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Other Lemmings Projects => Levels for other engines => Topic started by: Akseli on August 11, 2013, 04:22:27 PM

Title: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 11, 2013, 04:22:27 PM
So that I can say I’ve released even one level pack. Plus level packs suddenly coming out of nowhere is cool.

It can't hurt to try out designing a few levels, can it? :) Level designing can be pretty fun and rewarding if you have some good ideas and people playing them.

...level, considering it's his very first. I hope you make more Akseli!  :)

I'm not sure if I would have ever made even one single level without a contest like this. And I'm really excited to see what kinds of solutions other people will find for my creation. I think I'm starting to understand the allure of making own levels more than ever.

And some more comments outside the forums something in the style of "How on Earth haven't you made levels, dude!?!?!?".

Yeap and it really seems to make sense starting a topic for a level pack rather than putting everything in Lemmix Level Pack Topic. :)

Recently I really realized how there’s much less interest in level designing in the Lemmings community than I thought. I think “Lemmings Community Compilation Levelpack” topic was the last bit when I figured out that surprisingly few seem to be really interested in the level designing scene/has played many custom levels/are willing to discuss about these. This issue doesn’t at least spark my level designing appetite too much, and I’m not sure if/when I’m going to make more levels. But now I have created even one single pack, so I can taste what it’s like to create levels myself, not just to play others’ ones.

My levels in this pack focus on tricks. Some of them I’ve discovered entirely myself, and some of them I’ve got inspiration from Clam’s trick topic. One level uses a glitch, but I think it's somewhat obvious which one it is. I don't know if most of these tricks are used in older levels already. Highly probably they are, and you can mention it if you find my levels similar than some older levels. But it’s of course very nice if there’s even one single level which could offer you something that you haven’t experienced in Lemmings before.

Naturally, I'd like to hear any kind of thoughts which come to anyone’s mind about my levels. Are there flaws in my levels, which kind of, does something look ugly, is the difficulty curve solid etc. I’d like to hear which levels are your favourites of these, but also which levels are your least favourites. Also, which levels you considered the hardest, which the easiest and so on. You can rank my levels in these kinds of orders if you like.
I’d guess that the most annoying issues in my levels are going to be executing the solutions. Like I said, they use tricks, and these need precision. I’d recommend to utilize fast forward and save states as much as you like. Of course I'd like to hear which other details annoy in my levels. And if there's actually something you like about. Please don't hesitate to give any kind of feedback, I'll appreciate everything.

The first level I saw in my dream when I was 11 years old. It looks very simplistic, but at least for now I don’t want to add any decoration there, because the level was exactly like that in my dream. I’m surprised that the level actually works well.
The third level is a tribute/gift/something for some of my favourite level designers. In a neat puzzle game called “Laser Tank” there were people who made this kind of tribute levels for their “role models"/level designers they honoured particularly in that game. I liked that idea a lot. Tricks needed in this level aren’t discovered by me.
The fifth and the ninth levels are familiar from level design contests.
I tried to order the levels by difficulty (tell me your opinion!). I'm a bit worried if two certain levels resemble each other too much.  :-\

I think I’ll upload this pack to the Lemmings Level Database after fixing possible backroutes and such.
I hope you enjoy playing this! Or at least try not to break down in tears when playing my levels, if they're so awful haha. :P And yes, I'd very much like to see your solutions for my levels.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you have problems with setting up Lemmix, take a look at here.

Some hints for using Lemmix smoothly:
My levels are meant to be played in 'Custom Lemmings' viewer style. To change the viewer style, right click with the mouse on the window where levels are listed and choose 'Change viewer style...' and choose 'Custom Lemmings'.
When playing a level, you can save a replay by pressing 'u', and a replay file will appear in the Replay folder. To view a replay, press Shift+R.
You can save the current state by pressing Ctrl+F1, and load the latest saved state by pressing Shift+F1. Fast forward works by pressing 'f' and game will jump 10 seconds by pressing the Spacebar. Just to ease your playing experience. :P

If you want to send your solutions me privately (which is recommended), you can send them in my e-mail: juhoakseli[at]hotmail.com or link them me (with speedyshare or dropbox, for example) in a personal message.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EDIT 1: The second version of the level pack is out now! Fixed levels 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8!

EDIT 2: The third version of the level pack is out now! Fixed again levels 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7!

