[NeoLemmix] WillLem's FestiveLems (25 Levels)

[Apjjm]

Here are some replays & resolves of fixed levels - I liked the north pole level

Spoiler

North Pole - I think the bottom crowd being a train of lemmings you just have to make the path work for is a really fun idea.

Merry Christmas M.C. Escher - The talisman on this was really tricky! I'm pretty happy to have found a solution that works for this one as the teleporter animations are surprisingly long and unforgiving for lemmings being too close together. I tried some release rate manipulation with no luck and had a few close solutions which didn't quite work out before releasing I didn't need to adjust the RR at all if I just let the first lemming walk a bit before turning it around.

[Simon]

Re-solves and daily solve.

Mary v2

Two methods for Mary v2 that both win gold. The first feels too precise but is more obvious to try. Such precision feels off since it's an easy holiday pack otherwise.

The easier feels intended but the terrain doesn't enforce this yet; the terrain lures you into the more precise method.

Mary v2 is hardest level in pack so far, first that I didn't solve in a single session. Granted: I forgot how to solve Take a Running Jump efficiently.

Icy

Solution doesn't need the bashers.

Terrain near the exits is precise to mine. Mining too early on top of a spike cancels the miner before he opens the exit. Frustration is moderate because feedback from mis-mining is at least immediate.

Didn't see any talisman solution (= floater-free) to Escher within 1 hour, and didn't try floaterful.

-- Simon

[Apjjm]

Will update this post with daily solves for the last 4

Spoiler

We all fall down - Managed to solve this with only 1 basher by using a trick I picked up playing lemmings cranium recently.
Escape from cindyland - Got a save-all solution for the gold talisman here, but is quite an open ended level if you are willing to multi-task.

[Simon]

I looted the chocolate from door #24 because I'll have no time tomorrow.

Attached replays (in this post and all earlier posts) complete the pack (including vanilla solution to Escher) and win all talismans except for the Escher talisman.

Escher: Surprisingly nontrivial. Even the vanilla solution needs a plan from the start. Finnicky terrain, maybe it's necessary. Apjjm won the talisman, I haven't. It's possible that the talisman is a really good puzzle, but I can't judge yet.

Running Home from Christmas: The rock trap at the right hatch blends too easily into the terrain; this rock trap needs an idling animation to stand out.



Review

For playing one level per day, I'll have to fit the play around my day job, and can't always pour maximum energy into a level at whim.

FestiveLems acommodates this: Many large and easy levels. Most levels are winnable by Gewurschtel, i.e., you do what comes to mind first, you fix the arising problems as they appear and at little extra cost, and you'll undo only the most recent things. Rarely you have to step back and re-think overall strategy.

For a holiday pack, I'm perfectly fine with this lower puzzle density and instead more Gewurschtel through nice, peaceful scenery. This is in the spirit of the 1993/1994 DMA holiday Lemmings. Thanks! North Pole probably shows clearest what the big idea is; most of the level is separated prom the puzzle, and the separate part solves itself as eye candy.

And custom music, you've created 8 tracks solely for these levels. That is really rare, and the music fits too with the 1993/1994 spirit. I don't know the lyrics to the original 12 Days of Christmas, I only know the lyrics to the Starcraft version. Still very fitting, and even more fitting, it plays in the longest level, Jingle all the Way.

I got exactly what I imagined. I nearly got what it said on the tin, except that it's not medium-hard; it's easier.

-- Simon

[WillLem]

@Simon - Well done on completing the pack and thanks for taking part! I'll send you the bonus level on Christmas Day, as promised

Some comments on your solves:

Simon's solutions

I'm happy with all solutions except the ones to Mary Christmas, both of which avoid sending the crowd back around via the infinite platform. A change to the layout and/or skillset may be the only way to proof this one, since the Builders intended to make a splatform can clearly be used to block the crowd from going that way at all. I like this level a lot, so I'll likely make one last fix for this one.

Marshmallow Land II also still seems too easy: the ending is supposed to create more problems, and a Swimmer is meant to be used ideally. But... I'm going to leave this one as it is, it can be an anomaly which will hopefully have some interesting challenge solutions.

Merry Christmas M.C. Escher has a surprising number of possible solutions; I don't think I've seen it solved exactly the same way twice so far (it was also included in my 2019 Xmas pack). I'm not sure if your solution could be tweaked to work without the Floaters, but I have no doubt that you'd be able to find a different way to solve the level. Apjjm's talisman solution is not intended and is more precise than it needs to be; the intended solution can be performed pause-free and without helpers.

