5 years ago on February 14th, I decided to record and upload the beginning of a playthrough of Lemmings on SuperLemmini for my second ever Let's Play in honor of the 25th anniversary of Lemmings. Little did I know that that decision would have such a dramatic impact on my life.

A forumer who shall remain nameless (but it was IchoTolot) found my playthrough and invited me to the Lemmings Forums. I decided to check it out and found a bunch of cool people who all loved this classic puzzle game too. This was the first online community I ever was a part of, and it opened so many doors for me, and now I've seen how the internet can truly bring people together.

I want to say to everyone that I've met on here; I'm glad to have joined this forum and met/interacted with all of you! This little decision has made a large difference in my life, and even if I don't spend much time with Lemmings-related things anymore, without this community, it is unlikely I ever would have been involved seriosuly with online communities in general, and it's possible I never would have started streaming. Keep being awesome everyone.

Looking for a relatively easy pack to ease you into the world of custom Lemmings levels? Want something with a similar flavor to the original Lemmings? Looking to get better at solving levels and picking up tricks? This is the pack for you.

This is SubLems! One of the first levelpacks I ever made, and it's finally been ported to the new formats of NeoLemmix! This pack was originally made for SuperLemmini, back when NeoLemmix was still in its infancy. By popular demand, I ported it to NeoLemmix with some issues, since a few levels couldn't be ported so new ones had to be made. Porting to the new formats also took time, since many levels were scrapped for various reasons. But now it's complete, and I think the result is worth it.

SubLems contains 110 levels spread across 6 ranks with 10 levels in the first rank and 20 in each rank after that. The game starts off incredibly easy, similar to that of the original Lemmings, and steadily increases in difficulty as the pack goes on. The learning curve is steeper than the original game, and by the end it definitely exceeds the difficulty of the original game, but it's probably one of the easier packs out there, so it should be beginner-friendly. The levels should also teach you some of the tricks needed to solve the really tough custom levels. None of the NeoLemmix-exclusive skills are used in these levels, and the only NeoLemmix-exclusive objects that are used are pickup skills, so this pack should give you an experience close to the original game.

This port also features several new levels, since many levels were replaced either because I didn't like them, or they had too many backroutes, so this pack will be a new experience even for people who played a previous version!

Download SubLems here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/quuy050td1edjky/SubLems.zip?dl=1

Each level in this pack has its own unique music. All music should be safe to use for Youtube videos; please let me know if one of the tracks causes a copyright issue, and I'll try to change it for a future update.

Here's a breakdown of each rank:


Newbie

This is the tutorial rank! I don't count this as one of the official ranks in the game, it's here to teach you the basic mechanics of the game, such as the 8 main skills and the release rate. I recommend playing this rank even if you already know the basics, because the levels should hopefully be pretty, the music is nice, they're really short, and at least one of the levels in this rank returns in a future rank.


Scaling Mt. Jerry


Sweet

The first official rank! Sweet is full of easy, inviting levels for you to savor. Taking the skills you learned in Newbie, you get to run wild with them and solve simple levels in this rank. The levels here are meant to be pretty and easy, although they do get a bit more challenging at the end. You will also learn some more advanced basics in this rank, keeping with the tutorial theme of the previous rank in a way. Enjoy the eye candy as put what you've learned to the test.


Tri-color masterpiece


Scary

While the levels start out relatively simple, similar to the Sweet rank, this is where the challenge starts to come in. The environments you face are harsher and frightening, traps start popping up in abundance, skills are getting more limited, and some levels won't have open-ended solutions, forcing you to solve real puzzles now. You'll also have to start thinking creatively with the skills you're given.


It's a hot one


Chaotic

And now, the chaos begins. Levels get even trickier in this rank, and multitasking will become mandatory. You'll have to act quick to save your Lemmings from unfortunate demises, and the puzzles get trickier still. Expect your brain to start working a bit harder in this rank, and the pause button will become your best friend as well. Also, keep a close eye on that clock, because from here on out, you'll have to work fast...


The legendary bash of Crystal Cove


Insane

This is where the gloves come off, and the puzzles aren't holding back anymore. Time is getting really tight. The levels are getting meaner in design. Skills are highly restricted. Some very advanced tricks will be needed. Even the music is getting more frantic. Your brain will be kicked into overdrive in this rank, and by the end, you'll have gotten your first glimpse into hell.


