Lemmings Forums

Night rank

Sky Castle - Pleasant opening to the pack that won't pose many problems to experienced solvers.
Lems Are Playing Freeze Tag - Arman's first level is definitely trickier, mainly getting your head around slider mechanics - those pesky critters!
Christmas Tree Hunting - Mobiethian's hardest level so far; working out how to contain the crowd as well as have the pioneer go in both directions. It may actually be his hardest off the pack, although Rocky Road runs it close. Clever stuff!
Silent Night, Holy Night - Quite a long solve time for this one, which will become a recurring theme of Armani's levels! The hard part here is working out the correct use for a pretty limited skillset for such a large level.
Lighter Than a Snowflake - The one that originally caused me to give up on Armani's levels in the pack. Coming back to it 5 months later, it's not as hard as I remembred but still gave me quite a lot of trouble (I always struggle where gliders are involved too!). Working out what skills you are going to need at the end is key, as well as the optimal path to the gap in the fire at the top right of the level, plus where you need to use the cloner (logically, it can only be one place).
Uphill Sled Ride - Nice puzzle! The tricky bit with this one is getting only two lemmings to go over the top while the rest are contained, making use of a skill in transtion, so that one of the two that go over can fence back up to the crowd.
Rocky Road - One of Mobiethian's hardest levels in the pack for my money. Another really well-designed puzzle.
Lost and Found - Not Armani's toughest level but working out how to release the infinitely looping shimmier can be hard; not so much the how as the when!
Claustrophobia 2 - Appropriate title given how tight (time-wise) this level is. Even with absolute optimal skill deployment, you will still only have a second to spare at the end!
Happy New Year! - This jointly authored level is deceptively difficult, working out the only correct path (I assume) to victory! Took a bit of thinking out, this one - well played, guys!
All I Want For Christmas Is... - The first level in the pack to have me partially stumped. Definitely Armani's hardest level in the Night rank. Small hint acknowledged, the lightbulb moment was realizing that the lemming on the right side has to do pretty much everything.
Living in a Fairy Tale - Gorgeous tileset. I always love levels that utilize it and this one is no exception!
The Lem is Home Alone! - Another joint effort that required a pretty long solve time!
Night of the Christmas Crystals - What I call a slightly more arcade style level due to all the jumping around. Fun!
The Bear Necessities - Tough one. Aside from All I Want, probably the longest solve time of the rank. I don't think I backrouted it, but I did have a diggger to spare at the end.

Daytime rank

Walking Bearfoot in the Snow - This is the rank where we really start to see the genius of Armani's level design! In this one, the tactic of allowing the crucial pioneer to fall through the trap unharmed by having a sacrificial worker lemming take his place took a lot of spotting. I haven't seen trap response times used in quite this way before, but had a hunch they might, and also, there wasn't really anything left to try at this point; it's quite a restrictive level, in terms of skills.
Wake Up When It's Christmas - A rare open-ended level from Armani and a ton of fun to play through! :thumbsup:
Do the Polar Plunge - Not too hard, but also lots of fun - love jumpers!
Angels We Have Heard On High - An uncharacteristically easy joint level, but I suppose it's early in the rank. Very enjoyable nonetheless. :)
Your Gifts Are Over There - Neat idea to have the pioneer do his work underneath the crowd.
Skating on Thin Ice - Tricky one, but once you realize you can't use the digger at the start because you'll need him later and that the snowmen have climbable sides (not a sentence I ever expected to write!), the rest is straightforward.
Fluffy Snow Vs Rock Hard - Very clever, Armani, very clever.
Amphibious Operations - Difficult one for me as I always struggle a bit with the mechanics of swimmers but ultimately another nicely designed level from Armani!
Sky Shield - The hardest level of the pack so far, to my mind. Very, very long solve time. Though I got 95% of the way through I did need that final push from Armani to get me to see one little thing right at the end. Once again, a brilliantly designed level that utilizes every last skill.
Roller Coaster Mountain - In which we see once again that Mobiethian is a big fan of the lone pioneer, leading from the front!
Mele Kalikimaka - Tropical Christmas Vacation? I love the atmosphere of this one, nice break from the rest of the pack!
Like a Snowman Inside a Fridge - Another surprisingly straightforward joint effort but looks great and is fun to play through. Love this tileset too, it always reminds me of Festival Millas, which are among my favourite packs ever!
INside OUT - Strangely gave me a lot of trouble, given that it's not an especially hard level, but I was being especially dense. Looking at it afresh on a new day, it was quite obvious what needed to be done.
Watch Your Step! - Now we get to the business end of the pack in terms of Armani's levels. Long solve time. Very hard to work out what needs to be done. Clever use of the stoner to enable a single basher tunnel at the top. Clever use of sliders. Clever how it all comes together. Just a clever level.
The Lem is Lost in the City - Smart level design and again, it looks fantastic!
Warm Cozy Basement - One of Armani's hardest levels I would say. Very long solve time. Looks impossible at first, as Armani's levels often do. How to get that single floater to go back up and down to mine the tunnel to the crowd? A head-scratcher for sure! Lightbulb moment here was realizing that the blocker isn't for the crowd when they're at the top, but once they've got down, awaiting the miner to set them free. Genius level, honestly.
Constructus Interruptus - Arguably the hardest level of the pack or at least I think so, and Armani probably concurs. He was kind enough to say that I had almost solved it in a replay I sent him, but without the hint he gave, I doubt I would have finished it. The final bit I hadn't got is critical and as I said to him, I don't think I would've seen it in a month of Sundays! It's a 'trick' (more of a technique really) that I'll remember for future solving though. It's a clever level again and the clue's in the name, but travellers be warned - it's not easy in the slightest to work out what you're supposed to do!
Where Angels Dare - Another level that looked impossible at first pass, but in the end it wasn't too bad. Something of a breather level compared with the last two!
And They Lived Happily Ever After - All the neutrals drowning at the start made me laugh out loud! Had a platformer to spare at the end and a ton of jumpers. Is this a reference to being given an abundance of knitwear by relatives for Christmas, or am I reading too much into there? ;)