You found some slight shortcuts to Icy What You Did There and The Icicle Lane, but nothing I'd call a backroute; these were more like interesting skill-saving alternatives.

One thing I particularly like about your solutions is that you often use multiple workers, even in the levels which require working at both ends of the map. It makes for some entertaining replays!

Meanwhile, Apjjm is catching up - only 1 more level to go!

Apjjm's solutions

All great solutions; Mary Christmas is intended (yay!) and your Merry Christmas M.C. Escher talisman is very inventive in its use of the miner

You also performed The Icicle Lane in pretty much exactly the intended way, which is nice to see.

Elsewhere, some very interesting solutions to the more open-ended levels. The backroute fix for Marshmallow Land II doesn't block your route, but I'll allow it for its sheer creativity and attention to detail. Nice work so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing your solve to the finale

Finally, @Silken - don't give up! You've done very well so far, and the remaining levels are within your grasp. I'll be on Discord later today so we can play through some of it together if you want.



Responses to general comments and generous review from Simon:

Running Home from Christmas: The rock trap at the right hatch blends too easily into the terrain; this rock trap needs an idling animation to stand out.

Hmmm. I might add one, but I've always been a fan of L1's hidden traps and this was an opportunity to pay homage to that (particularly since it's a Snow re-theming of Rendezvous, whicn has the hidden rock trap). If I get any further backlash over this, I'll consider adding a secondary animation.

Most levels are winnable by Gewurschtel, i.e., you do what comes to mind first, you fix the arising problems as they appear and at little extra cost, and you'll undo only the most recent things. Rarely you have to step back and re-think overall strategy.

For a holiday pack, I'm perfectly fine with this lower puzzle density and instead more Gewurschtel through nice, peaceful scenery. This is in the spirit of the 1993/1994 DMA holiday Lemmings. Thanks!

Gewurschtel - I like this term! This is defintely the kind of level which I enjoy playing myself, and so I aim to make these sorts of levels for others: immersive stuff which allows the player to get creative and indulge in a more "solve-as-you-go" style. Thanks for picking up on (and enjoying!) this aspect of my pack.

And custom music, you've created 8 tracks solely for these levels. That is really rare, and the music fits too with the 1993/1994 spirit.

Thanks for this; I really enjoyed making these music tracks, it's about time we had some more Lemmings xmas music beyond the 3 tracks featured in the 1993/1994 packs. To anyone reading this: please feel free to use these tracks in your xmas levels, and pop me a credit in the scroller if you do so!

I got exactly what I imagined. I nearly got what it said on the tin, except that it's not medium-hard; it's easier.

Haha! In fairness, I'd guess your solving ability is way above even the forum average, so it's worth taking into account that medium-ability solvers may find some of these levels very hard. I have a feeling that a lot of the quieter and/or more casual forum users are likely to be people who would struggle with the harder levels; my boy struggled even to get throught the Santa rank without help and he's a smart kid; if he can't do them, I'd hesitate to label the pack as "easy".

We've had discussions about difficulty indications previously, and there doesn't seem to be a "catch-all" solution to it. Maybe one day there will be some kind of accepted forum standard, but until then it's down to authors to gauge it as best as they can.

[WillLem]

Updated level

Please download the full pack to get the latest version. Thanks



Definitely, definitely, definitely the last update! I just really like this level and it's one of the rare occasions where I want it to be played exactly as intended

Satan 04 Mary Christmas - including new replay
(Place levels into NeoLemmix/levels/WillLem's FestiveLems/Satan)

If you already have the pack, simply replace this level. Or, you can always re-download the pack if you prefer.



Those who have already provided replays prior to the levels being fixed are assured that their solutions will still count for the purposes of the "Advent Challenge," and will still receive the bonus prize level on Christmas Day if all remaining levels are also successfully completed. Of course, if you wish to re-submit a replay for the new version, this will be very welcome.

Anybody submitting replays after this update is asked to please provide replays for the updated versions of the levels. Thanks

[Apjjm]

I have attached a full collection of replays that should be up to date and work for all the levels - the replay checker trips over a couple of the replays as a couple of the levels have a duplicate ID - so I just checked those ones manually.

This was a fun pack to approach as a one-a-day solve, and I felt the level of difficulty here was well judged for this too. I would agree the diffiulty tends to fall more medium side of the medium-hard scale for me, but having said that I think that is a good fit for the pack. I liked the open ended nature of a lot of the levels, and think this a good fit for the style of the pack.

Merry Christmas M.C. Escher was the hardest level of the pack for me - especially the talisman. I did look at the intended solution for this now you have said mine was ok and I definitely made my one more complicated than it needed to be! Aside from that one, my other favorites of the pack were Stage Presents, Rebel without a Claus, and The North pole.

