ccexplore recently tested (for a short time) a modification that changes "Recent posts" to "Recently updated topics". Essentially, the difference between this and how it is now would be that each topic can only appear once on the list, so multiple posts in the same topic won't "flood" the list.

How do people feel about having this?

Alright, so this idea seems to be fairly popular, so let's give it a shot! And, I encourage those who haven't entered before to give it a go, too!

---

Here are the standard rules for all official contests:
1) You may not enter into the contest a level that you've (or anyone else) released before. You are, however, welcome to release it as part of another pack after the contest is over. This includes remaking a level on a different engine.
2) One entry per person, unless the contest's rules specifically state otherwise.
3) Anyone caught attempting to cheat at or manipulate the voting in any way is disqualified.
4) Whether or not a level meets the criteria is decided by the LF administrators; the winner will be decided by vote unless otherwise stated in the contest's rules (which may only happen if the winning criteria is purely objective).
5) Any deadline dates / times are in UTC.
6) Joint entries are permitted, but there will still only be one prize (unless the contest's rules specifically call for a joint entry); it will be up to the entrants to determine how they will split this.
7) Whichever staff member(s) is/are running the contest may enter just for fun, but cannot receive prizes - the prize will be passed on to the next position.
8) Entries should be submitted via private message to the staff member running the contest. Do not post them in the topic, unless the contest's guidelines say otherwise. If the contest allows for use of more than one engine, please be sure to specify which engine you've created your level for, and if you've used traditional Lemmix, please be sure to specify which mechanics set (Orig, OhNo or Cust) your level is intended to be played under.
9) Deadlines may be extended once, by one week, if less than four entries have been received. If there are still less than four entries after this, that contest will be cancelled, unless the staff member running the contest and all entrants all agree to continue it anyway.
10) If you are using an unofficial graphic set, you must include a copy of it with your submission, unless it's one that is always included with that engine (such as the Lemmings Plus graphic sets in NeoCustLemmix).
11) Monetary prizes may be claimed via PayPal or Bitcoin (or another well-established cryptocurrency, such as Litecoin or Dogecoin). You can also ask for them to be directly spent on a website for items up to the value of the prize (provided the website takes one of those options, or takes credit/debit cards directly and has a very good reputation), or for a donation of the prize value to be made to a charity of your choice (provided they accept online donations).

---

Contest #3

Tag team contest time! In this one, each level will be contributed to by two participants. Thus, the creation phase will be split into two sub-phases.

Subphase 1 - Terrain design
In this phase, entrants must create a level map. They may place as many terrain pieces, steel areas and one-way walls as they like. They may also configure the level options that are relevant to steel / one-ways (autosteel, one-way invert, etc). They may also make a VGASPEC for the level if they like. They may not place any objects (except one-way walls) or configure the level stats/options other than those related to terrain, steel, one-way walls and VGASPECs (this includes that they may set the size of the level). Once this has been done, it should be submitted.

Between phases
Once the deadline for Phase 1 ends, I will randomly pick people to receive other levels. Note that there will be no two-way swaps (ie: if Person A gets Person B's level, then Person B cannot get Person A's level), though three-way or more swaps may occur rather than having a full "circle" so to speak. You'll receive both NeoLemmix-format and SuperLemmini-format versions of the levels.

Subphase 2 - Objects and stats
When you receive the level you're assigned for Phase 2, you may place objects (except one-way walls), and set the stats and skillset for the level (and gimmicks, in the case of NeoLemmix). You are permitted to convert the level to a different engine than the one you received it in the format for. You should also give the level a title at this point.


Once the submissions from Phase 2 are received, the rest of the contest will proceed as normal. Once the playing phase starts, both contributors to each level will be revealed. Please note that if anyone participates in Phase 1, but does not submit to Phase 2 on time, both levels they are involved in will be disqualified, and to keep things fair, all remaining contestants will be assigned a new level to work with. This will of course be very inconvenient, so please especially make an effort to submit on time - or let me know well in advance if you won't be able to, in which case I may be able to alter the deadline if that'd help.

