I've noticed a few posts have broken image links; the link itself is present, but the image isn't.

In some cases this could of course be expired links, but due to the sheer volume of missing images site-wide I wondered if the recent SMF update might be causing this issue.

Here's an example topic where many of the images are now missing.

It's about time we put together a user guide for SuperLemmix.

I say "we" because it would be really useful to get feedback on what users struggle with the most with the interface, and even the game itself, and what might need to go into a manual (NOTE: by this I mean what needs more explanation, as opposed to what features people would like to see; for that, please make a new [SUG] topic).

I'd ideally like to do it in PDF format and make it accessible via a button on all menu screens, and even from in-game via a hotkey and a hideable panel button. I'm about 2% sure that there will be a way to host a PDF document in a Delphi form, but if not then I can simply put the user guide in a normal form with tabs.

Alongside this, I'll put some FAQ and some of the more obscure features into a "Hint of the Day" rotation which can be displayed at the top-left of the main menu screen. Anytime something comes up which users seem not to know about but is extremely useful, I'll add it to the rotation.

All of this will be toggleable on/off from the settings menu for those who don't feel they need it and don't want it cluttering up the display. I'll try to keep it as well presented as possible, though, and hopefully even experienced users will benefit from it.

Ideas, comments and suggestions welcome. I'll post again when I've made a start on this.

Most NL 1.43 Gimmicks were not great: we can all agree on that.

One that stood out as being quite good though, and is also present in Lemmings Revolutions, is Rising Water:


>>>


I'd like to have a go at re-implementing this in SLX 2.9, most likely exactly as it was in NL 1.43 but obviously making use of the fact that water is now vertically resizable.

Some questions that need answers before I plow ahead with this:

1a) Should the speed at which the water rises be adjustable, or should it always be the same?

1b) If adjustable, by what parameters/amounts?

1c) If adjustable, should all water objects rise at the same speed, or should each individual object have its own speed?

2) Should there be a height limit, or should it keep going until it reaches the top of the level?

3) Any specific suggestions regarding the general implementation of this feature?

A 4-colour deck consists of Black Spades, Red Hearts, Blue Diamonds and Green Clubs:



This site provides a way to play normal Klondike Solitaire using this deck.

However, I'd like to program a version which allows the cards to be placed on each other such that any suit can be placed on any other suit, since the cards are all different colours; red and black is no longer relevant here.

Question, though: would this even work as a viable, playable game, or would it become too trivial? What other tweaks would need to be made to the rules?

From this topic:

Quote from: littbarski on November 07, 2024, 02:28:56 PMthe countdown change is a good option for children. Not because they can't do it in time but because it is just a more relaxed gaming.

I could look at adding an "Infinite Time" hotkey for this purpose, so that it isn't necessary to edit the levels.

I like the idea of adding features that support beginners and casual players. For instance, "Infinite Skills" is already a hotkey that can be used - give it a try (it's currently set to Numpad 8, but you can set it to any key you wish using the Hotkey editor). It will set all skills in the current level to infinity. Here's the topic for a fuller explanation of how it works!

From this topic.

Quote from: littbarski on November 07, 2024, 04:17:42 PM- the zoom levels are fine, but on all my screens they are just between too large and - a bit - too small ... So the level zoom could be 5.5

I suggested the same thing back in 2020. For the game images to be displayed at 150% resolution (as opposed to 100% or 200%), artifacts would be introduced which would either make the game look blurry, or make the pixels look stretched and out of place - not ideal for a game which sometimes relies on pixel precision. So, it was decided that in-between-zoom states shouldn't be implemented.

I agree with this decision, ultimately. So, this one likely won't be actioned.

I'll leave the topic open for now, though - it might be worth further investigation at some point.

SuperLemmix now displays the save count in red until the requirement is met, at which point it turns to green. This change was made because it's tidier and (potentially) less confusing that the negative-number display used in NeoLemmix.
--->

The save requirement is also now displayed on the window caption, for additional reference.


