Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Nepster

Pages: 1 ... 104 105 [106] 107 108 ... 125
1576
NeoLemmix Styles / Re: L2+L3 NeoLemmix Tileset collection
« on: November 01, 2015, 12:23:38 PM »
Excellent work, IchoTolot :thumbsup::thumbsup:! Nevertheless two questions concerning objects:

1) What are the following invisible objects for?
- egypt - object 12:  This has a huge trigger area, where lemmings simply vanish.
- mediaval - object 13&14: Extremely huge objects of a constant very dark purple colour.
- shadow - object 29: Same as before.
If the sole reason of the medieval and shadow objects is to change the background colour, then could we perhaps replace them by slightly smaller ones (e.g. 320x160px = one screen)? Slightly smaller objects are much more convenient to work with in the editor.

2) This concerns mainly the outdoor objects 5 and 7. They have corresponding terrain pieces and their use is to add moving eyes to them. However these objects display some more sourrounding area as well. This has the following disadvantage: If a player removes some of the terrain, it remains visible due to the object. This is (at least to me) somewhat confusing.
Perhaps we can replace these objects by ones, where the sourrounding area is removed and only the moving parts are displayed?

1577
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Cloning a platformer: leaves gap
« on: October 31, 2015, 10:24:26 PM »
One other potential solution is to put a "standing on terrain" check on every frame of a platformer's action - but then that raises other questions like, why will a platformer stop if he's got nothing to stand on yet a builder won't (perhaps because the terrain he was standing on is destroyed). Alternatively, it requires an exception to "exact clone, except facing opposite direction" rule. Arguably a precedent exists, albeit a weak one, ...
There is also the precedent of the builder: Assume a builder has already placed his brick and is on his way stepping up. If he is cloned, then the previous brick is cloned with him. This is why the same trick does not work for builders, btw. So I would implement the same behaviour for platformers, i.e. cloning the last brick as well (if applicable).

Similar strange behaviour can also occur with Stackers too if cloned...
There is one big difference: The stacker remains standing on the ground and is only adding terrain somewhere. Addition of terrain does generally not need any supporting terrain, cf. stoning in midair. So the stacker behaviour is perfectly fine.
However on the other hand, the platformer is standing midair and performing a task, which is seen nowhere else in the game. And it is precisely this walking in midair without falling that is the unexpected behaviour - not that some brick is placed midair.

... or even just turned around mid-stack.
I don't understand, what you want to say here.

1578
NeoLemmix Main / Cloning a platformer: leaves gap
« on: October 31, 2015, 09:47:01 PM »
Here is a glitch concerning a platformer+cloner interaction:
Start a platformer. After placing the first brick, but before he starts moving forward, clone the lemming. Then the cloned lemming moves forward through the air and places his first brick midair. This is an unwanted behaviour, because it allows the player to separate one lemming from all others in a rather glitchy way.
Example level with example replay attached (for V1.35C).

PS: This glitch does not work for cloning builders (as far as I can tell).

1579
Closed / Re: 2.00 Replays: Save 1 file, not 2
« on: October 29, 2015, 08:01:55 PM »
As I read Nepsters post: The automatic save of a replay should also not overwite the old one (data loss). More like choose a name yourself or put a 2 behind it so the old one doesn't get deleted.
As far as I know, the automatic save always either prompts you to enter a custom file name or uses "something - date - time", so there is no chance of automatically overwriting old saves.

1580
Closed / Re: 2.00 Replays: Save 1 file, not 2
« on: October 29, 2015, 07:15:21 PM »
As it seems that there is no need for further discussions on "saving 1 or 2 files" at the moment, let me add two further suggestions concerning saving replays in NeoLemmix V2.00:

1) Auto-save replay only on success.
At the moment one has only the option to auto-save all tries on a level or none. At least for me it would be useful to have an additional option here: Save only those replays automatically, that actually solve the level.
Reason: Currently it can happen that one ends up with several replays for a single level, with no way to tell which ones are successful, except by loading each in the player. But I only rarely need replays of failed attempts (and in these cases I may as well save the replay by hand).

2) Change automatic naming scheme for replays.
This suggestion would only apply to replays of levels in big level packs, which I assume are saved in the same folder as the level pack (and not in the folder of the NeoLemmix player).
The current naming scheme is:
  rank name - level number - date - time
This has two disadvantages to me:
a) The rank names are usually not in alphabetical order, so the replays are not ordered as in the level pack
b) The level name is not given, which for pack designers is a useful description, because the place of levels in level packs frequently change during the creation phase.
So my suggestion for the naming scheme would be:
  rank number - level number - level title - date - time
I am aware that other people may remember levels and their positions in a different way than I do, and therefore may prefer the current naming scheme (or yet another one). So unless many of you like this new naming scheme, we should probably keep the current one.