Please note that due to the limited terrain / steel options in the earlier engines, this contest will ONLY accept NeoLemmix or SuperLemmini contributions, and they must use one of the official graphic sets to avoid issues with sets that appear in one engine but not the other, without using one-way downs due to their non-existance in SuperLemmini or the "Fake"/"Invisible" terrain options due to their non-existance in NeoLemmix.

Engine-Specific Rules
Any content/options that don't appear in the other engine may not be used during Phase 1. Using exclusive features during Phase 2 is fine as long as no other rule is broken. The following list should cover most the features that can't be used (and thus, if relevant, should be left at default) for this contest:
- "Classic Steel" option (SuperLemmini)
- Adjustable borders (SuperLemmini)
- Fake or Invisible terrain (SuperLemmini)
- Steel areas exceeding 256x256 in size (SuperLemmini)
- More than 1000 terrain pieces and/or more than 128 steel areas (SuperLemmini)
- More than 64 one-way objects (SuperLemmini) *
- One-way down arrows (NeoLemmix)
- One-way arrows made with steel areas rather than objects (NeoLemmix)

* NeoLemmix supports up to 128 objects, but this limit is set to give plenty of room for the Phase 2 entrant to add objects.

VGASPECs / equivalent: Allowed (custom only), but not required. You must submit it in both .DAT and .PNG format (NeoLemmix-compatible and SuperLemmini-compatible).
Allowed Graphic Sets: Orig graphic sets, OhNo graphic sets, Xmas set. Custom / unofficial sets are not allowed.
Allowed Engines: NeoLemmix, SuperLemmini
Winning Criteria: "Vote for your favorite", as usual.

Timeframe:
1st Phase entries close 20th of March
2nd Phase entry close 30th of March or when all entries have been received, whichever comes first


Due to the tag-team nature, there's a bit of a difference in the prize structure. Only first place gets prizes; of course, both people who contributed to the level get a prize. As there's no clear "first" or "second" for this, the matter of who gets first pick will come down to first in, first served, but only *after* I send out the PM to notify of winnings. You are of course free to discuss with the other winner before making your choice, perhaps to arrange splitting prizes.


The prizes available for this contest are:
- US$10; see #11 of the general rules for more info.
- A new object type of your choice added to NeoLemmix; note that this only includes supporting it in the code, you are on your own for creating (or modifying) a graphic set to include it. This must be within reason.
- A new gimmick of your choice added to NeoLemmix. This must be within reason.
- Choosing the next contest's rules.

---

Phase 1 entries received: 3
Phase 2 entries received: 2

(due to the unknown-partner swap, only the quantity of entrants will be revealed, not the identities)

Another contest is over, and with that, two more winners!

1st Place
Nepster's "Criteria Fulfilled"
Prize: Advertising on news ticker (held for future use)

2nd Place
DynaLem's "Super Starship"
Prize: US$10, which was used to make a charity donation


This was a very close contest the entire way through; with the two overall winners being tied in the first round, and the ultimate winner being ahead by only one vote in the second round! But, a winner is a winner, so congratulations to Nepster on 1st, and to DynaLem on 2nd; and thank you also to Giga and IchoTolot for participating!


As the contest is now over, you're now free to discuss the levels anywhere, as well as release fixed / alternate / etc versions of your levels.

I'll put a new contest up fairly soon (within the next few days), to give some time for the winners to pick their prizes (in case one chooses to set the next contest's rules).

Okay, it's been a while but there's a new update now!