Blame it on the chain


Hellish

Here we are: the final rank. Here, the puzzles hold nothing back, and everything you've learned up until now will be needed to solve these levels. Even experts may have trouble with some of these levels. I've saved the most devious puzzles for last, and the most epic music as well. Prove yourself here, and you'll be able to take on some of the tougher levelpacks out there. But first, you'll have to plunge into the nightmare that is hell...


Labyrinth of Lucifer

Several years ago, I released my very first levelpack: Reverse Lemmings! I took the original Lemmings levelpack, swapped the entrances and exits, changed the skillsets (and occasionally the time limits and release rate), and made a new pack off of that! I was not allowed to change any terrain or objects other than swapping entrances with exits. Unfortunately, many of the levels kind of sucked and it never got ported to new formats.

Until now.

When porting to new formats, I changed pretty much every single level to have a different solution, so treat this as a completely different levelpack. Even those of you who played the original will find a new challenge with this one! One of the main changes is I'm allowing the new skills to be used, which I didn't do for the original pack.

Fair warning: this pack has virtually no difficultly curve. There will be levels in Fun and Tricky that are harder than some Mayhem levels simply due to the fact that some level really can't be that difficult without the ability to change terrain or objects. That said, I've tried my best to make the earlier ranks easier than the later ones, but my main goal was to make each level have a unique and fun solution. Also, some levels are EXTREMELY difficult. Expect a lot of frustration if you want to beat all levels and get all talismans.

The pack is attached to the post.


dig Just!


lives costs clicking Careless


Edge The On Livin'


Me Save

So the OoT Randomizer got an update recently where you can make a Plandomizer, or a Randomizer where one can choose exactly where everything goes. Would anyone be interested in playing a custom seed made by me? I have some good ideas for it, but if no one wants to play it, I won't spend all the time making it. Please post below if you are interested.

Y'all. IT'S FINALLY HERE!

...or what I actually finished that is. I originally planned there to be 20 levels in each rank, and there are far less than that, but hopefully what I did finish is enjoyable!

For those who don't know, ArtLems is an art/classical music based pack, where each rank attempts to replicate a different art period with music from said era as well. The pack is going to be a lot harder than my other pack SubLems. Each rank has some pretty tough levels in it (except perhaps the first one), and the ranks don't necessary ascend in terms of difficulty (later ranks may have levels much easier than earlier ranks, so feel free to jump around the pack).

I may end up updating this pack with more levels in the future, since I feel bad most of the ranks only have a single digit amount of levels in them, but we'll wait and see.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!


Download instructions

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zn65f84t78z3u0r/ArtLems_V1.3.zip?dl=1

Extract the ArtLems V1.3 folder to your levels folder.
Extract the artlems folder to your styles folder.
Extract the ArtLems Music folder to your music folder.


Ancient

The earliest period. This is before traditional art like paintings and drawings were around, but the levels will instead focus on ancient civilizations and their architecture, as well as natural environments untouched by mankind. Since there is no recorded music from back then, I've chosen music reminiscent of the various ancient places you visit. Most of these are tutorial levels, but you'll get a few tricky levels by the end. This rank has 16 levels in it.


Byzantine's Temple of the Lion


Medieval

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Medieval period began. Now we have the means to create paintings and more beautiful structures. Religion is also a large component of the artwork. The levels are designed to either be modeled after Medieval locations or look like simple Medieval artwork. The music features lots of flutes, lutes, and pipes. This rank starts pretty simple, but the last few levels are quite difficult. This rank has 14 levels in it.


Church of Saint Stephen


Renaissance

And now that the Dark Ages are over, we enter the Golden Age of the Renaissance! No longer is the art dreary or bland, but now they are vibrant and full of color! Religious themes are still reflected in the artwork, and the music is more vibrant with a larger selection of instruments. The puzzles here are fairly simple, but elegant at the same time. This rank has a mere 5 levels.


Terramort


Baroque

The Renaissance is over. The Baroque period features more ornate art, with greater detail and emotion. The music has gotten more emotional and deep as well. The puzzles are much more complex than the previous ranks, with many working parts that need to come together. This rank has 6 levels in it.


Playing in the winter


NeoClassical

Now the art has gotten simpler, with strict rules governing how things should look. The music is also a bit more structured, with the piano taking the center stage. The puzzles have gotten trickier still, with some requiring severe thinking to suss out, but they tend to be smaller than the Baroque puzzles. This rank has a mere 4 levels in it.


