[NeoLemmix] Lemmings World Tour [Difficulty: Medium]

Started by Strato Incendus, September 17, 2018, 04:36:14 PM

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kaywhyn

#45
Rockstar rank completed and thus 200/320 levels in the pack solved! :) Replays up through Rockstar 40 are attached, and more feedback. As usual, I really loved a lot of these levels and puzzles! Definitely feeling the difficulty rising faster than I thought it would and hence my progress through the pack slowing down but in a good way, since the levels are still quite manageable and doable, and the pack continues to be quite enjoyable and not too frustrating ;)

Spoiler

Rockstar 21 - Dziesma par Lemmi The end part was difficult, ensuring that no one was facing right when the digger broke through I'm not sure if my solution is intended even though I use all skills.

Rockstar 22 - Summer of '69 Good song. Easy level. Nothing too special here. Only tricky part is making sure no one lands on the land above the entrance, so here I made sure to delay the last builder assignment to make sure it doesn't happen. I have a miner leftover as a result.

Rockstar 23 - Machine head This seems to be all on timing, building to the top and getting to the button so that the worker on the other side of the wall can exit before he slips past the locked exit. Other than that, not too difficult, but not trivial either.

Rockstar 24 - I'd do anything for Lems Easy level as well.

Rockstar 25 - Through the fire and flames Probably a bit easier than the original version, although there's certainly execution difficulty with the fencer through the builder at the end. I had to adjust the builder position several times before the fence finally went through the walls and builder. What might escape less experienced players is using stackers to allow a basher to continue instead of stopping.

Rockstar 26 - Sweet Home Alabama Not difficult, just tricky to figure out the best way to get through the numerous obstacles. Especially the skillset will seem to be very tight due to the huge size of the level, but it's not that tight, as I still have several skills leftover. Also, I didn't realize the spoon and folk are steel.

Rockstar 27 - Clocks Excellent level that managed to stump me for a good 20 minutes. I kept puzzling about how a climber would be released after the fencer tunnel is sealed with a stacker if the basher is used for the yellow poles near the exit. Then I suddenly remembered the basher in a fencer tunnel trick from United. Even with that, it was very frustrating getting the stacker placements correct so that the basher will continue through the yellow poles as well. I had to try adjusting so many times before it finally worked. Oh, good song as well. I pretty much love Coldplay.

Rockstar 28 - Berlin Definitely a difficult challenge without a climber to free the lemming who digs down to get the bottom button. I still loved this level a lot, especially since it was very satisfying figuring out how to get everyone through to the exit. I did have to adjust the builder placements a couple of times before the miner would go through all of it and the OWW columns.

Rockstar 29 - Hollywood Hills Good and really nice looking easy level. I thought it was going to be difficult due to the stackers, but no, it wasn't that bad at all. It might look like you can also bomb from the other end of the basher tunnel, but then the level's probably unsolvable due to needing two bombers on the left end to get up.

Rockstar 30 - Losing my religion I initially tried a lot of fiddly pointless stuff for a few minutes when I realized that the level's much easier than I think it is. Ok level, nothing too special here.

Rockstar 31 - Cold Turkey Pretty easy once you get past the tricky stuff at the very start, where you must bomb twice in order to make a safe landing for the crowd. Nice bomber trick in the pit to get the cloned basher to stop. Nicely designed level! :thumbsup:

Rockstar 32 - Engel Way too easy and again another great looking level. I love the bombing a lemming in the digger pit to release both the digger and the crowd. It's very obvious that the stoner is needed as stepping stone to get into the exit, because you need to remember that direct drop is not possible anymore in NL, as well as only floaters and gliders can exit without any terrain beneath the exit.

Rockstar 33 - St. Elmo's Fire This one managed to stump me for about 15 minutes, but that's only because I was a dummy. In particular, I kept trying to see if I could save a constructive skill in the starting area because I think I kept being one short. Turns out to be somewhat easy. It's all about getting high enough to avoid the OWWs and being able to use only 1 destructive skill, except for the first one which in my solution required 3.

Rockstar 34 - Let me put my Lems into you Ah, there's that level from the Demented rank of Paralems. This version seemed much harder, and indeed the level was difficult for me. Since a blocker is used to turn the lemmings around to get to the top, that means you can't use the stoner. Also, I simply used a stacker right up against a couple pixels of high ground in order to turn the lemming around to make a landing bridge for the crowd to land on in order to get to the exit.

Rockstar 35 - South of Heaven Way too easy! I've already seen this trick from a level in United, where the intended route was building to the outside and then using the diggers/builders to make a builder wall. Icho's version is much harder, since all builders are used and it's not at all clear how many builders are needed to achieve the builder wall and to get to the exit.

Rockstar 36 - Streets of Philadelphia I say more tricky than difficult in figuring out the best way to get through the obstacles and where to platform so that the lemmings can still get up. Still, nice level.

Rockstar 37 - I'm your Venus O.o, very nicely designed level depicting the planet Venus. Speaking of which, perhaps you can try the entire solar system of the other 7 planets. Anyway, way too easy.

Rockstar 38 - Stonehenge In contrast, this was a really hard level and stumped me for at least a good half hour. Probably the hardest level in the entire Rockstar rank. It was thanks to CPM that I saw those gaps in the leaves and used it to my advantage to get up the level thanks to a stoner/stacker combo. For a long time, I kept using a stoner underneath the entrance and the left Stonehenge to get over the top and I was going to use the miners to get them out, but the biggest problem is that the gap before the exit is exactly one full bridge length, and by that time I was already out of builders and wouldn't have anything to turn the lemming around. You definitely did a nice job recreating the real-life Stonehenge with this level, but I was definitely frustrated by being a builder short and not being able to turn the worker around to mine the crowd out. In the end, I might had cheesed and backrouted the level, considering I have several skills leftover. Also, there appears to be no opening animation for the hatch.

Rockstar 39 - Holy Mountains Way too easy and much easier than the previous level. Very nice looking level! :thumbsup:

Rockstar 40 - Dream On Definitely a harder repeat, but not by much. Very nice solution, though! :thumbsup: I say more interesting than the original version, considering that you cannot mine the left crowd out with a miner due to stoners missing this time, so instead you need to get someone from the left entrance to set up the bridges in order to get past the OWW. In other words, instead of a worker from the right entrance doing all the worker, it's now reversed, where the left entrance does all the work.

Onto the Legend rank! Once I finish the rank, I will stop until an update for the Encore and Groupie ranks is released. So, this means two more posts of replays and feedback before none for a time. This will give me the opportunity to play catch up on resolving United, as well as the contest levels and playtesting your LOA pack.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

kaywhyn

#46
20 more levels completed, and thus the Legend rank is half solved. Replays up through Legend 20 attached, and of course my feedback. Starting to get very difficult here, but still a bunch of great levels in this batch! ;)

Spoiler

Legend 1 - Bolemian Rhapsody Starting off the rank is a pretty difficult level. The solution is somewhat difficult to figure out, and the execution is somewhat difficult as well. Still, really nice level, and I love the song Bohemian Rhapsody. I haven't seen the movie of the same title that focuses on Freddie Mercury, though, which of course post-dates the pack.

Legend 2 - Purple Rain O.o that's nice animation of the falling titular "purple rain" in the background. Too bad I'm disgusted by the color purple. More of those hanging from the ceiling things which I thought were traps, but luckily there's only 1 and the trigger is visible. Very easy level compared toe the previous one.

Legend 3 - We can be heroes Very easy level despite the very high RR. Not sure if using the ceiling to turn around is intended, though.

Legend 4 - Take me home, country roads Ok, this level is just pure evil execution wise. :evil: I figured out the solution very quickly and hence it's a very easy level, but a glance at the skillset and my immediate reaction was, "You got to be kidding me. Crossing a miner AND a basher and they still both continue." I'm definitely aware that it's possible from reading your topic some time ago on levels you got stuck on due to not knowing if a certain trick was possible, such as certain skills crossing one another and whether both continue, one cancels out but not the other, or both cancel out. Very fiddly here, especially since it's very easy to cancel the miner than the other way around, let alone both continue without cancelling. Of course, if one isn't aware of this being possible, the player may rage quit or think the level is impossible.

Legend 5 - Hallelujah This one was also a bit difficult to figure out, but it wasn't too bad. One thing that completely caught me off guard by is the Moon being a solid object in this level and hence builders will hit their head.

Legend 6 - Lems in the sky with diamonds I love this Beatles song! Very easy level. I wonder if the updrafts being complete red herrings are intended, as the glider cannot glide onto the next updraft after using the previous one. In any case, my solution doesn't use the updrafts and the level's solvable without them.

