In The Lemmings Chronicles/All New World of Lemmings (Lemmings 3 - the one where they arrived on a new set of islands, which was essentially released to retail unfinished, with only three tribes present), they didn't return to the original eight skills as later games did - instead, you had unlimited toggleable Blockers, unlimited Jumpers, an unlimited skill that allowed you to change the direction a lemming is walking, the ability to use tools picked up in the levels (by default, the lemmings had no skills apart from the aforementioned, and you had to grab them whilst in the levels, instead), as well as the ability to drop them for another lemming to pick up (they could only carry one type of tool each, so you had to manage your lemmings well to have multiple skills in play in a level).
Is this method of assigning and using skills something that may be of any use to your game?
As a quick note; I've played through every game in the series, including that one...though it's been a little while. Tribes is my personal favorite...
The blocks to give skills to lemmings; probably not, it's an interesting idea, but it's a bit too strategically limiting. Pickups of some sort or a few of the skills being that way (such as a trap causing a lemming to become a werewolf-lemming) might be possible though. Also, having a skill potentially be unlimited may be used. Oh, and I definitely prefer to toggle the blocker when it's available, but also ALWAYS having that available would be a bit...well, forcing the whole crowd to be on your tail gives a nice action element, so having it always available is also limiting.
If I understand correctly; this editing program will allow one to “draw” a level in any shape/size one wants, without using pre-designed terrain pieces? But pre-designed terrain pieces will also be available?
Honestly I probably won't put in tiles in the first version; but you could use any pre-existing level; screenshot it; convert the image as necessary and you're good to go. Mostly it's to allow you to use, say Photoshop as a level editor and make it look exactly like you want. As for 'shape/size' erm...I'm going to say the limit is 2048x2048 pixels (which is more than twice the width and height of any official level). [Mostly because 2048 x 2048 is the maximum import size of a single .png image for most game engines.]
I guess I'd prefer the Lemmings being used. Although I can say I don't feel totally against new characters it's just that all the new character driven ports that I've seen or played I didn't like a whole lot, I just didn't happen to like those particular characters.
One I did like (even though it wasn't a new thing from scratch) was the Mario theme in Cheapo. I thought that was funny and fit well for some reason. (of course I'm a fan of the Mario series too).
I'm going to do a classic Lemmings version first; if only to save myself from needing to do art from scratch. If it picks up, then...need some new art and a slightly different theme in order for me to actually sell it (since I can't make money on a fan game).
The whole ‘time travel’ thing sort of blows my mind.
Also, just a more general comment: I *really* like the time idea (and especially the notion of connecting the Shadow Tribe to it - that's really good attention-to-detail). There aren't enough games that cleverly implement time-travel, and a puzzle game is a great place to do so.
Thanks.
Since there seems to be more interest towards the time-travel thing and it's a bit hard to understand, let me give the simplest example I can. (Hell, a mockup of this example might just be the first prototype).
Take the first level, ever. Now with the ability to have unlimited colors and edit it in photoshop; I quickly made it smoother and got rid of the obvious seams between the tiles.
(Still rough; that was a quick edit for the idea). With time travel; I could set this level up with the following Skills available:
Exploder x 4
Time Travel x 1
Lazer Blaster x 1
[Save 100%]
And the walkthrough steps would simply be...
1. Use the Exploders like you would in Ozone Friendly Lemmings. [Tricky 15]
2. Use Time Travel to go back in Time 1 minute (will be the default effect of the skill); in this case before the level even started). The single lemming that used time travel remains where he was...the rest return to the beginning of the level; including the Exploders re-materializing and walking backwards up to the entrance.
3. Use the Lazer Blaster.
4. Wait. The door will open, the Lemmings will come out and the level will already be solved.