Original post by ccexplore:

I wonder if Lix should soft-end time-limited singleplayer levels, rather than hard-ending them with a nuke like it is now.  That is, no auto-nuking and give the option for the player to continue playing even after time's up, with the obvious effect that the resulting solution will fail regardless of number saved.

That of course does nothing with the objection on having to repeat execution to coax an otherwise working and not-so-different solution into the time limit, but does at least address the objection about time limits interfering with player's process of solving the level.

Soft time limits: Very good idea.

That makes testing of multiplayer levels much easier. Authors will not forget setting overtime to something small after testing.

Triggering the nuke at exactly 5 seconds left makes for a longer time limit than the soft limit. Late-spawned lixes have extra time before they become exploders. Some existing levels must therefore be revised to fit the shorter time limit.

I have implemented this for the upcoming release.

Simultaneously, I have addressed another wish: Singleplayer should start quicker.

In previous versions, the nan-nan sound played at 1 second into the game, the hatch opened at 2 seconds, and the first spawn was at 4 seconds. Now, the first spawn is at 2 seconds -- unless it's a tutorial level or a multiplayer game. The sounds and hatch animations are shifted accordingly, it still looks pretty.

The first spawn is still in physics update #60, with 1 second equalling 15 updates. The game starts at update #30, to be compatible with older replays. Old replays have, upon loading, all replay action from updates [#0, #30] moved to update #31, the earliest possible update to use user input. (If you do something in update #n, it will affect update #(n+1), this has always been like this.)

A singleplayer time limit starts counting with/after update #30 instead of #0 as before. The update count is internal only, and printed in the replay file; it's never shown to the user. Therefore, the timer looks as counting normally down after entering the level. Similarly, the stopwatch on untimed levels counts from the point of entering the level, not from the now arbitrarily numbered update #0.

With the first lix spawning 2 seconds after level start, the game will give 2 seconds more than in previous versions. This offsets the nuke bonus of past versions: Late-spawned lixes could walk and exit after the first spawners had begun exploding at 0 timer. 2 seconds should be enough to keep all existing levels solvable without this nuke bonus.

When the timer runs out in singleplayer, a "no"-sign is displayed on all goals, and there will be no more collision of lixes with goal. If a lix is already exiting while the timer runs out, she will exit normally and count. This is no bonus, because an exploder has always been un-explodered upon becoming exiter.

What are your ideas on this, before it's released? Is 2 seconds of extra time too much?

tl;dr: First spawn at 2 seconds instead of 4, but no extra time after time limit (unlike nuke previously).

-- Simon

Hi folks,

I've always been interested in inductive reasoning games, where you have to guess an overall pattern from examples.

The most prominent games here are Eleusis and Zendo. Both have a games master (god, master) think of a secret rule. All other players (scientists, students) carry out experiments, which are marked by the master as conforming to the rule or not. Th scientists's main task is to guess the secret rule governing this marking.

In Eleusis, players take turns adding playing cards to a central sequence. Here's a writeup of how I've played it. The secret rule governs which cards fit onto the end of the current sequence. Invalid plays are placed to the side of the current sequence's end, to remind people later on that this card didn't conform to the rule at that point.

Scientists win if they empty their hand of cards first, and must draw replacement cards for invalid plays. If someone feels pretty sure about the secret rule, he can declare himself prophet and judge other people's plays before the god does. Judging correctly allows the prophedt to discard additional cards from hand, but judging incorrectly leads to a severe penalty of extra hand cards.

In Zendo, as described on the excellent Zendo website by its designer, no sequence is built. Instead, predefined building blocks (Icehouse pieces) are arranged in various manners, each such arrangement is called a koan. The master marks koans as conforming to the rule or as not. There is no penalty for testing nonconforming koans. The goal is to formulate a rule that is equivalent to the master's rule, i.e., the master cannot build a counterexample that satisfies only either the guessd rule or the master's rule.

Would people be interested in this as a forum game? Unless tons of people discourage me from this, I'm going to start a forum game thread soon. An alternative is to play on IRC.

What might be the best forum game rules? One standard method on the net seems to play Zendo with words, i.e., arbitrary strings of characters [A-Z]. Customly made Lemmings levels are also possible, but too unwieldy to build in large quantities for a forum game. ;-)

I'd play without turns, so everybody can simply post test cases for the master to mark, and guess rules, which can lead to a win or a counterexample. Testing cases should be free of penalty (0 points), or almost free (-1 point). A false guess should only bring about a minor penalty (-10 points) compared to guessing the correct rule (+100 points or something).