However, Flopsy brought to my attention that the caption isn't useful for those who play the game in Full Screen, also noting that there is now no way to know how close to the save requirement the player is during gameplay. Here's his comment from the SuperLemmix Welcome Pack topic:

Quote from: Flopsy on November 02, 2024, 07:55:16 PMit's more a problem with SuperLemmix itself because once the level has started, you don't know how much to save until the number turns green but until then, it's not obvious.

So, I'm opening this discussion up to get people's thoughts on the best way to resolve this.

Potential solutions:

A) Display X/Y rather than just X, where X is the number saved and Y is the requirement.

Pros: The information is always clearly visible (but does it need to be?).
Cons: Uses more panel space (which is already at a premium even with the extended display) and adds clutter.

B) Display the save requirement as a panel hint when this part of the panel (i.e. the hatch number) is hovered over. The hint could say "SAVE Y" where Y is the total requirement or "Z TO BE SAVED" where Z is the remaining number that needs to be saved.

Pros: Makes neat use of the panel hints feature, keeps the information accessible but inobtrusive.
Cons: Players might not be aware of panel hints, or might not have them activated.

C) Change the number itself when hovered over. As with suggestion B, the number could change to display either the total requirement, or the remaining number to be saved - this could even be optional, with both being available.

Pros: No panel clutter, keeps the information accessible but inobtrusive.
Cons: Extra coding work (wouldn't take long though, to be fair), and players might not be aware of the feature once implemented.

Suggestions/comments welcome!

Example - see the bottom of this post. The BB code isn't working as expected.

However, in this post it is working.

EDIT: I'm happy to fix this myself if someone can point me in the direction of the code, and let me know how to apply changes once they've been made.

When adding an emoji by clicking its button, a single space is added before and after the emoji, like this:

[space]emoji[space]

Whilst not necessarily a bug, it's definitely preferable for space not to be auto-added (or for the behaviour to be optional, if possible).

For the last few posts/PMs in which I've included an attachment, the site times out during posting, and then the message is posted without the attachment.

SuperLemmix 2.8 is now ready for testing!

Here's a rundown of the main features, there are a number of other bugfixes and tweaks but this is the stuff I'd like to concentrate on for the RC phase:

2.8 RC Feature Focus

Playback Mode - probably SuperLemmix's biggest feature to date. This can automatically play back batches of replays in a number of different modes. This one will need more testing than I've done, most likely.

Rivals - levels can now contain both regular and "rival" lemmings, which must use their own exit. I haven't yet finished the level pack for this feature, chances are I'll just add a couple of levels to the Welcome pack. I've included a (very basic) level in the RC to show how the feature works.

Hi-res Only Panel - the skill panel is now always hi-res, regardless of setting - this may need more thorough testing than I've done so far!

Panel Hints - all panel buttons now have hints, switchable on and off via config.

Replay Manager - Mass Replay Check has now been renamed "Replay Manager" and can sort replays a bit more comprehensively than before, particularly when it comes to renaming.

Amiga Theme - there is now a switchable "Amiga Theme" which basically applies an Amiga-style skin to all menus, panel, etc. It's more or less finished, might need a bit of tweaking.

Fade In - menu screens now Fade In as well as Out.

Styles - the orig and ohno styles have been updated for exit positions and a few other tweaks.

Editor -
+ Added button and min/max numeric limiters for Random Skillset
+ Added button for Set All Skills To Zero
+ Editor can now add skill flag icons to hatches, lems and exits!
+ Rivals support implemented

Please let me know if you'd like to be involved with taking a look at the RC and I'll PM you a copy.

Someone has to say it.

