Festival Millas 2022 - Release Thread

[GigaLem]

Guess who miss the christmas deadline the first time in years?
Unforeseen circumstances and a very stressful time made it hard to finish this pack but hey, it's finally done. Please note I might take a mental break unless I feel a creative itch in my mind, I need to reassess and refresh myself, I want to get Millas done this year so if im not making a level for FM23 or FM19 Overhaul, I'm making a level for Millas and I'm focused on redoing a lot of levels and filling in spots that needed filling up a long time ago. With that being said without further ado

The Fifth of the Festival Millas packs, with this one have Space and IIDX Casthour influences This includes 35 Levels (and a credits level), 3 New Sets, Set updates and music to go with it.



Jupiter is the first and easiest of the 5 Ranks, as you trek through the early game. This is the first pack to feature remakes of my older levels such as this one here.
"A Spectacle as cold as the Night"



Past Jupiter is Saturn with it's rings, like the winter weather it's rings are made of rocks and ice. So expect things to pick up
"Have them exit first"



It's a planet that people have to pronounce differently because of how it sounds unaltered so if channels say it like "Ur-run-us" or "u-ran-oose" you now why. The middle rank where it's harder than most, but easier than the rest.
"Metal in our Affairs"



The fourth in outer space, named after the gods of the sea. Dear Neptune the punch pulling is off for this the further you are in the Galaxy, the colder it gets
"Chipping Address"



Named after Hades, Pluto is here (and I never used the Song Pluto or Pluto Relinquish dang it!) this is where all the brutal levels go and some are levels either I completed or Armani Completed
"The Ominous Plane"

Credits

Spoiler

Project Leader
GigaLem

Level Design
GigaLem

Extra Level design
Armani
Nessy
Colorful Arty

Original Sets and Menu Design
Plom510

Set concepts
Plom510
GigaLem
Kreg

Set Feedback
Ichotolot
Kaywhyn

Original FP2 Graphics
Sabrina DiDuro
Rafael Ventura
Picsandpixels
Daniel Taylor
Tim Jonsson
Lapper

Milla (Character) and Freedom Planet Series
Sabrina DiDuro
Ziyo Ling
Galaxy Trail

NeoLemmix
Namida
Nepster

Special Thanks
Anonymous Korean Architects for Tsynbuna Gardens Inspiration
My Closest Friends for helping me through 2022
You For Playing

Music Credit

Spoiler

Bemani
DJ Taka
Nhato
Nekomata Master
Wall5
Kiyommy Kumano
Seiya Murai
Camellia
Yooh
Qwispy Joybox
TIME CAPSULE Lab.
Twin AmadeuS
Yoshimi Kudo
Tei Sena
Yasuhisa Watanabe
BlackY

Nintendo & Others
Daiki Kasho
Hidenori Shoji
Yuka Tsujiyoko
Yoshie Arakawa

Downloads
The Level Pack(Extract into your levels folder)
The Graphic Sets(extract in your neolemmix folder)
Music(Extract in the Music Folder)

[kaywhyn]

Congrats on the release! Onto my to LP list it goes, though it won't be for a while, as I still need to go through your FM2020 and FM2021 packs first Thanks for the credits, and also being prompt on fixing Jupiter 4 to give it an assigned music track

[GigaLem]

Did a quick hot fix to add a missing credit, thanks to piece grouping I didn't need to update the sets.
Link is the same, just with the hotfix applied

[ericderkovits]

I played and finished the pack including any Talismans. Wow some hard levels here, especially the rank finishers.

By the way the sound file IceSpike is missing for the Ice buttons used in Neptune 1 Crevasse Crossing.

[jkapp76]

Are Millas supposed to have their own graphics like Lemminas? Just asking because mine show up as standard lemmings.

[GigaLem]

Are Millas supposed to have their own graphics like Lemminas? Just asking because mine show up as standard lemmings.

Yes they are, did you download the sets on the first post?

[jkapp76]

Yes, I got the Milla graphics working.

[jkapp76]

Do you have any plans to make high-res Millas?

I've been experimenting with some ideas.

[GigaLem]

Do you have any plans to make high-res Millas?

I've been experimenting with some ideas.