Legend 7 - Lemmingrad Obviously a reference to the country Leningrad. This is a really good level, but it's extremely annoying execution wise since there's a lot of pixel precision assignments. I came up with mining through two sets of builders pretty quickly, but I was immediately disappointed to find out that the builder staircase below the updraft falls only slightly a bit short in height to allow the miner to continue. I figured it had to be part of the solution, since the skillset doesn't allow for anything else. After struggling with it for a while, I then realized the purpose of the bomber/stoner to allow another climber to build at the appropriate height to allow the miner to continue through both sets of builder staircases. Very nicely designed level, and I especially love the lemming statue where the updrafts are.

Legend 8 - Master of Puppets This one was a difficult level to figure out, especially the end part of how to get to the button buried in the wall and then later both crowds up to the exit. Even the middle with the toys/toy traps was difficult to determine the best way to get through. In the end, I have a bunch of climbers leftover.

Legend 9 - Eye of the Tiger Easier than the previous level, just difficult timing wise if compression is supposed to be used to minimize losses to the cat traps. In particular, getting the glider close to the worker lemming after digging through the branch was tricky to achieve. At least a walker is provided in case the non-glider falls in the wrong direction after the digger gets through.

Legend 10 - Wind of change Too easy. Nice looking level, but nothing too special here.

Legend 11 - Living on a prayer Not much more difficult than the original version. Plus, I might had cheesed and backrouted the level, since I have so many skills leftover.

Legend 12 - We will rock you Good song by Queen. Very easy level. Nice trick of using a platformer to allow the basher to bash through both sets of green pillars.

Legend 13 - Nothing else matters I might had severely backrouted this level. Tricky but not a difficult level. Just need to get a lemming to go to the left so that he can platform to the right, and also get another lemming to turn around after the up arrows on the thin floor to platform to the left so that by the time the crowd arrives none will fall through before they're done.

Legend 14 - Can't get no satisfaction? I really liked this level! Very nice solution :thumbsup:

Legend 15 - Waterloo Somewhat easy level despite the zombie horde coming for the regular lemmings. The only tricky part is getting rid of the zombies, but once you successfully get rid of them, it's a really easy level.

Legend 16 - Bridge over troubled water Not too different from the original version other than no miner this time to trap the crowd while a lemming goes on ahead to forge the path and bridge the water gaps. Still an easy level.

Legend 17 - Y. Lem. C. A "It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A" Love this song a lot. Way too easy, and other than a nicely designed level with the "M" being in the shape of a lemming, nothing too special.

Legend 18 - Comfortably numb This one is quite difficult. The hardest part is getting the lemmings up to the exit area, especially since you only have platformers to work with to close gaps, the main drawback being that the skill does not add height. To make it easier to get up, you have to block a miner midstroke and release it with another lemming close by without destroying the miner staircase. The platformers may seem plentiful, but I ended up using all of them in my solution. Also, this is the very first time I have seen the apple worm trap. Really nicely designed level. Looking at it sure makes me hungry :crylaugh:

Legend 19 - Imagine Not a difficult level to execute, just tricky timing wise. Still, nice level and solution, especially with getting a climber to turn around near the end of the miner tunnel to bash out the lowest group ;)

Legend 20 - Don't stop believin' O.o this is a really good and easy level! :thumbsup: Very nice solution of using the lemming from the left entrance to dig away the floor to allow the lemming from the right to get out via swimmer and climber. I also love this song of Journey's a lot. Even the train mentioned in the song is here in the level. Nice!

Quote from: ericderkovits on October 08, 2020, 02:15:38 AM
yes kaywhyn: I can translate Amateur 32 Ich und mein Holz = means Me and my Wood. In germany expecially at christmas time they make alot of wooden things like NussKnackers(Nut crackers). and other wooden things. Also this is another reason I want to go to germany in the future at Christmas time to see alot of the christmas markets. Also maybe like 6 months ago I bought a german kuckucksuhr(cookoo clock) which is made
mostly of of wood too. The clock also actually got sent from germany too. It plays 12 different german tunes. very nice. Also Strato(I think), Icho and Simon all live in germany. This is why I'm really fond of Icho. Also I like when Icho puts german titles for some of his levels(reunion and even United). Also even for my Angry lemmings I have a couple of german .ogg tunes. Like Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann(very well known german folk song)
means My father was a wanderering Man.

Thank you for a detailed explanation of the level title, even though you're late to the party here, as it's already been long after I have solved the level and Strato had already explained to me that the translation was in the pre-text. And yes, Strato, Icho, Nepster, and Simon are all from Germany. Still, this isn't the only one in German, there are several others in the pack.

All rightie, one more post of replays and feedback when I finish up the second half of the Legend rank, and then temporary break from the level pack until an update for the final two ranks is released. Still loving this pack a lot! ;)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

kaywhyn

#47
All rightie, 20 more levels solved and thus the entire Legend rank is completed. My replays up through Legend 40 are attached, and as usual my feedback.

Spoiler

Legend 21 - Kashmir Nice level featuring a variation of the basher/tunnel trick, where instead of bashing right at the fencer tunnel, must bash a tunnel to get to the fencer tunnel and use it to get to the OWWs. Once again, saw the solution quickly, just annoying to pull it off.

Legend 22 - Blowing in the wind This one was easy, although I'm not sure if my solution is intended since I avoided using the radiation. Still, nice level involving how to eliminate the zombies guarding the top exit, as well as the zombies that can climb. I got rid of them by making a digger pit deep enough for them to splat.

Legend 23 - Wish you were here Another very easy level. It appears that putting the slowfreeze out of the way completely was deliberate and intended.

Legend 24 - Let my Lems open the door Ok, I definitely backrouted this level, since I don't even disarm the trap. There's enough resources to avoid the trigger from both sides. Here, I used a builder from the left and then a stacker from the other side. Nevertheless, this repeat seems somewhat easier, although I have a feeling that they're both difficult in their own right had I not been able to backroute this one.

Legend 25 - I will survive Way too easy. Here, I used the left crowd to come to the right entrance's aid. Also, not sure if my solution is intended or if it's open-ended.

Legend 26 - Time to say goodbye This one was quite difficult. In particular, the beginning is the hardest part, and the solution is very difficult to spot. It took me a long time to come up with this solution, especially platforming over the tiny gap in the rope instead of using a stacker to get over it. Nice use of miner cancelling for the exit area.

Legend 27 - Thunderstruck Ugh, I knew there were hidden traps, but I didn't make that connection even when I saw that the glider skill shadow was cut short. Then, zap and took me by surprise. Then again, the zapper traps are quite appropriate, since I understand that the dark grey clouds are supposed to be thunderclouds and hence the lemmings get zapped by lightning. Definitely a nice touch to the level! Also, the zappers being hidden is perfectly fine, since I believe in real-life you can't even see the lightning until it flashes. Anyway, despite the hidden traps, this was a very easy level, but I'm not sure if I also backrouted this level by taking the ceiling or if that route is intended. Also, by taking this route those gliders at the very beginning were unnecessary, and so I could had saved a couple more. Guess I was just being dumb.

Legend 28 - Just a little bit... Not difficult, just tricky in figuring out how to optimize your resources. Despite there being a lot of bashers/diggers/builders, they surprisingly run out fast.

Legend 29 - Africa This was a really good level! :thumbsup: The solution is quite ingenious. Nice job. Nice looking level too ;)

Legend 30 - Knocing on Heaven's door Also a really good level with an extremely great solution, although this was a bit difficult to figure out. The tricks of sending out another climber while the second builder was in progress, as well as bashing into a stack and building so that the climbers can't climb out and die, were clever! :thumbsup: Since the solution relies on the ceiling, I'm thinking about how you managed to make this level work in New Formats, since the ceiling is deadly there. I'm guessing you simply covered the ceiling up with terrain.

Legend 31 - Ganglem Style Ah yes, the huge hit song that made Psy famous several years ago. I'm guessing the music video continues to receive a lot of views today. This one was quite difficult. I figured out building in a digger pit to contain the top crowd and using the upside down stoner to save the bottom entrance from dying to the bottomless pit quickly. The rest after that weren't as obvious. The main difficulty lies in optimizing your builders to get up to the exit after using fencers and stoners to turn around.

Legend 32 - A whiter shade of pale Nice short and easy level. The only difficult part is the very precise placement of the stacker so that only one lemming gets trapped in between the stacks after cloning it, which is then assigned a climber to get the crowd up to the exit through the thin ceiling.

Legend 33 - Housing of the Rising Sun Nice repeat of the original, where the entrance and exit swap positions. Almost like a Reverse Lemmings pack for the level. The repeat gives the appearance of being easier than the original, but don't be fooled, for resources here are still tight considering the huge level size. Here, I avoided using the teleporters, although I suspect that it's still possible to use the one inside the house to get to the top part of the level, and so I could had made my life much easier. Perhaps all that's needed was a digger pit so that all of them can still teleport despite overflow. My solution uses all the builders.