Pretty much the same people always win LOTY and LDC. Here are the top 3 designers in every contest for the past 5 years. If listed twice, the designer placed in the top 3 with 2 separate levels. "/" denotes joint winners:

2023 LOTY: NieSch, Armani/Icho, (3rd place TBA)
LDC 29: Armani, kaywhyn, Icho
LDC 28: Kingshadow, Armani, Simon
2022 LOTY: Armani, Icho, Icho
LDC 27: Simon, Simon, NeiSch
LDC 26: NeiSch, NeiSch, Armani
LDC 25: Armani, Icho, (no 3rd place)
2021 LOTY: Nessy, Icho, Icho
LDC 24: tan x dx, Icho, Kingshadow
LDC 23: Kingshadow, Armani, (no 3rd place)
LOTY 2020: DireKrow, Armani, Icho
LDC 22: Armani, Nessy, (no 3rd place)
LDC 21: Icho, Armani/Armani, (no 3rd place)
LOTY 2019: Icho/Namida, Crane, Icho
LDC 20: DireKrow, Armani, (no 3rd place)
LDC 19: Icho/Flopsy, Armani, (no 3rd place)
LDC 18: Namida, Crane, (no 3rd place)

I've put the designers that only appear once in bold. There are only 3 unique designers out of a possible 51 (top 3 multiplied by 17 contests)

Here's the final stats for all 51 award slots:

Armani, Icho: 13 appearances each
NieSch: 4 appearances
Simon: 3 appearances
Crane, Kingshadow, Namida, Nessy: 2 appearances each
Flopsy, kaywhyn, tan x dx: 1 appearance each
(3rd place not awarded 7 times)

Firstly, congratulations to Armani and Icho for setting and maintaining the high standards of level creation that these contests enjoy - let's be clear that the quality of their levels is not in question here at all, nor is the value of their participation!

However, these 2 designers account for more than half of the total possible appearances in the top 3 of all contests. Honestly, we can probably be doing more to make sure other designers get a look-in, particularly when it comes to making it into the top 3.

In fairness, the actual 1st-place winner of each contest is more or less different each time, but the point here is that the pool itself is often very similar. This is particularly true when looking at the final round of each contest; it's nearly always the same 4 or 5 designers every time, with maybe the occasional wild card from someone who made a particularly good level that contest.

What I'd suggest is adapting the format of these contests slightly with the goals of (a) encouraging more participation, and (b) increasing the likelihood of different designers making it into the top 3. I'm sure that Armani and Icho will always be strong contenders, and rightly so, but we need to see other names up there more often than we are doing at the moment, otherwise more and more people will tune out, and this will only exacerbate/perpetuate the problem.

My hope is that the following suggestions will open the contests up a bit and ensure that, even if Armani and Icho always make the top 3, maybe that 3rd person will be someone different each time, and more designers will benefit from the encouragement of having had one of their levels make it to the finals.

---

On to the suggestions:

There were 7 contests in which a 3rd place wasn't awarded. Awarding Gold (1st), Silver (2nd) and Bronze (3rd) ought to be standard in every contest - this alone would ensure that more designers get to see their name in the top 3 slots.

In the case that 2 of the same designer's levels make it into the top 3, either choose only the one that got the most votes or (probably better) count them as a joint award for that slot, and award the next slot to the designer with the next highest amount of votes. Or, to put it another way, we're awarding the designer rather than the individual levels in this particular case, and so we can place equal recognition on both levels. However it ends up being formulated, the end result should be that no fewer than 3 designers end up in the final round. Example:

       Armani gets 8 votes for Level A and is awarded Gold (1st place)
       Icho gets 7 votes for Level B, 6 votes for Level C and is awarded Silver (2nd place) for both levels combined
       (SomeoneElse) gets 5 votes for Level D and is awarded Bronze (3rd place)

Better yet, only allow 1 entry per designer per contest, with the possible exception of LOTY. (EDIT: This suggestion has been updated in response to Armani's post)

If keeping the "3 rule" format, allow all 3 winners of the previous contest to choose 1 rule each, rather than the top spot winner choosing all 3. This in itself would likely incentivise more participation; making it into the top 3 suddenly means more, and a designer who manages to make it that far is rewarded for doing so. This is particularly meaningful when there are only 1 or 2 votes in the difference between the top 3, which is sometimes the case.

