PICNIC (29 levels) Codrin, Iuliana & Stefan - NL doesn't display the "&" correctly in the level list. Easy but good level. Dream Eater - 20-of-all repeat of a later level. Easy but not trivial. Eeny, meeny, miny... OH! - Fun gimmicky level. First Things First - Author should be "Jeffery Lancaster" with a space. Fun little multi-tasking level. Food for the gods - 10-of-all repeat of a later level. Has a hidden trap, and water largely covered by terrain. Save req should be 40 maybe, as 35 can be saved simply by mining at the start and letting them walk through the trap. Still, overall a pretty interesting level. Gotta Save 'Em All! - Might be a 10-of-all repeat? Showcases a trick for isolating a worker. Harbour Lemmings - 10-of-all repeat. Dealing with one-way wall. Hunting Season - 10-of-all repeat? Hidden traps. Tests the ability to deal with traps but would be better if they were visible. In the Countree - Looks like an Orig-style builder-fest, turns out to be a builder conservation puzzle. It's okay. In the cavern... - Orig-style 10-of-all. Okay but nothing special. In the swamp... - Journey for a single lemming. Quite interesting. Land of Confusion - 10-of-all with fireblowers and a death fall to navigate. Good, but tough for a 10-of-all. Maybe should be moved up, depending what existing Rank 2 levels are like. Lem Dunk - Good level but move up. Just being 10-of-all doesn't make it easy! Neighbours - One group of lemmings has to save the other. Interesting level. Not a basher tutorial - Instead it's a tutorial on doing without bashers. Good level. Rounds and swingabouts - Skipped. The problem with huge resource-management levels like this is that getting to the end and realising you needed to use a bomber instead of a basher earlier is not fun, and not an interesting puzzle. Also, this is in no way a Rank 1 level. Singularity - 20-of-all repeat. An interesting set of obstacles to deal with here. Somewhere Under the Rainbow - Oh hey, one of mine. 10-of-all repeat of "Changing of the Guards". I guess it's okay as a landing platform introduction level, but the decorative terrain on the right side makes it backroutable. Song of the Lemming - 20-of-all repeat. Okay but there's a long waiting time for the climber, and water buried in terrain. Stranded - 20-of-all repeat? Some interesting obstacles to deal with here. Not a bad level. The Chopping Block - Utterly trivial. Kill this one. The Great Migration - Very easy 20-of-all. Might be suitable for a very early level. The water on the right is a single pixel too wide to be crossed with 1 builder, annoying. LOL at 15-minute TL. The Shaft - A mildly amusing lesson in observation. I guess it's okay to have one of these. The Small Jail - Rescue the trapped lemmings, or just bomb them out. Might be more interesting without bombers -- although the player can always challenge themselves to rescue 100% if they like. Okay but there are better levels. The endless steps - Precise bomber placement, much easier in NL. Again I guess it's okay to do this just once. Through Fire and Flames - Very easy 10-of-all, could be okay as a very early level. Training Zone Alpha - Skipped. Looks like an interesting puzzle level but definitely not suitable for Rank 1. Turn it Around! - Tutorial on two methods of turning round (3-builder wall and 2-bomber hole). It's okay, but is this really one of the best 210 levels the community has produced? Wrong Way, Mr Lemming! - Trivial one-way-wall level. NEW VERSION PICNIC 1. Lesson 1 - Just Bash - Good starter level. Even if this pack doesn't do the traditional tutorials for all skills, it's good to start with only one skill so the player isn't overwhelmed. Moss on steel needs removing now that simple autosteel is deprecated. 2. Rise through the ranks - Climber tutorial. Adds the danger of death but still very easy. 3. Road Block - Blocker tutorial. Simple and looks good. 4. Dangerous Heights - Floaters. Has two hatches to make it slightly harder than Level 2. 5. Dig for Victory! - Diggers, combined with floaters although they aren't necessary. Traps to make it slightly tougher. 6. Play Bridge - WTF. Sure, it concentrates on builders, but this is NOT a builder tutorial level, it's about trapping the crowd and it's not easy (especially with the tight save requirement). Move later. 7. Ups and Downs - "The endless steps" repurposed as a miner tutorial, with other skills. While it can be solved with only miners, the builders help speed things up so that's good. Maybe just remove the floaters and blockers. 8. How I learned to love the bomb - Bomber tutorial with blockers (for redirection, not just for making bombers untimed). This is a fun, interesting level. 9. Wrong Way, Mr Lemming! - Now this works as a one-way wall tutorial. Still suffers from being basically the same puzzle as the original "Keep Your Hair On, Mr Lemming". 10. Arrow keys will help you here! - Directional select tutorial. Not bad. Not many packs think to include one :P 11. Through Fire and Flames - Same level as in old version. I picked this out as one of the easiest levels, so this is a good place for it. Fire pits need some decorative terrain as the gaps (due to the object's reduction in size) look odd. 12. In the cavern... - Another easy level, well-placed here. Moss on steel (same as Level 1). 