Holiday Lemmings 2024

[Mobiethian]

You'll get there, I am confident. Armani is really clever with his levels. ha

NEWS! A style that I was using was removed from the database, so I had to remove those items from the level, specifically, Bank Holiday Daytime Level 7. Downloading the pack again will fix this. Or, if you've made progress, let me know and I will send the updated level file itself to you. Sorry about this, everyone!

[Guigui]

Very slowly progressing through daytime.

Level 6 Skating On Thin Ice is another masterpiece by Armani. Glad I could clear it, this half turn with dig and platform is hellish.

I have an alternate route than the one shown on your "How to solve it" videos. Using that little gap at the top of the left one-way pillar seemed mandatory to me :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V5bSa0I5A8YhVRa4B5kHsyZp6CnuV6o2/view?usp=sharing

[Mobiethian]

Awesomeness! I like your solving method there.

For all players, now you can download the level file itself to the broken level - Daytime 7 to fix it and play!  Considering the broken pieces that had occurred recently. Enjoy! Sorry for any inconvenience.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hl95QGrAKQOhKSfDE6hFP7bBLPteKG4v/view?usp=sharing

[Guigui]

Now how green is that check ?


Considering I'm quite new to NeoLemmix, this was a really good, and hard, trip there to my first pack of custom levels (not counting Lemmings Redux).

Those tough levels from Armani, I sometimes had to resort to the "How to solve it" videos : play the level for about one hour, get stuck, watch the video until a point it shows something I did not try yet, then usually I can figure the rest.

Hardest levels in that regards imo :
All I want for Christmas is
The Bear Necessities
Sky Shield
Watch Your Step
Warm Cosy Basement
WHere Angels Dwell

Curious to know if more veterans players than me tried this pack and what their toughts are on the general difficulty of those levels. Just to give me an idea of what to expect from a next custom levels pack.

I'd say if you want to sort the level by difficulty, just put all Mobiethian's level in one rank, and the Armani ones in the others !

Thanks again for creating the pack.

[Mobiethian]

Perfect! Congrats for solving all levels in Holiday Lemmings 2024, Guigui! You're welcome for the level pack and thank you for playing as well as for the review. We do appreciate that. I can't speak for Armani, but I am pretty sure he appreciates it.

I'm still new to things with 'tough level' making and still learning. My next level pack will indeed be a challenge, it is really tough so far.

I like your sorting idea there, it can be done if the players knew the authors of the levels first. Hope to be in touch sometime regarding my next level pack due to be revealed sometime around the holidays or after. There's no set release date this time.

[Armani]

@Guigui
Thank you very much for playing our holiday pack! I hope you enjoyed it
I think the overall difficulty of this pack is slightly above the average.
There are many easier packs in the NL level pack board and also there're quite a lot of harder ones too.
If you have hard time finding packs with suitable difficulties, you can ask the forum and people will gladly recommend some packs with your desirable difficulty

[Guigui]

Thank you for your input Armani. Now your name is definitely associated with tough levels for me.

I could for sure use some recommendations for packs with different levels of difficulty :

* easy and fun : playable for my 10ish years old kids
* moderate difficulty : need to think, but can figure out the solution in a matter of minutes.
* harder : where I begin to struggle, like this Holiday Lemmings 2024.
* too hard for me yet : where I wont find the solution without hints, frustrating.

[kaywhyn]

Thank you for your input Armani. Now your name is definitely associated with tough levels for me.

I could for sure use some recommendations for packs with different levels of difficulty :

* easy and fun : playable for my 10ish years old kids
* moderate difficulty : need to think, but can figure out the solution in a matter of minutes.
* harder : where I begin to struggle, like this Holiday Lemmings 2024.
* too hard for me yet : where I wont find the solution without hints, frustrating.

As promised, here's a list a user was generous enough to send me that has the packs separated into the 3 categories you mentioned, which I pretty much agree with them on where they're listed!