EDIT 3: The pack is even more updated and at last available in the Lemmings Level Database!
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 11, 2013, 11:23:11 PM
Hi Akseli

Cool I've gave your levels a try for the first time oh they are hard haven't completed any yet but I was wondering if these levels are meant for lemmini or is it meant for the custlems.  I got it working on the dos custlems but not lemmini.

I can get them up to the exit on the first level but keep running out of time. 

Oh my I remember that laser tank game, must of been a long time ago since I last played that.  I remember spending a bit of time making my own levels and tested it by letting my brother play the levels in that game.

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: chaos_defrost on August 12, 2013, 12:51:24 AM
Oooooh, definitely getting/playing/giving comments, a lot like how you've done for my sets. This is going to be good, if what I've seen from you in the past is any indication.  8)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 12, 2013, 11:40:44 AM
Thanks for the nice comments! :thumbsup:

This pack is meant to be played in Lemmix/CustLemm. I just checked that this pack works in Custom Lemmings, no one of the levels crashed when I played them. : ) Most of the tricks are DOS/Lemmix specific, but I know that at least the third level works as intended in Lemmini also.

Yeah, if you don't make it in time in the first level, then you don't have the right solution. ;)

Oh my I remember that laser tank game, must of been a long time ago since I last played that.  I remember spending a bit of time making my own levels and tested it by letting my brother play the levels in that game.
Oh yeah I love that game, I played it a lot about ten years ago! :thumbsup: An addictive puzzle game with loads of different levels from different authors, and some of the authors created just ingenious stuff. I also created some levels, mostly for my little brother to try out, but then the hard drive crashed and my work disappeared. :I
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Pieuw on August 12, 2013, 03:47:03 PM
Yeepee, Akseli dude finally made his first pack !

I have to say all these levels look pretty nice, I just love this big bug !
And level 3 is of course the best of all, a true masterpiece... ok I'm just being silly here. :D

I did not solve any of them yet, but as you know I quite suck at playing levels in Lemmix.
And I usually suck at solving other people's levels, so... I'm doomed here.

Awesome work anyway my friend :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 12, 2013, 11:38:55 PM
I think I figured out the solution to level 3,  :evil: well I won't say too much don't want to give it away.  I'm still to actually complete that level.

We could do a race to see who completes the levels first.

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Minim on August 13, 2013, 09:24:03 AM
We could do a race to see who completes the levels first.

Well, count me out, because I only have Lemmix and therefore access to only the 5 original levels. :( Still, I had a go and only solved 2 of them so far, levels 3 and 7. They're both clever solutions and do require a lot of thought, especially in what tricks you need. They certainly gave me a couple of tries, and I sure all of them would be like this as well.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Pieuw on August 13, 2013, 09:31:47 AM
Well, count me out, because I only have Lemmix and therefore access to only the 5 original levels. :(

If it is the exact same problem I had, just copy any level pack into Lemmix\gamedata\custlemm and rename it levelpak.dat. It worked for me.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 14, 2013, 04:32:42 PM
Thank you all for the comments! :thumbsup: It feels great to read that kind of analysis about my levels, what did you minimac do, for example. :) I hope that you'll get your Lemmix to work with ONML styled levels also, you still had made ONML tileset levels years ago. If Pieuw's advice didn't work, maybe take a look at here?
And I'd still like to see everyone's solutions. :D

Some hints for using Lemmix smoothly:
My levels are meant to be played in 'Custom Lemmings' viewer style. To change the viewer style, right click with the mouse on the window where levels are listed and choose 'Change viewer style...' and choose 'Custom Lemmings'.
When playing a level, you can save a replay by pressing 'u', and a replay file will appear in the Replay folder. To view a replay, press Shift+R.
You can save the current state by pressing Ctrl+F1, and load the latest saved state by pressing Shift+F1. Fast forward works by pressing 'f' and game will jump 10 seconds by pressing the Spacebar. Just to ease your playing experience. :P

If you want to send your solutions me privately, you can send them in my e-mail: juhoakseli[at]hotmail.com or link them me (with speedyshare or dropbox, for example) in a personal message.

