Oh, I didn't notice your post until now - strange that I wasn't notified by my settings, but whatever :) .
(Sees Strato's screenshots)
(Looks at own ArtLems levels)
(Throws them in the trash in disgrace)
Haha, I can hardly imagine they're that bad ;) ! I just guess you've set the bar for yourself a lot higher, trying to imitate certain eras of art, rather than just painting "anything" in level form, like a train or a ship.
Just kidding. These levels look amazing though!
Thanks again! ;) Though I just learned there's a limit of what's technically possible.
Here's how to crash NeoLemmix :D :
(https://i.imgur.com/LnqSu6U.png)
All the world's a stage
Unfortunately, this level won't be playable. The player already crashes if I just want to test it. Good thing I only created the terrain so far by copying together the iconic buildings from other levels! :) So it's nothing more than a nice title screen now, because it sums up perfectly what this pack is about.
I didn't have any specific solution in mind yet anyway; I just thought this might be a nice idea for the last level. But anyways, now I'll just return to what was originally intended to be the last level anyway.
At least I finally managed to accurately assemble the US flag (=with correct number of stars and stripes) at a reasonable size! :thumbsup: Also, I'm definitely going to use that "Lemming Liberty" in one of the two New York-related levels! (All the other structures were taken from already existing levels, but the statue wasn't.)
(You need to scroll this post all the way to the right to see that statue, btw ;) ! )
I cannot wait for the pack to be released! :thumbsup:
Believe me - neither can I! ;)
I'm constantly backing up everything, just to be on the safe side. It's astounding that all this work that went into it is just about 50 MB in total (not counting the music tracks, of course).
Let's play a little game for the meantime: Like with "Don't stop believin'", I have some more levels that try to mimic the actual lyrics of the song they represent, rather than just the title.
Can anyone guess which songs these are? ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/WDSRFia.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/GSCPNqc.png)
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
Also, Noisemaker is a full-blown rank now, it has 30 levels just like all the others.
Groupie is also going to have 30 levels; for some of you guys, I'm creating several levels "in your style" if I believe I can't fit it all into one.
Encore is already fixed to 40 levels - surprisingly, I did actually already create that many levels which are song titles in my preceding three packs. I think I even left out one or two, because 40 is just a nicer number.
That blows this pack up to 250 levels in total! :evil: (Noisemaker, Amateur, Professional, Diva, Rockstar, Legend --> 6 x 30 = 180, Encore = 40, Groupie = 30)
I believe that makes it the largest pack in existence so far? :)
Well, there's still three Rockstar levels, a couple more Legend levels, and quite some Groupie levels to go... plus some minor edits on some of the music tracks.
Yeah... looks like we're really going for 40 levels per rank now. I like my ranks to be even in level numbers whenever possible... Encore was bound to have 40 levels due to the sheer number of "song levels" I had already done in preceding packs; "Groupie" has 40 levels because there are a lot more different level creators out there than I thought; and the others are going to have 40 now as well, because there's still a lot more places to visit - and this type of level doesn't fit into any of the concepts for other packs I have in mind, so it's now or never! :D
At least I should have every major US city in here by now... well, every major city about which someone has made a song, that is ;) .
(https://i.imgur.com/d23c2LB.png)
Out of L.A.
Sadly, the skyline of L.A. is surprisingly repetitive - lots of blue, red-brown, or white-blue skyscrapers. They of course differ in detail, but that's a level of detail I can hardly replicate in Lemmings.
The solution is kinda cool, though; it is a builder fest, of course, as you can probably tell from the looks of it, but a builder fest where you have to think quite a bit, because timing is critical here.
(https://i.imgur.com/2nAneVE.png)
Vegas Lights
Since Vegas copied the Eiffel tower from Paris, I did the same :D - i.e. copied it from the "Diggas in Paris" level. Plus, there's the big wheel and the fountain.