13. It's a long, long way to fall! - This is "The Chopping Block" given the name of its repeat. Given how easy the early levels of the new pack are, it feels less out of place, but it can definitely go if there's a better level to include. If kept, rename to "Crystal Clear" (the name I gave it in GemLems). I always, ALWAYS give repeat levels different names unless their solutions are also thematically paired, which these are not. 14. The Small Jail - Another one from the old version. Feels in the right place here. 15. Gotta Save 'Em All! - Also well-placed. Simple, but the 100% requirement means you have to come up with something other than the standard blocker-bomber crowd control. 16. Eeny, meeny, miny... OH! - Also well-placed. Only one skill but requires some thought. Nice to have a level like this breaking up the run of 10-of-all levels. 17. Let's get to the bottom of this! - This is "Somewhere Under the Rainbow". I don't know why the title was changed (because Nortaneous has a Lix level with the same title?) It belongs later (assuming a backroute-fixed version will be used); getting down and building a landing platform is tougher than anything the player has had to do yet. I just noticed that the terrain on the lower-left looks like it's covered by the water but isn't; I'll fix this. 18. Dream Eater - This is well-placed. 19. Hunting Season - Still has the hidden trap issue but otherwise fine. Moss on steel again. 20. Food for the gods - Still has a hidden trap and should be save 40, but well-placed. The RR 99 gives the player something to think about. 21. Not a basher tutorial - Another good placement. Now the player has to think about how to use other skills to compensate for the lack of bashers. 22. Harbour Lemmings - A more complex one-way wall level. Also well-placed. 23. Stranded. Well-placed again! You have RR 99, one-way-wall and several hazards for lemmings to cope with. 24. (filler - gap reserved for Minesweeper Lemmings) Given the three hatches to deal with, and the first level taller than the default, I feel this is a good place for it. 25. Song of the Lemming - Much too easy for its place, since you can just bash to the exit. 26. Codrin, Iuliana & Stefan - A small but simple puzzle level interrupting the 10-of-alls. Good call. 27. Neighbours - Quite a lot has to be done here to rescue the lower crowd. Well-placed. 28. Singularity - Definitely belongs near the end of the rank. 29. Rounds and Swingabouts - I gave this one a good hard try, but nope. Still way beyond Rank 1. 30. The Shaft - I guess it's nice to finish off a rank with a quickie. Comparing to the old rank 1, the following levels got moved up: Lem Dunk - Agreeing with my advice that it should move. Training Zone Alpha - Also in agreement with my advice. Turn it Around! - I still suggest removing this. A builder wall tutorial is not "best of" material. The following levels were removed entirely: In the Countree - A little too builder-heavy, so I agree it's not as good as the levels that stayed in. In the swamp... - Shame, I liked this one. It was a unique twist to have a 1-lemming level. Land of Confusion - I guess it's a 10-of-all with unappealing visuals and nothing unique about the solution. The Great Migration - An easy 10-of-all with nothing special about it. HOOTENANNY 1. First Things First - I like this as 2-01. It tests what you've learned so far by forcing you to allocate the skills correctly among the hatches; and having to make every lemming from one hatch a floater is perhaps something that shouldn't be required in rank 1. 2. Lemming in a Cone - Good level, but way too hard for 2-02. The correct route is not easy to spot without experience, and builders need to be placed precisely. Maybe belongs later in rank 2, maybe higher. 3. Kung-Fu Bashing - This is all about the trick near the beginning; the rest is easy once that is done correctly. But the trick makes this inappropriate for such an early placement. 4. Bat Country - The compilers really struggled with "What is a good early rank 2 level?", huh. Tight resources and misdirection as to the correct route... it's a good level for later, but not here. 5. Training Zone Alpha - Is this even possible? 6. No Loitering - Okay, this is more like it. A neat puzzle with a linchpin solution, but the low number of skills make it fairly easy to see what has to be done. 7. Meet & Greet - Another well-placed level. The one-way walls and shortage of certain skills make it non-trivial, but there's plenty of leeway in coming up with a solution. 8. The Crystal Caves. Good. A bit daunting due to its size, but fairly easy once you get going. I wouldn't move it down, however, as the shortage of builders is a little tricky to handle. 9. Not as easy as it looks. Excellent! This is all about finding a way to hold the crowd, and the small number of skills make it not too frustrating, and satisfying once you spot the trick. Time limit is short for no good reason. 10. Lem Dunk - This is well-placed here. It's 10-of-all but has a high save requirement and a lot of work needs to be done to save anyone from the right hatch. 11. Access Denied - Great concept, and a neat puzzle with a few skills where it's hard to spot the right solution. (I don't know whether mine is actually intended!) I also like the fact that the solution ended up using two of the exits. 