* easy and fun : playable for my 10ish years old kids
Lemmings New Worlds
Lemmings Faithful
Lemmings Plus I
Holiday Lemmings Plus
Gronkling's Animal Pack (Easy difficulty)
Geofflems
Mazulems

* moderate difficulty : need to think, but can figure out the solution in a matter of minutes.
Lemmings Plus II
Lemmings Plus Omega
Lemmings Plus VI
Sublems
Blizzard of Lemm
Mobilems
Lemmings in Weirdyland
Deceit's Lemmings
DoveLems
PimoLems
Insane Steve's World

* harder : where I begin to struggle, like this Holiday Lemmings 2024.
Fiat Lem
Festival Millas 2023
Festival Millas 2024
Lemmings Cranium
Lemmings Plus III
Lemmings Plus IV
Lemmings Plus V
Lemmings Plus VII
Quest from Kieran
SEB Lems
MegSEGAbytes
Zemmings Complete
Lemmings Migration
Lemmings Destination
Revenge of the Lemmings

* too hard for me yet : where I wont find the solution without hints, frustrating.
Lemmings Uncharted
Lemmings United
Lemmings Reunion
Gronkling's Animal Pack (Hard difficulty)
LemRunner
Lemmings Plus Omega II
Lemmings Plus Alpha
Mike's Lemmings V2
NepsterLems
Clammings
Artlems

The user who sent me the list hasn't solved all of these packs, while I have played and solved all of the packs listed except for FM2024 (haven't started that one yet), but yea, I think this list is quite accurate! [/list]

[Mobiethian]

That's a rather nicely assembled list, I must say. I just want to have the chance to say that I'm working very hard to make my next level pack Oh Wow! More New Worlds as difficult as I can make it. I've been reading reviews and listening to everyone regarding my level packs/levels featured in packs, etc. that they are just way too easy. I'm hoping to change that.

I've been watching playthrough videos, replaying the old Lemmings games, and reading topics/posts regarding the toughest level packs out there. Not that I want to make it too difficult for easy level pack players, but I want to clear my name once and for all of being an easy level maker with all of my work. I hope that everyone really enjoys Holiday Lemmings 2024 into the future, but without Armani, this one would be far too easy to complete like the others. I really appreciate him and his hard work.

[Guigui]

Many thanks for the list kaywhyn, definitely a great help to swin in the ocean of levels packs. I must say I'm a bit overwhelmed by NL stuff that I just discovered about a month ago, so much to do with users-created content ! So this list is a nice guide.

Also Mobiethian do not worry about making not-hard-as-hell levels, we love them too !
Actually I downloaded all the packs categorized "easy, my 10yo kids can play it", often need to relax and save Lemmings without torturing my head for a millenia.

[kevinmichael]

I certainly admire the easy levels and won't attempt the hard ones. I get so frustrated - even with some of the easy ones. I think laying back with some levels is perfect.

[Mobiethian]

Thank you, kind gentlemen, for weighing in on what I've said earlier. And the kind words! The thing is, and I'm being completely honest here, I can't solve harder levels at all. And I'm not alone here. I've even showed levels off of mine to friends around here locally and they don't have the slightest idea how to solve them at all.   Even some having experience with the original Lemmings game. This is why I made the YouTube playthroughs and added IchoTolot's to my channel playlist as well. I appreciate that he did an LP on Lemmings New Worlds! Thank you, IchoTolot!

The thing is, it does sadden me sometimes when my levels are seemingly too easy compared to others. I see a lot of other levels in packs that I play and I can't solve any one of their levels, which is fine by me. They're nice to look at! I do try, however. The Level of the Year nominations are beautiful, however, mine are so simple compared to the whole thing and I cannot solve any of the other levels except for just one.

[Mobiethian]

Howdy friends, fellow Lemmings Forums users! My good friend and amazingly talented go-to artist, Hello Mojo has made a Holiday Lemmings 2024 painting for me and it's wonderfully beautiful! I wanted to share it with everyone. She did a great job with it and I am pleased. 

