Author Topic: Official Lemmings Forums Level Design Contest #1 (Results) (Read 13868 times)

namida · « **on:** January 30, 2015, 01:49:40 PM »

Well, it's time to announce the results!

1st Place
Crane's level "Precarious Construction (Part 2)"
Prize: Steam game worth up to US$10

2nd Place
IchoTolot's level "Shadowrun"
Prize: Advertising on the news ticker for 1 month

Thanks also to keiya, möbius and Nepster for participating, and to everyone who played and voted for levels!

You're now welcome to discuss these levels, and the creators may upload backroute-fixed / improved / alternate versions if they wish.

EDIT: Neither winner chose to set the next contest rules, so I'll be choosing them. I've put up a poll with some vague ideas to see what people think; this may influence what I pick though it is not nessecerially a matter of "whatever wins will be the rules". And of course, you're welcome to suggest other ideas altogether either in this topic or by PMing me.

mobius · « **Reply #1 on:** January 30, 2015, 07:28:17 PM »

congratulations crane.

I'm sorry to say I only solved one level of the contest but they were all enjoyable to play and looked nice.

Nepster · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2015, 08:36:29 PM »

Congratulations to both Crane and IchoTolot

!

Attached is a backroute-fix to Colourland and a replay of the intended solution (for those who just want to watch it). The replay was recorded with CustLemmixNeo V1.28n using the revised version of Colourland.

IchoTolot · « **Reply #3 on:** January 30, 2015, 09:31:42 PM »

Congratulation to Crane from myself, too!

Was a very nice contest, will definately participate again!

mobius · « **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2015, 11:12:48 PM »

I forgot I could upload my back route fix as well. Instead, I think I'll wait to release that with my upcoming [over 1 year in the works] lemmix 10-level pack.

Crane · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:12:49 PM »

Well, now that the competition is over and, somehow, I won, I have no qualms about uploading the (hopefully) patched version.

To explain the "part 2", it's actually a happy accident. While I was playtesting an earlier version of the level, I briefly joked if I should upload a level that was impossible to complete, so I changed the skills to 1 of everything... and completed it!! While the solution is easier than what I intended, it was too good an opportunity to pass up!

precarious.lvl is "Part 2", and precarious1.lvl is what would be part 1.

By the way... anyone have any recommendations to what game I should get on Steam? Not expecting to win, my choice to buy the original Quake and the expansions was a little premature! I have everything for Doom, Quake and Commander Keen already (except Keen Dreams and Aliens Ate My Babysitter; yep, I'm an old-school gamer!)

IchoTolot · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:40:57 PM »

Quote from: Crane on January 31, 2015, 06:12:49 PM

By the way... anyone have any recommendations to what game I should get on Steam? Not expecting to win, my choice to buy the original Quake and the expansions was a little premature! I have everything for Doom, Quake and Commander Keen already (except Keen Dreams and Aliens Ate My Babysitter; yep, I'm an old-school gamer!)

Through mentioning all thse oldschool shooter I recommend you trying the Serious Sam HD games (They should be a little bit over 10$, but you could wait for sale).

Lots of fun (up to 16 player coop) and mowing down hordes and hordes of monster with miniguns, laser, cannons..... and it has a lot of great oneliners, too.
Little trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTbwOukQlDY

Crane · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:48:48 PM »

I remember using the "Demo" mode of Serious Sam 2 as one of our "Level 3 tests" when I was still testing graphics cards at Imagination Technologies... we found quite a few bugs in our hardware with that one. Okay then, Serious Sam HD it is! Why not indeed! I always did like Duke Nukem 3D for the humour anyway (as well as being one of the few games I heavily modded because of how easy it was to do).

namida · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:52:02 PM »

I'm not sure what they cost on Steam, but the Oddworld games (apart from Stranger's Wrath) are all high recommendations in my books. Not quite as classic as the others you speak of, but the first two are fairly old (PS1 era); Munch's Oddysee is original Xbox.

IchoTolot · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:55:38 PM »

Glad I could help you out.

I first played the classic first encounter at a LAN-Party back in the days, it was complete chaos and lots of fun. I instandly bought the secound encounter and from that moment I stayed with the series up to the 3rd part which was released a few years ago and I cannot wait for the next game.

