Level design contest #1!

[ccexplore]

Whoops, sorry for screwing things up with the contest.

I personally don't think it's too unfair, but I guess it's true that not changing the level would be the least controversial.

Maybe one other thing you can try is to release the updated level as well as keep the original, and allow each contestant to choose either one of the two for round 2.  The idea is that the people who don't think it's unfair will hopefully choose the updated version, while those who do will choose the original, and then the overall results would capture that aspect as well.

[chaos_defrost]

And procrastination pays off as I find a backroute right before I plan to send.

Except I can't figure out any way to remove it creatively. Hmmmmm. 

[geoo]

Maybe one other thing you can try is to release the updated level as well as keep the original, and allow each contestant to choose either one of the two for round 2.  The idea is that the people who don't think it's unfair will hopefully choose the updated version, while those who do will choose the original, and then the overall results would capture that aspect as well.

Really good idea, I was compelled to do it like this, but it might be that people who genuinely think that letting me update is unfair might think their viewpoint is unpopular and then go for version 2 instead.
So I'll go with the uncontroversial solution of leaving the version I uploaded as official version.

Considering the only thing up for grabs in this contest are bragging rights, I think there'll just be implicit extra bragging rights if you can solve my (or anyone else's levels, for that matter) without glitches.

[Akseli]

I submitted my level finally! This is so exciting, this is my first Lemmings level ever which will be played by someone else than me. This also taught me to use Lemmix editor to some extent. Steel placement was tricky and my level error list points out that objects aren't multiplies of 8, but that isn't too bad I guess?

Haha it really feels weird that my level competes here against levels by people who have possibly done this for years and years. I'll appreciate any feedback from you, you are far more experienced than I am! I'm not sure if I would have ever made even one single level without a contest like this. And I'm really excited to see what kinds of solutions other people will find for my creation. I think I'm starting to understand the allure of making own levels more than ever.

Level solving phase starts tomorrow! This is great.

[chaos_defrost]

Ugh, I don't like how this turned out, I had to make a couple kinda ugly changes to the level to fix obvious backroutes and I'm not sure I even want to send it in its current state, it's pretty terrible. Plus I mean I don't even know if there's other backroutes but it's too late to go back and look any more because I'm going to be busy today.

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[geoo]

Oh well, I hope you'll manage to come up with something reasonable still.

Either way,  only 6 hours left! (Though in practice probably more like 8 hours at least, as I'm not going to get up that early.)

[chaos_defrost]

Ah well, may as well send it. Free point for everyone probably when you discover the obvious thing I missed here. I sort of took the sledgehammer approach to backroutes, which might make the intended route more accessible, and also gives this level that "wow, this is aesthetically really barebones and weird" feel that a lot of my levels have, but I got busy with stuff before the procrastination phrase of level design.

So it goes.

[chaos_defrost]

Yea, the version I just uploaded I already thought of a really, really easy way to do this that I didn't fix entirely. Gah, I'll just figure out a way to fix that later and throw it in ISteve11 once I actually get all the backroutes out.

But yea my level has a really piss easy way to do it after all 

[Clam]

Here's my entry (attached). I may have borrowed the theme from geoo - there aren't points for originality, are there?

[ccexplore]

I've solved Clam's and Steve's levels so far.  Any objections to emailing the plain LRBs to geoo now, or do some people feel the need for me to do the password archive thing for the solutions?

I'm reasonably sure I got the intended solution for Clam's, and maybe even Steve's--at least it doesn't feel backroutey.

[Simon]

I'm still wriggling around with the Lemmix editor and didn't get mine done before the deadline. I'm now finishing the level in the Lix editor, the only editor I got the hang of. Since that cannot export levels as L1 files, the level becomes ineligible for the contest.

I will post an image later for anyone who cannot run Lix or doesn't have the non-free Lemmings terrain installed.

-- Simon

[Pooty]

My level is now up. Enjoy.

[geoo]

Levels have been submitted, and now the level solving phase commences!
The attached level pack contains the submitted levels. Here's a list of levels:

author	name	final version	later versions
Gronkling	The Isle of Skye	8 here	-
Crane	Prize Catch	7 here	-
geoo	Stroke at Retirement Age	2 here	-
Akseli	Feel the Pressure	2 here	-
Steve	The "Hole in the Head" Gang	5 here	-
Clam	Evacuating a Retirement Home	5 here	-
Pooty	A sea of purest green	3 here	-
möbius	Tres Hombres	3 here	-
Proxima	Brute Fours	2 here	-

Late submissions: möbius, Proxima

The attached contest.dat contains the first version of each level, the only one relevant for the official scoring.
The attached contest_final.dat contains all 'final' versions, the one relevant for the unofficial scoring on who can solve the most final versions.
The 'later versions' column lists versions of a level that have been posted after the final version. They are only relevant for the unofficial backrouting scorings. With regards to that, the attached levs_allversions.zip contains all versions from the first up to the final versions of all levels, but not the later versions, for backrouting purposes.
Thanks everyone for submitting levels!

