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Messages - kaywhyn

#1
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: NotaLems Level pack
Today at 08:08:19 AM
Hello @Nota_Steve,

I have resolved all the new levels and including the ones where my replays didn't work anymore. Once more, my entire replay collection is attached.

So it appears that I need to clear something up here regarding the level IDs, and that is it's not necessary to change the ID for every level in your level pack. Instead, you simply needed to make sure that any levels that are repeated have different IDs from the original. For example, Easy 4 has a repeat later on, Medium 12. Here, you don't need to randomly generate an ID for both levels. Instead, it's enough to keep one of the IDs the same while simply generate a new random ID for the other one, i.e, either Easy 4 alone or for Medium 12 alone, but not both.

Because the IDs changed for practically every level while my replays for the most part still work, this means I needed to copy the ID of the level and replace the ID for the corresponding replay file, a task which quickly becomes annoying because most of the replays now cannot find a match because the IDs don't match when I run a mass replay check. The replays are fine, the mass replay check simply outputs a lot of "level not found" due to the mismatched IDs and hence I need to manually edit the replay files and replace the IDs with the new ones.

Anyway, some remarks regarding V2.1. For the Easy rank, the pre-texts are so much better for the most part now! :thumbsup: The only ones that can still be a bit improved are Easy 8 and Easy 9, but other than these two the pre-texts for the rank are a big improvement from the previous version :)  Admittedly, I'm quite honored that you went with my suggested wording for most of them even though I'm certainly no English expert and instead am a math/science person :laugh: :-[ At the same time, even though Lemmings isn't an English game, I still feel it's important to make sure the pre-texts are done and written correctly in expressing the ideas and thoughts properly. Especially important for those who are new to the game.

Easy 20 complains of missing pieces, but actually it's due to the background not having the right name from the nin10_ta_dragon style. The background is actually called TADragon_bgHoriz but for some reason in the level text file the background is called ta_dragon_bg_horiz. Indeed, if you look in the nin10_ta_dragon style in the styles folder and then navigate to backgrounds, you'll see a .png called TADragon_bgHoriz, where there's no underscore between ta and dragon, as well as no underscore between bg and horiz. So, the fix for this is to simply open up the level file and paste in the right name for the background, which again should be TADragon_bgHoriz.

Easy 22 is still called Methodology in the level select menu in the game. Seems that you forgot to change the level name in the editor. Here, the fix is to either load the level in the editor and type in the correct level title of Bashing time... Oh..., or simply open up the level file in a text editor (eg, Notepad) and change the name after the TITLE field at the top.

Easy 25 - It's still possible to complete without pausing ;)

Medium 28 - A bit more of a challenge now but still not too bad and has the potential to trip players up if they aren't observant. Indeed, I at first fell for a trap but quickly realized that it's not necessary to have everyone be able to ascend up the level. That's what I get for trying to go for save all's or max saves at any given opportunity! :P

Tough 9 - Should be intended now and if so excellent level! :thumbsup: The only criticism I have is the pixel precision in one part of the solution but other than that it looks to be a solid level now!

Tough 11 seems to be a bit of a backroute, while Tough 14 seems intended/acceptable. Great levels nevertheless! :thumbsup:

I don't understand why when I run a mass replay check that it cannot find Medium 18, but I can confirm that my replay still works for the level.

Great job with V2.1! :thumbsup:             
#2
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: NotaLems Level pack
April 24, 2026, 11:55:15 AM
Quote from: JawaJuice on April 24, 2026, 10:59:32 AMSorry, I should have mentioned the trap was misplaced - I assumed this was done on purpose for some weird reason (not sure why I'd assume that haha). FYI, I usually scan a new level with CPM as a matter of course to scan for hidden nasties such as hidden terrain or traps (which I don't like, so use CPM as a tool in my arsenal to defy them); I noticed the misplaced trap then, so exploited it in my solution. Not sure why I didn't mention that! :crylaugh:

Yea, makes sense ;) It's a perfectly valid way of playing, even if some, such as myself, normally don't use and activate CPM during gameplay and only checks after the fact :laugh: I simply prefer to send a Lemming there to see myself what it is, when in fact I could avoid all doubt and save a lot of time by activating CPM beforehand. Needless to say, I know the features are there, I just prefer to not use some of them :P Or rarely.
#3
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: NotaLems Level pack
April 24, 2026, 10:06:24 AM
Quote from: JawaJuice on April 24, 2026, 09:29:57 AMCheck my replay ;) I was pretty sure I had the latest versions of all levels before attempting them, but I'd like to know if that wasn't the case. :)

Thanks, but didn't have to. Checked the level in the editor and ah, didn't realize the first trap is completely misplaced so that it doesn't kill the Lemmings! :forehead: Now I see that it is indeed possible to save everyone thanks to the misplaced trap! I've now edited my feedback to reflect this newfound knowledge :P 
#4
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: [NeoLemmix] Deceit's Lemmings
April 24, 2026, 01:20:15 AM
@Guigui

Congrats on clearing pack and glad to hear you enjoyed it! :thumbsup: As you were able to figure out the infamous Mayhem 21, one of my levels in Lemmings Memories shouldn't be a problem for you then :P

Fun fact: I have a level called Bubble Trouble, which was the very first custom Lemmings level I ever made, back when I first started in 2021. I totally forgot Deceit had a level called that for his pack! :crylaugh: 

