It seems like I got a two weeks' furlough at just the right time :)
@Crane
T.E.E.T.H.
It was quite easy and also entertaining level. :D
S.C.R.O.O.G.E.
Nice combination of all three kinds of lemmings : normal, zombie, neutral :lem-mindblown:
I attached two solutions for this level. First one got talisman and save some skills so I guess this might be a backroute. And second one, I used all the skills and looks more intended to me.
@Flopsy
Fun With Flags
At first, I was quite surprised to see some lemmings died with 'LET'S GO' sound! :evil:
It was enjoyable level and I was stumped for a while and I think the position of the builder was the key to solve this level.
Who Ya Gonna Call? Knuckles The Echidna!
I din't use a shimmier and a platformer so this can be a backroute I think. But letting neutral lemmings to gather pickup skills and to activate the buttons are so creative! I like the concept of this level!
Who Wants To Be The Flopsy?
It was quite challenging. I could see how strong the stoner skill is in this level.
In general, all your levels used tilisets that I have never seen before. It was really fun to play. I like the cute ghosts in your rule3 level especially. :D
@Namida
Reach-Around
I think I backrouted this level. (Attached replay is for V2)
@NieSch
Perpetuum Mobilem
This level remind me your previous level "The Yippee Finale" from your pack :D Not that difficult but it has some clever trick in it and I like that :thumbsup:
Me, Myself and I
I made several attempts on this level but had no luck yet. Attached replay is my best attempt that could had been successful if 5 more seconds is given :(
@Willem
Day Of The Daredevils!
Beautiful looking level! I didn't use a miner for your part2 level so this can be a minor backroute maybe??
IchoTolot
It's The Name Of The Fame
Wow this level is so creative I must say. When I assigned cloner+walker to a shimmy lemming, I wish I could see the path of the glider when walker is assigned.(like I can see expected path when assigning glider). But this is just my opinion and not a comment on this level :D I really enjoyed the level itself :thumbsup:
Xeno Menace
Oh man, This tileset looks scary. :lem-shocked: Still, I like the level and skills used in this level!
Dullstar
Shimmier Sort
My solution seems really backrouty :(
SQron188
Liandri Ironworks & Nuclear Fission
I guess my solution is intended. Using stackers to make turn around point for gliders is so clever :thumbsup:
Thanks for the kind and helpful feedback Armani. It's incredible how fast you come up with al these solutions.
@NieSch
Perpetuum Mobilem
This level remind me your previous level "The Yippee Finale" from your pack :D Not that difficult but it has some clever trick in it and I like that :thumbsup:
Me, Myself and I
I made several attempts on this level but had no luck yet. Attached replay is my best attempt that could had been successful if 5 more seconds is given :(
Your solution to "Perpetuum Mobilem" is intended. Well done.
I'm glad that "Me, Myself and I" is giving you more of a challenge. I'm sure you will find a solution soon. :)
About Armani's "Supernova":
Aaaargh! I have tried so many times now but I still haven't solved the level. I was so close... With two more seconds I would have made it.
(https://i.imgur.com/hzUomYu.png)
@Armani
That's a nice solution! An unexpected use of the Platformer but a good one and didn't break the level at all! This level has a time limit anyway, so I'd like to keep the rest not as restrictive.
Cheers, mate!
I guess this is almost the same backroute, for "Reach-Around" (V4):
Nope, that's the intended way now. :D
The key thing is having to use another bomber to stop the miner, so you can re-use him for his climber skill - but I don't want this to be possible to do before the miner makes (most of) his tunnel.
Nope, that's the intended way now. :D
The key thing is having to use another bomber to stop the miner, so you can re-use him for his climber skill - but I don't want this to be possible to do before the miner makes (most of) his tunnel.
Cool! I like it. I'm a fan of small levels like this that are nice puzzles. :)
About Armani's "Supernova":
Aaaargh! I have tried so many times now but I still haven't solved the level. I was so close... With two more seconds I would have made it.
(https://i.imgur.com/hzUomYu.png)
At first, this level had no time limit. And I found myself a backroute and it took longer than the intended solution so I added time limit.
I think you tried exactly the same backroute that I found (I saw the screenshot you posted and I'm quite sure about this :D)
The intended solution has 10~15 seconds left over.
Here are some hints!