Lems Are Playing Freeze Tag – I hoped this level would help you get used to the slider mechanic for the upcoming more difficult slider level.(Watch your step... :evil: )

Lighter Than a Snowflake – Looking back now this level might be a bit too difficult for where it is placed. I've received similar feedback from several people. :XD:

23:58:30 12/24 – The idea behind this level was: can you make a level with a single hatch and n exits, with a time limit that only allows a solution if you go for all n exits? The answer turned out to be a relatively easy "yes". ;P

Lost and Found – I wanted to give some spotlight to one of the least-used skills: the stoner. You can create terrain mid-air without any starting point for constructive skills and that's a unique feature of the stoner!

Claustrophobia 2 – A spiritual successor to my level Claustrophobia from the previous Xmas pack. The urgency created by the tight timer is completely intentional! :evil:

Happy New Year! – Just for your information, several levels were co-authored. The general rule is: the first author listed creates the terrain/objects and the second author creates the solution. ;)

Living in a Fairy Tale – This is my favorite tileset. :thumbsup:

The Bear Necessities – Not exactly intended, but your solution is actually better than my original one! :lem-shocked:

Walking Bearfoot in the Snow – Yes, I didn't want to add too many extra elements beyond the main idea of the sacrificial jumper.

Sky Shield – I think you could have solved this level even without the hints!

Watch Your Step! – The theme I had in mind was that all skills must be provided as pickups similar to rule #3 in the current level design contest. :laugh:

Warm Cozy Basement – I'm glad you liked this one. It's my personal favorite level in the pack! :)

Constructus Interruptus – Yes, this level stands out a bit in terms of difficulty. I could have removed some tricks to make it easier but ultimately I ended up liking them too much and kept everything as-is. :evil:

Where Angels Dare – Yes, this one is more of a visual level. I drew the scenery first and the solution came afterward!

And They Lived Happily Ever After – If this level made you laugh, then it achieved exactly what it was meant to do. :laugh:  I didn't have any particular reference in mind when choosing the title.

Night 2 - Lems Are Playing Freeze Tag! Nice first level from you and not too hard, though I did make the mistake of building from left to right for the final gap instead of the other way around. It might still be a little difficult to be this early in the pack IMO, though I know that Mobiethian did a lot of the level ordering, so I'll make sure I bring this up with him. The only reason I think so is just simply due to everyone being a pre-assigned slider and so the main challenge is just coming up with ways to turn them back from going out the "wrong" way.

Night 3 - Choo Choo, Santa! The main difficulty comes from figuring out the most efficient way to get through the level, but it's not easy to because of the very limited skillset. I think it's clear that one needs to go over the top, but it's not easy to see how to use the skills efficiently here.

Night 4 - Christmas Tree Hunting The main difficulty comes from figuring out the solution. Here, I made the mistake of going through the tree instead of going over it, the one after the water gap. Doing it the second way seems to always leave you a skill short. Very nice red herring, but the level did feel like it's hard for its position.