Three levels are backrouted at the moment. :XD:
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Ryemanni on August 14, 2013, 06:16:49 PM
This is really stupid question, but how can I actually play levels that are in .dat. I have only used to play Lix and Lemmini levels, so I'm not really sure what to do. :(
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Pieuw on August 14, 2013, 06:52:31 PM
This is really stupid question, but how can I actually play levels that are in .dat. I have only used to play Lix and Lemmini levels, so I'm not really sure what to do. :(

In Lemmix :

- File -> Open
- Select file type : DOS Levelpack file (*.dat)
- Choose Akseli's pack
- View -> Levels viewer -> Custom Lemmings
- Open the level you want to play and press F2
- Voilà ! For more tips, read Akseli's post above.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: geoo on August 14, 2013, 06:55:45 PM
Raymanni: Set up Lemmix as described here: http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=804.0

I had a first pass through the level set two days ago, first pass meaning I spend 5-10 minutes on each level and if I can't solve it by then I move on to the next. Back then I solved all levels but 1, 4 and 10. I had an idea for 10, but thought that if that's the intended solution then that's going to be so horrible to execute I don't want to do it.
I had another go at the rest today and managed to solve them. Not sure why I had trouble with 4. For level 1 my previous solution ran out of time, and you comment prompted my to look for a different solution. Though trying my old solution again I barely managed to complete the level within the time limit. Level 10 I was just being dumb thinking the solution I had would be too hard to execute.

Comments:
1: Nice minimalistic level, though I don't know whether my solution is intended. If it is, then the time limit is a bit tight (the last lemming enters the exit in the last possible frame I think).
2: I think the timing here is a bit more tricky than it needs to be, but I like the underlying idea.
3: I realized very quickly what I had to do, but still, it's a really beautiful idea.
4: You got quite a lot of skills here, so the level seems relatively easy, but it still gave me a bit of trouble figuring the skill placement. Not sure whether my solution is intended. Either way, I feel the gap at the right could be shortened slightly so you don't have to resort to bridge stretching (or at least very precise placement).
6: This was a really good puzzle, I was trying various things before I got this one, though I used that digger placement from early on. Again, not sure if intended.
7: My solution to this one was a bit weird. It's really hard for a puzzle with that many skills, the only big restriction is having only one digger.
8: Probably my favourite one of the bunch (excluding 5 and 9, which I think I've commented on before). I first had a solution that was supposed to mine through the one-way wall, but the OWW glitch made it impossible. So I had to readjust my idea. I saw the main trick in one of Steve's Lix levels before, and then worked out the timing at the top, so this one was probably not as hard for me as to other players.
10: I had the idea I worked out on my first pass, but I thought it'd be so hard to execute that I didn't try. Turns out I was being dumb as I thought I had to dig right away, making the timing a lot more difficult. Again, having seen that trick before might have made it easier for me here.

I'll send my solutions to you via PM.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Ryemanni on August 14, 2013, 07:09:57 PM
This is really stupid question, but how can I actually play levels that are in .dat. I have only used to play Lix and Lemmini levels, so I'm not really sure what to do. :(

In Lemmix :

- File -> Open
- Select file type : DOS Levelpack file (*.dat)
- Choose Akseli's pack
- View -> Levels viewer -> Custom Lemmings
- Open the level you want to play and press F2
- Voilà ! For more tips, read Akseli's post above.
For some reasons that did not work, because I'm missing some graphics files, but I can still create and test my own levels without problems. I'm going to try the Lemmix player what geoo mentioned.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Proxima on August 14, 2013, 11:15:38 PM
Time for me to comment... I was hoping to solve more of them first, but ah well. Got #3, #4 and #8, and I'd already solved #5 in the contest.

Firstly, these are really nice-looking levels, especially #2, #3, #4, #6 and #9, though I'm not wild about all the flags on #3. Love the crescent moon on #9. (Is the odd spelling of #9's title deliberate?)

#3 is a fantastic level -- which trick you need is obvious from the skills, but it's not at all clear where to use it, and when you see it and everything clicks into place, the solution is really beautiful. I like the fact that the release rate is already set up to help with the timing.

#4 is okay, a little disappointing in that it turned out to be easier than it looked at first glance. I haven't seen the trick used before in that exact version, so that's a plus. #8 is an excellent puzzle, though here, as geoo said, being familiar with the trick made it a little easier to get. Still, overall the level is very different from Insane Steve's, so definitely worth keeping.

Of the ones I haven't solved yet, I really like #2, just because it's great to see a really difficult puzzle level with builders only, and #6, because I've spent a fair amount of time on this one and am very much enjoying being baffled by it.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Turrican on August 14, 2013, 11:52:38 PM
Hi Akseli !