I've looked through the list of packs and I can't believe I missed this, but, seeing as you're a math teacher, I'm sure you'll enjoy Integral Lemmings. For tan x's first level pack, it is a bit on the tough side, but it doesn't get as hard as LemRunner does IMO.

https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=3993.0

Along with this, Renaissance Lemmings should be fine as well. It's much shorter, at only 10 levels, but it's probably just as hard as (maybe even a bit harder than) Integral Lemmings.

https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=4238.0

However, if you're looking for something easier than the ones I suggested above, most definitely give Lemmings Faithful a look:

https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=6714.0

The new tilesets by Dexter are all really nice! :thumbsup: Essentially, if you don't bother with the talismans, then all the levels are quite easy, as they're intended to be open-ended. As such, they work the exact same way as the newly added Alpha rank in Integral Lemmings. Some of the talismans are quite tough but really good.
#5
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: NotaLems Level pack
April 24, 2026, 12:46:12 AM
Hello @Nota_Steve,

I have resolved all of V2 of NotaLems. My entire replay collection, but you only need to check Easy 9, Easy 10, Easy 12, Easy 14, Easy 25, Medium 6, Medium 8, Medium 21, Medium 26, Medium 27, Medium 28, Medium 29, Medium 30, Tough 3, Tough 6, Tough 7, Tough 8, Tough 10, Tough 11, Tough 15, Tough 17, Tough 18, Tough 19, Tough 20, Tough 24, Tough 25, Tough 26, Tough 27, Tough 28, and Tough 29.

Before I comment on some of these new solutions, one thing I need to point out, and that is the repeat levels have the same ID as the originals. As a result, this confuses the mass replay check and hence it uses the replay of the original to run against the repeat level instead of the replay with the matching rank and level number. I know you mentioned that you're not going to be fixing up this pack anymore despite any backroutes that may appear with V2 (and there's a few that I still managed to cheese :P), but for future reference, the fix for this is to make sure every level, including repeats, have a different ID. To do this, simply hit the random ID button in the editor to give the repeat level a different ID from the original. The levels that don't have repeats are fine, it's only the ones that are repeated that are problematic when they have the same ID as the original.

Also, the levels file in the base of the pack has the wrong .txt extension again when you're defining the order of the ranks ;)

Resolved Easy Rank V2 Feedback

JawaJuice has pretty much already pointed out the problems with some of the pre-texts here, though a few I will add on my suggestions:

Easy 1 - Probably something like "teach you what the skills do" would be better.

Easy 2 - Looks good! :thumbsup: Though maybe lowercase bashers, but then again it is the name of a Lemming skill. Meh, doesn't really matter here :laugh:

Easy 3 - Insert "build" between "will" and "a," and lowercase pixels but other than that, great! :)

Easy 4 - At least I would lowercase miners, but again it being the name of a Lemming skill, I think it's simply preference. "Diagonal" and "Fashion" should both be lowercase

Easy 5 - For floaters, insert "to" between "Lemming" and "land." Lowercase "Float" in the final sentence. Also maybe "change the Lemming's hair color from green to blue for easier identification" is a better way to put it. Actually, there's a bit more to this, and that is their outfit changes from blue to green as well. In other words, the colors for the outfit and hair swap for those assigned these skills! ;)

Easy 6 - An alternative to the suggested "wish" would probably be "want." I think either one could work here. For the third sentence, perhaps a good way to put it would be "A Lemming that walks into a blocker will turn in the other direction." For the fourth sentence, insert "away" after them.

Easy 7 - Insert comma after "spot"

Easy 8 - Should be "required." For the fourth sentence, perhaps a better way to put it would be "Highlight over the circle and click it to see the requirements for the level's talisman."

Easy 9- Insert "can" between "you" and "go." For steel, the description is a bit inaccurate, as it's more that steel cannot be destroyed but will turn any bashers and miners around that hit it. Insert "to" between "try" and "solve."

Regarding the level itself, it doesn't teach players that steel will turn Lemmings around if they bash or mine into it. However, I like how you put the up and down arrows so that it seems like you're introducing them before Medium 9, which is the next time one sees them. As such, maybe it's a good idea to expand on what one can do with them, such as with down OWAs you can only dig, mine, and bomb. In contrast, when it comes to the classic 8 skills, only bombers can destroy up OWAs.

Easy 10 - Lowercase "Diamond" and "Grey." As for the level, unfortunately the part of the pre-text saying that neutrals are needed for the save requirement isn't true, as you can completely ignore the neutral entrance and still pass the level by saving all the Lemmings from the regular entrance. That's because there's 30 Lemmings/neutrals total and two hatches, which means 15 come out of each entrance. Notice something? That's right, 15 is the save requirement, which matches the total amount of Lemmings that come out of just one hatch. This is an easy fix though, and that is simply make sure the save requirement is greater than 15. Even better, make it a save all level! ;)

Easy 11 Yea, I think this is a much better position for the level now and for an RR introduction! :thumbsup:

Easy 12 "Lemmings death" - Lemmings should have an apostrophe. As for the level, yea, I think this is a bit better for demonstrating that traps can only kill one Lemming at a time. The only thing I'm not seeing is how it's possible to save everyone here ??? Unless the level changed since the time JawaJuice resolved it for which it's possible to.

edit: Nope, I'm dumb. Checked in the editor and turns out the first rope trap is misplaced so that it doesn't kill the Lemmings unless you build to reach the trigger. Of course, in-game CPM will reveal that the trap is misplaced. Thus, it's due to it being misplaced that it is indeed possible to save everyone! :P