The title of the level is Supernova and you can see a nebula at top right of the level where all the lemmings get together.
You may want some destructive skills but you have nothing. But really?
@Armani: I did think of that (the title and the high amount of lemmings were clues) but I did not yet get the execution right. I'll try again.
(My backroute involved getting the timing right so that 2 lemmings walked over the same trap at the same time, so one lemming survived.)
Solution for Armani's "Supernova" V1 :)
Backroute? I didn't use the Nuke Button like you suggested.
Solution for Armani's "Supernova" V1 :)
Backroute? I didn't use the Nuke Button like you suggested.
Well done :thumbsup:
As you expected, that's not an intended solution.
But I like your solution and thank you for finding a backroute :D
I will add fire trap to block it.
And also I will remove time limit as time limit do nothing as a result.
I revisited contest levels.
Who Ya Gonna Call Knuckles The Echidna!
Still there's a backroute I think. :(
Me, Myself and I
I finally made it. Only 12 milli-seconds left!
Reach-around
Is floater a decoy? If then, I think I found an intended solution.
S.C.R.O.O.G.E
It seems more intended then the solution I found before but still I have a climber left.
Shimmier Sort
I'm afraid I backrouted this level again
If anyone wants to take a stab at fixing it, I've included a replay of the intended solution.
Intended solution is quite cool :thumbsup:
I think you gave too many constructive skills and they are being abused for backroutes.
So, here's my opinion on how to block such backroutes
1) -1 platformer and +1 cloner for compensate. Move steels to the right.
This way, the glider is stuck in infinite loop so the floater don't have to platform over the exit. He can just fall and climb to the right.
(https://i.imgur.com/zAXqhTU.png)
Left picture is fixed version from me and right picture is original version
After the floater climb to the right, you can clone the glider and bash the one way arrow wall.
2) -1 builder and +1 cloner for compensate.
On your solution, two builders on the right side of the map can be replaced by one builder+cloner
So in conclusion..
-1 platformer
-1 builder
+2 cloner
+2 save requirement
move steels to the right a bit
I attached level file and my solution replay for it.
Hope this will at least help you improve your level. :D
This solution any better for "Who you gonna call? Knuckles the Echidna!"?
I would suggest you find a way to keep the Climber and Glider pick-ups together, because when you get them both, it's so tempting to apply both at once to the worker lemming so he matches the neutrals.
I attached my replays and starting tomorrow my playthrough videos will start to pop up as well. There will be 4 videos for now.
Intended solution on Reach-Around.
The floater is just a decoy.
In the meantime, here are my current solutions to a load of miscellaneous level. Some look like backroutes.
In this replay, you have only saved 1 out of 5 Lemmings required.
Resolved Flopsy's level. :)
This could be closer, but that one pixel-precise shimmier+miner+digger action combo at the end still seems fishy.
About loud SFX:
When solving I am usually "inside my flow" and if suddenly a new unexpected loud noise appreas (may it be a hidden trap or in this case a custom exit unlock sound), it comes close to a jumpscare to me. So let's say I am an easy target to throw off in this regard as suddenly breaking my train of thought makes me jump.
You may call me easily scared and you're totally correct.
In fact my roomate wanted to ask a question at some point while I was programming with music on my ears and I just got totally scared when he suddenly tapped my shoulder. :XD:
So, I don't dislike the ghostbusters theme, it's just any louder unexpected noise while I am thinking just totally catches me offguard. :P
IchoTolot's solution to Shimmier Sort is an acceptable variant.
I didn't realize that the walker could be used to save a cloner early on, but it's compensated by needing to use the cloner to get a lemming facing the correct direction later. This is secondary to the actual puzzle, so I don't think enforcing the "correct" order would improve the level, thus I consider it an acceptable variant.
