I've just added an entirely new object type to NeoLemmix. I won't say what it is, apart from that it's something that exists in (at least) one of the official games. I've added it to the Metal style, and will probably add it to the Psychedelic style too. It would've worked nicely for the Circuit and/or Lab styles too, but I'm not adding anything to the LPIII ones.

(This doesn't mean you'll have to wait for NeoLemmix V1.21n to get the updated styles - I'll release them as soon as all 5 are done. It just means the new object type won't work until that update is released. That is unless both are ready at roughly the same time.)

Alright, going back to the subject of adding objects to existing styles - I'm going to do the LPII ones very soon, but the official styles may be a bit further away.

As long as you weren't planning on needing to use the new objects, you can still go ahead and create levels of course - the new objects will be added at the end of the style, so they won't cause compatibility issues with existing levels.

I won't necesserially use all the available slots - it depends what objects make sense for the style too, and I'm only adding *new* object types, not more objects of existing types. For example, I'm not going to add teleporters to the Tree style, but probably will add them to the Psychedelic style.

Most additions will be re-using graphics from the LPIII sets (possibly recolored).

Additions.

Tree: Updraft (Sky)
Purple: Teleporter (Martian), Slow Freeze (edited version of Lab radiation object)
Psychedelic: Teleporter (Circuit), Radiation (Lab), new object (original)
Metal: Locked Exit (original), Button (Circuit), new object (original)
Desert: Updraft (Sky), Radiation (Sky)

Click here to go to current topic.

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So, like I did with my packs, I'm now running voteoffs for the official lemmings games. Starting, logically, with the Original Game.

One change I'm making is that I'm not entering the levels in chronological order, but rather, it's randomized. The lists are determined by first running all the levels through a randomizer, dividing the result into sets of however many levels according to the rules for that round, and then putting the levels within each section back into chronological order. If a single section contains certain conditions, it was rerolled together with the following section until the conditions no longer occur. These conditions are:

• - If the section does not contain levels from at least three difficulty ranks
• - If the section contains too many levels from the same rank
• - If the section contains both a level and its repeat version
• - If the section contains more than one VGASPEC level
• - If the section contains any set of more than 3 consecutive levels

Another section is added into the rerolling if the problem still persisted after three re-rolls. This is continued until the entire list is free of these issues. Also, these things are not applied during the later rounds; only the early ones. The breakdown of the sections can be found in the second post.


As for the breakdown of the rounds, this will be done in six rounds. Each round has a varying amount of levels that qualify for the next round, and a varying amount of votes allowed per user. Qualifying for the next round is based on the following rules:

1) First place - All levels tied for first place qualify, no matter what (even if it exceeds the qualifying levels limit).
2) Second place - If the first place levels do not reach the limit of qualifying levels, all levels tied for second place qualify (even if it exceeds the qualifying levels limit) as long as they have at least one vote.
3) Third place - If the first two places do not reach the limit, and adding the third place levels would not exceed the limit, the third place levels also qualify as long as they have at least one vote (in the first round) or at least half as many votes as the first place level (all other rounds).

If the limit still isn't reached after third place, then the same rule as for 3rd is applied to 4th place and so on.

Original Lemmings round rules

For the "too many levels from same rank" rule, the limit is set at 7 levels; any more than this from a single rank and a re-roll occurs.

First Round
Levels are broken into sets of 10. Three votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 5. Re-rolling rules are applied.

Second Round
Levels that qualified from the first round are broken into sets of 5; if this does not divide equally then the early sets will get an extra level each (eg: if 17 levels qualify, the first set will have 6, second set will have 6, third set will have 5). Two votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 3. Re-rolling rules are applied.

Third Round
Levels that qualified from the second round are broken into sets of 4; if this does not divide equally then the early sets will get an extra level. Two votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules are applied, but the "levels from at least three ranks" rule is changed to "levels from at least two ranks".

Fourth Round
Levels that qualified from the third round are broken into three sets, however many levels each that may equate to. The number of votes allowed per person will be one vote plus one extra vote for every whole set of 6 levels in a round (eg: if a round has 5 levels, one vote per person, if a round has 7 levels, two votes per person). The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules do not apply.

Fifth Round
All levels that qualified from the fourth round are played off as a single set, however many levels that may equate to. The number of votes allowed per person follows the same formula as the fourth round. The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules do not apply.

Sixth Round
All levels that qualified from the fifth round are played off as a single set, however many levels that may equate to. One vote is allowed per person. The winner of this round wins the voteoff; if there's a tie but it isn't equal between all levels (for example, if 3 levels qualify and only two of them tie for first), a tiebreaker round will be held, but if it is equal between all levels, they will be tied for winning the voteoff as a whole. Re-rolling rules do not apply.



Please be honest with the number of votes you make; double-check with what the poll question says. But just to be clear - the vote count allowed is a maximum, not an exactly number. In a round where 3 votes are allowed, it's perfectly fine to only vote for one or two levels if you'd prefer.

