This has given me some grief lately because this is a trick that's apparently known within the community for 15 years, but which I only discovered recently after being shown it as a backroute to my level.  And that is a Digger-Blocker trick, also known as the Wild 15 Glitch.

I'll do my best to explain it in words... you start with a digger facing right... at some point another lemming enters the tunnel and is turned into a blocker on the right side of the digger... the blocker is released a split second later due to the ground from under his feet being removed, but the digger, having been inside the blocker's field of effect, is now facing left.

This trick, while its internal logic is sound, I feel is very counter-intuitive and is very unlikely going to be discovered by a player independently except maybe by complete accident.  My reasoning is as follows:

• The Blocker is immediately released with no other apparent effect, so it initially looks like a waste of a skill
• Unlike the interaction of Builders and Miners with Blockers, there is no visual indication that anything has changed with the Digger
• Builder/Blocker and Miner/Blocker interactions are something you might discover by accident during the playing of the original games (e.g. Tricky 24), and you can immediately see their effects, and then you're properly introduced to the trick of "reflecting" Builders in Mayhem 5
• The Digger-Blocker trick is very hard to pull off in the original games because of the timing and the fact you're much more likely to select the Digger instead
• Using Blockers in such close proximity to other Lemmings in the original games tends to be unreliable because of the coarseness of trigger areas (technical limitation), so the trick may not always work

The big thing that gets me is the lack of immediate visual feedback and it being hidden by another event (the Blocker being released), which to me feels very unfriendly from a UI perspective.  I personally really don't like the way that the digger is turned around by a blocker like that because the lack of visual feedback, as well as the large leap in logic required to try such a trick, is very counter-intuitive in my opinion.  And maybe this is selfish of me, but the revelation of the trick has broken a number of my levels that use the traditional eight skills, and to be told to use Stoners instead or not use Blockers because they're rare in Mayhem (wrong... 19 of the Mayhem levels have Blockers, and in levels like 5, 20 and 29, their use is fundamental to the solution) just feels like it's avoiding the issue and eschewing a traditional skill for a new creation.

I feel like that if a level is broken by this trick and it's shown in walkthrough videos by experts if a novice gets stumped on a level, they will feel somewhat irritated because there's likely no way they would have thought to try that even after 10 years of thought.  I would much rather the Digger is unaffected and be an exception to the rule for the sake of user-friendliness, especially as the Digger is going straight down and shouldn't be affected by direction in the interim, except for when they finish (or given another skill).

Now I know that there are levels out there that require the trick to solve it, and the internal logic behind the trick is perfectly within the physics rules of NeoLemmix, so there are arguments for keeping the behaviour.  I will, however, offer a compromise, and this goes for all advanced tricks:

• If you can introduce the trick within the confines and mechanics of a single level, with no text hints, and have a relative novice (who doesn't know the trick) be able to solve it, then I will accept the trick as acceptable.

I suppose I should define "a relative novice" as someone who can get through Mayhem, or at least most of the original game, so they're introduced to levels like "Compression Method 1" that introduces the quirk of traps only killing a single lemming, and "No added colours or Lemmings" that properly introduce Blocker undermining.

It is a sad day that I have to announce this, but I don't think I can design levels any longer.  My theme has always been to use the traditional 8 tools and the original tilesets.  But recently I was introduced to a trick that I never knew existed, but when I brought it up, it turned out that many players knew about it and had decided it wasn't a glitch and was even required to solve some of the levels (which is why I had not solved them).

The problem is, this trick (a Blocker can change the direction of a Digger when a lemming is made a Blocker while inside the Digger's tunnel, even though the Blocker is released a split second later) completely breaks a number of my levels and for one reason or another is impossible to patch (either because a Builder breaks the level in some other way or I can't use a Stoner to turn lemmings around elsewhere because it's not one of the traditional tools), but this was decided to not be a glitch a long time ago, and I can't argue with the logic of how it all works - setting it up so a Digger is not turned would be argued to be an arbitrary exception and will break levels that rely on the trick that was already decided to not be a glitch.