Legend 34 - Purple Haze Nice puzzle and somewhat easy level here! :thumbsup: It can be a bit tricky to isolate two lemmings on the left side after platforming the bomber hole in the starting area, but even if you only get one lemming trapped, a climber is provided in case that happens. At first, I wondered if the exit area is splat height, how to get the lemmings down safely. I quickly figured it out by bombing the lemming when it gets on top of the terrain so that there's a tiny hole in the platformer bridge to allow another worker to fall a bit lower on the terrain to platform to the right and therefore makes the fall safe.

Legend 35 - Scarborough Fair I really like this 1-of-everything puzzle! Very easy, although I found out that the stoner isn't necessary in order for the lemmings to exit. That's the first solution I found, but the replay I attached in the zip file does use the stoner.

Legend 36 - The Phantom of the Opera I have seen both the movie and the Broadway show when I was in Vegas back in 2007 with my high school's choir tour. Nice, easy level as well. The only difficult part is turning a lemming around to bash through the flag so that no one else gets past the platformer bridge. Using a short basher tunnel did the trick. I also probably could had saved a few extra lemmings had I used the extra platformer I had leftover for the middle gap at the bottom.

Legend 37 - Breaking the law Yup, I do believe you have succeeded in making your hardest level ever, although that might not be true anymore considering I still have LOA to look at. Clearly the hardest level of the rank. This level managed to stump me for probably a good hour or so. I initially tried a lot of other stuff before coming up with an extremely fiddly solution that takes advantage of the fact that miners can still continue despite making a very tiny hole from which lemmings in the other direction can fall in. That one was extremely difficult to get right timing wise so that only the miner and possibly only one other lemming is heading to the left, which I wasted a builder in turning the non-miner around. Also, in this solution I wasted the stacker on the left unnecessarily in the platform below the one the top entrance falls on. I'm guessing you intended for a digger to continue by digging through the top platform with the help of the stacker, as well as a basher to hit all 3 brick walls in the middle. I definitely tried several times to try and make that work, but I couldn't, especially since I would waste too many builders to get the setup right, if it's even possible.

Legend 38 - Thriller Iconic song by Michael Jackson. Of course there's zombies in this level, since they were in the music video. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be this easy with the solution I came up with in my replay. Just bashed the ceiling to sacrifice one lemming to get the zombies away from the exit. After they all got trapped at the bottom, short digger-basher staircase, then one final builder to get the lemmings home.

Legend 39 - I will always love Lemmings This one was difficult to figure out. For a while, I kept thinking I needed to beat the crowd before they arrived to the worker lemming in the bottom left so that I'm able to block and turn the builder to get to the exit. Then, I noticed that the wall on top of the bridge is high enough so that the lemmings can't get past without being a climber or fencing/building. That's when I realized that I simply overcomplicated the solution in my head and the level is easier than I think it is. Still, the level's difficult to figure out due to the very tight skillset. If timing the climbers to block at the end of the builder staircase to turn the builder around to build to the exit, you can simply stop the miner going to the right with a builder. However, you can simply avoid the timing completely of releasing a climber to block by using the miner cancelling trick, therefore avoiding the need to use a builder to stop the miner. Also, the only entrance in immediate danger is the top right, so that can be a difficult to figure out, but once you're successful in not losing any lemmings there, the rest of the level can be done as usual according to the replay or a slight alternative in the bottom left.

Legend 40 - The Time of my Life I thought this one was going to be difficult, but this was surprisingly easy for me for the final level of the rank. This one is probably my favorite of the rank :thumbsup: Really nicely designed level to boot. I love the fencing through a builder to get past the final two walls with the right-most entrance.         

@eric ok, push has come to shove here, and with your most recent post you've pushed my buttons. Please stop spamming the level pack topics with "I've watched the replays." No one cares. You watch them at your own leisure, because there's absolutely no need to inform Strato or anyone who's actually playing the pack of anything that might had broken. Of course the replays work, I solved the levels myself and therefore can easily verify they haven't broke. You have your own replay topics, you can say it there instead. We already had this conversation, so it's starting to annoy me for repeating myself. In case you're not aware, you've gotten most of the community annoyed with your spam. I've been trying so hard to be patient with you, but it has reached its end. Enough is enough. If you were actually playing the pack and trying, it wouldn't be as bad.   

With 6 ranks completed, you now have confirmation from me that none of the 240 levels I have solved broke and that they're all still solvable. Also, it's time for me take a temporary break from the pack until an update for the Encore and Groupie ranks is released. No rush, take your time. I'll be busy taking care of other things Lemmings-related in the meantime. Happy viewing/fixing :P
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Strato Incendus

Thanks a lot for playing, kaywhyn! :thumbsup: Especially in Old Formats! Once I've fixed Encore and Groupie and when you return to play those final two ranks, you are probably going to be the first person to have beaten the pack in Old Formats, i.e. including the radiation- and slowfreeze levels. ;)

Quote@eric ok, push has come to shove here, and with your most recent post you've pushed my buttons. Please stop spamming the level pack topics with "I've watched the replays." No one cares.

In general, I couldn't agree more, but I didn't see eric mention that in his last post in here, in particular? ??? He just talked about the level "Ich und mein Holz", plus a bunch of other stuff. :D
Did some moderator delete another comment of his that escaped me?

I will inform you when I have watched the replays, though :P , because that goes along with telling you which of your solutions were intended and which weren't.

I'm definitely already curious about your solution for "Breaking the law"! :thumbsup: Sounds like an alternative solution, but as long as it gave you enough of a challenge, I'm probably going to be fine with it...
My packs so far:
Lemmings World Tour (New & Old Formats), my music-themed flagship pack, 320 levels - Let's Played by Colorful Arty
Lemmings Open Air, my newest release and follow-up to World Tour, 120 levels
Paralems (Old Formats), a more flavour-driven one, 150 levels
Pit Lems (Old Formats), a more puzzly one, 100 levels - Let's Played by nin10doadict
Lemmicks, a pack for (very old) NeoLemmix 1.43 full of gimmicks, 170 levels

kaywhyn

#49
Quote from: Strato Incendus on October 09, 2020, 08:37:53 AM
In general, I couldn't agree more, but I didn't see eric mention that in his last post in here, in particular? ???
Did some moderator delete another comment of his that escaped me?

He posted in this topic a couple of hours ago mentioning watching the first 3 ranks and which talismans were missing, but he apparently posted it while I was still typing up my feedback. That's when I went back and edited my post to let him know that stuff like that is very annoying, so I'm certain he removed it before you got the chance to see it. I'm sure other pack authors would be annoyed with similar posts of "having watched replays" in their own level pack topics as well. Like yea, there's no need to confirm that everything still works, because again I solved the levels myself, so obviously I can confirm my own replays work. Don't need to point stuff out like that for the pack author and whoever happens to be playing the pack, especially if you're not going to take the time and effort to actively try and solve the levels.

Quote
I will inform you when I have watched the replays, though :P , because that goes along with telling you which of your solutions were intended and which weren't.

Sounds good! ;)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

kaywhyn

I know I said a few weeks ago that I was going to wait until you released an update for the Encore and Groupie ranks, but going by what you mentioned in the New Formats topic for LWT of there being no backrotues except the level Twilems, which you might possibly change, I went ahead and completed the Encore rank. My replays up through Encore 40 are attached.

Yup, they were all too easy, considering they're just levels taken from Lemmicks, Paralems, and Pit Lems, all of which I have played, the latter two I completed very recently, while Lemmicks was several months ago. Even with 40 levels in the rank, it took me about an hour and a half to solve the entire rank. Also, I solved all of them from scratch again, rather than waste my time and hunt down a working replay for the level, since my replays are saved in the format of rank and level number, not by level title. The Lemmicks levels were obvious, while others I couldn't remember if the level came from Paralems or Pit Lems. Some of them I knew which pack it came from, but not all. Seems like for those levels that have repeats, that only the originals were picked for the rank, not the harder repeat. I guess it's coincidence that the original happened to be a song title while the repeat version isn't. For the Lemmicks levels, despite the solutions being new due to the gimmick they originally relied on absent, they were still very easy, possibly way easier now than in said pack they originated from.

Regarding any potential fixes for the Encore rank, I haven't seen Icho's replay for Twilems, so I don't know if you might change the level based on my replay for it as well. The only other concerning level in the rank, at least from what it looks like to me, would be Encore 17 - Lem to the slaughter. I'm quite certain that is a severe backroute, and I don't think I solved it this way when I first played the level in the pack it comes from, which I believe is Lemmicks? I'm sure it involves getting the swimmer hatch to rescue the other hatch rather than the way I severely shortcutted and cheesed the level here.

