11, 2021, 08:04:15 AM

Congrats on releasing the pack! It looks (and sounds) really good and the difficulty suits me well.

kaywhyn · October 11, 2021, 09:03:44 AM

I already said it on Discord, but I'll say it here as well: Congratulations on the release of your pack!

This is definitely on my to-play list, as soon as I get through some of my planned LPs of other level packs first. When I get to this, I for sure will link you to my LP! I'm happy to hear that you enjoy them

WillLem · October 11, 2021, 03:07:20 PM

This is an excellent pack, I am happy to have helped playtest this one and can warmly recommend it. Needless to say, I wasn't able to solve the harder levels in this pack, but I had great fun trying, and I enjoyed watching Apjjm's replays (to see if I could help with backroute-proofing, of course!)

The difficulty works its way up gradually throughout the pack for the most part. It starts with some lighter puzzles that the more casual players amongst us can have some fun with, and is later peppered with some super-hard brainteasers for the more expert solvers, climaxing with a more open-ended romper stomper to finish the pack in classic style.

All levels feature classic-8 skillsets only, which is becoming increasingly rare to see in custom packs so it's been inspiring to see these used in a fresh and interesting way. The levels also use only the original 9 styles in a similarly innovative way, combining multiple styles together throughout and creating some lovingly detailed "map art" which adds to the atmosphere of the pack.

The "Quartet" theme is also quite an attractive feature, with all levels featuring no more than 4 lemmings. Some of them only feature 3, which was confusing at first, but then I ~~thought it might be~~ realised it was because because the lem count is cumulative (i.e. as 1 lemming dies, the remaining levels only feature the remaining lems from the original 4). ~~This would have been a particularly good way to explore the concept further, but it doesn't appear to be the case. Nevertheless,~~ All of the levels use the limited lem count in an interesting way, almost always requiring work to be done by at least 2 or more of the lemmings in order to bring the often remarkably complex solutions together.

My favourite pack of 2021 so far, and one I hope to remix in a future project involving only community packs

Post edited following Apjjm's confirmation that the lem count is, in fact, cumulative. Nice work!

Apjjm · October 11, 2021, 04:44:18 PM

Thanks for the comments so far!

kaywhyn I will absolutely be looking forward to watching your playthrough

WillLem Thanks again for all the help playtesting & feedback with the pack. Regarding your later point

Spoiler

You are indeed correct about the total lemming count being 4, then 3, then 2. The idea with 17 is that the 'breakout' of the neutrals was bringing them back.
The original plan for the pack was actually to have 10 levels consisting of 4 lots of 4 lemmings, 3 lots of 3, 2 lots of 2 and the final level with 1 back when I started it.

WillLem · October 13, 2021, 12:31:15 AM

Quote from: Apjjm on October 11, 2021, 04:44:18 PM
Spoiler

The idea with 17 is that the 'breakout' of the neutrals was bringing them back.

In that case, give yourself another gold star. This is an awesome idea!

NieSch · October 14, 2021, 01:02:50 PM

I solved the first ten levels now except for level 8. Nice puzzles! My favorite solution so far is of level 9.

Apjjm · October 14, 2021, 04:42:23 PM

Quote from: NieSch on October 14, 2021, 01:02:50 PM
I solved the first ten levels now except for level 8. Nice puzzles! My favorite solution so far is of level 9.

Nice going so far - you have either the intended solutions or nice alternatives in all the replays

. I really liked your solution to level 6 - I didn't think you could make that work at first!

Edit:
I have updated the pack to V1.0.1. These are minor cosmetic changes to a few levels. The most notable is to level 8, where there is more detailing added to some unreachable decorative rocks, and the eraser spots have been tidied up a little in a few places. Any replays already produced should still work unless they were doing something very surprising!

NieSch · October 18, 2021, 04:22:39 PM

I'm struggling with the second part of the levels. I found these three solutions so far. I'm sure the solution to the penultimate level (Phantom breakout) is not intended, it seems too easy.

Apjjm · October 18, 2021, 07:18:02 PM

Quote from: NieSch on October 18, 2021, 04:22:39 PM
I'm struggling with the second part of the levels. I found these three solutions so far. I'm sure the solution to the penultimate level (Phantom breakout) is not intended, it seems too easy.

The second half of the pack does really start to ramp up the difficulty compared to the earlier ones (15-17 in particular), but you have made great progress so far!

I really liked your solution to n-body problem!

Spoiler

The first two lemming planets are as intended. There is deliberately some extra skills here so I was expecting some different solutions for joining things up - I am quite suprised you managed to use the last planet the way you did to avoid assigning a climber though! I might add a talisman for saving this skill as I really thought that was required

Castle on the coast is a fine solution given the skillset but isn't using a key element I had originally intended. I will have a think about this one and see If i can make an adjustment to this level or the skillset.

Phantom breakout is very much not intended and I'm a bit gutted I didn't spot this one! I think I know how to fix it so should have an updated version out soon enough.

Armani · October 20, 2021, 02:31:20 AM

I solved the pack. I'm impressed with all your artistic creativity here and I especially love cherry blossom tree made with marble tiles.

There're probably some backroutes here and there though.