I was hoping to see some levels especially by möbius and Shvegait too (and of course, everyone else who hasn't submitted ), as they have been making really neat levels recently and many years ago respectively. And Simon, you lazy bum, taking a nap instead of finishing your level. Either way, here's a chance to still get your levels in:

Late level submissions
I will accept late level submissions until Tuesday, Feb 26th, at noon UTC. However, as a penalty late submissions will lose one point in the 'Best looking level' and the 'Most fun level' scoring category. To make a late submission, just post your level in this topic. The level will then be included in the pack! So for the next week, you'll have to look out for updates!


Solution and submissions
The deadline for solution submissions is Tuesday, Mar 12th, at noon UTC.

Don't forget to select 'Custom Lemmings' viewer style (right-click -> Change viewer style) when playing a level.
To save a replay after you solved the level in the Lemmix playtester, press 'u' and a replay file will appear in the Replay folder. To view a replay, select the level and go into the play tester, then press Shift+R.

I will post my solutions (and votes) one day before the deadline in an encrypted archive, and I will not change them. I will announce the password for the archive once the deadline has passed.
Submit your solutions to me via PM or e-mail (geoo89 ad g mail dod com [you should be able to decipher this, if not, send me a PM ]). If you want to submit your solutions before I posted my encrypted archive, and if you don't trust me, you can send me the solutions in an encrypted archive, and send me the password within one day of the deadline. Solutions have to be in Lemmix .lrb format, using the 'Custom Lemmings' viewer style.

Scoring
3 official categories:

• Most levels solved
• Best looking level
• Most fun level

For 1., you score a point for each level you solve, including your own.
Category 2. and 3. will be decided by voting: each player has 6 votes per category (you can opt not to use all of them), which can be distributed over different levels, and a level can receive up to 3 votes per category. You may not vote for your own level. If you designed a level, but cast less than 4 votes in a category, your own level will receive one negative vote in the respective category.
So e.g. you could give one level 3 votes, another 2 votes, and a third one 1 vote; or you could e.g. give 1 vote each to 5 different levels (and don't use the last vote); or you could opt not to vote and receive -1 vote for your own level. The level with most votes wins the category.
You can cast votes for any level, even if you haven't solved them. (I realize that it might be hard to judge how fun a level is if you haven't solved it, but it's all just for fun.)

Submit your votes in a PM or e-mail (it can be the same PM/e-mail as the one with the solutions). You can put them in a text file and encrypt them as well if you want.

Note: all votes and solutions will be posted at the end of the contest!


Backroute fixing jam!
As we all know, backroutes are a common thing, and it might just be that not just my and Steve's levels have backroutes. So I introduce: the backroute fixing jam. (How else could ccexplore be entertained for three weeks, if he solves all the levels in less than a day.) Hopefully this will make things a bit more lively.
This goes as follows:
Whenever you solve a level, you're highly encouraged to send your solution to the level author. To upload a replay, you can use a filehoster like http://www.speedyshare.com/ which you don't have to register for, and then include the link in a PM.
Level authors can update their levels and post them in this topic (and should also post who found backroutes), but have to make sure that the level file name includes the version number somewhere (which should be strictly increasing in steps of 1). I will post a link to the latest version in the level table above, and people can again try to solve the new version. Notice that the updates have no implication for the official scoring described above, there are no official bragging rights to be won here (as the categories below are a bit messy to score anyway and can be influenced easily), but implicit bragging rights for the following categories:

• The dubious honour of the backroute proneness king, aka. Brickout Memorial Trophy (name courtesy of Steve): Goes to the author whose level has the highest number of backroute fixes (+1 if the latest version still has known backroutes).
• Backroute finding king: to whoever finds the most backroutes. EDIT: You can include all the backroutes to each level in the batch of solutions you send me at the end, to decrease the chances that backroutes get lost in the mess.
• Final version solver: to whoever solves the most 'final' versions, where final means the latest version that has been posted before Tuesday, Mar 5th, at noon UTC. For that purpose, send me your replays to the final versions as well, but make it clear which solution is to the first and which to the final version.

Changelog:
2013-03-05: Final versions uploaded and an archive with all versions so far.
2013-02-26: Proxima's level added
2013-02-24: penalty for late submissions changed
2013-02-22: möbius' level added
2013-02-21: Note about unofficial backroute finding category added (submit solutions for all versions of a level for that purpose.)

[geoo]

Let the backroute fixing commence!
Here's version 2 of my level. (Again, you don't have to solve this for the official scoring categories, and your votes should reflect the first version of each level. But if you want to join the backroute fixing jam, go ahead and give it a try!)

[Pooty]

Akseli has backrouted my level. I will upload v2 later in the week.

Edit: Proxima has also backrouted my level in the same way.