Some quick notes:
- Anyone using the Flexi player, you MUST update your MAIN.DAT or else it WILL NOT WORK with the new version. All you have to do to do this is get the updated version of LemMain, put your existing MAIN.DAT in the same folder as it, run LemMain, and use the "Autoconvert to V1.29n+" option (if you're making a Christmas Lemmings pack, you'll also need to select the Xmas Palette before running the conversion option). On the upside, you're no longer limited to just a small selection in colors, but please read the readme before trying to make fancy graphics using every color in the rainbow.
- You know how I've mentioned the save file keeps track of your lemmings saved record, time record, and high score, but there was no way to view these? You can now do so by pressing R on the level's preview screen; I know this method isn't very tidy, but it's only a temporary measure, expect something better in the future. EDIT: Note that this doesn't work in NeoCustLemmix; only in the standard players (it does work in Flexi players).
- You can now specify which teleporters link to which receivers without having to mess with object order; just match their S values. (eg: a teleporter with an S value of 1 will go to a receiver with an S value of 1). If there's no match, the teleporter will be treated as fake. If there's more than one match, it'll work the same way they did before - the first (matching) receiver in the object list, starting from the object after the teleporter.
- There are unofficial updates of all the Lemmings Plus packs. There is not one for Doomsday Lemmings, as I plan to do an official update fairly soon.
- A NeoLemmix version of Copycat Lemmings is now included in the NeoLemmix update stream.

NeoLemmix Player V1.29n
-----------------------
* A NeoLemmix version of Copycat Lemmings is now included in the update
  stream.
* Support for graphic sets containing more than one window, and also where
  the second object in the set is not a window.
* Support for "steel" areas that actually signify one-way walls; use of the
  traditional method (using objects) is recommended due to some limitations
  on this (such as no animation). The primary intention is for Cheapo importing,
  but it could also be useful in levels that need more one-way areas than there's
  object space for.
* A revised MAIN.DAT format, using RGB-based graphics instead of palette based ones.
  This effectively means you can use any color you want in menu graphics etc, just as
  you already can with graphic sets and VGASPECs.
* An option to refer to a graphic set or VGASPEC purely by name, without having to have
  an associated number.
* "80px Fall Distance" (which was only intended for Cheapo conversion use) is changed to
  "Cheapo Mode"; and as such may include other mechanics changes to improve Cheapo level
  usability. This includes lemmings being unable to fall through diagonal gaps, and
  teleporters searching from the first object in the level, rather than the first object
  after the teleporter.
* Teleporters will now only match Receivers with the same S Value
* You can press R on the preview screen to view existing records (lemmings saved, best
  time, best score) for a level; this is just a temporary measure and I plan to implement
  this in a better way in the future.
* Setting the test mode style directly from the editor is supported on the player side;
  obviously editor support still needs to be added. This feature doesn't work due to a bug;
  it'll work in the next update.
* Fixed bugs:
  > Mechanics not working properly on flipped / inverted objects
  > Mechanics potentially not erasing the entire trigger area on traps with very large (or close to the top of the object) trigger areas
  > Preplaced blockers moving downwards in no-gravity levels
  > Stoners still creating terrain in unalterable terrain levels
  > Assigning a Cloner in a single-skill-per-lemming level allows another lemming to be assigned a skill too
  > In the preview screen, any pre-placed lemming at a Y coordinate below 160 would always be rendered as a faller
  > Swimmers (or walkers in no-gravity levels) moving downwards along a slope above them may sometimes end up inside terrain
  > Sometimes a negative number of lemmings out may be displayed for one frame at the start of zombie levels
  > Setting a forced gimmick no longer deactivates "Cheapo Mode"

V1.29n-B
--------
> Stoners now have explosion particles.
> Fixed the bug where gliders would get stuck in one-pixel-thin columns.
> Fixed the bug where setting test mode settings from the editor didn't
  work.
> Fixed the bug where a Stoner kills the lemming even under the
  Invincibility gimmick.
> Fixed the bug where best time records are not saved properly.
> Fixed the bug where a pre-placed lemming too close to the bottom
  of the level would cause the game to crash.

Downloads are available in the usual locations:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website

A new version of LemMain is also nessecary to build the new MAIN.DAT files:
LemMain V9.0

---

There's also now an update to V1.29n-A for the NeoLemmix Editor. I would highly recommend updating even if you're only using it for Lemmini / SuperLemmini; although there's no new features supported, it is now MUCH easier to add custom graphic sets - just copy and paste the graphic set's folder and it's done! (And, restart the editor, if it's already open.)