Alternatively, the "3 rule" format could either be reduced to 2 rules (maintain an element of choice whilst reducing workload and possible confusion for participants) or scrapped altogether in favour of a single rule (easiest to follow/maintain and could help make contests shorter, so they could be run more often and therefore provide more chances to win, but could also have the undesired side-effect of reducing participation due to lack of interest in the rule).

In many cases, LDC levels that placed in the top 3 also end up in the LOTY top 3 for that year. Perhaps implement a contest entry condition preventing the same level from entering 2 different contests. The level has already been awarded an accolade previously - giving it another award, whilst perhaps deserving, prevents other designers/levels from receiving recognition. Preventing this is an easy way to ensure that different levels (and, perhaps therefore different designers) get a fresh chance with each contest. And, if the same designer is awarded a LOTY top 3 place for a different level than their LDC top 3 place, it's a chance for that designer to be recognised for more of their work, arguably making the award more valuable to them personally. Conversely, perhaps we deem it necessary to bestow more recognition on a particularly good LDC winner. One way to achieve this would be to have a separate "Contest Level Of The Year" award, which pits all of that year's contest winners against each other for one final vote.

I hope these suggestions are useful. If nothing else, it might be worth trialling a few of them for the next few contests and see if it amounts to at least an uptick in participation. Or, if people don't think there's a problem with the way things are now and this just comes across as complaining, that's fine. Feel free to ignore this post and I'll go back to ignoring the Forum contests (it's not as if I haven't got plenty else to be getting on with!)

But seriously, I'm making these suggestions in the hopes that it might benefit other designers who are discouraged from participating due to thinking there's no chance of winning, or even simply due to confusion regarding the format. There's actually very little for me to gain here personally, I'm just being a voice.

Getting this pretty much every time I post at the moment:



I've recently begun using a different laptop, so that could have something to do with it. Maybe there's something in my browser settings that's different. I have uBlock Origin and AVG Online extensions running; I'll try disabling them for a day or two and see if it makes a difference.

Introducing Colour Swap, a free tool that allows you to batch-swap colours in multiple .png files simultaneously!



This will no doubt come in very handy for anyone creating styles/sprite sheets.

Instructions for use:

1. Select a folder containing images you want to colour-swap.
2. Add a colour swap to the swaps list using 6-digit hex codes for each colour (the codes are available in most image editors, or you can use this site).
3. Once you've populated the list, choose whether you want to overwrite the original files or save the modified images to a new "Colour Swaps" folder (saved within the original directory).
4. Hit the Swap Colours button!

It's also possible to save and load swaps lists for quickly recalling swaps for subsequent use, or for quickly generating a full list using a text editor.

Enjoy!

This topic is to catalog how the level edges (left, right, top, bottom) behave on each of the various ports/clones of Lemmings (1991) - (this topic may also be updated to feature the same information for ports of Lemmings 2: The Tribes at some point).

---

How do the level edges behave on each of the ports/clones of Lemmings (1991)

Port	Left	Right	Top	Bottom
Amiga	Solid	Unconfirmed	Solid	Deadly
Apple Mac	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
Atari ST	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
DOS	Solid	Open	Solid	Deadly
PC-98	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis	Solid	Unconfirmed	Solid	Deadly
SEGA Master System	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
SNES	Solid	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Deadly
Sony PlayStation (2/PSP)	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Open	Deadly
Windows '95	Game crashes	Unhandled force-field	Open	Deadly
ZX Spectrum	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
Clone	Left	Right	Top	Bottom
Lix	Deadly	Deadly	Deadly	Deadly
NeoLemmix	Deadly	Deadly	Deadly	Deadly
SuperLemmix	Force-field	Force-field	Force-field	Deadly

Definitions:

Unconfirmed: Behaviour yet to be tested & confirmed

Open: Lemming is able to cross the edge and remain active (but not necessarily assignable)
Solid: Lemming reacts to edge as if it's unclimbable steel
Force-field: Lemming reacts to edge as if it's a Blocker or one-way field
Deadly: Lemming is removed after crossing edge

As of commit d57ee948c, wherever an Exit's trigger overlaps one or more other object triggers, the Exit will always take priority:



SuperLemmix now has a full "Exit Rules All" physics system; if ever a lemming makes contact with an Exit's trigger by whatever means, and time remains on the clock, they will exit regardless of current state or any other factors.