Crane · « **Reply #10 on:** January 31, 2015, 06:58:41 PM »

I would like to go with Serious Sam HD - something to try out. I do like the old-school chaos and escapism that feels missing in modern shooters.

P.S. Take a look at the two Precarious Construction levels if you like. I would like to say that Precarious Construction (Part 2) uses a trick which I don't think appears anywhere else... not to my knowledge anyway.

Wafflem · « **Reply #11 on:** January 31, 2015, 08:59:28 PM »

Quote

Create a level using a specific gimmick in NeoLemmix (most likely Zombies)

I was thinking that it would be better if it would be any gimmick. This is because nobody (aside from the Lemmings Plus packs and my first pack) as far as I as know has actually made any gimmick levels.

namida · « **Reply #12 on:** January 31, 2015, 09:18:51 PM »

Quote from: DynaLem on January 31, 2015, 08:59:28 PM

Quote
Create a level using a specific gimmick in NeoLemmix (most likely Zombies)

I was thinking that it would be better if it would be any gimmick. This is because nobody (aside from the Lemmings Plus packs and my first pack) as far as I as know has actually made any gimmick levels.

There's a few SuperLemming levels out there, but that's it. This could be a good idea though; maybe with some limitations on which gimmicks are used (for example, Reverse Skill Counts, Overflow and Bait-and-Switch should probably be ruled out for obvious reasons).

While I do like the idea of using something along these lines; the disadvantage is it limits the contest completely to NeoLemmix. On the other hand, the "use a new feature" one allows SuperLemmini as well (as some of the new features overlap, such as vertical scrolling), and could still include gimmicks as one of the options (as they would count as a "new feature").

Crane · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2015, 05:05:03 PM »

Sorry to hijack the post, but I got mixed up between IchoToLot's and Nepster's solutions, so the latter's solution was still possible, but he completed my "Part 1" the intended way and loved the solution. Nevertheless, I've posted a new version of it so it more closely resembles "Part 2" after my change to that level, and also changed the background music.

(Remember, "precarious.lvl" is "Part 2")

P.S. I've cast my bid to the next level design, and any future revisions to this level I'll put into the "Find Backroutes" topic.

namida · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2015, 05:07:07 PM »

^ On that note, I've reset the poll, and only kept the two most popular options from before.

Crane · « **Reply #15 on:** February 01, 2015, 05:11:12 PM »

Quote from: namida on February 01, 2015, 05:07:07 PM

^ On that note, I've reset the poll, and only kept the two most popular options from before.

Way ahead of you!

This may bias the poll a bit, but I'm a little uneasy with using features exclusive to SuperLemmini or NeoLemmix just because it excludes designers who aren't familiar with them. At the same time, demanding players use the unique tilesets in the last competition took me out of my comfort zone a bit and resulted in a pretty nice level, if I do say so myself.

(Updates to the "Precarious Construction" levels on the previous page)

namida · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2015, 06:11:55 PM »

That's partly my thought - to encourage people to experiment with the new features / tilesets / etc when they otherwise wouldn't. NeoLemmix in particular has a lot of new features (if you'd like to see them in action, Lemmings Plus Omega uses virtually all of them); SuperLemmini not quite as much but still a few, including some of which NeoLemmix doesn't have.

Akseli · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2015, 10:24:31 PM »

Congratulations Crane for winning the contest!!!

I voted Crane's Precarious Construction (Part 2) and IchoTolot's Shadowrun in the first round and IchoTolot's Shadowrun in the second round. These two levels I found the most attractive looking, and I found Shadowrun alongside keiya's Careless Oasis to work as the authors wanted them to work. I'm really wondering though that Crane's level actually managed to win after that IchoTolot's level gained 6 votes from 6 voters in the first round against Crane's 4 votes from 6 voters, and the final resulted in Crane's 4-3 victory.

Did someone change his/her mind in the middle of the contest?

Anyway, a great rise for the underdog contender to be the final winner after all, Crane!

IchoTolot, this was the first level I ever played from you and I can say that I am really anticipating your upcoming levelpack, this was fantastic. Crane, same to you, I've waited for your levelpack for few years already, maybe you're still working with it hopefully?

