I am a fairly new lemmings player. I've played Fun through Taxing of the original, but nothing else. Skills that weren't in the original are new to me. I thought I'd give my perspective as I play through.
General Comments:- The visual style is great. All the stages look really good. I like that you used the original themes for Skills, but custom themes for later levels.
- From the perspective of a brand new lemmings player, I think the release rates are a little high across the board in Skills and Objects. See my second post in the thread for some elaboration.
- In pretexts, referencing the pixel counts feels. weird. I don't think it's more helpful than just saying that lemmings die if they fall too far, for example. Perhaps mention the 64 pixels thing when the ruler is introduced?
- There's some issues where for me, in the description, the hotkey says <None> even though I have a hotkey assigned. For example, go-to-next-shrugger is 8 by default, but the description prior to Big Steps Through The Snow just says <None>. Just thought I'd mention it. Also, highlight lemming is not right-click by default (as stated by the Highlights With A Safety Net pretext), it's actually Ctrl+Click.
Level specific comments:Skills 1. Just Digging Into NeoLemmix - Great. I like that it clearly has spots where you should and shouldn't dig.
Skills 2. Let's Take A Bash At It! - Also great. I really like the fact you included a staircase to show that not all bashing targets are flat vertical walls. However, I'm not sure what the pillar above the staircase shows that the three pillars in the middle don't already.
Skills 3. Fence & Mine For a Diagonal Line - Good. I'd have made a stage slightly more forgiving, but it's probably fine.
Skills 4. Climb Up, Hang On, Get Along! - Another great one. I love how it demonstrates hanging from uneven ceilings and turning climbers around.
Skills 5. Block and Blow In The Snow - Good. I particularly like the the miniature puzzle at the end. A new player must figure out how to go down and turn around at the same time. For example, they might be tempted to put a blocker at the ice tip, only to realize it becomes useless when they the bomb the ice. Good learning opportunity. It's possible to complete this level without using any blockers, which might be unintended. See attachment.
Skills 6. A Float, A Glide, Puts Any Abyss Aside! - Simple but effective. I like that the player is forced to see both skills in action, since there's only 4 of each but 8 lemmings in total.
Skills 7. Building Flat and Building High - Cool, but too hard? I'd DEFINITELY let a new player get a feel for 1 bridge or 1 platformer at a time in a safe, convenient environment before asking them to chain multiple bridges together, build over water, or build through weirdly shaped terrain. It's important to master these skills ASAP, so maybe the trial by fire is warranted, but this stage definitely feels way tougher than anything else in the tier.
Skills 8. Stacks and Stones Saved Our Bones - Clever. I like that the skill counts forces you to use a stoner to block, and forces you to use a stacker at one of the upper ledges.
Skills 9. Amphibious Engineer Squad - Good. I like how it demonstrates that water can break long falls and that one disarmer can disarm multiple traps. What happens if a swimmer meets a wall, though?
Skills 10. Walking On The Cloner Cliffs - Don't like this one. The fact you can just walk the lemming to the exit and then spam clone in front of it feels really cheap. Doesn't really demonstrate what walkers or cloners can do.
Skills 11 They Can't Mash Us All! - Simple and effective. I like it.
Skills 12. Just Nuke Them! - Cool. I genuinely would not have thought to use nuke this way.
---
Objects 1. Up for a Walk? - Beautifully presented. I like (?) how it's designed to encourage use of fast forward.
Objects 2. Iron Anthill - A little overwhelming. I think the same concepts could have been taught with a smaller level. Looks fun to optimize, though.
Objects 3. Time Crime - Good. I like that it shows blockers can be used to save time rather than to avoid hazards.
Objects 4. Trap Roulette - Great. Really like the use of several themes here. Shows what different kinds of blocks and traps might look like.
Objects 5. Follow The Arrow! - Excellent and comprehensive. All four directions were covered, as well as the fact you can use bombers to go against the arrows. One of my favorites in the pack.
Objects 6. Set Your Priorities Right! - Cool. Took me a moment to realize I could assign bashers while the pit was still being dug.
Objects 7. Pick Them Up and Push Them Down - Very nice looking level. A nice introduction to its concepts, as well. Is there supposed to be a one pixel seam between the terrain and steel?
Objects 8. Split and Splat - Simple but effective. I like how it encourages the use of the ruler. The splitters are a fun touch.
Objects 9. Beam Them Over - Great. Fantastic presentation. At first, I wasn't sure about the claustrophobic digging, but I suspect you're using it to bunch the lemmings up so they don't get teleported without picking up the pickups, so it's fine. Are the pickups necessary, though? I think the level works the same if you just gave 3 builders to start with.
