I want to talk about splat and danger hatches, but first let's be clear about terminology. By a "splat hatch" I mean one that's an unsafe distance above terrain so the lemmings immediately splat on landing, as in
Bitter Lemming and
Poor Wee Creatures. By a "danger hatch" I mean one above a deadly object (water, fire, or the bottom edge) so that its lemmings don't land on terrain at all. I am
not considering levels like
Mary Poppins' Land where the lemmings drop onto terrain
above a deadly fall; these can be similar to splat hatch levels in many ways, but they are really a very different kettle of fish because it's usually possible to trap the crowd on the terrain while waiting for a landing platform to be ready.
The two types are very different in the original game, since a danger hatch
must be rescued by a lemming from another hatch, but in NeoLemmix that's not true (gliders, swimmers if the hatch is above water) so a danger hatch can be approached like a splat hatch, as well as vice versa.
Before discussing these levels in general, I think it's helpful to consider the various possible types of level that can be made with these hatches. There are borderline cases, and maybe some types I haven't thought of, but I think they can be roughly classified as follows:
(1) No issue: You can make the hatch safe with a Stoner.
(2) Floater frenzy: You have enough floaters/gliders for every lemming.
(3) Fun-type level: You have lots of skills and a low save requirement. Usually, it's possible to save 100% by continually assigning floaters until a landing platform is ready, but you don't have to do this to pass the level.
(4) High save: The level is a puzzle where you have to work out how to build a landing platform in time, with a limited skillset. There is a high save requirement so you have to keep assigning floaters until the landing platform is ready.
(5) Low save: Also a puzzle level, but now you just get one or two floaters and have to allow lemmings to die until the landing platform is ready.
(6) Rescue by lemmings from another hatch: Almost always goes with the "low save" type.
(7) No Problemming: the splat/danger hatch is a red herring and
all its lemmings should be allowed to die.
* * *
So, I want to ask: are splat and danger hatches always bad, or are some of the types acceptable? Which ones are sometimes bad or always bad?
When I was putting this list together, I thought the "no issue" type was rather pointless -- why not just put regular terrain and have one less Stoner? -- but I realised that the Stoner allows for some very interesting puzzles where you have to decide whether or not to use the Stoner in this way. Sure, that's a very powerful way to use it, but it's a very useful skill and you might need it elsewhere!
Levels where you
just have to assign a lot of floaters/gliders are boring, and when you have to do that before starting the real puzzle (as on
With a twist of lemming, please) then it's tedious busywork, but I don't think "floater frenzy" levels should be entirely dismissed. For one thing, it can make a difference
which lemmings are assigned floaters and which gliders (or gliders versus swimmers with a hatch over water), so it could be part of a puzzle to work this out.
When you assign the floaters/gliders can also make a difference.
The "low save" type (exemplified by classic levels like
Poor Wee Creatures and
No hurry, relax) is definitely my favourite, and for me, the strongest reason for accepting splat hatch levels as a valid part of the game. For one thing, it's a way to enforce getting a task done in time without using a time limit. I'm not dead against time limits like some people
but a splat hatch is a cleaner enforcement mechanism because it measures speed in more discrete chunks, so you're never in the position of being just a few frames short. Also, being faster than required results in saving more lemmings, which is a lot more satisfying than just improving a time record.
This means I have to be okay with levels where a lot of lemmings die. (On original Lemmings,
Poor Wee Creatures is the
only level where more than 5 die in the max saved solution. Similarly,
No hurry, relax has the highest loss on Genesis Lemmings.) For whatever reason, I have always been okay with that. Some lemmings dying to save others is just part of the game, so it isn't a big deal that some levels require more losses than others. Of course, while there are none in the original game, custom packs often include nuke levels, which tend to have
much higher losses than splat hatch levels. (I don't like nuke levels much, just because except in the very simplest cases, you can never be sure when you've saved the maximum possible. With splat hatch levels, it's
harder to be sure, but you can investigate through various possibilities, as we've done in the "skills you can't live without" challenge, and end up with a reasonably firm result.)
I was always under the impression that splat hatch levels were generally felt to be acceptable, but I have seen a bit of grumbling against them lately, so I felt I should ask: how does everyone else feel? (This is an issue of some importance to me, because in the reboot of GemLems, I intend to choose just 10 of the 20 skills as the skill pool for the entire pack. As I said in the
"classic 10 skills" thread, floater would just edge a place on my top 10 skills, because it enables this type of puzzle. If they really are generally disliked, then I could change my mind about that.)