Author Topic: Original Lemmings level voteoff! (closed topic) (Read 16078 times)

namida · « **on:** September 21, 2014, 09:49:00 AM »

So, like I did with my packs, I'm now running voteoffs for the official lemmings games. Starting, logically, with the Original Game.

One change I'm making is that I'm not entering the levels in chronological order, but rather, it's randomized. The lists are determined by first running all the levels through a randomizer, dividing the result into sets of however many levels according to the rules for that round, and then putting the levels within each section back into chronological order. If a single section contains certain conditions, it was rerolled together with the following section until the conditions no longer occur. These conditions are:

- If the section does not contain levels from at least three difficulty ranks
- If the section contains too many levels from the same rank
- If the section contains both a level and its repeat version
- If the section contains more than one VGASPEC level
- If the section contains any set of more than 3 consecutive levels

Another section is added into the rerolling if the problem still persisted after three re-rolls. This is continued until the entire list is free of these issues. Also, these things are not applied during the later rounds; only the early ones. The breakdown of the sections can be found in the second post.

As for the breakdown of the rounds, this will be done in six rounds. Each round has a varying amount of levels that qualify for the next round, and a varying amount of votes allowed per user. Qualifying for the next round is based on the following rules:

1) First place - All levels tied for first place qualify, no matter what (even if it exceeds the qualifying levels limit).
2) Second place - If the first place levels do not reach the limit of qualifying levels, all levels tied for second place qualify (even if it exceeds the qualifying levels limit) as long as they have at least one vote.
3) Third place - If the first two places do not reach the limit, and adding the third place levels would not exceed the limit, the third place levels also qualify as long as they have at least one vote (in the first round) or at least half as many votes as the first place level (all other rounds).

If the limit still isn't reached after third place, then the same rule as for 3rd is applied to 4th place and so on.

Original Lemmings round rules

For the "too many levels from same rank" rule, the limit is set at 7 levels; any more than this from a single rank and a re-roll occurs.

First Round
Levels are broken into sets of 10. Three votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 5. Re-rolling rules are applied.

Second Round
Levels that qualified from the first round are broken into sets of 5; if this does not divide equally then the early sets will get an extra level each (eg: if 17 levels qualify, the first set will have 6, second set will have 6, third set will have 5). Two votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 3. Re-rolling rules are applied.

Third Round
Levels that qualified from the second round are broken into sets of 4; if this does not divide equally then the early sets will get an extra level. Two votes are allowed per set per person. The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules are applied, but the "levels from at least three ranks" rule is changed to "levels from at least two ranks".

Fourth Round
Levels that qualified from the third round are broken into three sets, however many levels each that may equate to. The number of votes allowed per person will be one vote plus one extra vote for every whole set of 6 levels in a round (eg: if a round has 5 levels, one vote per person, if a round has 7 levels, two votes per person). The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules do not apply.

Fifth Round
All levels that qualified from the fourth round are played off as a single set, however many levels that may equate to. The number of votes allowed per person follows the same formula as the fourth round. The qualifying levels limit is 2. Re-rolling rules do not apply.

Sixth Round
All levels that qualified from the fifth round are played off as a single set, however many levels that may equate to. One vote is allowed per person. The winner of this round wins the voteoff; if there's a tie but it isn't equal between all levels (for example, if 3 levels qualify and only two of them tie for first), a tiebreaker round will be held, but if it is equal between all levels, they will be tied for winning the voteoff as a whole. Re-rolling rules do not apply.

Please be honest with the number of votes you make; double-check with what the poll question says. But just to be clear - the vote count allowed is a maximum, not an exactly number. In a round where 3 votes are allowed, it's perfectly fine to only vote for one or two levels if you'd prefer.

Also, one change from the Lemmings Plus voteoffs where it was somewhat arbitrary - for this one, all sets will be open for voting for at least 48 hours from the time of the post announcing that they have been put up (for the first set, this post counts as the announcement). I'm not saying for sure I'll be updating it exactly on the 48 hour mark, just that I won't do it *before* that mark.

EDIT: Just want to mention, please don't treat the image links in the poll as permanently available. I don't plan to keep them available once the voteoff is finished. If you want a copy of the level maps (which you can host somewhere else, or on a free image host, if you like), you can get it here.

After this voteoff is finished, I plan to hold them for the other official games, after which there'll be a "final round" pitting all the winners from each game against each other. The order I plan to do the remaining games in is:
2) Oh No! More Lemmings!
3) Holiday Lemmings 1994 (including H93 levels, of course)
4) Xmas Lemmings 91/92 (combined into a single voteoff)
5) Covox Lemmings Demo
6) Prima Publishing Lemmings Demo
7) Extra levels

Extra levels will be all single-player levels from versions that are mostly mechanics-compatible with the DOS version - in other words, the unique levels from Genesis, the unique levels from the Budget Amiga and Bookclub Amiga versions, the unique Holiday Lemmings level from Amiga, and the unique Tricky 21s from the Mac and SNES versions. Levels from versions that are not mechanics-compatible (or at least close to it) such as Master System, NES and PSP will not be included, and neither will two-player levels.

namida · « **Reply #1 on:** September 21, 2014, 09:49:15 AM »

Results so far

Round 1
see attached txt file

Round 2
Section 1:
* Tricky 09 "They just keep on coming"
* Taxing 26 "Triple Trouble"
* Mayhem 20 "No added colours or Lemmings"

Section 2:
* Fun 26 "Nightmare on Lem street"
* Tricky 18 "It's Lemmingentry Watson"
* Mayhem 27 "Just a Minute (Part Two)"

Section 3:
* Fun 20 "We are now at LEMCON ONE"
* Tricky 19 "Postcard from Lemmingland"
* Mayhem 18 "And then there were four...."