With the Encore rank completed, that just leaves the final Groupie rank to do, but for this one this is where I'll await an update before taking it on and finishing up the pack. Again, take your time, as I'm not in any kind of rush to solve the entire pack. I kind of gave you a lot of work with how I just finished LOA.   
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Strato Incendus

And the update is here at last, the Groupie rank is fixed! :D The link in the starting post is still the same.

Some of IchoTolot's alternative solutions that used all or almost all skills are still possible, and sometimes deliberately so, because I found them awesome! :thumbsup: But everything that's obviously a glaring backroute has been dealt with now.

Except for Groupie 39, "Not the incended solution". Here the level-preview text even announces that backroutes will be possible. :D
My packs so far:
Lemmings World Tour (New & Old Formats), my music-themed flagship pack, 320 levels - Let's Played by Colorful Arty
Lemmings Open Air, my newest release and follow-up to World Tour, 120 levels
Paralems (Old Formats), a more flavour-driven one, 150 levels
Pit Lems (Old Formats), a more puzzly one, 100 levels - Let's Played by nin10doadict
Lemmicks, a pack for (very old) NeoLemmix 1.43 full of gimmicks, 170 levels

kaywhyn

#52
How do I update the pack if the DL link in the OP is the same? Or am I supposed to use the OP to update it? Also, a changelog of what levels in the Groupie rank has changed would had been nice so that I know for sure that I have the latest version. I haven't played any of the rank before your update.

edit: Never mind, I figured it out. It didn't take very long. Groupie 5 was the first level I noticed where the old version didn't match the New Formats version. In New Formats, there are pickup skills, but in the old version of Old Formats, there were no pickups. I just tried the DL in the OP, and now I see pickup skills. So, I misunderstood what you meant by "download in the OP is the same."
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Strato Incendus

Ah yeah, sorry, I forgot that in Old Formats, it isn't so easy to tell which levels changed ;) . In New Formats, the ticks next to the level names turn orange, obviously.

Updated levels are Groupie 01, 05, 06, 13, 18, 27, 29, and 36. The change about Groupie 10 was merely cosmetic (repositioning of one-way arrows).

I also swapped out the exit on Diva 23, because the exit on the Sandopolis tileset in New Formats apparently had been changed by the person maintaining the tileset (Flopsy was the creator, afaik). Therefore, both versions feature a classic Pillar exit now.

And yeah, the Dropbox link always remains the same when I simply replace the original file in the Dropbox folder with the new one.
My packs so far:
Lemmings World Tour (New & Old Formats), my music-themed flagship pack, 320 levels - Let's Played by Colorful Arty
Lemmings Open Air, my newest release and follow-up to World Tour, 120 levels
Paralems (Old Formats), a more flavour-driven one, 150 levels
Pit Lems (Old Formats), a more puzzly one, 100 levels - Let's Played by nin10doadict
Lemmicks, a pack for (very old) NeoLemmix 1.43 full of gimmicks, 170 levels

kaywhyn

Halfway through the Groupie rank, so you know what that means: More replays and feedback! Here are all my replays up through Groupie 20. Also, 300 levels officially solved. Wow! :lem-mindblown:

In contrast to the Encore rank, which I breezed through in just 1.5 hours, it has been much slower going in the Groupie rank. The difficulty's definitely picked up again. Not necessarily a bad thing with me. Still a lot of good levels I have played so far in this batch. I'm looking forward to the levels in the second half and seeing how many more designs of others I can recognize.

To be honest, I got way more of other authors' level designs than I thought I would, and so I'm actually having a lot of fun guessing whose level it's designed after. I seriously thought I wouldn't get many right, especially since it's been a long time since I played many of the packs by authors other than Icho and namida and, of course, you. Then again, it's only been about a year since I played those packs by other authors, so I guess it make sense that I'm able to recognize some of the designs despite having not seen any or remember any of their levels by design for quite a long time. By my count, I got about 11/12 of them out of the 20 I have played. That's not too bad, actually! :P

Spoiler

Groupie 1 - When the cat's away Ok level to start off the rank. I immediately thought that this must be nin10doadict's level due to the cat trap. I still need to familiarize myself with the Food tileset, since I wasn't aware that both the ketchup and mustard are traps. I think so far I'm familiar with the apple worm trap, and to an extent the blender trap.

Groupie 2 - That's a hard level that is! Even though I have yet to play any of Flopsy's packs, just by the tileset itself I immediately knew it was Flopsy's level. I didn't think this level was hard at all, but due to the 99 RR and managing the crowd this would be a hard for Flopsy level if I'm not mistaken. It was easy for me since I'm already well aware of the glider-stoner trick in such a way that the ohno animation is skipped completely but the stoner still connects with the ground.

Groupie 3 - Waking up the neighbours Not very hard, but at the same time not trivial at all. I did not recognize this as Proxima's design. Not to mention I didn't recognize the tileset either, so that's one part of it, but also because his TM Challenge pack is the only pack of his I have played.  It's the only pack of his that he has ever released so far I think? Even then, that's not a really good indication of his style. Plus, I believe it was a collab with mobius. I have not played any contest levels by him. Good to know that this is Proxima's tileset.

Groupie 4 - Praise be to God! I totally failed to recognize this as Colorful Arty's level. I kept thinking it was Gigalem's, but I think what made me realize that it has to be Arty's is due to the basher and digger crossing in the solution. But yes, I can definitely see how it can be Arty's style of designing, especially since he's extremely good with very artistic levels. Easy level, the only hard part is making the basher and digger cross successfully. Luckily, the setup is somewhat easy. You yourself used this trick in one of the main ranks, except it was with a basher and a miner going in the same direction.

Groupie 5 - No true Scotslem Thanks to how I recently played Lemmings Migration, I immediately realized this level must be Nessy's, since I noticed he used the mine tileset a lot in the pack. This is still a huge backroute, considering I don't even collect the builder pickups! I'm not sure how you missed this very obvious one when fixing the level up. Wonder if Icho came up with the same backroute or if he solved it the intended way.

Groupie 6 - Stacks and stones The only reason I guessed Raymanni was due to the tileset itself, and yes I did play Raylems, but it was a long time ago. This was a really great level, although it was extremely annoying hearing the crackling sound all the time when the lemmings kept stepping over the piece of snow terrain that breaks away anytime they kept walking by it. I definitely could had prevented that by placing the first stoner better.

Groupie 7 - (K) itty Compression Again, I immediately knew that this was nin10doadict's level due to the cat traps. Nice and easy level, and as the title suggests compression is the way to go.

Groupie 8 - Icho chambers Obviously Icho's level, although it appears that this is half correct, as I failed to realize it's also in the style of Proxima. Now this was a hard level for me. It's definitely all about resource conservation. The hardest part for me was the bottom left, especially building up to the teleporter area after mining down to the entrance. There were a couple of times that I thought I had the level solved, but after a few time skips I realized that I had lost more lemmings than what I still needed to save. Turns out that the lemmings who walk out to the left in the teleporter that leads straight to the water drown because I hadn't prevented that from happening by building to sealing off the gap.

Groupie 9 - Wrong This was another stumping point for me, but that's because I kept thinking I had to build, then dig before the lemming takes a step, then build to turn him around. As it turns out, there aren't enough skills to do it with the blocker that got released, as well as with the lemming that releases the blocker. Then I made the connection with the climbers provided and realized that I was being a dummy and that one needs to destroy the end of the builder bridge going to the left so to allow both to climb and get to the other side so they can get to the exit. Nice level, though!

Groupie 10 - Read my lips Obviously Flopsy's due to the appearance of the letters making up SEB. Unless this is supposed to be an open-ended level, this is a backroute? I didn't collect the the 4 pickup skills on the right side at the top. At the same time, it's not a hard level, but once again it's not trivial either. In particular, resources are much tighter than they appear to be, especially the builders even though there's plenty of them.

Groupie 11 - Killed by death I didn't know this was Sqron's level until I noticed the SQ in the pre-text. I have played the snack pack, so I have played his levels before. It's been a long time, though. That reminds me I need to post my replays and feedback for that pack, as well as for Raylems. The hardest part is definitely making sure enough get past the lizard trap, because it triggers way too fast. It's also the reason why Perky 20 from Casualemmings (Super mecha gators) is giving me so many problems. Yes, I'm still stuck there. It's amazing even at a 99 RR all lemmings up until the 4th one in a row die to the trap. So, the only way to get a lemming past it sooner is to clump up the second one extremely tight with the first one so that they're almost behind one another, which I achieved via a walker skill. The rest was making sure the crowd was in a perfectly straight line so that enough will get past the trap.