NeoLemmix Editor V1.29n-A
------------------------------
> The "Compile Styles" is a thing of the past; graphic
  sets are used directly. As such, the option has been
  removed.
> Graphic set organisation has been made much tidier,
  and simpler to add to
> The NeoLemmixStyles.INI has been tidied up a little
  bit; some completely unused entries have been removed,
  and individual graphic sets are no longer listed in it
> Supports graphic sets with purely a name and no number
> Regular / Alternate paste mode options (the latter of
  which was added a few versions ago) can be configured
  from the in-editor Settings menu
> The test mode style (whether to display preview/postview
  screens) can be configured in the editor; this option only
  works with NeoCustLemmix and requires V1.29n-B or higher
> The various types of steel areas in V1.29n are now all editable

V1.29n-B
-----------
> Fixed a bug where graphic set internal names were not being
  read from styles.ini files properly.
> Fixed a couple of incorrect names in NeoCustLemmix styles.ini.

Download:
DropBox
NeoLemmix Website

---

The new update to LemSet, and the Cheapo conversion tool, will be released at a later date; there's still some things that need to be improved / implemented with these.

So, I'm wanting to put together a detailed tutorial on how to create a pack - covering everything from how to make levels (not so much the "how to get ideas" part, but the "how to actually put the level together in NeoLemmix Editor" part), graphic sets, custom MAIN.DAT files, and putting together a Flexi player for the pack.

What I'd like to ask is - what would you like to see in this tutorial? Are there any parts you find particularly difficult and would like expanded information on?

What do people think about the idea of adding an achievements system to NeoLemmix?

Obviously, there wouldn't be any online database - it'd just be a fun thing that's kept track of in the save file and players of packs can aim for. Of course, it'd be supported in custom packs, as well as me adding some of my choosing to the Lemmings Plus games and Doomsday Lemmings (and perhaps we can look at some community-chosen ones to add to the NeoLemmix players of the official games too).

These could be things like "Save 100% on level x", "Complete level x without using builders", "Find all the secret levels" etc, as well as the more-generic ones for completing each rank.

Let me know what you think about this feature; it's one I considered in the past (in fact, originally I thought about having it debut in Lemmings Plus Omega, but never got around to making it) but didn't implement yet.

---

Now that this feature is confirmed, I'd like to start gathering suggestions for achievements for the official games. Feel free to make suggestions either in this topic or by PM. Please take into account the limitations of the achievements feature. The primary one is that achievements take the form of challenges on a single level, there can't be any that span multiple levels in any way. It is, however, possible for a single level to have more than one achievement related to it. That aside, the criteria for achievements must be among the following (it is possible to mix-and-match more than one of these in a single achievement):
> Saving a certian number of lemmings
> Completing the level in under a certain time (this can involve seconds and even frames, rather than just whole minutes)
> Limiting the quantity used of a specific skill
> Limiting the total number of skills used
> Keeping the release rate within a specified range

Regarding Copycat Lemmings, I will first contact Essman to see if he'd like to pick them himself, and if not, I'll take suggestions here for that too. EDIT: Essman has said that while he'd like to come up with them himself, he's also happy for some community input. Thus, I'll take suggestions here, but it'll be ultimately Essman's decision which ones do or don't make it into the game.

Remember - for obvious reasons, the challenge must be possible in NeoLemmix. Just because it's possible in DOS / traditional Lemmix doesn't mean it's possible in NeoLemmix; if it doesn't rely on glitches it's probably possible, but this isn't always true, either due to subtle mechanics differences, or differences in the levels themself (for example, the Orig and H94 levels in NeoLemmix are based off the Amiga versions, not the DOS versions; and a lot of levels have further minor modifications to make use of NeoLemmix's capabilities). Some that are very challenging under DOS may also end up being trivial under NeoLemmix, for example one that was suggested was "Complete Taxing 30 with no more than 20 diggers", which would be quite challenging under DOS / traditional Lemmix, but it can be done with only two diggers very easily in NeoLemmix.