12. Can You Dig It? - This is the first level where time limit is an essential part of the puzzle, and it's a good time to have one, after the player has built up some confidence. The solution is simple enough and requires use of the release rate to get precisely two lemmings heading left. 13. Tree House - Decent intro to some precise mechanics of where lemmings can and can't move. The 99 builders may be off-putting, when far fewer are actually required. 14. Brick City - Very attractive symmetrical level that solves itself like clockwork. 15. A step too far? - I think this is meant to be a tutorial on the digger-basher staircase, but as Flopsy pointed out, it can be solved just by building up the side. Also, I don't think tutorials on tricks are appropriate for this pack, which is meant to be a selection of the best of the community's work. (The Lix equivalent has cubers instead of blockers; we could remove the blockers to prevent the up-the-side solution.) 16. MORE WEE CREATURES - Good builder conservation and crowd control exercise, appropriately placed. 17. The endless steps - Since this got repurposed as a miner tutorial (1-07), I would suggest removing the bomber version. As Flopsy said, this is much easier with untimed bombers, but we don't want two versions of the level in the same rank. 18. Out on a Lem - This is very easy. Could be moved down to rank 1. 19. The Quiet Place - Nice minimalist puzzle. Pretty easy to spot the solution because there is not much available to try; could fill one of the early slots in the rank if 2-02 to 2-05 move up. 20. Times Four (circular clicking) - A neat mini-puzzle, but the only "benefit" to having four copies of it is to test the player's multi-tasking, which is trivialised in NeoLemmix. Maybe keep just one copy? 21. Turn It Around! - Tutorial on 3-builder wall and 2-bomber turnaround. Again, I don't think tutorials on tricks belong in this pack. 22. A Long, Long Way to Fall - Remove "part 2" from the title. Tutorial on one miner releasing another. I don't like this. (Could we maybe include this level's repeat from the Lix set, "Close to the Edge", in the pack? It dates from after RotL, but it would allow this level's terrain to be used, since I am suggesting removing both existing repeats.) 23. A Fair Old Lick - A nice simple test of the player's observation. 24. Works on so many levels... - Neat study in the interplay between diggers and builders. Could be earlier in the rank as it's fairly easy to solve. I would not increase the save requirement, as it's good that there is leeway to take alternative routes or in case some lemmings slip by. 25. Lem Squared - Good resource management puzzle that requires a variety of techniques to separate workers and gain height. Near the end of rank 2 is the right place for it. 26. (filler - gap reserved for Flugtag) This is a simple level that should be used as 2-02. 27. Crossing Paths - Great concept but it is not easy to spot the right places to bash and build. Move this one up. 28. Altitude Training - Nice use of multiple workers and making the player think about the limitations of having miners but no bashers. It could come a bit earlier in the rank but I wouldn't move it down to rank 1. 29. Guns Blazing - Another neat study in the use of multiple workers, and another reason for moving Altitude Traning a bit earlier so these two are not right next to each other. 30. The Final Countdown - Excellent level and well-placed. DEVIOUS 1. Rhapsody - Good place for this one. You have to think about which skills to use where, but it's not too hard. 2. The Ball Pit - A rather gimmicky level, but the trick is not too hard to work out, and the save requirement is generous enough to allow margin for error. 3. Two Minute Warning - Very nice! The time limit is actually pretty generous, and the real problem is handling the low number of builders, requiring sending worker lemmings in several directions. 4. Crossing the Chasm - Solution is obvious and just requires fiddling to get the precise placements. It's okay. There is a tiny steel area just before the gap, which is unfair and should be removed. 5. Slave to the Rhythm - A little exercise in delaying lemmings while builders build. Okay but nothing special. 6. Inside the Pyramid - Excellent level! Simple but well-concealed solution. 7. Life in the THIRD DIMENSION! - Disappointingly straightforward. Might be a backroute? 8. Stalkers - Icky execution and time crunch. I guess we can do this every once in a while. 9. The Thin Red Line (Colorblind) - Horrible precision and requires knowledge of exact pixel mechanics. Kill this one. 10. Cliffhanger - Really easy. Not sure what the point of this one was. 11. Harder, Better, Miner, Stronger - Looks interesting, but I guess I backrouted it. 12. The Texas Lemming Massacre - Very nice! Extremely daunting at first, but some thought revealed a fairly simple route. 13. Don't Leave Me Hanging! - A lightweight puzzle, could move down a rank but it's okay to have it as a breather here. 14. The Windmill - Not sure if this is just another lightweight or I found a backroute. 15. The Pool - Gorgeous level but belongs up a rank. It's unfortunate that the last builder on the left side might cause a lemming to splat, and the player has to get lucky to avoid this. 16. Pyramid Puzzle - Fairly straighforward putting together of some well-known tricks. 