Ok solved the NeoLemmix part and tried out the lix levels, but I need a break for today now.
Attached the solutions for the NeoLemmix levels and my best try (saving 33 Lix instead of the 34 required) for geoo's level. (Gotta get that last pesky Lix hopefully tomorrow)
Comments:
Safe Descent (bsmith):
The level looks nice, but I hope I just horribly backrouted this level, because it would be too easy if this was the intended way.
Mind the Gap (Crane):
Looks good and has a non fiddly clean solution. Overall good level.
Cognopolis (DynaLem):
First you think ohh my this is going to be annoying, but false. The solution falls together in a clean non-fiddly way and it looks very nice. A very fun to play level.
Parking Garage (Geoffster):
Nice theme and the mechanics in this one are really creative. Also even if you think the solution is trivial.....nope needed a a bit of rethinking to get everything right. Great job!
House on a Hill (möbius):
I has a little Deja vu at first because of the rock-lvel in MobiLems :P The solution came rather quickly, as I used this trick tons of times in other packs in the recent past. It also looks quite nice.
Las Ranas Hermanas (geoo) so far:
I really had to get into the Lix mechanics and given tools to be able to try out my plan for this one and after an hour I finally got used to them. I had to rethink a lot and finally came up with a plan that NEARLY works. I lost one Lix too much and I bet there is a method in which the frogs get one less Lix, because I don't see another way for the middle obsticle (if the right miner can survive some way? but I don't think so)
Pretty sure I've found a major backroute on this one.
Might also be a backroute. The hardest part is working out how to get out of the starting area; once that's done the rest is fairly simple.
I tried this one for a while, but couldn't solve it yet. My best attempt solution would've worked, except for lemmings not being able to step up from underneath the staircases.
I haven't yet looked at any of the others beyond a quick glance.
I only solved one level so far, but all look very nice, and very tough.
Safe Decent:
Feels like a major backroute for this level. If it is; the otherwise intended solution I don't have a clue for yet.
Given the other comments, this should be pretty similar to other solutions.
Only played V1. The first half is very good. The (now likely fixed) second half less so.
Solid level. I am wondering whether 100% is possible with a little precise timing at the very beginning? Otherwise a fun and not overly hard level.
Excellent level with a wonderful solution! Apart from geoo's level the hardest one.
Not yet solved. 1 miner and about 10 seconds short (no replay).
Nice looking and huge level (both typically IchoTolot). Especially the first half of the solution was very good.
Solid level, which has a 100% solution.
Interesting that both levels feature the same trick, one with a basher and one with a miner.
Remark: All replays are recorded with NeoLemmix V1.35-C.
Solved one more.
A very nice level; not challenging but fun to play and does require some planning ahead.
Solid level. I am wondering whether 100% is possible with a little precise timing at the very beginning? Otherwise a fun and not overly hard level.
It is possible. The only reason my solution doesn't save 100% is because I placed the blocker on the steel, instead of slightly to the left of it; by the time I realised this could lead to a 100% solution, I didn't want to completely restart the level from the beginning. There might be some optimization I missed, but it'd seem 100% requires all the skills except for one climber and the bomber.
By the way, I notice that so far, Rondo Alla Turca is a very common music choice in this contest. :O
EDIT: And one more!
A very clever puzzle here! At first I thought it must rely on very good timing and interaction between multiple bashers, but the eventual solution was very tidy and clever! I did have one basher left over, though...
EDIT: Reuploaded replay to work with V2. The method is still the same.
Very impressive levels so far. I think it's safe to say this was a very good choice for this contest's rules! :)
Solutions for updated levels (except for "Parking Garage", where my first solution should still work).
Only minor modifications needed.
Second half fells much more natural now, but the first half is still the most impressive part of this level.
I had a look again at the three that have been updated; I'll get around to the ones I haven't yet looked at later today. :)
Updated my replay to Parking Garage in the above post; since the overall approach I used still works.
Very little change needed here.
Only a small change needed to the first part; substituting a miner with a basher because I needed the miner later (edit: although now that I think about it, I could've used one less miner elsewhere anyway, at the cost of a fair bit of extra time taken). Some more significant changes needed in the second part. Good level. :)
I'm not sure how well I thought the music fits the level; but the level itself is excellent! I did expect this level to be a lot harder considering who the author was; but while the difficulty wasn't as high as expected, the quality definitely was. Great level!
This level wasn't overly great IMO. It was mostly a matter of working out the exact precisely-needed points in a solution that wasn't too unobvious overall.
I'll get around to the Lix ones soon. :)
The same general idea still works; once again, it's just a matter of changing the exact details of the execution.
