Lemmings Forums

1 - Spark & Glitter Wow, when I came back to this level again in the past few days, I actually couldn't remember how to solve this level for a while. I kept building to the left first in order to bounce off a blocker in order to reach the exit platform. However, I never got this to work, because the best I achieved with this was 18/20, as time always ran out before the last one walking around can exit. Eventually, at some point I thought I remembered the bottom left area was used in the solution, but I couldn't remember for a long time what such a solution would look like. Then I decided to try and get into that area by bombing and then building just before getting past the vertical gold pipe. Ah, there's the clicking moment now! The builder is able to continue while also blocking off the way so that Lemmings cannot go back out to the left. That's how you save time and get everyone home on time! Yea, I think I definitely remember this critical element of the solution. I just don't know why it took me a while to figure that out, especially as I'm definitely familiar with the builder being able to continue and also sealing off the tiny gap to stop anyone from going back out. Nice level to start off the pack! :thumbsup:

2 - The Glade of Disbelief Ok, good to know that the solution doesn't rely on any quirk or glitch of the builder skill that I wasn't aware of before on Dos, as I grew up with the Dos version of Lemmings. I definitely know about a Lemming being able to step onto the builder staircase going in the opposite direction when connecting with it from below. I simply kept discarding this as the solution because I kept seeing it fail. In particular, it turns out I simply had the timing wrong of when the Lemmings should arrive at the gap in the middle. A lot of my earlier attempts had them arrive at a time in such a way that the right entrance Lemming would always come one brick away from connecting with the left entrance Lemming's staircase. Meaning, the Lemming above was still far away from reaching the exit platform. Eventually, after a really long time, I experimented by maxing out the RR and seeing if it makes a difference. Sure enough, it does. I finally had success with the right Lemming being able to connect with the staircase from above even though he needed to lay down 4 or 5 more bricks after building the second full staircase. This took me by surprise, as I honestly expected the Lemming to hit his head rather than continue and connect with the other Lemming's staircase. Indeed it's all about the timing and bridge stretching being more effective going to the right which doesn't trigger the builder ceiling check. Nice level, especially one that at first doesn't look difficult but in actuality is despite being a builders only level. You just blew me away at making a really difficult builders only level! :lem-mindblown: And for Dos/Lemmix!

3 - For Mr. Dodochacalo and Mr. Pieuw Ah, you know all about Dodochacalo and Pieuw. Yup, they're essentially legends in the Lemmings community too, having both separately released the highly acclaimed level packs DoveLems and PimoLems, respectively, eventually culminating in a collaboration pack they released last year, Fiat Lem!, for which you told me you played last summer. Yes, all excellent packs, and I've played them all. As a matter of fact, DoveLems and PimoLems were the very first custom level packs I played on Lemmini, though before those two packs, the very first custom pack I played was MazuLems on Dos. Don't worry, though. I'm not going to spoil any Fiat Lem! solutions for you :P  I'm also the same in not wanting to be spoiled the solution before I have solved the level myself first ;)

Anyway, for this level it's very clear that it requires crossing builders and crossing miners without either one getting cancelled. I don't remember if I ever got this solved on Dos. If I did play this level on there, I might had given up in frustration in getting the setup to work. At the same time, the builders themselves aren't difficult, it's the miners that's the hard part. Other than that, a great level which I'm sure Dodochacalo and Pieuw appreciated very much!

4 - Winter Solstice Didn't have much luck with this one for a while either. Sometime yesterday, I checked my New Formats NL Revenge of the Lemmings (I solved this version of the level first back in 2022) video to check if there were any changes mobius might had made to the level because of it possibly not being solvable in NL. Nope, everything is the same, including the skillset, except for one change on the right side where the overhang was removed so that the climber is able to climb out. With it there like in your original level, the climber wouldn't be able to climb out. I then paused the video and skipped straight to the post-results screen since I didn't want to spoil myself and simply wanted to see how much I saved because I couldn't remember if I saved 9 or all 10. For about another hour or so, I finally got the level solved, and my CustLemmix solution is very different from my New Formats NL solution. In particular, for the latter, the miner is able to stop at the second pillar on the left side, but it's a very pixel precise skill assignment, while on Dos/Lemmix the miner doesn't stop. Seems changes were made to the miner skill in NL, which would explain why there's a difference in the result. I believe this was simply to fix the discrepancy of the miner splatting on Dos but the others are able to survive the fall just fine, and also to keep the miner going instead of stopping when making a checkerboard setup. After solving this level, I read Nepster's description in the readme file of why this level is not solvable in NL, and he writes, "Requires miner stopping at certain pixels."