It's been a while
When I started the level, my design goal was to have a level featuring a shimmier at the beginning, which would be cloned at different times to create lemmings with different combinations of permanent skills. I settled somewhat early on with making a climber/floater and climber/glider, but I had a bit of difficulty deciding how to enforce this. This is why the button is where it is, although it took me several tries to get the design right due to a bit of tunnel vision with the solution - I got so used to using certain skills in certain places that I wasn't thinking of other places I could maybe use them! The idea was that a glider would glide off the climbable obstacle and therefore miss the button, while a floater would hit the button. The locked exit, thus, wasn't something that was planned from the start - it was only added as a way to make sure both a floater and glider were required. Several ways of bypassing this obstacle were found, which was a bit frustrating for me to fix, because I needed to find a way to prevent players from bypassing the puzzle elements by bashing through things they weren't supposed to bash through, but I also wanted things to look decent, which limited how much I could use steel. I also designed the level to be a one-screener at a 1920x1080 resolution, which meant that fixes needed to be compact. Part of me feels compelled to make sure the level is either small enough to fit on one screen or big enough to justify requiring the player to scroll.
It's been a while since I participated in one of the design contests. I often have trouble coming up with any compelling ideas for the contests (or levels in general, for that matter), but early on with Rule 3 I was able to come up with a vague idea that I thought might be workable. When I was younger I used to put out a high volume of levels, but most of them were bad. I think now, even though my level quantity is much lower, my level quality has improved greatly - at least once all the backroutes are found and patched!
Realistically, the best thing about submitting a level to the contest, in my opinion, is the feedback you can get for an individual level. Levels in the Random Level Sharing thread tend not to get much attention, and creating an entire pack's worth of levels can take a while, so the contest is a good way to practice, find out what people like and don't like, and start getting a feel for what people do to break your level so you can get better at testing.
Thanks to everyone who dropped by to watch the stream.
For those who missed it, I am now going to post feedback for levels and my replay files.
Rule 1
Armani's Supernova - What can I say, this solution was truly difficult to spot. I honestly couldn't believe the solution when I found it and I think it is 100% intended. I didn't say positive things on the stream (don't worry nothing negative either) but looking back, this was one of the better ones in the pack! Good effort, welcome to the Lemmings community!
Crane's T.E.E.T.H - No solve, I'm sorry if I was overly critical of this level, no hard feelings
namida's Reach Around - I really liked the return to what made Lemmings Plus packs so great, this one really had me stumped for a while but in a good way, the steel really threw me off and I was trying to make it part of the solution for a long time. One of the better levels in the contest.
NieSch's Perpetuum Mobilem - This one caught me out and I thought I solved it before the infinite loop on the teleport brought me down to Earth again! This was another nice level, it was very hard to solve!
WillLem's Day of the Daredevils part 1 - This was a nice little puzzle to finish the rank off, very reminiscent of my LP of your Xmas Lemmings pack :)
Rule 2
IchoTolot's It's the name of the fame - This was a great level by you, I actually enjoyed it once I got going on it, very interesting non contruction skill level :)
Rule 3
Armani's I'll be back for sure - I'm pretty sure this is a back route but it did use pretty much all of the skills, I did enjoy trying to solve this for what it is worth, very nice concept for a level.
Crane's SCROOGE - Did not even attempt this, I did not want to be raging mad during the stream and the zombies were a sure fire way to make me rage. Sorry.
Dullstar's Shimmier Sort - I did get a lot of help with this one but I did really like the solution once it fell into place. I don't think I would have solve this without help though, as with Crane, I don't tend to solve your levels either most of the time!
IchoTolot's Xeno Menace - Didn't spend much time on this, it was too Hard for Flopsy for my liking and I was short on time. No solve.
NieSch's Me, Myself and I - This was a very tight level to beat in the time limit, you were there to watch me play it anyway. I did enjoy it in the end and it was a great level overall.
SQron's Llandri Ironworks and Nuclear Fission - I didn't spend much time on this either, I didn't understand how to even approach this one. Your levels have really been getting much harder in recent contests and I have not been able to solve your contest levels as of late. This may or may not be a compliment, this level was ok but I struggled with it. No solve.
WillLem's Day of the DareDevil's part 2 - This was the last level of the stream and it felt very similar to your Rule 1 level, you would have been better off not submitting this level again for a different rule but that is just my opinion. It helped uplift me after being beaten by the 4 levels I couldn't solve though so positive for that!
Both of IchoTolot's solutions to my levels were intended - well done. Doubly well done for earning the talisman too!
You are pretty much guaranteed the talisman (with less than a second to go!) as long as you release the Blocker at the right moment (between the 2nd and 3rd neutral Lemmings) and are efficient in the placement of your skills so no Lemmings turn around in the Fencer's tunnel.