Hi,
I've mentioned Lix to Rikus, and he gave the singleplayer a shot. Rikus has never played Lemmings before, we know each other from speedrunning Titus the Fox.
SimonN: hah :) yeah, if you've never played Lemmings, feedback will be even more valuable
RikuS: I've never played Lemmings. Anyway, the first map showed pretty clearly what to do
SimonN: that's good. I've feared that the first map is too hard or too scary because lixes die when you do nothing, but it's proably fine
SimonN: it's a game after all, player are eager to do something with the world :)
RikuS: The second map is harder already. Instead of getting to know one tool a time the player has to choose between 4 that it barely knows anything about. So first few attempts are actually used to get to know them
SimonN: yeah, and lower routes, which arise from experimenting, are nastier to execute than higher routes
RikuS: Found that out. Try to keep as high as possible xD
SimonN: the designer of that map wanted to stick close to a design in original Lemmings, maybe I should still make the map easier by adding some ramps halfway through that to raise lower routes again
RikuS: So far only 4 levels behind, but I can already say this has been fun:
RikuS: The maps are real game levels instead of 'do one trick and you're done'
SimonN: cool, yeah, the first maps shouldn't feel repetitive
SimonN: eventually, since it's a puzzle game, there will be occasional small maps where your task is to find one single trick
RikuS: I'm actually interested to see more about this game. Also, the baseball bat xDEmphasis by me. The feedback is: The first few attempts on Pipe Dream fail. But the Proxima-style maps are a big hit.
Are the fails on Pipe Dream acceptable, or shall we guide back on track a few more of these failed attempts? The attempts tend to fail because it's extremely hard for newcomers to raise lixes in miner pits, and it's tempting to assign miner at least once.
Ideas on how to fix:
pipedream-raise-miners.txtPicture of these changes with all changes marked:
(1) The most egregious change: Make early miner behave the same as early basher.
(2) Can ascend here, but not go back down.
(3) Touching chains of balls, such that a basher will always survive.
(4) Can ascend here, but not go back down. Walkers can traverse the balls.
(5) Can ascend here, but not go back down. Walkers can traverse the balls.
Comments? I'd rather make the map too easy by accident, it's only the second level. On the other hand, one-way traversable terrain is already a complicated gadget.
-- Simon