Given how my mood hasn't been fully there this past month, I don't plan to at this current moment, I haven't had time to figure out the hi res stuff and admittedly I don't find it necessary

[kaywhyn]

Hello GigaLem,

I have played and solved all of the levels of the pack. My replays are attached. Also, link to my LP: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbp2m4KlFpJt9rSz7I7zTJl3t6K-jQmhl. Enjoy!

General Feedback

As mentioned on the menu title, Festival Millas 2022 is the fifth volume of the FM level pack series. It is another Christmas holiday-themed pack by GigaLem and Plom510, although the latter didn't make any levels for the pack but instead did the graphical designs and other behind-the-scenes work for the pack. Instead, except for 2 Pluto levels, all levels are by GigaLem. Some of these levels originally came from very early Christmas packs of GigaLem's, from the 2017 pack or earlier and were remade for inclusion in FM2022. I can't quite remember, but I believe some of those were ones I suggested to GigaLem to do a remake, as sometime ago I combed through all of GigaLem's packs and found plenty that would be great for a potential remake. Happy to see some of them in this pack! Most of the later ones did feel harder than where they originally came from, but as usual I love a challenge in Lemmings!

The rank names are all the gas giant planets of our Solar System. Pluto is the final rank but is the exception as it's not a gas giant. In addition, as of 2007 it is no longer classified as a planet but rather a "dwarf planet." Hence, there are now only 8 planets in our Solar System instead of 9.

Also happy to see that I'm in the credits even though I didn't really contribute much for the pack! Always nice to be honored this way in writing

Jupiter Rank Feedback

The first rank of the pack, these were pretty nice levels overall. Even at the very end of the rank it doesn't get very difficult. However, there are some that suffer from repeated skill assignments being a little on the excessive side and hence are a bit of a personal dislike for me. 10 isn't that excessive, but it's kind of pushing it a bit. In some cases, I can understand why the level wouldn't work if they were preassigned the athlete skills at the start, but if it can work, then that's preferable so that the player doesn't have to assign those skills.

Spoiler

Jupiter 1 - Your Mission Starts Now! Nice level to start the pack and to ease the player back into another FM pack.

Jupiter 2 - A Surprise Entrance Another good level, though this one can definitely work with preassigned climbers, as here I found the repeated skill assignments a little on the excessive side even though it's only 10 of each

Jupiter 3 - Playing Sports in the Alley A big step up in difficulty from the previous two levels, though the hardest part here is just figuring out how to get the pickups. Once you do manage to get them, the rest is easy.

Jupiter 5 - Meeting Order Other than getting the top entrance down safely looking a bit strange because it seemed the fire trap would kill, this solution seems to either be a minor backroute or acceptable.

Jupiter 6 - Pier to Peer Connection Great level! I really love how the swimmers take the bottom exit while the top entrance takes the top exit. Again, the shimmier assignments are a bit excessive for my liking, though the shimmier skill is one of my absolute favorites!

Jupiter 7 - Looking out for the little ones Nice level to finish off the rank, even if it's not too difficult. The only thing here is that for some reason I thought the square block from which you build on top of the OWW was steel Also builder/miner combo is required. My only critique here is why the middle top area with the building and cloning is pixel precise when it has no reason to be. At least allow a few pixels of leeway in the skill placement! Pixel perfect assignments seem to be a prominent thing in your packs, and they've been seen as early as your 2015 Holiday pack I remember  

Saturn Rank Feedback

The 2nd rank and the next planet after Jupiter in the Solar System, these levels are much harder than the Jupiter levels. It already starts getting difficult in this rank! The justification here is that because there are less levels per rank, the difficulty climbs faster than the previous pack in the series did.

Spoiler

Saturn 1 - Exploring the Emporium Another nice rank starter. Care must be taken to mine the crowd out first before hitting the rest of the switches up at the top. My main criticism here are the light objects that really look like they are dangerous and would kill the Millas and also the precision after the miner finishes. It's almost splat height when falling from above, and that all depends on when you start the miner. It seems you have to get very close to hitting the steel in order to make the fall survivable. Again, I would reduce the precision!

Saturn 2 - Assess the Situation Hard one. It was not easy to figure out how to do the right side of the level while not running out of skills. Same thing with figuring out how to keep the crowd safe without spending more resources than is necessary. Another builder/miner combo level

Saturn 3 - The Big Ms. Lake Great level that isn't really hard but I was here longer than I should had been. I kept having a Milla catch up before the bridge work was done when it was just a simple maxing out the RR later. I kept thinking it was the first Milla to hit the switch at the far right of the level, when it fact it was the miner who went to get the switch at the bottom pit.

