Sorry, this pack is cancelled, due to working on 100 levels at one time being too stressful for me. But the good levels in it will be released in 10-level packs in the future, along with new levels.
I've started work on my level set properly this time, so here's a proper thread for it.
~Lemmings Evolution~ (Completed: 100%)
Overview
This will be a pack for neolemmix, mostly using only classic lemmings features (though occasional levels will make use of slight new stuff). It heavily uses my own graphic sets. New music too (that I didn't make). This will most likely be a hard pack, as in it wont have any 20-of everything sort of levels and stuff like that. The levels in this pack are small/compact too, there is a limit of 2 screen widths.
Ranks
Each rank will have 20 levels. The names are based on evolution as I wanted them to be something other than 'progressively more horrible adjectives' because hard levels are FUN! (Yes it's completely inaccurate to real evolution but it's close enough) Placement of levels are just being decided as I go along.
Amoeba - Easier puzzles and tutorials for more well known advanced tricks.
Fish
Amphibian
Reptile
Rodent
Preview Images
(http://i.imgur.com/qN09kpc.png)
Amoeba - Tools You can Trust
(http://i.imgur.com/bULf4IJ.png)
Fish probably amphibian - Crossing the Creek
(http://i.imgur.com/MeKOoo2.png)
Amphibian probably reptile - Face Slime
(http://i.imgur.com/R3cKIcV.png)
Reptile probably fish/amphibian - S is for Steel!
(http://i.imgur.com/hHQQD1H.png)
Rodent - The Underpass
Level appearances might get outdated if I find more backroutes to fix! Also I was bad at judging difficulty.
(http://i.imgur.com/7byxuSY.png)
This will become outdated as I add/change more graphics!
Release
This might be finished in late 2016 AT SOME POINT
If you would like to be a beta-tester to have sneak peeks and help me find horrendous backroutes so I don't release embarrassing levels, just send me a message (though don't if you want it to be a surprise when it's released e.g. let's players)
As expected, only got the first 2 levels done. They are all very well made though.
I had the feeling I had the right idea on Level 5 but couldn't quite pull it together *sigh*
I expect the solution to level 2 was intended because I used all skills and it felt like a nice trick to it.
I also believe I may have found yet another backroute, because I managed to save every lemming on the last level.
Perhaps some of the things I write here are redundant, because your testers have probably informed you about them already, but anyway :D :
Level 01: Making miners go through with builders - not an easy start, but not too difficult either if you're used to looking for such opportunities (which I am, since I have been using such tricks constantly in the creation of Lemmings World Tour). Also, I doubt this is going to be the very first level of the pack when it's present in its complete form, so nice job here!
Level 02: The basic idea of using a skills "outreach" to other pieces of terrain to have it pay double duty is great. Plus, the terrain makes you consider that option pretty quickly, due to the close proximity of the two groups of lemmings (i.e. the crowd and the single pioneer). The execution however is ridiculously precise - I almost always had at least one lemming escaping to the right. If this level is supposed to be on rank 2 indeed, perhaps lower the save requirement by just a couple of lemmings. I have level in Lemmings World Tour requiring a similar maneuver with two diggers: In both levels, it is possible to save everyone (or in your case: everyone except for the bomber), but success or failure are mainly up to lucky timing, even when the player has figured out the correct solution conception-wise.
Just like with time limits that are too tight, these are the cases where I'd advise for a slightly more lenient save requirement ;) .
Level 03: Another obscure trick, the double builder turnaround. But nice approach using this one in a place where one actually has to build anyway!
The climber fortunately has enough room to start bashing early on, so that he takes longer to finish the tunnel while the floater is building.
The terrain in the pit where the crowd gets trapped could be slightly thinner, though; since the bomber only works in one specific place, I was thinking for the longest time that bombing out of the pit wasn't possible at all. You might want to reconsider whether you want to gaslight the player like that ;) .
Level 04: This was the one I couldn't solve. I tried stacking two bashers on top of each other to create a tunnel that goes through all the terrain at the top. But that's about where my fantasy ended. I'm always curious about challenging levels without any builders, though!