Tip for @Nota_Steve: When placing traps, in the editor, make sure trigger areas and CPM (this one makes it easier to see if you are placing the trap correctly due to the light grey/dark grey mode) are turned on and note the pink box that represents its trigger. In NL, the game checks at the Lemming's foot to determine if it should interact with objects. Unintuitively, the Lemming's pin is a pixel below its foot as indicated by a pink dot when you place a pre-placed Lemming, for example. Thus, this means in order for the trap to work, you just need to bury at least one row of the trigger into the ground. Having the trap trigger touch the ground so that all the trigger is on and above the terrain won't work because, as explained above, the Lemming's pin is a pixel below its foot and hence below all of the trap trigger. Therefore, the game detects that the Lemming's pin doesn't meet the trap trigger and hence the trap doesn't kill ;) 

Easy 14 - Decent level, though nothing special either :P

Easy 25 - It's still possible to do the level pause free :P I'm not sure if I suggested one, but I think 95 for the RR would be fine here. Thanks for removing the locked RR! :thumbsup:

Resolved Medium Rank V2 Feedback

Medium 6 - A fair bit harder now, but still an excellent level. Getting over the gap is definitely the hard part here!

Medium 8 - Much better with the heavily reduced Lemming count and would be a fine level here except as I mentioned Easy 9 doesn't teach the player about steel turning miners around because one can solve the level without that.

Medium 21 - My new solution definitely looks a lot better now! :thumbsup:

Medium 26 - Still an easy level with the change, just needed to swap a miner with the digger in my solution.

Medium 27 - Wow, tough talisman, though maybe my solution for it is intended ??? If it is, I don't see an easier to obtain it.

Medium 28 - Ok level. I was able to do better than the talisman requirement.

Medium 29 - Would agree with JawaJuice here as this one being one of the hardest levels of the pack and would probably be better for the Tough rank. In the end, my solution is quite similar to my previous one, just needed to tweak it in one location ;)

Medium 30 - Much better and a far more decent challenge for the rank finisher! :thumbsup:


Resolved Tough Rank V2 Feedback

Tough 3 - Hard one, though the solution came to me shortly after I went out for the night and had a struggle with it prior. Nice one! :thumbsup:

Tough 6 This looks more or less intended now! :thumbsup:

Tough 7 - Still an easy one even with the change, but I can see how this one can be a stumper for less experienced players. Seen this trick plenty of times and I have a level in my upcoming level pack that requires it :P

Tough 8 - Any better? ??? Still don't use the floater.

Tough 10 - Much harder now but quite a decent challenge! However, my biggest criticism here is the really tight time limit. When I finally did figure out all parts of the level, I had to go back several times and readjust my solution so that it doesn't run out of time. The only thing I can think of is maybe increase/max out the RR much earlier so that it wasn't as much of a problem, but it still seems to be unnecessarily tight regardless. I would definitely ease up the time limit and make it way less tight.

Tough 11 Seems to be a backroute here :P

Tough 15 Much better level now! :thumbsup: Also much harder and is very appropriate for the rank now. This one took me a while to find a solution, so in completely agreement with JawaJuice here with this one being one of the hardest of the pack.

Tough 17 - Still a backroute I'm sure :P

Tough 18 - Bit harder but still one of my favorites! :thumbsup:

Tough 19 - Much harder and I would say one of the hardest of the pack as well. This seems more or less intended, though I used one miner to turn a Lemming around, which I honestly didn't think it was possible to assign where I did, but guess I learned something new here! :laugh:

Tough 20 - Yup, this seems intended now and is definitely a much better level! :thumbsup: Yea, untimed bombers are very powerful :laugh:

Tough 24 - Tad bit tougher now but still one of the best levels! :thumbsup: I really dig the new solution I found :laugh:

Tough 25 - Much harder now but still an excellent and one of the best levels as well! :thumbsup: Figuring out the very limited amount of builders was especially satisfying. Can easily be a roadblock for less experienced players for sure!

Tough 26 - Definitely harder now, especially with figuring out how to keep the others at bay for a while in order to get tasks done before they come. Nice challenge and satisfying level when things finally worked out!

Tough 27 - I use all the skills here, though some parts look a bit unintended to me. Meh, what do I know whether or not my solution is intended :laugh:

Tough 28 - Like JawaJuice, just needed to tweak my solution just a tiny bit in order to get the talisman.

Tough 29 - Yea, still not a fan of this level. It's one of the worst levels of the pack IMO, but the pack overall is excellent despite this :)


Nice work and as already mentioned I look forward to more levels/level packs from you! :thumbsup:                     
#6
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: LemFan's various packs
April 23, 2026, 10:49:29 PM
Quote from: JawaJuice on April 23, 2026, 10:34:59 PM@Kaywhyn I know you said Lemmings Rundown was 100% solvable; would you be kind enough to share your replay for 'Problems Go Wrong'? I'd really like to see how it's done! It seems impossible to me, with the skills given.

Sure thing! My Mayhem 14 replay attached :)

Regarding your spoiler, you almost have it indeed! ;) 

Spoiler
The first Lemming from the the left entrance should be the climber AND the one you bomb instead, when he has fallen back down, therefore allowing the second Lemming from that entrance through instead of falling to the bottom like the others

Everything else, including the ones you felt are too hard for their position, I agree! Tricky 13 massively agree there, and yup, Mayhem 1 also managed to stump me for a while too.