The thing is, I've now revealed that this trick breaks my levels and so will be instantly used to break my Contest 18 submission.  I am completely broken and I simply cannot live with this revelation.  Call it childish if you like, but there's no way I can go on now that I know that this trick exists and I'm also deeply ashamed that it never crossed my mind to try it.  It's too late now.

I'm sorry everyone.  Goodbye.

Welcome to the 4th instalment of this contest.  This is the first contest that I've hosted, so go easy on me.

This one is unfortunately NeoLemmix only, and uses an existing level.  I just had to wait until the end of the Level of the Year contest or at least until the level was eliminated, so as to not influence the vote.  The level in question is "It's Lemmings, Doofus!", and the challenge, should you choose to accept, is to solve it using as few different types of skill as possible - e.g. solving it with 5 Bashers counts as 1 type, but solving it with 2 Bashers and 1 Miner counts as 2 types, so scores lower.  If there's a tie, the secondary category is highest number of Lemmings saved, and if that is also tied, then the tertiary category is the lowest number of skills used overall.  Winner gets to host the next contest, or nominate another to run it.

Submit replays via PM.  Deadline for solutions is 8th June 2019, 11:59pm.  In case Colorful Arty releases a new version of the level, find attached the version that will be used for this contest.

So to reiterate, judgment is based on categories in the following order:

• Primary: Fewest types of skill used
• Secondary: Most Lemmings saved
• Tertiary: Fewest skills used overall

Good luck, have fun!

----

Submissions so far:

• Forestidia / Simon (joint effort)
• Minim

I would like to suggest a couple of new statistics saved for completed levels, and that's "Fewest Skills Used", which is the total count of individual tasks assigned to lemmings, and "Largest Excess Saved", or something to that effect, which is the number of lemmings saved minus the number required (so 0 is exactly the number required).  This would cut the need to have lots of talismans for saving 100% except on the most difficult levels, but also allow a challenge for everyone in saving as many lemmings as they can on all levels.

I would suggest having these statistics on the level select pane from the main menu, and also adding "Best time" to that list too.

This will also help in tracking one's progress on some of the level completion contests.

Find attached a replay for "Turn around, young lemmings!"... Gentle 30 in Lemmings Redux.

In this replay (I'm attempting to save 100% using only Builders), the last lemming exits the level at about 1:41, but the time taken is reported as 0:29.18 seconds.

As an educated guess, it might be because the last lemming out of the trapdoor exits relatively quickly (albeit at ~0:36) while some stragglers spend another minute on the level and also performing tasks.

This has been observed in V12.00.01 and V12.04.00:E940A2F of NeoLemmix.

This is the traditionalist in me talking, but currently, NeoLemmix takes on the approach of Lemmings 2 and only shows available skills with at least 1 available use (or 0 if pickups of it are available).

I would like to request that the option of showing 0 of a skill regardless be allowed (with the characteristic blank number display rather than actually printing the number 0).  The reason being is that in some levels, especially those using the traditional 8 skills, the lack of a skill is just as important, if not more important, than what you have available.

The examples that spring to mind are "The Crankshaft" from the original game, where having no Bashers is quite important (you have 10 of everything else), "Heaven can wait (we hope!!!)", where you have no Blockers (you have 30 of everything else), and "A break in the pillar" from Revenge of the Lemmings, where you have no Builders (you have 3 of everything else).

Unless I'm missing something painfully obvious, I sort of miss the ability to specify areas of terrain that are to be treated as steel.  While it should be contained over steel blocks, there are times where non-steel terrain needs to be treated as such, namely extra decoration such as moss or ice coating the steel plates so it can't be blown away and potentially make unintended pits.  Would it be possible to return this feature?

So "Guru Larry" released another video on YouTube that talks about 5 messed up influences of mascots, and Lemmings was one of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHycV6AGUpU&t=8m58s

I'm not sure how true it is, because I thought they just made an animation of a walking pixelated character and thought that there's a game to be made out of this, but let me know what you think. I'm a bit upset that they said it's been all but forgotten... Guru Larry needs introducing to this forum!

P.S. As pointed out in the video's comments, the evidence seems sketchy at best.