Section 4:
Section 5:
Section 6:
Section 7:
Section 8:
Section 9:
Section 10:
Section 11:

Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6

Section Lists

Round 1
see attached txt file

Round 2
Section 1
Fun 28 "If only they could fly"
Tricky 09 "They just keep on coming"
Taxing 26 "Triple Trouble"
Mayhem 01 "Steel Works"
Mayhem 20 "No added colours or Lemmings"
Mayhem 26 "The Steel Mines of Kessel"

Section 2
Fun 26 "Nightmare on Lem street"
Tricky 18 "It's Lemmingentry Watson"
Tricky 26 "I have a cunning plan"
Tricky 30 "The Crankshaft"
Taxing 10 "Izzie Wizzie lemmings get busy"
Mayhem 27 "Just a Minute (Part Two)"

Section 3
Fun 10 "Smile if you love lemmings"
Fun 11 "Keep your hair on Mr. Lemming"
Fun 20 "We are now at LEMCON ONE"
Tricky 19 "Postcard from Lemmingland"
Mayhem 16 "Just a Minute..."
Mayhem 18 "And then there were four...."

Section 4
Tricky 28 "Lost something?"
Taxing 03 "Heaven can wait (we hope!!!!)"
Taxing 09 "Perserverance"
Mayhem 08 "Last one out is a rotten egg!"
Mayhem 21 "With a twist of lemming please"

Section 5
Tricky 04 "Here's one I prepared earlier"
Taxing 27 "Call in the bomb squad"
Mayhem 03 "It's hero time!"
Mayhem 06 "One way or another"
Mayhem 28 "Mind the step....."

Section 6
Tricky 23 "From The Boundary Line"
Taxing 18 "Tribute to M.C.Escher"
Taxing 29 "How do I dig up the way?"
Mayhem 07 "Poles Apart"
Mayhem 12 "The Far Side"

Section 7
Fun 24 "Konbanwa Lemming san"
Fun 27 "Let's be careful out there"
Taxing 28 "POOR WEE CREATURES!"
Mayhem 09 "Curse of the Pharaohs"
Mayhem 13 "The Great Lemming Caper"

Section 8
Fun 22 "A Beast of a level"
Tricky 29 "Rainbow Island"
Taxing 13 "Upsidedown World"
Taxing 21 "Feel the heat!"
Mayhem 29 "Save Me"

Section 9
Fun 09 "As long as you try your best"
Tricky 11 "Lemmings in the attic"
Tricky 22 "Turn around young lemmings!"
Taxing 02 "Watch out, there's traps about"
Taxing 06 "Compression Method 1"

Section 10
Tricky 12 "Bitter Lemming"
Tricky 25 "Cascade"
Taxing 16 "Mary Poppins' land"
Taxing 22 "Come on over to my place"
Mayhem 30 "Rendezvous at the Mountain"

Section 11
Tricky 06 "Lemmingology"
Taxing 07 "Every Lemming for himself!!!"
Taxing 08 "The Art Gallery"
Mayhem 05 "Down, along, up. In that order"
Mayhem 10 "Pillars of Hercules"

Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6

Mod Edit: Restored attachments.

Proxima · « **Reply #2 on:** September 21, 2014, 02:45:06 PM »

This is going to be great fun -- and also, in many cases, very hard to reach a decision!

I voted for:

Fun 22 -- As a child playing Lemmings for the first time, it was an awesome surprise to hit the first special graphics level: lovely atmospheric graphics and music (and this was 1992 or 3, when those trees were realistic compared to what most games looked like). It's a fun and relaxing level to play through, has an interesting fewest-skills challenge.

Tricky 11 -- Also fun and relaxing, with an interesting variety of solutions including no-builders.

Taxing 7 -- A memorable level that I was stuck on for a while, as the first part is a nice puzzle, and building over all the islands needs major precision (or so it felt at the time). Memories of completing levels like this are why I still think that precision levels are not necessarily bad or unfun.

Minim · « **Reply #3 on:** September 21, 2014, 03:55:56 PM »

Thanks namida for putting this up and randomising it. This is definitely going to encourage players back on the forum! OK, my votes are in (It's a shame I'm not allowed to change my vote). My votes are on the two Mayhem levels (Both are great puzzles) and Taxing 7 (Although only just, I almost went for Fun 22 but with the Trees looking a bit messy, and the repetition of the bashers before the next stage I changed my mind)

namida · « **Reply #4 on:** September 21, 2014, 04:03:49 PM »

I made two slight adjustments to the qualifying rules - I actually had these in mind before but forgot to explicitly state them:

1) The rules about second or third place levels qualifying to make up empty spaces only apply if they have at least one vote. For example, in the first round (where the qualifying amount is 5), if three levels are tied for first and no other level received any votes, the other seven levels would not qualify based on the second place rule (because they got no votes). However, if all the other levels had one vote each, they would qualify.

2) If after third place the maximum still hasn't been reached, then the same rule as for 3rd is applied to 4th place, and 5th place, and so on until the limit is reached (or adding another place would exceed the limit - for example, if the limit is 5, and the first three places give 4 levels qualifying, and there's one level in 4th place it would qualify, but if there were two tied for 4th then neither of them would).

Hopefully you understand what I'm meaning by the system. Feel free to ask if anything is unclear.

