Did somebody say "let's teach players skill tricks"?
Playing this pack and Strato's Lemmicks have highlighted quite a few advanced moves that I would never have guessed at
I'm glad you could acquire some new knowledge from playing Lemmicks!
Strangely enough, though, that wasn't actually the prime objective of this pack. Any tricks Lemmicks teaches that I can remember off the top of my head are mostly related to outdated features, such as solid level sides and ghosts.
The Noisemaker and Amateur rank of my pack Lemmings World Tour are actually much more directed specifically at teaching various skill tricks to the player. I'll admit though that some of them might still be slightly too difficult for that - based on feedback by IchoTolot - despite me announcing almost every trick in advance via a pre-level screen.
However, there is no immediate "trick repetition" on these levels - one level, one trick to learn. Most of the tricks taught on these two ranks come up again later, but without prior announcement than, plus there's a bunch of levels in between, so the player could forget again.
If this concept was applied as "puzzle-memory", this is exactly what needs to happen with beginner levels - repetition of advanced puzzle moves in easier contexts which equip the player with the tools needed to solve more difficult puzzles.
I think the main reason this hasn't been done so far is that people don't want to overdo certain tricks.
For example, during the early phase of level creation for Lemmings Open Air, I created several levels in a row using the Miner-Miner-cancel trick, or several levels where Miners had to be forced to continue over Builder staircases. Now I feel I'm overusing the Shimmier. When eventually deciding upon the final level order, most content creators will probably not put levels requiring the same trick back-to-back.
The second thing which I noticed is that, even if you create a level specifically to teach a trick, many of these levels still can't enforce the use of said track with absolute certainty. And on the other hand, if you want to achieve this 100% certainty, the level must be simplified so far that it pretty much only consists of the trick and nothing else. This is great for teaching the trick for the first time - but if you repeat this concept e.g. five times in levels placed close to each other, the solution might get too easy to spot.
Then again, this automatisation of recognising potential for trick use is probably what you're going for?
Stop and stair (Noisemaker 18): This level teaches the three-Builder wall as a trick. At the same time, it also requires closing a Basher shaft by building behind him. I could have provided enough Builders to create a three-Builder wall behind and in front of the crowd to repeat the trick. But I actually think that would have made the level more difficult, because the crowd would have to turn around first, build three staircases, and only then could the last lemming be used to bash.
Rock, Paper, Scissors (Noisemaker 38): This level is supposed to teach the Stacker-Stoner trick. However, Colorful Arty and Flopsy found different solutions, that were still quite complex, but any player who would have found the same solution would have missed the opportunity to learn this trick. Therefore, I needed to restrict the possible solutions on this level even further. Only now does the level actually enforce the use of said trick, at least based on the replay I got from IchoTolot.
If you want to discuss the topic of "packs that teach advanced skill tricks to the player", we should probably split this off into a separate topic in the level-design subforum.
Regarding this pack, I still have some replays (created with NeoLemmix 12.6.5), but I also remember getting stuck somewhere. I actually went back to focus on Lemmings Reunion and NepsterLems first, because I had the feeling I needed to brush up on some more of my trick knowledge, as well.
That goes to show how difficult your pack is - when people go back to NepsterLems to adequately prepare for it. Then again, this might simply be more of a self-confidence thing: I still remember NepsterLems as the most difficult pack out there, even though some claim that spot has now been taken by Lemmings United. Anyways, completing NepsterLems would probably give me the confidence - or hubris - to believe "if I can solve this, I can solve anything!"
I think once you've beaten a difficult larger pack, you approach these smaller, but no less difficult packs (Integral Lemmings is another one that comes to mind) in a much more relaxed way.