Night 6 - Silent Night, Holy Night Another one that I didn't find too bad, though I found the final part of the level the hardest, but that's because I tried some incorrect things, such as making sure the gap is completely sealed off at ground level instead of the mining finishing a lot higher so that it's easier to reach the exit. Well done, I think this is the right difficulty for the rank despite the very restricted skillset.

Night 7 - Lighter Than a Snowflake This on the other hand IMO is too difficult for its position. The solution is quite obvious in that one needs to get a non-glider to the very far right in order to land at the bottom safely without dying to the fire trap, but how to achieve it is very hard. It's a very nice trick with jumping with a glider and then cloning him at the right spot in order get the stoners in place, but it's the hardest part of the level. It's also not easy to judge whether a non-glider is able to get to the next snowflake with jumping. So, this level definitely needs to move later in the rank, but I'll let Mobiethian know. You also have just the right amount of jumpers to do so and therefore cannot waste any of them at all.

Night 10 - Party Time! Very nice builderless level! :thumbsup: Even then, it's still a little difficult to figure out the way through to the pickup and back. I did finish with some skills leftover, but my solution is likely still acceptable. This I feel is the right difficulty for the rank as well :)

Night 11 - 23:58:30 12/24 Nice title, being a reference to 1.5 minutes before Christmas Day and therefore the 1:30 time limit :laugh: This was a really great level, I like it a lot :thumbsup: The most clever part was having a worker on the far right flip all the splitters to allow another through in one smooth go. The hardest part to see here was where the digger needs to be used, as well as realizing that every Lemming goes to his own exit: Floater to the far left one, climber to the middle, and finally the regular one to the far right one. Also because I kept thinking the digger goes in the upper part of the level on the far right and that two need to use that exit I made the mistake of having one Lemming be both the floater and climber. Nice red herring! :laugh: I love how everything falls into place once one realizes the solution. Well done! :thumbsup:

Night 12 - Lost and Found Another nice level, though the hardest part was rescuing the shimmier that was stuck in an endless loop. I can definitely see similarities to David's Jasmine level from DavidLems here! :laugh:

Night 13 - Claustrophobia 2 Aha, the sequel from your Xmas 2021 pack but with a very good use of the time limit! :thumbsup: Very nice trick with leaving a step past a thin enough wall to have a worker land on it and build the rest of the bridge to catch the others from the other side. I managed to finish with just a second remaining, phew! :laugh:

Night 15 - Happy New Year! Wow, great level from the both of you :thumbsup: The hardest part was seeing the mining on the first 2 in order to rescue the one trapped at the bottom. That part is pretty precise, especially as you have to take care to make sure you don't leave a gap in the platformer bridge. There's a lot of wrong ideas that look like they can work but they don't. In particular, the hardest part was figuring out where you need to do the bridges and which ones you can afford to not use a constructive skill. I think the gap before the exit is a given that a constructive needs to go there. It was also not easy to figure out how to get the button where the water is, but I had more trouble figuring out how to get both to the exit with the 1-of-everything skillset provided. Well done, gentlemen! :thumbsup:

Night 16 - All I Want For Christmas is... Not too hard of a level, though I incorrectly kept trying to fiddle around where the OWW is where the stomper trap is. I knew that we had to go through it, but what wasn't right was thinking that all the diggers go there. I did think about going through the huge water pond on the right side, but it took me a while to figure out that it was the correct way and how to get the swimmer out of there without also putting the non-swimmer in danger. It's quite easy to think the left Lemming needs to the swimmer instead of the one from the right. The correct way actually has the swimming digger go all the way to the very bottom instead of trying to interrupt him. As a result, this one might possibly be too hard for its position, but it's a bit more than halfway through the rank, so it might be fine.

Night 17 - Living in a Fairy Tale Seems open-ended, especially given that one can lose plenty here. Even then, it can still be difficult to work out the best way to go about the level, especially each section. In particular, there is a splat fall to deal with and just being able to get the right entrance over to the left. I think I could had been more efficient with the middle part by stoning higher so that one only needs to platform, though maybe then I would be wasteful with them if they're needed elsewhere. Even then, I think the builders/platformers are interchangeable for the most part. Just the right difficulty as well IMO.

Night 23 - Moondance Another great level that I was impressed with. I saw the solution almost right away, and it's really nice how it all comes together timing-wise. Nice trick with shooting a laser and interrupting the climber basher who frees the top entrance! :thumbsup:

Night 25 - The Bear Necessities Nice level to finish off the rank. This was a bit hard to figure out, but I expected that. I managed to save a digger, so I don't know if that's a backroute or if I was simply efficient here. I think it just depends on how one does the building at the start so that it determines whether two or three slip on by. Thinking of how to contain the crowd and releasing them later is not easy!

