Levels by Crane

[Crane]

Hey everyone, so I've got a few levels to randomly share that aren't part of any pack but may be a part of Lemmings Plus, a Lemmings Community Pack or Lemmings Cranium 2 if I make such a thing in the future.  For now though, play, enjoy and remember for the Level of the Year award if you think they're good enough!

Enjoy!  Feedback is welcome.

Changelog

Bashergrum:
V2: Terrain flattened slightly beneath trapdoor to remove backroute by JawaJuice
The Oubliette:
V2: Floor reshaped in rightmost pit and added steel block in order to mitigate effects of Basher/Blocker cancellation trick by JawaJuice.

V3: Leftmost steps moved closer to the exit to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V4: Plugged up the gap in the left wall to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V5: Increased height of steel on right side of pit to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V6: Reshaped the leftmost wall to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V7: Increased height of steel on right side of pit (again!) to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.
The Sphinx' Riddle:
V2: Thickened the sphinx' neck to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V3: Made the upper platform slope downwards on the left side to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

V4: Increased the height of the overhang near the sphinx to prevent backroute by JawaJuice.

[Crane]

Got three more levels for you.  One was a pair of levels for Level Design Contest #32 before I went with my "Ice Cream Cake" levels, while the other is another random one.  Coincidentally, they're all brick levels!

[JawaJuice]

@Crane Solved A Step Down With Difficulty - with difficulty Man, your levels are kinda evil if this was anything to go by. Ingenious though! I look forward to playing the rest when I get the time

Spoiler

I might have fluked the talisman there as I couldn't really a see a use for the other climber.

[Crane]

Response

Not my intended solution, but the main trick with the Builder/Slider/Shimmier is there, so I'll let it pass; well done.  The talisman comes from saving at least 2 tools.

Super-spoiler!

Also... the 2nd Climber is a complete red herring!

I have a reputation of making rather difficult levels, but I'm glad you're enjoying them - I look forward to seeing your solutions to the rest of my levels.

[JawaJuice]

@Crane Bashergrum solved! I found this one a little easier than Step Down, though still tricky.

Spoiler

It actually reminds me of a level from another pack I played a long time ago (I forget which), where the solution involves freeing the blocker at the end and then making the last two lemmings climbers - I guess this is a variation on a classic puzzle really. Since I remembered that one, the general approach was fairly quickly apparent; the hard thing here is working out the best way to contain the crowd so that they can be released with access to the bridges that have been built. A blocker left over, which I suspect might have been intended to interrupt the digger and leave a little splatform, though the nature of the terrain made this unnecessary. I would say hopefully your intended solution this time, but probably not as I didn't have any use for the two floaters.

[Crane]

That is a backroute unfortunately.  Here's a fixed version (also modified the post above)... at least I hope it's fixed.  Any digger pits you put in that area should no longer have an overhanging lip.

I think I know the level you mean.  I did base it off that level as a 'better' way of doing it, since freeing the blockers in that level required some very precise Digger/Builder tricks that the author had overused and were very frustrating to pull off.

[JawaJuice]

Yes, I did wonder about that because I was initially specifically trying to get a digger pit with an overhanging lip and it didn't seem possible - when I did pull it off, it was more by luck than judgement! I'll take a look at your updated level.

In the meantime, here's my solution for The Oubliette.

Spoiler

Funnily enough, I was talking in another topic about one of LemFan's levels utilizing a trick I thought was less-well known; turning around a basher with a blocker at the same time freeing the blocker. If I've done this correctly, I believe the same trick is used here.

[Crane]

I wish I could tell you how much I hate that trick - it breaks so many levels and it's so hard to get the timing down!  Still, I've hopefully patched the level to try to mitigate its effects.

[JawaJuice]

Sorry, I seem to keep breaking your levels with backroutes here!   I think I may struggle with this particular update as I couldn't see any other way of doing the level, but I'll take a look.

Let me know if my solution to your updated Bashergrum meets with your approval now!

Spoiler

I get what the floaters are for now, assuming this was intended. It's quite precise in the execution, if it is!

[Crane]

There is a less precise way you can use the second Blocker, but that's an acceptable solution - well done.

Intended use of second blocker

Turn the Basher into a Digger in the same location, then turn another lemming on the right side of the Digger tunnel into a Blocker.  The Blocker quickly gets undermined, but the Digger is now facing left instead of right.

[JawaJuice]

There is a less precise way you can use the second Blocker, but that's an acceptable solution - well done.

Intended use of second blocker

Turn the Basher into a Digger in the same location, then turn another lemming on the right side of the Digger tunnel into a Blocker.  The Blocker quickly gets undermined, but the Digger is now facing left instead of right.

Spoiler

Ha, yes indeed. I've used that so many times, I don't know why my brain went straight to the more fiddly thing of releasing the basher with blocker via digger! Still, acceptable I think, as you say. Nice level!

I can confirm that your added steel in The Oubliette patch does make a solution using the basher/blocker trick impossible: it means that the 3-bridge way up is a pixel too low. So I think you can consider that backroute fixed. As for my alternative solution, it just required thinking about the problem differently. Hopefully this is what you intended now.

[Crane]

Not quite.  Always going to be backroutes with enough playtesters!  Let's see how this does.  I moved the leftmost steps closer to the exit.

[JawaJuice]

Not quite.  Always going to be backroutes with enough playtesters!  Let's see how this does.  I moved the leftmost steps closer to the exit.

Third time lucky?

[Crane]

Not quite.  Always going to be backroutes with enough playtesters!  Let's see how this does.  I moved the leftmost steps closer to the exit.

Third time lucky?

Looks like that I have to plug up that gap after all!  4th time lucky?

[JawaJuice]

Looks like that I have to plug up that gap after all!  4th time lucky?

Probably not lol

Spoiler

Given that this solution now utilizes the steel that wasn't there before and also relies heavily on precise timing/blind luck, I'm guessing this isn't want you're looking for either! I'm just not doing what you want me to do here, am I? Something tells me that trap on the right should be involved (otherwise what's it there for?), but I don't see how.