Level 05: Speaking of gaslighting: Several of these fire traps don't work. They only trigger once the lemming reaches the top of the trigger area, meaning the fire traps close to the ceiling are useless because the lemming never actually manages to climb that high.
If that glitch is supposed to be the point of the level, then expect a lot of complaints for inconsistent trap behaviour (lower fire traps killing the lemming while those close to the ceiling don't).
If you simply didn't know about it, then my solution is probably a backroute ;) - which is quite likely indeed, since I managed to save everyone.
Finally, in the New Formats version, those traps at pillars going all the way up to the ceiling aren't required anyway, since the ceiling is deadly and the lemming is going to climb to its doom regardless of whether there's a trap on the pillar or not.
Meaning if the level is actually supposed to work as in my solution, you'd have to put terrain at the top of the level, because otherwise the conversion to New Formats is going to break it.
Overall, just these couple of levels look very promising already, and they're also exactly the type of smaller, restricted-skillset levels that I tend to enjoy the most (rather than huge X-of-everything levels or levels with annoying terrain shape that are bound to make any execution fiddly by default). :thumbsup:
If my criticism in the spoiler tab sounds a little harsh here and there, that's not intended to detract from the generally very good first impression that I got from this pack! :) It's merely that the pixel precision in some of these levels makes them artificially harder than the conceptual solution actually is.
Also, thanks to the specific tricks you used, these five levels already provide a sufficient amount of information for me to compile a Gronkling-style level for Lemmings World Tour. ;)
I strongly encourage you to keep going with this pack, especially since you seem to be so close to the finish line!
To be fair, I actually like level 5 as a whole. If you make the fire traps working as intended, I'd have to go back to the drawing board completely, because I don't have any clue on how to do it differently. My solution required all the skills, so the only two reasons I thought it was a backroute were 1) me saving everyone, as I said before, and 2) the fire traps at the ceiling which were not working.
With regard to level 3...
...it depends on what you're referring to here ;) .
Simply having the climber bash as long as possible? That's a standard delaying tactic, of course it could be made more consistent by making the piece of terrain thicker, but most Lemmings players should know about this, similarly to assigning a floater early or late, depending on whether one wants the fall to be fast or slow.
Bombing through the terrain at the bottom of the pit? Yeah, making it a little bit thinner could help?
The double builder turnaround trick? Honestly, to me that is one of the most obscure tricks ever. I like it a lot myself, but it is hard to teach to new players without explicity informing them about it.
In contrast to the three builder wall from "I have a cunning plan", or the double miner turnaround, both of which could be figured out with extensive logical thinking, I doubt anyone less seasoned would consider the option of a builder "bumping his head" on a staircase that's behind him rather than in front of him.
Especially since the three builder-wall is also a thing, and in that case none of the three lemmings turn around. The double builder turnaround requires one lemming to step over a lemming who is already building, and then start building early enough before the first staircase becomes too high.
For my upcoming pack, I made an introduction level with a pre-level text explicity informing the player that this trick is possible - because I considered everything else to be too unfair. ;) Meaning: The level boils down to "do you know this trick is possible or not?", and if you don't, then you don't stand the slightest chance of solving it.
i meant the bottom of the pit :p the rest seems fine. my levels tend to be very obscure trick based, but if you have a good understanding of the mechanics, they are all possible to work out I think
I took a quick look at the demo you still had at the beginning of this thread and I have attached my replays below :)
"You Try It!" - Nice level. I really liked the idea of teaching the main trick of the level on the left hand side of the level and then allowing the player to use it again later on, but I guess that's why it's called "You Try It!" :)
"Pylons" - Another great level! This one took me a while to figure out and I love the solution, especially that bit where the worker lemming has to be the one that frees the crowd. That was a nice touch I thought.
"Craze Maze" - This one took me a while to work out, and I honestly loved that trick with the builders to turn a lemming around as I didn't see it at first but eventually figured it out.
"Hydnellem Peckii" - I think I might have backrouted this one, but to be honest I have absolutely no idea what I did and why it worked :P
"Don't Climb On The Stairway" - This one was by far my favorite of the 5 levels :thumbsup: If my solution is intended it truly is a mind-blowing solution and even though I knew the general tricks involved it still took me a while to work out everything. Well done! :)