I can see this from both UGO's and Proxima's point of view here.

There is probably no harm in the talisman existing, and it would be an easy way for UGO to get exactly what he wants whilst also providing puzzle potential for other levels beyond UGO's.

One example would be a level such as Tightrope City with a "use the Cloner" talisman and no Blockers available. Wherever the Cloner is assigned, they will walk in the opposite direction. It then becomes necessary to find a way to turn them around. Yes, you could simply provide a Cloner and make a talisman for "save SR + 1", but "use the Cloner" arguably presents the same challenge in a more direct way, and presentation is important to some designers (myself included). It's not always desirable to find some clunky workaround when what you want is something elegant and simple.

Then again, NeoLemmix does provide many simple, elegant ways to enforce traversal to a particular part of a level. SuperLemmix even more so, since it has the Collectibles feature (which is arguably the best way for UGO to get what he wants for his specific level).

I'm happy to add this talisman to SuperLemmix to see how it plays out. I'll design a few levels using it myself to see what the possibilities are, and with UGO's permission I'll port his level over and apply the talisman to see if it does indeed get the desired result.

If the talisman is "Use X of [Skill]", I'd suggest an upper limit for X so that it doesn't get ridiculous and trollish ("Use 1000 Builders", for example) - 10 seems good as a limit, can we agree?

I'll also add a "Use All Skills" talisman which will be disallowed (by both Game and Editor) for levels with more than 20 total skills. This number can be tweaked later, it's been chosen purely as something to start from.

UGO: I'll let you know when this is done, and we can try the feature out in SuperLemmix first before putting it forward again for NeoLemmix. If we can provide tangible examples of levels for which the talisman is the best possible way to enforce a particular solution, it's much more likely to be accepted.

Use X of [Skill] could be an interesting talisman in and of itself, without necessarily being a way to enforce traversal to a particular part of the level.

I've always thought that a "Use All Skills" talisman could also be interesting, but there may have to be a limit on the amount of skills available in the level for such a talisman to be applicable.

This one might be something to try out first in SuperLemmix.

Reading back over this topic, I still like the idea of showing the hatch fall distance in CPM but forgot about it due to the focus being mostly on the ruler itself.

So, a hatch fall distance guide will be added in the next update. It's on the to-do list.

Meanwhile, for Climbers' fall distance, my honest view at this point is that it probably isn't worth supporting. Reasons: 1) levels requiring it should be discouraged, and 2) it's a move back towards the confusing multi-ruler scenario that we're trying to avoid.

I'm open to being persuaded that there's good reason to add a second ruler and let it be accessed via Shift + (User's Ruler Hotkey), but in the absence of vocal support for this idea, or any (welcome) alternative suggestions, I'll most likely not bother.

NeoLemmix Editor Version 2.1 Update

A few additional features, tweaks and bugfixes. Here's what's new:

Previous/Next Level Buttons
 • Added '<<' and '>>' buttons for navigating between levels in the current directory.

Piece Search
 • 'Background' and 'Animation' objects are recognised as 'Decoration'.
 • Bugfix - Removed 'Normalizer' (SuperLemmix object).
 • Bugfix - Removed the 'Perma' prefix from Skill Assigner/Remover.

Misc UI
 • 'Random' button is enabled by default.

Bugfixes
 • Only ever draw 'Paint' objects on Terrain.

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1.1.2 Hotfix Update

Feature updates and bugfixes. Here's what's changed:

Options

• 'Hide Backgrounds' is now 'Show Backgrounds and Decorations', and encompasses decorative objects (Paint, Animations, etc) as well as Background images

• Added option to toggle Colour Cycling for gadgets in Clear Physics Mode

• Colours in Clear Physics Mode can now be user-customised using data\ce-clearphysicscolours.nxmi. Simply edit the hex values of the listed colours to tailor them to your liking! See this post for more details

Hotkeys

• Added hotkey for 'Select Unassigned Lemming' - this can be used to select any lemming that is either a Walker, Ascender or Faller, and not an athlete. There is no default key, so be sure to set it yourself if you wish to use this hotkey

UI / Bugfixes

• Data Loss Fix - NLCE tolerates the absence of 'NLCESettings.ini', and recognises 'settings.ini'
• Data Loss Fix - Hotkeys are now saved and loaded as 'NLCEHotkeys.ini' ('hotkeys.ini' is still compatible, but will not be overwritten)

• If a level has missing pieces and a preview text screen, the missing pieces are handled before proceeding to the preview text screen

• Replay Insert Mode - 'CUT X TASKS' is shown on all frames, including the assignment frames, when mousing over a lemming with future replay assignments

• Level Select Menu - Title and Author fields are reset correctly after using the 'Edit Level' button to edit a level

• Updated default fall distance ruler. See this topic for full discussion and details

See also: NeoLemmix Editor 2.1 Update

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Select Unassigned Lemming hotkey added. This will choose a lemming that is either Walking, Ascending or Falling, and which does not have a permaskill assigned to them.

There is no default assigned as yet, so it's added on an 'assign it yourself' basis. We can always change this later.

Implemented in NLCEPlayer commit d9335a3.

Colour-cycling is now optional.

Implemented in NLCEPlayer commit 49cfd1c.

Static CPM colours can be user-specified in ce-clearphysicscolours.nxmi. See above post for details.

Implemented in NLCEPlayer commit 1359ae5.

This can now be considered resolved, then. Users can choose whichever colours they wish for gadgets, trigger areas, and the various lemming states, whilst in CPM.

Version 1.7 Update

A small but significant update this time.

Previous/Next Level Buttons

• Added '<<' and '>>' buttons for navigating between levels in the current directory. These buttons instantly open the previous/next available level for editing!

Bugfix

• Changed default top boundary to 2px to match the hard-coded value in RetroLemmini.

