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Messages - Simon

#2761
Forum Games / Re: Lemmings Doublets
March 25, 2017, 06:18:52 AM
FAIL -> NUKE in 6

fail
fall
full
pull
pule
puke
nuke

I like how these grow from both sides in promising style, and then I google for the missing link in the center until I get lucky. Googling wouldn't be allowed during Scrabble, Proxima doesn't have to be afraid. 8-)

Walk -> Trap looks harder, I don't have anything good yet.

-- Simon
#2762
I feel the 1x1 receiver zone stays most honest with the animation.

Were you ever concerned about asymmetry? Most gadgets have even width, and an even-width trigger area.

-- Simon
#2763
Forum Games / Re: Lemmings Doublets
March 21, 2017, 03:32:41 PM
Very nice idea. I remember this puzzle from childrens' puzzle books with 4 letters, and the solution was always known to be length 3 or 4. It's far more interesting when there is no obvious 3- or 4-letter solution, but we can never be perfectly sure.

BASH to MINE in 4

bash
base
bane
mane
mine

BOMB to CUBE in 5

bomb
comb
come
core
cure
cube

BUILD to STACK in 9

build
guild
guile
guide
glide (this was given explicitly as a hint in the original problem)
slide
slice
slick
stick
stack

BUILD to STACK is hard if you don't know the exact Lemmings-related intermediate word in the center. I haven't found a shorter route even when that intermediate word isn't required.

New puzzle:
DISK to BALL in 6

disk
dusk
dunk
bunk
bank
balk
ball

Now I want to play a game of Scrabble with Proxima. :lix-grin:

-- Simon
#2764
Live Event Scheduling / Re: mobius' videos/streams
March 21, 2017, 10:10:25 AM
<GigaLem> To be honest i just wish we could be more active for when streams are involved
<mobius`> yeah people seemed to have lost interest in streaming atm
<mobius`> the past couple of times I annoucned I had time to stream nobody seemed interested

I don't care when you merely have time -- I care when you stream a game matching my narrow interests. I watched your Lix community pack attacks, but I wouldn't watch Pokemon. Watching and chatting in other people's streams is a serious commitment, it binds several hours.

You want involvement explicitly from the Lemmings comunity, that needs planning, early announcements, and sticking to the plan. How many Lemmings forumers does Arty pull?

I don't announce Jazz runs in #lix anymore. Akseli, geoo, and Proxima watch the record on youtube, but wouldn't watch every attempt. I rely on twitch followers and sticking to the same time of day. I still get 3-4 viewers on average, but some prefer to lurk, I have a dead chat about 1 in 3 streams. I don't mind!

-- Simon
#2765
Lix Main / Re: I've begun networking in D Lix
March 20, 2017, 06:33:24 AM
We had a test yesterday.

Lots of bugs and missing features! NaOH has the same bug as geoo with outdated terrain graphics, but correct physics. Agonizing, because I can't repro the bug for my life, yet it hits them both frequently. We filed 9 bugs in total. :8:()[:

I want to hack on the bugs, and get back on reallife. I can't tell when we should test again. Next Sunday is too early, some issues will take time and are important.

Nonetheless, I'll leave the server running, for whoever wants to play buggy games. :-]

-- Simon
#2766
Lix Main / Lix 0.6.39 released
March 18, 2017, 08:52:15 AM
Hi,

Edit 2017-08: Lix 0.6 has been obsoleted by Lix 0.8.




First time here? See Lix homepage: Basic info and screenshot

:lix-cool: Download for Windows
:lix: Download for Linux (built on Arch 64-bit)
:lix-evil: Source code
:8(): Changelog
:8:()[: Issue tracker

Post bugs and ideas in a separate topic, or file issues on github.

-- Simon
#2767
General Discussion / Re: Simon blogs
March 18, 2017, 08:06:17 AM
Lemmingsforums has been the same style since 2015, yes. :D

What I think happened: Archlinux updated a font package, and something in some font cache mismatched. This is normal and happened before. Apparently, waiting a few hours invalidates whatever cache I missed.