For Elise


Romantic

Now the art is getting really passionate! Artists are focusing on making their art and music as emotional as possible. The levels are designed to make you feel emotions when you see them. Orchestras are larger than ever before, allowing for loud, complex, and emotional music as well. This rank is the smallest, with only 3 levels in it.


A Night on Lem Mountain


Modernist

The final period. Here I've meshed the remaining art periods after the Romantic period into a single rank. Modern art seeks to experiment with what can be made, regardless of if it looks good or works well. Classical music becomes more atonal to break the rules, and now video game music is used for most levels (to avoid copyright claims on people LPing this). The end of this rank features some of the toughest puzzles I could make. This rank has 10 levels.


Art's Abstraction

Here's a tileset that I was planning on using for an ArtLems level, but that didn't work out. I decided to release it to see if people had any interest in it. It's the original Dirt tileset, but in black and white. I originally designed it for an old-timey movie level. Since it's identical to the Dirt tileset in every way except for aesthetics, I'm not sure how much use it will get, but if people really like it, I may end up converting more of the original (and maybe OHNO) tilesets to black and white as well.


Back in my day, we had a Rendezvous at the Mountain...

Hello friends. I'm not one for making serious, big posts like this, but this is something that has been weighing on my mind, and as one of the main Let's Players who plays Lemmings packs, I want to share my thoughts.

As the title suggests: I believe difficult Lemmings level packs don't make good Let's Plays. Here is why:

Let's Play videos are typically around a half hour in length on average. Some videos are closer to an hour, and some are closer to 15 minutes. Generally videos around a half hour are good, because it's a good amount of content without being overwhelming; I've personally noticed my shorter videos get a lot more views, because most people don't want to spend an hour watching a single video.

This is where we run into problems. Difficult level packs have difficult levels. Difficult levels typically take a while to solve. It may take 30 minutes to solve a single level. It may take an hour to solve a single level. It may take DAYS to solve a single level.

What happens when Let's players play levels that are this difficult? Well, what happens is it takes a long time to record, and a single video will likely only contain a single level. As a Let's player, when this happens (like with Gravity Coaster in SEB Lems), I get very frustrated because I want quality content for my viewers, and when I have to spend a whole video on a single level (especially when said video is over an hour), then I feel that I have not delivered quality content for my viewers. I remember in rtw's DoveLems LP where he spent one video on a single level (The Spring in the Maso ranking) and I did not enjoy that video. It wasn't because the level was bad (it's a pretty awesome level) but I want to see multiple levels in a single video; I don't want to see a whole bunch of failed attempts at a single level. Personally, I think a video of someone playing a Lemmings level should contain their thought process behind solving a level, some different attempts at a solution, followed by the success of solving the level. When you devote whole videos to single levels (or worse, several videos to a single level) this stretches out the Let's Play, and in a level pack that generally has 80 levels MINIMUM this means one can spend months on a single levelpack.

Let's take a REALLY difficult level pack like Lemming United. The levels in this pack are really good, but don't make for an enjoyable Let's Play. Not only is it a ~200 level pack, the levels get brutally difficult pretty quickly (at least for a scrub like me). This would mean a Let's Play would be probably >100 videos, with most videos being long (over an hour), and only covering 1 or 2 levels in a single video. Does that sound enjoyable to you: several months of hour long videos focusing on a single Lemmings level that I end up solving off-screen anyways? Maybe it does to you, but to me and many others, it does not, and when these levels frustrate me because I want to have quality videos, my commentary suffers, as does my view on the levels and pack by extension. This often leads to me giving harsh criticism towards levels (like Gravity Coaster) that I wouldn't give if playing casually. This is no fun for anyone.

Please don't think I'm attacking anyone. I'm not saying this is the pack designers' fault; it's not at all! Difficult level packs can be really fun; but they're meant to be solved on your own time and taken slowly, which isn't possible when recording. When my family and I played the original Lemmings, we spent years on it, often getting stumped on levels for months at a time, and we loved it! We loved taking the time to think and rethink things through, trying different things, and when we eventually solved them, we felt very accomplished and proud! When you spend a long time solving a level on video, you aren't really happy at the end, you're often roaring with relief and foaming at the mouth over how annoying that level was to solve, all because of time pressure and the editing involved with cutting out useless footage (if you do that at all). Difficult levels require time to solve, which is not a grace we are given when Let's Playing the levels. Difficult levels are fun when you can pick them up, put them down, and not have to worry about solving it quickly nor having witty commentary during them. It's a disservice to difficult level packs to play them like a Let's Play, which is why I think Icho's method of recording saved replays of levels on his channel is the right way to go for difficult levelpacks.