Achievements may be rated as Bronze, Silver or Gold, depending on their difficulty. However, let's get a collection of suggestions before we decide on ranking them, or on which ones to actually use. The (virtually-)direct-ports of official games will also get achievements for simply beating their final levels, but these aside, none should be simply "Beat level X" without further requirements.

Original Lemmings
Save 100% on Fun 8 without builders
Save 100% on Fun 10 without floaters, miners or diggers
Save 100% on Fun 27 in under 1 minute
Complete Tricky 11 without builders
Save 99% on Tricky 23
Save 100% on Tricky 25
Complete Mayhem 3 with only 4 skills
Complete Mayhem 13 with no more than 6 skills
Complete Mayhem 25 with no more than 5 builders
Complete Mayhem 26 without blockers
Complete Mayhem 30

Oh No! More Lemmings!
Complete Havoc 20

Xmas Lemmings 91/92

Holiday Lemmings 94
Complete Hail 16
Complete Blitz 16

Covox

Prima

Extra

Copycat

Well, here's the first publicly-available results of the efforts to get Cheapo levels running on NeoLemmix.

One warning, this is quite a large file compared to most NeoLemmix players. This is fairly unavoidable without some major changes to NeoLemmix's formats; the DAT compression algorithm simply isn't made with having every level as an 18-bit color VGASPEC in mind. I've implemented a few tricks to reduce this, but it's still fairly large. These days that shouldn't be an issue for most people, but there's your warning, just in case.

This is using the NeoLemmix V1.29n player.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ocpi57ywjmzusjb/CopycatLemmingsNeo.exe
http://www.neolemmix.com/old/neolemmix/CopycatLemmingsNeo.exe

By the way, the cheat code is...

Also - if you prefer it over the Amiga musics (I'll get around to including the genuine Copycat / Cheapo ones eventually!), the music pack from either Orig or LPI will both work perfectly fine with this.

---

Issues, Complaints, Oddities, Etc

When reporting an issue, if you can, please let me know:
- Does the issue occur when playing in a genuine copy of Copycat Lemmings?
- Does the issue occur when playing in a genuine copy of Cheapo?
(I would've thought the answer would always be the same for both of these, but I have actually found one issue which I thought was a problem with the conversion due to a different behaviour from Copycat Lemmings, only to find out that Cheapo behaved exactly the same way.)

Issues that have been fixed in updates
- First release had a bug where objects that were meant to be horizontally flipped weren't, while objects that were vertically flipped were also horizontally flipped. This was fixed in the second version.
- Up to second release had a bug where no one-way-right arrows were converted (lefts were fine). This was fixed in the third version.
- Under Copycat/Cheapo mechanics, lemmings cannot pass thorugh a diagonal corner gap like they can in Lemmix / NeoLemmix. The 4th version adds a tweak in "Cheapo Mode" to alter this mechanic.
- Some different traps weren't working, now due to trigger areas being too high. One example is Fun 25. This was fixed in version 5.
- Since applying the diagonal-gap fix, it seemed lemmings can only step up by up to 5 pixels maximum instead of 6. This was fixed in version 5.
- Finally found and dealt with the proper source of the trap issues in verison 6; this actually arose from a difference in trigger areas between Copycat Lemmings and Cheapo.

Mechanics differences that have significant impacts
- Block-Bombing levels still have blockers, even though the norm is to remove them in NeoLemmix versions (due to the instant bombers). At this point, I have no intention to change this; I may reconsider later.

Verified bugs/issues
None at the moment

Reported bugs/issues I haven't checked on yet
None at the moment

Things that might look like problems but aren't
- Fun 27, a small part of the exit is visible. Nothing is wrong here; it was like this in the original Copycat Lemmings too.
- Direct drop works. This is just standard NeoLemmix mechanics; but with that being said, this worked in Copycat / Cheapo too anyway.

