I took the time to play this pack and recorded myself doing so. Well worth coming out of NL retirement briefly to do so I should also add 

Some very good levels in this pack, I especially enjoyed solving Sour 5 and 6.

It's only one video of about an hour long, the pack was a good length I thought.

Sweet 'n' Sour Lems LP by Flopsy

Please make more levels TomatoWatcher, these levels were a very good taster of what you're really capable of! 

Quote from: Armani on November 26, 2025, 03:11:48 PMYou found the intended solution! I'm glad you like the level.   Yeah, thinking backwards can really help sometimes.

A very elegantly designed puzzle with only 1 of each skill. It's probably my favourite of the pack so far

OK, I finished your R3 level as well! That certainly took a lot of working out, but satisfying when it all clicks into place!

Spoiler

The light bulb moment with this one was realizing I only needed 1 builder, not 2, to catch the floater on the far right bit of the level

@JawaJuice

You found the intended solution! I'm glad you like the level.   Yeah, thinking backwards can really help sometimes.

Spoiler

I guess you could call this a trick. Every skill behaves as it normally does but the fact that the blocker is placed right at the edge of a cliff makes the interaction interesting.

regarding your solution to Icho's R1...

Spoiler

Ah yes, the infamous ultimate weapon for backrouting a level.   It's a very powerful tool for breaking things. If I really want my level to be backroute-proof, I check whether the level can be broken if blockers are replaced with any other skill that can cancel a basher(like the walker, builder, jumper, shimmier etc...) But these days I often just live with it and move on.

Quote from: kaywhyn on November 26, 2025, 07:36:37 AMI do have confidence that you'll be able to get my R1 solved before that happens though!  

Your confidence is well placed, it turns out 

Spoiler

Going back to it, I had a hunch and it worked straight away; just a process of elimination really. The lemming with the big fall has to be assigned a floater and climber, the lemmings on the far left have to be blocker and digger respectively, the other lemming has no option but to build, the final lemming has to bash through the barrier to get down in time to meet the former builder, which just leaves the miner and bomber. It occurred to me there are a few seconds before an Oh Noer explodes - long enough to mine him out and get safely to the exit. Neat trick! Haven't seen it before, but it does actually make sense and can be worked out logically.

Gonna be longer 'til my next post - all of the levels from Rule 3 are currently kicking my butt!

@IchoTolot Got a solution for your R1 level.

Spoiler

I suspect it may be a backroute as not many creators use the basher/blocker trick as part of an intended solution in my experience! It was also incredibly tricky to pull off.

Quote from: Armani on November 25, 2025, 04:49:44 PMI want to emphasize again that this incident began with the level of one specific user.

Sure, but I'm widening the view out to all such incidents and offering a potential solution.

Quote from: Armani on November 25, 2025, 04:49:44 PMIn fact, despite having played countless levels over the years, this is the first time I've ever encountered an unsolvable one.

Agreed, it is relatively rare. I think I've only seen it once or twice in the six years I've been active. I suppose if it was a regular problem there might be more need for an in-built solution.

Quote from: Armani on November 25, 2025, 04:49:44 PMFor me the marker actually would matter. It's true that long-time forum members wouldn't doubt the solvability of my levels but new users join from time to time, and I would not want my levels to carry a label that might unintentionally suggest something is wrong with them. The word "unverified" can easily create the wrong impression, even if that's not the intention.

I see, fair enough.

Quote from: Armani on November 25, 2025, 04:49:44 PMI prefer not to release all solutions at the same time I publish my levels because I enjoy seeing how far players can get without having the answers available from the start.

Surely if we can trust users to make solvable levels, we can trust them not to look at solution replays for spoilers!

Quote from: Armani on November 25, 2025, 04:49:44 PMMy approach is very much in line with that long-standing community standard.

Just because something is "long-standing", and a "standard", doesn't mean that (a) it's the right way to do things, (b) it's the best way to do things, or (c) it shouldn't be subject to scrutiny, review, and potential updating.

In other words, "it's always been that way" shouldn't be a strong argument not to try something different.

But yeah, in this particular instance I'll concede that a built-in verification system probably is a bit drastic, and we can simply continue to advise that people ensure their levels are playable.

I'll add to that by saying we should also advise players to indicate which platform their level is intended for, particularly since SuperLemmix and NeoLemmix currently share a level file format.

I would be against a mandatory replay submissions. Or even a marker for non-verified packs. 

We should keep the barrier for submitting packs as low as possible and such a marker could drive people away from otherwise great packs.

I highly doubt everyone who makes levels cares enough about having such a marker removed (or even noticing it in the first place).

Only a very small fraction of packs has this problem anyway - even though it is frustrating at times.

That's why I ask, when I'm stuck at a new author's level, if they indeed can verify that it is solvable before I really spend my time here.

Instead I would stick to highly encouraging and advertising the creation of master replays.

We are a small community and should not raise the bar for new people in terms of properly participating! 


I do not want to link all my master replays to my packs right away as well. Another workaround would be proving a "ReplayResult.txt" file for packs that NL gives out after a mass replay check as a proof of solvabilty.

Quote from: kaywhyn on November 26, 2025, 07:36:37 AMYou're pretty much spot on that my R1 level requires something obscure that isn't seen very often in custom Lemmings levels. For those who have seen it before, the level's no problem at all, but for those who haven't, it's a nasty level otherwise. Hence why I personally still consider my R1 a 5th/final rank level in my upcoming Lemmings Memories pack that's currently a work in progress even if the solution is obvious to the great level solvers of this community.

It's of course possible that I might stumble upon a trick I wasn't previously aware of just by ditching prior assumptions and trying many things, but perhaps not probable. Where do you stand on topics that detail advanced tricks? I read through Strato Incendus's Advanced Blocker Tricks topic (nothing on there I didn't already know, but interesting nonetheless, probably helpful for some) and the discussion that ensued makes for interesting reading. Opinions seemed mixed on whether such a topic was a good idea or tantamount to a cheat sheet. After a quick search, that's the only topic documenting tricks that I could find.

Against all the odds, I managed to solve @Armani's R1 level, Underroot Genius level really.

Spoiler

You kind of have to think backwards, sending the climber on a long journey first, and even then, how to utilize the digger took some working out! I guess this makes use of the trick (is it a trick?) that a blocker on the tip of a precipice can stop the crowd one way but doesn't prevent a climber from passing in the other direction.

@mobius I know it's a while ago now, but I didn't see any replays posted for your levels, so here ya go!