Groupie 12 - Tin Limmings on this livel Here, I seriously thought this was Gigalem's level due to how he has a lot of misspellings in the pre-texts and level titles. Also due to the tileset I thought it was his. Other than Lemmings Plus Alpha and Lemmings Plus 1, I haven't played any of namida's other packs, so I definitely won't recognize any of his designs in your Groupie rank. Nice level here with a great solution! ;)

Groupie 13 - You know you make me wanna shout ("shout" gets cut off in the level title) I'm sure my solution is a backroute. The intended solution is probably way more complicated than that.

Groupie 14 - Scot-free I had a feeling that this was also Nessy's design, and indeed your spoiler tag confirms it. I kind of recognized it due to the bridging a gap from both sides. However, the one trick that I didn't use is building over a digger pit so that lemmings are walking in only one direction. I might had been able to save the builder bridging the gap from the left with better timing, though.

Groupie 15 - Take a Byte One of the levels you showcased for the rank in the OP, and the one I immediately recognized as Wafflem's. I have also played through his Lemmingbytes pack. I didn't collect all the pickups, although I think this is more about figuring out how to get to the ones you need in order to solve the level. Obviously a miner needs to be collected. I say this level was a bit difficult, especially navigating through the waffle at the end. Another difficult part is getting past the apple worm trap at the very start, but the trap is slow, so it's not too hard to figure out.

Groupie 16 - All for love Even with an infinite amount of fencers, this level's not easy. I also happen to be really bad with stackers and how to use them to get up levels and releasing the crowd due to how it generally holds them back after the 7th/8th brick is laid down. It wasn't until after a time that I realized that not everyone needs to get be able to get up due to the seemingly generous save requirement. Also after a few attempts I realized that I can get the lemmings bunched up by assigning fencers right on top of one another. The funny thing was that I had realized this while I was CC'ing (candy crushing) because I remember that fencers will continue in a fencer tunnel even though they're not removing any terrain due to the upward slope a fencer tunnel makes.

Groupie 17 - I am E.T. I seriously thought this was Dodochacalo's style since he a similar level in his Dovelems pack. Oops :-[ I honestly don't remember any similar level in Sublems. It's been that long since I first played the pack, but I played it on Superlemmini. Here, I thought there was a mistake in the level, because I knew to make the digger-basher staircase at the end, but after running out of bashers the wall was still too high for lemmings to step up. Then, I realized that it needs to be done immediately after the climbers makes it to the top and that I don't need to spend a basher up there and could simply use a builder to turn around after digging low enough at the edge. It does make for very precise skill assignments, though. Good thing for framestepping here.

Groupie 18 - Le vent nous portera I immediately knew that this was Pieuw's design just from the French level title. That reminds me. Have you shown Pieuw this level yet? If not, right now should be good since he has finally returned after being gone for so long. I didn't use the trick from that Brick level in Pimolems for my solution, although it still uses all skills, so this should still be acceptable. Instead, I simply used a builder to seal off the bahser tunnel, which is pretty much a variation of the trick you alluded to that is used in the Pimolems level.

Groupie 19 - All you zombies Ok, I also thought this was Gigalem's, since he seems to also like zombies and I recently solved his entire zombie pack again. I totally forgot that you like zombies and slowfreeze. Oops. :-[ I don't mind either of them, although I find zombies slightly more annoying than slowfreeze. Maybe Gigalem likes radiation, slowfreeze I'm not so sure. Anyway, my solution is probably a very glaring backroute. I don't think the solution is supposed to be this simple.

Groupie 20 - Bon appetit! Looking at all those foods in the preview screen sure makes me hungry :crylaugh: Really nice design here. I totally failed to realize there's multiple authors' design in this level. I only thought of Wafflem due to the waffle. But yes, you're right, I do recognize Arty's cake. I didn't recognize Pieuw's soda on the side, though, even though it should be recognizable as one. This level can be difficult, but it's not too hard. It's all about getting through the level with efficient skill usage.       

20 levels left in this gargantuan pack! Almost at the finish line :)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

kaywhyn

#55
And, the Groupie rank is done and I thus have solved all of the LWT pack for Old Formats! :thumbsup: Icho may be the first to finish the New Formats version of LWT, but I'm officially the first to have all of LWT Old Formats solved. So, here is my entire replay collection for LWT Old Formats, all 320 replays. IMO, the second half of Groupie wasn't that much harder, but the final level of the pack was definitely the hardest, although certainly not the hardest level I have ever played. Not by a longshot. I also was far less successful with guessing the designer styles for the second half of Groupie.

edit: Reattached my entire replay collection due to going back and actually legitimately playing and solving Amateur 31 the right way, and unlocked the gold talisman along the way, and so I added my new Amateur 31 replay and got rid of the old Amateur 31 replay, which technically isn't really a replay of the level at all.

All rightie, onto the feedback for Groupie 21-40.

Spoiler

Groupie 21 - Kiwi knights in white satin Very nice level and puzzle! :thumbsup: I really like this one. Not hard, but not easy either. I had a feeling this was zanzindorf's tileset.

Groupie 22 - We are yung Obviously this is yung's design. I have also played his first and only pack, where I agree with you there are too many walkers provided for releasing the blockers in his pack. No real challenge at all. Similarly, this level is way too easy with the abundance of platformers and builders. I ended up getting over the OWW through the top.

Groupie 23 - The Earth Song I incorrectly thought this was a Nepster design, but now that you mentioned it's a bulletride design, yes I do see the Walk in the Park level design here. I don't recall the other level of his that you also put in here. I need to dig up that pack again. It's been a while since I solved all of Lemmings Stampede. Another great level. I'm not sure if the miner cancelling trick is required, although I can't thinking of any other solution that wouldn't require it.

Groupie 24 - Dove is in the air Ok, I definitely would not had guessed Dodochacalo here, although I also incorrectly guessed him in an earlier level in this rank. I'm sure I backrouted this level, considering that I have plenty of skills leftover, the only trick I make use of is a digger cancelling another digger, and I simply use the first few climbers as delays to give the builder enough time to bridge the gap to the exit.

Groupie 25 - Part of ze Reunion I definitely knew this is Icho's, since yes he's known for his Reunion pack. Not only that, the City tileset 100% points to Icho. Somewhat difficult, but it's not too hard. Nice level as well. I definitely don't like how it's difficult to see stuff in this tileset though. Skill shadows definitely came in handy to see if the structure on the far right would stop the miner in my solution.

Groupie 26 - Clam-a-Lem-a Ding Dong I definitely knew from the level title that this must be Clam's. That reminds me, I still need to play clemmings. Perhaps I can LP that one after the ones I have planned. He appears to have also vanished from the forums, so I haven't gotten to know him at all. Ok level, also a bit difficult, but not too hard. The fiddliest part of my solution is the drop before the exit at the very end.

Groupie 27 - Deceit and destruction I also knew this is Deceit's from the level title. I have played and beaten all of Deceit's Lemmings, but it was a long time ago and on Lemmix. The final Mayhem level was also one of the last levels I managed to solve after a while. I couldn't beat it at first, but I eventually was able to figure it out on my own. Difficult only due to the 2 builders, but it was still easy for me. Digger cancelling a digger for the win again ;)

Groupie 28 - Hiroshima Now it's time for Gigalem. Here I thought this was yours, though, since I remember you doing a Japan level earlier in the pack. Should had realized it from the tileset that this level is Gigalem's style, although to be fair I haven't played his Millas' packs yet. This was a pretty cool and great radiation level, I thought. Solution isn't that hard at all despite the radiation. I don't mind radiation/slowfreeze, though. The only hard part of the level is the end where the zombies are. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the radiation at the end is placed in such a way that the lemmings will never explode before reaching the exit? I think the only way for that to happen is if the lemmings have far to drop down, giving the timer more of a chance to actually expire.

Groupie 29 - Every Geoff you take Obviously Geoff's style from the title, and I recently finished my second playthrough of his Geofflems pack. Very nice level here too! :thumbsup: I especially loved the building to turn around trick and digging through the staircase to drop to the exit level near the end with the worker lemming.

Groupie 30 - Joga I definitely would not had guessed mobius at all. It's been way too long since I completed Mobilems. I first solved all of the pack on Lemmini, so perhaps I should revisit the pack for NL. Easy level.

Groupie 31 - Ya ochen rad Title definitely escapes me, and I certainly would not had guessed Gigalem. I really like this puzzle/level! Definitely requires some thought to solve. It's a bit difficult, but not too hard. Very nice solution. I had a feeling there were hidden masher traps, and indeed there are.

Groupie 32 - Fernando I knew this was Fernandes' style from the title. I have also played his master's degree pack from earlier this year. Starts off easy but definitely got hard as you progressed in the pack. Pretty easy level here. Nothing too special.