The start contains a brilliant red herring in that you think you have to dig down that crystal column just prior to the drop, but instead you need to mine that way to nick the column opposite, otherwise all you can think is "how the hell do I get the lemmings out?". After that, everything falls into place, although I pretty much had to learn how to use Cloners on the fly - what a wonderfully creative skill!
"Don't call me Junior!" - not sure if the music fits the level, even if the snake designs are pretty cool, but it's still a nice tune to listen to!
Hm. I'm not sure how I felt about this level; especially under Lix where I'm not as used to the fine control features (does it have frame-perfect ones?). Although I have no idea what the solution could possibly be on the newer versions where basher staircases are not possible...
That leaves just geoo's level left to beat. I did have a quick look at it, and have no ideas; I haven't made any attempts at actually solving it yet though.
Alright, the original backroute seems to be completely gone now. This new solution requires a fair bit more thinking; still not overly hard, but a nice level. :)
I've had some more tries at geoo's level, but I haven't been able to solve it yet. It would appear that it either relies on very good timing, or some detail of Lix mechanics that I'm not fully aware of...
I've had some more tries at geoo's level, but I haven't been able to solve it yet. It would appear that it either relies on very good timing, or some detail of Lix mechanics that I'm not fully aware of...
One thing to be aware of is the precise trigger area of the frogs, it's narrow and shallow (open the level in the editor to see it). Apart from that, there's no lix-specific or otherwise unobvious behaviour needed. There are two precision moves near the beginning, but while obviously some timing is involved, you always get quite a bit of leeway.
<V4> "Safe Descent" by bsmith (NeoLemmix)
My solution still just goes straight down, though it's a bit more elaborate than before now.
First part is a lovely puzzle, the second part feels a bit like filler and spoils the level a little bit imo.
I really like the idea here, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have for various reasons. (Well I kinda did but then it got a bit frustrating when I had to repeat everything a few times). One is, the triggers are small and in a colour that's very prevalent in the rest of the level, so I missed one of them. The required tweak was really minor, but due to its length the level punishes mistakes early in the level very hard and I had to replay most of it again. Then I ran short of bashers (as I saved the exploder), and I realized there are a few spots where depending on the exact basher placement, you need 1 or 2 bashers to get through. With that in mind I think either the number of bashers could be more generous, or tight with those ambiguous spots eliminated.
Easily my favourite here, and that's not because the competition isn't good. Amazing level which in principle can almost be solved just looking at it, and execution then is a triviality. The terrain in the middle is structured and simple and yet it's traversed so many times. Very elegant. When I had worked out the main solution, the last thing to solve was how to get the climber home which took me longer to spot than it should have. Only nag is the time limit which is completely pointless here. It doesn't eliminate any backroutes afaik, and only might make you restart the level to do it over for no good reason. Would you mind if I ported the level to Lix, and added it to the Community Pack (with appropriate credit, of course)?
Solid level, there are a few things to put in place though it didn't take me that long to solve. I definitely enjoyed playing this one a lot. The cloners were new to me, I can see the potential in them, though I don't remember applying them to workers specifically.
Pretty straight-forward after having seen variations of this many times. At first I thought I have to set up some complicated blocker release gadgets, but then I saw I had walkers. Looks nice though.
Cool trippy design. A bit technical for my taste, a lot of execution tricks in there.
Safe Descent:
Finally I see a challenge! Now it's a nice little level.
Mind the Gap:
Little bit of finetuning needed, but my opinion has barely changed.
Parking Garage:
This solution (hopefully intended) is even better and cleaner than my first one! Exellent level!
lasranas:
Now without a time crunch! Had to rework my solution though, because of the extra frog. But now the level is a lot better than before! (Did not use the left steel, too! :P)
For Nepsters level: I looked over geoo's shoulder as he solved it (I also got his replay here), but it's his solution so it would be wrong from me to also post it.
Took me a while to solve this time, but...
Wow. This level shot up a LOT in difficulty with the latest update! In the end, I needed almost every skill... It's a very good level!
This one required a lot of thinking. The solution I found seems pretty clean. I had 1 climber left over, which was probably intended to be used near the beginning (to set up the blocker on the top-left ledge?)
If you time things perfectly, it is possible to get down to the bottom-left ledge using only 1 miner, 1 bomber, and 1 basher, but it involves some luck (I could only pull it off 1/3 of the time.)
Edited by namida: The level had been attached to this post as well as the replay; removed it.
Almost there with the intended solution - a couple of tricks in that replay are correct. Well done Geoffster. I think only one or two minor changes are needed now. Yeah, that Climber is used to place that Blocker on the top left, although if you're able to do it without a Climber, I won't fault you for that! Extra points at the end of the round!
I think if I can fix that mine/bomb/bash thing and do something about miners going under that small one-way wall, I'm all set!