Please Note: RetroLemmini no longer supports variable level boundaries, but the Editor will continue to soft-support them to make it easier for level designers to adjust their levels (if necessary).

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Version 3.1 update

More physics updates, UI tweaks and - at long last - a Replay Checker!

Here's what's new:

Replay Checker

• When loading a replay, the replay is first checked for pass/fail status (this is lightning fast and invisible). The result is then displayed in the window caption, including the number of lemmings saved (thanks to hrb264 for this suggestion!).

• This feature will form the basis of an in-development Mass Replay Checker, which will be able to check multiple replays in batch. Let's ensure that the single-check feature is stable first!

Replay Format

• The player's name is now stored in the Replay file.

Physics

• When a Builder is turned by a Blocker, the current step is drawn again to ensure that the bridge fully connects. This does not affect replay timing as the step is drawn instantly, but it may affect replays which used the glitch in order to separate a lemming from the crowd.

• Removed support for variable level boundaries: RetroLemmini will ignore these values wherever they are present in a level file, and instead will default to Top = 2, Bottom = 20, Left = 0, Right = -16.

• Builders are prevented from building past (Y = 4).

• The Top Boundary is taken into account when determining Walker -> Hopper transition, meaning that lemmings cannot step above (Y = 2), and will instead turn around.

• Bugfix - Skill assignment to OhNoing Blockers is now disallowed (as per regular OhNoing lemmings).

UI

• When in Debug mode, the Frame value and X/Y position of [the lemming under the cursor] is shown in the panel info in the format "F:n X:n Y:n".

• Bugfix - Window caption is reset when cancelling Replay mode.

Lemming Sprites

• 'Jumper' renamed to 'Hopper'.
• 'Flapper' renamed to 'OhNoer'.
• 'Flipper' renamed to 'Hoister'.

• All left-facing lemming sprites have been restored to their original positions and are instead offset in-code to match the 3.0+ Builder physics. This does not affect the actual in-game position of the lemming, and is a purely aesthetic tweak to ensure smoother animation, and to restore the original sprites (which should NOT have been changed - I don't know what I was thinking!).

Editor

• RL Editor version 1.7 is included with the download. See the Editor's "About" dialog for update info.

A reminder of what's new as of 3.0.

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The following Clear Physics Mode shades can now be user-specified:

$LEMMINGS
  NORMAL $FF7777FF
  ATHLETE $FF00FFFF
  NEUTRAL $FFAA00FF
  ZOMBIE $FF777744
  SELECTED $FFFFFF77
$END

$GADGETS
  SHAPE $FF004400
  TRIGGER $FFFF00FF
$END

Note that "SHAPE" in the GADGETS section will only be applied when Color Cycle is off. TRIGGER is automatically darkened when overlapping, and to match the usual checkerboard pattern.

There is no need to specify shades for Zombie-Athletes, Selected-Neutrals, etc. Let's keep it clean and simple.

Here are 3 solutions for your level. One is most likely close to what's intended, one doesn't use Ballooners at all, and another only uses 6 Spearers.

For a level such as this, my advice would be to keep the open skillset, allow multiple possible solutions, and make use of the talisman system to enforce certain solutions (for example, 'No Ballooners' or '6 Spearers Max' talismans!)

The level doesn't really lend itself well to 'intended skillset only' mainly because the Spearer is a very versatile skill, and the Ballooner a relatively unpredictable one. Let the player find their own way to solve it, then.

It's a very good SuperLemmix level! I look forward to your others.

Some other general comments that you may find helpful:

Please name the .sxlv with the title of the level and the position of the level in the pack. Example: 001_BALLOONERS_VS_SPEARERS.sxlv. This isn't necessary, of course, but it's a very useful habit to get into.

Don't worry too much about difficulty at tihs stage. Just make the levels that you want to make, and you can gauge the difficulty later when your pack has been playtested by someone who doesn't know the solutions!

All the best with your pack!

Quote from: Proxima on June 18, 2026, 11:21:37 PMit means you have to mouse over it to tell what type of object it is, and you don't get to have an overview of the level where you can see everything at once.

I see. OK, I'll take a look at what's possible.

Quote from: Proxima on June 18, 2026, 11:21:37 PMEven if you don't want to do that, I stand by my preference for light hatches (and objects generally) and dark lemmings.

It would probably be fairly easy at this point to abstract the values for {fixed gadget colour} and {all lemming colours} to a text file which can then be user-edited.

That might be the best solution here.

Added the new ruler in NLCEPlayer commit c142b21.

Quote from: heart66 on June 17, 2026, 12:40:43 PMWe were both correct, the new skills will show but not the edited title.

Good catch! The Author field also needs to be updated.

Fixed in NLCEPlayer commit 59e2ff8 and SLXPlayer commit fda6bae.

Quote from: Simon on June 17, 2026, 05:31:58 AMYou chose (0x44, 0x44, 0xFF) for the nonpermanent blue.

Now the medium green from the hatch will clash with your nonpermanent blue. Lemmings overlapping gadgets will be hard on the eyes.

An immediate fix is to darken the gadget green from (0, 0x80, 0) to (0, 0x40, 0).

Darkened the green to 004400 as suggested.

The lems are also lighter (77-77-FF), with selected lems moved to (OR FF-FF-00) which is almost white. I've also included zombies in this screenshot (on the lower path):



Better?

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Quote from: Proxima on June 17, 2026, 02:53:53 PMWater trigger areas are bright magenta, with a darker shade used when they overlap terrain. I feel we should do a similar thing with hatches: bright normally (and maybe a bit more yellow to make them more distinct from lemmings), and darker when they overlap terrain.

This wouldn't be trivial to implement tbh. What would be the benefit of being able to see the outline in the case of hatches (which have a 1px trigger point)?