Overall, I had fun playing through this pack this December & enjoyed the one-a-day idea

[WillLem]

Thanks for your kind comments Apjjm, this was gratifying to read. I'm glad you've enjoyed the pack, and I'm sure you'll like the Bonus level - it's inspired in part by your own Lemmings Quartet levels!

As promised, I've now sent out the bonus level to those who have completed this pack in time for Christmas. It's not too late if any more of you happen to have a full set

I'll likely be around tomorrow (Boxing Day) evening and I'd like to do Skills You Can't Live Without for this pack on Discord if anyone wants to join in

[Proxima]

replays

[Simon]

Escher, wins gold

It's the same solution as my earlier, but replaces the floating with heavy RR-fidgeting to force all necessary spacing.

Still uses only one exit. Still is hackish and doesn't feel adequate as a talisman puzzle solution. But I found nothing else, it surprises me that Escher allegedly has several solutions.

25th level that WillLem sent me by PM:

A Christmas Carol

Feels like a backroute because I abuse the platformer for a few pixels of height. The leftover digger raises an eyebrow.

I conjecture that the intended solution digs one of the poles from the initial enclosue. I conjecture that the intended solution bashes through the tree and jumps over the snowman; I swapped these.

Mary Christmas version from 2021-12-23, I haven't attempted this yet.

-- Simon

[WillLem]

This pack has now been updated to include all 25 levels, including the bonus Christmas Day level You can download it here.

Many thanks again Silken Healer, Simon and Apjjm for taking part in the "advent calendar" challenge

[Silken Healer]

I'm planning to one day, maybe when I'm better at lemmings, come back to this pack and get the maximum solved with all the talismans. Also beat the levels I couldn't complete.

[ericderkovits]

Ok, I played and finished the pack. Also got all the Talismans. Some Satan rank levels were real tricky.

Also Like the Holiday music.

[kaywhyn]

Hi WillLem,

I have solved the entire pack, including the Bonus level. Replays attached. Also, the link to my LP of the pack: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJvaAb1d2SpNluLRzPndX33G. Enjoy!

General Feedback

FestiveLems is a Christmas pack which consists of all levels except one from his other now obsolete Xmas 2019 pack. The rest are new and includes one bonus level, which was sent to those who participated in the Advent Challenge of one solve a day on Christmas Day after sending replays for the 24 main levels of the pack. A month later, WillLem included the bonus level in this pack, so FestiveLems is now 24 main levels + 1 bonus level.

Many of the levels in this pack are open-ended, some much more than others. This is especially true of the Santa levels, while most of the Satan levels tend to be far more limited in the amount of possible solutions, although many of the anything goes levels appear near the end of the rank. This is the type of design WillLem prefers over the one specific intended solution type that most level designers seem to use, myself included. So far, I've only made one open-ended level, and I'm hoping to go more towards in this direction, but it seems that I have a hard time making such levels, let alone interesting ones

In my experiences, I would rate this pack Easy-Medium, but then again the fact that I tend to be seen as a high ability level solver of the game certainly skews the difficulty towards the lower end of the difficulty instead of further up. Even then, I can still see how less experienced players can have a much harder time with these levels than I did. Granted, there are still some hard nuts here, and I even struggled with a couple, but honestly I went through the pack far faster than I thought I would. At the same time, I generally don't bother with talisman solutions, as if there's going to be a talisman, then might as well make it the solution. That's just me, though. However, I am confused about some other users who say they don't care about them, yet I still see posts from them that they went for them, which seems to indicate they do in fact care about them. I seem to be missing a part of the story here

Finally, I already said it on Discord, but I'll say it again here: WillLem's music here is ace! He did a great job with these compositions of Christmas tunes, and you can certainly tell that I was enjoying the music a lot in my LP, as I ended up singing from time to time to them I certainly like music a lot myself, but my talents lie in singing and music theory, rather than making music or being able to play an instrument, which I don't have. I really would like to learn to play an instrument, the piano in particular, although I only took a basic piano course during summer school the summer before my 4th year of college.

Santa Rank Feedback

As mentioned, these levels are mostly any-way-you-want ones. Even then, these were interesting levels rather than the dull Tame level type from ONML. There's certainly plenty of room to safely experiment and get creative with solutions on these levels.

Spoiler

Santa 1 - Merry Christmas Mr Lemming Nice 5-of-everything level to start off the pack. Many possible solutions, you take your pick and find any you like.