-- Simon

Hello everyone,

here's an exciting new mafia game with exploders and lots of flinging! The game has already started, you cannot sign up anymore. The exploder, a.k.a. terrorist, has been suggested by geoo. This round has a ton of special roles, this is how he plays in reallife. <geoo> just put in the blocker if we have 8 or less players, next round we'll play by your rules with no special roles whatsoever

Roles

Everybody gets a role, which is either of good or evil alignment. The game ends if all players of one alignment are killed. Upon end of the game, all players of the opposing alignment win the game, no matter whether they are dead or alive.

Walkers are good. They constitute the normal townsfolk and have no special abilities.
Miners are good. Each night including the first, they may PM me the name of a player to spy. I will PM back the alignment (good or evil) of the named player, but not the exact role.
Blockers are good. Each night after the first, they may PM me the name of a player to protect. The named player gets immunity from mafia assasination on that night. A blocker may name himself, but never the same player twice in a row.
Mafia are evil. In the first night, all mafia players are informed about who is mafia and who is not. Mafia are not informed about exploders, despite being on the same team. Each night except the first, if there is at least one mafia yet alive, all mafia may agree on one player to be assasinated immediately. One of the mafia shall send me a PM with their choice. Assasinations are optional. Blockers may prevent an assasination.
Exploders are evil. Despite being evil, they are not informed about the mafia or other exploders, and they do not help with the assasination at night. During the daily discussion, they may post in bold type "I explode and kill <player name>". This immediately kills the exploder and the named player. Votes already cast by these two players are void. An exploder may not explode if they have at least 2 votes against them and nobody has more votes against them than the exploder. The mayor's vote counts as 1.5 votes for this purpose, too. Exploding is optional. Other roles may not post explosions in bold, breaking this rule loses the game immediately.
Mayor is an extra ability. Any player can become mayor in addition to their normal role. It is publicly known who is mayor. The first mayor is chosen randomly. The mayor's vote counts as 1.5 normal votes. If the mayor is killed, he shall name a player to become the next mayor in a short post. This is the only exception from dead players being barred from speaking.

It is possible for the evil team to be a majority, but still have no safe victory. With three players alive at day, who are a walker, a mafia, and an exploder-mayor, both non-exploders could claim to be mafia, so the exploder has to guess.

It is publicly known how many of each role have been assigned at the start of the game, and who is the first mayor.

Night

The game starts at night. Everybody gets a PM with their role. All mafia are informed about who is mafia. They do not get information on exploders. They do not assasinate in the first night. Miners may examine a player during every night including the first, send me a PM to do so.

In all nights after the first one, if there are still mafia left alive, the mafia may agree as a group on one player to assasinate. One mafia member shall send me a PM with their choice of target. Each blocker may send me a PM with a player to protect from the assasination. Blockers may protect themselves, but not the same player twice in a row. If the mafia's assasination target is not protected by a blocker, they are killed immediately.

Exploders may PM the games master if they wish to explode right at the start of the day, possibly with conditions on who is killed by the mafia. Otherwise, it would be unfair if they check the thread and see they got a bunch of votes already that prevents the explosion.

No public discussion may happen at night. Living mafia may discuss in private at night.

Day

Public discussion is allowed during the day in this thread until someone is lynched. You may say anything you like. Please reserve bold type for your votes or explosions. Living mafia may additionally discuss in private. Other living players should not privately discuss the ongoing game.

All living players may cast a vote by posting in bold type "<player name>". Each player may only vote for up to one player at a time, but may withdraw or change his vote without restriction; post again in bold type to do that.

When nobody has cast/changed his vote or has exploded for 24 hours, the day ends. To prevent people from stalling, each day has an undisclosed random time limit of at least 4 real-life days, probably more than that, after which the day ends.

At the end of day, the player with most votes is lynched and thus killed. The mayor's vote counts as 1.5 normal votes. Edit 2012-06-30: If there is still a tie, the mayor must choose one of the tied players to lynch.

After the day ends, public discussion is forbidden. I will try to post as soon as I see this, but the rule takes effect even when I miss that. Please check the time of the last vote change!

Exploders may explode during the day as described for their role above. By posting in bold "I explode and kill <player name>". An exploder may not explode if they have at least 2 votes against them and nobody has more votes against them than the exploder. The mayor's vote counts as 1.5 normal votes for this purpose, too. Explosions take immediate effect, kill the exploder and the named player, and any votes of the two affected players are void. Explosions reset the 24-hour period until the day ends. Other roles shall not post explosions in bold or risk immediate loss of the game.