You just reminded me that I need to post my feedback/replays for Lemmingshades and Lemmings Rundown. I'll do that when I get the chance at some point ;)
#7
Looks like version 2.1.7 dropped last month, so we'll need to upgrade the Forums to it sometime :)

https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=593921.0
#8
Copy/paste my reply to your pinned YouTube comment on the video:

I haven't played the SNES port of Lemmings, but I do think the music is at least decent. Far better than the Amiga Lemmings music tracks IMO, which I honestly can't stand to listen to anymore :D I really don't see how people like that port's music, though admittedly the Amiga was pretty hot stuff back then if you were one of the people fortunate enough to own such a machine back then, for which this is one of the original ports of the game. I didn't, and I still haven't played the Amiga port of Lemmings.

As for the question, I must say that the Dos version has the best music soundtrack for the game of Lemmings. In a way, I'm a sucker for the Dos version due to how I grew up with the Dos version of Lemmings. I started off with the floppy, so I was first acquainted with the Tandy Dos soundtrack. About 1-2 years later, I later owned the CD that bundles both Lemmings and ONML. This one uses a higher quality redbook CD audio version of the Tandy Dos music tracks. The redbook CD has, IMO, the best version of the AWESOME music track. I actually spent more time growing up with the redbook CD audio and also got to experience this version of the AWESOME music track first before the Tandy version despite having played the floppy version of the game first.

Playlist of the Dos Tandy soundtrack:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYnKFyDMmhs1MmwLoEkriIXmnB7sQnfv4

Playlist of the redbook CD audio:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL75CABB4561CE61F0

Note that in the second playlist, that isn't the CD I owned. Instead, I owned the notoriously very difficult to find gray CD by Slash. At least from what I understand, other than the publishers being different and the one in the playlist being a half green CD instead of gray like mine, they're identical in every way, according to a user who took a look at them on the Discord.

I still have the physical CD copy on me to this day, even about 30 years later! :D I will be posting my CD image dump to the Internet Archive sometime later today, now that I'm done live streaming both L1 and ONML and know that it's fully functional. It's unfortunate that I can't play the game by running it through my physical CD anymore, as it always throws installation errors and other issues that the game has when running it through Dosbox, but luckily making an image dump does work, so I was very happy to have played the CD version of the game again after so long and having not been successful in the last several years.

Other than Dos, the only other ports of the game I've played are the PSP and Genesis/Mega Drive. I went down to my local Game Stop to get PSP Lemmings on the day it was released back in 2006, when I was a junior in high school at the time ;) I had an actual PSP to play it on at the time. For the latter, I played that on an emulator either in the late 2010s or sometime in the early 2020s. Both the PSP and Genesis have quite decent sounding music tracks IMO and hence I like those in addition to the Dos and redbook CD Dos audio.

So yea, to summarize, I grew up with the Dos version of Lemmings and prefer its soundtrack to the Amiga, and I also like the redbook Dos CD audio, with a bit more of a preference for the latter due to being higher quality. I also like the  PSP and Genesis/Mega Drive soundtracks, though for the latter certain soundtracks at least, such as it has a pretty good She'll be coming round the Mountain IMO.

Thanks for sharing with us at the Lemmings Forums and looking forward to future videos from you! I'm also on YouTube with the same username as the one I use on the Lemmings Forums, and the link to my channel is also in my signature :)

Quote from: Tiduas on April 20, 2026, 06:01:14 PMI looked into your comment but can't see it on the channel unfortunately. I would guess that it's because of the playlist link that Youtube didn't like it which is a shame. Would love to read it here instead then!

Absolutely, my pleasure on the compliment! :thumbsup: 
#9
Earlier today, I live streamed this pack:


If it isn't working for you, please check back later. It's probably still processing. Also, watch it in a browser tab if you want to see the live chat messages ;)

Exactly as the video title says, MazuLems was the very first custom Lemmings level pack I played back in the days, around 2006, when I was a junior in high school. For Dos as well, before DoveLems, which was the first custom Lemmings level pack I played on Lemmini and comes about 6-7 years after I first played MazuLems. It's now 2026, so it's now been about 20 years since I first played this MazuLems! :lem-mindblown: My timing is probably a bit off here, but yes, wow, 20 years ago!

Here, I streamed the entire pack on Dos, so I know it's not relevant to this topic because this is for the NL version, but because this is MazuLems, I think it should be fine if I post my live stream of the pack on Dos here :P Because this pack was originally made for Dos, it does mean that levels 10, 15, and 16 play out exactly as they are intended to be played, before the first two were changed so that it conforms to NL standards in namida's and mobius' conversion of the pack to New Formats NL. Needless to say, I was just blown away by Level 15 when I accidentally stumbled upon the gimmick in the level all those years ago. However, because the title is a reference to an Indiana Jones scene, I believe the level will be much easier for those who have seen the film for which the title alludes to. I haven't, and I still haven't seen any of the Indiana Jones films.