Also, one change from the Lemmings Plus voteoffs where it was somewhat arbitrary - for this one, all sets will be open for voting for at least 48 hours from the time of the post announcing that they have been put up (for the first set, this post counts as the announcement). I'm not saying for sure I'll be updating it exactly on the 48 hour mark, just that I won't do it *before* that mark.


EDIT: Just want to mention, please don't treat the image links in the poll as permanently available. I don't plan to keep them available once the voteoff is finished. If you want a copy of the level maps (which you can host somewhere else, or on a free image host, if you like), you can get it here.


After this voteoff is finished, I plan to hold them for the other official games, after which there'll be a "final round" pitting all the winners from each game against each other. The order I plan to do the remaining games in is:
2) Oh No! More Lemmings!
3) Holiday Lemmings 1994 (including H93 levels, of course)
4) Xmas Lemmings 91/92 (combined into a single voteoff)
5) Covox Lemmings Demo
6) Prima Publishing Lemmings Demo
7) Extra levels

Extra levels will be all single-player levels from versions that are mostly mechanics-compatible with the DOS version - in other words, the unique levels from Genesis, the unique levels from the Budget Amiga and Bookclub Amiga versions, the unique Holiday Lemmings level from Amiga, and the unique Tricky 21s from the Mac and SNES versions. Levels from versions that are not mechanics-compatible (or at least close to it) such as Master System, NES and PSP will not be included, and neither will two-player levels.

Alright, it's here!

Lemmings Plus III Bonus Pack is now released! Enjoy!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1w1fbf1al44t5bq/LPIIIB.zip

As usual, things like the cheat code, level files, lists of which levels have the secret levels, etc will be released at a later date.

One thing I will say now - one of the secret levels is NOT accessed in the usual manner! If you're trying to find it...

Pay close attention to some of the Circuit levels and you might be able to work it out.

So, what's next for Lemmings Plus now? Well, firstly is the updates for this - I'm going to do ONE backroute-fix update (assuming backroutes show up, which they virtually always do) at some point. The second major update (ie: not counting mere upgrades to new NeoLemmix versions, if deemed nessecary) will simply be to re-enable the disabled options (like Challenge Mode, etc). Once that's done, there's the "Lemmings Plus Z Project" (this is just a codename, like "LP5 Project" for LPII and "LPX Project" for LPIII) that I've mentioned here and there (no, I haven't started on it yet, and don't plan to too soon), which will be another large pack using the LPII and LPIII graphic sets combined, as well as the new NeoLemmix skills. I have plans for one other, relatively small entry in the Lemmings Plus series, though that one won't be for at least a couple of months yet - it's quite likely this one will come before, or be developed alongside, LPZ.

All levels are now complete! Just got to do some reordering in Moonwalk, then do some testing, and it'll be ready for release! Expect it very soon.

Final style counts:
Sky: 9
Circuit: 12
Martian: 10 (including all 3 VGASPEC levels)
Lab: 11

UPDATE: Testing (and preparing replays) is now complete up to the end of Rehash. The reordering is also done for Moonwalk; in the end I only ended up swapping two levels around (level 3 and level 6).

UPDATE: Done to the end of Moonwalk. No changes needed to this point.

UPDATE: Done to the end of Teamwork. Needed two changes here - a backroute fix in one level seemed to have made it impossible, and another level I found gave one builder more than was nessecary (and this extra builder very much simplified the solution).

UPDATE: Done to the end of Party. I realised one level was FAR too hard for its position, so I both reduced the save requirement and moved it to a later position. Aside from that, no issues here. Only the secret levels remain to test now - all their post-completion redirects have been double-checked, but I've still got to check both accessing them and the levels themself.

UPDATE: Tested all the access locations. Only thing left to do is test the secret levels themself, then it's ready for release. (I'm actually 100% sure they're all possible as I haven't modified any of them since creation, but it's just my rule - test every level before release.)

Here's a level map. I won't say what kind of level this is though, apart from that it does involve a gimmick (or multiple gimmicks) and it's a relatively easy one.

Also, style counts so far - this is including the secret and repeat levels:
Sky: 7
Circuit: 11
Martian: 10
Lab: 10

Only 4 more levels to go before the pack is complete - 2 each in Moonwalk and Teamwork. The remaining empty slots (thoough this may be subject to change) are Moonwalk 5, Moonwalk 7, Teamwork 4 and Teamwork 7. (All levels in Breather, Rehash, Party and Secret have been completed and their order finalised.)

There's 3 VGASPEC levels (and I don't plan to add anymore), although only two are full-blown proper VGASPEC levels; the third is more along the lines of the Covox level (uses graphics from a standard set for most of the image but with some custom stuff added). Of these, one is in Party and two are in Secret.

EDIT: Updated the info above.

So, I just made a level for Party that combines the two gimmicks being focused on in the other ranks (backwards walkers and one-skill-per-lemming). The two actually combine to give a very challenging result, even in relatively simple levels. o_O