Clam Spammer's Egyptian Tribe for Lemmings 3

[Clam]

...or CSEL3 for short 8)


EDIT: Now complete! Download


As you probably know, I've turned my attention to Lemmings 3 lately (aside from a few Xmas levels). So far I have about a dozen levels ready to go, and a few more under construction, with the aim being to make a full tribe of 30 levels. These will likely be more difficult overall than those in the original game (as you would expect from me )

I have put together a five level demo version, which you can download here. The files in this .zip replace the ones in the LEVELS folder, and play as levels 1 to 5 of the Egyptian tribe. The first two levels are at the lower end of the expected difficulty scale for the full tribe, and the last two are nearer the top end. In general, these levels are designed so that the bulk of the lemmings can be saved with relative ease, while saving the extras is considerably more difficult. (Keep in mind, though, that you only need to save one lemming to progress to the next level.)


If you don't have Lemmings 3, you can download it here (you'll probably need DOSBox to run it).

[Mindless]

Neat!  This gives me more incentive to improve my level editor (after university course work has slowed down ).

[Clam]

I guess you guys are due an update by now, so here it is:
23 levels done, and another two in a playable condition. So, about 80% complete.

Slow progress, but progress nonetheless

[Clam]

I've been busy working on this over the past week and now I'm up to 28 levels, plus two (the same two as before ) looking quite messy but still playable. Now all that's left is to tidy these up, put the levels in order and add a few finishing touches. It's almost done!

Does anyone have any feedback from the demo? Has anyone managed to save all 28 lemmings?
Has anyone even downloaded the demo to have a look? :sad:


I should also mention that I've found some very amusing glitches in the game...

[Clam]

The tribe is now complete! Download it here.

This zip contains all the files needed to play the 30 levels in place of the original ones. Included also is a text file with instructions on how to play the tribe, as well as details (including names ) for each level, and a couple of other things.

Hope you all enjoy it

[The Lemmings Encyclopedia]

What glitches did you find?

And can you post some screenshots from your levels?

[Clam]

Sure! Here's a few of my levels: (Please try to ignore the dual cursors on some of these pictures )

Level 2 - This was also the first level of the demo.


Level 6 - An easy-looking level with a mean twist...


Level 9 - Also in the demo, an epic battle with the two main enemies of the game.


Level 13 - A nasty little challenge. If you've done Shadow level 26 then this shouldn't be too difficult.




And some screenshots illustrating a few of the glitches:

Level 13 again with a lemming walking through a wall, and a lemming digging through steel.


Level 12 of the original Egyptian tribe with a lemming splatting on the bottom of the screen. When you tell a shimmying lemming to stop (using the Walk command) and it falls to the bottom of the screen, it lands just off the bottom and then falls again, or (as in this case) splats if it falls too far.


Level 30 of the original tribe with one lemming shown at three different times: (1) Splatting after falling a long way, (2) walking, having somehow survived, and then (3) splatting again from falling down the step.



There's a couple of glitches involving water that can't be used in any level. Lemmings can walk into shallow water without drowning, and swim in the air if there's no terrain at the edge of the water.
I've also seen lemmings walking on a blocker for a moment after the blocker has been placed, but I can't seem to reproduce this one right now.

These glitches work in the DOS version, I'm not sure about Amiga. Speaking of which, will my levels run in the Amiga version or is the file format different?

[Simon]

I'm currently in Level 8 with all lemmings saved so far using the DOS version, and I like the level pack very much. You've used a lot of fresh ideas the developers didn't even touch! The levels aren't longer than necessary for the core ideas. This is good because L3 discourages from using its action replays...

I'm looking forward to continue when I have the time.

-- Simon

[Clam]

Hey Simon, thanks for the feedback!

You've used a lot of fresh ideas the developers didn't even touch!

It does make me wonder what they could have done with another 3 games, or even just 90 more levels. I guess that's good for any potential level designers though - there's still plenty of uncharted territory.

[-H0ru5-]

I'll check them when I have more time... I'm courious what the mean twist can be on such a simple-looking level like the 6th ^^

Are they very strict on timing? I'm sure time limit can make them difficult but it's not obvious from the screenshots...

[Clam]

The time limits aren't too harsh for the most part. Just as long as you don't mess around too long, that should be good enough for most levels. You certainly won't get 7 minutes for a small level like you did in the original game

[Dullstar]

That's even possible?
I think I'll download this!

Anyways, if there's an editor for this game out there (I don't know if the editor that Mindless mentioned has been released ), I'd like a download link.

[geoo]

By now I played through about the first half of your levels, and solved some of them, while I skipped a few others for now.
Just posting it at this state because I suppose I won't have time to continue too soon with it.

