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Happy Birthday Lemmings

Razengan
33 replies
17h55m

We need some modern games like Lemmings or the "classic" 2D Worms.

HOW did they do that pixel-perfect terrain destruction anyway?

FirmwareBurner
21 replies
17h14m

>We still don't have any modern games like Lemmings or the "classic" 2D Worms

That's like complaining we haven't made a modern Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson or that we haven't remade The Godfather.

If the originals are so simple, accessible, and so good, what more could you bring to the table with a new modern version to guarantee a big sales success to offset the risk and cost of starting such and endeavor when gamers can just play the existing originals.

Not everything needs a reboot/remake, especially if perfection has already been achieved.

selcuka
9 replies
17h10m

If the originals are so good and can be played today on modern systems, what more could you bring to the table with modern versions to guarantee a big success.

That's a weird deduction. Everything can be improved upon. Why do we have loads of modern games like Doom, for example? It was good too, and can be played today on modern systems.

samatman
5 replies
16h38m

Everything can be improved upon

Arguable. I've seen variations of Tetris, but never improvements. Nor do I think you can improve stud poker, or Go.

toast0
3 replies
15h42m

Some of the early versions of Tetris only let you rotate one direction. Adding counter rotation is a clear improvement.

I like the multiplayer versions over the years. The Tetris Effect is pretty fun, although maybe not strictly an improvement.

I'm a little on the fence about 7-bag, because it's a little too evenly distributed, but early Tetris had some gnarly distribution.

Eric_WVGG
1 replies
15h30m

Tetris Effect is Tetris polished to a freakin diamond.

toast0
0 replies
15h14m

I enjoy it a lot, but some of the people I've shared it with find the atmosphericness distracting and prefer a Tetris that's only business.

autoexec
0 replies
14h51m

I had an old job once where the team all played Tetrinet and it was fun, but it did feel very different from normal Tetris.

Razengan
0 replies
14h46m

You can still improve the UI and UX around the gameplay. See the various online Go or Chess servers for example.

nottorp
0 replies
9h44m

Doom, like Lemmings and Worms, was the first of its kind and you won't be able to recreate the experience just by redoing the graphics.

Not to mention that when people say "improved" they usually mean "adding more stuff". More isn't necessarily better.

autoexec
0 replies
15h0m

I'm still waiting for FMV games to come back into fashion. They were a neat blend of theater and adventure games (which is another genre that doesn't get enough love)

FirmwareBurner
0 replies
17h8m

Apples to oranges. Doom is a different genre.

Some genres, like Worms, just peak much sooner than others, like Doom, and don't benefit from newer graphics or technological improvements. Just like UX design, at some point you peak, and any more changes you try to add for the sake of improvements, just end up making the product worse.

Look at current commercial operating systems or at Reddit. They also made a 3D Worms game a while back and it was a massive flop. Often, simpler is better.

Sure, everything can always be improved an you might hypothetically be able to build an even better Worms game than the original, but since the bar is already so high, you have very little chance of topping it and all the risks of failure.

caf
3 replies
16h34m

Worms was already a remake of Scorched Earth, wasn't it?

GauntletWizard
2 replies
16h24m

Worms is in the same genre as Scorched Earth and owes it a lot for inspiration, but it adds a ton of distinct weapons and movement technique that certainly qualifies it as it's own game.

chongli
1 replies
11h58m

Yeah! This genre is called "artillery games" [1] and it has an impressive number of titles going all the way back to 1972! Scorched Earth is at least the 16th game in the genre, albeit the most famous pre-Worms.

My favourite iteration growing up was called Dome Wars [3] and it's not even on that Wikipedia list!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery_game

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artillery_video_games

[3] https://macintoshgarden.org/games/dome-wars

viraptor
0 replies
6h26m

Til from the list that the game was officially called "Gorillas", not "Gorilla" (as in gorilla.bas)

Razengan
3 replies
15h53m

Wow, then in that case we should stop making any FPS games because we already have Doom, no more RPGs because Ultima exists, and no more movies because there's Bambi.

nottorp
2 replies
9h41m

Haven't they stopped making FPS games? Multiplayer first dudebro "properties" don't count.

Serious Sam seems to survive. They tried to continue Doom but it wasn't Doom so much. What else is there?

egypturnash
1 replies
1h37m

“boomer shooter” is the genre tag you want to look for. https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Boomer%20Shooter/

nottorp
0 replies
5m

Oh, I didn't necessarily mean retro. Just not a multiplayer focused IAP fest.