Here's the features I've added so far:

* Support for graphic sets containing more than one window, and also where the second object in the set is not a window.
* Support for "steel" areas that actually signify one-way walls; use of the traditional method (using objects) is recommended due to some limitations on this (such as no animation). The primary intention is for Cheapo importing, but it could also be useful in levels that need more one-way areas than there's object space for.
* A revised MAIN.DAT format, using RGB-based graphics instead of palette based ones. This effectively means you can use any color you want in menu graphics etc, just as you already can with graphic sets and VGASPECs.
  >> TODO: Convert all MAIN.DATs to the new format (only done Covox, H94, LPI and LPIII so far, to test various things in each)
* An option to refer to a graphic set or VGASPEC purely by name, without having to have an associated number. I plan for this to eventually become the standard means via which NeoLemmix works (with the numbers being used only for backwards-compatibility with older releases / traditional Lemmix), but for now it's just an option.
* "80px Fall Distance" (which was only intended for Cheapo conversion use) is changed to "Cheapo Mode"; and as such may include other mechanics changes to improve Cheapo level usability. This doesn't mean it will perfectly emulate Cheapo mechanics; just more compatibility without having to modify levels. Other changes so far are that lemmings will not be able to slip through diagonal gaps, and that teleporters will look for a receiver starting from object 0, not from the object after the teleporter.
* Teleporters will now only match Receivers with the same S Value
* You can press R on the preview screen to view existing records (lemmings saved, best time, best score) for a level; this is just a temporary measure and I plan to implement this in a better way in the future
* Setting the test mode style directly from the editor is supported on the player side; obviously editor support still needs to be added
* Fixed bugs:
  > Mechanics not working properly on flipped / inverted objects
  > Mechanics potentially not erasing the entire trigger area on traps with very large (or close to the top of the object) trigger areas
  > Preplaced blockers moving downwards in no-gravity levels
  > Stoners still creating terrain in unalterable terrain levels
  > Assigning a Cloner in a single-skill-per-lemming level allows another lemming to be assigned a skill too
  > In the preview screen, any pre-placed lemming at a Y coordinate below 160 would always be rendered as a faller
  > Swimmers (or walkers in no-gravity levels) moving downwards along a slope above them may sometimes end up inside terrain
  > Sometimes a negative number of lemmings out may be displayed for one frame at the start of zombie levels
  > Setting a forced gimmick no longer deactivates "Cheapo Mode"

The main point of this update is to be fully ready for importing Cheapo levels (with the assistance of a specialised tool or two), so most likely it won't be released until after Essman's Cheapo level extraction tool has been released, and I've made the tool to further convert the output into NeoLemmix-friendly level files. In the meantime, I might add some more requested/planned features, though I wouldn't count on it too much.


For the reason mentioned in the point about graphic sets, if anyone's working on their own editor (or other tools), please make sure your editor can save (and ideally, also load) the text-based graphic set names, instead of relying solely on the number! For reference, the correct names are (and these are not case-sensitive, though the NeoLemmix players and NeoLemmix Editor always save them as lowercase):

Graphic sets
Orig: "dirt", "fire", "marble", "pillar", "crystal"
Genesis: "dirt_md", "fire_md", "marble_md", "pillar_md", "crystal_md"
OhNo: "brick", "rock", "snow", "bubble"
LPII: "tree", "purple", "psychedelic", "metal", "desert"
LPIII: "sky", "circuit", "martian", "lab"
Other: "xmas" (Xmas / Holiday Lemmings style), "sega" (SEGA style), "horror" (Doomsday Lemmings style)

VGASPECs
Orig: "beasti", "beastii", "menace", "awesome"
Genesis: "beasti_md", "beastii_md", "menace_md", "awesome_md", "hebereke"
LPIII: "rickroll", "duck", "nyancat", "troll"
LPIII Bonus: "rickrollii", "lemmingsforums", "trivia"
Other: "covox" (The Covox Level), "prima" (The Prima Publishing Level), "apple" (The Apple Computer Level)