Lemmings Plus V - Development Topic

[namida]

Lemmings Plus V

Lemmings Plus V has now been released; see the release topic.

Lemmings Plus V is an in-development continuation of the main-series Lemmings Plus games, developed (as usual) for NeoLemmix. It will consist of five ranks - Blissful, Touchy, Edgy, Unruly and Outrageous - consisting of 15 levels each. As usual for a main-series Lemmings Plus game, Lemmings Plus V is also bringing four new graphic sets.

Difficulty-wise, Lemmings Plus V is shaping up to be perhaps the hardest Lemmings Plus game yet. That's not to say it's on the same level as Lemmings Reunion or NepsterLems - I doubt I could ever achieve that - but it is saying that yes, it's going to be harder than Lemmings Plus III was.

As it is unclear when the new NeoLemmix version will be ready, Lemmings Plus V is being developed for the current stable version of NeoLemmix; however, changes being made for the experimental version are being taken into account, and it is very likely it will convert much more smoothly to the new version than the older Lemmings Plus packs will.


Graphic Sets

Lemmings Plus V brings four all-new graphic sets to the table - and they're far from just palette swaps of one or two central ideas; each graphic set is unique in some way (at least in comparison to each other).

Abstract
The Abstract graphic set is reminiscient of Lemmings Plus II's Psychedelic set, though much easier on the eyes. The pieces don't represent any specific objects; they're simply shapes in various colors. In contrast to the colorful terrain, the objects are very dull-colored, which in their own way makes them stand out. The Abstract set is almost exclusively a straight-edged graphic set.

Preview (click to show/hide)

Honeycomb
The Honeycomb graphic set is best described as a graphic set half way between straight edged and rough edged. The primary terrain is hexagonal honeycombs, with some less-common pieces of both the straight and rough-edged variety. Despite the simplicity of the graphic set, some very interesting level concepts have come out of it. Oh, and who doesn't love bees harmlessly flying around in the background... or in some cases, trying to sting you?

Preview (click to show/hide)

Mineshaft
The Mineshaft graphic set is basically the "generic, classic style" graphic set of Lemmings Plus V. Featuring primarily rough-edged terrain, but with plenty of straight-edge to go around too, the Mineshaft set's strength is in terrain versatility; objects tend to be few and far between.

Preview (click to show/hide)

Machine
The Machine set is unique not just among Lemmings Plus V's graphic sets, but perhaps among all graphic sets, in that it is primarily steel. Aside from the occasional bit of rusty machinery, Machine levels tend to be entirely steel - a concept that has seen use before on the scale of individual levels, but not on the scale of an entire graphic set. Expect a high focus on constructive and permanent skills here, and beware of preassigned permanents.

Preview (click to show/hide)

Ranks

Blissful
As expected, things start off easy-ish. There's levels to introduce the graphic sets, a few levels to refresh the player on some key concepts, and some fairly simple puzzles. However, don't expect much of the old X-of-everything kind of level - there's a few, but they're the minority here, in favor of simple puzzles.

Touchy
The difficulty starts to ramp up quite quickly here. Still, the levels should be well within most players' ability to solve, given some effort.

Edgy
This is where it gets really serious. The puzzles tend to get quite hard around here, though for the most part remain fairly short.

Unruly
The puzzles here not only keep getting harder, but in some cases start getting longer as well. And a couple of new tricks show up...

Outrageous
At this point, we're talking "harder than Fierce". These levels will be, for the most part, brutal. I'm nice enough to give you a couple of breathers, though. Sort of.


Demo Downloads

All demos are designed to be played on the stable version of NeoLemmix; ie: V1.43n-F should be used. However, they should work on the V1.47n experimental as well.

Demo 1 Download: http://www.neolemmix.com/old/mypacks/LemmingsPlusVDemo1.nxp
Contains 9 levels.

Demo 2 Download: http://www.neolemmix.com/old/mypacks/LemmingsPlusVDemo2.nxp
Contains 5 levels.

[namida]

Progress:

Here's what's left to do before the first release will be ready:

Removing last few known backroutes
Verifying all solutions for V1.43n-F
Verifying all solutions for V1.47n
Possible reordering of some levels
Selecting talismans and verifying their solutions for V1.43n-F and V1.47n

[namida]

Graphic set previews
(I guess these somewhat double as level previews too, but I'm generally choosing early-game, easy levels for these.)

Abstract (click to show/hide)

The idea here is - shapes. Colors. Nothing that overly resembles anything more detailed than that. In some ways, this is similar to the psychedelic set, but with less emphasis on "cramming lots of colors into a small area" and more on just "variety of colors". To make the interactive objects stand out - they're not colored, but tend to be mostly grayscale. A complete twist on the usual design philosophies for graphic sets!

