Hey GP, welcome to the forums!
I've got a few ideas, but I'll start by sharing my opinions on the above. (Apologies in advance for the HUGE post. I like to be thorough
) Firstly though I'd like to stress that none of the concepts in the Lemmings series are necessarily "good" or "bad", as they lead to very different styles of gameplay which may or may not appeal to some.
Unlimited blockers - I agree that this, as well as super micromanagement of builders/diggers, is a little frivolous. Having full control over every lemming does take away some of the frustration that was present in the original game, and allows you to focus more on other aspects, but you lose the thrill of having a horde of mindless critters heading for their doom. And after all, isn't that what Lemmings is about?
More skills - Personally I didn't like this as it took away some of the great simplicity of the original game. The original eight skills are easy to use, even for first-timers. IMHO, any additional skills should be similarly easy to get to grips with (eg. jumper, runner, swimmer, filler), whereas some of the other skills in L2 are certainly not. Also, skills that are essentialy the same as existing ones (like the stomper) are unnecessary.
Pickups - This is a tough one. Having to collect pickups before using skills reduces the freedom (and the requirement) of the player to use them creatively and invent a solution from start to finish. On the other hand, I like the idea of the skills being available in a particular location and making the player go and get them.
Saving lemmings for future levels - I'd leave this idea and go back to the original way. My reason is this: some of the best levels from the first game are the ones where only a few lemmings fall from the trapdoor. These added some real flavor and diversity to the game. Now, to have this sort of level in a tribe starting with 60 lemmings and carrying them through, you'd have to sacrifice a ton of lemmings in the levels leading up to it. Because of this, such a level would have to be left to the end (even if it isn't the hardest one), or be followed up by levels with heaps of "bonus" lemmings, which would be too predictable. Basically, what I'm saying here is that the order of levels should be determined by difficulty and not the number of lemmings.
Sacrificing lemmings - To me, this is an essential part of the game. Things like choosing who to bomb and where, death drops straight from the trapdoor and other situations where the best you can do is to minimise losses rather than eliminate them entirely, add a whole dimension to the game that L2 and L3 sorely lack. The absolute 100% requirement in L3 is a definite no. To go with this, though (and something which definitely should have been present in L2) there has to be something that you can see before and during the level to tell you how many you need to save. This should be a number rather than a percentage. A display of the "death toll" to date would be nice too
Connecting edges - I haven't played Revo so I don't know.
Unblocking - this is definitely a good idea, although there are plenty of methods available already for removing a blocker. This also ties in with another idea of mine (which I might post later).
Less "hero lemming" levels - Definitely. "Hunt the Nessy" and similar are terrible levels and a total waste of time. However, if you want to share the work among multiple lemmings, you need to be careful with "split focus" situations where you need to keep track of two or more widely separated groups at once. A pet hate of mine is the "snap" moment, where two lemmings require orders at exactly the same time. Any situation where you need to pause to give multiple orders is bad IMO. And what do you mean by "five pointing devices" and "The One"?
Music - I'd go with about a dozen tracks (classical and/or traditional music seems appropriate for Lemmings). The 17 tracks of the original game is probably too many, but the 6 in ONML are too few IMO (both DOS version, I don't know if the others had more or less). How about shuffling the tracks so you don't know what you'll get each time?
Fan - I thought this was a little to fiddly to work with (also, see my points on simplicity and micromanagement).
Blood - fair enough. That's entirely your call, I guess, but honestly I'd have to agree here. This trap (conveniently available in smiley form :shutup: ) is a case in point.
Now for some random thoughts of my own:
- Adjustable release rate. One thing I hated about L2 was waiting for 50 lemmings to trail through to the exit after I've solved the puzzle. Besides that though, it gives you more options, like dodging traps through "safety in numbers" (actually for an updated version this possibility could be reduced or removed).
- Fast forward and replay features are huge for reducing frustration. EricLang's level editing and playtesting program, Lemmix, also inclided frameskip and savestates, which might be worth considering.
- Mix up the themes from one level to the next, rather than having tribes, to add variety while playing through the game.
- Eliminate the "blocks" system of L3 and 3D. This seems archaic to me and wouldn't fit with your "comical, hand-drawn" idea.
I have a some more ideas still, but I'll let others share their thoughts first.