Because it was the very first custom Lemmings level pack I played, MazuLems was quite difficult for me back then (as mentioned, I was only a high schooler at the time), but I eventually did make it through the whole thing through determination and perseverance. I would later go on to play a lot of mini 10-level Dos packs on CustLemm before the end of my high school career, racking up tons of custom level solving experience along the way, as I learned plenty of neat tricks I hadn't seen before that not even was shown in MazuLems ;) In any case, this live stream was a really nice trip down memory lane for me as I kind of got to relive my childhood experience a bit from when I first played this level pack all those years ago! :thumbsup:

If memory serves correctly, I LPed New Formats NL MazuLems in honor of my 30th LP in I believe 2021, which I posted somewhere earlier in this topic :P

Quote from: Guigui on December 10, 2025, 11:34:52 PMSo if I understand correctly, the closest we can do on NL to have a level similar to what It's A magical World looked like is to shift steel plate one pixel closer to hatch area, so that the builder himself will turn around and play the role of the climber who glitched.

This way the level is pretty straightforward and both crowd are totally independant.

Skip to about the 1 hour, 30 minute mark in my video and you'll see the glitch (the magic as it's called in the level title) in action that Martin Zurlinden originally intended for the level on Dos ;)   
#10
Hi @Tiduas,

Thank you for sharing with us! :thumbsup: I must say, you have a great voice and accent! :)

Anyway, I responded with my thoughts to your question in your pinned comment on the video. Please let me know if you're able to see it. If not, I can repost my comment which I luckily have saved just in case. I'm not certain if YouTube has taken issue with it just because I linked to some playlists in the comment.
#11
@Guigui

My gold talisman solution for level 18 - Reaper Work. Also that's strange that your image shows the level in Genesis dirt instead of orig_dirt as it should just be the Amiga version of You live and Lem/The Steel Mines of Kessel. Replay that Master-88 posted works fine for me, so not sure why it's not working for you.
#12
@Guigui

Wow, nicely done with Whiteout 13 with the save all! :thumbsup: My pleasure on the level help and yup, that's exactly the way to save way more time to get the level done within the original 10 minute time limit.

Sometime last year, I was able to get in contact with Dragonslover on YouTube and asked him about The Snow Palace level. He tells me that he doesn't remember what's intended for the level anymore, as he made it a really long time ago, when he was only a pre-teen, and that he likely didn't test it enough. Hence why for a long time I thought the level wasn't solvable and that either the time limit was a mistake or if not that, then maybe the skillset wasn't right. Indeed, it's likely a mixture of both, as on the Dos version (what the level was originally for) the icicle trap is misplaced and doesn't kill the Lemmings. Then, early last year, I was finally able to find a solution on SuperLemmini, which was the engine that jkapp76 originally made this pack for in the 2010s prior to porting it over to NL with assistance from me a few years ago. I tried to replicate the SuperLemmini solution I found to the NL version, only to find out it would work if the player was given 1 additional digger. My speculation here is that it's not that digger pits are wider in SuperLemmini than they are in NL, but rather Lemmings are able to walk further into walls on the former before turning around. Then again, I just tried the Dos version and the level works as is with the original 50 builders and 10 diggers. This here would definitely be a difference in the digger mechanics between Dos and NL, as you can make it through with the remaining 7 diggers in the former but not in NL.

Since you were able to save everyone, I'll probably just restore it to the original 50 builders then while just providing the 1 extra digger. Thank you for showing me that it's possible to optimize my solution at the start with one less builder! :thumbsup:

Whereas for a pack recommendation to play next, how about Deceit's Lemmings? Excellent classic 8 skills pack which does get hard later on, especially near the very end, but it doesn't get crazy hard like most packs do around the end.

https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=2731.0   
#13
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: NotaLems Level pack
April 18, 2026, 08:47:47 AM
Tough rank finished and hence I have solved all of the pack! :thumbsup: Replays attached and of course more feedback

Tough Rank Feedback

The third and final rank of the pack, the Tough rank offers the hardest levels. Indeed, as I previously mentioned, the Tough rank is aptly named, though I managed to pick up significant speed with a large amount of levels in the middle. Even then, there's still plenty of difficult nuts to crack here! Of course, there's still some significant gems in the rank as well.

Spoiler
Tough 1 - The Flagpole and the Box Great level to start the rank. Not too hard of a level, though the hardest part here was getting a Lemming to turn around at the very end of the basher tunnel in order to dig so that he gets low enough to mine the bottom entrance out. Thankfully, the player can better get this via the RR.

Tough 2 - Rope Swing Looks daunting and difficult, but it's not too bad despite appearances. Once you realize the way to keep the second Lemming safe is to have him dig all the way down at the start and then you can release him from the pit with the climber skill, then the rest of the solution should come easily. It might still be difficult to find the best way through the ropes, though. You're pretty much given exactly the bare minimum of what you need to solve the level, so you can't waste any builders whatsoever.

Tough 3 - Catacombs Pretty much a breather level for the most part, especially as it's quite obvious that you can't go through the bottom entirely and that you must go over the top. This is pretty much the hard part, knowing where to build to get everyone up. I finish the level with a lot of miners to spare, so I don't know what those others are for. Even then, there doesn't seem to be any harm in keeping them in, especially as I don't see how the level can be cheesed with them ;)

Tough 4 - No Justice Quite possibly the hardest level in the entire rank TBH. For the most part, I kept wondering if the level is even solvable with the given skillset, as it always looks as if you're a digging destructive skill short. In the end, after a long struggle, the solution I found requires a lot of pixel precision, particularly the second climber to stop the first one who digs, as well as a very precise bomber to get the left entrance out and into the miner tunnel from the first climber. If this is intended, then I suggest heavily reducing the precision needed and/or eliminating it. Levels that require a lot of pixel precise skill assignments in the solution aren't good design IMO. It's one of those things that just because you can doesn't mean you should. At least when I test my levels, if too much precision is needed, then I like to help the player out by either reducing it or just outright eliminating it. I don't like players failing my levels because of pixels. I want them to fail because of the puzzle! :P

Tough 5 - Jenga Another hard level IMO. A lot of my attempts failed because I couldn't find a way to keep the neutrals safe while one of the regular Lemmings builds to get to the exit. Turns out I simply needed to realize to use a builder to make a splatform first before building to the exit. I don't think there's really a way to delay the neutrals further, at least without them climbing into danger later on as a result, such as into a bear trap or falling into the acid.

