At the moment I'm working on a new project; to recreate the PS3 Lemmings levels. However, levels involving teleporters has been my biggest struggle so far, especially when multiple lemmings need to go in at once (examples being in Fun 5 "My first teleporter", and particularly Fun 9 "Watch how you go now" where there's a short time limit). In the PS3 version you can get as many lemmings as you want, when you want. NeoLemmix only counts the total frames for one lemming, and then for another etc wasting time. To get multiple lemmings in and out I have to place several invisible teleporters and receivers with their trigger areas next to each other (see attachment below).
Because that's how NeoLemmix teleporters were designed to work - they work like traps, except they relocate the lemmings instead of killing them. Inspiration here was drawn from Cheapo, where teleporters also worked like this.
The idea of a "portal" object - effectively, a teleporter that works instantly (and allows multiple lemmings at once) rather than being triggered - was discussed at one point, but didn't seem to have enough interest to warrant adding it. Nonetheless, I'm not opposed to adding such an object in the future, if enough people are likely to actually use it. It goes without saying that this would have to wait until the current upgrades / fixes are finished, though; so don't expect it too soon.
In regards to handling teleporters in such situations, often in my levels, there may...
LPIII and Omega Minor Spoilers
...be a holding area around the teleporter to keep the lemmings there... (http://neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpiii/0308.png) (LPIII, Rough 8)
... (possibly with the added factor of having to control which direction they enter it in) ... (http://neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpiii/0407.png) (LPIII Fierce 7)
...or creating one may be part of the puzzle... (http://neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpiii/0404.png) (LPIII, Fierce 4)
...or there may be no means for one, and the user instead must avoid situations where the lemmings become clumped up... (http://neolemmix.com/old/levelimg/lpo/0421.png) (LPOmega, Mental 21)
...and so on.
I love playing with the "only one lem at a time" situation with the teleporter. Like you see in my contest 10 space entry. I can see the desire for such an object as well, but if we should have such an object there are two things that need to happen:
- it must be clearly indicated if this is a "one-lem" teleporter or an "all in" teleporter.
- new teleporters must be drawn.
If this is worth the work must be determined. + right now there are many task that are more important than adding this kind of teleporter as there are often workarounds thatlead to not needing them.
After being given special permission to test Lemmings Plus V (http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=2485.0) and discovering that one graphic set allows more lemmings to enter the teleporter than others, I just had a brainwave on how I can rectify this problem; by creating a new graphic set. As each teleporter counts the number of frames doing this job should also allow me to control the number of frames I want to get more lemmings in. Less is more...