[JawaJuice]

@Mobiethian, @Armani,

This was a pack I started playing back in July, but gave up on Armani's levels quite quickly, only completing Mobiethian's. Having recently played and solved quite a few of Armani's levels from the Random Level Sharing topic and the upcoming LDC #33, I realized he's not so scary In fact, I like his levels a lot! So, I thought with the festive season on the horizon, this would be the perfect time to dive back into the pack!

Firstly, if I were to assign a difficulty level to this pack, I'd probably go with Medium. Alternatively, it could be Easy-Hard as it runs the gamut. The difficulty curve is kind of all over the place, and the Daytime rank is only slightly harder than the Night rank overall. Medium seems like a good median though. What @Guigui said is 100% accurate:

The actual pattern I found for the difficulty in your Holiday Lemmings 2024 pack is rather simple :
* created by Mobiethian : fair difficulty, have fun. I loved the living-room themed levels, with the trap-cat
* created by Armani : get prepared for brain burning.

Another observation I made is that Mobiethian uses time limits in most levels while Armani doesn't. TBH I have a preference for the latter - I prefer the difficulty of a level to come from the actual puzzle-solving rather than time pressure. That's a personal thing though; I also dislike 99 RR levels most of the time.

I was able to solve the whole pack without hints with three exceptions: All I want For Christmas Is..., Sky Shield and Constructus Interruptus. These I will go ahead and say are the hardest levels of the pack imo. The first two I was 95% of the way there and just needed a final push, courtesy of Armani. The latter, I had the right idea but I think an action to do near the end is so critical, it's more than a 5% thing. It never would have occurred to me without Armani's hint. INside OUT I also struggled with, but that was just me being stupid and the solution was obvious coming at it afresh on a new day.

I've made some notes on individual levels that you might be interested to read. I've got more notes for Armani's levels because there's just more to say about them! I still very much enjoyed playing through Mobiethian's levels though, as I have with all of his packs to date

Spoiler

Night rank

Sky Castle - Pleasant opening to the pack that won't pose many problems to experienced solvers.
Lems Are Playing Freeze Tag - Arman's first level is definitely trickier, mainly getting your head around slider mechanics - those pesky critters!
Christmas Tree Hunting - Mobiethian's hardest level so far; working out how to contain the crowd as well as have the pioneer go in both directions. It may actually be his hardest off the pack, although Rocky Road runs it close. Clever stuff!
Silent Night, Holy Night - Quite a long solve time for this one, which will become a recurring theme of Armani's levels! The hard part here is working out the correct use for a pretty limited skillset for such a large level.
Lighter Than a Snowflake - The level that originally caused me to give up on Armani's level in the pack. Coming back to it 5 months later, it's not as hard as I remembred but still gave me quite a lot of trouble (I always struggle where gliders are involved too!). Working out what skills you are going to need at the end is key, as well as the optimal path to the gap in the fire at the top right of the level, plus where you need to use the cloner (logically, it can only be one place).
Uphill Sled Ride - Nice puzzle! The tricky bit with this one is getting only two lemmings to go over the top while the rest are contained, making use of a skill in transtion, so that one of the two that go over can fence back up to the crowd.
Rocky Road - One of Mobiethian's hardest levels in the pack for my money. Another really well-designed puzzle.
Lost and Found - Not Armani's toughest level but working out how to release the infinitely looping shimmier can be hard; not so much the how as the when!
Claustrophobia 2 - Appropriate title given how tight (time-wise) this level is. Even with absolute optimal skill deployment, you will still only have a second to spare at the end!
Happy New Year! - This jointly authored level is deceptively difficult, working out the only correct path (I assume) to victory! Took a bit of thinking out, this one - well played, guys!
All I Want For Christmas Is... - The first level in the pack to have me partially stumped. Definitely Armani's hardest level in the Night rank. Small hint acknowledged, the lightbulb moment was realizing that the lemming on the right side has to do pretty much everything.
Living in a Fairy Tale - Gorgeous tileset. I always love levels that utilize it and this one is no exception!
The Lem is Home Alone! - Another joint effort that required a pretty long solve time!
Night of the Christmas Crystals - What I call a slightly more arcade style level due to all the jumping around. Fun!
The Bear Necessities - Tough one. Aside from All I Want, probably the longest solve time of the rank. I don't think I backrouted it, but I did have a diggger to spare at the end.