Very nice pack! It has some very well made levels!  I  have solved the levels 2 , 3 , 5 and 7 until now. I have e-mailed you the replays of the solutions.

My favorite level from the pack is level 9 ( Crysilis ) , even if I haven't solved it yet ( it looks very nice, and I like builderless levels )!

Also in level 8 , it seems I've encountered the issue geoo has described ( about trying to mine through the one-way wall ).
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 15, 2013, 12:57:07 AM
So many replays and comments now that I can't keep up properly! Thank you so much, everyone! :thumbsup:
Thanks for giving constructive criticism as well! :) I really appreciate your feedback.
I myself won't talk about the solutions yet too much, I don't want to reveal anything. :D

geoo and Turrican: Great job, I sent you a PM!

Proxima: Great comments as well! :) Those flags in level #3 actually have a little inside meaning, and Crysilis I presented here, the title comes from Jazz Jackrabbit. :D I'm definitely looking forward to your solutions, especially your description for level #4 was exciting for a few reasons!


7 levels are backrouted at the moment! I'm trying to remove backroutes and I'm working on the second version of this level pack.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Clam on August 15, 2013, 11:14:07 AM
Not much to say for now besides: I am impressed! :) I sent some replays via PM, and I'll post comments later (if it hasn't all been said already!)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 15, 2013, 04:39:19 PM
Thanks Proxima and Clam for your solutions, I sent you a PM. :)

The pain of backroute fixing. :D
Thanks for geoo, Pieuw, Turrican, Proxima and Clam Spammer for sending your solutions so quickly! I managed to remove these backroutes already now.

The updated version of the level pack is out now, I attached it to the starter post of this topic.

Levels 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were backrouted.
Levels 3, 9 and 10 remain the exactly same as earlier, those aren't backrouted at the moment.

Due to backroute fixes, the difficulty of executing the solution in two levels increased to some extent. Yet again I'd remind utilizing save states and such to make performing the tricks easier. Of course you are recommended to mention your opinion if something is really annoying.
The other level is "Feel the Pressure", which has now save requirement as 96%. So far only geoo has solved this level in the intended way, so anyone other can also try it if they want, although they would have solved the contest version earlier. I got too tired of people avoiding the main trick in this level, so now it is enforced. :P

Thank you all again for your solutions and comments! :thumbsup: This has been very exciting to see how you solve my levels and what you think about them. :)

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 15, 2013, 10:41:12 PM
Hi Akseli

I like the level that was in the contest interesting layout as I never played that one before as I was one of the later ones getting back into the levelpacks.  I think I might know what the trick is to that one ;P  I think I ate too much birthday cake today and drunk too much fizzy drinks (Not a good thing ain't it) 

 
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Turrican on August 17, 2013, 12:02:09 AM
I have tried the second version of the pack and I have solved the levels 6 and 7 until now. I have e-mailed you the replays of these solutions.

My solution for level 7 is very different compared to the one I have found for the first version of the pack so it may be (probably) close to the intended solution!
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 18, 2013, 10:16:49 AM
Nice Turrican, I messaged you.

Anybody having any luck with the levels still?
Has Insane Steve had time to check any level?
Have you grams yet managed to solve any level and make replays, because you said already that you may know the solution at least for two of my levels? ;)
Minimac, you can send me your DOS original mechanics replay solutions if you want, I am still capable to view those and decipher whether they are valid solutions, highly probably they are.

I've received much fewer solutions after backroute fixes, so I see this as a very good sign! I made really embarrassing mistakes with some of the levels at the beginning. :P
Please keep your replay solutions still coming if you find something! :)

EDIT (because I'm too lazy to post all the time):
Thanks Clam for his updated solutions, he's doing really impressive work and has now solved 9 levels, and even 8 of those in a way I'm happy with!
Also, one updated level is backrouted humiliatingly at the moment... :b But I'm happy that there seems to be so few backroutes now!
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: geoo on August 20, 2013, 07:02:14 AM
I solved all but 1 and 6 now. I think my solution to 2 is a pretty embarrassing backroute. For level 6 I'd have a solution if the max safe fall distance was 68 pixels, or if lemmings could walk up 7 pixel steps. Alas, neither works, but it still seems more manageable than level 1 (which I still maintain is the hardest of the bunch :P).
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Luis on August 20, 2013, 10:41:26 AM
One level uses a glitch, but I think it's somewhat obvious which one it is.
I don't like bug solutions, which level is it?

