General Suggestions Thread

[Ryemanni]

Slomper.


One thing I'd like to see in NL are different animations for builder, platformer and stacker.

[grams88]

I like floorer. Some good names coming up.

[Strato Incendus]

The thing with sloper and ramper is, as good as they sound as skill names on their own, they both make me think of a straight diagonal line, rather than a staircase. :/

[Nepster]

One thing I'd like to see in NL are different animations for builder, platformer and stacker.

Once someone creates these sprites and sends them to me, you will actually see this. The only condition: The number of frames has to stay the same and the sprites have to respect the game physics.

[GigaLem]

Thought of this while responding to the Mania thread

"Finite Spliter" - Give it a number and it'll allow that number of lemmings to pass until it shuts down

[mobius]

now time to unleash my huge document of epicness I'd been working on for a long time (when I was very bored)

Adjustments for L2 skills If they were added to NeoLemmix

Inspired by kieran’s detailed post on all of the L2 skills here are my thoughts on the L2 skills as well, but not merely my thoughts on them; but what would have to happen for me to be happy with being implemented into Neolemmix.

stacker, glider, fencer, shimmier, runner, or the original 8 I will not include these here as they are already in the game or being discussed elsewhere in detail.


Skills I don’t care for at all/don’t see any use or need for in NL:

-diver; identical in function to jumper
-superlem: it feels totally like a novelty thing to me that isn’t all that fun or puzzle worthy in practice and doesn’t fit in well with the rest of the game
-the fan function and reliant skills: some of the fan skills I included below; this is only if they are modified to not rely on the fan. Same comment as above with the superlem. Those I do not mention I don’t care for at all.
-the chain. Same comment as above with the superlem.
-twister. Hate this skill. hate. I raged so much in the short time I’ve played L2 mainly with this skill!! But basically; same reasoning as superlem.
-pole vaulter: actually has an interesting use, but as pointed out before; it ultimately takes up quite a large amount of game work/space/bulk to lesser effect and it requires a layout that makes it obvious where it needs to be used. MAYBE if this skill were significantly modified I’d consider it. But then it would probably no longer be a pollvaulter. I actually could see this skill working somewhat; basically as a jumper but with a greater range of height and distance.
-scooper, stomper, club basher, flamethrower: identical in function as miner/digger/basher but worse.
filler: atm I’m agreeing with Nepster that it’s just not very useful. That is; the sand pourer and glue pourer can do what it does better and with more novelty.

*note: maybe if the whole fanning mechanic was greatly improved it wouldn't be so bad


jumper
a few changes I would like from L2:
-get rid of “stunning”. If a jumper hits the ceiling he simply comes back down and walks on. His jump should be shortened but not.


slider
I like this skill a lot. I’m not sure atm there’s anything I would change. Although it seems a little glitchy in L2 when going over uneven terrain.

flyer
-icarus wings, magic carpet, parachute, hang glider jet pack etc: all these skills can be grouped into “flyer” skills. These are my thoughts on it:
To pick one (easiest one to think about atm) the “Icarus Wings” I’d call it something else a little more fitting though like “flyer”
-First; remove need for fan to control any of these skills.
-Click on a walker lemming and it flies horizontally across the level. Around same speed as walking lemmings; maybe a little faster, maybe as fast as a runner. He continues as long as there is air, he stops when he hits a wall or floor close enough to walk on.
This actually sounds fairly simple to me, difficult to test because most L2 levels need you to guide these skills with the fan. But I think this could work pretty nicely; in combination with intricate level design and the other skills.
Updrafts could affect this skill. Making the flyer go upwards while also going horizontal.

ballooner
-similar to flyer but lemming goes diagonally up instead of horizontal. Going straight up would be useless; requiring the player to always build underneath the ballooner as he’s floating or requiring a change to mechanics; making ballooner go through terrain or something which I’m not fond of at all. Going up at a 45 or steeper angle (something like the hang-glider in reverse) seems pretty useful.
Updrafts could affect this skill as well. Make the ballooner go straight upwards instead of horizontal perhaps, not sure yet.
-Balloon pops when hits ceiling or wall.
-you should be able to assign ballooners in mid air. (in similar vein to floaters)
-An additional optional feature: a special post or some device with an indication. If this post is present then ballooning on said level the ballooner will instead be drawn to it (no matter the direction). Should terrain be in the way the balloon will hit it and pop. This would be the simplest implementation but may not lead to the most interesting results. Not sure atm though how else to sort that out. “seeking” a path through complicated terrain sounds incredibly sketchy.

attractor
-the attractor’s area of effect is way too large. It needs to be much smaller. I don’t see a need for it to be very large.
-The clumping effect is very powerful yes; this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s too powerful. It doesn’t even matter for example in a level with (or simply used on a group) or 2 or 3 lemmings, which it may still be very useful for. If you don’t want lemmings clumping together then you still have the blocker.

sand pourer:
Earlier I said I think if pourer skills were added condense them into one. I changed my mind; I’m not so sure that’s even possible let alone a good idea now. I think sand pourer has merit with some changes.
First the benefits/uniqueness it has:
-Builder goes right there where lemming is; sand pourer can get to place far below lemming.
-Builder can act as a diverter of sorts, sand pourer cannot. Sand pourer can also act as a builder from both sides (two builders in one).
-sand pourer can add a bulk of terrain quickly (to fill holes or extend bashers, diggers etc.)