1581
Levels for other engines / Re: Lemmix Level Pack Topic
« on: October 28, 2015, 09:22:11 PM »
Backrouted! New version coming soon...

EDIT: ... and here it is! I hope this change is enough.

1582
Levels for other engines / Re: Lemmix Level Pack Topic
« on: October 28, 2015, 08:28:56 PM »
Although strictly speaking not a level pack, here is: A Level Lix Can Never Have. Have Fun!

Warning: Do not play this level in NeoLemmix! Even though no glitches are required (or wanted), the intended solution only works in traditional Lemmix, while lots of backrotues appear in NeoLemmix.

1583
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 25, 2015, 06:46:38 PM »
In regards to the credits, that makes a bit more sense. If you have any suggestions on a minor change that might be suitable (such as some modifications to the texts themself), I can consider that for the minor update. But I think any major modification to how that section works is not worthwhile at this point.
Probably the easiest way to fix all this, is to preset the n last lines of "scroller text" in the Flexi Toolkit with the usual banner messages of CustLemmixNeo (hopefully leaving at least a few free for the user). Then the default is to include all these thanks messages in any player, but if level pack designers want to change something, they can. And now it is the full responsibility of the pack designer to properly thank everyone.
Alternatively you can just change the current "Thanks to..." to "For help in the creation of NeoLemmix, thanks to..." or something similar (a native English speaker surely can find a more polished version of that).

But I think any major modification to how that section works is not worthwhile at this point.
I agree.

1584
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 25, 2015, 09:42:23 AM »
Quote
1) Levels - Additional Level info mask
When opening this additional mask, it appears so that its top is about the same height as the corresponding level in the main mask. On my screen this means, that almost always the bottom of the additional mask reaches beyond the screen. So whenever wanting to specify a music track or just clicking "Cancel" I had to move this new mask around.
So (if it is possible to specify this in the source code) perhaps you could change it, so that this additional mask appears at the same height as the main mask?

I'm not sure what you mean here?
See attached screenshot. I moved the main mask to the top of my screen and then opened the additional mask for my first level. Not the ideal position for this new mask to appear, correct?
As I said, I am not sure whether the problem is with the code or with some settings on my computer. I just wanted to mention this to notify you about it, and in case you can do something about it.

Most, if not all of these, relate to authors of open-source snippets used in NeoLemmix's code (most of which were there since original Lemmix). Removing them is not going to happen. If you're still planning to wait for V2.00 to release your pack anyway, this shouldn't matter to you, as by that point those kind of credits can go on the main menu or an About screen or something, and your game itself can have only the credits specific to it.
Waiting for V2.00 is fine.
But my point is not, that these people do not deserve the thanks, but to change how one does thank them. Generally speaking, I gladly take responsibility for everything that I am able to change, but I do not want to be held responsible for something that I cannot modify. The banner messages seem (for a simple user) to fall wholly into the first category, while this is only partially correct.
So it should be made clear, that the second half of the Thanks is for general help creating NeoLemmix, that this is not a pack-specific text and implying that the pack designer has no influence over its content, i.e. is not responsible if someone feels to slighted for not being mentioned or whatever (I am not saying that you actually missed someone).
This still does not solve the problem of thanking people twice for essentially the same thing, but anyway...

1585
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 24, 2015, 07:16:27 PM »
Today I played around with custom musics and LemMain. Again everything worked :thumbsup: and again I have a few suggestions:

1) Levels - Additional Level info mask
When opening this additional mask, it appears so that its top is about the same height as the corresponding level in the main mask. On my screen this means, that almost always the bottom of the additional mask reaches beyond the screen. So whenever wanting to specify a music track or just clicking "Cancel" I had to move this new mask around.
So (if it is possible to specify this in the source code) perhaps you could change it, so that this additional mask appears at the same height as the main mask?

And three issues concerning the final player rather than the Toolkit itself:

2) Music loading interrupts playing
Wenn loading a slightly bigger .ogg from a separate music pack, the game freezes for half a second when the first lemming appears. Perhaps one could avoid this (or rather make it less noticable) by loading the music at the very beginning (i.e. right after loading the level itself) and only starting to play when the first lemming appears?

3) Player crashes when music file not provided
At least the player crashes, when one does have a gimmick level (without specifying music 253), but does not provide a gimmick music track. My player uses V1.35n-C.

4) "Thank You"-banner
After displaying all my custom banner messages, the player starts displaying all the other messages from CustLemmixNeo. I have the following problems with that:
- You (namida) force other users the thank people you are grateful to. That is a bit condescending.
- Some thanks are displayed twice, e.g. I already thank you for providing NeoLemmix and later on you thank yourself again for the same reason.
- Does anyone still want to thank the LemmingsForums at lemmingsforums.com ????
PS: Currently my last custom message is: "And now namida would like to say Thanks:"

1586
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 22, 2015, 07:56:00 PM »
Thanks for the clarification.