Dead players

Dead players may not participate in public discussion. Dead mafia may not discuss in private with living mafia at any time. Please take care of these rules, the delicate power of the exploders depends on it. The only exception is that a dead mayor must name a player to become the next mayor.

When a player is killed by any means, his role and alignment are made public.

For fun, dead players get regular PMs with all of my information, and may discuss in private with other dead players.

-- Simon

Hello everyone,

as most of you know, geoo has been visiting me for a couple days.

geoo: There you are! Great to hear your voice again!
Simon: And you still have your majestic beard.
geoo: Of course.
Simon: Didn't you read Prob Lem's post? People want to click on cute rodents, not on grunting hairy people (Cavemen).

While talking about the mafia games:

geoo: Everybody suspected you to be the rogue! möbius and Ramon both mined you in the first game, and they were right, and cc immediately scooped you in the second game, and he was also right!

The first disaster was me setting the IRC topic title to "geoo is here, lots of peanuts and wurst". This prompted everyone to guess wurst for the ingredient in the family feud. There was no wurst in the dish, but we had peanuts earlier!

geoo took a couple pictures of the dishes, I suppose he'll post them in a while.

Simon: The save button in the Lix editor doesn't give any feedback. We need a sound.
geoo: We need the sound of a floppy drive. Or a printer pulling in paper. But a writing floppy drive is best!
Simon: Then it sounds like [youtube link] What is Love on 8 floppy drives.
geoo proceeded to loop this 50 times each day. These instruments fit the song very well, and the bass is profound.

<NaOH> what is grub?
<NaOH> don't boot me, no more.
<NaOH> this is getting old...
<SimonN> with op powers, it's possible to kick instead of boot

Matt has drawn [image] a new hatch for his beach set.

This is better than the current sandcastle hatch. Pepole have been confusing the hatch and the exit, and this floats in the air, unlike the castle. It has prompted a new little feature even: Each hatch can specify the frame in which the hatch-opening sound plays. This hatch has it very late, so it begins its animation much earlier after starting a level.

geoo has drawn some dark steel to go with the Lix shadow set.



He's also made some bright red socks on a clothes line. They go in the shadow set, too, he considers them to fit the dark theme very well. :-]

Within 5 days, geoo and me have drunk over 1.5 crates of Club-Mate, a caffeinated beverage popular with computer people. Like Guile's theme, it goes with everything: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, or by itself.



I've fixed about 10 bugs in Lix, a nice success.

Simon: Let's do bugs.
geoo: Fix some, or program some fresh ones?

The new version should be released when geoo and me have sorted out what new terrain to include. There will be physics changes, so people will have to update to play networked games. :-)

One of the bugfixes was suggested by NaOH: The editor mouse dragging should only snap one element to the grid, all others should be moved with respect to the particular one, not snapping to grid individually. After implementing the better method meticulously, I've wanted to boast in the channel. While writing, this appeared:

May 09 22:48:34 <NaOH> I'll be back
May 09 22:48:40 * NaOH has quit (Signed off)

Since I didn't get to brag by such a close miss:

May 09 22:48:54 <SimonN> PENNER

This is German for bum/homeless person, with a medium derogative connotation.

May 09 22:49:17 <Ramond> ?
May 09 22:49:57 <geoo> long story
May 09 22:50:18 <Ramond> oh are you guys together again for the week :p
May 09 22:50:36 <geoo> yeah. though it's not related to me this time actually

We speedran through Lemmings 2 Highland, and geoo got screwed a couple times by L2's horrible assignment code: You often can't assign close to stunners or workers, and if you can, it rarely targets the worker.

geoo: AAAAAAH! This assignment! Why don't the penners do that?

I beat the tribe with all gold medals while geoo was still stuck around level 7 or 8. I tried to do the entire Sports tribe in the meantime, but due to AAAARGH the HORRIBLE ASSIGNMENT in Sports 1 to save 58 for gold, I just got to Sports level 3 in that time.

That's all, more will come when I remember it. :-)

-- Simon

Hi,

the current version 2013-09-17 (the one from -09-16 doesn't linebreak automatically, -09-17 does) has a sequential hint system. Hints cannot be edited with the editor, you must use a text editor on the raw level file. The Lix editor (2013-09-16 or newer) will write them back to the file unaltered, should you decide to alter other aspects of a level.

Hints can be sequential, the user can page through them with another icon in the UI. On level start, no hint is shown. Pressing once reveals the first hint at the top of the screen, pressing once more reveals the second and hides the first again, etc. Players can browse back and forth.