A decent single player shooter with a story, atmosphere etc.

I believe Far Cry may still qualify but I don't get games that require an account with the vendor (UPlay, Rockstar Social Club and other crap like that).

muzani
2 replies
15h20m

I mean Android is sadly lacking of any of these kinds of games. There were great Worms clones back in the day as well, now there are afaik, none.

It reminds me of rock as a genre. As a teenager, rock stars were everywhere, but there's barely any new rock bands after 2010. It doesn't mean the genre has achieved perfection, but everyone who would be doing rock is now doing something else.

There was a resurgence in Interactive Fiction about 10 years ago, which evolved into AIF (thanks internet), which then disappeared in just 1-2 years, to be replaced by all these Ren'Py games.

There's a huge gap and demand for Guitar Hero type of games, but nobody wants to make them. (Maybe related to the decline of rock, as there's still beat games)

jamiek88
1 replies
10h16m

AIF?

muzani
0 replies
9h4m

Adult IF. There's some incredibly detailed mechanics, but I'll spare the details. And once people couldn't make the mechanics better, they had to focus on plot, puzzles, or images (though puzzles went against the spirit of IF). It got to a point where there were large communities like the roguelikes, awards, and suddenly it collapsed after things got too ambitious or I guess after everyone has seen everything in the genre.

I think there might be a resurgence now or later with Twine and Patreon though.

cwillu
2 replies
17h30m

The video framebuffer isn't rendered from the game state, it is the game state.

chongli
1 replies
16h26m

That may have been the case for the original Lemmings — where the background is black so you can collision test directly against black pixels — but newer games have background textures.

If you want to have complex backgrounds and terrain textures with pixel-perfect collisions and terrain modification then you’ll likely want to keep separate buffers for foreground and background. Then your game engine would operate on a bitmask for collision and destruction of terrain, and you’d construct the framebuffer by blitting [1] the foreground and background using the mask to select between them.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitter

vardump
0 replies
12h52m

For example Amiga and most 16-bit consoles could just have two (or more) playfields (like layers or screen size sprites) superimposed on each other. For the game code those pixels would still be "black", well, transparent, even with background graphics showing through.

No blitting required, playfields were drawn by the display hardware at scanout.

kibwen
1 replies
16h32m

While I wouldn't quite call Liero "modern", dating from 1998, the modern part is that you can play it multiplayer in your browser instantly: https://www.webliero.com/

There's also King Arthur's Gold, which is a free multiplayer game that I'm sure only has like ten players online these days but is an absolute hoot regardless: https://store.steampowered.com/app/219830/King_Arthurs_Gold/

chongli
0 replies
12h3m

King Arthur's Gold looks familiar! Must be an homage to the hidden gem King Arthur's World [1] for the SNES. I played the heck out of that game. Fantastic music and clearly an interesting take on the Lemmings genre!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur%27s_World

xtracto
0 replies
16h48m

I remember enjoying a later version of lemmings called lemmings tower or something similar. It was pretty cool.

snerbles
0 replies
17h41m

We still don't have any modern games like Lemmings or the "classic" 2D Worms.. or do we?

Noita comes to mind. Also includes some pretty wild fluid dynamics.

HOW did they do that pixel-perfect terrain destruction anyway??

Usually the terrain is a bitmap, and various effects paint/erase it.

prmoustache
0 replies
10h5m

We need some modern games like Lemmings or the "classic" 2D Worms.

Yes we have.

https://hedgewars.org/

joveian
0 replies
3h7m

Not the pixel art style that you seem to mean but there is a recent lemmings 3D style game called Tin Harts. I haven't played it yet but it looks interesting.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/tin_hearts

Also, it is voxels rather than hand drawn pixel art but I thought Urbek did a great job at feeling like that era of game. It is as much a puzzle game as a builder (there are a number of levels of upgrade that require other buildings within a certain distance).

https://www.gog.com/en/game/urbek_city_builder

RGamma
0 replies
17h27m

eets (2006) is similar.

Eric_WVGG
0 replies
15h31m

The humor is occasionally (often) crude, but Zombie Night Terror is a fantastic modern Lemmings-style game.

You run a zombie invasion, the zombies have attributes not unlike the ones from Left 4 Dead, but the gameplay is pure Lemmings.

https://www.zombienightterror.com (Incidentally the best game I've ever played on an iPad.)

netcoyote
15 replies
16h2m

Lemmings is such a fun game! I played many hours of it trying to perfectly solve its many puzzles.