Objects 10. Gravity Lab - Cool. It took a couple of attempts to realize the order I needed to assign the skills and how I had to use the second builder. I like how it demonstrates that small delays can make a big difference. Is there a reason why a fencer is provided, rather than a basher? I think a basher would tempt someone to use it to bypass the splat pad, only to find out they needed to save it for the end.
Objects 11. Stop, Rewind And Go! - Tough puzzle. It does a good job of show casing pause and rewind, but it's pretty challenging for a tutorial, since it involves many different skills and the solution isn't obvious.
Objects 12. Big Steps Through The Snow - The final bridge is annoyingly precise... which is good, since it forces people to use the hotkeys. I'm really surprised at how much easier the hotkeys make building. This level single-highhandedly changed my entire playstyle!
Objects 13. Getting Into Sortings - Cute and clever. I appreciate that it works no matter which way the lemmings are walking when they fall down.
Objects 14. Highlights With A Safety Net - Don't like this one. It's odd that this is the highlight lemming tutorial, when the puzzle is instead about realizing that you can shortcut long falls using miners, and that you can build spiral staircases. Consequently, it feels out of place. More like a basic training level than a skill/object tutorial. I think spamming floaters would be fine to create a sense of 'doing two things at once', even if it makes the puzzle less interesting.
Objects 15. Night Of The Living Lems - Great. Love the theming and the fact the puzzle makes you use a few different methods of dealing with the zombies. The cloner pickup feels unnecessary since you don't really duplicate a skill with it. Maybe provide another climber instead?
Objects 16. Neutral Response - Great. I really like that this demonstrates creative ways to get ahead of the pack.
---
Basic Training 1. Tower of Training - I like that the level goes from bottom to top, rather than top to bottom. I also like that it's mostly safe for lems and has an abundance of skills, allowing for peaceful experimentation. Perfect for a first level of basic training. Floaters, diggers and miners all feel pretty useless, though. While I understand that figuring out which skills are more useful is part of the tutorial, I think some small design tweaks facilitate routes that actually use these skills. Also, I don't like the graves at the bottom of the level. It's easy for lems to get stuck between them and freeing them is more annoying than interesting.
Basic Training 2. With Minimal Efforts - Great. I enjoyed the realization that I could escape the starting area by chaining two digging skills.
Basic Training 3. Blocker Rocker - Excellent. Incredible how it demonstrates the need for pioneers and several different ways of removing blockers all in one puzzle. Using a digger in that way was new to me. One of my favourite tutorials in the pack.
Basic Training 4. Steely Halls - Great. Big fan of how this puzzle makes use of concepts from the previous puzzle. I particularly like the ending section.
Basic Training 5. Scrap The Buttons! - Tough. This stumped me for several attempts. I suspect my solution is not the intended solution. I really struggled with finding a way to prepare the path and hit both buttons without a lemming dying or getting stuck. Should probably be after Limited Release, if not later. Realizing I could get the glider to fly again by boosting it up with a builder was a really cool discovery, though.
Basic Training 6. Limited Release - Good. I like the small twist you put on freeing the blocker here. I like how you're still building on concepts introduced in previous levels.
Basic Training 7. Backup Wall - Decent. I like the visual design. Using three builders to make a wall is really precise. Took several attempts to make it work, even with frame advance. I think the ground in the starting area should be flat, because the bumps make it hard to make the wall.
Basic Training 8. The Builder Drain - Great. Seems like a good builder practice level.
Basic Training 9. Top-Down Approach - Excellent. I had no idea bashers and steel slopes worked that way. A clear demonstration of these interactions. One of my favorite levels in the pack.
Basic Training 10. Reacharound - Clever. This one stumped me because I insisted on sending my climber left first. Once I finally figured out that was wrong, it all came together. Really like how this builds on the previous puzzle.
Basic Training 11. Central Fear - Great. The fact lemmings can alternate which way they come out of the window was an unexpected surprise! The level looks intimidating, but turned out to a lot easier than it looked. I actually think this could go earlier in the level list. Directly after Steely Halls, maybe?
Basic Training 12. It's A Stretch - Good. This level is a strange mix, but each half works. I think the bottom could be improved so it isn't just three of the same action, though.
Basic Training 13. Delaying the Inevitable - Great. I feel like the temple aesthetic really suits the level layout and concept.
Basic Training 14. Chalk Walk - Also great. I'm actually surprised by how lenient you were - I placed most of my blockers pixel perfectly and ended up with a huge amount of spare time. Maybe you should shorten the pack's path a little?
Basic Training 15. The Joy of Sorting - Not a fan. While it was a fun concept like the first time, I think this is too similar to Getting Into Sortings. The first half of the puzzle is almost exactly the same. Also, as a tutorial, I'm not sure what purpose this level serves.
Basic Training 16-30 to come tomorrow~
Attached are my replays so far and the alternate (unintended?) solution to Block & Blow