Edit: Question answered in PM.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 20, 2013, 10:55:09 PM
Hi Akseli

I think it might be the same question as Raymanni  ???

I feel bad for pestering you again but here we are I've still got bad news with trying to get the levels working in lemmix (Is that possible, sorry if it's a silly question)       

I've added an attachment but it's sort of a screen print to see if I'm doing the right thing.  I got the levels up but it doesn't seem to allow me to play them in the lemmix once I press F2.  Only way I can really play the levels is getting them working through Dos box but that means there will be no way of recording the replays. I totally agree  I think it's good to record the replays as well that way you have a sense of achievement.  :thumbsup:

I hope I haven't confused you with my question.  ???

By the way I solved one of your levels in the dos version level 3.  I like your message in the level sort of like a tribute nice touch. Well I think I know why you might of put one of the Dodochacalo's  tribute for that particular level.  :thumbsup:  I can't go too much in-dept as I don't want to give away any solutions.

Hope everyone has been okay
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 20, 2013, 11:17:18 PM
I think I got it working no worries (Just had a a look through the comments cheers)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 21, 2013, 12:14:09 AM
Here's one of my replays

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Luis on August 21, 2013, 01:13:46 AM
I beat level 1. I'll send the PM.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 21, 2013, 02:40:43 PM
Thanks everyone again for sending your solutions! Now I received enough big bunch of backroutes (discovered by Turrican, geoo, grams88 and Luis) so I'll update the level pack.

So far the most updated, the third version of the level pack, is attached to the starter post of this topic, link here.

Levels 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 were backrouted.
Levels 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 remain the same as in the second version of the level pack.

About level 7, I said some people that I'm not quite sure if I'll block their solutions, but then there came too many of those, and everyone's solutions for level 7 is prevented now.

I was hoping that this third version is the last beta version of my level pack but now again it seems that there's so many alternative solutions. :D Oh well. Please keep your solutions still coming, and I hope you're having fun playing my levels! And don't forget to give comments and feedback. :)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Luis on August 22, 2013, 11:46:26 PM
Recently I really realized how there’s much less interest in level designing in the Lemmings community than I thought.
I think one of the reasons why is backroutes are everywhere and fixing them is annoying. Lemmings is haunted by this forever. That contest that we had was more of a "Find the intended solution" contest. The last level to have their intended solution found is the winner.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 26, 2013, 03:04:09 PM
Hi Akseli

Here's a replay from one of the marble levels.  Tricky solution but actually quite a nicely designed level.  :thumbsup:

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on August 28, 2013, 01:00:36 PM
Recently I really realized how there’s much less interest in level designing in the Lemmings community than I thought.
I think one of the reasons why is backroutes are everywhere and fixing them is annoying. Lemmings is haunted by this forever. That contest that we had was more of a "Find the intended solution" contest. The last level to have their intended solution found is the winner.
Wow, you really think it in that way? :I I'd guess that backroutes mostly show up in hard levels and when skilled players plays them, not so much in more casual levels. Some people still find it discovering challenge solutions and such rather than ruining levels, backroutes can be harder than intended solutions. I myself haven't done backroute fixing too much because I have only one level pack, but I haven't seen it annoying at all. Seeing other people's solutions for my levels is like getting information about my creations, and it's the part of the fun to see how other people approach differently my levels. Sometimes it happens that someone finds even a better solution that you hadn't ever even thought about for your level!

If you mean our level design contest, our main categories were the amount of first version solvers, the most fun level and the best-looking level. The backroute fixing jam was pure fun after that: Those who wanted, they could spend more time finding different solutions for these few levels in the contest. And in the level jam there is only evaluating the levels in categories like most fun, original and best looking. Backroutes aren't related crucially to that jam at all in my opinion.???

I think our community is simply so small that there's so few people interested in level designing. Those long site breaks between forum incarnations of course dropped people out easily. Also, people of the generation of the most hardcore Lemmings fans have probably been already for years in such life periods that they don't have much time for Lemmings anymore.

===============

So far no one has backrouted any level of the third version of the pack! :) You are encouraged to point out about the annoying details in my levels still, so I might think of fixing them. I'm probably going to put this level pack in the Lemmings Level Database soon.


Okay, I think I'm starting to reveal amounts of solvers of my levels.