Tough 6 - Iron Gate Nice level even though this isn't the intended way that you need to do the final level for this particular mini-level! :thumbsup: Isolating the first two Lemmings from the rest of the crowd while one of the two pioneers bombs through the OWW and then builds across the gap and also over the ketchup wheel trap and then the crowd can release themselves by bashing. It's still a much faster solve than either of the two previous levels, so it's definitely much easier than them.

Tough 7 - Crystal Clear? Quite possibly the easiest level in the entire rank because this level literally took me no time at all to get solved, and so yes, I would agree that the level is indeed "crystal clear" :P

Tough 8 - One Minute, One Of Each Skill Nice level and a tad bit harder than the previous one, with probably the hardest and trickiest part being just a bit before the exit. I don't know if my solution is intended though. It's always nice to see a level made with Gronkling's Menacing tileset. I'll be honest, and that is I was amazed at this special graphics level of L1 as a kid, rather than freaked out by the blood and strains. Good music as well.

Tough 9 - Z Cave Another easy one, as it's obvious that the miner needs to bounce off two blockers. The only hard part here is preventing the other entrances from dying to the deadly sides.

Tough 10 - Pair of Aces I love the design of the level here which is meant to depict playing cards. In this case, Ace of Spades and Ace of Diamonds. Hard level here, as even with a lot of builders available it's not easy to determine the best route through the playing cards, especially the latter. I must say, that hidden steel in the middle is pretty evil. I think you may be aware as well, but deceiving players like that tends to be a big no-no in the NL community. Most players agree that all information to solve the level should be visible from the get-go and not hidden. Of course, if one wants to during play, CPM can be activated ahead of time to know that the middle part is steel and not destructible terrain like I thought it was. So, I brought that on myself, but in general I usually don't use CPM in my live LPs :P Overall, nice challenging level!

Tough 11 - Spectacular Pretty much the best level of the entire rank IMO! :thumbsup: The hardest to see in the solution is the user of the bomber, but that realization didn't take too long for me as I kept trying to fiddle around with not using too many builders to build across the gap at the bottom. Certainly the hardest part afterwards was releasing the top entrances while making sure to have enough builders to do so and to get up the miner tunnels, though that would leave you a builder short if you do the latter. The alternative, then, is to get the middle entrance down by having them mine out so that they will come back up the side of the level to reach the exit. I really enjoyed figuring out this level. Well done, though I have a builder to spare ;)

Tough 12 - Wind Tunnel Ah, so the level from the Easy rank does get repeated here, which we all thought you meant to have the player solve via compression through the traps. Nah, this is the level, the repeat, that players do it on, so I guess that renders what we said about the level in the Easy rank moot :P That's certainly not the hardest part but rather how to achieve the compression and then be able to release everyone to go towards the traps at the end, except for the worker who did the bridges.

Tough 13 - Desert Island Night Rescue Team Pretty much a breather as well, as it's the rare level where one can simply use the standard two blocker trap to hold back the crowd while one Lemming goes on ahead to make the route for them. Also, as long as you realize that you can only save 3 of the 2-neutral groups, then this level isn't a problem in any way. I did think that maybe the intention is to make bridges that span across so that you can free all the neutrals with one of the bashers, but thankfully that's not required, as you are allowed to lose both the blockers and two of the neturals which can't be freed.

Tough 14 - Multi-tasking Looks daunting and hard but it's not that bad at all. Pretty much the only hard part is making the splatform to save the right entrance, but you do have plenty of floaters to spare so luckily it's not too tight. Perhaps keeping the left entrance safe is the harder part of the level. I do have plenty of skills to spare, but maybe it's supposed to be an open-ended level. Decent and somewhat challenging level here.

Tough 15 - Crosses and Noughts Sorry, not a fan of this level at all! Way too many repeated bomber and builder assignments make this really boring and not fun to play. Sure, it's a breather, considering the lenient save requirement and all, but didn't find this fun in any way.

Tough 16 - The Sands of Time Also a breather IMO, with probably the only hard part is to have one Lemming turn around after going down a level so that he can prepare the rest of the way for the others before too many get into danger due to turning around. I used the final 3 builders to turn the 3 back towards the exit while the basher was still going. Not sure if this is intended.

Tough 17 - Derelict Staircase Looks difficult, and indeed it does seem to be the case, especially if the intended solution is enforced. This seems to be a backroute I found. I'm not sure if digging to avoid the trap is intended here. I expected them to get killed on the other side if doing that, but apparently there's a wall there that prevents them from reaching the other side.

Tough 18 - Cave Explorer Sorry, not a fan of this level either. It's quite obvious what you need to do here, but way too much bridge building for my liking. This does remind me of an L2 Outdoor level that has something very similar, though I can't remember if you're given anything else other than just builders and diggers. This level does seem to be inspired by that.