I have loved Let's Playing every single level pack I've taken on, but there's a reason I haven't tried LPing Lemmings United, Lemmings Plus V, NepsterLems, or the like; they're too hard for a Let's Play (especially for one of middling intellect like myself ) The level packs I have played have been pretty easy on the whole, with only a small handful of videos being devoted to a single level. If Lemmings Plus I had reached a point where every video was focused on one level with the time taken to solve it being over an hour, it's likely I would have stopped the Let's Play, or continued it out of stubbornness but not enjoyed it at all. At this point, most level packs being released are what I consider too hard to Let's Play, at least by me. And this is one of the reasons I'm announcing that after finishing Lemmings World Tour in the future, it is unlikely I will Let's Play another Lemmings pack. There are many reasons for this, but this is the big one. It's possible I will LP a smaller, easier level pack in the future (such as Proxima or Nessy's future packs), but I'm actually thinking about moving away from Let's Plays entirely in the future; there are many other things I want to do with my precious free time.

Now that I've said my peace, do people agree with this? I know there are people who don't mind >1 hour long videos devoted to just attempts at solving a level, but I disagree greatly. I may be wrong. I may be in the minority. I just wanted to say this and see peoples' thoughts. Let me know your thoughts below!

I just picked up Super Mario Maker 2 for the Switch and have been fiddling around with the editor. I thought I should start a thread where anyone who has the game can share their levels here to get feedback and have fun!

Here is the first level I made; I worked pretty hard on it over the last few days, and am very happy with how it turned out!

The Fort of the Pendulum Chomp
Course ID: NSL-NNM-SXF

I want to try doing a co-op or casual race of the Ocarina of Time Randomizer. I figure if people are interested, we select a date, we each get a game with the same seed, and we all play it at the same time. We could either do a casual race, or a friendly cooperation where we each look for the items and let each other know where the key items are.

Let me know if you are interested in this. It wouldn't be for a couple of weeks in all likeliness.

This is an idea I had today that I would really like to try out. Would anyone be interested in doing a race to see who can complete The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time first? My idea is that we set up a session where we all play the game while talking with each other, we each record our own game footage, and then once it's over, I take all of the footage, put it on one screen, and upload it to Youtube.

This could be myself and 1-3 others trying to beat the game as fast as possible, or alternatively, I would also be interested in racing someone who hasn't beaten it before to see if they can beat the game before I can beat it 100%. If anyone is interested in this, PLEASE let me know, and I'd love to set up a session; I think it would be a ton of fun!

Also, I'm not talking about a hardcore speedrun exploiting crazy glitches like the Door of Time Skip or Wrong Warping; I'm thinking of a very casual race between people who aren't experts, but have beaten the game at least once before.

I had an absolute blast playing Ultimate Chicken Horse several weeks ago with Flopsy, mobius, and geoo! I know quite a few people own the game now, so I wonder how many people would be interested in playing some multiplayer this Saturday at 18:00 UTC? Only 4 can play in a server just FYI. I'll record the session and upload videos periodically as I edit them. Just let me know if this is a good time for people; if not, we can schedule it for a different day.

Way back in early 2016, I joined this forum by invitation of IchoTolot so I could show off my custom levels. Among these first custom levels was my very first levelpack: Reverse Lemmings. For those of you not familiar with the pack, it was all of the original Lemmings levels with the entrance and exits swapped, as well as the skill counts, time limit, number of lemmings, save requirement, and possibly release rate changed if necessary.

The pack sucked. I'll be the first to say it. It had few real puzzles, and most of them weren't too special or challenging. I've been meaning to update it for a while now, and with the introduction of the 9 new NeoLemmix only skills, I figure I'd just start from scratch and make a sequel of sorts. It will still be the same levels as in Reverse Lemmings, but with mostly different solutions. My goal is to give each level a unique solution with few X-of-everything levels. I'll also fix a lot of the issues Flopsy pointed out in his LP of it, namely many objects no being set to no overwrite, excessive builder fests, missing liquid at the bottom of many levels, and some very wonky steel areas.

This should be a relatively simple pack to make, but if anyone has any ideas for solutions for these Reverse levels, please PM me about them and they might be included in the pack! There are tons of duplicate levels, so any unique solution is welcome!