By the way, if anyone is wondering - my votes this round were Tricky 11 (I don't really know why, I just somewhat like it and none of the other levels stood out), Taxing 12 (this has always been one of my favorites, I'm not really sure why) and Mayhem 7 (I think this one is a great puzzle).

Prob Lem · « **Reply #5 on:** September 21, 2014, 05:53:00 PM »

My votes are for the following;

Fun 12 "Patience"
Fun 22 "A Beast of a level"
Tricky 11 "Lemmings in the attic"

It's because I found them all atmospheric in one sense or another, really. I really like levels in that vein.

mobius · « **Reply #6 on:** September 22, 2014, 06:43:46 PM »

my votes were on Patience, A Beast of a Level and Poles apart.

I always like Patience; simple yet complex layout at the same time, 99 RR is jarring for a new player and lots of solutions. Beast of a Level has cool unique graphics and Poles apart is one of those requiring creative solutions.

I love levels with an atmospheric quality too.

namida · « **Reply #7 on:** September 22, 2014, 07:56:07 PM »

Quote from: möbius on 2014-09-22 12:43:46

I always like Patience; simple yet complex layout at the same time, 99 RR is jarring for a new player and lots of solutions. Beast of a Level has cool unique graphics and Poles apart is one of those requiring creative solutions.

You know, reading this comment made me think "I'm sure that isn't the first level that does it" and indeed, Fun 9 does too. What's not so obvious - these two levels are (cosmetics aside) extremely similar in solution - block off the left side and bash the obstacle in the middle while dealing with RR99. The only difference is the extra step at the end in Fun 12.

Tiduas · « **Reply #8 on:** September 22, 2014, 10:01:29 PM »

I do love Lemmings but I have no way of knowing all the levels by only the titles. Wouldn't it be nice to include a set of pictures for the stages alongside the voting to encourage more people to vote? (like me for example

)

namida · « **Reply #9 on:** September 22, 2014, 10:28:48 PM »

Ill see what I can do about that when I get home. For now, if you look up a site called The Lemmings Solution, it has images of every level.

Minim · « **Reply #10 on:** September 22, 2014, 10:29:54 PM »

Tiduas has raised a good point. Well, you can get them from the resources. This is a link to the level, or if anyone prefers to display them, put in img tags and it comes out like this:

geoo · « **Reply #11 on:** September 22, 2014, 11:09:32 PM »

Quote from: Tiduas on 2014-09-22 16:01:29

I do love Lemmings but I have no way of knowing all the levels by only the titles. Wouldn't it be nice to include a set of pictures for the stages alongside the voting to encourage more people to vote? (like me for example )

Same issue here, not everyone has played through the levels over and over again. Though I just look them up here: http://tle.vaarties.nl/lemmings/solutions/amiga/fun/1/10/
For the record, I just voted for Poles Apart. Don't think any of the other levels quite deserve my vote.

ccexplore · « **Reply #12 on:** September 23, 2014, 12:39:43 AM »

This may also be helpful:

https://web.archive.org/web/20121014190622/http://www.deveria.com/alexis/lemmings/lemmings/amigacodes.html

It has a table of all the levels including screenshots (a bit small, but you can mouse over them to see a larger version). Main point is that you can do a search on that one single page to find the level given the name. (In contrast The Lemmings Encyclopedia breaks them up into multiple pages so not as convenient for that.)

namida · « **Reply #13 on:** September 23, 2014, 03:53:50 AM »

Okay, I edited the polls to make every option link to a level map. Hope that helps.

(Actually displaying them in-line is far too messy.)

namida · « **Reply #14 on:** September 23, 2014, 09:58:28 AM »

Alright, first section is over! Very impressed by the number of people who voted!

The qualifying levels are:

* Fun 22 "A Beast of a level"
* Tricky 11 "Lemmings in the attic"
* Taxing 7 "Every Lemming for himself!!!"
* Mayhem 7 "Poles Apart"
* Mayhem 29 "Save Me"

Second section is now up.

Tiduas · « **Reply #15 on:** September 23, 2014, 12:22:12 PM »

Thanks a lot for the effort being made by everyone! That's why I love this community

Minim · « **Reply #16 on:** September 23, 2014, 02:13:02 PM »

OK, here are my votes for Section 2:

Fun 27: Cool level design. Has many solutions which is ideal for a Fun level.
Taxing 16: Very relevant title, and requires a bit of teamwork and multitasking to succeed.
Taxing 18: Interesting method to get up the OWW without climbers.

Proxima · « **Reply #17 on:** September 23, 2014, 05:13:06 PM »

An extremely difficult decision this round. I voted for:

Fun 27 -- Elegant concept and layout, excellent variety of solutions / challenges, particularly the "short cut" which is always fun to show off to players who haven't seen it before.

Tricky 12 -- Another nice layout with a variety of routes to the exit. The 2-of-each challenge is very elegant. Setting the RR to 99 and mass assigning floaters is a nice bit of stress relief

(I would also have liked to vote for Tricky 13, another favourite among the 20-of-everything levels, and I'm kinda sad that it's only got one vote so far

)

Taxing 18 - Great fun to execute the normal solution, and the builders only + 1 floater is a really elegant challenge. Also, I love Escher

LJLPM · « **Reply #18 on:** September 23, 2014, 07:33:12 PM »

Quote from: Tiduas on 2014-09-22 16:01:29

I do love Lemmings but I have no way of knowing all the levels by only the titles.