Lemmings inspired Ron Millar, a designer at Silicon & Synapse (later Blizzard Entertainment), to invent The Lost Vikings, our first original game: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Vikings

The original design for Vikings was very similar to Lemmings but saw massive changes during the course of development, going from many Vikings to five to eventually just three.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the Lemmings devs for inspiring our efforts.

cptskippy
4 replies
15h1m

The Lost Vikings was one of my favorite games growing up. There have been so many attempts to copy the formula (e.g. Trine) but none have been so memorable or endearing. The character and level designs are wonderful.

jacobolus
2 replies
13h29m

Does anyone know if there's a good way to play Three Vikings on a modern laptop or iPad?

opengears
0 replies
12h40m

You want to look into emulators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulator . vAmigaWeb is an Amiga emulator that should also work on iPad. https://vamigaweb.github.io/doc/about.html

imadethis
0 replies
12h22m

It's included in the Blizzard Arcade Collection, which you can at least get on PC today for $9.99 USD.

rob74
0 replies
10h46m

Two more memorable clones (that also changed the formula a bit, but the basic premise of "save x critters to progress" is the same) are "World of Goo" (https://store.steampowered.com/app/22000/World_of_Goo/) and "Spirits" (https://store.steampowered.com/app/210170/Spirits/).

Jare
3 replies
3h8m

Haha I didn't know there was such a direct connection!

When we were building Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, I think the games were referenced the most were actually both Lemmings and The Lost Vikings, with Cannonfodder as a 3rd one - there was very little inspiration from the RTSs that Commandos was apparently more similar to.

pwillia7
1 replies
46m

OMG Cannon fodder ... You just nostalgia memories me

gpderetta
0 replies
24m

"war has never been so much fun".

postexitus
0 replies
1h10m

Ah, no wonder my favourite game from the "modern era" was Commandos. Lemmings, The Lost Vikings, and Cannon Fodder were my top 3 from Amiga times.

Thanks for the good memories.

muzani
1 replies
15h25m

I loved the Lost Vikings as a kid! It's actually charmed me about as much as Lemmings, though if I had to pick, I still prefer Lemmings' dark humor.

rob74
0 replies
10h55m

Yeah, the ambivalence between "oh, I want to save every one of these cute little critters" and "f** this, I'm sick of it, I'll just click 'nuke' instead of pressing the escape key to restart" was really something special...

tisdadd
0 replies
2h30m

I remember watching my folks play both games as a child and then doing so myself. Not sure which I got through first but know they were both before i turned five as it was at our first house. Have been contemplating playing then again as it's been 30 years now. Still have the floppy's in storage, lol. Such great games.

kwar13
0 replies
9h25m

Many fond memories of The Lost Vikings!

apigalore
0 replies
8h18m

Just want to express how much I also loved The Lost Vikings!

alecthomas
0 replies
9h13m

Just wanted to say I loved The Lost Vikings, thanks for many good memories :)

BuildTheRobots
10 replies
17h23m

DHTML Lemmings is still playable in a modern browser: https://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/

It's dated 2004, but I'm convinced I remember playing it earlier.

tsukurimashou
1 replies
9h25m

a shame it has no sound

micheljansen
0 replies
9h9m

It used to (see control.js) but it doesn't seem to be working anymore.

cnity
1 replies
7h36m

Anyone know why this is hosted on a metal band's website?

tecleandor
0 replies
6h4m

From what I see, bot the developer of the DHTML version and the band are from Netherlands, and the developer had to take the game down from his site [0]

So maybe somebody uploaded it in support.

  0: https://crisp.home.xs4all.nl/lemmings/lemmings.html

andirk
1 replies
11h57m

Can I please get some codes to do further levels?

gnicholas
0 replies
11h4m

The furthest I have handy is 12: KOMHCMOMCX

shaunxcode
0 replies
17h1m

I definitely played it around 2001 when it was posted to slashdot!

micheljansen
0 replies
9h13m

The first version is from 2003: https://gathering.tweakers.net/forum/list_message/18377456#1...

It got taken down shortly after that by BREIN, the Dutch copyright watchdog, but it lives on as Pumpkins.

Amazing that JS from the Internet Explorer era still works well 20 years later.

harha_
0 replies
7h4m

Dynamic HTML? This thing doesn't use canvas, pretty cool.