17. Lempire state building - Fun little puzzle with a well-hidden solution and plausible red herrings. 18. (filler - gap reserved for Lemmings of Persia) 19. Use the grey matter for this one - Cute little level that's just a matter of finding the correct order of operations. 20. Four Lemmings and a Funeral - This is missing one builder and basher, making the intended solution impossible. 21. The One Way Block - Missing hyphen in title. Time crunch level with a pretty obvious solution. 22. Think again! - Nice puzzle with a tricky solution. Moss on steel. 23. Build it up with iron and steel - Time crunch done right. There is clearly no way to improve the obvious route enough to make it work, and when you find the alternative, it finishes with plenty of time to spare. 24. Subterranean - Good puzzle level. Looks very complex at first, but there are few enough skills that the player is forced to look for a simple solution. 25. Builderless work - Excellent! Each obstacle can be tackled in more than one way, but there's only one way to put everything together. 26. Crossing Paths (part two) - WTF. This is completely trivial, especially when compared to the first Crossing Paths! 27. Lemming Cathodes - Very nice one-skill-type puzzle requiring the use of multiple workers. 28. That Freezing Feeling - The boring solution of sending everyone over the top works, and anything else seems to be prevented by the time limit. Not sure if this is just broken or what. 29. Betcha can't save just one! - Multiple solutions exist and it's even possible to save more than one, but this will always be a classic. 30. Blast Furnace - This looked trivial at first, but getting a bridge under the right hatch is only half the puzzle. Very interesting and unique level. FRENZY 1. Fiery Depths - Interesting gimmicky level, not a bad choice for a rank starter, except that it shouldn't come right after Blast Furnace due to the similar theme. 2. The Underground Secret - Looks very hard. Unfortunately there is a backroute. [EDIT: Crane's feedback on namida's video says this is actually the intended solution!] 3. The Climbing Frame - Feels like a harder version of Devious 19. That was a good level, and so is this. 4. Faithful Friends - Excellent minimalist puzzle with only four lemmings that have to help each other out. 5. Wood Puzzle - This is the wrong level; "The Rainbow Road" (its title in Cheapo) was called "Wood Puzzle" in its first Lemmix incarnation, but is "The Rainbow Road" again in ISteveWorld. 6. A Break in the Pillar - Very nice builderless puzzle that looks impossible at first. 7. Nemesis - Interesting level although there were just enough skills to make the obvious route work. 8. Rattlesnake - Extremely daunting at first but yields to some relatively simple insights. One-way wall on extremely narrow terrain doesn't look good; is it necessary? 9. Fall Guy - Very straightforward. I may have backrouted it. 10. Dilemma - Very nice 1-of-each puzzle, impossible at first sight. 11. Leap of Faith - A classic from the Cheapo days. 12. RABBIX - Not solved. Seems to be anther case where the hard repeat was imported by mistake. 13. Collaboration - Strange-looking but not a bad puzzle. I like the dual-meaning title: collaboration between authors, and between lemmings. 14. Dead Eternity - Trivial once I realised there were enough floaters for all the lemmings from one hatch. 15. Catch 22 - Missing hyphen in title. Very nice misdirection - either exit looks impossible but both should be used. 16. Sharing a Climber? - Interesting puzzle, though since the two hatches merge straight away nothing is really "shared". 17. A Cut to the Quick! - Needs adjusting for deadly ceiling. Otherwise a nice puzzle. 18. Catch Your Death - Nice level, overall simple but required some subtlety. 19. Drop the Dead Lemming - One of mine :) 20. Four Lemmings and a Funeral - Another nice 1-of-each puzzle. Looked scary at first but not too hard. 21. Death or Glory! - I remember this one well, as I remade it for the Lix community set. Very nice level. 22. Big Trouble in Little Level - Another neat teaser where it looks at first like you don't have nearly enough skills to do everything you need to do. 23. Achtung Lemming - Nice "flow control" level, not too hard but not trivial either. 24. Minimal Trouble - While the solution is a neat test of observation, having to time the crowd correctly relative to the climbers is way too frustrating. 25. Lemmings Sold Separately - Typo in title. Pretty easy, with just a little trick needed to save the worker lemming. 26. Take It Like a Lemming - Brilliant! I remember solving a backrouted version of this before, but this time I found the intended solution and it's a really nice puzzle. I can see why mobius likes this one so much. 27. About to Break - Extremely daunting level, very satisfying to solve! 28. Clonic Inferno - Time crunch level, not too frustrating as all the skill placements are obvious and it's just about releasing the crowds at the right time. 29. The Daedalus - A masterpiece! Looks impossible and there are so many ideas to try, and it all fits together with the correct insight. Should be one of the last levels of the next rank up. 30. Mastermined - Imposing, but much easier with NL skill shadows! A great choice for the rank closer.