So as some of you know, I don't just make custom levels for Lemmings! Here's me talking about a level I made for Doom II.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D48lB7xivXM (I tend to go by the name "Curious Kit" these days)

I'm curious to know, does anyone here design for games outside of Lemmings, or maybe go a step further and make their own games?

If, when playing a level in the NeoLemmix player, pressing Alt+F4 to quickly quit out causes an untrapped EAccessViolation exception to be raised. While not major because you desire to exit anyway, it's a little unclean and causes a "Stopped working" message to appear.

So I confess this is partially based off the old "Cheapo Copycat" mechanics, but I would like to propose a new tool that, if used on a lemming, causes him to flip upside-down and be pulled towards the ceiling (or the right way up again if the lemming was already upside-down).

When upside-down, all subsequent tools perform as expected, but with the up and down directions flipped, so using a Miner will cause the lemming to move towards the top of the level, for example.

When used, the lemming will likely fall in his new direction, and might splat if not careful.

Nuances:

• The lemming inverts about his feet. This ensures the lemming doesn't become stuck in the terrain upon inversion
• A lemming walking on the ceiling can have all skills assigned to it as normal - this includes the Cloner, which will create another lemming walking upside-down, and the Inverter itself which will switch the lemming back to the floor
• Can be used on a lemming currently performing a task, which may cause their vertical direction to change in the case of Builders, for example, but will likely cause them to stop if their feet are in open air after inversion
• If used on a Swimmer, the lemming will (normally) fall out of the water
• Can be used on a Blocker, but will remain a Blocker if his feet is on terrain after inversion (which will happen if the Blocker is inside a tunnel that's only a pixel tall)
• If used on a Climber, the lemming will invert but continue to climb the wall he's climbing (albeit in the other direction)
• Splat distance is NOT reset if used on a Faller
• An inverted lemming interacts with obstructions and objects as normal
• Cannot be used on an Ohnoer (Bomber), Exiter, Flipper, Splatter, Frier/Vaporizer, Drowner or Stoner, or a lemming dying to a custom trap (because the lemming object no longer exists).
• The Inverter is not a permanent ability - if used on a Walker, the lemming afterwards will remain a Walker, just with gravity switched

The icon, I suggest, should be of a Lemming that is facing right but falling forwards, with an up arrow to his upper left, and a down arrow to his lower right.

How's it sound?

Hey guys - Crane aka. The Curious Kit has returned!

Sorry I've been gone for so long, and I'm especially sorry I left Revenge of the Lemmings hanging after möbius left me with the files.

I'll try to return to playing and designing for the game again, entering competitions and, who knows, maybe making my own full Lemmings pack one day.

Merry Christmas from me!  30 levels of Christmas-themed Lemmings from around the community, including some new levels never seen before.  I hope you thoroughly enjoy yourselves and have a Happy New Year!

Special thanks to BulletRide for helping me to test said new levels.

This pack has only been tested on NeoLemmix V10.011.011-D.  It is not expected to work on earlier versions.  You can download a copy of NeoLemmix from here:

Installation and execution:

- Download and install the latest version of NeoLemmix (V10.011.011-D as of writing) from here: http://www.neolemmix.com/old/neolemmix.html
- Download the Holiday Lemmings '16 pack from the link on this post
- Run NeoLemmix, and when prompted, select Holiday16.nxp from the dialog box
- Enjoy!

Latest version of the pack can be found here.

P.S. You might get a musical surprise here and there!

On a level with Christmas-themed Lemmings, if you apply the Bomber skill to any Lemming with a permanent ability (tested with a Climber and a Floater), the explosion is green rather than red.

If the Lemming is falling when you apply the skill (so it explodes instantly) or is otherwise highlighed at the point of detonation, the explosion is blue - this happens whether the Lemming has a permanent skill or not.

POST SCRIPTUM: Tested with version V10.011.011-D.

Hi guys.  This is very short-notice, but I'm considering putting together a community pack of maybe just 30 levels that consists of levels made out of the Holiday tileset, and maybe some levels converted from the Snow set if the traps can be removed or converted.  It's mostly so I can get to grips with the Flexi tools again so I can aid möbius with Revenge of the Lemmings when the time comes.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what levels to include?  I was thinking of:

- "Spiralling Snowstorm" by Clam Spammer
- "Someone must help us!" (aka. "A wave goodbye") Matthias Witt (converted from Snow tileset)
- "Ethereality" by Akseli
- That collaboration level in Picnic in Revenge of the Lemmings (with the 3 of 2013 changed to a 6).

