Lemmings Plus II Topic - <100% completed>

[namida]

EDIT: LEMMINGS PLUS II HAS BEEN RELEASED - SEE THIS TOPIC!



Lemmings Plus II is a sequel pack to Lemmings Plus DOS Project. It has previously been referred to as "LP5". The use of roman numerals is to distinguish it from the Cheapo pack Lemmings Plus 2 - like LPDOS, LPII will be Lemmix-based.

(If you're looking for Lemmings Plus DOS Project, click here.)

Lemmings Plus II features 5 difficulty ratings of 20 levels each. Unlike LPDOS, which used Orig mechanics, LPII uses OhNo mechanics. While not completely fixed, some of the more common and insignificant (or even annoying) glitches are fixed - most notably the one-way right miner glitch.

Whereas previous Lemmings Plus entries have pretty much just been massive level packs, Lemmings Plus II brings several new features to the Lemmings Plus series, most notably custom graphic sets. Another significant departure from the previous Lemmings Plus formula is that LPII does not use repeat levels! (There are a few levels which have very close similarities with other levels, but even if you count these as repeats, it would still mean only 5 repeat levels in the entire pack.) Lemmings Plus II also is designed with 100 as the "maximum" number of lemmings (though it's not a true maximum, as there are two levels that exceed it), rather than 80 as in previous Lemmings Plus packs.

So yep. 100 repeat-free levels over 5 ratings, custom graphics sets, and did I mention there's a level where you can nuke 250 lemmings at once if you want?


Difficulty ratings: Nice, Cheeky, Sneaky, Cunning, Genius

Graphic sets:
#0 - Tree
#1 - Purple
#2 - Psychedelic
#3 - Metal
#4 - Desert

Demos
As the full game is now available, the demo links have been removed.

SPECIAL LEVELS

There are two types of special levels - Floater Frenzies and gimmick levels. There are four of each, with no more than one of each per rank.

-- Floater Frenzy --
In Floater Frenzy, you're given a small level with four windows, each one close to a fatal fall. Each Floater Frenzy has a different design and the stats may vary slightly, but the concept is the same. Sound like a repetitive task of pausing and clicking each lemming? That's what I thought too, so in Floater Frenzy, pausing is disabled for a pure test of speed and skill! And if it's too easy for you, you're welcome to increase the release rate. Long-time fans of my levels might also recognize the Floater Frenzy music.

-- Gimmick levels --
In gimmick levels, the game mechanics will be slightly altered, and it's up to you to work out what's out of the ordinary and how to handle an otherwise-ordinary level under these new rules. These are not designed to entirely give you a new game, just to add an extra twist - think along the lines of Superlemming mode. A unique music will play on gimmick levels (it is also different from the Floater Frenzy music).






** All times are in whatever timezone the forum default is. (GMT-6, it would appear?) **

Code: [Select]

PROGRESS :::::: 99.9% as at 2:00 AM November 30

Graphic Sets -    [Worth 25% (5% each)]
      VGAGR0 - 100%        5%  (Tree)
      VGAGR1 - 100%        5%  (Purple)
      VGAGR2 - 100%        5%  (Psychedelic)
      VGAGR3 - 100%        5%  (Metal)
      VGAGR4 - 100%        5%  (Desert)
      -----------------------
      Total               25%



Levels   -   
    Nice - 100%        10%  (20/20 levels)   [worth 10%]
  Cheeky - 100%        15%  (20/20 levels)   [worth 15%]
  Sneaky - 100%        15%  (20/20 levels)   [worth 15%]
 Cunning - 100%        15%  (20/20 levels)   [worth 15%]
  Genius - 100%        20%  (20/20 levels)   [worth 20%]
 -------------------------
 Total                 75%  (100/100 levels)


The completion % of a graphic set is based on a rough estimate.
The completion % of a ranking is based on how many levels are completed and considering all levels to be equal.
For those who are interested, the EXE running the game is based on EricLang's Lemmix player source code and the improvements to it by ccexplore, and further modifications specifically for LPII by myself. The graphics are created primarily using MS Paint (the classic version), with some use of Paint.NET (especially for recoloring from the original sets or each other), and compiled into DOS Lemmings-compatible graphic sets using LemSet (my own creation but it has been publicly released). The levels are created almost entirely with LemEdit (yes, I still haven't moved on to a newer editor; call me weird but I really really like LemEdit's interface); a very small amount of level building has been done in jLevelBuilder but the primary use of jLB is for making the level map images I've been posting here; at times I've also used a hex editor for minor changes (especially to stats). Since working with LVL files is easier than working with DAT files for testing, I don't use LemEdit to put them into DATs, rather I was initially using Mindless's tool (and still do for building the demos) but now wrote a custom app to quickly pack them all up. The sound effects are the ones supplied with the Lemmix source (I believe originally from WinLemm?), the musics are thanks to DragonsLover, converted to IT format using OpenMPT.

