No, this is just wrong and my assumption is totally justified. The trajectory is nothing new as swimmer and shimmier are moving horizontally as well. The little up and down of the shimmier being no problematic factor.
The trajectory itself is not the problem - it's the fact that the Jetboarder can do it
anywhere. Gliders, Swimmers, and Shimmiers are all tied to specific terrain or objects in order to be able to go along this trajectory. Which means, if you want a lemming going across a gap with this trajectory, it's easy enough to set up. But at the same time, the skills are not so universally applicable that they easily create backroutes.
As well and on top of that, you already see the evidence of my statement that even for pure horizontal movement updrafts are not a good replacement as they are quite a rare occursion in levels!
This is backwards: The fact that updrafts are rarely used doesn't mean they are bad - there are just more convenient solutions for the other skills now.
Indeed I have "simulated" Shimmiers in the past before we had them (that Lemmicks level was actually called "Coming soon: Shimmiers"
), by having Gliders go along the bottom of a Platformer's bridge. Without that Platformer stopping them, they continue to float upwards and go into a fire trap. Now that we have the Shimmier, obviously I don't need to do that anymore - but it still would have been possible to create this solution (Shimmiers going along the bottom side of a Platformer's bridge) before.
And since the updraft in that level naturally takes the Gliders into the fire trap, it's actually a disadvantage, not so much something that gives away the solution.
Just one example!
And the transions can easily be done by placing updrafts and walls. The shimmier can't even transtion and only requires updrafts under the ceiling.
- The Glider can't transition to a Climber because he bounces off the wall. --> Jumper-Climber transition can't be emulated
- The Glider can't transition to a Shimmier because he bounces off the wall or bumps his head on a ceiling if taken there by an updraft --> Jumper-Shimmier transitions or Climber-Shimmier transitions can't be emulated
The Shimmier itself of course can't transition, but it's a possible "end state" of all these other transitions.
Unless you're talking about
simultaneously replacing all Climbers, Jumpers, and Shimmiers with Gliders + updrafts. This would be quite an unfair comparison, though, because then you'd be trying to replace three skills at once, whereas I'm only arguing to replace one skill (which, in contrast to the others,
hasn't been implemented yet) with Gliders + updrafts.
Sometimes. In the case of placing large updrafts it's always.
No, it isn't, because as I said before, updrafts serve two main purposes: Breaking falls AND carrying Gliders. When spanning across a gap without terrain under them, yes, it's more likely they're needed for Gliders. But you might just as well have to platform or build through them, so that the crowd can safely fall onto that bridge from above.
Then just let him fly of into the void or into a water pit, or a trap or a useless area or something. Solutions are plentyful.
The Jetboarder can easily fly over water pits - in fact, if you assign him next to a water pit, I'd expect him to act like the L2 Surfer.
To prevent a falling lemming from turning into a Jetboarder wherever he wants, I need an obstacle covering the entire vertical span. If I don't want to go with high steel pillars or fire beams, should I create a large pillar of water instead? That would look even weirder.
Since I agree that this debate is getting stuck, though, I think it might be helpful to get kieranmillar's input here regarding the already existing "flyer" skills in Lemmings 2. How often did these create backroutes for you? I'm specifically referring to Jet Pack, SuperLem, Icarus Wings, Hang Glider, Ballooner, Parachuter, and Magic Carpet here.
The Magic Carpet is probably most comparable, and SuperLem the least, because it's the most broken. All of these skills can of course be manipulated with the fan to change altitude, but the tough execution of Lemmings 2 should make up for too precise interventions with that.
The ability to push the Magic Carpet up with the fan would be compensated by the Jetboarder's ability to be assigned mid-air - both skills can still freely choose the altitude at which they are performed. To my knowledge, it isn't possible to assign a Magic Carpet to a Faller, and I have seen levels of yours were the Magic Carpet doesn't even require support with the fan at all, but just naturally floats along a horizontal trajectory. Since there are no updrafts in L2, I do think this is the fairest comparison. The Magic Carpet also stops when he runs into terrain - he just doesn't leave behind his carpet as a piece of terrain.
Thinking in L2 terms, the Jetboarder is essentially a combination of Magic Carpet and Spear Thrower. Maybe this comparison sounds fairer to IchoTolot than that with the NeoLemmix Glider.
So, might we be able to predict the design potential of the Jetboarder based on that of the Magic Carpet and Spear Thrower?