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Simon

This is about CE 1.1.1 (NeoLemmix Community Edition) released in 2026.

There are several rulers in 1.1.1:

./rulers/fall_distance.png
./gfx/helpers-hr/fall_distance.png
./gfx/helpers/fall_distance.png

These are still namida's ruler, i.e., the ruler that prompts people to mismeasure because it's longer than 63, and nobody looks at the little dots in the middle.

Instead, CE should ship a thin stick. Attached is what I use. I call it the Caveman Stick in honor of mobius's push for simplicity, and I wield it with valor and satisfaction.

This stick is only 1 white pixel wide in the long middle. It's white-black-white at the end.

-- Simon

CE 1.1.1

There is the option to hide background tiles. This hides non-animated background, but it still shows animated background. There seems to be no way to hide animated decorations.

Please let me hide the animated decorations!

With the CE 1.1.1 set of options, I would have expected the hide-backgrounds option to also hide the unanimated decorations. Reasoning: Either we want to see the level exactly how the designer made it, or we want the bare-bones functionality.

I don't know if anybody wants to see one kind animated/unanimated background, but not the other. Maybe it's better as a separate option, even if it's more clutter and more work for the user?

Maybe reword the options to Show Backgrounds and activate by default, instead of Hide Backgrounds and disabled by default. It's the classic preference to word bool options positively: I want backgrounds, check, I don't want backgrounds, uncheck.

-- Simon

CE 1.1.1

This works:

• Have a level without preview text, but with missing tiles.
  
• Go to its preview screen. The level image contains some checkered question marks.
  
• Attempt to start the level.
  
• NL asks you: Missing tiles, do you want to download the tiles?
  
• Click: Yes.
  
• NL downloads the tiles.
  
• We're back in the preview screen, and the level previews normally.
  

This is a bug:

• Have a level with preview text, but with missing tiles.
  
• Go to its preview screen. The level image contains some checkered question marks.
  
• Attempt to start the level.
  
• NL proceeds to the separate screen that prints the preview text without the level preview image. We can read the custom text.
  
• Click again.
  
• We're playing the level and see lots of checkerboarded question marks instead of the terrain.
  

Expected instead: After step 3 of the failure, NL prompts us to download the missing tiles. You can download the tiles reasonably around step 3, 4, 5, but definitely before step 6 of the failure.

Throughout all this, I have activated the online features in the options.

Example level with preview text and downloadable tiles is Re-Enlistment by Giga. It's in the Level of the Year 2025 pack.

-- Simon

I'm late to the party with the congratulating, but nonetheless:

This is excellent work! I had known that the number of lemmings saved affected the passwords. And I had observed how the penultimate digit, i.e., code[8], stayed the same for several levels and then increased by one letter for the next batch of levels. It was also common to know that the final code[9] was a checksum of the earlier 9 letters.

But I had never investigated the exact foundations. Well done!

-- Simon

I'm currently working on the player/menu screen for Fizzles, and I'd like to discuss one design question with you:

What kind of highscore or statistics system would make sense for a Lemmings-like puzzle rescue game?

The current menu already supports:
- multiple local players
- four difficulty levels per player
- separate progress per player/difficulty
- music and SFX volume controls

My original idea was to add a highscore/statistics screen, but the more I thought about it, the more complicated it became.

A classic time-based highscore does not feel quite right for Fizzles, because I don't want the game to become mainly about speed or pressure. The core idea is still rescuing the creatures and solving the level calmly.

A few possible approaches:

1. Highscore per level and difficulty
Example:
Level 3 / Difficulty 2:
Player A rescued 8/10
Player B rescued 7/10

This is clear, but with many levels it can become a lot of lists.

2. Overall player highscore
Example:
Player A rescued 120 Fizzles in total
Player B rescued 105 Fizzles in total

This is simple and easy to understand, but then the question is:
Should repeated plays of the same level count?
Or should only the best result per level/difficulty count?

The main reasoning is:
The more Fizzles you rescue, the better you mastered the level.

Used abilities are not necessarily a good ranking criterion, because some levels are designed so that the optimal solution requires using the available ability, for example Floater.

So my current question is:

For this kind of game, what would you personally prefer?

- A highscore per level?
- A global player ranking?
- Something closer to "best rescue result" rather than time?
- No highscore at all?

I'm especially interested in what would feel motivating without turning the game into a stressful speedrun experience.

The screenshot shows the current local player menu. Each player can choose a difficulty level, and progress is saved separately per player and difficulty.

Likewise, I am really sorry to hear about your mum Lucia, best wishes to you and your family.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Let's sum up availability for those who have posted so far. Dates highlighted in yellow are potential dates so far that could suit everyone that posted.

Will - July 18/19/23/24/25/26/30/31, August 1/2/6/7/8/9/13/14, Locations: Leeds, Whitby, Liverpool, Blackpool
Flopsy - July 19/23/31, August 1/2/13/14/15/16/22, Locations: Leeds, Whitby, Liverpool, Blackpool (although far)
Kingshadow - no date preference, Locations: Leeds
tanxdx - no date preference, no location preference - flexible.
hrb264 - free most of July, not available August 22-28, flexible with location.

Early days yet and we'll probably have more people join in, let us know if you want to come 

Exhaustive research including the recent Swingadingding (Shadow 5) findings from min-skills-for-gold, nice!