Credits
ericlang - For the Lemmix engine
ccexplore - For the modifications to the Lemmix engine source code, and the documentation on the data formats
VTM - LemEdit
LJLPM - jLevelBuilder
DragonsLover - ONML DOS midis
Myself - Obviously for creating the content and modifications to the Lemmix player; also LemSet.

Special Thanks
Akseli - Finding backroutes, and encouragement
Mobius - Encouragement
The Lemmings forums as a whole - Obviously 

[namida]

Preview content:

10-Level Demo: (LINK REMOVED AS FULL GAME HAS BEEN RELEASED)
Contains 10 levels (two per rank), contains levels in Tree, Psychedelic and Metal styles.
Levels:
Nice 4 - "Now Figure This One Out!"
Nice 11 - "Fun With Lasers"
Cheeky 7 - "Yours Treely"
Cheeky 15 - "To The Treehouse!"
Sneaky 1 - "Good Luck!"
Sneaky 8 - "Lemming Surge"
Cunning 7 "Left-Tuned Lemming" / Cunning 13 "Fine-Tuned Lemming" hybrid level*
Cunning 6 - "Cleverbash"
Genius 5 - "Illusionary World"
Genius 6 - "Treetop Trial"

* At the time of release of this demo, those two were one level rather than two seperate ones.

2nd 10-Level Demo: (LINK REMOVED AS FULL GAME HAS BEEN RELEASED)
Contains 10 levels (two per rank), contains levels in Purple, Psychedelic and Metal styles.
Also contains the groundXo.dat and vgagrX.dat files for those three styles plus the Tree style.
Levels:
Nice 5 - "Get Your Lemmings' Worth"
Nice 15 - "Floater Frenzy"
Cheeky 8 - "The Haunted House" (gimmick level)
Cheeky 14 - "Land of the Lost"
Sneaky 5 - "Misfortune of the Masses" (modified in update)
Sneaky 9 - "Rolling Rampage"
Cunning 3 - "Just Some Leftovers"
Cunning 11 - "Maximum Security" (modified in update)
Genius 1 - "Emergency Rescue Proceedure" (modified in update)
Genius 10 - "Still No Time To Die"

Please note that neither demo contains any levels in the Desert style. This is because both demos were released before work on the Desert style began.

Video of Cheeky 7 "Yours Treely" (Cheeky 1 in 1st Demo) being played in CustLemm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ8U-6AgnKE
Video of Nice 11 "Fun With Lasers" (Nice 2 in 1st Demo) being played in CustLemm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs1duiR9aU4

Screenshots:

Nice 1 - "Holding Out For A Hero"

Cheeky 15 - "To The Treehouse!" (Cheeky 2 in 1st Demo)

Genius 5 - "Illusionary World" (Genius 1 in 1st Demo)

Nice 3 - "The Downwards Mission"

Cheeky 18 - "Oasis Crossing"

Genius 3 - "If You're Lemmy And You Know It"

??

Level Maps:

Nice 5 - "Get Your Lemmings' Worth" (Nice 1 in 2nd Demo)

Genius 5 - "Illusionary World" (Genius 1 in 1st Demo)

Sneaky 9 - "Rolling Rampage" (Sneaky 2 in 2nd Demo)

Nice 10 - "Lemming Snack"

Nice 19 - "Live And Let Lem"

Sneaky 5 - "Misfortune Of The Masses" (Sneaky 1 in 2nd Demo)

Genius 10 - "Still No Time To Die" (Genius 2 in 2nd Demo)

Genius 17 - "No Construction Zone"

Nice 7 - "Together We Sand"

Nice 12 - "Cactus Island"

Cheeky 5 - "A Violation Of Lemming Rights"

Genius 8 - "Panic Attack"

Genius 12 - "King of the Sandcastle"

Cunning 16 - "Look Closely!"

Random trivia:

- The first level to be created for LPII was Cheeky 7 "Yours Treely". The last level to be made hasn't been made yet, but the only remaining open slot is Cheeky 4, so that's almost definitely what it'll be. Meaning that the first and last levels in the order of creation, are only seperated by two levels in gameplay order.

- The highest number of lemmings in any one level is 250, in both Cheeky 6 "Raindrop Lemming" and Sneaky 8 "Lemming Surge". The fewest is 1, in Cheeky 11 "One-Lem Wonder".
>> These two levels use the high lemming count in very different ways than each other.