-- Simon
#2768
Quote from: namida on March 18, 2017, 05:57:21 AM
QuoteSelect Unused Lem:
I think this needs to stay unless these talismans are also culled
may be worth removing this from the default layout.

Mere brainstorming: Since the talisman requires select-unused-lem throughout the level, offer to attack the level in a separate mode where select-unused-lem is always on. You select this mode from the level browser and free the hotkey.

Maybe analyze the talisman-heavy packs for how common this talisman is?

-- Simon
#2769
General Discussion / Re: Simon blogs
March 17, 2017, 07:44:44 AM
I overrode Lemmingsforum's 78 % font with the 100 % font by custom client-side CSS, like I did 5 years ago when the youtube embeds annoyed me.

userContent.css

@-moz-document domain(www.lemmingsforums.com),
    domain(www.lemmingsforums.net)
{
    /* raise the font size and disable in-single-post scrolling that
     * appears due to the larger font size */
    body {
        font: 100%/150% sans-serif ! important;
    }
    div.windowbg2, div.post_wrapper, div.poster, div.postarea {
        overflow: hidden ! important;
    }

    /* make every 2nd post light grey instead of blue */
    .windowbg, #preview_body {
        overflow:   hidden  ! important;
        background: #E8E8E8 ! important;
    }
    .windowbg2 {
        overflow:   hidden  ! important;
        background: #FFFFFF ! important;
    }

    /* use sane link highlighting */
    a.bbc_link         { text-decoration: underline ! important; }
    a.bbc_link:link    { color:           #4040FF   ! important; }
    a.bbc_link:visited { color:           #800080   ! important; }
    a.bbc_link:hover   { color:           #FF4000   ! important; }

    /* hide unnecessary things from the avatar area */
    li.postgroup, li.blurb, li.karma_allow, li.karma, li.online, li.stars {
        display: none ! important;
    }

    /* Disable youtube embeddings, but keep the links to the vids.
     * This will save huge amounts of bandwith, because the browser won't fetch
     * the vids anymore in the first place!
     * This is somewhat of a kludge. I don't want to remove the whole table,
     * because it also contains the link, but the table's rows with the video
     * don't have a class. Instead, they all have separate IDs. This removes
     * the first 8 vids on a page. I blame the forum's PHP.
     * The link texts are insite table cells, I force them to be inline and
     * look like regular text as much as possible, but it's not perfect. */
    #saeva1, #saeva2, #saeva3, #saeva4, #saeva5, #saeva6, #saeva7, #saeva8 {
        display: none    ! important;
    }
    .maeva {
        font:    inherit ! important;
        display: inline  ! important;
    }
    .maeva * {
        display: inline  ! important;
    }



    /*************************************************************************
     *
     * The following modifies the front page with the board overview.
     *
     *************************************************************************/

    /* front page: disable the title logo area, and disable the news fader */
    /* on namida's forum, disable entire top area too, even if it has the
     * login thing. You can still login with the link on the main menu. */
    #wrapper #top_section, #newsfader,
    #upper_section {
        display: none ! important;
    }

    /* front page: hide descriptions of the boards, and decrease the vertical
     * space the new-posts-diamond takes. */
    td.info a.subject  { font-weight: normal      ! important; }
    td.info p          { display:     none        ! important; }
    td.icon            { padding:     0 0 0 0     ! important; }
    td.icon img {
        margin:         0 0 0 0 ! important;
        vertical-align: middle  ! important;
    }

    /* Front page: Since we now have so much space at
     * the left, shrink that, but don't linebreak the forum titles.
     * With the extra space, we can remove the <br> from the last post area. */
    tr.windowbg2 td             { padding:     2px 0 0 2px ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td             { margin:      0 0 0 0     ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td.windowbg    { width:       auto        ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td.info        { white-space: nowrap      ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td.lastpost    { width:       100%        ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td.lastpost br { display:     none        ! important; }

    /* Front page 2009-2014 instance: Remove the board category rows */
    table.table_list tbody.header { display: none ! important; }

    /* on namida's new forum, number of topics/post per board */
    tr.windowbg2 td.stats.windowbg    { white-space: nowrap   ! important; }
    tr.windowbg2 td.stats.windowbg br { display:     none     ! important; }