Groupie 33 - We don't need another hero I definitely would not had guessed Deceit here. I thought it was either a namida or a Nessy level. Both are wrong :crylaugh: This level stumped me for about 10 minutes. In particular, the builder gap is such that the worker lemming will never turn around, so the challenge was figuring out how to get the crowd out before doing so. Still a really nice 1-of-everything level. Not sure if bashing against the OWW to turn around is intended, though I can't think of any other solution that doesn't require it.

Groupie 34 - I see fire Definitely not in a million years I would had guessed kieranmiller. I have not played anything by him at all. As for the level, this was a bit difficult, especially the beginning, but level's not overly hard. The rest of the level after the beginning is easy.

Groupie 35 - Fly me to the moon I would not had guessed Arty here either. I believe it was thanks to your Pit Lems pack that I learned the Moon object is actually solid. I always thought it was background. Just from the level title itself it's very obvious where the exit is. No real challenge at all here. Very easy level. Nice looking level too.

Groupie 36 - What does the fox say? I definitely didn't have Gronkling in mind when predicting whose style this is. I thought it was a Gigalem one or possibly someone else (don't remember who). Other than his Lemmini minipacks, I haven't played anything by Gronkling. He hasn't released any level pack yet, I believe? I wonder what's the status on his Lemmings Evolution pack now that he has returned from a very long absence. I'm very positive my solution is a backroute. I'm sure it's not supposed to be that easy :P This was even one of the levels you changed too. Looks like you have to fix it up some more.

Groupie 37 - Johnny B. Goode The B in the title totally escaped me and didn't point me to bsmith. I have played his small pack about a month or two ago, though it was my second playthrough (my first playthrough of the pack was several months ago earlier this year). You're absolutely right about him remaking several original Lemmings levels, as I also noted that in my feedback to his pack. Very nice no builder level/solution! :thumbsup: This one was easy for me. Even after figuring out the solution, the other thing that also needs to be figured out is how to stop the climber from splatting after mining the crowd out.

Groupie 38 - A Mazu Grace Obviously the design is the author of Mazulems. Mazulems was pretty much the first full custom pack I have ever played, though I believe this was back when I was a high schooler and on Dos. My first custom pack on other engines was Dovelems on Lemmini several years later. I really like the solution here! :thumbsup: I thought it was quite clever sending two climber lemmings to bridge the gaps from the other side before releasing the crowd. This was an easy level for me. The only part I don't like is how part of the steam is touching the lemmings through the builder staircase at the end. Seems that lemmings are fine if it's the end that touches them since they don't get killed.

Groupie 39 - Not the incended solution It definitely escaped me that this is your design style. I think I also agree with the community that your levels tend to have backroutes abound, although it's just like you said, you didn't have anyone test your levels/packs before you released them. You changed that with LOA. This was a really easy level despite how I was taken by complete surprise with the hidden traps in the skull. I definitely should had known those creepy looking eyes were traps.

Groupie 40 - The Grand Puzzle To finish off a very well-done and the largest level pack so far ever released is a very large level. I have not played Nepster's Final Frustration level yet, but I knew this level was his style given what I read about the level in the level pack topic. As a matter of fact, I still need to go back and finish solving Nepsterlems. I'm currently stuck on the first level of Black Hole, so I think at this point it'll be amazing if I manage to solve even just one level in that rank :crylaugh:

Anyway, as for this level, truth be told, I initially was very intimidated by the extremely large level size. The high RR definitely didn't help matters once I started playing the level, but once I managed to stop those entrances that are heading into immediate danger, the rest of the level wasn't so bad. Needless to say, the first several skill assignments have to be extremely quick. I'm not sure how many, but I believe it's the first 15-20 skill assignments that need to be quick, so the beginning is definitely the most stressful part. However, as I just said, once you successfully manage to do all of that, the stress is eliminated and then you can take it a bit more easy. The level still doesn't become a whole lot easier, though.

I think as is true with almost everyone here and on difficult levels, builders is the skill that we all try to conserve as much as possible. Indeed, when I had made a lot of progress on the level and neared the end, I realized that I was running out of builders very quickly, and so the first thing I did after that is to find the places where I used more builders than was necessary and hence save rather than waste them instead. The destructive skills also surprisingly quickly, though I think the bashers and miners are the more problematic ones than the diggers. Due to the extremely high save requirement, it can also be really difficult to save all the blockers, especially the ones that are headed the wrong way. I think the most difficult area for me was the exit area, especially in regards to how to prevent climbers from going out to the right and dying. Also the area with the gold pillars with the two very tiny gaps can be difficult and very fiddly. The second right-most entrance area can also be difficult. After doing what I did by mining right away, I definitely could had made it easier by digging first. It's just that I didn't know where two builders would reach to seal off the gap with a lemming from the right-most entrance.

Several tricks are needed here: Digger-basher staircase, good use of delaying tactics without using builders, and either miner cancelling another miner, basher blocker turnaround, or digger cancelling another digger, and of course releasing blockers. As I'm writing this, I just realized I probably could had made the right-most entrance much easier by using the digger cancelling another digger trick. Or at least dig, block, and then dig with a left facing lemming to release the blocker.

Though I managed to solve the level, I'll be honest and that is I'm not a huge fan of this level due to how so much scrolling needs to be done, especially since it's impossible to watch all entrances depending on where you are in the level. If anything, I got extremely annoyed by the excessive scrolling that needed to be done very fast. That definitely made me dislike the level even more after I was past the initial intimidation. Because of this, a lot of pausing is needed, and it definitely makes planning the solution out that much more difficult. Looks like I echoed Icho's dislike of extremely large levels where you can't see all lemmings at once. 

Overall, an excellent pack that I would definitely recommend despite the very large size of the pack. Even better if you're musically inclined, since you'll likely be able to understand the level title references to the songs. Though, it seems that not many people are fans of radiation/slowfreeze, and if that's the case, I say they shouldn't bother with the Old Formats version and just play the New Formats version instead. As you know, I don't mind the culled radiation/slowfreeze, so I was willing to play through the Old Formats version. I wasn't playing it just to be the first person to complete the Old Formats version. Even then, there aren't that many of these levels in the pack itself, so there's still a lot of just standard puzzle levels that players can enjoy if they don't want to bother playing the radiation/slowfreeze levels. And who knows. When I do the New Formats version, I'll probably end up LPing it. It'll take an extremely long time, though, and from what I remember it's definitely very slow going at first with the first two ranks, especially since the levels in them are not your tutorials at all, and some are difficult. Of course, I'll let you know when I have started it and provide you the link ;)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Strato Incendus

Damn, you're faster than I can reply to these! :thumbsup: In a weird anachronism, I've watched your first half of Groupie before the rest of your replays (and also before IchoTolot's re-solutions for New Formats... he already announced he "re-backrouted" the levels, so I assume he found some of the same backroutes you found :D ).

So here are just my comments on Groupie 01-20

01: Close to intended. As long as you compress the lemmings somewhere, I'm fine with that. The ketchup and mustard bottles aren't traps by default. It's just my evil genius that turned them into traps. :P Usually, only animals are deadly in my levels... but as you've seen from the occasional lightning bolt that can hit a lemming out of a thunder cloud (e.g. on "Lems in the sky with diamonds"), it's not entirely restricted to that.

02: That is a slight backroute, but a clever one. Maybe I can fix it, maybe not. I don't want to go all out on pickup skills on this particular level, since that's what Flopsy's second level, "Read my lips", is for.

03: Open-ended. This isn't based on any actual level by Proxima; it's based on his own verbal description of his level building style. Funnily enough though, as you can see from the past pages of this thread, he nevertheless was the very first one to identify his own level. :D

04: Intended. If you watch any Let's Play by Colorful Arty, you immediately know this level is his. ;)

05: This level is a gift that keeps on giving with regard to backroutes. A little steel should fix this particular one, though.

06: That solution was much more complicated than the intended one, because you had the worker lemming loop around quite a few times. :thumbsup: Still, you used all the skills, so that's fine by me! Now I can understand though why that crackle sound was annoying you the whole time, because the level took much longer with your solution. FYI, the New-Formats version doesn't have this object anymore, since it's technically an animation with no effect. And probably also because it disguises as terrain, and is therefore similarly dishonest as a hidden trap. I think namida has plans of reintroducing no-effect triggered objects, but that still doesn't mean this particular "trap" will return. ;)

07: Intended. Just like IchoTolot's solution. Glad this approach seems to be sufficiently enforced on this level.

08: Open-ended. This is one of the levels not made in-style of IchoTolot, but a level type that IchoTolot hates (like a Hard-for-Flopsy level for Flopsy). That's why, in contrast to Groupie 03, I made the chambers interact with each other via the teleporters, as a compromise. ;)

09: Valid alternative solution, includes the main trick.

