Level Design Contest #34

[IchoTolot]

Welcome to another contest of the Lemmingsforums! This time the three rules have been picked by kaywhyn.

A few words to new participants and forum members: If you haven't entered before, I strongly encourage you to try - even if you don't win, it's fun to participate; and we have had cases where first-time entrants have won before! There are three choices of rules given, you may enter one level for EACH one of the rules.
You may either use NeoLemmix, or Lix.

RC/experimental NL builds aren't allowed, only the stable version of NL!

If you have more than one entry, they may (but do not have to) be for the same engine. Please make sure you tested your level for basic solvability before submitting and be sure to also submit any custom tileset you are using, so others have no problem playing your level.

Pre contest testing: You can choose 1-2 persons who do a bit of pre-testing for you, so that the biggest backroutes and screw-ups of your levels can be detected before the playing phase. I cannot control this so it's only a guideline, but still I would prefer not everyone knows every level before the playing phase starts.

Here are the rules on how the submission deadlines work:
- Initial submission phase deadline will extend such that it's 72 hours from the time of the last submission, up to the 5th submission (inclusive). After this it no longer changes no matter what.
- Update phase deadline will not extend over the initial dead line!
- Even if you missed the cutoff date for the initial submission phase, late entries are accepted until the update phase ends. There is no penalty for a late entry, beyond that people are less likely to spend as much time on the level before voting begins.

And here is the new ruleset:

Rule 1 (kaywhyn) - Object minimalism:

*  Make a level with the only objects allowed are the entrance and exit. No limit on either and the rest is anything goes.

Rule 2 (kaywhyn) - Happy 35th Birthday, Lemmings!:

* Make a level depicting a birthday cake and 35 Lemmings (as a way to represent the candles, putting in the candles themselves is optional).
* Pre-placed Lemmings and cloners are allowed and count in the total, as long as the total is 35 exactly.
* Save requirement is anything goes.
* The solution needs to involve the cake in some meaningful way.

Rule 3 (kaywhyn) - Multiple rulesets fulfilled!:

* Pick one of the previous contests with 3 rules and make a level that satisfies all 3 of them. There are contest for which this is impossible.
* No mixing between different contests, so stick to the same contest for the ruleset.
* If a rule states "use a new object/skill" simply take an object/skill that was new in the context of that specific contest.
* You can use Proxima's topic for previuos contest's design rules as an rough overview - it goes up to contest #30 right now. For the exact rule details, please look into that contest's topic though.

To make it clear from which contest you took the ruleset, please name your level the following (with XX being the contest number): "User1_Levelname_LDCXX_R3V1".


Submission phase ends November 14th 2026 at 00:00 UTC.

Ruleset in detail again: http://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=2246.0

Send me a personal message with your level/s and if needed tileset/s to participate. It would also be nice to also tell me the rule which each level satisfies.

Please use the following naming format:  User1_Levelname_R3V1.nxlv ---> Level "Levelname" by User1  for Rule 3  Version 1 of the level

Prize selection:

- Pick next contest's rules (the author of each level in the top 3 gets to select a rule)

Entries so far: 0



Rule distribution:

Rule 1 -
Rule 2 -
Rule 3 -

[LemFan]

It's been a while since you've done one of these! Glad to see another one being planned

[Flopsy]

You can use Proxima's topic for previuos contest's design rules as an rough overview - it goes up to contest #30 right now. For the exact rule details, please look into that contest's topic though.

I've added Contests 31-33's Rules in a separate reply at the bottom of this linked topic now.

[Flopsy]

After further analysis of R3's possibilities, I've determined that the following contest sets are comfortably possible.