Level: amount of solvers (amount of intended solution finders)

Sparkle & Glitter: 4 (2)
The Glade of Disbelief: 5 (1)
For Mr. Dodochacalo & Mr. Pieuw: 6 (6)
Winter Solstice: 4 (1)
Feel the Pressure: 4 (2)
Why do you all look so similar?: 4 (0)
In the Core: 4 (0)
Pedantic Lemmings: 4 (2)
Crysilis: 3 (3)
Zygoptera: 1 (1)

I'm especially surprised about Sparkle & Glitter, I really thought that level is clearly the easiest and the worst level in this pack. On the other hand though, Zygoptera seems to be the hardest level as I anticipated.
More revelations maybe to come.
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on August 28, 2013, 01:34:20 PM
Hi Akseli

You are right our community is small in the area of creating levels and with lemmings in general maybe.  The reason I was mentioning that last part was we kind of know each other in the lemmings community quite well especially if we are playing a random level pack we found on the internet then as soon as we noticed who created them, You will think to yourself I remember him or her. (Small world I guess in that respect)

One thing for sure is usually at the weekends I get a two player game with my dad, I think I beat my dad last time but still fun to this day especially the amount of unusual tactics we have been using for the levels trying to get to the exit.  My dad is 53 years old and he loves it at the weekend getting a game of lemmings as well as getting a relax.
 
I was reading something a while back in relation to backroutes and I thought to myself maybe backroutes are a good thing in relation to the levels as we tend to like a level with so many different solutions.  Now I can understand if the backroute slightly mocks the level that's different as it makes the level so easy.  ???  (Interesting point you have there Akseli about backroutes)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on June 29, 2014, 01:34:52 AM
After almost a year from the last solutions I had received, Nepster sent me his ones yesterday and made really impressive work beating entire 7 levels intendedly! He's one with the most beated levels now with Clam, who also has solved 7 levels. Also, this showed me that there's (hopefully) not that many backroutes left, and I got motivated to make last little improvements and fixes for my levels.

Luis' backroute for level 1 is now fixed as well as backroute-prone level 7. Also I made really small appearance improvements for levels 3, 4 and 6. I improved the title of level 6 a bit, too. Now I finally uploaded my level pack to the Lemmings Level Database like I aimed to do many times last year. :--D Here it is at last! Notice that the file in the database is named AkseliPack01, similarly to v1, but this newest pack is more precisely v4. Hopefully this doesn't confuse anyone too much.

As always, I'd like to see your comments and solutions even though if the last post in this topic gets a bit old, for example Nepster hesitated to post in this topic because there wasn't activity for a long time, but I think it's always good and even recommendable to post in this kind of topics if one has something to offer, right? :)

I hope you still enjoy playing my levels! :)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: namida on June 29, 2014, 03:43:27 AM
I started having a go at these - only looked at the first level so far, pretty damn hard! o_O So far I've come up with  two near-solutions - one of them only saves 90%, the other one falls about 10 seconds short of the time limit. I'll keep trying later on today. :)

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EDIT: Found another one that rescues 80% and is short by about 4 seconds >_> wonder if tweaking it might work... EDIT AGAIN: Nope, unless this level requires an insane amount of RR tweaking (or I'm missing an obvious pattern - which is very possible, this is me we're talking about), I'd say that solution is a dead end...

EDIT: FINALLY GOT IT! That was really clever! The far-right part was also an excellent distraction, at first I was trying the block-a-builder-while-he's-building trick (the one used, among others, in Genius 6). Okay, now onto the next...

Okay, for this one, I need to come up with a way to ever so slightly delay the right side lemming a bit longer... unless the solution is something completely different than what I'm thinking... EDIT: OH WOW, I overlooked something SO obvious that saved JUST enough time to make it work. Still, that level required one hell of a lot of fine-tuning, so I'm not sure if my solution might be a backroute...

3rd level was hella difficult to set up, but I realised almost right away *what* to do. Good level though. I should mention though that a major part of it is simply a matter of picking the right lemming out of a crowd (at least in the solution I found); I actually noticed the same thing being a problem in one of the LPIII levels so majorly reduced the number of lemmings to retain the solution while eliminating that factor. (EDIT: Now with the 2nd demo released, since the level I'm speaking of is in there I can reveal what one - I'm talking about "Synergistic Effect" (Dodgy 2 in the 2nd demo). Originally this had 40 lemmings.)
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: grams88 on June 30, 2014, 03:23:22 PM
You can do it Namida.  :thumbsup: I got so near with the (Sparkle & Glitter) but I ended up running out of time hmmm I must give these ones a go again and see if I can master the levels. 

