Lemmings Quiz

[DoubleU]

In DOS Original lemmings how many Tricky levels have water?

I'm cheating with The Lemmings Encyclopedia, but am I really?  I've played the DOS version before so I know some of the differences.

Tricky levels 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17(?), 19, 22(?), 30.

I guessed on some, please tell me if I'm right.

Identify as many traps and other features from both original Lemmings (aka Lemmings 1) and ONML that are never seen outside of one level.  (For example, the boulder-smashing trap is unique to Mayhem 30, Rendevous at the Mountain.)

[finlay]

Lemmings Encyclopedia isn't exactly useful for this; the correct answer is 7, but I had to cheat and use Lemmix because I have no idea whatsoever... (I 'grew up on' the Mac version, which has water in all the 'correct' places – even the replacement for Tricky 21 has water to compensate) You got levels 5, 8, 10, 17 and 22 wrong, and missed 25 and 28. ("Lost Something?" is a bit of a curveball because the DOS version gets rid of most of the water but not the small bit directly under the entrance. "Cascade" only has water to the left of the entrance, and not over the entire level, so they didn't get rid of it.)

Anyway, traps from Lemmings that are only seen in one level:
the wall spikes (technically two distinct traps) from Taxing 4
the ground zapper from Taxing 28
the tesla coil from Mayhem 23
the boulder from Mayhem 30
There's also a trap in the crystal tileset that isn't used at all.

I can't think of any for ONML, but I'm willing to bet that I've overlooked one. I was about to say one of the iguana traps, but I can think of multiple levels with both versions of those in it.
Edit: had a more thorough check for ONML by actually looking through what traps are in each style of level and I don't think there are any.

My quiz question (which I think I may have posted on a previous incarnation of the board, many years ago):
Name the six levels in Lemmings and ONML with either a Q or an X in the title. Spoiler alert: there are three of each.

(For a bonus, you can also do Holiday Lemmings and Lemmings 2... I'm just gonna check them! )

[Clam]

We had a bit of a competition on IRC to answer this question without cheating with Lemmix. Answers:

Call in the bomb squad
Quote: "That's a good level"
Just a quicky
X marks the spot
Get a little extra help
Lemming Express


New question: Which level in L1 starts your view at the left edge of the map? (i.e. screen start x = 0)

[ccexplore]

I would guess "Hunt the Nessy" off top of my head w/o cheating.

[edit: apparently I'm wrong.  It was the other obvious level, which for some reason I keep mistakenly thinking (spoilers) starts on the far right]

[Clam]

Good guess, but no. (That level starts you at x = 112)

[DragonsLover]

What do you mean by "cheating"? By looking at the level or the encyclopedia?

[Simon]

I guessed Rendezvous at the Mountain from memory, and geoo confirmed I was right.

Edit: Solve at least any one of the following. Don't force yourself to look up all three if you know just one before answering, I'll post answers to all three later anyway.

• At release rate 1, how many frames/physics updates have to pass after a spawn until the next lemming spawns?
  
• RR 50 is the same as either RR 49 or 51. Which one is the same?
  
• If a lem spawns at RR 1 and you immediately raise to RR 99, do you have to wait until the next spawn as long as like with RR 1 or RR 99?

Extra question out of interest, not necessary to advance the quiz: If you click the rate buttons or press the hotkeys, the RR changes by an erratic amount (sometimes 1, sometimes 3 or 4 I think). How does the game determine this amount? I don't know it myself, maybe an L1 disassembly guru knows it.

-- Simon

[Clam]

What do you mean by "cheating"? By looking at the level or the encyclopedia?

Pretty much that, yeah. The quiz is more fun if you can work out the answer for yourself, rather than looking it up. What exactly constitutes "cheating" depends on the question - for my one in particular, looking through all the levels in-game would be cheating (and not much fun in this case, since the correct answer is the final level ). Looking up TLE would be somewhat cheating, since you can roughly figure out the screen-start from the level images.

[ccexplore]

• At release rate 1, how many frames/physics updates have to pass after a spawn until the next lemming spawns?
  
• RR 50 is the same as either RR 49 or 51. Which one is the same?
  
• If a lem spawns at RR 1 and you immediately raise to RR 99, do you have to wait until the next spawn as long as like with RR 1 or RR 99?

Extra question out of interest, not necessary to advance the quiz: If you click the rate buttons or press the hotkeys, the RR changes by an erratic amount (sometimes 1, sometimes 3 or 4 I think). How does the game determine this amount? I don't know it myself, maybe an L1 disassembly guru knows it.

Are you really doing this for the quiz game, or just a coy way to ask me?

I think I'll have to recuse myself from these questions since arguably, I had already cheated when I went through the L1 disassembly.   (Indeed, I'd think it'd be far more fun to see someone else besides me trying to answer these questions.)  At the same time, unforunately I don't have an answer to your extra question either ; the input-handling parts of the PC game programming tend to be a bit messy to decipher.  It's a good thing the PC version allows you to change the RR with the game paused given the erraticness.

[Simon]

Hmm, only the extra question was asked with that in mind. The middle and last question are probably too hard to answer from memory for people who haven't written such a game themselves, but the first one should be doable. The middle question is actually a hint for the first; two successive RRs are the same, but three aren't.

Requiring all three to be answered correctly is probably too harsh, I will edit that a bit.

-- Simon

[finlay]

I know that if a lemming comes out of the entrance and the RR is 1, the delay before the next lemming will be the correct number of pixels/frames for RR1, no matter how soon you raise the rate to 99 – raising the rate only affects when the next but one lemming will come out. Is that what you're asking in #3?

[Simon]

Yep, correct.

Answer to the first question is 53. At RR 99, the spawn interval is 4. RR 99 minus RR 1 is a difference of 98 RR points = 49 physics updates. So RR 1 = spawn interval of 4 + 49 = 53.

Answer to the second question is RR 51. An even RR is the same as the next faster odd RR.

-- Simon

[finlay]

I got it right? Ok, fair enough. Now I want you to name as many levels as you can with a number in the title. I will expect all of the possible ones from Lemmings and ONML, and see how many you can get from L2 and Holiday and other versions too... 

[Gronkling]

I got it right? Ok, fair enough. Now I want you to name as many levels as you can with a number in the title. I will expect all of the possible ones from Lemmings and ONML, and see how many you can get from L2 and Holiday and other versions too... 

Be more than just a number 

[Simon]

Konbanwa Lemming-san
All the 6's
Compression Method 1
One way or another
Just a minute Part Two
24-hour Lemathon
Five Alive
Four Play (Holiday)
Two Ponds (Genesis)
Fall and no Life Part Two (Genesis)
22934 (L2)

Will edit this when I remember more.

-- Simon