    /* on namida's forum, disable the icon (L3D head) that distinguishes
        between fully-read and unread boards, because it's so big */
    tr.windowbg2 td.icon.windowbg { display:     none     ! important; }

    /* on namida's forum, disable the separators between board categories;
     * I don't care at all, it's just many boards one after another */
    tbody.divider, tbody.header { display:     none     ! important; }



    /*************************************************************************
     *
     * The following modifies the individual board view = topic list.
     *
     *************************************************************************/

    /* Large page selector with easy-to-hit numbers */
    div.pagelinks { font-size: 200% ! important; }

    /* Make the topic rows use less vertical space. Inline the started-by-whom
     * after the topic name, and inline by-whom in the last-post-info. */
    table.table_grid * td.subject p {
        display:   inline  ! important;
        color:     #C0C0C0 ! important;
        float:     right   ! important;
    }
    table.table_grid * td.subject p a.navPages {
        font-size:   150% ! important;
    }
    table.table_grid * td.lastpost {
        white-space: nowrap ! important;
        font-size:   70%    ! important;
    }
    table.table_grid * td.lastpost br { display:     none   ! important; }

    /* Kill the table's header, and shorten the post/views cell widths. */
    table.table_grid * tr.catbg3 { display: none ! important; }
    table.table_grid * td.stats  { width:   auto ! important; }

    /* on namida's board, kill linebreak in 4 posts<br>5 views */
    table.table_grid * td.stats br { display: none ! important; }
}

Arch updated fonts, now everything looks narrow. The forum font dropped under a personal threshold. Other sites are mostly OK, nonetheless wtf at sudden change in shipped fonts. I even rebooted the machine and cleared some caches to see whether I was insane. Maybe the change wasn't that harsh, but it was a change, and it triggered personal re-evaluation of the forum fonts. They seemed far too small.

A 78% default font size is ludicrous in the first place, that's 1990's web design. Modern style uses large, legible fonts, and prunes prunes prunes prunes prunes the writing instead of cramming small text. Prunes!

I'm admin now, but even though I found the 78 % value in LF's served CSSs, I kept that. This is partly carrot-dangling -- I wrote about carrots earlier in this thread: You're happy once you can turn off annoyances, even if you leave them on. And it feels partly like this ADmiral quote: The greatest masters know when to not execute their power. The best state leader is who could, but never needs to, punish citizens. Likewise, the best object-oriented designers know when object-oriententation is inappropriate.

6 hours later: Now Firefox shows the wider font again. I didn't revert the update, no idea what I missed earlier. Oh well, now the font is both wide and large. <3



-- Simon
#2770
Lemmings Main / Re: Recommendations for new players?
March 17, 2017, 03:29:37 AM
Play custom levels!

Download a level pack, e.g.:
  • Lemmings Reunion by IchoTolot has the classic 8 skills, starts easy, then becomes challenging. Runs in NeoLemmix, a custom Lemmings engine.
  • Lemmings Omega by namida has the new NeoLemmix tilesets, extra skills, teleporters, unlockable exits, zombies, ...
  • Lix community pack is bundled with Lix, a free Lemmings-like single- and multiplayer game.
Our level pack board offers many exciting levels!

NeoLemmix has the most packs right now. Lix is the second-most popular engine. SuperLemmini and Lemmini haven't seen many packs recently. Some old user levels require the exact DOS Lemmings mechanics, they need vanilla Lemmix or DOS Lemmings in DOSBox.

Create levels!

For NeoLemmix:
  • Download the NeoLemmix level editor.
  • Run the editor, select "File" -> "New level".
  • Right-click into the empty space, select "Insert Terrain" or "Insert Object".
  • Choose skills and other settings in the dialogs under "View".
  • Select "Tools" -> "Play this level".
For Lix:
  • Download Lix, it contains a level editor.
  • Run Lix, go to Single Player, and select "New Level" near the bottom right.
  • Click the tree button to insert terrain in the empty level.
  • Add hatches, exits, and visit the "Skills" and "Constants" dialogs.
  • Save, exit the editor, and play the level from the singleplayer browser.
Share your cool levels on the forum!