Quote from: geoo on 2014-09-22 17:09:32

Same issue here, not everyone has played through the levels over and over again. Though I just look them up here: http://tle.vaarties.nl/lemmings/solutions/amiga/fun/1/10/

Maybe you could give jLevelBrowser a try. I released it recently:
http://www.lemmingsforums.com/index.php?topic=1060.msg22176#msg22176

Akseli · « **Reply #19 on:** September 24, 2014, 10:03:49 PM »

Yeah, nice to see that many people voting, it might give a rough information about how many people are active on the forums daily or almost daily, since the topic of the poll is pretty much something that most Lemmings forumers can speak out.

This is a suggestion that I thought of just; it would be nice if you namida write the scores/votes of the levels down somewhere after each round and reveal them all after the whole voteoff is finished and we have the most popular level, it would be nice to see statistics how we voted in every round to see what levels were the most popular in which groups. But those scores/votes shouldn't be revealed before the whole voteoff is finished, so they aren't going to affect at all how we will vote, so we can be as honest as we can be and there would be as little as possible "tactical" voting.

namida · « **Reply #20 on:** September 25, 2014, 09:10:37 AM »

I didn't save them for the first round, so that one would be missing, but okay, I'll do that for the rounds from now on. I do remember that Poles Apart had an outright first place, and A Beast Of A Level was one vote behind it (but I don't remember if it was 2nd place or 3rd place that had a tie between two levels).

Anyway - I'm wondering, since all the votes we've had for this round were in within about 12 hours of putting it up - should I shorten the duration of a round to 24 (or maybe 36) hours? The intention behind 48 was making sure everyone had time to vote, but since it seems everyone's getting in very quickly, that may not need to be that long.

Also - not sure if I mentioned this yet - my votes for this round were:
- Tricky 12 "Bitter Lemming" - It's a somewhat unique layout, and there's several ways to solve it.
- Taxing 2 "Watch Out, There's Traps About" - This is another one of those levels that I've always liked but can't really say a reason why.
- Taxing 18 "Tribute to M.C.Escher" - Back when I played the first time, I didn't realise that the harder versions of most levels were actually made first, so this level struck me as a very creative re-use of a level. I've liked it since then, despite being somewhat builder-heavy.

Next round isn't up yet as the 48 hours isn't up, it will be in another hour or so.

namida · « **Reply #21 on:** September 25, 2014, 11:13:50 AM »

Alright, second section is over. The qualifying levels are:

* Fun 27 "Let's be careful out there"
* Tricky 12 "Bitter Lemming"
* Taxing 02 "Watch out, there's traps about"
* Taxing 16 "Mary Poppins' land"
* Taxing 18 "Tribute to M.C.Escher"

New section is up.

A lot of Tricky levels in this one - in fact it was only one Tricky level short of having to be re-rolled under the rule about not too many levels from a single section.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #22 on:** September 25, 2014, 03:00:42 PM »

It's Cascade, The Crankshaft and How do I dig up the way? for me, this time.

Just a quick note, though - the level image for Rainbow Islands is linked to the name for How do I dig up the way?, for some reason.

namida · « **Reply #23 on:** September 25, 2014, 03:20:29 PM »

Thanks for pointing that out; fixed it.

Minim · « **Reply #24 on:** September 25, 2014, 03:31:25 PM »

My votes are in for Tricky 9, Tricky 25, and Tricky 30.

Tricky 9 is interesting because there's steel preventing an easy route down to the exit. I like 25 because the idea of using (and splatting) certain lemmings makes it fun. 30 because it's a solid Tricky challenge requiring the lemmings to go across without bashers.

namida · « **Reply #25 on:** September 25, 2014, 03:35:07 PM »

Mine this round were:

Tricky 18 - A pretty short and simple, but still clever, puzzle. I like how they took a level that looked almost specifically tailored to a single purpose (ie: teaching floaters) and managed to make an interesting puzzle out of it - the way the data files are structured would suggest that unlike most, the training levels came before their repeat versions. (And besides, it's a great job whichever order they were made in.)

Tricky 20 - Mostly it's another one I just like without any real reasons, but one thing that might be partly responsible for it is that Tricky 19 was the first level that was a major stumbling block for me the first time I played, so finally seeing this level after literally spending several weeks stuck on Tricky 19 was a great change.

Tricky 25 - Pretty much the same reasons Minimac said. In general, this is just a really unique style of level, and the not-so-obvious 100% solution is icing on the cake.

namida · « **Reply #26 on:** September 25, 2014, 10:39:39 PM »

Not that it's a huge deal, but I've replaced the images of the four special graphics levels with ones that have the correctly-recolored objects (due to the way VGASPECs are now handled in the NeoLemmix editor, it doesn't adjust for these; so I saved images for these four levels from the traditional player).

Minim · « **Reply #27 on:** September 26, 2014, 07:25:46 AM »

Only a minor thing, but some colourblind users (apart from me) aren't able to disguise the teal coloured text (which is the automatic colour for links) from the sky blue background in the option list. Can you please change them back to black or some other notable colour? It does work on my poll BTW.

namida · « **Reply #28 on:** September 26, 2014, 09:17:40 AM »

I don't think it's possible to override the link colors? However, I'm fairly sure most modern browsers or operating systems (not sure exactly where along the chain it happens) have accessibility options that should make the colors more user-friendly?

namida · « **Reply #29 on:** September 28, 2014, 09:42:14 AM »

Qualifying levels from this round are:

Tricky 09 "They just keep on coming"
Tricky 18 "It's Lemmingentry Watson"
Tricky 25 "Cascade"
Tricky 30 "The Crankshaft"
Taxing 29 "How do I dig up the way?"

New round is up! Sorry I was a bit late on this one.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #30 on:** September 28, 2014, 02:08:28 PM »

My votes for this one;

You Live and Lem - I always found the name amusing!