Other possibilities (which might be questionable but could work as filler, plus I was one of the few people who didn't play Oh No! More Lemmings until late on into my level design history, which is why so few of my levels use those tilesets - plus I didn't have the graphics files to use with CUSTLEMM):

- Chill out! (Wicked 5)
- Race against the cliches (Havoc 4)

I haven't been able to test it, but when mixing tilesets together (e.g. to use the Snow traps or one-way arrows in the Holiday tileset), do the Santa lemmings have working Drowner and Frier animations?

NOTE: Player bug is fixed. An editor bug uncovered in this topic still remains.

I decided to see how my level "Deep Freeze" performs in the experimental 1.47n version of NeoLemmix, and the program crashes when it tries to load the level file - blank screen and then it ghosts as Windows realises the program isn't responding.  The level loads fine in v1.43n-F, and it's just a Crystal-style level with no special features as far as I know.  Find attached said level.

(NOTE: When I say "reflect", I mean turned by a Blocker while performing an action)

If a miner is mining down a bridge previously built by a builder and encounters a blocker during a downward swing, the lemming will turn around without breaking through the bridge and then fall below it.  This might be a gimmick or an exploit, but is very odd and counter-intuitive.

To reproduce:

- Have a builder build a bridge up to an obstruction (so that Lemming turns around)
- Have a second lemming become a blocker while walking up the bridge.
- Have a lemming mine down the bridge (usually the original builder after turning around)
- Upon striking the blocker, the miner will turn around and then fall below the bridge.

Note: This was observed with the miner turning around upon its downward stroke.  It is not known if the same behaviour occurs if the miner is turned at another point in its cycle.

Level and replay will be attached shortly.

As far as I know, the player only knows that they have won a talisman by the appearance of "CONGRATULATIONS! You unlocked a talisman!" in place of "All lemmings accounted for", which is easily missed because it doesn't stand out, plus it gives no indication of what you actually did to get it unless you studied the achievement list extensively beforehand.

I would like to suggest a dedicated splash screen that is displayed that clearly indicates that you unlocked a talisman, as well as listing the talisman in question.  This screen should appear between completion of the level and the standard statistics screen that shows how many you saved and the password to the next level.  It also acts as a good debugging tool, as it can indicate bugs with how the talismans have been set up in the level pack (i.e. the actual mechanics not matching the text description).

As for how the splash screen should look, I made a mock-up.  Find attached.  (Also find attached a copy of the image)

So we have Bronze, Silver and Gold for talismans so far.  This is one suggestion I have for another level of difficulty: platinum or diamond, which is a light-blue disc (around the region of RGB 0, 255, 255).

The reason for this one is because some of the talisman suggestions that are coming in for Revenge of the Lemmings are beyond difficult, like "The Floodgates Open - complete in under 3 minutes." would be so much harder than the other Gold-level talismans.  Either that or the pack creators should just re-scale their difficulty ratings a bit more.

Not sure if it's worth it or not, but it would be nice to have the option.

Hey everyone.  I've got a few Lemmini levels that I hope you guys can find time to backroute (or solve conventionally!).  One of them you may have seen on my YouTube channel, "JAILBREAK!", and möbius expressed interest in including it in the community pack, therefore I feel it should be thoroughly tested, especially as its difficulty is around 5 or 6 out of 6.  Find attached the levels below:

- JAILBREAK!
- Pipe Dream
- Lemming Pattern Baldness
- Mastermind

"Lemming Pattern Baldness" is a repeat of FUN 11 (and a play on the name "Keep your hair on, Mr. Lemming"), but has a very different toolset and I hope makes for a challenging and glitch-free puzzle.

NOTE: "JAILBREAK!" is confirmed not to be conventially solvable in Lemmix or CustLemm because of bombers behaving slightly differently in some circumstances.