Santa 2 - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, BLITZEN Far more limited in the skillset, although there's still a couple of ways to go about the level. The hardest part is probably just finishing on time, so it's important to know when to release everyone else. I see that a save all is indeed possible here, and I think I know how that is achieved.

Santa 3 - Bashing Through the Snow Nice builders/bashers only level. Reminds me of WillLem's contest level that provided only these two skill types, although it was pretty much a remake of "And now, the end is near..." I realized later that I didn't have to spend the builders at the start like I did, but well, there's plenty of ways to go about the level, some of which may cause more problems than needed depending on if you waste more of one skill than the other too quickly. Still, a nice 3 lemmings level where you have to manage everyone carefully, as you need to save all.

Santa 4 - Tinsellation Although I solved this one quickly, I can still see this one being a hard one for less experienced players, especially given the 2-of-everything skillset. You can certainly run into a lot of dead ends if you're not careful with the skills here. Even then, I enjoyed this one, and it was a bit fun to see how you can still end up with a lot of skills left

Santa 5 - Elfabet Soup Nice homage to "Pea Soup" from the OL. The difference here is that you have way more skills available and time is far tighter. I think I know how the talisman would be obtained, I simply need to send more workers on ahead and release the crowd much earlier. The cloners will certainly be a huge help here for that.

Santa 6 - The Return of Sir Edmund Hilemming Nice 1-lemming level that pays homage to the Mount Everest level from the Xmas Lemmings games. I scaled the mountain and collected the glider pickup. To do so was the most challenging part, given the very limited skillset and the wonky terrain and numerous obstacles to get through.

Santa 7 - Say It Ain't Snow Just a short level demonstrating that two miners can cross one another without cancelling either one out and nothing else. Just fiddle around until you get the positions and timing right to make it work.

Santa 8 - Race Against the Race Against Cliches I didn't have a problem here at all, although I quickly realized that the answer wasn't to build to the OWW but to simply jump and climb it and then float down the other side. I think attempting to build would cause you to run out of time. If so, nicely done to enforce this solution described in the previous two sentences.

Santa 9 - We All Fall Down I Just an homage to the infamous WAFD levels which seems to be the type disliked by many here. I don't understand why the level's RR is locked, although maybe its sole purpose is to simply show that absolutely no changing the RR is necessary at all to get the level solved. Even then, it does drag the level out longer than it should, though thankfully there's time skip, but it's still a bit annoying since you still have to make sure you get in some digger assignments in the interim so that you don't lose anyone, as you need to save everyone.

Santa 10 - Stage Presents Struggled more than I should had, but only because I refused to play by activating CPM Besides, the level's title hints as to where the pickups are, so it shouldn't be hard to figure out their location. Not to mention at least hidden things aren't overdone here in this pack at all, so it's perfectly fine IMO. It's the fun of it, anyway, especially since I prefer to figure things out as I go along in the level. Quite a nice level here, although I was a dummy in that it took me a while to figure out I needed to clone the platformer in order to save up the builders I needed to get up to the final teleporter leading to the exit.

Santa 11 - Return to CindyLand Massive builderfest, although given the very wide skillset it's ultimately another anything goes level. Other than the tedium of the builder bridges, the only hard part is finishing on time, though I think I remember finishing with a lot of time to spare. The repeat, on the other hand...

Santa 12 - Jingle All The Way Very nice open-ended level to finish off the rank. Going for the save all proved harder than I thought it would, although here I used the builder wall at the very start. After that, I simply isolated a worker and prepared the rest of the path for the crowd before releasing. Rescuing the athletes at the end was a very nice touch

Satan Rank Feedback

Some of the levels here are a bit of a step up in difficulty, but the rank in general is harder than the Santa rank, save for the very open-ended ones that are near the end of the rank, which aren't that much harder. Even then, the variety in the challenges is great here!

Spoiler

Satan 1 - All For One Really nice bombers only puzzle here! You really need to think about who to bomb and who to let through and how to bomb. In particular, I especially love the part where you need to bomb a faller to release others to do some of the path, that was a stroke of genius Well done here, WillLem.

Satan 2 - Rebel Without A Claus Looks like I share Apjjm's feelings about this level, as this too was a favorite of mine! Very nice puzzle involving figuring out how to save the swimmer/glider before he gets into trouble with the firebox, meaning you need to prepare the route with a normal lemming before that happens. I do have a spare builder, though

Satan 3 - Marshmallow Land II I consider this level a huge step up in difficulty. Although it seems that you have plenty, the skillset in actuality turns out to be very limited and tight. The cloners do help to overcome some of the shortcomings, but you still have to really think about how to go about the level. I should had realized sooner that the way to get to the exit is through the cat face, as building all the way across the water uses more constructive skills than you're given. It's a nice puzzle if my solution is even the least bit intended, but yea, this was a hard one to play and figure out.

