01: Semi-backroute. I used to accept things like this as alternative solutions, but I'm really starting to feel I need to be more strict about my intended solutions. :P
02: Intended. Indeed, this is the Jumper introduction level. I believe you're indeed one of the people who wasn't active during the time of its introduction? ;) Because I'd figure unless somebody was here as the mechanics were being discussed, they wouldn't necessarily know about things such as wall-jumping (on and off walls) and that Jumpers can transition into Shimmiers. Even though it should be clear that no completely new player should play LOA, a scenario I consider more likely is a player who is experienced with the classic 8 skills. Such people still need levels to familiarise themselves with all the mechanics of the new skills. Granted, such players would most likely get completely overwhelmed by Soft 02, specifically. But once they've overcome that initial hurdle, Heavy 02 pretty much features all the basic Jumper knowledge crammed into one level. And apparently, it succeeds at enforcing what it set out to do! :thumbsup:
03: Well, you saved both - the skills and the extra lemming. ;) Indeed, by reversing Digger and Miner usage compared to the intended solution, it's possible to save everyone. Maybe I should make that a bronze talisman. It's not that hard to find this superior solution, but it should entail some kind of reward.
04: What a nice alternative solution! :thumbsup: In the intended one, it's not actually necessary to platform over the water pit.
05: Yes, this is a little breather, but you still had to use all the skills to cover this comparatively large landscape. So I hope that means it's not a complete pushover. ;)
06: That was very skill-efficient, but a lot of the central tricks were still there, including the "jump off the pillar over to the exit chamber and immediately transition into a Shimmier". I love that stuff! :thumbsup:
07: Well done, you saved the pickup skill because you've found an even better method of containing the crowd than I did! :thumbsup: Never knew you could use a 1-frame Basher to create an increase that only a Climber could overcome. The right-hand side of the level (reverse Miner to enable climbing etc.) was done exactly as intended.
08: Semi-backroute. The part with the Climbers, the Bomber, and the Glider on the left was intended. Then however you mined where you were supposed to use a Fencer to prevent the neutrals from walking out. That cost you an extra Builder to seal up the gap. Also, you had to keep an eye on the Climber to prevent him from going up to the ceiling and dying. In theory, this should have cost you more skills, yet you still came out using fewer skills than in the intended solution, including no Shimmiers at all. I would like to keep allowing this, but I don't think I should. ;)
09: Huge backroute, just bombing straight through the one-way arrows. :evil: Easy enough fix though, with just a single further block of steel. I can't extend the one-way arrows all the way down to the bottom, as you will hopefully see on your next attempt... :P
10: Backroute. Technically, it should be equally valid to go along the left side as it is to go along the right side, but that misses the main thing that makes this level somewhat interesting. :P So now Sandman has to wear a steel shackle on his one foot. ;)
11: That's a nice alternative solution, saved you one Platformer - that's not the one you need to save for the talisman, though :P .
12: Backroute. This used to be another unfixable level during testing - and of course, you were among those who found the backroute. But I think now I've finally found a way to fix it! ;) Can't believe I've been overlooking it for all this time :forehead: !
13: Well, pretty much your only task on this level is to find some way to deal with the zombies, even if you didn't make them "hit the floor" :P .
14: Mmh, okay, apparently it's still possible to solve this entire level without using the right side. It's not too far off from the intended solution per se, though, and unless I resort to excessive pickup-skill placement, I don't really see a way of changing this. For the time being, I just assume the level has enough "entropy" that other people will indeed try to use the right side, or even feel they have to in order to complete the level at all. At least that would be my prediction based on what I've seen during the testing phase.
15: Semi-backroute. I can't stop the Digger shenanigans you did at the start, since Diggers will always be able to go through horizontal one-way arrows. But I can cut off the Miner shortcut at the end, even though it required me to try several different ways to do so without breaking my own solution. :evil:
16: Almost intended. That obscure trick of the Builder-Digger-Builder turnaround isn't actually required here. But I always appreciate it very much when I see it! :thumbsup: One of my testers even showed me yet another alternative solution where a Climber actually climbs through one of those horizontal bars on the bottom right :lem-mindblown:.
17: Wonderfully obscure, even more so than the intended solution! :thumbsup:
18: Well, that's a creative way of freeing a Blocker if I've ever seen one. :lem-mindblown: I'm not sure I can prevent this, not even sure if I want to. :thumbsup:
19: Close enough to intended, hit all the "important notes" ;) .