Saturn 4 - Have them exit first! Another great level! It would seem that the sliders use the left exit while the rest use the right exit, but if you time it right you can mix and match for the exits. I haven't checked for the traps, but seems that the triggers aren't huge. I didn't realize you can jump past them safely.

Saturn 5 - Hall of the Sleep Walkers I would consider this the hardest level of the rank. However, the puzzle element of the zombies being your temporary allies and how to get them to disarm the traps for you to make a safe path to the exit is excellent! It was pretty hard to figure out, and I thought that you can't get the zombies trapped at the bottom in the middle area, when in fact you do, because you can build/clone to get them back out later but must do so at a time when the Milla won't get infected, as zombies can't be assigned skills.

Saturn 6 - Feeling the Flow Excellent level and one I consider LOTY nomination worthy! As you start with no skills, I'm wondering if GigaLem got some inspiration from a LPO2 level for this one. There's also at least one other level from an early GigaLem holiday pack where you don't start with skills. Lasering the crowd free from the right side at the bottom is especially clever. Well done here, GigaLem.

Saturn 7 - The Orange Box Yet another great level I consider LOTY nomination worthy! Plenty of great red herrings here. I thought that the only way down safely for the crowd is through the right side, when in fact you need to get them out and down the left side despite a splat pad waiting at the bottom. Even after I have figured that out, it took me a while to see how to use the digger to get the blocker free. As usual, the only way to do so is to block at a spot so that the others immediately turn around on the blocker before landing on the staircase. The rest is simple after that.

Uranus Rank Feedback

The levels here continue to be hard, though they still don't quite reach their highest point in difficulty. They're still high up in the difficulty, though!

Spoiler

Uranus 1 - Chump Rope I didn't at the time, but later on I did remember this level from GigaLems. Definitely a lot harder in this remake here. Seems there are solutions that either get rid of the zombies completely or you rely on good timing to avoid them. Another good rank starter.

Uranus 2 - Another Time, Another Place Ok level that isn't difficult because it's pretty obvious that you need to extend the basher with the platformers. This seems to be another trick that's seen in at least one level of each FM pack, from what I remember. What is difficult is setting it up in 3 different areas. This is a nice graphical set, but I would do something about the flickering animation on the transparent pieces, as I'm sure it can easily confused players on thinking it's a background object when it fact it's terrain. Similarly, for some reason I thought the Millas would drown on the far left of the level, which I guess can be easy to deduce since you need a stacker for each of the 3 areas between the digits of the year. You also put lights in the way on Saturn 1, which I thought were solid but were in fact background decorative objects. Yes, they do add to making the level look great, but they should be more out of the way so they don't interfere with the level and don't lead to confusion. Remember, you can't count on players relying on CPM, especially new ones. My non-use of it during LPs is intentional, so yes, I brought that on myself, but you don't want things like that to throw people off. These things should be clear and if they aren't then decorative stuff should be placed out of the main playing area.

Uranus 3 - Follow the Light Likely a bad backroute here. There is some timing needed but it's not too difficult to make.

Uranus 4 - One Shot Saves All Difficult one but a good one even though I severely backrouted the level For some reason figuring out to laser the first OWW on both sides to get the others to the exit was hard for me, though that is true for the left side of it. It was pretty clear that you need to lasr and clone between the OWWs.

Uranus 5 - Don't make a Fountain out of a Molehill Looks difficult but is easier than it looks. The hardest part is getting up to the exit with just a miner and platformers, but it's not hard if you know about cancelling a miner midstroke so that you can use the nook to start platforming to be able to get up to the exit. Nice use of bashers to hit steel to contain both entrances.

Uranus 6 - Metal in our affairs Great level which isn't too difficult but another which I was on longer than I needed to be because of how I had trouble with figuring out how to get someone on the other side of the one-way force field to make the splatform for the climbers. That's what the jumper is for, and another part that I completely glossed over is platforming in such a way that only the climbers get over and not the non-climbers, as it is climber friendly. Usually these getting the specialists to the correct exits of GigaLem's are difficult, but as mentioned this one isn't that bad at all.