If anyone playing SuperLemmix notices any situation where exiting can be expected (however remotely) and doesn't happen, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as possible.

What is Direct Drop?

Essentially, this:



Midair exiting is also of interest here:

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Which Lemmings (1991) Ports/Engines Feature Direct Drop?

Port	Direct Drop for Exits |	Direct Drop for Traps |	Midair Exits |	Midair Traps
Amiga	No	Yes	No	Yes
Apple Mac	No	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
Atari ST	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
DOS	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
PC-98	Yes	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis	Yes	Unconfirmed	No	Unconfirmed
SEGA Master System	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
SNES	No	Yes	No	Yes
Sony PlayStation (2/PSP)	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed
Windows '95	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ZX Spectrum	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed	Unconfirmed

For clones, the info here refers to the latest stable version:

Clone	Direct Drop for Exits |	Direct Drop for Traps |	Midair Exits |	Midair Traps
Lix	No	Yes	No	Yes
NeoLemmix	No	Yes	No	Yes
SuperLemmix	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

---

Which Lemmings (1991) Levels Can Be Solved Using Direct Drop?

List of L1 (Amiga port) levels for which a DD solution is possible (i.e. the entire quota of required lems to pass the level can be dropped into the exit from an otherwise unsurvivable fall distance). If the DD solution is therefore a backroute, this is noted with an asterisk*:

L1 levels for which a Direct Drop solution is possible

Fun 5 You Need Bashers This Time
Fun 8 Not As Complicated As It Looks
Fun 9 As Long As You Try Your Best
Fun 10 Smile If You Love Lemmings
Fun 11 Keep Your Hair On Mr. Lemming
Fun 12 Patience
Fun 14 Origins And Lemmings
Fun 16 Don't Do Anything Too Hasty
Fun 17 Easy When You Know How
Fun 19 Take Good Care Of My Lemmings
Fun 20 We Are Now At LEMCON ONE
Fun 21 You Live And Lem
Fun 22 A BEAST Of A Level
Fun 23 I've Lost That Lemming Feeling
Fun 24 Konbanwa Lemming San
Fun 25 Lemmings Lemmings Everywhere
Fun 26 Nightmare On Lem Street
Fun 27 Let's Be Careful Out There
Fun 28 If Only They Could Fly
Fun 30 Lock Up Your Lemmings

Tricky 1 This Should Be A Doddle
Tricky 4 Here's One I Prepared Earlier
Tricky 5 Careless Clicking Costs Lives
Tricky 6 Lemmingology
Tricky 7 Been There, Seen It, Done It
Tricky 10 There's A Lot Of Them About
Tricky 11 Lemmings In The Attic
Tricky 12 Bitter Lemming
Tricky 13 Lemming Drops
Tricky 14 MENACING!!
Tricky 16 Luvly Jubly
Tricky 21 All The 6s
Tricky 22 Turn Around Young Lemmings
Tricky 25 Cascade
Tricky 26 I Have A Cunning Plan*
Tricky 28 Lost Something?
Tricky 29 Rainbow Island
Tricky 30 The Crankshaft

Taxing 2 Watch Out, There's Traps About
Taxing 5 The Prison
Taxing 8 The Art Gallery
Taxing 10 Izzie Wizzie Lemmings Get Busy
Taxing 12 The Ascending Pillar Scenario
Taxing 14 Hunt The Nessy
Taxing 16 Mary Poppins' Land
Taxing 17 X Marks The Spot
Taxing 18 Tribute To M.C. Escher*
Taxing 20 Walk The Web Rope
Taxing 22 Come On Over To My Place*

