You should have an idea of which features are still subject to change and which ones are pretty much set. Currently, the impression that I've gotten is that EVERYTHING is on the table
Yes, that's correct; I'm open to ideas about most if not all aspects of the game, player and editor at present. The only exceptions are decisions that have already been made since the project began, but even these are still open to feedback (note that I re-implemented the Spawn Interval option - not sure if you knew about that?)
Having said that,
it doesn't mean that all ideas will be accepted (although many have been so far), just that they will at least be considered.
If you wanted to make a SL level without worrying about if you're gonna need to make a ton of maintenance updates
You're being a tad hyperbolic here. Sure, the changes I've made so far require a fair bit of porting for existing NeoLemmix content. But any SuperLemmix content made so far would likely only require minor tweaks, if anything at all.
which subset of features are safe?
...
which skills/objects/mechanics/etc. are you considering making changes to?
At the moment, anything for which a discussion isn't currently open is relatively safe, and everything on the
wish list is what's planned. But, ideas are coming in all the time so it's worth keeping an eye on this.
EDIT: Maybe I should make the wish list more prominent on the boards?Consider this a period of experimentation where SuperLemmix is finding its feet. From your suggestion that I should be clearer about the goals,
I will try to get together a more comprehensive "planner" which maybe specifies some general time periods, or perhaps rather what can be expected with each release version from here on out. Namida has been doing that for NeoLemmix for a while, and it definitely seems to help.
Keep in mind that there were very few breaking changes in NL history
Hmm, no. NeoLemmix made
many breaking changes, let's say it like it is. It's not a bad thing; it did what it needed to do to keep the majority of the community happy and ensure its progress. SuperLemmix has the opportunity to do the same, but without the pressure of keeping the majority happy (I envision that NeoLemmix will always be the "main" engine, and SuperLemmix will replace Lemmini/SuperLemmini as the "worthwhile alternative").
There certainly were some, but they weren't something to be taken lightly. We did it on a few occasions when we decided the benefits outweighed the costs
...
So when you do break levels, you should have a good reason for doing so
To the first point: yes, I completely acknowledge that none of the changes made in NeoLemmix were taken lightly. In fact, its existence depended on being able to serve the majority of the community (as previously mentioned). I can imagine that no decision was made without a
lot of back-and-forth discussion - a quick search of the Forum archives attests to this as well!
To the second point: "because it will improve the game" is a good enough reason for breaking any level, as NeoLemmix has proven countless times. SuperLemmix exists because some people felt that certain decisions
didn't improve the game, and because (more recently) ideas are no longer being considered for NeoLemmix, so there is no chance of those decisions being reconsidered.
but we also weren't constantly discussing a new set of breaking changes every week or so (except arguably the infamous culling frenzy, but they were also pretty grouped ...)
Consider this an "updating frenzy," then, similar to that culling period in NeoLemmix's development history; I doubt that the ideas will come as thick and fast once things have settled down a bit. Really, the thing I've been waiting to type throughout this post is that: of course,
there will absolutely come a point where less changes are being made, and it will become more about maintaining and bugfixing the features that have been implemented thus far. At that point, it will make more sense to create content for SuperLemmix. It probably isn't even that far away: the wish list only has one more physics-related change (the one regarding steel).
Generally, we don't want to be constantly revisiting old levels to update them for breaking changes. It takes away time that we can use for other things
Yes, fair point. This is duly noted. What I would say, then, to anyone reading this who is considering making content for SuperLemmix: perhaps don't make any full packs just yet.