The first few levels took me more time than they should have, because I had to get into the engine first, trying and seeing what's possible and what not. Perhaps I should have completed the original game first before trying your levels. However, once getting thus far, they were not that difficult after all.
One thing enjoyable is that there's no 1-pixel-precision, but 8-pixel-precision, a lot easier to handle. Still it was quite some fiddling at times getting used to the engine.
I like the learning curve of your levels, each one showing off something new.

Notes on the individual levels (gaps for the levels I skipped):

1: Careful now...
It did take long because I had to find out various stuff about the engine first, but in hindsight it's a rather trivial one.

2: Don't look down!
Considering there were two high falls, but only one floater, the main trick stood out somewhat. Figuring out that you could use the vacuum cap also as substitute for the S2 shimmier took more time to me yet.

3: The Cliffs
At very first glance it looked like a boring trailblazer level, but far from it! Had to get used to quickly releasing a skill packet, and the exact circumstances for digging above one's head.
One thing that bothered me, also prevalent in the previous level, is that the bomber skill is placed exactly at the wrong side while its placement is obvious, making it more fiddling than necessary.


5: Bellyflop!
This one again was comparatively easy.

6: Hurry up!
At first it looked like utter triviality or backroute, until I noticed the time problem, and upon closer inspection one lemming coming right out of the trapdoor when the time went up. Then I counted. o_O And instead of having the time run out, nuked.

7: The princess' dungeon
In my first attempt I was about 2 second short of time. I suspect there are more elegant ways to get up out of the pit.

8: Circular logic
Rather complex looking, but in the end the intuitive solution is the correct one.

9: Kame...hame...HAAAAAA!!!!!!
This was a relaxing one fun playing.


11: Work in progress
Interesting idea though it wasn't hidden too well.

12: Touchdown!
Never used the grenade before, so a nice introduction. Time limit requires for a second try though.


14: Interplanetary Mission
The first really complex level. But complexity frequently means backroutes. It still takes quite some planning to find a solution.


16: Man the torpedo!
This is an interesting trick, and the level is designed well around it. Took a few tries to get the timing, but that's unavoidable. At least there was plenty of timing leeway due to the surplus of builders and suction cups.

[...]
Anyways, if there's an editor for this game out there (I don't know if the editor that Mindless mentioned has been released ), I'd like a download link.

http://www.henriwatson.com/sites/zach/lemmings/index.php?action=search;advanced
(Or more precisely: http://www.henriwatson.com/sites/zach/lemmings/index.php?topic=324.0)

[Clam]

Wow, I had no idea you could record and watch replays so easily with this game... Anyway, all your solutions look about right so far, except #14 :sad:. Since these levels are (I hope) more difficult than the originals, I have assumed that you've played through the original game before trying these levels. It's evident from these replays that you are a bit rusty on Lemmings 3, since you've forgotten one very useful trick in lemming management (and also from your comments on level 1). Actually, I'm surprised how well you've done without it...

SPOILER:
You can jump over a blocker!
/SPOILER




Now, in response to your comments:

Figuring out that you could use the vacuum cap also as substitute for the S2 shimmier took more time to me yet.

Vacuum cap? S2 shimmier? I'm afraid I have no idea what you meant here.

One thing that bothered me, also prevalent in the previous level, is that the bomber skill is placed exactly at the wrong side while its placement is obvious, making it more fiddling than necessary.

Fair call, but largely mitigated by the aforementioned trick.

Then I counted. o_O And instead of having the time run out, nuked.

As far as I can tell, there's no need to nuke here, as long as you're aware that...
SPOILER again, just in case:
only 10 lemmings will fall from trapdoors in any level, unless some die. You did correctly count to 10, didn't you?
/SPOILER

[geoo]

Actually, I haven't forgotten about that trick for lemmings management: I never knew about it. I didn't even try because the lemmings' jump height seemed way too low for that.
Well, I sort of solved that problem by planning ahead placing multiple blocker next to each other.

Vacuum cap? S2 shimmier? I'm afraid I have no idea what you meant here.

Oh well, 2 typos in a word with 3 letters...Initially I thought the suction cups could only be used to climb vertical walls. I didn't notice that this was a different kind of suction cups in this level which allow for climbing along the ceiling (which is what the Lemmings 2 shimmier does. Why I abbreviated Lemmings 2 with S2...don't ask me. x_x)

In regards to nuking in level 6, I never knew the precise amount of lemmings, I just knew that it were significantly less than I had. I noticed a couple of times that right before the timeout, a lemming came out of the trap door. Probably every time I noticed that, I had killed a lemming previously...