Apjjm · October 20, 2021, 11:15:52 PM

Thanks for playing through Armani & great job solving them all

. There were some backroutes in there which I have hopefully fixed in V1.1!

Spoiler

Levels without a comment are solved as intended or an otherwise good alternative

Level 4 - This is very similar to skill requirement I was originally thinking of using - I ended up giving a few more options for containing the crowd given its early placement. Nice solve!
Level 9 - Your 2nd replay on this is the intended one, the first solution was really nice too. I could 'fix' the first one with a button but I think this is certainly clever enough to keep! I am considering a talisman for this, but also am a bit worried that showing the talisman requirement might narrow the solution space too much.
Level 13 - I really thought I had fixed this by moving the entrance close enough to make the builders turn, but I didn't anticipate that blocker

Level 14 - This wasn't really intended but is advanced enough that it might actually be harder than the intended solve. I did tweak this level to fix sneaking under the one way wall.
Level 15 - This is a bacrkoute & I was worried this level would have something I was missing. I have made a small adjustment to the bottle the basher was able to continue into - this is relatively small change that hopefully fixes this level though!
Level 16 - This used all the skills so I was intially inclined to keep this as the solution was certainly good. But, since i was making changes I have moved the first building down a bit...
Level 17 - This is a backroute which should be fixed now
Level 18 - I have slightly adjusted the last bit of the level around the bricks - it doesn't make the level any harder or change the solution much, but I just like the way it finishes a bit more.
Extra 2 - I have hopefully fixed this with a bit of steel
Extra 6 - Really nice solution! This isn't what I had intended but this is certainly a creative solution.

I have updated the pack based on the solutions so far - changes in V1.1

Spoiler

Level 04 - Fix a decorative branch segment
Level 10 - Skillset reduce to 3 of everything (from 5 of everything), and a one way wall was removed. Talisman updated to use only two of each destructive skill.
Level 11 - Skillset has been changed to use only 2 miners. There is still a bit of variety in how to solve this!
Level 12 - Added talisman solving without the climber (NieSch's solution - I have added credit to the thanks to section)
Level 13 - Adjusted the terrain near the exit
Level 14 - Added a pickup skill and moved some bits of the terrain down to prevent sneaking under the one way walls.
Level 15 - Made one of the bottles smaller
Level 16 - Adjusted the height of some of the buildings
Level 17 - Changed the block structures near the start of the level, and added some extra sparkles.
Level 18 - Adjusted some of the empty space under the bricks at the exit
Extra 02 - Added some steel and moved the entrance to prevent tunneling under the middle the level

Armani · October 22, 2021, 12:16:17 PM

I resolved the updated levels

Wow these levels are very nice!

I think it's really hard to make a challenging puzzle level which is also aesthetically beautiful but you managed to do so.

Spoiler

Level 10 is now much more challenging than before if you care about the talisman. I like it

Level 11 is also more difficult now with less miner but not too much.
Level 13 is one of my favourite levels. It's very clever to use multiple digger to get rid of the opposite OWW to make the basher keep going.
Level17 is probably the hardest level of the pack. I tried some fiddly and timing-heavy things at first but they didn't work. The blocker position was very crucial to the solution and hard to see.
I just tweaked my previous solutions a little bit on 12 14 15 16 so they are still probably backroutes.

Apjjm · October 22, 2021, 04:54:51 PM

I just watched the replays & I'm happy you liked the levels!

Spoiler

Extra 2 - Good solution - there is a way to do this without containing the crowd, but this was originally one of the earlier levels of the pack before I decided to focus on the original styles so I would have been happy with this as a solution.
Level 10 - Nice solution - I wanted to see the bottom half of the level used more in this update so it was nice seeing that!
Level 11 - This is one of the intended solutions, it actually was the original solution before I updated the skillset (the blocker was released with a miner instead).
Level 12 - Nice way to do the climber talisman

Level 13 - Very close to the intended solution, just executed in a slightly different way. If i do end up adjusting things it won't impact the first part of your solution and only how the lems reach the exit. This is mainly because I'm a little worried that building back onto the mountains at the start could open up backroutes - this used to be prevented by a small gap which I likely covered up when adjusting decoration at some point

Level 14 - This is a good solution even if it isn't the intended one! I like that the climber and floater are on different lemmings and still think this isn't exactly obvious either.
Level 15 - It looks like I need to make another adjustment on this one.
Level 16 - I have an idea on a small adjustment I can make here to encourage the original solution, so will likely give that a go.
Level 17 - Fantastic solve! This is the intended solution and you are also the first person to solve this level that I know of

! You can also place the blocker in a one other place (the overall effect is the same). It's also good to hear you didn't find a sneaky timing solution as I spent way too long trying to rule those out!

Apjjm · October 24, 2021, 12:33:46 AM

I have updated the pack to V1.2.0

I have added one extra bonus level (to bring the total to 25), and pre-text for the existing 'extra' levels with some trivia about why they are in the extra rank.

This update also has the following fixes / adjustments:

Spoiler

Level 13 - Added back a small hole in the early mountains. Added a trap after the big pillar.
Level 15 - Moved the handle on the pan near the exit. Some decoration improvements.
Level 16 - Prevent digging through the top of the sign near the start. Decoration tweaks.