10: Open-ended.

11: Well, that's one way to do it. :D As long as you use compression method and the chain staircase at the end, the level has fulfilled its minimum requirements.

12: Very nice and elegant! Btw, if this had been supposed to be GigaLem's level, I would have used his updated version of the Tree tileset. I used the classic one on purpose, because that's the one namida originally made. ;) Also, the title is not misspelled, but written to emulate a New-Zealandic accent. If I had wanted to be particularly infantile about this, I would have called the level "All hands on deck!" instead. Though in the meantime, I've heard that this type of childish humour is actually something namida enjoys himself quite a lot, so maybe that could have been considered another "signature element" of his... :evil:

13: Not as bad as IchoTolot's initial backroute, but still too easy, you're right. At least you didn't use the Bomber to create any shortcuts. That gives me hope I might be able to stop this with a few more one-way arrows.

14: Different than intended, but not a backroute per se.

15: Open-ended. You used all the skills except for the last 2 Platformers, this is fine by me.

16: Yes, compressing the lemmings with the Fencers is intended. However, I never knew that it could be done inside the Fencer tunnel itself! :lem-mindblown: I always compressed them while still on that flat surface of the wooden platform right under the hatch, and only once they had been compressed did I send them up by fencing through the stack. I guess I didn't think about this possibility because Arty originally did this with Bashers, and with those, in-tunnel compression won't work, because the tunnels are wider.

17: Intended. The SubLems level in question is "I am R.T." (pronounced like "Arty"), which is Arty's take on the Sunsoft-rank original Lemmings level "I am A.T.".

18: Valid alternative solution. I've come to accept that this level does too many things at once to specifically enforce the trick it's hinting at. But as you said, you used all the skills, and if it still worked for you to recognise this level als Pieuw's, that's all that matters! ;)

19: Well, as simple as that was, it still required most of the skills. :D Maybe I can prevent it specifically by putting a small piece of steel right under the cross you used to have the Zombies walk over the Digger shaft. But if it's still possible to just dig anywhere else after that, this one might be difficult to fix.

20: Open-ended. And as you can see, no ketchup or mustard traps here! ;)

I'll reply to your second batch of Groupie levels later, but two things from your second post of course I have to comment on: ;)

QuoteOverall, an excellent pack that I would definitely recommend despite the very large size of the pack.

Thank you very much for recommending this pack to others! :thumbsup:

QuoteWhen I do the New Formats version, I'll probably end up LPing it. It'll take an extremely long time, though, and from what I remember it's definitely very slow going at first with the first two ranks, especially since the levels in them are not your tutorials at all, and some are difficult. Of course, I'll let you know when I have started it and provide you the link

I'd be honoured to see that, of course! :thumbsup: It would be interesting to watch in comparison, not only because you would be the first person LPing the New-Formats version - Flopsy has uttered interest in doing it, but no certain plans yet, as far as I could tell; and also, he would probably use his own music playlist again - but also because it would be the first non-blind LP.

Well, except for the couple of levels that had radiation and/or slowfreeze replaced on them, because they have slightly different solutions in New Formats. Albeit those solutions are rarely "better", just "different"... and sometimes just outright inferior versions, a mere attempt at replicating the original design.
My packs so far:
Lemmings World Tour (New & Old Formats), my music-themed flagship pack, 320 levels - Let's Played by Colorful Arty
Lemmings Open Air, my newest release and follow-up to World Tour, 120 levels
Paralems (Old Formats), a more flavour-driven one, 150 levels
Pit Lems (Old Formats), a more puzzly one, 100 levels - Let's Played by nin10doadict
Lemmicks, a pack for (very old) NeoLemmix 1.43 full of gimmicks, 170 levels

kaywhyn

#57
I totally forgot that I wanted go back and solve Amateur 31 - The Great Level of Indifference the legitimate way by actually playing it instead of simply let myself pass by not playing it, so here's a 100% solution to the level and hence the gold talisman. I have also reattached my replay collection in my previous reply above, so if you want to you could redownload that or download it if you haven't done so yet. Plus the New Formats version actually has a save requirement, and so I will have to play it anyway.

Quote from: Strato Incendus on November 24, 2020, 11:28:54 AM
Damn, you're faster than I can reply to these! :thumbsup: In a weird anachronism, I've watched your first half of Groupie before the rest of your replays (and also before IchoTolot's re-solutions for New Formats... he already announced he "re-backrouted" the levels, so I assume he found some of the same backroutes you found :D ).

Well, I'm honored. :P Haha I definitely had the momentum going as I was going through the Groupie rank, so I thought why stop when I'm on a roll? Yes, there was slow going at times on some levels due to me being a dummy, but for the most part the Groupie levels don't come near the brutal difficulty of some of the levels in the main ranks, especially the Legend rank, the final main rank of the pack.

Quote
QuoteOverall, an excellent pack that I would definitely recommend despite the very large size of the pack.

Thank you very much for recommending this pack to others! :thumbsup:

This is your flagship pack. I happen to be musically inclined from a really young age, and other than the extremely boring first two ranks which I think you correctly attributed to the fact that I played your Paralems and Pit Lems in quick succession, this pack gets an extremely positive reception from me due to the so many excellent puzzles, both the extremely artistic levels and the ones that aren't as much :) So really, the very artistic side of the levels is an extra plus if the puzzle/solution happens to be great in the first place, which I thought most of them were. This pack never got too overwhelming at all, except possibly the final level of the pack (just due to what you need to do in the first few minutes of the level), though there were some extremely tough nuts in the main ranks, but I felt they challenged me appropriately and in a really good way ;)

Quote
I'd be honoured to see that, of course! :thumbsup: It would be interesting to watch in comparison, not only because you would be the first person LPing the New-Formats version - Flopsy has uttered interest in doing it, but no certain plans yet, as far as I could tell; and also, he would probably use his own music playlist again - but also because it would be the first non-blind LP.

When I do do this, should I do it post-commentary like I'm doing with United? Or should I just LP it as if from complete scratch? Even though it's not really, since it will be a non-blind LP like you said since I've already seen all of the levels. Come to think of it, I notice how very quickly I tend to forget my own solutions to other people's levels, and so I might just do the former. Then again, maybe doing the latter is better and makes for a much more enjoyable experience for both me and the viewers, especially a pack author such as yourself ;) IIRC the longest I have ever struggled on a level in this pack was probably for a good 45 minutes or so, although I think the final level was close to an hour.

edit: After running my replays through the Replay refresher tool, I ran a mass replay check on them for the New Formats version. As I expected, several replays don't work, although I'm surprised that not as many failed as I thought there would be. 11 failed, some due to the glider issue, others for various reasons, most notably due to the ceiling being deadly in New Formats, while another 14 is undetermined (see my attached mass replay check text file for v12.10.0). Curiously, for v12.9.4, there are more problematic replays (mass replay check text file for v12.9.4 also attached). In both cases, it reports as Diva 24 not being found, although I ran my replay and it does work, so no problem there. However, it reports an error with Groupie 39 due to the generalstratomd style missing. So, it looks like I would have to go back and fix a lot of replays anyway, so perhaps this would point to doing the actual LP being the better option? Also, if I do this, I will definitely take your advice of devoting just a video to the final level, since it generally cannot be solved alongside other levels in the same session.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0

Strato Incendus

Ah yeah, thanks for adding Amateur 31; I had indeed already downloaded all your replays, so I just added this single one.

QuotePlus the New Formats version actually has a save requirement, and so I will have to play it anyway.

Well, that's namida's fault, not mine; at some point, for some reason, he decided to make the minimum save requirement in New Formats 1. :P And I've already complained to him how he partially ruined this otherwise completely indifferent level with that! ;)

Quotebrutal difficulty of some of the levels in the main ranks, especially the Legend rank, the final main rank of the pack.

Really? ^^ "Brutal" is a word I maybe would have expected for some levels from Lemmings Open Air, not from this pack. Maybe that's because IchoTolot seems to have breezed through this pack quickly and easily, so that I had already given up hope that any of those levels would pose an actual challenge to adept solvers such as you and IchoTolot.

