I feel the lemming becomes available for re-assignment too quickly
I'd actually be in favour of the window starting
earlier. However, as long as the window is longer, later is fine.
The use of spamming has been an issue in some of the easier "fun style" levels and has hurt my opinion of these skills rather than helped them, honestly. The only skills that come even close in terms of "seriously, why would you do that, level designer?" potential is excessive use of builders/platformers to cross stupidly large gaps.
I have to take issue with this general sentiment. There can be many reasons why a level designer would choose to include large gaps for building across, including but not limited to:
a) enforcing multitasking
b) ensuring the builders are required for that particular task, and cannot be used elsewhere (and maybe it's not practical to simply make the gap smaller)
c) aesthetic reasons,
which are important; as much as I love
Oh No! More Lemmings, a lot of its levels are very boring to look at
because the designers prioritised puzzles over aesthetics. Original
Lemmings is a far more iconic game, arguably because its levels are far more recognisable, with this being arguably due to their aesthetic value
d) to make a longer, more epic level; one-screeners are great, but the occasional builder-fest is fine by me, especially if the music is good
And, I wish there were a better term than "spamming" to mean "repetitive skill assignment"; it infuses it with a negativity it doesn't necessarily deserve. Chucking loads of Grenades at a wall to blow a path through it is great fun! Also, it's a fact that
repetitition is one of the best ways to learn, understand, and get better at things. I've learned way more about all of the skills by being given opportunities to "spam" them than by following the detailed instructions of a level that only provides enough of the skills necessary to complete its prescribed solution.
Grr!
Rant over