The Prison! - One of those atmosphere-centric levels that I really like, and it's got a couple of solutions, too. Very execution-focussed, but I like that.

Steel Works - I remember having a great time figuring out the execution for this one.

namida · « **Reply #31 on:** September 30, 2014, 05:49:20 PM »

Alright, this round is over! Qualifying levels are:

Tricky 26 "I have a cunning plan"
Taxing 06 "Compression Method 1"
Taxing 26 "Triple Trouble"
Mayhem 01 "Steel Works"
Mayhem 03 "It's hero time!"

I'm sure everyone saw that last one coming.

Surprised about Mayhem 1 though!

New round is up.

Minim · « **Reply #32 on:** September 30, 2014, 10:16:57 PM »

OK, here are my votes - and to be honest, none of the others come as close as these three.

Tricky 6: 5 lemmings, 20 per skill, and nice looking pits and eye candy too.
Tricky 23: Per Proxima's nicely written review.
Mayhem 20: Well, everyone's favourite revival, with the solution completely different to the original Fun method.

ccexplore · « **Reply #33 on:** September 30, 2014, 11:02:22 PM »

Note that you don't have to vote 3 every round, 2 or just 1 is fine (granted, I still have been voting 3 in all the rounds so far, despite some rounds having a bit of a toss-up for my 3rd choices).

namida · « **Reply #34 on:** October 01, 2014, 02:49:22 PM »

Indeed - it's obvious that the forum doesn't force you to vote for three, and I also made a point of explicitly stating in the voteoff rules that the 3 votes (or however many for any given round) is only a maximum and that voting for less is fine.

Anyway, my votes for this round were exactly the same as Minimac's. Though Tricky 22 and Tricky 24 were contenders for the 3rd vote (in place of Tricky 6).

namida · « **Reply #35 on:** October 04, 2014, 09:10:14 PM »

S***, completely forgot about this. Alright, done it now. Just a note to everyone - if it appears I'm forgetting about this for too long, feel free to PM me and remind me!

The qualifying levels from this round are:

Fun 09 "As long as you try your best"
Tricky 06 "Lemmingology"
Tricky 22 "Turn around young lemmings!"
Tricky 23 "From The Boundary Line"
Mayhem 20 "No added colours or Lemmings"

New round is up.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #36 on:** October 04, 2014, 09:56:32 PM »

These are my votes this time;

You need bashers this time
Lemming sanctuary in sight
Bomboozal

This was a tough one to vote on, as there are a lot of levels in there that I like for various reasons.

Minim · « **Reply #37 on:** October 04, 2014, 10:43:33 PM »

Quote from: namida on 2014-10-04 15:10:14

S***, completely forgot about this. Alright, done it now. Just a note to everyone - if it appears I'm forgetting about this for too long, feel free to PM me and remind me!

Don't worry too much about forgetting about it. In fact I'd rather give it a week before the next voting round so that there is some sort of structure between rounds.

Anyway, here are my votes:
Fun 5: Interesting tutorial level, because for the first time in the game you need to time your skills correctly. Timing goes a long way to completing the game...
Fun 10: Very simplistic, many solutions, eye candy and it's a short level too - perfect for Fun!
Mayhem 18: One of the ultimate steel challenges. Co-operating with four entrances. A classic Mayhem level. It's even available in the demo version too!

Other levels are either too long or too frustrating. Mayhem 6 would've been my choice for a fourth vote though, if it wasn't for that bombers/100% combo.

namida · « **Reply #38 on:** October 05, 2014, 12:36:02 AM »

In this one, the last time I did pay attention to it (which was shortly after the 48 hours but then I got distracted and forgot again), it had the same number of votes as when I did finally close that round. In fact, for the most part, it seems the majority of votes come in within the first 6-8 hours or so. A week would just be overkill - as you might've seen further back, I even considered shortening the rounds for this reason.

Anyway, my votes for this round were:

Taxing 21 - It's a somewhat unique puzzle, and the 100% requirement adds a significant amount of challenge to it.
Mayhem 6 - Another one I can't really put a reason to.
Mayhem 18 - Pretty much what Minimac said.

By the way, I'm making a slight change to the qualifying levels requirements from the 2nd round onwards (to keep it fair, it won't affect later sets of the first round; I also won't apply the changed rule to the 1st round in the ONML/etc voteoffs): For the 3rd place (or below) levels to qualify, they must have at least half as many votes as the 1st place levels, instead of simply having to have at least one vote. This is in addition to the existing rules. For example, if the 1st place level got 10 votes, and the limit isn't reached after 2nd place, then if the 3rd place levels have 4 votes they won't qualify, but if they have 5 then they will.

Clam · « **Reply #39 on:** October 05, 2014, 02:04:08 AM »

I'm basing my votes mostly on how much fun the levels were in the challenge threads

This round it was Fun 10, Mayhem 6 and Mayhem 18.

namida · « **Reply #40 on:** October 08, 2014, 03:16:41 AM »

Alright, this round is over! Qualifying levels are:

Fun 10 "Smile if you love lemmings"
Taxing 21 "Feel the heat!"
Mayhem 06 "One way or another"
Mayhem 18 "And then there were four...."
Mayhem 30 "Rendezvous at the Mountain"

New round is up.

namida · « **Reply #41 on:** October 08, 2014, 03:18:20 AM »

My votes this time... I'm not particularly a fan of any of the levels in this set, but there were two (not a full three) that I felt were worth voting for - Tricky 3 and Mayhem 26.

ccexplore · « **Reply #42 on:** October 08, 2014, 03:49:54 AM »

Quote from: Clam on 2014-10-04 20:04:08

I'm basing my votes mostly on how much fun the levels were in the challenge threads

You're definitely not alone, although I'm a little more narrow-minded (more prone to pick the ones where I had challenge solutions I particularly liked) and at the same time also try to balance in other factors like how the level is meant to be played.