SeanAnderson
0 replies
1h53m

Absolutely wild this doesn't use <canvas>! I remember playing this way back in the day, before I was a SWE, and didn't really appreciate that fact. Of course, I'm sure it predates being able to effectively use the canvas... but still! Super cool.

I can't seem to find it online anywhere, but I'm also reminded of the knockoff game "Flea Circus" which I played in grade school :)

advael
6 replies
15h30m

I loved lemmings as a kid, and bits of the soundtrack get stuck in my head to this day (I know a lot of it is just chippy arrangements of otherwise famous public domain music, but the arrangements were great). Even at the time it was a really original concept in a way that people seldom manage, like something that could have (but as far as I can tell didn't) become its own "genre" of game

Symbiote
3 replies
10h56m

Many of those traditional or folk songs I first heard in Lemmings.

"Dad, are they playing Lemmings music?"

"It's called Pachebel's Canon, it's from the 17th century!"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QwXthGJfHLc&t=118s

(And I choose that one as the forlorn, mournful sound seems most appropriate as all the lemmings march to their death.)

Documentary: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RbAVNKdk9gA

rob74
1 replies
9h0m

Other well-known tunes include the ouverture from Orphée aux enfers by Offenbach (better known as "the can-can music") and How much is that lemming, er, doggie in the window

red_admiral
0 replies
6h28m

One version even included Scotland the Brave.

doublerabbit
0 replies
5h56m

Back in the era when video games had music.

wackget
1 replies
13h27m

I could have sworn I saw a documentary where they talked about having legal issues with some of the music, because some of it (e.g. "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountains") was not public domain.

There's a little bit written about it on Wikipedia but I wish I could find the documentary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game)#Developm...

advael
0 replies
13h21m

O. My mistake, thanks for letting me know

Also, if you're not being facetious and actually didn't notice, they do have a youtube embed of the full documentary made in 2022 at the bottom of the linked article. I haven't taken the time to watch it, but maybe that's the one you're thinking of

antihipocrat
5 replies
16h8m

There was one level that stumped me for a long time, it was the level that introduced the one dig direction game mechanic. I was young and there was no internet to look up a solution.

One night I dreamed the solution, how obvious it was! Even now I still remember this experience when confronted with an intractable problem.

bombcar
4 replies
15h49m

I worked out the rescuing your blocker trick on my own, but had to learn the build to turn around trick from a strategy guide.

jamiek88
3 replies
10h22m

How do you rescue the blocker?!

mnw21cam
1 replies
9h21m

You remove the ground it is standing on, and it stops being a blocker.

bombcar
0 replies
5h19m

Exactly. If you have some steps to spare, make a lemming make steps, then make him a blocker. A badger can remove what he’s standing on later.

Symbiote
0 replies
10h3m

I think the acceptable ways to find that out is watching a parent or older sibling play the game, or figuring it out yourself ;-)

markx2
4 replies
10h40m

If the Lemmings games were remastered and slated for release I'd pay full price in a heartbeat.

I'm sure a Kickstarter for this purpose would be very well received.

waitforit
1 replies
5h49m

There is a game in development that combines the lemmings esthetic with base building.

The Settlings: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1771110/The_Settlings/

InitialLastName
0 replies
4h33m

Another game in the opposite spirit (different graphics, similar gameplay): https://humanity.game/

rob74
1 replies
8h47m

Unfortunately Sony has been sitting on the IP for Lemmings for quite some time now and hasn't done a lot with it. There was a mobile game a few years ago however (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sadpuppy.l...), but apparently the free version is pretty ad-infested (haven't tried it yet).

There was also "Lemmings Revolution" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_Revolution) which is over 20 years old by now, but tried to translate the original concept into something that would look good in 3D. I thought it was ok, but didn't enjoy it quite as much as the originals (which of course could have something to do with the fact that I was younger when I played the original games).

Kirth
0 replies
4h2m

I played revolution as a kid, it was fun! I wonder if it still runs on modern hardware

louthy
3 replies
10h5m

It always blew my mind how well animated the 12 pixel high lemmings were. The dynamics were incredible.

louthy
0 replies
3h16m

Sorry, did I say 12 pixels? I meant 10! [1]

Zooming out on that image it all comes flooding back - they have such swagger! The animator deserves an award of some sort.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/WAltx1l.gif

gpderetta
0 replies
8m

I can't be bothered to check if the article mentions this, but apparently the game was born as a challenge to the artist to draw the smallest animated character that was still recognizable!

caseyf
0 replies
4h16m

yes!!

archsurface
3 replies
17h31m

Oh I enjoyed Lemmings. Nice flashback.