Changes I propose:
-lemming should not turn around or get stuck in the terrain it creates.
-I think the height gained should be comparable to builder. It’s similar to builder but with crucial differences in execution and effect.
-I may add more things here as I experiment with this skill more.
-get rid of issue where you cannot pour when the ceiling is too close. Lemming should ignore ceiling; the animation doesn’t affect the ceiling; only the terrain affects the level; if sand reaches ceiling it simple stops and plugs up any space there. Same for glue pourer.

glue pourer
no comments yet.

twister (ccexplore’s (or someone elses?) idea)
not to be confused with the L2’s twister which is terrible. This is a vertical upwards digger. The only important thing here is that this lemming be allowed to bash/mine/fence from mid air. A couple of things need to happen in order for this to be possible:
-I propose creating a special case for this skill; bashers or any skill such as this should not be allowed to happen while lemming is standing on nothing, but for a brief time when the twister is working and in mid air he can bash. During the brief time while he bashes before he can walk as normal he cannot be assigned other skills (except for ones that make sense like climber).
-If the twister hits steel he stops and immediately falls (transitioning to a normal faller).
-if the twister reaches air it stops and immediately falls. [or maybe walks on if there is terrain there to walk on?)

laser blaster
I like the idea of this skill as one that can bash/dig/mine from a distance. I have a couple of different ideas all of which are quite different from L2 mechanics:

1) this operates a little like the archer or roper; you can select 8 directions (or maybe five, depending on the direction the lemming is facing) then laser blast and dig away in a straight line to some distance (To be highlighted with a shadow). This has the benefit of being able to bash across a gap for example where a lemming might not be able to get to otherwise.

roper
no comments yet.

throwing skills
includes: spear thrower, archer, thrower etc. All these can be grouped into “thrower” skills; a skill that generates terrain at a distance (sort of the opposite of the laser blaster).
Thrower and spearer are simple enough; [unfinished]

magno booter
Omni-directional gravity must be implemented for this skill to work. For (simplicities?) sake I propose only implementing four directions. [right sideup, upside down, right and left]
-the magno booter can never fall (unless walking into a gravity pad perhaps). This has good pros and cons: he can get around to difficult to reach areas.
-he can become stuck on an independent area, with only means of escaping using a skill (building or jumping etc)
-the magno booters walking animation may look different; but should otherwise be identical to other walkers (same speed etc).

Besides the Omni-directional gravity, there’s another problem: exactly how and when does the magno booter change directions? If he’s walking around a square block; it’s simple. But if he’s walking around rugged terrain it’s difficult to decide. I don’t have any good ideas atm.

Thought of this while responding to the Mania thread

"Finite Spliter" - Give it a number and it'll allow that number of lemmings to pass until it shuts down

could you elaborate on this a little bit? I don't get it.

[GigaLem]

@Mobius
Basically the "Finite Spliter" would only work for a # of lemmings you allow it to.
You assign the number 12 to it, it'll only split 12 lemmings and then it stop working

[Strato Incendus]

making ballooner go through terrain or something which I’m not fond of at all.

Wow, I can't believe I never considered the ballooner, an existing skill, as an option regarding the upward digger! A skill which simply moves vertically upwards and takes the lemming with it (rather than just shooting from below as the laser blaster does).

Of course, the idea of going through terrain doesn't make sense with something as fragile as an air balloon . Which is why I'd suggest something like a "rocketeer" instead, which would simply move the same way as the ballooner, but be able to blast through terrain (and stop at a certain height once no terrain is above its head anymore).

Again, the lemming would have to move a couple of pixels in the direction he's facing before finishing the skill, because otherwise he'd just drop straight down again. The ballooner in L2 circumvents this problem due to the presence of the fan, which allows you to blow the lemming to the left or right. But if you don't want that execution madness, the "finishing motion" needs to be implemented into the skill itself.

While I agree this skill should interact with some type of updraft objects, updrafts themselves wouldn't really make sense for a vertically moving skill, would they? Because the skill moves upwards anyway, in contrast to the glider which normally moves downwards. Updrafts only reverse the natural motion of direction for gliders, and slow down the falls, thereby increasing maximum fall heights, for non-gliders and -floaters. For ballooners or rocketeers, they could accelerate the speed of ascension, but nothing more.

So consequently, a vertically upwards moving skill would only get altered in its effect by updrafts turned sideways - or even separate objects called "sidedrafts". A more logical term would probably simply be "wind" , blowing from the left or the right. Now, if the logic explained above would apply to updrafts, i.e. raising the rising speed of ballooners, perhaps wind would also increase the speed of other horizontally moving skills, like bashers / swimmers / platformers.

Then again, currently fencers aren't accelerated by updrafts.

I'm just thinking of this due to my attempts at creating a complete Speedy Eggbert graphic set, which has wind objects going into all four directions. The upward wind I will simply use as updrafts, but horizontal wind, at least in Speedy Eggbert, speeds up all kinds of actions (or slows them down if you face in the other direction).

[GigaLem]

Two things, I'll change the name of the topic to "General suggestion topic"

and lastly I fell that there coulld be more destructive Neo skills (upon others) so here it goes

I suggested this one before but I'm suggest it again (gonna suggest some others too)
Surfacer - Until a better name is chosen, a Surfacer allows Lemmings to temporarily climb and dig straight upwards, if the lemming is already a climber its a simple as clicking the climber

Dynamiter - Think of a limited basher, each blast goes quite a ways, but you only have 12 sticks of dynamite

Chipper - If it sees a ledge or a set of ledges each of them at least 7 pixels, the lemming will chip off some terrain to make the ledge scale-able

non-destructive

Sloper  - Anyone remember my downwards builder Idea? yeah this is the idea! builds a set of 12 bricks downwards.

Ladderer - A builder that builds steep stairs, used for tight spaces

Re-inventions

Disarmers - Add the ability to lock the exit without buttons and you need to use the disarmer to open it. If a zombie is a disarmer allow it close locked exits and reactivate traps

Gliders - if assigned on the ground while in front of an updraft, the lemming will go straight upwards for about 64 pixels