I've added you as a board-specific moderator for this Challenges board. You should now be able to edit ccexplore's first post and add your results. Should issues arise, let me know.

-- Simon

Hi!

I was cleaning up and organizing old files on my computer today when I ran into more unfinished levels. Some of them look fairly complete, while others not so much

They should work on the latest version of NeoLemmix, so feel free to use these levels in any way you see fit!

I've got a few updates to this thread:

First of all, here are the results for the Shadow tribe, which nobody had ever completed for this challenge:

Shadow 1: 4 flame throwers are needed to blast through the "OZY" letters.  You can get the lemmings turned around in the beginning with a bunch of fillers, which is why it's not five.  In addition, you can use flame throwers to get out of the pit and get underneath the trap triggers, so fillers are not needed.  Jumpers can be avoided by using the extra skills as delays for the crowd.

Shadow 2: None. The 2-skill solution from the min-skills thread uses a twister + either basher or fencer.  The twister is easily avoided by waiting for all of the lemmings to come out and then using a digger at the far right edge of the holding area; he will go all the way down.

Shadow 3: 2 flame throwers + 1 roper. At least one flame thrower is needed on each side.  One side can be done with three flame throwers and nothing else, which allows for either a 1-roper solution or a no-filler solution for the other side.

Shadow 4: 3 bashers + 3 glue pourers. Three walls need to be bashed; I see no way to avoid that.  One glue pourer is needed to cover the bottom set of traps, one is needed to cover the gaps up top, and a third is needed to cover the top trap.  The jet pack is easily avoided by using extra skills to delay the second lemming while the first lemming covers the traps.

Shadow 5: None. The min-skills solution uses just a rock climber, a jumper, and a laser blaster.  Simon's earlier 4-skill solution from that thread uses a rock climber, two platformers, and a laser blaster.  This eliminates the jumper.  Either the rock climber or the laser blaster in Simon's 4-skill solution can be replaced with a basher, so neither of those is strictly necessary, either.

Shadow 6: 1 roper. The min-skills solution uses just 2 ropers and a superlem.  The superlem can be replaced with an attractor plus one other skill, and only one roper is needed in the intended route.

Shadow 7: 1 scooper is needed to free the crowd.  The digger can be replaced with the second scooper, the swimmer can be replaced with jumpers, and the jumper can be replaced with shimmiers.  The rock climber can be eliminated by scooping through the wall you would normally climb.

Shadow 8: None. The min-skill solution requires a basher, bazooka, 2 platformers, and something to stop the first platformer.  There also exists a left solution that uses just bashers + bazookas, so the platformers are eliminated.  Bazookas are not needed in the regular (right) route, and I came up with another solution that avoids bashers:

Shadow 8 No Basher

Make the first lemming a runner and the second an attractor.  The runner needs to bazooka twice through the pole on the right, and then he needs to drop down the shaft using a ballooner.  Once everyone has entered the level, release the crowd and make the runner fire a bazooka just before the attractor-compressed crowd splats.  The blast will keep them from splatting.  The remaining walls can be taken care of with bazookas and a fencer, and the rest of the level is obvious.

Shadow 9: 1 roper + 1 twister should be obvious.  Additional ropers can be used in place of laser blasters, and glue pourers are clearly not needed.

Shadow 10: 2 glue pourers + 2 builders. The min-skills solution uses 3 glue pourers, 3 builders, a planter, and a superlem.  The superlem is easily avoided in a variant of that solution that restrains the crowd with an attractor.  That same variant also allows the planter to be replaced with a builder.  This leaves glue pourers and builders.  I was able to get glue pourers and builders down to 2 with another solution (see spoiler):

Shadow 10: 2 Glue Pourers or 2 Builders

Make the third lemming an attractor as soon as you can.  The first lemming superlems over the first two traps, but stops before the third trap and builds over it, starting a bit to its left.  Meanwhile, the second lemming pours glue, which will come to rest against the builder's bridge and cover the first two traps.  Let the first lemming continue forward and lay one brick just before the water, then pour glue, which will cover the water and leave a small step to the right so the lemmings can drop down safely.  From there, you can use a planter + builder to reach the exit (avoiding the third glue pourer), or you can use a jumper + glue pourer + planter (avoiding the third builder).

---

In addition, I've identified a few other improvements:

Polar 8: None. The 100% solution avoids the exploder (obviously).

Classic 5: 1 builder + 5 bashers + 1 miner + 1 digger.  The 100% solution avoids the blocker.

Classic 10: 1 builder. I was able to eliminate the climber using a hybrid of the min-skills solution and the regular route.:

Classic 10: No Climber

Start the same way as the min-skills solution, using a builder+blocker to crawl up the left wall.  One of the lemmings mines just before he exits, so that he goes underneath but the others still exit.  He must bash when he is exactly five pixels below the lowest floor on the left.  Meanwhile, the last lemming frees the blocker with a basher and digs down.  Use three bashers to break through the wall on the right, bash twice more to drop down lower, and then mine left.  As soon as he is low enough to bash underneath the steel without hitting it, make him a basher.  He should just barely be high enough such that he stops bashing in the tunnel you mined earlier.  From there, one carefully-placed builder gets the remaining lemmings to the exit.