- The highest number of total skills in a level is 240, in Cheeky 6 "Raindrop Lemmings". The fewest is 5, in both Nice 6 "Capsule Run" and Sneaky 12 "From The Lemmings' Mouth".
>> Cheeky 6 remains the highest, but a new record exists for lowest - 4 skills in Cheeky 16 "Placement Testing".

- The highest number of any one single skill in a level is 80 floaters, in all four Floater Frenzy levels. The fewest is obviously zero, in many levels.

- At this point, the earliest level slot in a rank that remains empty is Cheeky 4. The latest is Sneaky 20.
>> Sneaky 20 has now been filled (Cheeky 4 remains open). The latest slot to be empty now is level 17, which is empty in both Nice and Sneaky.
>>> At this point, Cheeky 4 and Nice 17 are now the only slots not yet filled.

- Many levels are designed as somewhat of sequels/homages to LPDOS levels that were widely appreciated or simply that I really really liked. The most obvious example is Genius 10 "Still No Time To Die", but two other examples (both of which also have identical stats and skillsets to the levels they're referencing, though they don't contain titular references) are Sneaky 3 "Tall Tales" (see Medi 23 "This Is...") and Genius 17 "No Construction Zone" (see Psycho 28 "To The End!").

- Compared to LPDOS's proliferation of 1-minute levels, LPII so far has only four. However, 2-minute and 3-minute levels are a bit more common than they were in LPDOS. (Many cases of this are giving what would otherwise be 1-minute or 2-minute levels, a 2-minute or 3-minute time limit instead, because the time limit only leads to requiring fiddling to get the solution to work, rather than contributing to the difficulty or eliminating backroutes.)

- Each rank has at least two levels in each style.

- There is a level that only requires you to save 1% (and it's not a level with more than 100 lemmings). It's in Genius, too.

- On average - and this is purely subjective, I haven't objectively measured it in any way - the psychedelic levels tend to be the largest, while the metal levels tend to be the smallest. However, there are small and large levels in all styles.

- Nice will have exactly four levels in each style. The other ranks are not quite as evenly balanced, though there is still a very decent degree of variety in style usage.

[mobius]

looks really awesome! 

what do you use to make the new graphics? / what format do they have to be in if we're would make our own in, paint for example. (sorry if this was covered in the thread where you talked about this, just point me there if it was)

[LJLPM]

Nice work!

[namida]

looks really awesome! 

what do you use to make the new graphics? / what format do they have to be in if we're would make our own in, paint for example. (sorry if this was covered in the thread where you talked about this, just point me there if it was)

Hey. The tool I used for this is actually one I designed myself. It's not the easiest to use (though it's not overly complicated), but I released it in the Fan Corner (the exact topic is linked in the credits in the first post), the name of the tool is LemSet.

The format for creating it is best described by the included documentation or the included sample style (which is in fact just an incomplete version of the tree style), but LemSet's input format is basically 24-bit BMPs (256-color ones won't work),  one image per terrain piece, one image per object (with frames arranged Lemmini-style), and an INI file with information on the pallete and the object properties. (Rather than define the pallete in the INI file, you can also create a 16x1 pallete.bmp where each pixel represents one pallete entry.) *Any* color that is found in the input images, that cannot be matched to a color from the pallete, will be treated as transparent. I generally just use #FF00FF as transparent - however, Psychedelic and Purple styles actually use that color as part of their pallete, so there I've used #FF0080 instead. Originally the tool also required co-use of Mindless's Lemmings Tools in order to compress the output VGAGRx.DAT file; newer versions of LemSet can take care of that themself (if size is critical, you mgiht still want to use Mindless's tools for the compression, as while LemSet's algorithm is fairly good, it is not as good as Lemmings Tools'.)

Paint is actually probably the best tool to use - I can guarantee (as long as you select 24-bit) that files saved by it will be compatible. *Any* uncompressed 24-bit BMP should work, but MS Paint is the only program I've extensively tested for compatibility.

EDIT: LemSet has only been compiled for Windows, but the underlying programming language (QB64) is cross-platform and also supports Mac, Linux and Android. So if you run one of those and want to use it, I might be able to sort something out.

[namida]

Demo now available. Enjoy. =D

[Akseli]

Of course I couldn't resist and wait for the entire release, I downloaded and played the demo immediately. My favourites were probably Sneaky 2 and Cunning 2. Genius 1 took me the longest to solve, although it's that kind of a level that has definitely multiple solutions due to a big amount of skills. I believe I backrouted Cunning 1, spoilers:

I used only the left part of the level. Also those traps didn't work (I assume those are traps at the left there?)