I've had this idea for a while now. I want to make a program for NeoLemmix that essentially finds all possible solutions in a level. You would run this program, input a level file, and it would essentially brute-force its way to find all possible solutions, running in the background so the user can perform other tasks on their computer. When the program finishes, it would save every working replay it found for the level.

For those more experienced with programming and the NeoLemmix code itself, please tell me: would such a program be possible? If so, how feasible would it be to make?

Also, is anyone interested in helping me make such a program? I have a lot of other projects I'm working on right now, so help would be very useful.

I think if we could create such a program, it would be an immense help to the community. Not only would it eliminate the need to get testers for a pack, but it could also help you find amazing solutions to your levels even you never thought of.

Everyone else seems to be making threads like this, so I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon. This also will give me the opportunity to talk about why I made the maps the way they are.

The individual maps



Playtime! (any number of players except 7)

My first individual multiplayer map! I loved Raymanni's Toy tileset, so I wanted to use it. I also wanted a level where you had enough skills to get the job done, but not enough to let you be wasteful or allow for intense sabotaging. Finally, I wanted each player to get an isolated area to avoid confrontations. This is a good beginner map, but experts can enjoy it as well! (I will not add steel under the entrances nor exits on this level.)



Cowabunga on the beam! (8p)

I really wanted to see if I could make a good 1-of-everything multiplayer level, and I hope I succeeded. The level may be hard to visualize, but it essentially wraps diagonally. This is simultaneously a really hard and pretty easy level. If you just want your lix in the exit, it's quite simple, if a bit daunting at first. If you want to sabotage others to ensure your victory, the difficulty really ramps up. I have updated this level to include many more routes and sabotage opportunities, but remember, you have very few skills, so use them wisely...

Update 1/29/2018 - added extra ramps to the area above yours, creating more sabotage opportunities...



Muder in a minute (8p)

Is it great? Is it terrible? You decide!
A very, very short level that originally was intended to be a death-match between players. What it ended up being was so entertaining, I kept it and made my death-match a different stage. This level is simple: get to the hatch above you as quickly as possible. You have two lix, but be careful of enemies making splatfalls and batting you into the buzzsaws. The name comes from the name of a band.



Shaft of Chaos (2-8p)

Welcome to the shaft. This is probably the simplest multiplayer level you'll find, making it a very good introduction stage for new people. The route to your exit is very short and easy, but the terrain and excessive skills allow for a good amount of sabotaging. This introduces players to the core mechanics of Lix multiplayer, including getting screwed over by others, but in ways that are easy enough to remedy. Of course, you can expect a lot of chaos in this shaft...



Blow your top! (3-8p)

An especially tricky level designed for advanced players. You have three hatches: one can go to your exit, and the other two are trapped in steel. The idea is to get your main group to the exit while making sure the enemies' saboteurs don't blow them up into the deadly laser ceiling. The idea for a level involving groups of saboteurs blowing themselves up to knock other people into lasers popped into my head one day and I thought it amusing, so the result is this level. No longer can the saboteur lix go through the steel ceiling.



Pyramid Scheme (6p)

Taken from the Lemmings pack Mobilems. This was one of my favorites from that pack, and I thought it would make an interesting multiplayer map. You have to get over two pyramids to reach your exit. As per players' requests, I added builders to the map.

Update 1/29/2018 - Two versions of this map are available: one with builders, and one without.



Pandemonium Box (8p)

This one breaks my two biggest rules (avoid player interactions and make it perfectly balanced). This map you may have noticed is not exactly balanced, but since everyone has to go through the same rooms, I think it's still fine. I hope this map is simple for beginners, and as the name implies, is absolute pandemonium. Only time will tell though.

Update 1/29/2018 - The red areas were changed slightly to make it clear whose exit is there. Steel was added under the exits. Also, there are two versions of this map: one with cubers, and one without.



Feaster Islands (2p, 3p, 4p, 6p, or 8p)

A new map. Get ready to eat cake, because this level has many slices! Get your lixes to the slice of cake next to you, but watch out for the eaters; they're carnivorous, so although they won't eat the cake, they will eat YOU!

Update 1/29/2018 - Fixed the cakes so they don't cause terrain errors, also greatly lessened the number of blockers and removed the platformers, while increasing builders.


Team maps


In the attic (2 teams, at least 4 players)

My take on one of my favorite Lemmings levels Lemmings in the Attic, but multiplayer. I tried to stay faithful to the original as close as I could, and the result is a level where one team tends to dominate and the other really can't get anyone in. Honestly, I think Rubix's level "Attic Attack" is a better map than this one, so I may discard this one in the future.