Razengan
2 replies
15h51m

Nice flashback.

Another great game from that era ;)

vardump
1 replies
12h56m

From another world.

Razengan
0 replies
12h38m

Flashback 2 came out a few months ago: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2008420/Flashback_2/

yakito
2 replies
3h42m

The UK has some of the most interesting video game studios in the world. I didn't know that "Lemmings" had been created by Rockstar! Rare is also from the UK.

AlecSchueler
1 replies
3h27m

Tomb Raider is another British classic.

yakito
0 replies
3h24m

Yes! Together with GoldenEye 007 (obviously) and Donkey Kong Country.

willvarfar
2 replies
11h35m

I remember Lemmings! I remember getting into programming by trying to make games because of games like Lemmings!

So where is the outlet?

(I just did a search for Ludum Dare, and it seems ... dead?)

unwind
0 replies
9h14m

Dead? The schedule page [1] has recent and upcoming instances scheduled, at least:

    Ludum Dare 54 — September 29th - October 2nd, 2023
    Ludum Dare 55 — April 12th - 14th, 2024
    Ludum Dare 56 — October 4th - 7th, 2024
I never tried it, I don't have a quickly accessible game programming framework. Nor the time, heh.

[1]: https://ludumdare.com/#schedule

dmurray
0 replies
10h23m

Pretty sure Ludum Dare is still around; a friend competed in a recent one.

The website looks a bit behind, with a YouTube video and calls for signups for a 2022 event. But the competition still seems to be running and got "an avalanche of submissions" for the most recent event in September 2023 [0]. Maybe you can find more about it on Reddit [1], and there's also mention of a Discord server.

[0] https://flashlight13.medium.com/ludum-dare-54-hidden-gems-by... [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ludumdare/

torbengee
2 replies
17h5m

LOL I just played through Lemmings in one of those DosBox emulators a few days ago ... so much fun!! The music alone brought back some good memories.

ekianjo
1 replies
3h58m

the amiga version is the best though

gpderetta
0 replies
4m

The Amiga version had multiplayer! Of course it was better! So many good memories...

thom
1 replies
16h54m

Whenever I pass this building in Sheffield, I immediately think “you need bashers this time”.

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/acse/department/facilities/diamo...

Symbiote
0 replies
10h52m

Lemmings tourists might also appreciate the statue in Dundee: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lemmings-statue

(OK, also linked in the article.)

th0ma5
1 replies
17h5m

First time I ever stayed up all night playing a game it was Lemmings. Second time was Angry Birds lol. I don't game much.

Symbiote
0 replies
28m

The Acorn Archimedes (origin of the ARM CPU) version said "Goodnight all! Hope you've not been up all night!" when you quit.

orionblastar
1 replies
17h34m

I played Lemmings on my Amiga 1000. Later when I bought a 386DX PC Clone I bought Lemmings for DOS and VGA.

Open Source version is Pingus: https://pingus.seul.org/

sirspacey
0 replies
17h9m

Me too man!! What an amazing time that was.

notfed
1 replies
1h6m

Why has a modern-graphics remake of Lemmings not happened? Surely it'd be a hit?

joelanman
0 replies
48m

Not the same, but some similar modern games:

- Pikmin

- Zombie Night Terror

- Humanity

jl6
1 replies
11h4m

I first played Lemmings on a Mac IIsi, and later on an Amiga 1200. I remember the pixel-perfect timing being brutally difficult with the low-quality Amiga ball mouse, but I played it enough that I can still hum all the tunes.

rob74
0 replies
11h0m

I remember that the "P" key was your friend... and I never thought the Amiga mouse was bad quality, but maybe those shipped with the Amiga 500 were still better, I used to clean it regularly, and of course I hadn't used optical mice until then :)

freetime2
1 replies
8h12m

My dad got my family our first PC for Christmas in 1990. Back then I didn’t know anything about PC gaming, and when my dad took me and my brother out to pick out games, our decisions were driven mostly by the box art.

The first game I ever bought was Sim City, which I thought had some really intriguing box art. And my brother bought King’s Quest V. Such a great introduction to PC gaming for a couple young kids.

