I will never write code that is bound to 2 players max. I just plan to have a 2-player version that works well before [...]

Always always always always always design for n players, or n whatevers. It's much easier to restrict an n-player system to 2 players than to try to modify a 2-player system to some number greater than 2. And then, down the line, that number to some yet greater number.

What happens if my game mechanics code is too close to theirs ?

The game mechanics themselves may or may not fall in the realm of patented processes. Most innovations in the computer industry these days (especially video games) are patented, and anyone else wanting to make use of the same or similar features are required to pay a license to the patent holder. I don't know if Sony holds any patents for any aspect of Lemmings.

As for the code, it doesn't really matter how similar it is to theirs unless there's evidence you stole it from them. That would qualify as a violation of their copy right.

In any case, there's a certain degree of "fair use" in this project, which will make you exempt from most or all of the applicable laws. You're not benefiting from it, and you're not causing Sony any damages (you're not taking their customers away from them, etc.), so unless they decide they want to personally stop you from doing what you're doing, you'll be able to get away with it.

I know that Sony send a letter "against" a coder that put lemming on some Mobile Apps Market. Is there someone here that have more informations than me about legal issues. Where is the limit ?

I'll let you decide where you want to go, but the laws in the United States present the following restrictions:

You cannot use the Lemmings property to benefit yourself in any way. You can't sell it, and you can't advertise with it. These are rights held by the copyright and trademark holders respectively, both of which are Sony.

You cannot distribute or reproduce copyrighted content in any way. This includes official levels, artwork (including "sprite" pixel patterns and "tilesets"), original music and any game lore that Sony still holds the copyright to.

It's possible you can get permission from Sony to make a fangame, but don't count on that. As far as I know, the only producer that has ever given that permission is Nintendo, who allows anyone anywhere to make fan games in homage so long as they are not damaging to the properties in question.

Game Boy emulators generally can't dump music because music on the system is done with normal software subprocedures that manipulate the audio hardware through magic port addresses. The only system I can think of where you can straight-up dump the music is SNES, because that system had a dedicated music-playing circuit, leaving the main CPU to handle program code full-time.

Eh, we can make one. Sony's legal department be damned. How about DHTML Lemmings?

I do know there's a DosBox that runs on Android, but since there's no unified mouse device driver for DOS, every program has to implement its own, so you can't just point and tap to click the cursor; you have to drag it around. I wasn't able to run Lemmings 2 worth a darn because I couldn't reliably scroll the screen.

The stability of the current forum incarnation is definitely to be commended http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/thumbsup.gif" alt=":thumbsup:" title="Thumbs Up" class="smiley" />

Not to mention the activity. It may not be Main Street, but it's fun to see each other's projects pop up now and then.

Alls I know is that I found the place in early 2010, having searched high and low for an active Lemmings community. This is the only one I found with recent posts, although I don't think it was lemmingsforums.com at the time...

Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler

I just picked a random question, http://projecteuler.net/problem=9" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">Problem 9...

A Pythagorean triplet is a set of three natural numbers, a < b < c, for which,
a² + b² = c²

For example, 3² + 4² = 9 + 16 = 25 = 5².

There exists exactly one Pythagorean triplet for which a + b + c = 1000.
Find the product abc.

There isn't enough information here to solve the problem, meaning we're going to be left with some amount of brute force to find the triplet in question. Sooooooo... the lazy solution!

The problem defines a right triangle with a perimeter of 1000 units. Since we know the second-shortest leg of a right triangle can be up to oh-so-slightly less than the length of the hypotenuse, we know that the length of that side in this case cannot meet or exceed 1000 / 2 = 500 units, meaning an upper theoretical limit of 499.

This gives us a nested loop. For each value of a from 1 to 498, then each value of b from a + 1 to 499, which pair of values solves the problem as stated?

In JavaScript:

function triplet() {
    var a, b, c;

    // Brute force the legs of the triangle
    for (a = 1; a < 498; a++) {
        for (b = a + 1; b < 499; b++) {

            // Calculate the length of the hypotenuse
            c = Math.sqrt(a * a + b * b);

            // Reject the hypotenuse if it is non-integer
            if (c % 1) continue;

            // Check if the perimeter is 1000
            if (a + b + c == 1000)
                return "a = " + a + ", b = " + b + ", c = " + c;

        } // b
    } // a

    // A perimeter of 1000 was not found
    return "I dun' find it!";
}

The output of this function is: a = 200, b = 375, c = 425. The product, therefore, is 200 * 375 * 425 = 31875000.

That's a Java package. You do need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) to use it.

You can get the latest version here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre7-downloads-1880261.html" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jre7-downloads-1880261.html

Submission for Cavelem:

|Cavelem  |  1  5  1  2  2  2  4  5  2  4   28  |

I didn't realize how powerful WebGL seems to be.

Well I would hope so. It's hardware-accelerated. (-:

This thread was split off from <a href="index0708.html?topic=784.0" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">that other thread</a> because it wasn't cool enough. (-:

Minimum skills required for getting just 1 Lemming to the exit in Lemmings 2 levels.

<span style="font-family: courier;" class="bbc_font">
-----------------------------------------------
|Tribe    |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 Total |
|---------|-------------------------------------|
|Beach    |  0  1  2  3  2  4  4  2  6  1   25  |
|Cavelem  |  1  5  1  2  2  2  4  5  2  4   28  |
|Circus   | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Classic  | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Egyptian | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Highland | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Medieval |  4  5  2  3  3  5  4  5  1  2   35  |
|Outdoor  |  0  0  1  1  2  3  2  4  4  1   18  |
|Polar    | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Shadow   | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Space    | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
|Sports   | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --  ---  |
-----------------------------------------------
</span>

Everything else would be mostly some coding to make everything to work.

You saved the hardest part for last and made it sound trivial. (-:

I just notice something when slowing down this file down 75%! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/huh.gif" alt="???" title="Huh?" class="smiley" /> It sounds like a normal human!

Uh... um... Hmm...

...


... Just how exactly did you think they made the voices?

You might also be able to do some tricks with http://www.vmware.com/products/player/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">VMware Player (a free, personal-use VM) and capture output from that. VirtualBox won't give you DirectX 4 support, though, so Lemmings Revolution can't be played on it.