Author Topic: Post-level messages, awards and game completion  (Read 17082 times)

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Offline Clam

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Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« on: September 27, 2014, 06:27:08 AM »
A reference guide to the messages you get after completing a level based on how many lemmings you saved, and other awards / game-completion status that are based on the number of lemmings saved.

This is a work-in-progress. Contributions from any of the Lemmings games and ports are most welcome! :thumbsup:



Lemmings (DOS)

This covers the first-generation games up to Holiday Lemmings 1994.

Game Completion
Each level has a specified number of lemmings and number (expressed as a percentage) to be saved before you can progress to the next level.
The game is considered "complete" (you get a special end-game message) after you solve the final level in the highest rating.

Post-level messages
In the table below, R is the required percentage saved to complete the level, rounded down to a whole number (eg. 40/60 = 66%).
Messages are quoted verbatim, including double-spaces, ellipses of varying lengths, and one case where the fullstop appears after the space that should follow it :P
If more than one case applies, the lowest is taken, unless R=100 in which case you get the 100% message on solving the level.

% SavedLemmingsOh No! More Lemmings / Xmas Lemmings 1991 / Xmas Lemmings 1992Holiday Lemmings 1993Holiday Lemmings 1994
= 100Superb! You rescued every lemming on that level. Can you do it again....?WOW! You saved every Lemming. TOTALLY EXCELLENT!Excellent!  You've managed to save all of the little rodents!  Now do it again!Excellent!  You've managed to save them all!  Can you do as well next time?
< 100You totally stormed that level! Let's see if you can storm the next...What a fine display of Lemming control. Take a bow then carry on with the game.An exemplary instance of rodent control. Now, onto the next challenge.Very impressive.  You're well on your way to becoming a Lemmings Master!
< R+20That level seemed no problem to you on that attempt. Onto the next....More than enough .You have the makings of a master Lemmings player.Well done.  You've made it with plenty to spare.  Now onto the next...Well done.  You've made it with plenty to spare.  Now onto the next...
= RRIGHT ON. You can't get much closer than that. Let's try the next....Just made it by the skin of your teeth. Time to progress..That was close, but you made it! Onwards and upwards...Whew!  That was close, but you made it! On to the next challenge!
= R-1OH NO, So near and yet so far (teehee) Maybe this time.....Shame, You were short by a tiny amount. Go for it this time.Just a tiny bit more effort on your part will get the lemmings home!Just a tiny bit more effort will get the lemmings home for the holidays!
< R-1You got pretty close that time. Now try again for that few % extra.Getting close. You are either pretty good, or simply lucky.Not bad, but you can certainly do a bit better!Not bad, but you can certainly do a bit better!
< R-5A little more practice on this level is definitely recommended.We are not too impressed with your attempt at that level!Try a bit harder...the lemmings are depending on you!Try a bit harder...the lemmings are depending on you!
< R/2 (rounded down)Better rethink your strategy before you try this level again!Yes, well, err, erm, maybe that is NOT the way to do this level.Umm, maybe you'd better rethink your strategy a bit!Umm, maybe you'd better rethink your strategy a bit!
= 0ROCK BOTTOM! I hope for your sake that you nuked that level.Oh dear, not even one poor Lemming saved. Try a little harder next time.At this rate, the lemmings are not going to have a very happy holiday!Uh-oh!  Not a single lemming saved! Try harder, the lemmings need you!



Lemmings 2 (DOS)

Game completion
Level 1 of each Tribe starts with 60 lemmings, and lemmings saved carry over to the next level.
After each level (if you saved any lemmings), you are awarded a medal based on the number saved. This may be Gold, Silver or Bronze.
After level 10, you receive a piece of the Talisman. The colour is the same as the lowest medal you've achieved across the ten levels.
To complete the game, you must obtain a Gold piece of the Talisman in each of the 12 Tribes.

Awards
The medal given is determined as follows:
T = the number of lemmings you start the level with.
L = the number of lemmings you can lose and still get Gold. This is specified in the level file, but hidden from the player.
G = T - L is the minimum number of lemmings you need to save for Gold.
S = G - T/2 (round up the result) is the minimum number of lemmings you need to save for Silver.