9 - Only new NL skills (R1), Only 1 Lemming (R2), Exactly 2 types of skills (R3)
10 - No permanent skills (R1), Fun/Tame style - 6 skills at least with at least 10 uses (R2), Contains at least 2 different NL objects (R3).
11 - 2 Lemmings, at least 1 perm skill, no more than 1 use of each perm skill (R1), All skills have 1 use only, no pickups/preassigned (R2), No Constructive skills (R3)
12 - 1 minute time limit at most (R1), No Bashers/Fencers/Miners/Diggers (R2), VGAspec level (R3)
13 - Must reasonably tileset mix (R1), 2 intended solutions (like They Just Keep On Coming from Orig) (R2), Official tilesets only (R3).
17 - Must use a tileset you never used before (R1), 1 perm skill/1 const skill/1 cont dest skill/ 1 sacrificial skill/1 instant skill (R2), Level must be made with only one piece of terrain used over and over (R3)
20 - Symmetrical horizontal and vertical (R1), 10 diff skill types/5 of each at most/all must be used (R2), Fake Disjoint union - looks like disjoint but there is interaction between them via gaps in steel etc. (R3)
21 - At least 3 jumpers (R1), 1 hatch + at least 2 exits. Lemmings must equally use all exits eg. 30 lemmings - 15 in each of the 2 exits. (R2), Terrain resembles landmarks, famous characters, pop culture etc. (R3)
26 - Level contains only steel, objects are fine (R1), Infinite jumpers in skillset (R2), L2 tileset and L2 skills - must use steel terrain only to satisfy R1 (R3)
31 - Must use at least 2 of Portal/Assigner/Deassigner/Neutraliser/Deneutraliser (R1), Only Destructable terrain on one side, steel terrain only on opp side (R2), Classic skills & custom tilesets OR Non-classic skills & official tilesets (R3)

The following sets are considered possible somewhat but would have a very big restriction on what you can do and would be considered not comfortable.

15 - 2 levels, one is the inversion of the other (R1), Miniature size 240x120px 5 skills total (R2), No classic skills allowed (R3)
16 - Height must be 3x the level width (R1), 2 min time limit - lemmings must travel 640 horizontal pixels (R2), 3 hatches must save 2/3 of total lemmings (R3)
19 - Only 3 total non perm skills allowed, no limit on perm skills (R1), Level must spell out your name (R2), 1 regular Lemming, save req of 2, neutral/cloner use needed (R3)
23 - X of Y skills level - X>10, Y<5 or equal to (R1), Miniature level 240x120px 10 lems max, 1 min time limit (R2), 2 tilesets must be used and be clearly confined to one side of level and other on opp side. (R3)
30 - New tileset you haven't used before (R1), Only Bashers, Diggers, Miners can be used (R2), L2 Classic tileset level, 60 lems, locked RR, classic skills only (R3) You can technically only select this one if you have never made an L2 Classic level publicly before.
32 - 2 levels exactly the same with different solutions and skillsets (R1), LPVII tilesets only (R2), 10 total skills, at least 5 must be perm skills (R3).

It should be noted that Contest 24 is an interesting case because it allows substitution of a rule which is prior to Contest 24 with some exceptions.

24 - 1 new skill alongside the classic skills (at least 2 classic skills) (R1), 200,000sq pxls - reasonable amount of level must be used (R2), A previous rule can be used except C1, C3, C8, C12:3, C13:1, C13:3, C15:1, C17:1 (R3)

These sets are considered impossible pretty much.

14 - R1 states 3 hatches, R2 must have 2 hatches.
18 - R1 requires 1 hatch, 1 exit, no steel or OWA and no interactable objects but R2 requires you to remake an official level with a new solution but there is probably none if any which satisfy R1. Probably be proved wrong here but I'm willing to bet this is not going to be a fun set regardless.
22 - R1 requires official tileset, R2 requires custom tilesets.
25 - R2 requires you to only use 10 terrain pieces total in the entire level but R3 wants a recreation of a physical object using terrain. Again may be possible but it's probably not going to look pretty.
27 - R1 restricts to constructive skills and bombers only, R2 requires you to use swimmers.
28 - R3 requires the level to be a miniature 160x100px yet you have to make the level depict an animal AND have 4 hatches with an exit in the centre. You're welcome to try this if you want but the level is going to be way too small for any of this to make a good level.
29 - R1 states no teleporters, R3 requires teleporters. This set is still possible in Lix though.
33 - R1 requires use of climber and floater, R2 says no permanent skills.

This list might be open to dispute but I've done the preliminary ground work for you to weed out the rules which might make good entries