Satan 4 - Mary Christmas Nice remake of "Take a Running Jump..." from the OL, as well as using a part of "Mary Poppins' Land" design. This one was harder than I thought it would be, although it's certainly due to the very limited amount of builders. As a matter of fact, you're given the bare amount needed to solve the level. It took me a while to figure out where to place the first builder in order to make a splatform for the crowd with the "Mary Poppins' Land" structure. Here, I would reduce the precision, as it's still not very clear that the drop is safe with 4 builders. This is just me personally, though. However, I think it's exactly the way the structure is made in that level.

Satan 5 - The North Pole I was a dummy here for quite a while, as for some reason it didn't occur to me to make both preplaced lemmings go out to the right rather than one each in separate directions. You certainly won't have the necessary skills to make either the floater or glider turn back towards the exit if they fall out to the left. A little bit too tall IMO, although I certainly understand it's supposed to represent the actual physical distance to the North Pole. Also, I wonder how long it took for you to figure out where to put the stars so that the gliders continuously bounce back and forth without leaving out the right side of the level. Nice touch with saving the climber/glider hatch by destroying some terrain on the right side

Satan 6 - Icy What You Did There Somewhat challenging, although the level pretty much solves itself as long as you make sure to build on top of the inclines and simply platform along the bottom of the platforms and then bash once the gaps are sealed off so that you have the right distribution of lemmings going for the limited exits. This was quite a nice puzzle!

Satan 7 - Merry Christmas M. C. Escher Harder than I thought it would be, especially with figuring out how to manage both the normal lemming and neutral crowds and ensuring no one slips past the teleporters on the extreme edges on either side. I wonder if my solution is a bit of a backroute due to how I used a stacker to prevent anyone from using the bottom teleporter and to pretty much turn everyone back towards the left exit

Satan 8 - ...And A Happy New Year! Much harder repeat of Santa 1 due to a far more restricted skillset. A very fine puzzle here where it's very non-trivial to figure out the best and most efficient route. I think it's especially fun with X-of-everything levels and to see how much further the skillset can be reduced in the repeat and still be solvable. It definitely seems that 3 is the absolute minimum in this case, as I'm almost certain that a solution is completely out of reach with a 2-of-everything skillset.

Satan 9 - We All Fall Down Another repeat, except you only have builders and bashers. The solution is pretty obvious, just getting it to work and executing it can be hard.I likely could had saved up some builders maybe if I had built along the starting platform at a later time.

Satan 10 - The Icicle Lane Looks difficult, but it's really not thanks to the very low RR. It's more than enough time to seal off the gaps before anyone falls into oblivion, especially among 3 hatches. I spared a builder and a basher here

Satan 11 - Escape From CindyLand Another repeat of the CindyLand level from the previous rank, except the hatches and exit are in different locations, and the skillset is different, with a far more limited builder supply. In turn, the amounts of the other skills have increased, and you also get an extra 2 minutes. Once again, a huge builderfest and one in which I probably could had saved far more time had I done a bit more multitasking than is shown in the LP. It's certainly a good lesson in being economical with your builders, saving them wherever possible. Originally, I wanted to get the right entrance out without needing to send someone from the left entrance over via interrupting bashers/miners midstroke with a builder, but I think I would had maybe ran out of builders that way. Instead, one could send a lemming from the left entrance and use a digger/basher staircase.

Satan 12 - Running Home From Christmas Really nice and fun open-ended level to finish off the rank. Definitely reminds me of "Rendezvous at the Mountain" in that there's one entrance on each side and the exit is in about the middle. That reminds me, didn't Lemminas finish off with a similar level type to Mayhem 30? Except there's a lot of different choices of pickups to go for. Very easy to go for a save all here. Multi-tasking might not even be needed at all given the high time limit, although I didn't want to take the risk

Bonus Rank Feedback

Only one level here, which was the level WillLem sent on Christmas Day to those players who sent in replays for all 24 main levels.

Spoiler

Bonus 1 - A Christmas Carol Nice puzzle to finish off the pack. Took longer than I thought it would, and I wonder if I backrouted this level due to having a swimmer and shimmier leftover It was fun figuring out which lemmings to go for which exit. Should be clear that the non-climbers will need to use the left exit, while the climbers use the right exit. Figuring out how to save the glider was the hardest IMO.

Overall, a nice pack that I enjoyed quite a lot. Thanks for the pack, as well as the awesome Christmas tunes, WillLem!