Showdown at Chainsaw Gap (2 teams, 6 players)

This map is what I wanted Murder in a Minute to be. A fight to the death with buzzsaws overhead. You have three lix apiece, and the goal is to knock the enemy lixes into the buzzsaws or make them fall into the water so you can reach their exit (first to get a lix wins). The varying heights of the buzzsaws help balance the map. The highest buzzsaws aren't reachable, the middle ones are reach via a runner-jumper or being batted into them, and the shortest ones are just high enough that any change in height is likely to have deadly results. It's a short level that emphasizes hotkey speed and outsmarting the enemy. The level name comes from the Berenstain Bears Chapter book of the same name (no joke).



Hammerhead Bridge (2 teams, 8 players)

Everyone takes a Lix and either tries to reach their exit (first to get one wins), or make it harder for the enemies to reach theirs. In order to stand a chance, each team needs to have attackers and defenders. This map is a level from Splatoon, converted into a Lix map. I have made the fence steel and changed the central pillar to be harder to get over, which should hopefully make the map longer and better.


Race maps


Heart of a gambler (2-8p)

Three different courses in one. Each ascending course gets progressively faster, but also more difficult and dangerous. The top route in particular is incredibly deadly, but worth it if you succeed...

Update 1/29/2018 - Made the top route even harder and the bottom route slightly longer.

Hello everyone. I've mentioned this in passing in IRC, and since the winter semester is starting soon, I figured it would be best to make a topic about this now.

I am making a Lemmings-like game for my final college project!

The name of the game is Tech Mechs! (tentatively) The game follows the adventures of the Tech Mechs: intergalactic explorers who need your help reaching the end of these planetary obstacles! It plays like Lemmings: the Tech Mechs come out of their base and need to reach their rocketship to blast to another planet. They wander around aimlessly, and you give them the tools they need to succeed.

How will this be different from Lemmings?

Although this game will draw many inspirations from Lemmings, there will be many differences.

First, I want it to be more contained than what we currently have. Ideally, I'd like this game to allow for playing packs/levels, creating levels/packs, creating/modifying graphics sets, and sharing your levels all in the same program. I feel like this will give users a much better, more intuitive, and simpler experience than what we have for NeoLemmix. (Lix does a pretty good job on doing this)

Not only that, but I'd also like to incorporate multiplayer into the game. Not competitive multiplayer like Lix, but cooperative multiplayer, allowing for highly complex puzzles requiring multiple people with different skills working together to solve. Each player would have their own Tech Mechs that only they can assign skills to, as well as a different skillset from the other player(s) and a different entrance. All players would share the same exit though. The idea of multiplayer is to encourage people to cooperate and solve puzzles together.

I also think having a level/graphic set database would be really cool, so people could design levels and new graphic sets, post them online, and have other people easily find them, similar to Super Mario Maker. This would negate the need to manually send packs online like we do on the forums, but would also be very complicated!

Finally, a lot of the skills will be different from the ones in Lemmings and Lix. A few skills I feel would have to be brought over from Lemmings, because they are so indispensable.

What will the final product be?

My final project for school will be a beta version of this game. Hopefully, most of the features will be completed in a rather crude manner, and I'd still need to polish it a lot and incorporate new features into it.

When the game is finished, I'd like to sell it on Steam, provided I think it is high-quality enough. The game would ideally attract both the people who grew up with and loved Lemmings, as well as introduce new players to the genre!

Will every level be outer space themed?

Absolutely not. Like Lemmings, this game will have graphic sets. I consider each graphic set to represent a different planet or celestial body. There might be a planet full of huge trees, a planet with red rocks everywhere, or even a planet with giant video game cartridges everywhere! The possibilities are endless, and are no different than Lemmings graphic sets; the ones I create initially may be more space-themed, but that's mostly just to give my game a "theme" for my project evaluators.

What tool/skills will be in the game to assign to Tech Mechs?

I don't have the list finalized by any means, but I'd personally like to incorporate the following skills:

Builder
Yeah, this is one of those skills that really cannot be missing from the game, due to its immense flexibility, power, and overall indispensability in solving puzzles. This will function more or less identically to its Lemmings counterpart.

Driller
Make no mistake, this skill is a basher, with its horizontal terrain destruction, but this one will quickly and smoothly carve its way through walls, more similar to the shoveler in Lix.

Jackhammer
It's the digger, digging straight down until there is no longer terrain under you.