Uranus 7 - Hydro-Convergence Another nice rank finisher. Great example of a level that looks intimidating but is easier than it looks. In particular, it should be pretty obvious where the crowds need to go due to all the fire traps blocking out most of the other routes. Nice level where the swimmers need to go around to get to the exit on the right side, while the climbers need to reach the exit from the left side.   

Neptune Rank Feedback

The penultimate rank of the pack, even harder levels still

Spoiler

Neptune 1 - Crevasse Crossing Another extending a basher level to release the crowd and to reach the exit. I kind of like the homage to Crazy 7 - And now, the end is near... type of solution here. Plenty of things to watch out for here, such as keeping the worker and everyone safe even after releasing them. I originally tried coming from the left side with the basher, but later on I switched it doing it from the right side. Turns out that both ways work, but if doing it the former way then care must be taken to make a turnaround point for the crowd beforehand. The platformer placement is a bit frustrating here, as due to where the button is it's not clear where the terrain is that would cause the platformer to stop her work. The level's appearance is great, though!

Neptune 2 - Frost and Flow I definitely remember this one from the 2017 Cancelled pack. Seems a bit harder for the remake here, but a pretty good one where it's all due to timing and that you do not contain the crowd at any point whatsoever. Instead, they are moving the entire level. For some reason I don't think I remember the OWWs near the exit, if they were part of the original design. Yea, it's been a while since I've seen the originals from the packs they came from.

Neptune 3 - Packed like a Meteorite Hard one but a pretty good one. I especially like the puzzle element in the top left of bombing to avoid the splat pad. Here, I originally had the slider shimmy to avoid the splat pad, when in fact you're supposed to slide down and then jump. Totally forgot about the wall jumping with sliders Then that allows you a shimmier to get into the middle area to hit the button and hence allows you to use all builders elsewhere. Also it's complete trial and error to find the correct RR so that they all bunch up as one Milla for two separate groups. This is necessary or you're going to lose too many to the traps and not pass.

Neptune 4 - Pillar Instinct Somewhat of a breather, though I completely overlooked the fact all of them are pre-assigned climbers. This therefore means you don't need to destroy terrain around the same height as the others, as they can climb over and get past obstacles this way. Once I remembered that, then it wasn't too bad. Probably a minor backroute, though it's probably an acceptable solution. I really like the design here, it looks great!

Neptune 5 - If only they had another way! Hard one which I unfortunately raged at because I had to constantly readjust the positions of the builder in order to get the miner to go through all of them to mine the crowd out. Seems I missed somewhat of an easier solution that doesn't require the builder/miner combo. I still stand by how this combo is kind of overdone in the FM packs by this point, as I remember there being at least one of these in every FM pack I've played so far, starting with FM2018 that begins the series. Needless to say, this, along with extending the basher, seem to be signature levels of GigaLem's. Don't get me wrong, I like these, but there's definitely far better level ideas as well! These two I've mentioned aren't anything new to me and ones I've seen way too many times by now. The former is very frustrating here because there's no visual indicators to tell you where to place the builders. Even after getting all them right, I still needed to find the right miner placement. The lack of visual indicators tells me that the builder/miner combo isn't intended here, but at the same time it might be. I'm not certain. I definitely like the whole laser stuff on the left side of the level, even though I missed the more obvious digger to get them all down to the exit safely

Neptune 6 - Chipping Address Should be a very bad backroute. I don't think it's supposed to be this easy!

Neptune 7 - It's The name of This game! Wow, super hard level to finish off the rank! Skills might seem very plentiful even with the pickups you collect, but they all run out surprisingly fast. Along with the huge width of the level, it's not easy to figure out the most efficient way through the level. I originally tried going for all teleporters, but I ultimately just skipped one entirely. There are solutions that all all 3 pairs, but the middle one requires good timing. I was definitely relieved when I finally got the level solved after a really long session. It was a nice challenge and all, but it was definitely not fun to have to redo many of the parts over and over because I was being wasteful or timing didn't work out for me

Pluto Rank Feedback

The final rank of the pack, the hardest levels are all here. Indeed, I found the entire rank to be slow going and Pluto 3 to be the only real breather of the rank.