Minim · « **Reply #43 on:** October 08, 2014, 06:55:19 AM »

My votes this time... I'm not particularly a fan of any of the levels in this set, but there were two (not a full three) that I felt were worth voting for - Taxing 3 and Mayhem 22

Taxing 3 requires the player to find a new way to hold the crowd without using blockers, as mentioned by Proxima's review; that completely stumped me when I was younger.
Mayhem 22 involves some cool-looking and challenging obstacles, it's a much less frustrating challenge than the Taxing one. I also love the music, especially the Acorn version.

Tricky 3 in the Level Review Topic looks "a little bit too basic", and Mayhem 26 is all about block-bombing, not my favourite task unless it takes the lemmings upwards.

namida · « **Reply #44 on:** October 13, 2014, 12:44:11 AM »

Alright, the qualifying levels from this set are:

Fun 28 "If only they could fly"
Taxing 03 "Heaven can wait (we hope!!!!)"
Mayhem 10 "Pillars of Hercules"
Mayhem 26 "The Steel Mines of Kessel"
Mayhem 27 "Just a Minute (Part Two)"

Next round is up.

Minim · « **Reply #45 on:** October 13, 2014, 07:07:28 AM »

OK, my three votes are: (Apart from the Nessy, I'd be shocked if anyone votes for that level, especially if this is a DOS contest)

Tricky 10: Challenges the player to work with two entrances with a high percentage requirement. Quite a tall order for an easy level which is actually a good thing.
Mayhem 13: Well planned 8-skill level, and has quite a few solutions too, fortunately they aren't too easy to see...
Taxing 8: It was a tough decision between this level and Taxing 10, as both these levels have great solutions that aren't easy to spot. I picked 8 because of the better artwork and title name, and that I found this one a bit more difficult than the other one.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #46 on:** October 13, 2014, 11:29:59 AM »

Quote from: minimac on 2014-10-13 01:07:28

(Apart from the Nessy, I'd be shocked if anyone votes for that level, especially if this is a DOS contest)

I voted for that level. MS-DOS was never especially relevant over here.

namida · « **Reply #47 on:** October 13, 2014, 11:48:12 AM »

Quote from: minimac on 2014-10-13 01:07:28

especially if this is a DOS contest)

Well, the level list and images are based on the DOS version, but ultimately, it's up to the voter what criteria they decide on - if someone wants to, for example, vote for Taxing 24 because they enjoyed the Master System version of it (for reference, Taxing 24 on Master System, although being more or less the same level, plays VERY differently), that's up to them.

Of course, I'd hope they are at least limiting themself to basing it on the same level, and not for example voting for "Cascade" because they like "Sega Three". (Both are Tricky 25 in the respective versions.)

grams88 · « **Reply #48 on:** October 13, 2014, 12:36:42 PM »

Here's my votes for three of the levels

I'm going to vote for (The Great Lemming Caper) the reason is I found this level very unique in the sense that there are not that many levels that only have two lemmings where each lemming is sort of helping the other lemming.

Next vote goes to the (Curse of the Pharohs) I really liked this level, the level has the instance where you have to think how am I going to control the crowd. Got to love the whole pyramid design it's a nice level.

The final vote goes to (All or nothing) This is one of those levels where you can show off your lemming skills by completing this on your first attempt especially playing this level in it's original way where you are not allowed to use the arrow keys to help you. I'm sure there are many lemmings fans who probably don't know the secret to this one. (I don't think my dad knows yet as that tends to be something that catches him out)

ccexplore · « **Reply #49 on:** October 13, 2014, 04:46:32 PM »

I just tried multiple times voting for 2 but forum keeps showing error "session verification failed" or some such nonsense. Then I adjust to only vote 1 level and it went through immediately, but of course now I have no way to enter my 2nd vote. Seems like the forum software is rigging the votes.

namida · « **Reply #50 on:** October 13, 2014, 04:52:42 PM »

Quote from: ccexplore on 2014-10-13 10:46:32

I just tried multiple times voting for 2 but forum keeps showing error "session verification failed" or some such nonsense. Then I adjust to only vote 1 level and it went through immediately, but of course now I have no way to enter my 2nd vote. Seems like the forum software is rigging the votes.

If you don't mind me knowing what the second vote was, you can PM it to me. Though unless we have more voters (and the last few rounds, despite them being left far longer than I meant to, had fewer voters than this one has so far), or your second vote was meant to be for Tricky 10, it's not going to have any impact at this point anyway - same levels will still qualify.

mobius · « **Reply #51 on:** October 14, 2014, 01:45:39 AM »

the only one that stand out to me in this group is The Great Lemming Caper. In excellent tough puzzling level with interesting solutions

ccexplore · « **Reply #52 on:** October 14, 2014, 08:02:30 AM »

Quote from: namida on 2014-10-13 10:52:42

If you don't mind me knowing what the second vote was, you can PM it to me. Though unless we have more voters (and the last few rounds, despite them being left far longer than I meant to, had fewer voters than this one has so far), or your second vote was meant to be for Tricky 10, it's not going to have any impact at this point anyway - same levels will still qualify.