Daytime 1 - Walking Bearfoot in the Snow Very nice level to start the rank! That's super clever with having one Lemming jump into the ice machine trap so that the swimmer/disarmer doesn't die to it. Before I had figured that out, I had all the level figured out except how to get a Lemming in position to platform the water gap, which can only be done from the right side. I remember the solution came to me as I went out to get some late night fast food with the jumping into the ice machine so the worker survives :laugh: That trick alone IMO makes the level difficult to be the first one for the rank, but IIRC the remaining ones for the rank are all harder, and so this one is probably fine where it is.

Daytime 2 - Wake Me Up When It's Christmas Open-ended and just the right difficulty and hence it seems fine for the second level of the rank.

Daytime 4 - Angels We Have Heard On High Another nice one from the both of you. It's a bit hard to figure out how to bridge the gaps, though once I tried a builder for the first one and saw that one isn't enough, then the solution became a lot clearer. For example, for the tip of the iceberg that immediately screams out land there with a glider by cloning it and then build/clone, and therefore stack and then clone a platformer for the first gap. The hardest part then was the middle part, as I thought fencing would work but it wouldn't since he would stop before getting through the last part of the next wall, but I saw that I have a digger to spare and hence it was clear to me that you're supposed to dig and then fence. That part is pretty precise, though. It's obvious that it needs to be that, since a laser stops way before the second wall.

Daytime 6 - Skating on Thin Ice Wow, another great level! :thumbsup: I especially love that trick of bashing with one and the next Lemming goes on ahead to platform to turn around and then the basher cuts off the platformer bridge to allow the one that turned around to fall before the snowman :thumbsup: I had figured that out somewhat fairly quick, but then the hardest part was seeing the platforming and then stopping him with a basher before he seals the gap off in order to punch a hole in the wall so that he can climb into it and bash again. Might be a bit hard for its position due to these tricks, but I think it might be fine.

Daytime 8 - Fluffy Snow vs Rock Hard Ice Another great level! :thumbsup: It was very hard to figure out how to do the building over the water gap in the bottom middle. I kept thinking that the worker needs to be the one to do both sides and also the gap before the exit, but turns out that after you release the crowd you have more than enough time to build from the left and the final gap before you lose too many thanks to very low RR. That was really hard to see, and before I realized the solution I thought I had the solution but then realized I'm probably not using the shimmiers properly. It was also hard to see building over the water gap on the left side, as I kept thinking to use shimmiers there due to the terrain setup :laugh: Also needing to bash through the OWW on the right caused me to keep overthinking the solution :XD: It's another one that might be difficult for its position as well.

Daytime 9 - Amphibious Operations I was quite impressed here as well! :thumbsup: This one really reminds me of the Prerequisite level from Xmas 2021, which I nominated IIRC :) It was clear where the cloner needs to be used in order to get the rest of them out of the water pit near the top right. I have two solutions, where the miner hits the steel to turn and then digs but luckily everyone makes it out before the wall becomes too high. I didn't realize that you can scoot the miner over a little and the swimmers would still be able to get out of the water pit. I especially love the lasering from the bottom right in order to release the crowd. Before I realized this, I kept thinking to dig and then either fencer or laser out, but then this causes everyone to fall and splat later. The fencer at the start is a bit precise, especially as it almost nearly doesn't release the crowd. I do like how the disarmer turns around before all the crowd does so that you can bomb the final swimmer in the bottom middle to allow the clone disarmer through.

Daytime 14 - Sky Shield Hard one, especially with figuring out how to release the crowd and whether you're supposed to keep the crowd moving or can contain them. Also if the latter then if you release with either the basher or bomber. I did realize the middle part with getting a shimmier through, but this was also the hardest part to see with bombing it in order to allow the slider to shimmy through. I kept thinking you needed two shimmiers here, but then I would run out or the slider slides down the stack instead of going over like I want him to in order to make another round on the right side. I especially love the timing here of the slider and climber and they do work separately on the right and left sides, respectively, in order to help the crowd later. It was very satisfying seeing the solution all come together :thumbsup: Would the title here be a reference to SC2: Legacy of the Void? I remember that one was a pretty fun mission.

Daytime 18 - INside OUT Nice level. Here it was very hard to see what the glider is used for. Here it's quite important to figure out when to platform up the gaps, as doing it in the wrong order will cause you to fail. It was also clear that one needs to mine at the top of the huge wall in the middle first, as otherwise the crowd has no way to get to the exit later. All the complications come from platforming up the gap on the top right first because I was wondering how would you platform the gap at the bottom right first before releasing the crowd.