Anyway, nice to know this level doesn't rely on any Dos glitch I wasn't aware of before

5 - Feel the Pressure Another one where I solved other versions of this level first before the Dos/Lemmix one. In particular, it's in the Lemmini version of Revenge of the Lemmings, as well as in a really early version of RotL for NL. However, in both cases, they are the save 47 version, not the save 48 one like this one. I'm not sure why the change in the save requirement, though in the case of Lemmini, it would be due to how RR changes take effect immediately rather than the delay like on Dos/Lemmix. As for NL, maybe it's due to the traps triggering faster? Not to mention I don't think the basher would fall through like it does here for Dos/Lemmix. A really difficult level, especially as it's not easy to achieve the compression to minimize losses to the traps and taking some time to find the right RR values. Nice in concept, though!

6 - Why do you all look the same? Ah, good to know that what I believe to be the solution is indeed the one. However, I kept rejecting this for a while when I saw that the timing didn't work out several times, which did a great job of making me think it isn't the solution. Turns out that once again the RR needs tweaking a few times in order to get the right timing, and I also kept using the digger in the wrong spot. Indeed, this took several attempts before everything finally fell into place. Great level but wow, yea, difficult to get everything right!

7 - Into the Core Ok, this level does require glitches, but I've seen the pushing into walls with blockers before on SuperLemmini first before Dos/Lemmix I believe, though in the latter I might had triggered it off at times in the past a really long time ago but not intentionally. Turns out I simply went about the level incorrectly. For example, I kept repeatedly building with the climber so he can get out of the starting area, but this takes 5 builders. Similarly, due to the asymmetry of builders on Dos, if doing it with the left entrance that requires 5 builders as well and therefore you don't have one to turn around and then one final builder to close off the fire pit gap.

Another time, I thought to simply build my way up to the ledge at the top instead, but nah, this isn't any better. Turns out I kept ignoring the bottom right area, and it would had helped if I had send at least two Lemmings over there to see if it's actually possible to get in there to save the group on the right. I was definitely relieved to see that I met the save requirement exactly, as before this the closest I got was one short of the requirement.

Here, I kept being stuck on the fact that the save requirement is simply saving everyone from one hatch plus a Lemming from the other. With this approach, there's several red approaches that come very close to working but not quite because you'll be at least a skill short each time. Then I observed the tiny openings in the layout with the bottom area and, along with realizing that the number to save from each group is different rather than everyone from one group needs to be saved plus at least one from the other, finally got somewhere and then eventually succeeded after a while. Nice level, and I think I can definitely say this is the hardest level of the entire pack! ;)

8 - Pedantic Lemmings Another one where I solved the Revenge of the Lemmings version of this level first, especially as I didn't attempt this one before I finally did over the last few days. I'm definitely aware of the miner on the OWW bug when going to the right on Dos, but I completely forgot about it when I tried it. Guess that's what happens when I'm so used to NL now and haven't played the Dos version of the game in a really long time. As a matter of fact, it's going to be really difficult for me to, especially as I really appreciate the framestepping and other convenience features of Lemmix and other engines that are time savers compared to Dos.

As for the level itself, due to the OWW miner bug, this required a different approach. Took a while to get the digger and bomber setup right so that the climber can't go out to the right, since you need him to breach the OWW to release the crowd from the other side. I also wasn't sure if it's possible to bash in a miner tunnel on Dos, but I think this level made me aware that it is, or maybe sometimes yes, other times no. The basher in NL is more sensitive, after all. Another good level.

9 - Crysilis Oh nice, a builderless level! :thumbsup: I always like this type of level in Lemmings :) I can definitely see this one being a really difficult level, but I do know about making staircases by interrupting destructive skills midstroke by blocking and digging with a nearby Lemming to release the blocker and then bashing to interrupt the digger thanks to Icho's NL Introduction Pack. The right group is much easier than the left group with the two entrances on the same island, since for the former it's just a climber and a digger and finally a basher to get them home.