The syntax is as follows for adding three consecutive hints. You can make as many as you want with as many linebreaks <br> as you want. The game will linebreak automatically at the end of the screen, so you don't have to linebreak manually. Don't write too much on a single hint page, it'll clutter the in-game level view. Each hint page must be written as one line of text in the level file, do not hit enter within one hint page.

$HINT_ENGLISH You must build over three gaps with two builders.<br>How can you do that?
$HINT_ENGLISH Build over the second and third gap with one builder.
$HINT_ENGLISH Before building, send a climber to the wall between the last gaps<br>and have him explode to clear the path for the second builder.

There will be the key $TUTORIAL_ENGLISH, only one occurrence per level file will be used unlike multiple hint pages, but otherwise it works the same. It's used for the usually empty page before any hints. This should only be used on tutorial levels. geoo and me have made a couple at some time, they are unreleased. (This is currently supported using the key $HINT_ENGLISH, but it's not used anywere, so I will simply change meaning of this key to what I wrote above.)

Both keys exist for GERMAN, but don't bother writing German, the game will show the English hints when the Germans are empty.

Be creative when writing hints, write poetry, entertain the reader!

-- Simon

Our puzzle team The Suicidal Rodents takes part in regular puzzle competitions.

Team board thesuicidalrodents.proboards.com

Puzzle hunt websites (these redirect automatically to the latest contest):
CiSRA puzzle.cisra.com.au
ΣUMS www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/sums/puzzlehunt
MUMS www.ms.unimelb.edu.au/~mums/puzzlehunt

We are going to participate in the Cisra Puzzle Contest 2012. This discussion originated in Logic Puzzles, but we should make a separate thread for this.

The team is Insane Steve, geoo, Proxima, and me. However, unofficial helpers are fine, and we aren't eligible for winning a physical prize anyway. If you're into solving amazingly hard puzzles without instructions, but with a lot of lateral thinking, feel free to participate.

Our private discussion forum for solution ideas
Our team's page (The Suicidal Rodents)
Example puzzles from the 2011 round
The site's RSS feed

-- Simon

Newest C++ Lix version: 2016-06-02. Physics are identical if you have 2015-09-02 or newer.

Lix is an interactive rodent simulation, i.e. an action-puzzle game similar to Lemmings. Lix offers networked multiplayer and an editor for single- and multiplayer levels.

The game should run on the major operating systems, and it is public domain.

Download C++ Lix or D Lix. D Lix doesn't yet have the networking, but good singleplayer and level editing. It screencasts much better. C++ Lix is old, but it has networking.

-- Simon

Mindless's archive (except level packs)

The Lemmings Archive, or TLA, by Mindless: Games, editors, and technical tools for the games.
Level passwords, a TLA subpage: Access codes for L1, ONML, and Holiday 93 and 94.
File format descriptions, a TLA subpage: Hack notes of the various game data formats.
TLA download index, by Mindless: All content from the TLA.
Lemmings File Portal by Mindless: Upload/download levels or related stuff, organized in subdirectories.
The old forum: A backup of the Lemmings forums from 2005.

Level sites

Lemmings Level Database by Mindless: Huge collection of .DAT level packs.
Garjen Lemmings by Garjen: Old custom levels.
The Lemmings Encyclopaedia by Vaarties: Images and solutions of all original levels.

Lemmix by EricLang: L1 level editor, and the L1 and ONML standalone executables.

Informative sites

Lemmings Universe by ?: An old all-around site.
Lemmings Compendium by Chris: Another old all-around-site.
Planet Lemmings by ?: And another all-around site.
kallex.de/lemmings by Alexander Meyer: A really old page, this link is via archive.org.

Idlingspace.com, 2-player by hima, translated by geoo: Musings about the 20 original 2-player levels.

Remakes

NeoLemmix by namida: Fork off Lemmix with new physics and features.
Lix homepage by Simon: Free/libre Lemmings-like game with networked multiplayer.
Clones by rt and Tom: Commercial game with networked multiplayer, DRM-free by now.
Lemmini and SuperLemmini (where?)
Lemmings DS by Matt S.: A Clone for the Nintendo DS.
Lemmings DS forum by Matt S.: The forum of the above clone. Nowadays dead.
Lemmings SDL by miner49er: A clone for PC and the Pandora, including 2-player mode.

List on Lemmings Encyclopedia by Vaarties: Includes downloads of various freeware.
List on MobyGames: List of Lemmings-like games, no downloads.

-- Simon