Putting in my two cents, I think it makes sense that zombies should trigger traps and buttons by walking into them, but not so much pickup skills, as zombies are considered "enemies" and thus should not give you skills they run into, but them walking on buttons should not be any different than normal lemmings doing so. Traps are "neutral", killing anything that touches them, lemmings and zombies alike. That's my mentality anyways.
Putting in my two cents, I think it makes sense that zombies should trigger traps and buttons by walking into them, but not so much pickup skills, as zombies are considered "enemies" and thus should not give you skills they run into, but them walking on buttons should not be any different than normal lemmings doing so.
One way you can make use of zombies somewhat in this fashion is by using a setup similar to what Apocalypse 1 of Doomsday Lemmings does.
However, with the pool of packs constantly expanding, I don't know how realistic this consistency approach can last in the long term. My brother is currently playing Oh No! More Lemmings in Neo Lemmix, and that pack for example still has timed bombers (because without them, e.g. the very last level "Look before you leap" would be totally broken). So there are already inconsistencies between packs. In Lemmings Revolution, you can use a bomber as a floater by giving the lemming something else to do before it blows up - then it stops being a bomber again. Also, you can use blockers as "terrain" because other lemmings land on their heads rather than just falling through them like in other games.We had the timed/untimed bomber choice once, and similarly different max fall heights (for some backwards consistency), different hatch orders, and a few other such per-pack options. And then we removed all these physics options, because it was a big mess to check the exact physics for every pack you play. So even though the proposed changes for the Zombies would only require very few changes in the code, this will certainly not happen on a per-pack basis.
Hence, just as bombers switch between timed and instant between packs, I could imagine a similar setup for zombies. Consistency within a pack should still be strived for, so that the players know what set of rules they are dealing with.
Originally, I also wanted to use these Zombies to press the exit unlock buttons, [...] And perhaps, while we're considering that, also to make Zombies interact with pickup skillsWhile I agree that the Zombie physics are certainly not perfect, this would completely change the usage of zombies. Currently they are guarding useful objects and the objective is to remove them somehow, so that the usual lemmings may get there. With your change, this would no longer be possible, but instead levels like the one you tried to make become viable. Therefore I am still not convinced that the changes proposed here increase the design possibilities.
Neutral lemmingsAdding a new kind of lemmings might indeed be the best option. It already decided that they will be added to Lix (at least for multi-player), so I would suggest waiting a bit to see whether they are well-liked in Lix.
Funnily enough, these mine traps look very similar to the exit unlock buttons from the metal tileset ^^, so they had the side effect of confusing the player a little.Which is an extremely good reason not to use both of the in one level, so that the player will guess what they are depending on whether the exit is already open or not.
Note as well that the original lemmings, Lemmings Revolution and NeoLemmix are different games. What you are suggesting would result in one game NeoLemmix.exe having multiple game physics.
Zombies stay as they are: Passiv, mindless enemies.
- cannot pick up pick-up skills
- cannot enter exits
- cannot activate buttons
- cannot be assigned skills
- can be killed by traps
Neutral Lemmings are active allies:
- can pick up pick-up skills
- can enter exits
- can activate buttons
- cannot be assigned skills
- can be killed by traps
Note as well that the original lemmings, Lemmings Revolution and NeoLemmix are different games. What you are suggesting would result in one game NeoLemmix.exe having multiple game physics.
Neutral lemmings
Adding a new kind of lemmings might indeed be the best option. It already decided that they will be added to Lix (at least for multi-player), so I would suggest waiting a bit to see whether they are well-liked in Lix.
Which is an extremely good reason not to use both of the in one level, so that the player will guess what they are depending on whether the exit is already open or not.
Levels have to satisfy the physics, not the other way around. It's not simply "change the physics until your level idea becomes possible".
Levels have to satisfy the physics, not the other way around. It's not simply "change the physics until your level idea becomes possible".
If neutral Lemmings were to be added they should look notably different than normal ones though. :P