Honeycomb (click to show/hide)

Because who doesn't love bees? Inspired by one user mistaking the Desert set (from LPII) for honeycombs, and with ideas suggested by another user, here's a set that lies somewhere on the boundary between straight-edged and rough-edged.

Mineshaft (click to show/hide)

Thanks to GigaLem for this suggestion. Rocks, wood, tracks, and a quick low score on the Start-to-Crate scale.

Machine (click to show/hide)

Remember when I tried to do something unusual with Sky by making a nearly-100%-rough-edged set, and it turned out to be a fairly awful graphic set? You'd think I'd've learnt my lesson, but no, here's another unusual set. Almost everything is steel in this graphic set, so expect little focus on destructive skills here.

Demo (Un)solved Levels

All demo levels have been solved, though the Unruly level from the 1st demo has only been solved via backroutes (which have been fixed for the full game, but I decided against updating the demo).

[RubiX]

Sounds good.   Its interesting how just a single shape can make a nice graphic set. 
Honeycomb looks pretty awsome

[Minim]

That sounds very exciting. It's also an opportunity for us to come up with some tileset and music ideas!

If you're stuck for ideas, you can always have a look at this old thread.

[GigaLem]

I figured this was in development
Looking forward to it, Need suggestions for tilesets

[namida]

I'll take a look through those old suggestions (and any new ones made) at some point, probably once I'm closer to finishing the Honeycomb set. I've had two other suggestions sent to me via PM; one of them I quite like the sound of and may very well go with, the other I'm not quite so sure about.

I'd also like some feedback in regards to the flames for the Honeycomb exit. Which version do you guys prefer - the single-flame or dual-flame one?





(The images are in APNG format which isn't supported by all browsers. If you can't see them at all, or if they don't animate, try using Firefox or Safari if you can.)

[Gronkling]

The single flame one is cute :> I'd also recommend making the honeycomb's water slightly more orange so it sticks out more against the terrain + looks more like honey

quick mockup (click to show/hide)

[namida]

I made some changes. I didn't quite go for as strong a color as you've used there. Check in the 2nd post.

The shot is using the two-flame exit for now, but I'm still unsure about which one I'll ultimately use. I might even keep both.

You may also notice a few bees in the level. These are moving background objects, similar to the stars in LPIV's Space set.

[namida]

So I put up a video demonstrating a few things from the Honeycomb set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yiLbPpxQj8

Enjoy.

[IchoTolot]

I can't resist to post this about the honeycomp set  



(if you get the reference)

Really great set overall!!    

[namida]

Since progress has been going quite quick, I'm going to aim for - and keep in mind, I am not making any promises here, just a goal - having a demo ready for Lemmings Day. Similar to how I structured LPIII and LPIV's demos, I'm intending to have more levels from the earlier ranks and less from the later ones - probably 2 each from Blissful, Touchy and Edgy, 1 from Unruly, and none (maybe 1) from Outrageous. Even if I make more graphic sets before then, the demo will probably only include levels from the Abstract and Honeycomb sets.

Of course, this means I'm going to need to put some effort into making some levels that are suitable for Touchy... I often find the 2nd rank is the hardest to make levels for.

[RubiX]

Very cool demo.  Love the bees in background!

[namida]

Alright, the first demo is here! Not quite Lemmings Day in all timezones yet, but it is in mine, so...

http://www.neolemmix.com/old/mypacks/LemmingsPlusVDemo1.nxp

It requires NeoLemmix V1.41n or V1.42n. It contains 7 levels total - two each from the first three ranks, and one from the fourth. No cheat code is nessecary; the demo has the "Unlock All Levels" option active. Enjoy, and if you do play, please send / post replays of your solutions to the harder levels - some of them haven't been backroute tested much.


Although I didn't include any talismans in the demo, one talisman I'm strongly considering that relates to one of the levels in the demo - saving every lemming on "Welcome To The Hive" (the second Blissful level in the demo). Feel free to give it a shot if you like.

[Wafflem]

Awesome!!!

I'm really liking this game so far. The Honeycomb one is definitely my favorite LPV style, and may possibly become my favorite style of all LP styles! Definitely using this one in a future project! But I will have to wait until the other graphic sets are made to see which will ultimately be my favorite style.

I sent you a PM with replays and some comments. I'd also definitely include the talisman for Welcome to the Hive; that level is tricky for a Blissful level due to the low number of platformers and builders, and saving 100% adds to the challenge.

My favorite level so far is Working Bee.