Lee’s Lemmings Paintball Page

25th December, 2008

Merry Christmas :) I've been working on the level editor again recently. My uni work's a priority but I'm making some progress on Lemball Editor in my spare time. I got the compiler up and running back in May (which compiles the edited levels into the .VSR file that Lemball can read), but I found it difficult making the graphical user interface and stopped for a while. I want the level editor to be very easy to use, so it needs to display an isometric map to show what you would see it in the game. I've got that all working now. You can see an early screen shot here. In the screen shot, I've loaded Fun level 3 ('Flag on a Hill'). The tiles with red crosses are tiles that I haven't added into the editor yet (I've only added a few, as you can see in the toolbar on the right). You raise and lower each tile using the mouse wheel.

26th March, 2008

I'm currently in the process of reverse-engineering the Lemmings Paintball level files (stored in PBAIMOG.vsr of the game's directory) with the view of creating a level editor. The information's all starting to come together now, and I know the basics of how objects work in the game (such as how to add a catapult) and general level editing such as raising and lowering land and placing trees etc. Here are a couple of images for you:

Here I've changed a gate into a watchtower

In the picture above, I've changed a gate into a watchtower. You can't go into it so it seems to have been a planned feature that wasn't fully implemented. The same goes for the hut below:

Here I've changed a switch into a hut

4th December, 2006

Not too long ago it became much easier to play Lemmings Paintball on the internet thanks to 'Hamachi'. That leaves only one extra dream that needs to be fulfilled- the ability to make your own Lemball maps :) Fortunately, a tech-savvy Lemmings Paintball fan has discovered that running Lemmings Paintball with the "/edit@" parameter could potentially allow you to open up a level editor. Unfortunately an additional instruction is needed after the @ symbol and this is not yet known, so until we find out we won't see a level editor just yet. If anyone reading happens to know the missing piece of the puzzle then could you please email me? Thanks if so.

28th June, 2006

I’ve moved this site to an easier-to-remember url, and away from tripod which was getting progressively worse. Sorry if you had trouble finding my new site!

19th June, 2006

I recieved an email yesterday that informed me of the freeware program named Hamachi. Basically it makes playing Lemmings Paintball online extremely easy! At last! Visit the 2-player section for a step by step guide :) Let me know if it works.

18th June, 2006

Just when I thought this site had seen it’s last update, I got bored and decided that I’d update it one last time to mark Lemmings Paintball’s 10th Birthday. Basically I decided to write the site from scratch manually in notepad from scratch as the code produced from the HTML tools I’ve used over the years was extremely clunky. I say ’one last update’, now the website has been manually coded it will be a lot easier for me to update this website from time to time, so watch this space!

About Lemmings Paintball

Lemmings Paintball is very different from other Lemmings games. This time round, instead of leading the helpless creatures to their home you have to capture all of their enemy’s flags. ‘That’s not a lot different’ I hear you say. Well it is, because this time you’re lemmings are armed with paint guns to do the job!

Actually, the only similarity Lemmings Paintball has with other Lemmings games is the fact it’s extremely fun, at times extremely frustrating, and it has loads of well-designed levels (102 1-Player, 12 2-Player) specially crafted to either make you love the game so much that you create a website about it, or sometimes plainly to frustrate the hell out of you. Some are big, some small, some easy, some insanely hard, some very frustrating, some outside some inside and some are even made from Lego. What more could you ask for?

In the game you control 1-4 lemmings who you move around by left-clicking the destination you want them to go to. Right-clicking will make the selected lemming(s) shoot in the direction of the mouse cursor. Aside from shooting enemy lemmings, the levels are based on huge puzzles, which require good memory, good finger reflexes and sometimes a great deal of patience. You’ll have to pull and push levers, pick up keys, dodge paint mines, dodge enemy paintballs, shoot enemies, jump into duplicators, drift high in the sky with balloons and loads more. Right up to the last level, the game will surprise you with brilliant puzzle ideas- just like other Lemmings games. It‘s great fun.

Although the graphics in Lemmings Paintball are in the low, low resolution of 320x200, the pixel artwork more than makes for it. There are 4 different types of graphical scenario, including snow, temperate, futuristic and a Lego one.

Everyone has their favourite, but my personal fav would have to be the outdoor ones. In those levels you feel more like you are actually in the countryside playing real paintball. Sometimes you can find a gap in the wooden fence of the level and go for a wander outside the level area- you can sometimes find pots of points and other nice features the the designers implemented outside the game area.

Mike Clarke did a very nice job with Lemmings Paintball’s background music (especially the catchy title screen tune). Unfortunately, as he was limited to using MIDIs the music sounds different depending on the soundcard it is played through. I spoke to Mr. Clarke a few years ago and here’s what he had to say:

So, in general, I think Lemmings Paintball is a brilliant game- but just because I’ve taken the time to create a website about it that doesn’t mean that I don’t think it has its faults. Probably the most annoying issue is the lemming selection system. If you click on one of the lemming’s icons to select it, when you click another lemming the previous lemming won’t deselect. What this means is that if you were moving the red lemming and then decided to move the pink one, you would have to deselect the red lemming yourself, otherwise it will still be selected and will follow the same commands as the pink one. Seeing as the lemmings don’t have much artificial intelligence, they will often walk in a straight line to their destination, even if a pool of lava is in their way…

But anyway, you soon get used to its shortfalls. If you want to read more about Lemmings Paintball just browse this site! Thank you.

Downloads

Lemmings Paintball Demo
This demo is contained within a zip file and includes samples of 5 single player levels, and a couple of 2-player ones as well. Before you can run it you must extract the zip file and double click 'Install.reg'.

Lemmings Paintball Help File
The help file included on the Lemmings Paintball CD didn’t really work properly. This is a working replacement that was included with the demo.

Lemmings Paintball MIDIs
The excellent Lemmings Paintball music by Mike Clarke packaged in a zip file.

Where to Buy Lemmings Paintball

If you live in the UK then you may see the odd copy of Lemmings Paintball in computer shops and WHSmith. The new packaging is a DVD case with a manual on the CD. Alternatively you can buy Lemmings Paintball from Amazon.co.uk

Contact Me

It’s always good to hear from fellow Lemmings Paintball fans. (But in case you were about to ask, I don't know where you can download the full game for free. Sorry.)