It was for Taxing 14 (I know, not a popular choice, but at least the visual design was nice. Most levels in this round are just totally unremarkable.) It's no big deal at all to not have that vote.

namida · « **Reply #53 on:** October 15, 2014, 03:14:38 PM »

Alright, winners from this section are:

Tricky 04 "Here's one I prepared earlier"
Taxing 08 "The Art Gallery"
Taxing 10 "Izzie Wizzie lemmings get busy"
Mayhem 09 "Curse of the Pharaohs"
Mayhem 13 "The Great Lemming Caper"

Next round is up.

namida · « **Reply #54 on:** October 15, 2014, 07:31:33 PM »

Just a heads-up, I'll be away for the next 4-5 days or so. If any moderator has the time to do so, feel free to update the poll/post for the next round (once the usual 48hr minimum period is up). For the image links - just look at the existing links, and change the level numbers; all the images are there. I won't have my laptop with me so updating the topic myself would be too much hassle; but I'll have my smartphone so I'll be able to access the site so I can answer PMs if there's any questions on how the update should be done.

Minim · « **Reply #55 on:** October 15, 2014, 08:20:36 PM »

My votes are...

Fun 26: I maybe be saying this because I just like the design, and that it has a popular sequel, but still, with two lemmings and 100% requirement, it makes this level different to the other Fun levels.
Taxing 28 and Mayhem 21: Both clever solutions, with some terrain parts that might look like eye candy, but must be part of the solution.

namida · « **Reply #56 on:** October 15, 2014, 11:04:28 PM »

Mine were:

Taxing 28 - Creative way to make a splatform, even if the rest of the level isn't so creative.
Mayhem 2 - I'm not sure, I just like this one.
Mayhem 21 - Another level with a few very creative solutions.

DoubleU · « **Reply #57 on:** October 19, 2014, 04:33:38 AM »

Fun 18 "Let's block and blow" - I dunno, I guess I liked the fire and the simplicity.
Taxing 28 "POOR WEE CREATURES!" - There's something strangely suspenseful about saving lemmings that start out splatting from the get-go.
Mayhem 21 "With a twist of lemming please" - Ditto the last, only this time you can actually save them all.

namida · « **Reply #58 on:** October 20, 2014, 11:16:31 AM »

Okay, time to move on to the next set. Qualifiers from this set are:

Fun 24 "Konbanwa Lemming san"
Fun 26 "Nightmare on Lem street"
Taxing 28 "POOR WEE CREATURES!"
Mayhem 16 "Just a Minute..."
Mayhem 21 "With a twist of lemming please"

Only three more sets and the first round is over... next set is up now.

namida · « **Reply #59 on:** October 20, 2014, 11:19:19 AM »

Mine for this round:

Fun 11 - It's quite a tricky level the first time you play it.
Taxing 22 - The variety of approaches here make it quite interesting, and it's a fairly neat design too.
Mayhem 12 - While I can't actually put any specific reason to it, this is possibly my favorite level from the original game.

namida · « **Reply #60 on:** October 23, 2014, 04:32:34 PM »

Qualifying levels from set 10 are:

Fun 11 "Keep your hair on Mr. Lemming"
Tricky 28 "Lost something?"
Taxing 13 "Upsidedown World"
Taxing 22 "Come on over to my place"
Mayhem 12 "The Far Side"

New round is up.

Minim · « **Reply #61 on:** October 23, 2014, 07:27:17 PM »

So, for Section 11 my votes are:

Tricky 19: An excellenrt puzzle, not too difficult either, but perfect for Tricky.
Taxing 9: A great level to experiment with, but the solution is not too obvious either with the addition of the 100% requirement.
Mayhem 25: Only just scraped through because of the tricky design and the cool eye candy on both sides. Despite an obvious backroute it's still a solid Mayhem level.

Most of the other levels are either too repetitive, too frustrating or too one-dimensional. That's why I like these three levels.

mobius · « **Reply #62 on:** October 23, 2014, 10:24:45 PM »

Poscard from Lemmingland is the first level that stumped me as a kid. It's that first level (either this or It's Lemmingentry Watson) that really makes you think really hard and seems so impossible! Now years later, it seems as simple as anything.

Perserverance is just another good puzzle that seems hard at first but then becomes really simple once you get better at the game.

Mind the step I liked because it was so different, the first level with just 1 lemming. I remember playing it, hadn't payed attention to the description menu and kept waiting for more lemmings to come out. It feels a lot more personal. The downside is it gets a little grindy and there's odd angles to build to.

namida · « **Reply #63 on:** October 24, 2014, 02:24:39 AM »

Tricky 18 never really gave me much trouble. Tricky 19, on the other hand, is the first level that was a major stumbling point for me. My girlfriend recently started playing Lemmings too, and she also found this level to be the first one that majorly stumped her. Obviously, Tricky 19 got one of my votes.

My others were for Mayhem 17 and Mayhem 28, both of which I can't put too much reason too (although the later being uniquely a 1-lemming level might be a factor).

ccexplore · « **Reply #64 on:** October 24, 2014, 06:08:51 AM »

Hmm, many tempting choices this round (11), a little tough for me to choose just 3...

namida · « **Reply #65 on:** October 27, 2014, 02:25:08 AM »

Okay, qualifying this round:

Tricky 19 "Postcard from Lemmingland"
Taxing 09 "Perserverance"
Taxing 27 "Call in the bomb squad"
Mayhem 28 "Mind the step....."

Next section is up.