Post-level messages
Where more than one of the cases below applies, the order of precedence is: 0 > Bronze > Silver > 1.
Saved (minimum)MedalMessage
GGoldExcellent! A gold standard successful rescue attempt.
G-1SilverThat was a sparkling performance.
G-2SilverNice one! But can you give that extra bit of effort?
G-3SilverYou got a grade "A" for merit.
G-4SilverYou obviously had few problems there.
G-5SilverThat was a reasonably good go.
G-6SilverDo you think those were acceptable losses?
SSilverThat was a passable effort. Must try harder.
S-1BronzeA little practice might be what you need.
S-2BronzeNot bad, but not good either.
S-3BronzeThat just wasn't good enough. They're relying on you.
S-4BronzeThat wasn't very impressive was it?
S-5BronzeYou saved so few that they are going to be very lonely.
1BronzeUh oh. That was a feeble effort.
0NoneOh Dear. You seem to have made this tribe extinct!



Lemmings Chronicles / All New World of Lemmings

Game completion
Level 1 of each tribe starts with 20 lemmings, and lemmings saved carry over to the next level. Some levels contain pre-placed lemmings that can be saved in addition to the ones you start with. To complete the game, you must save 50 lemmings in each tribe.

Post-level messages
In the table below, T is the number of lemmings you start the level with, and E is the number of extra lemmings on the level.
Messages are written in the game's font which has no distinction between upper and lower case, and thus appears as all upper case.
SavedMessage
>T if E>0, =T if E=0WELL DONE
=T if E>0GOOD WORK
>1YOU CAN DO BETTER !
=1*THATS A BIT FEEBLE !
=0HARD LUCK
* Takes precedence over other messages.

End-of-tribe messages
If you saved less than 50:
CONGRATULATIONS !
YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF THE (TRIBE) ISLAND WITH (N) LEMMING(S)
HOWEVER YOU MUST SAVE 50 LEMMINGS TO COMPLETE THE TRIBE
PLEASE GO BACK AND SAVE SOME MORE !

If you saved 50 or more:
EXCELLENT !
YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE (TRIBE) TRIBE WITH (N) LEMMINGS

Offline NaOH

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2014, 07:21:23 AM »
Almost all of these strike me as rather passive-aggressive.

G-4     Silver     You obviously had few problems there.

Like this one.

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2014, 09:16:40 AM »
I find it amusing that they ask for more effort at G-2, then meekly congratulate you at G-1.

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2014, 10:11:10 AM »
Added an entry for Lemmings 1 thru Holiday 1994 :)

Offline Proxima

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2014, 12:30:46 PM »
Nice! But you're missing the R - 1% message (if this exists in DOS?)

** Exceptions exist depending on the total number of lemmings. For example, saving 12 out of 25 required yields this level of message when there are 80 lemmings total, but the one below when there are 50 lemmings total. Further research required :)

Perhaps to do with the way the game rounds percentages? 12/25 with 50 lemmings is 24%/50%, less than half, but 12/25 with 80 lemmings is 15%/31%, and half of 31% is 15% if you always round down.

Offline ccexplore

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2014, 12:36:13 PM »
I disassembled from the game's programming the post-level message conditions for (DOS) Lemmings 1 a long while ago and was able to dig up my notes just now.  The conditions are actually based on the percentage number rather than the actual count of lemmings (same results in most cases, but not all as you've observed due to rounding).  And as Proxima noticed, you missed one of the messages.

The following checks are done, in order given:

[note: the calculated percentages used in the checks below are actually rounded down to integer, ie. floor(x).  So 44 out of 66 is exactly 66% as far as the checks are concerned, and not 66.6666666...% as normal arithmetic would dictate.  This goes for both the required and actual percentages.]

100%
0%
less than floor(required% / 2)   [math note: floor(x) means "always round down"]
less than required% - 5%
less than required% - 1%
equals required% - 1%
equals required%
less than required% + 20%
greater than or equals required% + 20% (Thus not achievable if required % is 80 or higher, as no known way [almost certainly none] exists to get higher than 100% in the game.)

So as an example, take "All the 6's" level, which has 66 lemmings and requires 66% (44 out of 66).  Then

Saved (percent)Saved (number out of 66)Message (Lemmings)
100%66Superb! You rescued every lemming on that level. Can you do it again....?
86%-99%57-65You totally stormed that level! Let's see if you can storm the next...
67%-85%45-56That level seemed no problem to you on that attempt. Onto the next....
66%44RIGHT ON. You can't get much closer than that. Let's try the next....
65%43OH NO, So near and yet so far (teehee) Maybe this time.....
61%-64%41-42You got pretty close that time. Now try again for that few % extra.
33%-60%22-40A little more practice on this level is definitely recommended.
1%-32%1-21Better rethink your strategy before you try this level again!
0%0ROCK BOTTOM! I hope for your sake that you nuked that level.