Miner
You know what this does. I may rename it if I can think of a more futuristic thing to accomplish the same task.

Land mine
An interesting take on the bomber. Using this causes the Tech Mech to place a bomb on the ground and continue walking. The bomb blows up a few seconds later taking the nearby terrain with it. This way, it combines the best of both timed and instant bombers!

Caution sign
An alternative to the blocker. This causes a Tech Mech to place a sign right in front of him. Any Tech Mech who reaches the sign will see it says Caution, and will turn around. If you destroy the Terrain under the sign, it will fall down, and Tech Mechs won't be affected by it.

Grappling hook
Like the roper from Lemmings 2, using this allows a Tech Mech to shoot a grappling hook in a direction of your choice, creating a straight line from where they are standing to the first terrain it touches. The game will pause until you select where you want to shoot it, and the range of the grappling hook should be marked by a circle. A much quicker and less tedious alternative to builders.

Laser blaster
Don't get nervous, this tool improves on the Lemmings 2 version by allowing you to shoot it straight up, left, or right. The laser blaster shoots through a single piece of terrain, ending if it breaks though, reaches the border of the level, or hits steel. Like the grappling hook, the game pauses until you choose a direction to shoot. This will allow you to destroy terrain at a distance, and quickly enough that Tech Mechs won't turn around in the tunnel while you're destroying it.

Hover boots
Functions like the floater, slowing a Tech Mech's descent twice as much saving them from fatal falls.

Energy jolt
Using this on a Tech Mech energizes them, making them move and perform skills twice as fast!

Anti-gravity boots
Something I've wanted in Lemmings for a long, long time. This reverses gravity for a Tech Mech, making them walk on the ceilings and perform tasks upside-down, allowing for tons of more puzzle potential! Using another pair of anti-gravity boots brings them back to regular gravity.

Timefreeze
Use this on a Tech Mech to freeze them in timespace. They stop WHATEVER they're doing until you click on them again.

Magnet boots
Lets Tech Mechs walk up walls, but not ceilings. (Anti-gravity boots are for putting Tech Mechs on the ceiling) Skills can be assigned to them while they are walking up walls.


Right now, I don't have all of the programming knowledge to implement all of this, specifically the wireless multiplayer and database for level/graphic set creation. My professor has suggested using a Restful API for making the server for multiplayer or even trying to make a serverless cloud for multiplayer, but I have no clue how to do either of those things. If anyone has worked with those or has alternative suggestions for how to send data across computers on different networks, than please let me know! Also, let me know what you think and if you have questions/suggestions!

I've been thinking a lot about what kind of a character Lemming would be if he were to make into the roster in Super Smash Bros. I have developed a pretty thorough analysis of what the Lemming wold be like, his moves, etc. For the curious: this is what I would make Lemmings be like:

Possible Lemming Colors

1. Normal lemming color
2. Athlete color (green shirt, blue hair)
3. Water lemming (blue hair, white shirt)
4. Acid lemming (green shirt, orange hair)
5. Highland lemming (blue shirt, orange hair)
6. Shadow lemming (dark blue shirt, dark blue hair, orangeish skin)
7. XMAS lemming (cute little Santa outfit)

Move set

Entrance into level: hatch appears, which the lemming pops out of in typical Lemmings fashion

Walk: normal lemming walk
Run: runner animation
Duck: normal duck - not from any Lemmings game
Crawl: normal crawl - not from any Lemmings game

Jump: jumper animation
Double jump: runner-jumper animation
Prolonged jump: glider - pulls out glider and slowly descends, like in NeoLemmix
Hit wall: Lemming becomes a climber and can climb up and down the wall at ease, as well as jump off of it

Swimming: swimmer from NeoLemmix

Neutral A: basher - repeatedly punch an enemy
Walking A: club basher - swing a large club, has high knockback and power for a tilt move
Running A: skier - skies into enemies, damaging and knocking them back a bit
Up tilt: fencer - fence with a rapier in an upward direction
Down tilt: scooper - scoop an enemy and buries them in dirt

Side smash: miner - hit an enemy with your pickax, very powerful
Up smash: laser blaster - shoot a laser blast upwards, has a large hitbox, but is much smaller than in L2
Down smash: blocker - push hands outwards to knockback enemies who get too close

Neutral air: twister - spin around several times, sucking enemies in, damaging them, and knocking them away
Forward air: spearer - thrusts an enemy with a spear
Back air: planter - pull out a plant from L2 and knock enemies back with it
Up air: floater - open your umbrella, knocking upward enemies away
Down air: diver - dive straight down to the ground, reaching the ground quickly and hitting enemies in your path