(https://i.imgur.com/TfounHh.png)
Shipping up to Boston
Now, as many of you have probably guessed by now, I'm mainly working with photos of the skyline to create these levels. In Boston's case, I've been there myself, and I recognised many of the buildings, but sadly, in low-detail Lemmings terrain, this city suffers from a similarly "repetitive" skyline as L.A. - just with a different flair, more brown and red tones instead of white and blue.
(https://i.imgur.com/eAfpk9Q.png)
Streets of Philadelphia
C'mon, I can't do a rock music themed pack without a song by "The Boss" in here, can I? ;) And if it's a song about a place on top of that, and a place I hadn't already covered with another level before, then this is really a no-brainer. At least these two towers on the left look a little more unique.
Btw, I finally did figure out a way to create a somewhat acceptable Union Jack in Lemmings! :thumbsup: So here's an updated version (including the Highland exit) of
(https://i.imgur.com/fpvp5mz.png)
Streets of London
Also, there aren't many Asian countries in this pack yet... South Korea and Japan are still coming (one with quite an obvious candidate of a song ;) ).
But then I also did a... thing:
(https://i.imgur.com/lGrCGkC.png)
Something in the water
If you don't get what this level is about...
1) Look up the flag, of course
2) Count the number of swimmer pickup skills
With regard to the Groupie levels, I mainly struggle with the levels in style of GigaLem and Wafflem ;) .
In Wafflem's case, it's pretty much obvious what has to go into his level, but that doesn't mean I can come up with a cool solution involving lots of buttons and pickup skills yet.
In GigaLem's case, I have one level using a Freedom Planet tileset, and another one more in the spirit of the "GigaLems" pack.
Alberto Fernandes's level building style was pretty straightforward to figure out, but at the same time, such a level must be extremely annoying to build.
So that's a little road block in the Groupie rank at the moment. Perhaps I'll "re-finish" the main ranks first, rounding out the remaining locations to visit, before doing the final bits of the Groupie rank.
All the music edits are finished by now! :)
Sometimes I can really be thankful for certain song titles... the levels practically build themselves :D . Even if the song is actually about something completely different, but hey... that was already the case for "Cold Turkey" :D .
(https://i.imgur.com/UqWE0KE.png)
Aquarius
Mmh... guess which exit you have to get to? :8:()[:
(https://i.imgur.com/bVvJ30a.png)
Ovo je Balkan
Serbian for "This is the Balkans".
A bunch of flags here, most of which people are not very familiar with ;) .
From left to right: Greece, Bulgaria, F. Y. R. Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia
That checkered terrain piece from the Sports tileset really was my salvation for the Croatian flag! :thumbsup: I had almost given up already on getting that one right.
(https://i.imgur.com/R7lSAju.png)
Bratislava Lover
More stuff... doesn't always have to be a city, btw ;) .
(https://i.imgur.com/AQ5uXDC.png)
Ring, Ring!
I'm considering a re-run of this - Lady Gaga's "Telephone". But I'd have to come up with an alternative solution first to justify that :) .
(https://i.imgur.com/Qh0HuoA.png)
Iron Maidan
More stupid puns, as promised ;) !
(https://i.imgur.com/gBh7Oux.png)
Ayo Technology
"Belgium... is a beautiful city", right? :D And one we couldn't go to in New Formats. Because obviously, you know what is going to happen when you split those atoms...
(Plus, Belgium actually has some pretty old nuclear power plants which don't really fulfil all the security standards anymore, so... :sick: )
And here is the very last level of the pack (i.e. the last level of the Groupie rank). I've hidden it away in a spoiler tag, just to make taking a look optional :) .
I think the largest pack to date should appropriately end with the largest level to date. :evil:
(https://i.imgur.com/ZWIILvz.png)
The Grand Puzzle
I'm still thinking about whether I should change that title to something that is a song, as well. Not every level in the Groupie rank is a song, because first and foremost, there needs to be an allusion to which forum user the level is referring to.
But for this one, I could imagine a song that takes about as long as solving the level :). Hence, the top contender for the title is currently "The Great Mystery" by Avantasia.
"Grand Puzzle" or "Great Mystery" doesn't really make that much of a difference ;) .