I've adjusted it to a darkish gray. I didn't really want to go with light blue because blue will almost certianly be the primary color of the 4th graphic set? (Notice the theme? Red, Green, Blue although not quite in that order)

Also, we FINALLY have another level using the pickup skills (actually this level uses a lot of new objects - pickup skills, pre-placed lemmings and teleporters)! Still working on it though, so haven't included it in the completed level stats yet. I'll post a pic when it's done. Most likely position it's going in is Dodgy 21... which actually means there's now a streak of five levels in a row that are complete (Dodgy 17 to Dodgy 21 - did have a Dodgy 22 at one point but it was moved to Rough 15 and then to Fierce 15; I thought almost right way it'd be too hard for Dodgy but based on feedback from a couple of people I sent it to, I decided that it was too hard even for Rough - for those who I sent it to, "Dead Is The New Black" is the level I'm referring to here.)


EDIT: Here's the image. Just to be clear, there isn't a second receiver hidden anywhere; both teleporters link to the same receiver. And the pre-placed lemming actually begins facing left (NeoLemEdit just doesn't render it as such when that option is set, at least not yet). Not that it matters; the solution works fine on either side (at one point during development it only worked on one side, hence the lemming facing left, but I've since fixed that).

So, I've made some changes to the skill panel... I also changed the minimap/bridge colors (which are also used in the new panel ) of the Sky and Circuit styles to actually be a shade of the set's primary color, previously I'd intentionally not done so but with this change I think it works better this way. (The skill panel text has been changed from the default green to use the style's color, and such color is also used in places on the skillbar itself.)

Another new level in the martian style. Rough's the only rank left that doesn't have a martian level yet (though it was a very close call whether this one went into Dodgy or Rough - the deciding factor came down to that it would've only been early Rough, it's a 2-of-everything level, and Rough 5 is already one of those). I will mention that it is one of those levels that's not quite as hard as it looks.

I think I also need to think about the pickup skills more. Out of the 23 levels I've made so far, Extra Skill Required is the only one that uses them. Although I suppose the pre-placed lemmings aren't too common yet either; I'm sure there's more but off the top of my head I can only think of "Party In The Skies" (a late-Dodgy level (actually it immediately follows the level in the attached image ), I'm planning to include this one in the second demo) and "Viva Las Lemmine".

Making some improvements to teleporters for the next version. It's now possible to make them so the receiver starts animating sooner than when the teleporter finishes (this is of course set by the graphic set, not the level), and also it no longer requires the next object to be a receiver - instead, it searches through the objects (starting from the next one, and it wraps around if it passes the last object) until it finds one. If the level doesn't *have* any receivers, the teleporter won't function. I'm not sure if I explained that well, so to give some examples:

-case 1-
Object 1 is a teleporter, object 2 is an exit, object 3 is a receiver. It first checks object 2, realises it's not a receiver, and moves on and tests object 3. Since it is, the teleporter will link to that.

-case 2-
1 = receiver, 2 = teleport, 3 = receiver, 4 = teleport. In this case, object 2 first checks object 3, and finds the receiver to link to. Object 4 gets to the end of the list without finding one, so it goes back to the start, and finds object 1.

-case 3-
1 = teleport, 2 = teleport, 3 = receiver. This case is similar to case 1. It doesn't matter if it finds another teleporter, it still just keeps going until it finds a receiver. So, both teleporters would link to the same receiver here - and probably glitch if lemmings were to enter both at the same time. :/ (Of course, I'll test this and if it does cause glitches, fix them.)

I won't change the circuit set to make use of the animation (since a couple of levels I've made are reliant on the current timing of them), but it'll be useful for the teleporters in the martian style.


Aside from this, I'm adding another new feature for V1.07n (won't say what it is yet) that doesn't affect gameplay, but might add a bit of fun.

Based on the feedback for Timid 3 - as well as the difficulties people have observed in 100%ing it - I've moved it to Rough and upped the requirement to, of course, 100%. Destructive skills also dropped to 1 of each (builders is still 20). Also I was somewhat mistaken in what I said before about it needing every builder - it can be done (even with the new skillset) with only 19.

I also just made a level based on a really clever trick I thought of the other day (it works equally well in both traditional and NeoLemmix, so it's not based on obscure new mechanics ). I'm not going to say for sure I'm the first to think of it, but I've definitely never seen any levels using it before. Assuming I don't move it, the level to look out for is Dodgy 22; I'll almost certianly include it in the second demo. (I might move it to Rough, or if people find it difficult enough to get the trick, possibly even Fierce.)

EDIT: I already decided to move it to Rough 8, but I'll quite possibly end up moving it again.
EDIT: Indeed. I've moved it into Fierce now. (Fierce 15)

100% is possible in The Perfect Storm, just. Unless I'm missing something, one less builder and it wouldn't be. I'm not sure either way about Dodgy 1 (haven't really looked into it), it's not possible AFAIK on Dodgy 3, the remaining levels are all 100%able (with Dodgy 2, Rough 1 and the secret level *requiring* it).

Same deal as with LPII as far as repeats go. They won't be a regular thing like in Orig/LPDOS, but levels sharing a common theme (like Floater Frenzy, Upwards/Downwards Mission, -Tuned Lemming levels) might happen. And I will probably have a once-per-rank level again, as I've said, with more similarity to No Salvation than to Floater Frenzy.


EDIT: Just had a go at 100% on Dodgy 1. It's possible. (For a semi-challenge, try to do it without blockers.)

More work on the red style.

I'm starting to think it looks kind of Martian-y, so I might make its proper name "Mars style".

EDIT: Made some more minor modifications to fit in with this idea. Specifically the entrance and exit. This very minor change actually makes the style feel a lot better, I reckon.

I'm saving replays of these, so once I've beaten all of them I'll send you those so you can see how I did it. I'm currently near the end of Tricky, I don't remember off-hand exactly what level number.

EDIT: (Removed at exit's request)
There's the everything-in-one-file Lemmix player for it. (Exit mentioned in a PM that he's going to be away for a while, hence why I'm posting it instead of letting him do so.)

EDIT: I've now completed up to (but not including) Taxing 20. The levels are starting to get challenging. Taxing 19 was especially good (try to save 100% ).

I'll do detailed comments later, but a few things I feel I need to point out now:

> Taxing 11 is a repeat of one of the levels in Tricky (or might've even been Fun); I actually found the Taxing version to be by far the easier of the two. The only thing that's harder about it is the time limit.
> There's a few too many levels that rely mostly or solely on bomber timing for these difficulty; these kind of levels usually aren't looked on too positively from what I can gather. (Indeed, that's the reason I got rid of the countdown in my level packs; because I do like to be able to use the bomber for its unique nature (small area of effect, requires a lemming to be sacrificed) but the timer was just an annoyance that added nothing except an element of trial-and-error and guesswork.)
> Even more so than bomber timing, you're REALLY overusing the "hold the crowd between two blockers (or a blocker and a wall) while one lemming does the work" concept. It's definitely possible for this kind of level to be good, and even for it to be hard; and the formula works very well for Fun/Tricky-type levels, but by mid/late Taxing, I'd personally expect to see this sort of die off a bit.

Now to be fair, these are the kind of things that everyone does at first. My early packs (the Cheapo-based Lemmings Plus packs) were also full of these kinds of flaws (as well as over-reliance on builders); even the more-recent LPDOS exhibits them to a degree. Don't get me wrong - there are also many VERY good levels in here, you definitely have a LOT of potential, and I'm looking forward to the rest of this pack and your next one.

I'm saving replays as I go, I'll send them to you when I've completed them all.