10 - Zygoptera I think I more or less knew what needed to be done here, I simply needed to confirm it by seeing where to best use the basher. I fiddled around with the moss area for some time before rejecting it due to the basher not continuing despite adjusting the position. Ultimately, this level didn't take me as long as it otherwise should had because, funnily enough, I have a level idea in mind that I want to make revolving around interrupting a basher midstroke with a digger to release at least one Lemming to go on ahead to make the path :P At the same time, I first saw this in a Lemmings United level. Once I thought of the stopping the basher with a digger, I then knew the reason for the low save requirement. For building to reach the exit, you can also do it on the right side instead and everyone should still be able to reach it, especially as the builder will be done long before the others reach him again after turning around in the miner tunnel. Nice level to end the pack on on what is one of the hardest Dos/Lemmix pack available on the Lemmings Level Database site.   

Looking at my levels nowadays, lots of them require maybe excessive release rate tweaking, that might create unnecessary-ish artificial difficulty. When creating these levels, I thought I wanted to hide the solutions pretty well with those RR tweaks, so that no solution would be encountered by accident. But as said, release rate regulation makes the levels harder in lots of these cases, maybe harder than needed in the end.

Sparkle & Glitter I saw in a dream when I was a child and it's surprising to see how well it kind of works as a level, having few little tricks in a very minimalistic landscape. Early backroutes happened due to time limit being too lenient for unwanted approaches.

The Glade of Disbelief is built around that trick, about which Simon/IchoTolot even drew a concept art of how the builder check works. :P

For Mr. Dodochacalo and Mr. Pieuw is the only level I didn't try to hide the solution at all and alongside Crysilis and Zygoptera these levels that are still the only ones that aren't backrouted in any version of the pack. After all, it is a tribute level. :P

I didn't know that Winter Solstice is in Revenge of the Lemmings or even has a NeoLemmix version. :P Obviously, the miner shouldn't work on the left hatch area what it does in the NeoLemmix version now when watching kaywhyn's solution from YouTube. :D Also, this level has a visual quirk: the water pool on the right was designed to have 4 layers of ice on the surface, but it seems than only played in Lemmix those appear as intended (the lowest object is on the front and the highest on the background). In these other versions there's those mud layers instead of ice surfaces, it doesn't look as nice as I mentioned it to be. :P I guess it's possible to be fixed, though.

Feel the Pressure is the first level I ever released, it was in a Lemming level contest with a rule to design an 1-of-everything level. It revolved around the idea of merging Lemmings from two hatches in a digger pit with a RR of 87. Again, I don't think I have taken much part of the Lix/Lemmini/NeoLemmix versions of this level, but the save 47 solutions I've seen are ok for me. :)

Why do you all look the same? had earlier title "Why do you all look so similar?" if someone wonders if there's replays going around with that name, for example. The main trick is the main thing here, but as said, release rate fiddling makes things a bit hard.

In the Core is the only level with a clear glitch but as mentioned in my starter post of the topic it can be quite obvious to find out in the end. My solution actually involves releasing both crowds from below, I didn't even remember this before looking at my old replay. :D IchoTolot's solution is similar to kaywhyn's.

IchoTolot found a ridiculous backroute solution for Pedantic Lemmings in 2015 and I haven't bothered to fix it... :D others have found that intended solution of re-using the climber. I made the pack with all of 9 original tilesets from the games (excluding Xmas), and I chose my favourite tileset, Brick, to be the one used in two levels.

Crysilis was made in a level designing jam with a rule of making a builderless level. The title refers to the Crysilis planet level in Jazz Jackrabbit game. This is the most open-ended level in my pack and is pretty much any solution is fine type level. Yes, the right hatch area is pretty much filling compared to the two hatches area. :P

I can't remember exactly if Zygoptera was first a visual idea before deciding the main solution there, most probably it was. A fun fact: I wanted to use the cooler sounding name Zygoptera (damselflies) instead of Anisoptera (true dragonflies), even though the visual appearance of the level is maybe closer to Anisoptera. :P Also as I studied biology in the university it was nice to have something related to that in my level pack. In the solution my bomber and digger assignments are vice versa to kaywhyn's in their YouTube video and it's completely fine. :P Crysilis and Zygoptera are the two levels I initially meant in my original post saying "I'm a bit worried if two certain levels resemble each other too much." referring to the usage of basher mechanics.