20: Also close enough. I liked how you trapped one Climber by stoning the other on the wall! :thumbsup: I knew that was possible, since it happened to me a couple of times by accident, while I was testing levels I had made for Lemmings: Hall of Fame. But I never actually used it for an intended solution.
21: Yes! Got the main trick of making the Basher go through! :thumbsup: At the same time, this Basher was very self-reliant, by turning around on the Stoner and then digging while already facing to the left. The intended solution is more precise, because the Basher has to somewhat rely on the timing of the other worker lemmings. Glad to see the main trick can be enforced here without all the other parts necessarily having to be that precise! ;)
22: Close to intended. Bouncing the Miner off the Blocker, cancelling the Miner who frees the crowd by having him drop into the gaps of the "gate", that's all there. You used some pretty whacky techniques to get the Glider up in the updrafts! :thumbsup: The intended solution also involves (yet again) a Miner going over a Builder staircase (the one that frees the crowd). But you still only saved 1 skill with your slightly different solution, so that's completely fine. ;)
23: This is the simplified intended version. The complete intended version is very precise, so I decided not to enforce it strictly, if it even would have been possible. That's why you can have comparatively many skills remaining on this particular one. ;)
24: Nice alternative solution, only saving the Swimmer. For the intended solution, it's actually the Shimmier that isn't strictly necessary - yet for your solution, it was, because if you had platformed across the long gap from the left, either the lemming would have turned around and gone to the exit too early, or you couldn't even have closed the gap because you also used a Builder when constructing the bridge from the right eventually (and that Builder would have been up in the air instead of properly connecting with the terrain, so the crowd from the right couldn't have walked onto the bridge if you had built from the left). Therefore you needed the Shimmier to get the lemming over to the stash of money first. Good thing I left the Shimmier in there - you're welcome! ;) I'm thankful for any alternative solution I see on this one, too, though - because once again, the intended one is very precise. So anytime somebody finds a satisfying alternative that I can comfortably allow to co-exist with the intended solution, I can rest with a clear conscience! :evil:
25: Close to intended. This is another level where the Climber was supposed to be a red herring that actively backfires in your face when you use it. In this case, you prevented this by digging into the ground halfway under the stack. That by itself could be prevented by simply raising the steel so that you can't dig. However, thanks to ericderkovits's solution to Loud 05, I now know it would still be possible to turn around the Cilmber in several ways at this point, both involving the Shimmier:
- at a certain point while climbing the stack, you can make the Climber turn around and actually shimmy along thin air, even though there's no ceiling (maybe this is a bug? ???)
- even if that behaviour did not exist, though: in this particular case, because the Climber is also a Glider, you could still have him jump up right in front of the stack as a mere Reacher, upon which he would Glider-bump against the stack and turn around as well
Therefore, in short, there is no need to make any changes to the terrain here because it still wouldn't result in the Climber being an actual red-herring skill. And simply cutting the Climber altogether... not, the alternative solutions I've seen featuring it, including yours, were way too awesome for that! :thumbsup:
26: Okay, apparently you have enough Builders that you can just stall the lemmings upstairs and let the pioneer die down below, instead of having to get him back up again... so he doesn't actually go "to Hell and back". :( What a pity! :evil: But such are the options when the save requirement is a little more lenient, and the level designer tries to enforce saving a single particular lemming... it almost never works.
27: Open-ended. But wow, you actually managed to spare 1 Builder on this one. :thumbsup: What's most limited on this level are of course the destructive skills, and that poses the main challenge.
28: Open-ended as well. It doesn't really matter if you lose lemmings as Bombers, as Blockers remaining at the end of the level, or as lemmings that fall into the abyss or go into a trap. You simply have a fixed amount you can lose, and need to guide the rest to the exit across the three David stars in the most efficient way possible with what limited skills you have at your disposal.
29: Close enough to intended. You contained the crowd between Stackers so that you could free them with a Basher, instead of platforming over the stack at the end, as it is intended. But the main part here is disarming all the flower traps, setting up the anti-splat pad, and platforming across the water, obviously, which was all done as intended.
30: Nice alternative solution! This is the first time I see anyone leading the right crowd all the way over to the left side.