Presumably the checks/conditions are exactly the same for the other first-generation games, even though the messages themselves are different.  Message for the R-1 case for the rest left as exercise for Clam. ;P

[edit: although technically more a post-game message, my notes also mentioned the following:

(Lemmings)
Congratulations! Everybody here at DMA Design salutes you
as a MASTER Lemmings player. Not many
people will complete the Mayhem levels,
you are definitely one of the elite
Now hold your breath for the data disk

(ONML)
Congratulations!
You are truly an Excellent
Lemmings player
The Lemmings Saga continues at a
later date, watch this space

These came from my copy of the games as downloaded from abandonia.com.]

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2014, 08:12:12 PM »
Ah, so they actually calculate based off the rounded percentages thus introducing a round-off error (if you can call it an error in this context).

And apparently I missed an entire category despite testing levels from every game. I blame the 80-lemming limit for making single lemmings worth 2% :P

Post-game messages may as well go in this topic too :)

Offline Ramon

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2014, 08:31:20 PM »
Just want to add my mustard (excuse me, it's a strictly German expression I just love using in English :p ) , the SNES version of Lemmings 1 has "SPOT ON" instead of "RIGHT ON", also it doesn't use a period after "I hope for your sake that you nuked that level"

 ;P Just in case you wanted to go into more detail.

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2014, 08:25:50 AM »
Fixed the L1 entry with formulas based on percentages, Required % - 1 messages, and precedence order.

Offline Proxima

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2014, 02:07:57 PM »
Awesome. I had never seen the ONML R - 1 message before (it is difficult to get when the Tame levels are all 50% of 50 and many other levels are 100% of 80!)

From your description of the priority order, it sounds like you get the 100% message when you save 100% even if that was the requirement. Is that the case in DOS? Mac Lemmings / ONML definitely does not do this, you just get the "SPOT ON" message.

The Mac version, incidentally, has all the same messages, but it calculates based on number of lemmings rather than % (which is also why there is no nuke glitch in this version) -- if you ResEdit the level data so a level has 120 lemmings, you can get "You needed x%, you saved x%" but you don't pass the level. However, if levels have over 80 lemmings, the display starts glitching -- completion messages and ratings in particular don't display or are replaced with random characters. So I don't know what completion message would display in that case  :P

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2014, 07:16:13 PM »
Awesome. I had never seen the ONML R - 1 message before (it is difficult to get when the Tame levels are all 50% of 50 and many other levels are 100% of 80!)

I counted (using the spreadsheet of levels) the number of levels per game where it's possible to get R-1%:
  • Lemmings: 13/120
  • ONML: 13/100
  • Xmas 1991: 0/4
  • Xmas 1992: 1/4
  • Holiday 1993: 11/32
  • Holiday 1994: 20/64 (includes the Holiday 1993 levels)
You'll actually find them more often in ONML than L1, since ONML has fewer levels :)


From your description of the priority order, it sounds like you get the 100% message when you save 100% even if that was the requirement. Is that the case in DOS? Mac Lemmings / ONML definitely does not do this, you just get the "SPOT ON" message.

A quick test on Fun 4 (Now use miners and climbers, 10/10 required) confirms that you get the 100% message, not the R% one.

Offline ccexplore

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2014, 07:44:57 PM »
Interesting, didn't know Mac prioritizes "requirement met" over 100%.  The ordering of checks I mentioned in my post (100%, 0%, etc.) reflects exactly how the DOS game's programming does it.

Offline ccexplore

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2014, 09:24:16 PM »
Clam, I think your precedence order for first-generation Lemmings fails to take into account the cases where P is low enough such that P - 5 < floor(P/2).  For example say P is 8% (7 out of 80).  If you save 3% (3 out of 80), I believe you should still be getting the "1" message rather than the "P-5" message.

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2014, 09:11:54 AM »
Ah, you're right. There aren't any official levels with save requirements below 10%, so you'd only encounter this in edited levels.

I've changed the "Saved" column to match the actual list of checks that the game does. Also changed the 'P' to 'R'.

Offline Clam

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Re: Post-level messages, awards and game completion
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2014, 09:43:08 AM »
Added an entry for Lemmings Chronicles / All New World of Lemmings :)