Genius 2 gave "How on Earth?"-impression at first, but then it ended up beatable using a somewhat well-known trick.
I was waiting for a Purple level, but maybe the next time.
Let me know if you want to see replays... I'd recall that you weren't too interested in seeing other people's solutions for your levels, or am I totally wrong?

Oh and yes the ONML tunes sounded GOOD.

[namida]

I wasn't even too sure about putting *three* styles in the demo, let alone four. =P

I wouldn't be too sure about Genius 1 having multiple solutions. Most alternative solutions I've tried either don't save enough lemmings or come up a builder short. Though I'm sure I won't actually be home safe just yet. =P

Cunning 1 does indeed only require you to use one side of the level; and it is possible to complete on either side. I would definitely say the right-side solution is the harder of the two. Also; one of the traps works fine (the lower one), the other indeed seems to not work. I'll make sure that's fixed for the final release.

Given how simple you're making it sound, I think you might've backrouted Genius 2 too... (That being said, that level does have one backroute that I'm aware of but have intentionally left in, because I feel it's similar in difficulty to the original solution.)

And I'm definitely interested to see solutions, even more so when it's on a work-in-progress. You might be thinking of when I wasn't really involved with the Lemmings community and thus in general wasn't that interested in Lemmings-related stuff.

By the way, thank DragonsLover for the musics. =P



I'll upload replays of the intended solutions* at some point, but I think I'll give it a bit longer first.
(* Of course, most of these levels do not have simply one specific solution.)

[namida]

One potentially controversial idea I'm considering is having "gimmick" levels - those that break the normal way of working in some way, and thus you have an extra thing to deal with. Obviously, those kinds of things would need to be hardcoded for the specific level. Obviously this would not be overused - one level per rank, maximum, and each one would be unique. Also, they would be clearly identifiable as such (my current idea is to use a different music that's unique to the gimmick levels (though the same track is shared by all of them - some of my more long-time fans might appreciate my choice of track, too)).

What do you guys think about this idea?



Also, more development on Purple style! Level map is slightly edited; to show the trap in action rather than stationary. The tentacle furthest to the right is also a trap, but that one is not in action. (The other three are just plain terrain.)

There is a way to tell traps from terrain tentacles, though I'm not going to reveal it. Observant players may be able to pick up on it once the pack (or a demo with purple style levels) is released.

Finally, a random fact: There is already one level that gives you more than 50 of a single skill. It's definitely possible to beat without using more than 50 of that skill, though (think about the three levels in LPDOS that gave you 50 of one or more skills - they only actually used a small fraction of that, it was mostly because high numbers f*** yeah).

[namida]

I still haven't come up with any ideas for the 5th graphic set, by the way. If you'd like to make suggestions, go ahead - not promising I'll use them, but if your idea is good enough who knows... Keep in mind that graphic sets need to primarily focus on one or two colors (yes, I know the psychedelic style is quite varied in color, but the tradeoff is that it only has one shade each of most colors, instead of several shades).


Also, I released an update to the demo. It gives the EXE a custom icon (of the Tree set exit) instead of the ONML one, it also fixes a few backroutes that were mostly found by Akseli. Levels affected are both levels of Cunning and the second level of Genius. (A backroute was also discovered to the second level of Cheeky, but I've decided to leave that one in - which I guess means I shouldn't call it a "backroute" anymore.)

[namida]

I'll release replays of my intended solutions later on tonight.

For those who may feel that their solution to Cunning 1 seems like a backroute:

First, of course, check if it works on the new update. If not, it was most likely a backroute. xD Apart from that, do NOT assume it's a backroute simply because you only use one side. Indeed; it is intended that you'll only use one side. And, *both* sides are possible to solve the level on; the right side is the harder of the two.

I'm actually thinking about possibly splitting this into two consecutive levels; one which makes you go in each direction (apart from which way you can go (the other way would be steeled off), the two levels would be identical). I did say no repeats, but that isn't *quite* a repeat in the traditional sense; plus it's a one off thing rather than frequently using repeats. L3D also did something similar with Fun 16 and Taxing (iirc) 8.

[Clam]

One potentially controversial idea I'm considering is having "gimmick" levels - those that break the normal way of working in some way, and thus you have an extra thing to deal with. Obviously, those kinds of things would need to be hardcoded for the specific level. Obviously this would not be overused - one level per rank, maximum, and each one would be unique. Also, they would be clearly identifiable as such (my current idea is to use a different music that's unique to the gimmick levels (though the same track is shared by all of them - some of my more long-time fans might appreciate my choice of track, too)).