Revised feedback since this needed to be resolved: Took me a while to see that the water at the top is important so that the crowd can still walk to the exit later. This should be intended now and if so great level! :thumbsup: Definitely had a hard time working out how to get around the issues that arise when making the tunnels in the huge middle structure. 

Daytime 20 - Watch Your Step! Another one which appears to have been inspired by that level of David's from DavidLems with collecting the right pickups. Even then, it was pretty hard to figure out the solution. Before I realized the correct way, I kept thinking to release everyone to the bottom right, but the problem is more gaps than you have skills to have all of it covered. I think once I realized stoning at the top to keep a basher going the solution was a bit clearer. That was really clever with putting a blocker at the far left to bounce the miner despite the small gap. I kept thinking that it needed to be timed so that the blocker blocks in front of the miner as he's going. The mining is really precise, though. I like how other the corner ones which are complete red herring pickups all need to be collected except for the slider in the top left and the two pickups over the water on the left side.

Daytime 22 - Warm Cozy Basement This one wasn't too bad at all, though how to contain the crowd and where the building needs to be done were not easy to figure out. I think I could had made the timing less tight if I had the released the crowd at the right time better. I have a shimmier to spare, but this seems to be acceptable, as I was probably simply efficient. Nice level.

Daytime 23 - Constructus Interruptus As you mentioned, this is the hardest level of the pack, and I would agree with you here. The closest I came to a working solution but it failing was due to me wanting to get a builder to release the crowd from the right side by finishing at a point so they can get over the stack. After seeing all possible positions, I kept wondering how to do the level as it seems that I needed to rethink my approach. I saw that a fencer is able to cut off the platformer bridge, but the problem here is that getting him in the middle of the level the fencer finishes too far away from the platformer bridge is. Also, I kept thinking he would need the help of a stacker to reach it, but I saw he always stops before he gets close to it no matter how the stacker is placed. When I saw that a platformer does allow a Lemming through with a one-pixel gap, I thought hmm, perhaps I can time this in such a way so that I can stack with a Lemming before the platformer lays one final brick to be one pixel away from closing off the gap and have one Lemming get through. It was also very hard to see that one needs to go through the water gap at the very top and fence through the trees to get the upper entrance down. I kept thinking that it has to be the case of bashing/cloning at the bottom middle to release the bottom entrance and to reach the exit, but what I couldn't phantom was the far right with closing off the gap with two constructives, one which needs to be a platformer, but then I wouldn't have a platformer to get over to the middle part because I used a platformer at the top. A lot of very appealing red herrings here makes for a very hard level.

Overall, this is a great level, just with too much precision, though if this is intended then yea, no way to avoid the trick platforming and stacking to stop the platform and then be able to build to get over the stack without the stack closing off the gap completely. However, the precision with fencing through the trees can be reduced easily, as there are some holes that can stop the fencer.

Revised feedback due to needing to be resolved: The clicking moment came to me when I remembered a Lemmings Uncharted level which required the building in such a way to release the crowd over the stack from the other side. Nice! :thumbsup: Also helps that you released a contest level in the previous LDC which required something similar with interrupting constructive skills. So really, the level title is kind of a big hint to the solution even though you told me it's a reference to Team Fortress :P Overall, an excellent level with a hard to find solution but can still be worked out logically! :thumbsup: 

Daytime 24 - Where Angels Dwell Definitely not as hard as the previous level but still difficult. I can definitely see inspiration from my level "Snow Way!" here with the first icicle trap :thumbsup: I kept thinking that two workers need to simultaneously build over the water gap in the middle, when in fact only one worker needs to do it. It was also hard to see where to put the blockers and the route to take through the small rings and terrain at the bottom. I really like the fencing at the end with the crowd going under and to the right to get redirected by a blocker to then use the 3 builders to reach the exit. Before I saw this, I kept thinking to go through and over, but in fact there is a tiny wall that doesn't allow you through, no matter how you use a bomber. Great level and very nice design! :thumbsup:

Daytime 25 - And They Lived Happily Ever After I literally LOLed at the part where a lot of the neutrals and Lemmings make the heart and HAPPY XMAS text just fall and drown in the water at the start :laugh: That's really clever and neat, though :thumbsup: A very nice conclusion to a wonderfully made pack by the both of you. It took me about 5 mins to realize that it needs to be a very long basher through by putting a platformer at the right spot to extend it. A nice level with a few surplus skills.