Just like in the neighbouring thread for objects from Lemmings Revolution, I'd like to go over the objects in Lemmings 3D this time (as they appear in the Practice rank) and discuss to what extent they might be worthwhile additions to NeoLemmix. Once again, the ones I'm in favour of are in green, the ones I consider redundant or actively harmful red. I'm also going to list possible tilesets that would be most suitable for such objects.
I guess this will be much shorter, because we can start with what we already have (those I kept in black):
Teleporters. Work in NeoLemmix exactly like in Lemmings 3D (=release-rate sensitive, with animation).
Tilesets: L2 Space, orig Marble, ohno Brick, namida Circuit, plom Psychedelic Mod, and many others!Splitters. Work in NeoLemmix pretty much exactly like in Lemmings 3D, of course only turning lemmings left and right, meaning some lemmings can be sent back into the direction they came from, which can never happen in Lemmings 3D. L3D is actually the reason why I keep calling these "splitter blocks", because they were referred to as such in the game (but probably only because pretty much everything was a "block"; L3D also spoke of "one-way blocks").
Tilesets: ohno Brick, namida Candy, namida Machine, namida Clockwork, and a couple moreHighlight Lemming. Is a feature, not an object, and already exists in NeoLemmix, just like in L3D.
Tilesets: All.
Virtual Lemming. Virtually impossible to include in NeoLemmix!
Tilesets: None.One-way arrows. We've had them since the dawn of time.
Tilesets: All.Mud. I don't see how this is in any way different than regular water? If it's supposed to act like quicksand (like the sand pits in the L3D Golf tileset), or other types of "terrain" that lemmings can drown in, i.e. water that Swimmers should not be allowed to swim through:
1) We already have dedicated traps to simulate quicksand in namida's Desert tileset (and GigaLem's modification of it).
2) We already have "acid", in the form of water objects that behave like fire objects, for any type of water area that we want to make inaccessible to Swimmers.
Possible tilesets: orig Dirt, ohno Rock, namida MineshaftDeflector blocks. Only useful in a 3D setting. A similar thing is true for the "
semi-floating blocks" in L3D that can't be climbed up, nor can lemmings slip through these low gaps as regular Walkers. This is something that won't work in NeoLemmix, because classic 2D lemmings can slip through any gap as tiny as a single pixel. If you want to make a straight wall inaccessible to Climbers without resorting to fire objects or Pillar spike traps, put a one-way field onto the wall pointing into the opposite direction: Since Climbers are located one pixel inside the wall, they will turn around and consequently let go of the wall as soon as they attempt to start climbing.
Possible tilesets: All.Trampolines. This is the biggest thing in my book: Trampolines have been a regular part of Lemmings evers since Lemmings 2: The Tribes. Especially with the re-introduction of anti-splat pads, I think these would be a worthwhile inclusion: Like splat- and anti-splat pads, they should only affect Fallers, not regular Walkers, and they've never been release-rate sensitive in any Lemmings game. In Lemmings 3D, fall height affects the width of the ensuing jump; for simplification, I'd suggest to ignore this and simply define trampolines as "if a lemming moves into this area AND that lemming is a faller, that lemming performs the same motion as the regular Jumper skill". Meaning:
No tumbler physics or similar required! If these objects would be grouped together with splat- and anti-splat pads, they should only work if the lemming hits terrain inside their trigger area. But this is up for debate. Like anti-splat pads, trampolines would always prevent lemmings from splatting, no matter the fall height - but the resulting jump might catapult the lemming into a different type of danger zone, where the anti-splat pad wouldn't do the same (for example, over a Blocker / Stacker / Stoner holding the others back, into a gap / trap / fire area, etc.).
Possible tilesets: L2 Circus, L2 Cavelem, Raymanni Circus
Springs / Catapults. These would be very similar to trampolines, but release-rate sensitive, and they would affect regular lemmings walking onto them the same way as lemmings falling onto them from the top, like traps. In L3D, they're actually more similar to teleporters, not only due to their release-rate sensitivity, but also due to them having a
defined start- and ending point: In contrast to trampolines, lemmings using catapults in L3D always land at the exact same target spot.
Meanwhile, in Lemmings 2: The Tribes, some types of catapults increase the difference to trampolines by the
player being able to move them around - as such, e.g. L2 Circus has both trampolines and the canon that can shoot lemmings over gaps and walls. Others, in contrast, like the dinosaurs from L2 Cavelem that fling lemmings around with their tails, cannot be moved around. Thus, depending on how many degrees of freedom we add to these, these could either be valuable additions next to trampolines, despite the differences only being minor - like with the skills Floater/Glider and Stoner/Stacker. Or they could end up so similar to trampolines that they would be completely redundant. Personally, I tend to think the latter is more likely.
Possible tilesets: L2 SportsAn argument against both trampolines and springs / catapults can be made if there's a general intention to create some type of overarching object that just grants any type of skill to a lemming passing through it. Still, I think such an object would be more of an abstract "skill donator" or so, rather than something more "realistic", like a trampolin or spring.
Rope slides. Can basically be summarised as a release-rate sensitive bridge across a gap of arbitrary length. This would probably work best by having a "rope object" of which several could be placed next to each other, like updrafts, rather than having a single object for the entire slide for which you can then define the length by entering a number, like for water areas. Then again, if we wanted to keep the release-rate sensitivity, this would probably only work with a single object of arbitrary length, indeed - then, this object could check whether it's currently being used like a lemming or not, like a teleporter. The question here would be: What happens if a level designer puts several rope slides in the exact same position? Then it doesn't become apparent to the player that several lemmings can use this slide in parallel.
Alternatively, these could act as pre-defined spots in the level where lemmings start to shimmy by themselves, much like a trampolin would turn any lemming falling onto it into a Jumper without prior skill assignment. In that case, the argument that can be made against trampolines and springs / catapults by employing a general "skill-donating object" could also be made against the rope slide, if it were just an object that "gives the Shimmier skill to any lemming walking into it".
So, overall, I tend to be on the "no"-side here, but I can still imagine this as potentially really cool - if people find enough dedicated uses for it.
Possible tilesets: All.Slippery blocks / Ice. In Lemmings 2: The Tribes, lemmings needed to be Skaters to even move across this type of terrain; in L3D, in contrast, every lemming stepping onto ice will start sliding by himself. They can't be assigned any skills aside from lethal ones while sliding on ice --> In L3D, this means only Bombers; in NeoLemmix, it would include Stoners, as well. This might become important as one of the few methods to actually turn lemmings around while on ice. I think Cloners should work here, too, though.
Basically, ice restricts the types of skills that can be assigned to regular Walkers in the same way as water restricts it for Swimmers. Optionally, it could also slightly increase their speed of movement, but this isn't a "must"; it would also suffice to simply have the lemmings perform a "balancing" motion to identify them as moving on ice. They should be able to go up and down regular slopes, like in L3D. Six-pixel ascensions, in contrast, seem counterintuitive to me here.
And then, there's the question on
whether lemmings should jump, as they do in L3D, when they reach the end of an ice area that coincides with the edge of a terrain piece, i.e. a gap with a vertical drop.
If so, I'd also restrict this to just a regular Jumper motion, like with trampolines, rather than making it dependent on the distance the lemming has covered on ice to pick up "momentum" or so.
Possible tilesets: ohno Snow / Christmas, L2 Polar, Raymanni SnowSo yeah, trampolines and ice / slippery terrain would be worth considering, in my view - not only as inspirations from L3D, but they would also bring more select elements from the Lemmings 2: The Tribes tilesets over to NeoLemmix, without adding such obnoxious stuff as the chain or the fan.