I noticed that Akseli uses all the level sets which I quite like as each level set comes with it's own problems when trying to sort out the tiles.

I'm glad you got your levels up on the website.

Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: namida on June 30, 2014, 05:13:49 PM
You can do it Namida.  :thumbsup: I got so near with the (Sparkle & Glitter) but I ended up running out of time hmmm I must give these ones a go again and see if I can master the levels. 

I noticed that Akseli uses all the level sets which I quite like as each level set comes with it's own problems when trying to sort out the tiles.

I'm glad you got your levels up on the website.

I actually passed the first three levels by now. I haven't had a huge look at the 4th one yet.
But I do have to say; my skill in solving levels is not nearly as high as that in making levels. I've completed all the DOS (including ONML, Xmas, H94, Covox and Prima) and Genesis and L3D levels, and I think at one point I completed all the levels in Tribes at least to Silver standard (dunno if I ever got gold) and about half of Revolution, but fan levels are often too hard for me. :P

Anyway, I've had a look at the 4th level now, haven't beaten it though. This one is very hard... The best I can seem to acheive is 60% (in the form of every lemming from one side and a single lemming from the other; I can acheive this with either side being the "every lemming" one, just not both at the same time). One such solution doesn't kill any of the remaining 4, there's just no way to get them to the exit.

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The closest solution I've found requires either an extra builder or an extra basher to work. :( It involves good timing on the left side by mining through at the first spike, bashing the second (with the positioning so it *doesn't* break through to the lower level), then digging through the last one and building across - I managed to time this so that no lemings die). On the right, use a climber to get a worker out, and it's a pretty standard solution there - but I'd need an extra builder or basher to release the crowd.

Other things I've noticed:
* Two destructive skills are definitely needed on the left side; though I'm not entirely sure which two. I'm trying to find an approach using only a miner and a digger (without any builders), if I can find one that gives time to build over the gap to the exit, it leaves me with enough builders to complete the right side fairly easily.
* This need for two destructive skills on the left rules out any "under the water pit" solution, as far as I can tell.
* By extension of there being no under the water solution, since going over it takes 5 builders, that leaves 1 climber, 1 floater, 2 builders, and 1 of each destructive skill for the remainder of the level.
---> Releasing the crowd on the right requires either a basher or a builder.
---> Getting over the gap near the exit (on the rightish side) also requires a builder, though I can see potential ways around crossing this gap altogether.
* I'm not yet entirely sure if the two sides need to work together, though I'm leaning towards yes as the other two multiple-entrance levels so far have required it. (There again, as someone who often uses these kind of distractions myself, I'm not taking anything like that as certain until I solve it. :P )
* If I find any use for the climber on the left side, I can avoid needing one on the right by substituting a builder, though this has to be the last lemming (unless the release rate can be jacked up without interfering with the left).
* It's possible to trap the left-side lemmings between the two spikes on the top "rung", by using a builder and a miner. (Or a builder and a basher, but I think that leaves no way to free the lemmings on the right.)

EDIT: GOT IT!!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!! :D These are honestly excellent levels!
Also, if I'm not mistaken, by changing the timing I think it should be possible to get 100% with this solution?

EDIT AGAIN: 100% confirmed. Replay attached.


I've had a bit of a go at the 5th; though so far my best attempt gets 86% (edit: 88% with a slight tweak) - 5 lemmings short of the requirement, so I'm probably using a completely wrong approach.
EDIT: 92% with a different approach - still 2 lemmings short. I can probably improve this one to 94%, but not to 96%. :(
Title: Re: Akseli's first custom level pack
Post by: Akseli on July 02, 2014, 03:45:46 PM
I updated my pack in the database yesterday, the only change is fixed release rate for level 4 preventing namida's backroute. Links are also updated already, probably nobody even noticed anything. :P

Thanks guys for the comments! :thumbsup:

GOT IT!!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!!! :D These are honestly excellent levels!
This especially was one of the most heart-warming comments I've received, thanks a lot! :) Also, no one else gives that thorough description of their thought process during level solving as you, really nice. :) You've already made really impressive work with these levels!