Daytime rank

Walking Bearfoot in the Snow - This is the rank where we really start to see the genius of Armani's level design! In this one, the tactic of allowing the crucial pioneer to fall through the trap unharmed by having a sacrificial worker lemming take his place took a lot of spotting. I haven't seen trap response times used in quite this way before, but had a hunch they might, and also, there wasn't really anything left to try at this point; it's quite a restrictive level, in terms of skills.
Wake Up When It's Christmas - A rare open-ended level from Armani and a ton of fun to play through!
Do the Polar Plunge - Not too hard, but also lots of fun - love jumpers!
Angels We Have Heard On High - An uncharacteristically easy joint level, but I suppose it's early in the rank. Very enjoyable nonetheless.
Your Gifts Are Over There - Neat idea to have the pioneer do his work underneath the crowd.
Skating on Thin Ice - Tricky one, but once you realize you can't use the digger at the start because you'll need him later and that the snowmen have climbable sides (not a sentence I ever expected to write!), the rest is straightforward.
Fluffy Snow Vs Rock Hard - Very clever, Armani, very clever.
Amphibious Operations - Difficult one for me as I always struggle a bit with the mechanics of swimmers but ultimately another nicely designed level from Armani!
Sky Shield - The hardest level of the pack so far, to my mind. Very, very long solve time. Though I got 95% of the way through I did need that final push from Armani to get me to see one little thing right at the end. Once again, a brilliantly designed level that utilizes every last skill.
Roller Coaster Mountain - In which we see once again that Mobiethian is a big fan of the lone pioneer, leading from the front!
Mele Kalikimaka - Tropical Christmas Vacation? I love the atmosphere of this one, nice break from the rest of the pack!
Like a Snowman Inside a Fridge - Another surprisingly straightforward joint effort but looks great and is fun to play through. Love this tileset too, it always reminds me of Festival Millas, which are among my favourite packs ever!
INside OUT - Strangely gave me a lot of trouble, given that it's not an especially hard level, but I was being especially dense. Looking at it afresh on a new day, it was quite obvious what needed to be done.
Watch Your Step! - Now we get to the business end of the pack in terms of Armani's levels. Long solve time. Very hard to work out what needs to be done. Clever use of the stoner to enable a single basher tunnel at the top. Clever use of sliders. Clever how it all comes together. Just a clever level.
The Lem is Lost in the City - Smart level design and again, it looks fantastic!
Warm Cozy Basement - One of Armani's hardest levels I would say. Very long solve time. Looks impossible at first, as Armani's levels often do. How to get that single floater to go back up and down to mine the tunnel to the crowd? A head-scratcher for sure! Lightbulb moment here was realizing that the blocker isn't for the crowd when they're at the top, but once they've got down, awaiting the miner to set them free. Genius level, honestly.
Constructus Interruptus - Arguably the hardest level of the pack or at least I think so, and Armani probably concurs. He was kind enough to say that I had almost solved it in a replay I sent him, but without the hint he gave, I doubt I would have finished it. The final bit I hadn't got is critical and as I said to him, I don't think I would've seen it in a month of Sundays! It's a 'trick' (more of a technique really) that I'll remember for future solving though. It's a clever level again and the clue's in the name, but travellers be warned - it's not easy in the slightest to work out what you're supposed to do!
Where Angels Dare - Another level that looked impossible at first pass, but in the end it wasn't too bad. Something of a breather level compared with the last two!
And They Lived Happily Ever After - All the neutrals drowning at the start made me laugh out loud! Had a platformer to spare at the end and a ton of jumpers. Is this a reference to being given an abundance of knitwear by relatives for Christmas, or am I reading too much into there?

Overall, I'd heartily recommend this pack to anyone who hasn't tried it yet, especially at this time of year! There are fun challenges to be had and gorgeous vistas to take in on your travels Happy festivities everyone!