I'm in the process of converting the .lvl copy of NepsterLems to .ini.

So far so good, although a few of the levels will not open in the 1.43 Editor and so cannot be converted. I get the following error message:



@ericderkovits | @kaywhyn - have either of you guys encountered this when converting level packs?

Do any NL 1.43/SuperLemmini users know what this means and what to do about it?

I've asked namida for the "past editors" downloads page link (which isn't on NeoLemmix.com) so I'll see if the levels will open in any version of the editor, and maybe see if they can be saved in a workable format.

If I can get past this hurdle, it's likely that we'll have a full copy of NepsterLems for SuperLemmini to look forward to

OK, so I've noticed that quite a few SuperLemmini users like the idea of the return of Timed Bombers to the game.

Personally, I enjoy both; Timed Bombers present a real-time challenge to enhance the puzzles and amplify the chaos; Untimed Bombers of course remove the trial-and-error and are also a satisfying bit of popping good fun so, they both have their merits and ought to be included in the game together, one way or another.

It's therefore worth discussing exactly how this might be done. I can see three possible options:

1) Implementing Timed Bombers as an additional, separate skill, so that both Timed and Instant Bombers would still be available on the panel. They'd each have their own button, with the Timed ones including a clock graphic overlaying the explosion (or similar). As far as I can see, this is the most preferable option since it opens the game up completely, allowing content creators to use both in their levels, and removing the need for them to be mutually exclusive. The only issue I can see with this option is that it would involve adding the extra button and potentially messing up players' existing skill hotkey configurations, particularly if they like the hotkeys to match the panel positions.

2) Implement both as a mutually exclusive player-side option. So, the user themselves could choose whether to always have Timed, or always have Untimed, regardless of the level design. In both the editor and in the in-game panel, Bombers would simply appear as "Bombers", keeping things simple for both creators and players. Whilst this is perhaps the most elegant and seemingly simple option, it does present a very significant problem. Untimed Bombers would necessarily have to be unassignable to each lemming for the first 5 seconds after they spawn, otherwise those who have selected "Timed" bombers would not be able to play any level requiring a lemming to be a Bomber during that time. As well as placing this limitation on level design, imagine an RR99 level with the lemmings dropping straight into a tight pit which needs to be bombed out of: you'd have to make sure you were selecting a lemming that had been in the level for at least 5 seconds from within the bunch... basically, things could get very messy in spite of the supposed simplicity of this option.

3) Implement both as a mutually exclusive creator-side option. So, creators would choose editor-side whether they wanted the Bombers in their level to be Timed or Untimed (the OGs would be Timed, of course). This is by far the simplest way to do it, since the in-game panel would only need the one button, and it once again opens up the design options. However, it means that you could never have both in the same level, and also ignores the preference of the player; since SuperLemmini is already fairly niche, it would be no good if someone avoided playing your levels because you happened to design them using the "other" type of Bomber than the one they'd prefer to use. One potential way around this would be to present the option for the player to either always have Untimed Bombers regardless of level design, or always default to the level author's choice. This would perhaps be a decent middle-ground, presenting Untimed Bombers as essentially an "Easy" mode that can remain a player's default if they so wish.

Thoughts?

In this talk by Mike Dailly, you can see that the DMA team used an integrated level editor to make levels on the Amiga, enabling them to switch between "Edit" mode and "Play" mode on the fly.

If SL ever gets its own level editor, I'd suggest it be implemented this way, ideally toggleable via a hotkey.

What I'd imagine is that, similar to what's in the video, the skill panel/minimap area gets replaced by an editor interface, and the level area can be interacted with directly. This implementation means that making minor tweaks is a breeze.

With each update of NeoLemmix, it's necessary to copy across the user data in order to preserve the progress tracking. I've found that this doesn't always work, and it's usually necessary to "recreate" the progress by performing a mass replay check on the packs you've played/are playing (doing so usually restores green ticks and talismans).

However, it isn't always desirable to do this workaround anyway, since it seems that the more tracking data that exists, the longer it takes for NL to load up. Note: the initial amount of "unplayed" level packs in the NL directory does not affect this; the slowdown specifically happens when the F2 menu becomes more and more populated with user progress tracking.

The current Vertical Lock button in SL is the one that looks like this:



Since it's a bit unsightly against the panel's colour scheme, I've made one which replaces the big red cross with a padlock graphic:



To install, place the attached .png into gfx/icons. Let me know if you need any help with this.

It's in the title. Examples given are for a level which provides 100 Climbers pre-assigned to an entrance hatch.

For F2:



Perhaps too subtle? Possible alternative:



For Preview Screen:

I'm wondering if it could be made possible to allow the theme.nxmi file to specify custom sounds for "ohno", "letsgo", "zombie" and all of the other current default sounds.

This would obviously be good for custom sprite sets such as Lemminas as Millas, but there are likely to be other possible uses as well (such as using the SEGA sounds for an SMS-themed pack/style) or even just replacing the occasional individual sound for preference purposes.

As I imagine it, each sound could have an identifier, such as LETSGO, and the custom sound would be specified in a similar manner to the theme colours, except instead of referring to a hex code it would refer to a file in the "sound" folder, e.g:


$SOUND
    LETSGO WL_letsgo_lemmina.ogg
    OHNO WL_ohno_lemmina.ogg
    ZOMBIE WL_zombie_lemmina.ogg
$END

A Vortex would be a special kind of exit intended for use in midair. Any lemming which hits its trigger exits the level regardless of how they got there, and counts towards the save total.

Seems a good way to go given the can of worms that's been opened by the recent "Midair exit rules" topic, and also would help to keep things simple.

i.e. If a level has a regular exit, then regular rules (whatever they turn out to be after all this has been resolved) apply. If a level has a vortex, then anything goes