Anyway, good job all the contenders, I enjoyed a lot playing everyone's levels after getting to used to NeoLemmix also.

namida · « **Reply #18 on:** February 08, 2015, 10:26:23 PM »

The last round was extremely close; so I'm guessing that those who mainly voted for Nepster's and/or mobius's levels in the first round ended up preferring Crane's level in the second.

IchoTolot · « **Reply #19 on:** February 08, 2015, 10:57:11 PM »

Quote from: Akseli on February 08, 2015, 10:24:31 PM

Congratulations Crane for winning the contest!!!

I voted Crane's Precarious Construction (Part 2) and IchoTolot's Shadowrun in the first round and IchoTolot's Shadowrun in the second round. These two levels I found the most attractive looking, and I found Shadowrun alongside keiya's Careless Oasis to work as the authors wanted them to work. I'm really wondering though that Crane's level actually managed to win after that IchoTolot's level gained 6 votes from 6 voters in the first round against Crane's 4 votes from 6 voters, and the final resulted in Crane's 4-3 victory. Did someone change his/her mind in the middle of the contest? Anyway, a great rise for the underdog contender to be the final winner after all, Crane!

IchoTolot, this was the first level I ever played from you and I can say that I am really anticipating your upcoming levelpack, this was fantastic. Crane, same to you, I've waited for your levelpack for few years already, maybe you're still working with it hopefully? Anyway, good job all the contenders, I enjoyed a lot playing everyone's levels after getting to used to NeoLemmix also.

Thx for the nice comment!

I try to keep up the standard and maybe even improve my creating skills in the progress (esspecially the decorating side, if the terrain maximum allows it), to make the final pack as good as it can get!
I have a little secret about the second voting round: I myself voted for Crane's level

namida · « **Reply #20 on:** February 08, 2015, 11:28:55 PM »

Quote from: IchoTolot on February 08, 2015, 10:57:11 PM

Thx for the nice comment! I try to keep up the standard and maybe even improve my creating skills in the progress (esspecially the decorating side, if the terrain maximum allows it), to make the final pack as good as it can get!

The terrain maximum should only really be a problem on traditional Lemmix (and maybe traditional Lemmini, I'm not sure if there's a limit there). NeoLemmix allows 1000 pieces, and I believe SuperLemmini has no limit.

Anyway, while I myself voted for Crane's level, yours was definitely a very good level too - it was kinda hard to pick, to be honest! (In the first round, I voted for both, along with Nepster's.)

IchoTolot · « **Reply #21 on:** February 08, 2015, 11:39:35 PM »

Quote from: namida on February 08, 2015, 11:28:55 PM

The terrain maximum should only really be a problem on traditional Lemmix (and maybe traditional Lemmini, I'm not sure if there's a limit there). NeoLemmix allows 1000 pieces, and I believe SuperLemmini has no limit.

Anyway, while I myself voted for Crane's level, yours was definitely a very good level too - it was kinda hard to pick, to be honest! (In the first round, I voted for both, along with Nepster's.)

I use Lemmix to create my Lemmini levels, so 400 is maximum. I have already heard that the NeoLemmix/SuperLemmini limit is 1000 and this is definitely a great improvement. Some tilesets (the little Shadow housebricks especially) need a lot more terrain pieces than the other and I like to use a lot of the given space to create my levels.
Maybe after all is set and done and SuperLemmini is at the 1.0 version I try to translate the pack for a "Remastered" version, but for now I use the stable Lemmini version which I am used to play with for the last years.

namida · « **Reply #22 on:** February 08, 2015, 11:42:36 PM »

Not sure about the traditional Lemmix editor, but in NeoLemmix Editor (which supports regular Lemmini as well as SuperLemmini), you can have unlimited* pieces if you're working in Lemmini or SuperLemmini styles. I'm not entirely sure if Lemmini itself has a limit though; you may want to ask Tsyu (creator of SuperLemmini) or someone more familiar with it about that.

* Obviously, there's the limit of how much memory your PC has, and in practice, there is a limit - but it's one you're not likely to ever reach even ignoring memory limitations; just under 2.2 billion of each type of object.