Mayhem 14 Pea Soup
Mayhem 17 Stepping Stones*
Mayhem 22 A BEAST II Of A Level
Mayhem 23 Going Up...
Mayhem 25 Have A Nice Day
Mayhem 28 Mind The Step

---

Existing Forum Discussion on Direct Drop

NeoLemmix - 2.00 "Disable direct drop" and "Timed bombers" options
NeoLemmix - [NO-CHANGE] [DISCUSSION] [PLAYER] Direct Drop on traps and teleporters
NeoLemmix - [FIXED] [BUG] [PLAYER] Falling OHNOER'S can direct drop into the exit
NeoLemmix - [DISCUSSION][PLAYER] Game mechanics in general

It's also briefly mentioned in these topics:

NeoLemmix - Proxima's Reviews (a review of Lemmings DD)
NeoLemmix - Immediate turn-offs
NeoLemmix - [DISC][PLAYER] Midair exit rules
NeoLemmix - First Note: Don´T Make it
SuperLemmix - SuperLemmix Discussion Topic
SuperLemmix - [FEAT] New Exiting Mechanics (Direct Drop, etc)
SuperLemmix - [DISC] NeoLemmix>SuperLemmix Levelpack Compatibility
SuperLemmix - [SUG][PHYSICS] Refine Builder terrain checks
Tech & Research - Glitches in Lemmings

---

Should Direct Drop be allowed?

It's debatable (see above links to existing topics, in which the subject is discussed at length).

My own opinion on this is simple:

1) Since the goal of the level is to guide the lemming(s) to the exit, interaction with the exit should always be allowed as long as the lemming has made contact with the exit, regardless of fall distance or any other factors. This should always have been an intended mechanic, and never regarded as a bug, especially since:

2) If falling lems can interact with other triggered objects (traps, teleporters, etc - excluding water and fire, which are continuous rather than triggered), then they should also be allowed to interact with exits. Any ports/engines/clones which feature one behaviour and not the other are therefore inconsistent.

---

Proposal: relax Builder checks so that they only stop building if they have terrain immediately overhead, or at their foot position during the "step up".

So:


^^^Correct, current behaviour - the lem's head has hit terrain, so they stop building and turn (yes, the turn is debateable, but will be kept if the proposed change goes ahead)


^^^Much more arbitrary - why did the lem stop building here*?? Let's do away with the need to spam builders to complete the bridge!


^^^This is better! They should keep building until the existing terrain prevents them from stepping up, at which point they stop and turn as usual

*NOTE: code-wise, the stop-and-turn at this point is because the Builder needs to check for terrain in front of them as well as overhead. In this scenario, though, the check is returning a false positive of sorts; the check needs to be less complex, then.

In this situation, a Ballooner will continue to ascend until their foot reaches the top of the platform, at which point the balloon will pop and the lem will begin walking:



This feel right: the lem can walk "through" the platform to begin with, and so should only ever care about it when it's at their foot position. Shimmiers can also similarly ascend through a 1px platform if it's close enough to their starting position:


The lem lands on top of the platform at the end of the reaching action ^^^

My honest thoughts here are that we should allow Jumpers to access the top of a platform in a similar way. As long as the top of the platform is below the lemming's head at the start of the jump, they should be able to access it by jumping. So, for instance:


This should be allowed ^^^


Current Jumper checks should apply here ^^^

The same should then apply to the "reaching" Shimmier: if the lemming's head is above the top of the platform, they should be able to ascend past the platform to land on the top.

We're then asking: does the lem have overhead terrain at any point during the skill action? If so, cancel the action at the point their head meets the terrain (Jumpers fall, Reachers begin to shimmy). If not, allow the skill action to continue until their foot position meets the top of the terrain.

Just riffing here. We can of course keep the Ballooner as-is and not do anything with the other skills, but this seems good for consistency.

Clicking the button, or pressing [Enter], [Space], or double-clicking the replay event itself will skip the game to that replay event. Surrounding events are unaffected, and remain in the replay list so that other events can be subsequently skipped to.



Implemented in Commit 87af92086