I don't quite remember which of the Legend levels you considered the hardest, but maybe I'd have to check those specific levels again to see where you're coming from. ;)

As for the final level of the pack: Yeah, that took IchoTolot one hour as well. It's not necessarily for difficulty per se; it's just because there's so much stuff to cover.
In the end, I'm probably happy that the New Formats editor has a pixel limit, so that I can't even be tempted to ever create such a monster again. :evil:

"The Grand Puzzle" was my first attempt at creating a Final-Frustration-like experience; in Lemmings Open Air, "Hammer-Smashed Face" is my second one.
Interestingly enough, Lemmings: Hall of Fame actually does not end with such a huge open-ended level.
But Lemmings, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll might... and hopefully, that one will be much better at a much smaller landscape size. ;)

QuoteWhen I do do this, should I do it post-commentary like I'm doing with United? Or should I just LP it as if from complete scratch? Even though it's not really, since it will be a non-blind LP like you said since I've already seen all of the levels. Come to think of it, I notice how very quickly I tend to forget my own solutions to other people's levels, and so I might just do the former. Then again, maybe doing the latter is better and makes for a much more enjoyable experience for both me and the viewers, especially a pack author such as yourself ;) IIRC the longest I have ever struggled on a level in this pack was probably for a good 45 minutes or so, although I think the final level was close to an hour.

Well, if you really actually do forget your own solutions again quickly, then this might be the best chance you have to do a semi-blind LP. ;) In other words, just running the replays over the levels with post-commentary might be a wasted opportunity. At least as long as you're not really getting stuck - which I think both of us would have good reasons to doubt, now that you've already solved the entire pack in Old Formats.

I might still do a creator's commentary later, where I can run the replays with commentary... or IchoTolot might upload his solutions for New Formats to YouTube eventually. (Which would then be the same format in which you're planning to LP the pack, so if you're both just running the replays over the levels, it would be a very similar experience for the viewer, therefore most likely redundant.)

Quote11 failed, some due to the glider issue, others for various reasons, most notably due to the ceiling being deadly in New Formats, while another 14 is undetermined (see my attached mass replay check text file for v12.10.0). Curiously, for v12.9.4, there are more problematic replays (mass replay check text file for v12.9.4 also attached). In both cases, it reports as Diva 24 not being found, although I ran my replay and it does work, so no problem there. However, it reports an error with Groupie 39 due to the generalstratomd style missing.

- The Glider physics change was indeed only implemented in New Formats, so yes, all those replays will fail and did so for me as well. Sometimes I had to adjust the position of an updraft in a New-Formats level but had to deliberately not do so in Old-Formats.

- Diva 24 is a rerun of Noisemaker 15, so maybe there was an issue with the level IDs in the replay files? I remember I didn't quite know about the issue with identical level IDs back in Old-Formats, so whenever I created a rerun out of an existing level but then later on manually gave it a different level ID, replay files I had created before that would end up getting confused.

- Groupie 39 isn't the only level to require the strato_generalmd style; it's also needed for e.g. the level "Weiße Rosen aus Athen", for my custom white flower traps, and for the level "It must have been Lems", with my custom Builder staircases pre-placed inside the level.
So if you don't have that tileset installed (even though you should, since it ships with the New-Formats download), those other levels should have produced error messages as well.
Maybe you downloaded the styles together with the pack, but they didn't get unpacked into the right folder? ;)
If you unpack the ZIP into your main NeoLemmix 12.10 folder, the levels folder should automatically get integrated into your levels folder and the styles folder into your styles folder. If however you unpack them directly into levels, then the styles will end up in the wrong place.
My packs so far:
Lemmings World Tour (New & Old Formats), my music-themed flagship pack, 320 levels - Let's Played by Colorful Arty
Lemmings Open Air, my newest release and follow-up to World Tour, 120 levels
Paralems (Old Formats), a more flavour-driven one, 150 levels
Pit Lems (Old Formats), a more puzzly one, 100 levels - Let's Played by nin10doadict
Lemmicks, a pack for (very old) NeoLemmix 1.43 full of gimmicks, 170 levels

kaywhyn

Quote from: Strato Incendus on November 24, 2020, 08:47:58 PM
Quotebrutal difficulty of some of the levels in the main ranks, especially the Legend rank, the final main rank of the pack.

Really? ^^ "Brutal" is a word I maybe would have expected for some levels from Lemmings Open Air, not from this pack. Maybe that's because IchoTolot seems to have breezed through this pack quickly and easily, so that I had already given up hope that any of those levels would pose an actual challenge to adept solvers such as you and IchoTolot.

I don't quite remember which of the Legend levels you considered the hardest, but maybe I'd have to check those specific levels again to see where you're coming from. ;)

Yea, "brutal" is definitely an overstatement, since I only considered a few levels in each rank to be much harder than the rest in the same rank, and even then the hardest levels of each rank aren't very hard to the extreme. Here, I was simply making the comparison that the difficulty of the Groupie rank, while definitely harder than the Encore rank, which I easily breezed through due to having already played your Lemmicks, Paralems, and Pit Lems all in their entirety, as a whole, doesn't come anywhere near the difficulty of the main ranks, most notably the Legend rank, which I thought was definitely the most difficult out of all the 6 main ranks. The Legend rank had a lot of difficult levels from what I remember, and I considered those brutal compared to the other hard ones in the other main ranks. But yes, I am in agreement that "brutal" is a much better descriptive word for LOA's difficulty rather than LWT. LWT is most definitely intermediate in difficulty compared to your other 3 packs. In order from easiest to hardest, Paralems => LWT => Lemmicks => Pit Lems. Though, due to the changing gimmicks in Lemmicks, its difficulty is hard to place.

Quote
As for the final level of the pack: Yeah, that took IchoTolot one hour as well. It's not necessarily for difficulty per se; it's just because there's so much stuff to cover.
In the end, I'm probably happy that the New Formats editor has a pixel limit, so that I can't even be tempted to ever create such a monster again. :evil:

"The Grand Puzzle" was my first attempt at creating a Final-Frustration-like experience; in Lemmings Open Air, "Hammer-Smashed Face" is my second one.

Truthfully, the final level of LOA was nowhere near as stressful as The Grand Puzzle. Slightly easier as well, and I definitely prefer LOA's final level to LWT's final level. If you read my feedback on The Grand Puzzle, I'm not a huge fan of the level, mainly due to how I got quickly annoyed at how much scrolling needs to be done and just not being able to watch all crowds at once.


Quote
Well, if you really actually do forget your own solutions again quickly, then this might be the best chance you have to do a semi-blind LP. ;) In other words, just running the replays over the levels with post-commentary might be a wasted opportunity. At least as long as you're not really getting stuck - which I think both of us would have good reasons to doubt, now that you've already solved the entire pack in Old Formats.

I might still do a creator's commentary later, where I can run the replays with commentary... or IchoTolot might upload his solutions for New Formats to YouTube eventually. (Which would then be the same format in which you're planning to LP the pack, so if you're both just running the replays over the levels, it would be a very similar experience for the viewer, therefore most likely redundant.)

Well, at least many of the details of my solutions I tend to forget. My United level solving commentary video series is pretty much a complement to Icho's Creator's commentary, the difference being is that I not only explain my solutions but also I give input and thoughts on the levels themselves too from a player's perspective instead of from a level designer point of view. This means that if you ever end up doing a creator's commentary for your LWT pack, I might end up doing the same thing and complement your video series with mine. Or if it doesn't happen, I might just end up actually doing the non-blind LP, and possibly just switch to post-commentary if I get really stuck, though I highly doubt that will happen at all, considering the longest I've been stuck on a level in this pack was for about a good 45 minutes or so.

Quote11 failed, some due to the glider issue, others for various reasons, most notably due to the ceiling being deadly in New Formats, while another 14 is undetermined (see my attached mass replay check text file for v12.10.0). Curiously, for v12.9.4, there are more problematic replays (mass replay check text file for v12.9.4 also attached). In both cases, it reports as Diva 24 not being found, although I ran my replay and it does work, so no problem there. However, it reports an error with Groupie 39 due to the generalstratomd style missing.

Quote
- Groupie 39 isn't the only level to require the strato_generalmd style; it's also needed for e.g. the level "Weiße Rosen aus Athen", for my custom white flower traps, and for the level "It must have been Lems", with my custom Builder staircases pre-placed inside the level.
So if you don't have that tileset installed (even though you should, since it ships with the New-Formats download), those other levels should have produced error messages as well.
Maybe you downloaded the styles together with the pack, but they didn't get unpacked into the right folder? ;)
If you unpack the ZIP into your main NeoLemmix 12.10 folder, the levels folder should automatically get integrated into your levels folder and the styles folder into your styles folder. If however you unpack them directly into levels, then the styles will end up in the wrong place.

I checked my styles folder for New Formats and it appears that I didn't extract all of your styles folders to my NL directory. Though, it's possible that I might had just simply used the styles manager download, but I didn't see the strato folders in the styles folder of NL, and so maybe not ??? I redownloaded the pack for New Formats and now it fixes the error with Groupie 39 in the mass replay text file. The same problematic replays are still reported, but again that's expected going from Old Formats to New Formats.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPMqwuqZ206rBWJrUC6wkrA - My YouTube channel and you can also find my playlists of Lemmings level packs that I have LPed
kaywhyn's blog: https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5363.0