And I remember when Lemmings came out, it had really distinctive box art. I had no idea what it was about, but I remember it caught my eye and I wanted it from the first time I saw the box. It turned out to be completely different than I was expecting, but also incredibly fun and satisfying.

Never judge a book by its cover, but choosing PC games by their box art worked surprisingly well!

Symbiote
0 replies
29m

Part of the linked documentary inverviews the box/poster/etc artist, who had never worked on a computer game before.

cdelsolar
1 replies
5h20m

I was totally addicted to the SNES version. I’ve been wanting to play this game again forever. What is the best way to? (Computer version is fine too, never played it)

krallja
0 replies
4h34m

OSS remakes: NeoLemmix, Lix

In-browser: DHTML Lemmings

Second best way: Amiga emulator

Best way: a SNES, a Lemmings cartridge, and a CRT TV!

DeathArrow
1 replies
9h27m

I was a poor child when Lemmings came out, so I didn't have a PC.

FirmwareBurner
0 replies
9h20m

You can play it today.

vintermann
0 replies
9h44m

Tim Wright's Lemmings music is low-key brilliant. It has a deliberately rough and dorky instrumentation with very "synthetic" trumpets and accordion (You can make much "better" instrumented music on the Amiga, and we know Tim could do that too!). It is somehow as cute and vexing as the little critters themselves. And yet there's that subtle element of old English-Scottish folk that makes it magical.

tempodox
0 replies
10h36m

Lemmings was a game that I thoroughly enjoyed at the time. Happy birthday!

qingcharles
0 replies
17h42m

I still remember the day I walked into my local games store and bought it off the shelf. It was flying off the shelves. I think there was a cover disc demo the previous month which had started the hype machine.

pimlottc
0 replies
3h50m

I remember seeing this game for the first time in a computer shop - back when they still had a demo machine for you try to out new games. I came in totally blind, never heard of the company or the game before. It was like no other game I had ever seen. 15 minutes later, I took a copy home. I was hooked.

Truly one of the greatest puzzle games of all time.

mdekkers
0 replies
9h18m

Also see https://www.lemmingsforums.net/index.php?topic=5306.0 for info on where to find and play Lemmings!

justinludwig
0 replies
11h55m

I loved Lemmings (the game) as a kid! But as an adult, I found out everything I thought I knew about lemmings (the animal) was a lie: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/white-wilderness-lemming-s...

johndhi
0 replies
17h49m

So many memories

jedberg
0 replies
17h24m

Annnnnnd now I'm playing Lemmings.

ijhuygft776
0 replies
15h23m

a classic.

gokhan
0 replies
16h36m

vgalemmi

tgalemmi

Don't know why I still remember those.

garquis
0 replies
12h52m

First video game I remember playing. Dad worked at a warehouse for the local school district and when I’d go to work with him, he’d set me up on their IBM PC and let me play lemmings the entire day. Truly loved that game

fourseventy
0 replies
17h26m

love that game

ensocode
0 replies
9h55m

My first contact to computer games. Now thinking of introducing computers with this to my 5 yo

cwillu
0 replies
17h30m
codeulike
0 replies
5h35m

In 1991 I was writing games and in those days you had to think a lot about how many moving objects there were on the screen and how many you could fit within the frame rate etc. So that gave games that 'arcade' feel where the player controls one spaceship (say) and it can have 8 bullets on the screen at one time and enemies attack in waves of six etc. I suppose at that point processors were moving beyond those limitations but games were still conceived in those sorts of terms.

When I first saw Lemmings I was just amazed as to how it ignored all of that. The player controls up to 100 characters. The gameplay was freeform, you could dig through whatever, build a ladder wherever. It was a real paradigm shift. You can set ten lemmings to explode. When they do, the framerate will drop to a very slow lag. But that doesn't matter, because its fun.

btbuildem
0 replies
3h32m

The video linked in the article jogs some old memories, wow. The soundtrack to Shadow of the Beast was something else...

Lemmings was such an amazing game. I didn't speak English at the time, and I never understood why the pause button had little critter feet on it. Only years later it came: "paws"

boredhedgehog
0 replies
8h57m

I wonder why the open source ports never caught on like they did for other games. In any thread about Transport Tycoon, it's five minutes until people start talking about OpenTTD, yet NeoLemmix and Lix are barely known, despite all the innovation and custom level design taking place there.

adzm
0 replies
16h25m

Let's go!

GoofballJones
0 replies
5h12m

I played this on the Amiga when the game first came out. Loved it.