Grab: normal grab - not from any Lemmings games
Pummel: punch/bash - repeatedly punch the enemy you are grabbing
Forward throw: throw - the enemy forwards, similar to the rock thrower animation from L2
Backward throw: roller throw - rolls like in L2, then throws the enemy backwards
Up throw: floater throw - throw enemy up, then knock them farther up by opening your umbrella
Down throw: stomper - repeatedly stomp on the enemy before they break free

Shield: normal Smash Bros. shield
Forward roll: roller - from L2
Backward roll: roller - from L2

Neutral special 1: bomber - throw a bomb at the enemies, similar to Mega Man's hyper bomb move
Neutral special 2: archer - shoot an arrow with your bow, similar to Link's bow move or Pit's bow move
Neutral special 3: flame-thrower - torch enemies who get close to you, similar to Bowser's fire move

Side special 1: rock thrower - throw a rock at enemies; rock is fast and has decent knockback
Side special 2: bazooka - shoot a bazooka, enemies next to it will receive great damage and knockback
Side special 3: pole vaulter - smashes enemy with pole and leaps gracefully over them

Up special 1: builder - builds a bridge like in Lemmings. It can be destroyed and only lasts for a short time. Only one on screen at a time.
Up special 2: SuperLemming - blasts straight up, knocking away enemies in your path
Up special 3: Icarus wings - flaps wings thee times, each time gaining more height and hitting nearby enemies

Down special 1: digger - digs into the ground, rapidly damaging enemies and cutting clean through to a lower level of the course
Down special 2: stoner - throws a NeoLemmix stoner downward, hitting enemies it touches
Down special 3: sand pourer - dumps sand everywhere, racking up a good amount of damage to nearby enemies

Taunt 1: Oh no! - Makes the Oh no! animation but doesn't blow up
Taunt 2: Shrug - shrugs like builders do at the end of their building animation
Taunt 3: Attractor - plays music like in L2, changes music/animation depending on the Lemming's costume

Final smash: Nuke - summons a ton of Lemmings out of hatches who all blow up after 5 seconds, damaging and knocking back enemies. If enemies are caught in the middle of lots of lemmings, they will suffer heavy damage and likely be KOed.

Winner jingle: Level compete - Lemmings Revolution

Stage

The Crankshaft from Lemmings 1, the reason being it is iconic, and is one of the few stages that could function well as a Smash Bros. course.

Music for the level:
Amiga Lemmings compilation
DOS Lemmings compilation
SNES Lemmings compilation
Genesis or Master System Lemmings compilation
Medieval theme - L2
Highland theme - L2

Some tracks from Paintball and Revolution and Touch? I am less familiar with those though.

I had more than a few levels that did not make the cut for ArtLems that were still pretty fun, so I decided to compile them into this small 12 level pack. It should give you a small glimpse of what ArtLems might be like, so I hope you all enjoy! Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated, just know that these levels were cut for a variety of reasons, whether it because of their difficulty (or lack thereof), their architecture, or just their nature as levels.

The music for the levels can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h486gcpp2f2llsd/ArtLems%20rejected%20music.zip?dl=1


'Twas a cold winter's night

This is something that has bothered me for a long time now. Lots of one-way arrows (especially the ones in the Fire tileset) move left regardless of their actual alignment. I propose we update the graphic sets where this anomaly occurs so that one-way arrows always move in the direction they are facing. I'm really annoyed when I see one-way arrows moving in the wrong direction.

I really wish you could have two different keys (such as F1 and Q) map to the same skill selection hotkey. This would really help in multiplayer, since different maps require to be fast with different skill. Toying Around for example really helps to have you walker and shoveler hotkeys right next to each other, when you wouldn't want that on other maps.

At long last, I can finally release this tileset!

The silhouette features a whole lot of black, and boy does it look cool! The reason this tileset took so long to release was because of the need for custom lemming sprites. Now that the new format supports them, the set is complete and ready to go!

This tileset contains a handful of pieces that are pitch black to allow you to create many different structures. The terrain list will be expanded in the future. The Lemmings are also pure black to match the environment, but the objects are a dark grey, to help distinguish them from everything else. These include an entrance, exit, shredder, water, flag, and a very fast teleporter/receiver.


Sunset Lemmings


A sneak peak at an ArtLems level, For Elise