What do you guys think about this idea?

Sounds like a fun idea! I picture something along the lines of Lemmings-meets-Karoshi (the exit is a bed of spikes ). IMO it'd be better as a standalone game, but unless you plan on making 20+ levels in that style then mixing them in is fine.

[ccexplore]

One potentially controversial idea I'm considering is having "gimmick" levels - those that break the normal way of working in some way, and thus you have an extra thing to deal with. Obviously, those kinds of things would need to be hardcoded for the specific level. Obviously this would not be overused - one level per rank, maximum, and each one would be unique. Also, they would be clearly identifiable as such (my current idea is to use a different music that's unique to the gimmick levels (though the same track is shared by all of them - some of my more long-time fans might appreciate my choice of track, too)).

What do you guys think about this idea?

I think I need more concrete examples to really understand how far you are deviating from "normal way of working". Are we talking about like some sort of new game element or mechanics that appear nowhere else?  As an example, even with Clam's example I can't quite tell whether we're just talking about a specially styled exit graphic, or something more fundamental like changing the rules of life and death in the game so that you have to get a minimum number of lemmings to the exit to die (with other normal methods of dying altered somehow so they don't work?).

However it goes, it sounds fun in principle, you just need to make sure it isn't implemented in a way that becomes unfair and unjustifiably frustrating to the player, especially with a "all bets are off" major deviation from normal gameplay.

And of course, make sure the resulting changes in the game's programming is well tested so that it doesn't cause bugs in gameplay of normal non-gimmick levels.

[namida]

Those that I have implemented, I've done so in a semi-hardcoded way. Specifically, it's a kind of "choose a gimmick option from a selection" type of thing, with the choice being in the LVL file using the SuperLemming byte (since it's currently FFFF = superlemming, anything else = nothing, so I'm setting a few other values to do things too). So far I've created two levels that use these options. One of them I won't reveal since it'd give away how to solve the level that uses it. The other one makes the level into one that's purely a matter of execution, not strategy, so I can reveal that: One level disables the "Pause" button. It goes without saying that the idea crossed my mind to mix that with SuperLemming and create a really really hard level; but I thought that'd be a bit too mean; so the result is just a level where you've got four entrances all fairly close to fatal falls, and 80 floaters (one per lemming). And no, I didn't set the requirement even close to 100%. (It's 60% - in all my attempts I have never got lower than 85%, so this is plenty of room for error while still retaining the challenge.) In a traditional level, this'd just be an annoying matter of repeatedly pausing and floatering all the lemmings; but the no-pause makes it actually a somewhat fun challenge. I see no reason why 100% would not be possible to acheive, if you can move your mouse fast enough (the level does not involve any scrolling) - I usually just end up focusing too hard on one side and I miss a lemming on the other one.

I'm definitely not planning on making heaps of these - one per rank at most, and I don't think every rank will have one (I'm especially not too keen on the idea of putting one into Genius; if I do it'll probably just be a SuperLemming level, or maybe just something not-so-hard but really fun for the final level).




I also went ahead with the idea of splitting Cunning 1 into multiple levels. In fact - I did it into three levels. As you'll notice, there's obviously only two sides, but there's still quite an easy way to make an extra solution - as you'll notice, in the demo version, there's a destroyable block both below and to the left of the entrance. To the right, there's a steel block. In the new set of three; in each version, one of these three blocks is not steel (first version is right, second version is left, third version is middle - simply ordered from easiest to hardest). Because you use different skills to go through the block to the right than the one below, and the level is a one-of-each-skill, it actually gives two very different solutions even though you're using the exact same part of the level.

Because there's three now rather than two, I decided to space them out a bit, so you don't have to do all three in a row. However, they are all still in Cunning - due to this, I moved Cunning's gimmick level to Sneaky; and this repeated level takes the place of Cunning having a gimmick level.


I also finally did something I should've done a long time ago. For ease of use with the LookForLVLFiles option and making small modifications using a hex editor (rather than having to boot up a level editor), I store the levels in LVL format and just compile the DATs whenever I have a decent amount of new ones to add to the player. I finally wrote a tool to automatically pack the levels into DATs (and fill in the spaces); previously I'd been doing it by hand with Mindless's tool.

[ccexplore]

Ok, got it.  The mention of SuperLemming is pretty good for conveying the overall idea of what you are going for--simple, surgical changes that alter the gameplay but not completely blowing away the normal mechanics of the game.  Sounds good to me at a one-per-rank frequency.