Tough 19 - The Chains That Bind Nice challenging level! Don't be fooled by what seems like a lot of builders and miners. At least in my solution, I ended up using all of them. Certainly not easy to find the correct route through the level while making your way to release the neutrals. The 99RR makes the start difficult, though because the start is all steel and you don't have bombers, then it's clear that to release the crowd later on you need to block on a built staircase to release both the blocker and crowd later on. I kind of enjoyed this level, though some parts were a bit fiddly to do, especially when building and then mining while not turning around and/or the staircase gets chipped off so that the Lemmings will slip through from the other side.

Tough 20 - The Arches Still seems to be a backroute here, so looks like it needs further fixing still :P I'm guessing the titular arches are used in the intended way as indicated by the level title.

Tough 21 - Oh Balls! Another excellent level and definitely far harder than the original in the Easy rank. I especially love the extending the basher part of the solution, though I would say it's probably also the hardest to see in the solution. Well done, and the time attack talisman is certainly not hard to obtain at all, especially as long as you bash at pretty much the first opportunity you get, before the builder gets put in place for it to keep going ;)

Tough 22 - Looks Simple..... This one also seems to be a bit inspired by an L2 level, this time in the Classic Pillar set. I think it was called "Mr. Lemmy Doesn't Live Here Anymore" or something like that. Kind of a breather, though probably the hardest part is figuring out how to get someone to come back to the crowd to mine the crowd free. Here, it seems climber bombing is the most logical choice to get through after building across the gap, but bashing it away instead occurred to me a bit later. It's a bit unfortunate that the climber who mines the crowd out isn't able to reach the exit on time, but oh well, sometimes that's the way it goes :P

Tough 23 - NuMaCaBaBaB I'm guessing that's a lyric to a song or possibly even the name of a song? Pretty much a remake of "Now use miners and climbers"/No added colours or lemmings," just with two steel walls instead. The solution is pretty much what you expect it to be, with probably the only hard part is building over the gap before anyone arrives and falls in and is trapped there. Nice level nevertheless.

Tough 24 - Crocodilopolis Wow, excellent level here! :thumbsup: I really enjoyed solving this one. One of the hardest levels of the rank for sure but one which feels to be the right difficulty. I think the solutions can easily swap sides here. Got the gist of the solution fairly quick, though took me a while to figure out to dig and then the next Lemming from one entrance builds to be delayed so that the other Lemmings who spawn from it can survive the fall into the pit. I really love how there's the mining through the bridge to release the ones trapped in the pit by climbing solution element of "no added colours or lemmings" level here. Well done! :thumbsup:

Tough 25 - Fort William Somewhat of a breather this late in the game. Not really hard in any way, especially with plenty of climbers to keep the bottom entrance safe. It can be a bit chaotic keeping track of everything. Probably the only hard part is getting the bottom entrance up, similar to Tough 3. Otherwise, nice level which I kind of enjoyed playing and solving ;)

Tough 26 - One Floater, One Climber, keep moving... Looks to be quite daunting and challenging, though my solution is probably a slight backroute. The solution does seem to get the three move involved in cooperating with one another so that one of them keeps the other two safe throughout the entire level. This level kind of reminds me of a level from Lemmings Reunion, which I believe is called "Den of evil" or something like that. Similar concept, where one is a floater, another a climber, and the other one is neither one and just a regular Lemming.

Tough 27 - Clam Dune Probably a bit harder than the previous level, especially with the 99RR and multiple entrances to deal with. A few skills I spared so maybe a backroute as well? ??? I love all the clams you put on the sandy dune! :D Very nice background which goes really well with the L2 graphic set.

Tough 28 - The Red Room This level doesn't too difficult at first glance but there's still some gotchas to watch out for. I think the hardest part for me here was figuring out how to get two Lemmings to go on ahead, one of which bashes the final wall while the other one turns around to build the splatform. I'm not sure if the spot where I built in the solution is required so that if you bash at the right spot then the crowd doesn't get released. If that is intended, then that's certainly the hardest thing to spot in the solution! Very nice! Probably about the same difficulty as the previous two levels.

Tough 29 - It Burns! Sorry, another one I wasn't a fan of. Way too much repeated building and blocking on the left side to reach the exit and is way too fiddly to execute. Granted, there might had been some things I could had done to make it a bit easier, but for the most part it's really annoying to do. Quite possibly the worst level of the pack IMO. Probably the biggest improvement might be to leave more wiggle room with the flamethrowers on the building up side. This level does seem to be inspired by I believe it's called "Blood Furnace" by Crane, only this one has a bit more than that.

Tough 30 - The Last Level: A trip down memory lane I like how this is 5 levels rolled in one where you essentially just repeat the solutions to them for the most part! :D :thumbsup: Now I definitely know I didn't do the Brick level the intended way. Pretty much the Bubble and L2 CaveLem levels both have a slight modification to the solution from the originals. My failures came about due to doing them incorrectly and sub-optimally at first. I think the rest of the solution came easily once I realized why the great number of losses you're allowed which will come in the Bubble level. It's not easy to see how to release the neutrals in it while not using too many builders. I think luckily needing to climb back up to the neutrals to release the blocker in the L2 CaveLem level came quickly as I got close to getting the level solved, as you really don't have any other options with the skills you have left for it, if you did the other mini-levels correctly. A great level to finish off the pack on for which the AWESOME music track plays! :thumbsup: I believe Lemmings Rundown by LemFan does this as well, with the AWESOME music track also playing on the final level.         