Minim · « **Reply #66 on:** October 27, 2014, 05:25:55 AM »

All three Mayhem levels for me here. (And of course, the first time in this game that I've voted for every level in the same difficulty)

* Mayhem 5 is a breathtaking challenge of crowd control and utililsing a new trick with the builder.
* Mayhem 8 because the One-Way Wall is positioned in a very strange location. No bashers either.
* Mayhem 15 because of it's nearly symmetrical design and that it's clearly made for multitasking because of the short time limit.

namida · « **Reply #67 on:** October 28, 2014, 02:29:07 AM »

I also voted for the 3 Mayhem ones. Though if the original game hadve had the instant bombers, most likely I would have voted for Tricky 16 instead of Mayhem 15.

namida · « **Reply #68 on:** October 31, 2014, 04:07:56 PM »

Qualifying levels from this section are:

Fun 20 "We are now at LEMCON ONE"
Tricky 29 "Rainbow Island"
Mayhem 05 "Down, along, up. In that order"
Mayhem 08 "Last one out is a rotten egg!"

I'm now going to prepare the next round; this may take a little while. Expect the new set to start very soon.

> As you probably guessed, the sets aren't going to be organised like "winners from round 1 set 1", "winners from round 1 set 2", etc; all qualifying levels are re-rolled into new sets.
> This next round will have 11 sets, with the first three containing 6 levels each and the remainder containing 5 levels each.
> Two votes are allowed per person per set.
> All levels tying for first place in a set qualfiy for the 3rd round; if there aren't at least 3, then all levels tying for second place in a set also qualify. If there are still only two levels at this point, and there is only a single level in 3rd place, it will also qualify.

EDIT: Set lists for Round 2 are now up, see the second post.

namida · « **Reply #69 on:** October 31, 2014, 04:29:27 PM »

First set of Round 2 is now up. Remember - you are only allowed two votes this time! (Of course, you don't have to use both - it's perfectly fine to just vote for one level if you like.)

Prob Lem · « **Reply #70 on:** October 31, 2014, 05:58:23 PM »

Quote from: namida on 2014-10-31 10:29:27

Remember - you are only allowed two votes this time! (Of course, you don't have to use both - it's perfectly fine to just vote for one level if you like.)

Gah, I didn't spot this when voting, and it allowed me to vote for three!

I can't find a way to revoke my votes, so please ignore one of the votes for "If only they could fly".

namida · « **Reply #71 on:** October 31, 2014, 11:03:44 PM »

Quote from: Prob Lem on 2014-10-31 11:58:23

Quote from: namida on 2014-10-31 10:29:27
Remember - you are only allowed two votes this time! (Of course, you don't have to use both - it's perfectly fine to just vote for one level if you like.)
Gah, I didn't spot this when voting, and it allowed me to vote for three!

Yeah, for some reason it's impossible to edit details of the poll other than the questions, answers, and who can see the results (and resetting the vote counts). Therefore, I can't change the poll to only allow two votes.

namida · « **Reply #72 on:** November 03, 2014, 05:43:50 PM »

Qualifying from this set are:

Tricky 09 "They just keep on coming"
Taxing 26 "Triple Trouble"
Mayhem 20 "No added colours or Lemmings"

Next set is up.

namida · « **Reply #73 on:** November 06, 2014, 05:18:53 PM »

Qualifying levels this round are:

Fun 26 "Nightmare on Lem street"
Tricky 18 "It's Lemmingentry Watson"
Mayhem 27 "Just a Minute (Part Two)"

Next round is up.

ccexplore · « **Reply #74 on:** November 06, 2014, 09:33:01 PM »

Oops, I accidentally voted 3 this round, please take off one vote from Mayhem 18.

Crane · « **Reply #75 on:** November 07, 2014, 05:50:19 AM »

Definitely "Postcard from Lemmingland" for me because I was stuck on that level for an age! Fun 11 would be the other choice for me because it stumped my five-year-old self as to how to get on the other side of that apparently-impenetrable wall... plus the design is so simple and to the point that it carries an air of beauty about it.

Proxima · « **Reply #76 on:** November 07, 2014, 01:09:41 PM »

This was a heartbreaking round for me -- although I voted for the two that are currently in the lead, all six levels here have a special place in my heart. Fun 10 isn't that special in itself, but it inspired one of my best custom levels, "Drop the Dead Lemming" (as it's known in RotL) / "Come on down to my place" (its name in Lix). Fun 11 was a fun level to play, the first to use the Rondo alla Turca, and I love the solution where you dig the whole wall away. Fun 20, I just like for the name. Tricky 19 had me stuck for a long time too -- then I found the no-miner solution before the intended solution! This inspired another of my custom levels, "Have a bash at it!", which ccexplore mercilessly backrouted -- this was my harsh introduction to the whole design-and-backrouting process. Now I've taken so long to write this post, I forgot which other levels are in this round

namida · « **Reply #77 on:** November 09, 2014, 11:05:18 AM »

Qualifiers are:

Fun 20 "We are now at LEMCON ONE"
Tricky 19 "Postcard from Lemmingland"
Mayhem 18 "And then there were four...."

Next round is up.

namida · « **Reply #78 on:** November 09, 2014, 04:46:43 PM »

I've reset the vote counts for the latest round as I noticed that at least two people have voted for three levels. I'll stress once again - read the poll caption, not the "You may select up to three options" text (as I have said, I cannot edit the vote limit that the board enforces, I can only put a note saying "vote for up to blahblah levels"). If this happens again, I'll have to consider making a new topic every time the maximum vote count changes, which could get very annoying.

namida · « **Reply #79 on:** November 09, 2014, 05:23:09 PM »

Alright, seems someone either can't read or is deliberately voting for three levels to mess things up. I'll create a new topic now.