Dos Lemmings Clone for Windows

[Mindless]

The minimap lemmings are displayed incorrectly on some levels...

[EricLang]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll answer this week.
Actually the animated exit has some black pixels, which erase the pixels "below".

[EricLang]

If anyone could provide me of the printscreens after succesfully finishing mayhem30/havoc20 (of the original games of course) I would be very glad.
I have the texts but not the layout.
And does anyone know if the original game is starting at fun1/tame1 again after the congratulations?

BTW: all mistakes (exit, minimap) are solved, but not uploaded yet. I'll let you know here...

[EricLang]

Uploaded 2 beta versions (0.4.0.0).
I hope all mistakes are gone.

@Mindless: your printscreens were not very instructive too small.
@Geo:  I'll make a list of user-definable settings and try to make a screen for it. the "F4" screen is a good idea. The 640x350 screens are shown stretched but with the same width/height scale as the originals.
@Covox: I didn't know this scroll behaviour. I'll check...

2006-09-18:
Ä Removed rendering bug. now objects are all erased before drawing. (this fixes a object-nooverwrite drawing bug)
Ä Corrected minimap drawing (removed too much stretching: hscale is now 1/16, vscale 1/20, so the right side is not very precise but that's also the case in dos-lemmings) (EDIT: check mayhem30)
Ä Changed: fastforward will not work when paused. when FF and a pause is made, FF is turned off. when hyperspeed is turned on, fastforward is turned off.
Ä Changed LevelCodeScreen. Good code results in autoclosing the screen after a second. Wrong codes can be corrected. (this is not the same as in dos)
Ä included (beta) version information in menuscreen. I use quite random alpha/beta version numbers, until finally there will be a real version 1.0.
Ä gradientbridge colors are drawn now also in the animation.

[geoo]

The main screen and the screens before and after playing levels look a little screwed for me as they are resized to full width and I use a resolution of 1152*864

Because those screens are 640x350 in DOS, there is pretty much no supported resolution in modern machines that would have the same aspect ratios, and so some amount of stretching will occur on any display resolution.  I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "a little screwed" but I don't see how 1152x864 will fare any differently from other resolutions.

At 1280x960 it looks quite a bit better, at least I cannot see any bad-looking parts on first glance. With a little screwed I mean that some pixels from the original game appear to be twice as thick as the other ones, e.g. the F from F4, the upper bar of it is two pixels thick, and the second one only one pixel.

Ah, and what code system (other than [Stage][Number]) is currently used?

[EricLang]

I generated a code for each level. So there is no system (yet).
But if you finish a level succesfully you can see this codes...

[ccexplore]

With a little screwed I mean that some pixels from the original game appear to be twice as thick as the other ones, e.g. the F from F4, the upper bar of it is two pixels thick, and the second one only one pixel.

Yep, that's the unavoidable issue of having to do non-integer stretching on the vertical dimension due to the odd 350 of the original.  Bitmap fonts (which is basically what the text on those screens amounts to) just don't scale well.

One possibility perhaps is if Eric allows the user-settable option of not doing non-integer stretching.  This means the image will look compressed compared with the original, but won't have the issues you observe with the text.

[nobody]

Are we stilll going to be able to use Rating+Number for the level codes after you implement the new codes? I like that system a lot better than having to write down a bunch of new codes.

[ccexplore]

Are we stilll going to be able to use Rating+Number for the level codes after you implement the new codes? I like that system a lot better than having to write down a bunch of new codes.

Well, the point of the level code system is that you're not supposed to be able to get past a level you haven't solved yet, so the current interim system in the clone is basically a cheat.

And you don't have to write down anything yourself--the game's over a decade old and pretty well-known; a quick search on Google should yield you the full list of level codes in an eyeblink.  (I'm assuming that Eric's clone will use the same level code system as the original game.)

[nobody]

I've solved all the levels. Hundreds of times. I shouldn't have to put in a long and annoying password to get to the level I want to play.

[ccexplore]

I've solved all the levels. Hundreds of times. I shouldn't have to put in a long and annoying password to get to the level I want to play.

"Mayhem30" is only two letters shorter than the 10-letter level code.̆ So maybe annoying, but long?̆ ̆Not really. :winktounge:

Moreover, you can always play the levels in the playtest mode of the Lemmix editor.  I think the purpose of the DOS Clone should be to replicate the experience of the game.  The sort of cheat you describe belongs more in an editor/playtester setting.

[Mindless]

@Mindless: your printscreens were not very instructive too small.

Click 'em... they're thumbnails. 

[Mindless]

(edited: my ziptrial is over )

Grab a copy of 7-Zip.  It's free, open-source and can create zip or (the superior) 7z archives.

[nobody]

I've solved all the levels. Hundreds of times. I shouldn't have to put in a long and annoying password to get to the level I want to play.

"Mayhem30" is only two letters shorter than the 10-letter level code.  So maybe annoying, but long?   Not really. :winktounge:

Well it does take a longer to type out a bunch of random letters like "GINLNNIIJL" than an actual word like mayhem30. Not to mention the time it takes to look up the password.

Moreover, you can always play the levels in the playtest mode of the Lemmix editor.  I think the purpose of the DOS Clone should be to replicate the experience of the game.  The sort of cheat you describe belongs more in an editor/playtester setting.

The Lemmix editor doesn't have sound. (Unless he added it to a later version?) If the DOS clone has stuff like save states, fast forward, jump ten seconds etc. there's no reason there shouldn't be easier passwords, since you can't really argue that its trying to replicate the original experience.

[EricLang]

I have not yet made my mind up about the levelcodes. I think I want to have the original codes built in by default. In cheatmode we could use the "mayhem30" levelcodes. I even could save this cheatmode state in a config-file, because I agree with nobody that typing codes is not fun. This would not interfere with a remake for example, because that would have another cheatcode. Well you see, I'm not finished thinking on this.

The gameplayer of the Level Editor is "behind" now, but will be updated in the near future (with music etc.).

@Mindless: thanks for the tips (what are these dating girls doing above the lemmings screenshot, when I click on your thumbnail?)
I'll have a look at the zip-program.

@Geo: I could change the method of stretching, but mostly it only gets worse.

The Lemmix editor doesn't have sound. (Unless he added it to a later version?) If the DOS clone has stuff like save states, fast forward, jump ten seconds etc. there's no reason there shouldn't be easier passwords, since you can't really argue that its trying to replicate the original experience.

Well actually it is. But I think some added features do not harm the experience, although messing around with time is damaging the "slowness" of the original.