Spoiler

Pluto 1 - The Galleria of Foolery The only level of the pack that needed more than one video to get solved, but that's because I ended up stopping too soon before I realized I just needed to tweak one thing at the beginning for the left entrance to make it a solve Quite a hard level to start the rank here. In many of my early attempts, I would essentially have the solution down but because of timing issues that didn't work out at all I would always end up 1 under the requirement. I'm also now convinced that it's not possible to release both blockers with a laser even if they're placed as close as possible to each other. Despite being a difficult level, this is still a pretty good one.

Pluto 2 - Social Neutral Another difficult one which I unfortunately raged at because one of the regular Millas kept catching up too soon to the disarmers and hence I kept losing at least one Milla to the traps before they were disarmed. In my success, I just tweaked which Milla went further on ahead to the right and platformed at the extreme edges and apparently that is enough to make the timing correct. However, I did see another solution where timing can be avoided altogether, so really it's another level that I made far harder on myself than it needed to be

Pluto 3 - Shelf Esteem Huge breather of the rank and can definitely swap with one of the two previous levels, as they're much harder than this one. Then again, my solution is probably a slight backroute.

Pluto 4 - Vukovan Monument Back to hard with this one, though my solution appears to be a bad backroute. Mine has everyone go through the top, though apparently it's possible to go through the bottom as well. I simply didn't see how to effectively use the cloners to make-up for skills being in short supply. I think the bigger problem is the save requirement being a bit lenient, as I would still pass even if I didn't release both neutrals. The solution also nearly fails on the up OWW if that ended up being splat height after the fencer was done.

I ran into the problem of missing pieces, and I originally was going to edit this part of the video out, but I later changed my mind and decided to leave it in. I didn't feel like re-recording that part of the video and then splitting it in Windows 10 photo, as I'm not huge on video editing and am not too good at it myself. I fixed the issue by redownloading the graphic sets from this level pack topic and extracted to my NL directory, but then I didn't verbally explain what I did after I resumed recording after taking it off pause. Downloading the missing style from the style manager didn't work. So, now you know how I fixed the problem

Pluto 5 - The Ominous Plane I believe this is an unfinished level, either from Colorful Arty or Nessy. Being an incomplete level that was collaborated on, I think backroutes are expected, and I believe mine is a slight or minor one. I still didn't find this easy by any means! Pretty interesting arrangement here, even if it looks a bit detached at times which would indicate the somewhat "incomplete" nature of the level that didn't get finished by the original author.

Pluto 6 - The Last Steam Spring The only level of the pack where Armani is credited, as he told me on Discord he came up with the solution after GigaLem put the design together. I would consider this the hardest level of the entire pack but a pretty good challenge, even if I made a mess of some parts here. Armani told me that I handled the splat fall differently, but other than that it's essentially intended. Also that miner before platforming to catch the crowd from above isn't needed, as I could had simply platformed first, block to turn the others towards the exit, and have one of the Millas of the crowd do the mining to reach the exit

Pluto 7 - Emergency Protocol As has been the case for all the past final levels of the FM packs before this one, another very intimidating looking level due to the very tall level size but is somewhat easier than it looks. Like with most other levels that are open-ended in the pack, the skills here also run out pretty quickly. Same thing with the losses, where the bombers and blockers together add up very fast! I likely could had saved 1 extra, but I didn't have any extra skills to allow me to do so. That one would had been the one who got trapped between the one-way force field and the stack on the left side. A really great level to finish off the pack, even if it suffers from the problem of needing to redo plenty of parts if you've been wasteful with the skills.

Pluto 8 - Mission Complete Self-solving credits level, as has been the case for all the past FM packs being the one after the final main level.   

With this, many thanks to GigaLem for this pack, as except for the few levels that I sadly raged on due to finding a really fiddly and overcomplicated solution, I really enjoyed it from start to finish. Definitely harder than the previous pack in the series, FM2021. So, I would rate this pack Medium - Very Hard difficulty-wise.

Now all caught up again and just one pack currently in the series until FM2024 gets released, which I'm thinking won't be released at the end of this year but at the beginning of next year. However, I think I'll be completely caught up before that happens, as I will probably give 3-4 months before I take on FM2023. Definitely looking forward to it and hopefully some of the points I critiqued here won't be as frequent there!

Right, onto the next pack to round off the month of March and then I'm ready to send in my nominations for LOTY2023