Lemmings Plus V
Lemmings Plus V has now been released; see the release topic (http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=2866.0).
Lemmings Plus V is an in-development continuation of the main-series Lemmings Plus (http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=1922.0) games, developed (as usual) for NeoLemmix. It will consist of five ranks - Blissful, Touchy, Edgy, Unruly and Outrageous - consisting of 15 levels each. As usual for a main-series Lemmings Plus game, Lemmings Plus V is also bringing four new graphic sets.
Difficulty-wise, Lemmings Plus V is shaping up to be perhaps the hardest Lemmings Plus game yet. That's not to say it's on the same level as Lemmings Reunion or NepsterLems - I doubt I could ever achieve that - but it is saying that yes, it's going to be harder than Lemmings Plus III was.
As it is unclear when the new NeoLemmix version will be ready, Lemmings Plus V is being developed for the current stable version of NeoLemmix; however, changes being made for the experimental version are being taken into account, and it is very likely it will convert much more smoothly to the new version than the older Lemmings Plus packs will.
Graphic Sets
Lemmings Plus V brings four all-new graphic sets to the table - and they're far from just palette swaps of one or two central ideas; each graphic set is unique in some way (at least in comparison to each other).
Abstract
The Abstract graphic set is reminiscient of Lemmings Plus II's Psychedelic set, though much easier on the eyes. The pieces don't represent any specific objects; they're simply shapes in various colors. In contrast to the colorful terrain, the objects are very dull-colored, which in their own way makes them stand out. The Abstract set is almost exclusively a straight-edged graphic set.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_abstract.png)
Honeycomb
The Honeycomb graphic set is best described as a graphic set half way between straight edged and rough edged. The primary terrain is hexagonal honeycombs, with some less-common pieces of both the straight and rough-edged variety. Despite the simplicity of the graphic set, some very interesting level concepts have come out of it. Oh, and who doesn't love bees harmlessly flying around in the background... or in some cases, trying to sting you?
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_honeycomb.png)
Mineshaft
The Mineshaft graphic set is basically the "generic, classic style" graphic set of Lemmings Plus V. Featuring primarily rough-edged terrain, but with plenty of straight-edge to go around too, the Mineshaft set's strength is in terrain versatility; objects tend to be few and far between.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_mineshaft.png)
Machine
The Machine set is unique not just among Lemmings Plus V's graphic sets, but perhaps among all graphic sets, in that it is primarily steel. Aside from the occasional bit of rusty machinery, Machine levels tend to be entirely steel - a concept that has seen use before on the scale of individual levels, but not on the scale of an entire graphic set. Expect a high focus on constructive and permanent skills here, and beware of preassigned permanents.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_machine.png)
Ranks
Blissful
As expected, things start off easy-ish. There's levels to introduce the graphic sets, a few levels to refresh the player on some key concepts, and some fairly simple puzzles. However, don't expect much of the old X-of-everything kind of level - there's a few, but they're the minority here, in favor of simple puzzles.
Touchy
The difficulty starts to ramp up quite quickly here. Still, the levels should be well within most players' ability to solve, given some effort.
Edgy
This is where it gets really serious. The puzzles tend to get quite hard around here, though for the most part remain fairly short.
Unruly
The puzzles here not only keep getting harder, but in some cases start getting longer as well. And a couple of new tricks show up...
Outrageous
At this point, we're talking "harder than Fierce". These levels will be, for the most part, brutal. I'm nice enough to give you a couple of breathers, though. Sort of.
Demo Downloads
All demos are designed to be played on the stable version of NeoLemmix; ie: V1.43n-F should be used. However, they should work on the V1.47n experimental as well.
Demo 1 Download: http://www.neolemmix.com/old/mypacks/LemmingsPlusVDemo1.nxp
Contains 9 levels.
Demo 2 Download: http://www.neolemmix.com/old/mypacks/LemmingsPlusVDemo2.nxp
Contains 5 levels.
Graphic set previews
(I guess these somewhat double as level previews too, but I'm generally choosing early-game, easy levels for these.)
The idea here is - shapes. Colors. Nothing that overly resembles anything more detailed than that. In some ways, this is similar to the psychedelic set, but with less emphasis on "cramming lots of colors into a small area" and more on just "variety of colors". To make the interactive objects stand out - they're not colored, but tend to be mostly grayscale. A complete twist on the usual design philosophies for graphic sets!
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_abstract.png)
Because who doesn't love bees? Inspired by one user mistaking the Desert set (from LPII) for honeycombs, and with ideas suggested by another user, here's a set that lies somewhere on the boundary between straight-edged and rough-edged.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_honeycomb.png)
Thanks to GigaLem for this suggestion. Rocks, wood, tracks, and a quick low score on the Start-to-Crate (http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=2522.0) scale.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_mineshaft.png)
Remember when I tried to do something unusual with Sky by making a nearly-100%-rough-edged set, and it turned out to be a fairly awful graphic set? You'd think I'd've learnt my lesson, but no, here's another unusual set. Almost everything is steel in this graphic set, so expect little focus on destructive skills here.
(http://www.neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpv/gs_machine.png)
Demo (Un)solved Levels
All demo levels have been solved, though the Unruly level from the 1st demo has only been solved via backroutes (which have been fixed for the full game, but I decided against updating the demo).
The single flame one is cute :> I'd also recommend making the honeycomb's water slightly more orange so it sticks out more against the terrain + looks more like honey
(http://i.imgur.com/HixzlXx.png)