-- Simon
#2771
C++ Lix has this same basic design: Server sends syncing info, client adds lag, client adjusts speed to approach this sum. But the C++ Lix client was stupid in some details, it didn't bother to re-adjust the speed once it has caught up, but happily overshot until the next server sync.

I wrote the D impl yesterday, improving on this:
  • Server sends milliseconds, not PUs, because milliseconds are more precise. Client still adds lag normally.
  • Server syncs rapidly during early game, especially before first lix spawns. Then syncs less frequently later.
  • Client remembers how many frames it must ultimately skip/insert between PUs, and stops adjusting before the next syncing packet arrives.
I've never considered anything else yet. <_<

Will see how it feels after the test. We won't do 6+ people yet, which produced lots of felt lag (might have been network or local computation) in C++ Lix.

Get Lix 0.6.28 to join the test on 2017-03-19 at 18:00 UTC.

-- Simon
#2772
Okay, cool, networking session on 2017-03-19 18:00 UTC, join IRC quakenet.org #lix around then. I'll release earlier that day. Edit: Lix 0.6.28 released.

Planned design of the time syncing: The server counts physics updates (PUs) since game start. Every couple seconds, the server sends to each client the number of PUs since game start. The client adds his connection's lag to that value, then speeds up or slows down physics slightly to match the lag-adjusted PU.

The desired effect is that everybody tries to be at the same PU during the same UTC-datetime. Does the design accomplish that, or should we account for lag somehow differently?

-- Simon
#2773
I didn't candidate for admin in 2015, the team had already done an excellent 2015 forum migration. But I won't deny this explicit suggestion. Thanks for the trust.

There's no work due now, it's a mere fallback.

-- Simon
#2774
Lemmings Main / Re: Recommendations for new players?
March 15, 2017, 02:06:23 AM
I'm targeting forum lurkers and recent joiners. They have played L1 and ONML and are familiar with the fundamentals. We aren't teaching Lemmings, we are reeling encouraging Lemmings players into forum culture. Imagine you'd have to suggest one pack to Kieran. :-) Maybe Kieran is already at the stronger end of the target spectrum with his puzzle gaming interest.

Sorry for not making that audience clear in the first post.

The first two-thirds of Reunion fit this bill; I fully agree with Proxima's judgement how Reunion starts very easy, then ramps up fast. If you have played L1 and ONML, you will solve middle-Reunion levels. You don't have to solve everything.

Nepster suggests LPO as a good #1 as long as you've played L1 and ONML. Would you consider that a better showcase of forum culture than Reunion? That would make:

#1 LPO,
#2/#3 Reunion,
#3/#2 Lix community.

Maybe special recommendation #4 Geofflems or a Wafflem pack for Lemmings-nonplayers, even though we aren't targeting nonplayers primarily. Sounds much more spiritful than recommending L1, which most people would find by googling Lemmings anyway.

I want to push one acknowledged pack to make a good first impression and show how user packs work. Then we point to the level pack forum for the full list. The pack forum is important: NepsterL* is great, but doesn't feel as representative of LF culture to make it into the topic. It's OK to change the #1 later when new packs get released.

-- Simon
#2775
Lemmings Main / Re: Recommendations for new players?
March 14, 2017, 08:07:55 PM
Awesome feedback.

NL is planned to ship with intro pack: Perfect. I want to explain the bare minimum to get started with user packs. The list can then become (download only NL and play, then download this one or two extra packs and play, then browse the pack forum). I'll change the list as soon as you ship NL with the intro pack.

Instead of L1, I'd like to show what we do on Lemmings Forums, and how to become a part of this culture. Redux wouldn't showcase excellent user levels either. But it's OK to have a link below the userpack list on how to run Lemmix-L1 or Redux.

Reunion is too hard even early on? I'm open for something else as #1, but it must look beautifully. Ideally, its release topic/webpage explains how to run it in NL, otherwise I'll have to describe it. I have no preference for/against NL-exclusive features anymore, Nepster and ccx have convincing arguments.

#1 one of LP1, LPO, Pimolems, Geofflems, Mobilems2. Which looks most stunning?
#2 Reunion
#3 Lix community pack

-- Simon