1587
NeoLemmix Main / Re: Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 22, 2015, 07:41:49 PM »
Re #6: From the description of 253, I expected the player to choose tracks randomly out of the possible non-gimmick ones. This at least was the behaviour in CustLemmixNeo. Instead the player made with the Flexi Toolkit always chooses the track corresponding to the level number.

1588
NeoLemmix Main / Flexi Toolkit - First impressions
« on: October 22, 2015, 07:13:29 PM »
I just used the Flexi Toolkit for the first time and following the tutorials it worked really well :thumbsup::thumbsup:! Not a single error message!
But there are still a few places, where I feel that the Flexi Toolkit could be improved. None of the following is a serious issue, so if anything needs more than changing a few lines in the code, it is probably not worth the effort.

1) File - Save...
Currently it is not clear, what is saved if one just clicks "Save...". As I first thought it would already save everything as a .exe, it might be good to replace it with "Save System.Dat" or something like that. (Yes, I know: there is a "Build exe" as well, but a stupid user like me reads "Save" and thinks this is, what he wants it to be...)

2) Settings - Options Default
Please force the user to confirm that the options should really be reset. The buttons are rather huge (at least compared to all the checkboxes), so it is easy to hit them accidently. On the other hand, I don't think they these options are needed often, so hitting "OK" one more time should not be too annoying.

3) Settings - System.Dat
At the moment, you must hit "Export System.Dat" in the Flexi Toolkit, then go to the NeoLemmix Editor to actually edit the System.Dat and finally go back to the Flexi Toolkit to import the changed file again. This is quite much work for changing a few more options by checkboxes. So why is it necessary to change all that in the NeoLemmix Editor? Why not letting users make these changes already in the Flexi Toolkit?

4) Levels - Adding Ranks
When I first got there, I hit "Add" (rank), and the Toolkit did... nothing :evil:! Well, at least nothing visible. That was very confusing, as I intuitively thought, that I had to enter a rank name first, then click "Add" to create a rank with that name. So:
Important change: On adding a rank, give it a generic name (e.g. "Rank 0") and do not leave it blank.
Optional additional change: If the user has already entered something in "Rank Name", give the newly created rank this name automatically.

5) Levels - Buttom naming
You have two buttons "Add", "Delete", ...; one for ranks and one for single levels. I would prefer to change this to "Add Rank" and "Add Level" on the buttons. This might mean making the interface slightly bigger, but that should not be a big problem.

6) Musics - Special Level Settings
I have several levels with the music setting 253 (arbitrary music track even though gimmick "Deadly Sides"). However in the .exe level 1 always plays track 1, level 2 always plays track 2, ... In other words: The music setting in the .lvl file is not respected! I haven't yet tested what happens when specifying a usual track number, but at least "253" gives problems.

7) Musics - Restart Standard Rotation
Why is it preset to "1"? When creating the first .exe, I missed this option and thus all levels played track 1. My suggestion: Leave this empty by default and identify "empty = total number of tracks loaded".


And I have a few wishes for additional setting options. They are mainly meant for the V2 incarnation of this Toolkit, as they likely require bigger changes in the source code for the toolkit or even the player itself:

8) Optional Talisman display
If a level pack does not have Talismans and one does not plan to include them ever, the display of the Talisman review in the main page of the player only confuses users. So there should be an option to remove the ability to see the talisman count. Alternatively one may implement it in the player itself to display the Talisman option only if there actually are talismans available.

9) Cheat mode automatically enabled
Currently I haven't found an option in the Flexi Toolkit to create a player, where the cheat mode is enabled by default. This is important to me, because I want to encourage players to skip levels they do not like.

10) Customizable option menu
Many current options are irrelevant in a full player. Some like the "Steel Debug" or "Look for lvl-Files" option are even actively harmful in a finished player. Why not having an advanced menu, where one can remove certain options for the final player?
On a related (and off-topic) note: Why is the Music and Sound option in the player combined? Wouldn't it be clearer for the user to have "Music On/Off" and "Sound On/Off" as two separate options?

1589
In Development / Re: NepsterLems - Level creation finished
« on: October 21, 2015, 08:53:41 PM »
Just a brief heads-up: I just finished making the last level for NepsterLems. :D :lix-grin: :D

My current plan is to do the basic backrouting soon using the current NeoLemmix engine, but to wait for NeoLemmix V2 for the first official public release.

1590
Contests / Re: Lemmings Forums Level Design Contest #7 (Voting Phase)
« on: October 17, 2015, 06:39:21 PM »
The current votes can be viewed by simply logging out. Please change this.

Pages: 1 ... 104 105 [106] 107 108 ... 125