Overall, while there's room for improvement, especially in the Easy rank, as well as some levels which I wasn't a fan of, this is a quite decent first attempt at a level pack. I did enjoy the level pack from start to finish, though it's quite difficult in many places, with the difficulty jumping all over the place and hence it's very erratic. Still, I applaud you for your efforts and work over a period of several years. I look forward to future levels/level packs from you! ;)

Hope the replays and feedback is helpful and that the LP is enjoyable, if you've been watching it :)   
#14
NeoLemmix Levels / Re: [NFNL] Insane Steve's World
April 17, 2026, 11:40:47 AM
Quote from: WillLem on April 17, 2026, 03:09:13 AM@kaywhyn Would you be happy to replace these levels in the OP attachment? Thanks.



Done, thanks! It would had helped if I indeed had checked that I had the issue with the levels of the pack that use the nin10_ta_lava style not loading as well (and I did). Turns out I had an older version of the pack which doesn't have the issue of them not loading and that I simply hadn't downloaded the latest pack version, as I tend to move on from a level pack once I'm done playing through all of it. So, my bad @Pierdo! :-[
#15
Quote from: WillLem on April 16, 2026, 11:58:22 PM
Suggested approach, and discussion thereof
(1) Make a list of 30 x 4 levels which will form the "working playlist" (Draft 1) - they can be any levels at this point, and have no priority over anything not on the list. We do NOT decide at this point which levels should and shouldn't make the cut.

(2) Play through every level in the total pool (i.e. all levels on the list, and all levels off the list). During this step, we make notes, update any levels that need updating, and identify which levels should and shouldn't make the cut.

(3) Having completed step 2, we should now have a more firm idea of which levels will actually make it into the pack. We go through the process of swapping, moving, and replacing all levels in Draft 1 until we have Draft 2, which will be much closer to what the pack will actually end up looking like.

(4) Play through Draft 2 as if it's the completed pack, making note of how well the levels flow from one to another, etc. to get Draft 3, which would likely be a release candidate by that point.

All that's happened is, Proxima doesn't think step (1) is necessary and so we're starting from step (2). And that's fine, level selection was delegated to him for a reason and I'm happy to support the approach he wants to take - he has my full confidence.

The only difference it will actually make is to step (3). I imagine that it might it take a bit longer or be slightly more difficult if we don't already have a working list at that point. Then again, it might not. I could be wrong. It's natural for me to want to refer to a method has repeatedly worked for my own projects when suggesting how to go about this particular project - but, of course, I'm always happy to try new ways of doing things! :)

Anyway - by now, I'm explaining this only because I dislike misunderstandings. I haven't suggested rushing anything; on the contrary, my suggestion was that we add an extra step, which would actually slow the process down initially, but (maybe) make a later part of the process quicker and easier.

Think of it like this: when you take your washing out of the dryer, do you first sort everything into piles by clothing type (shirts, t-shirts, pants, socks, etc) or do you sort through the whole pile one item at a time? Is that first step necessary? I'd argue it is. It makes it much easier to see what you're dealing with, makes the total task feel less daunting, and increases the chances that the task will get completed by > 0% ;)

AH, thanks for the clarification! It makes more sense to me now where you're coming from with this explanation. A couple of remarks to some things of your reply:

Quote(1) Make a list of 30 x 4 levels which will form the "working playlist" (Draft 1) - they can be any levels at this point, and have no priority over anything not on the list. We do NOT decide at this point which levels should and shouldn't make the cut.

(2) Play through every level in the total pool (i.e. all levels on the list, and all levels off the list). During this step, we make notes, update any levels that need updating, and identify which levels should and shouldn't make the cut.

Yea, it still sounds like it's arbitrary bias as to what would go on the list for the first step and it's some kind of subset of the v4 RotL pack except for where the levels that didn't make it in the pack are concerned. If anything, I probably would had just said the first 120 levels of v4 for the first pack and then the remaining 120 levels of the v4 for the second pack :P There, done.

Joking of course, since it's definitely more complicated than that. As mentioned previously, the Excel spreadsheet is a great one and sure, it might take longer and make some things a bit harder later on than if there was a "working playlist" as you call it, but I think for the most part I would had done it the way Proxima is currently doing it as well. I think it's working fine for the time being ;)

QuoteAnyway - by now, I'm explaining this only because I dislike misunderstandings.

Right, understandable. I don't like being misunderstood either, and I'm sure there's plenty of others that don't as well, so we're far from being the only ones :P In fairness, I tend to be a slow learner and in understanding things in some areas, though definitely not as much of the former as when I was a youngster, but it's still there in me from time to time.

QuoteI haven't suggested rushing anything...

Well, you did suggest "a quick and dirty approach" for the first step on the list creation on Discord and that admittedly made me think you were suggesting rushing of some kind on the project, let alone possibly thrown in some confusion :P

In any case, at least we're in agreement with taking our time on all steps and processes of the community project.

QuoteAgain, bottom line: I'm no longer making the case for my suggested approach at this point. We've already decided to do it Proxima's way and that's absolutely fine by me. Happy to leave it there and move on :)



Agreed, it went on much longer than it should had due to my confusion and what was a misinterpretation on my part. I'm going to say no more of this and won't press for further clarification or anything on the matter. Let's shift the focus on doing what needs to be done and on our roles we been delegated to and helping each other out if needed.

Keep up the great work everyone :)