Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water (Snow Contest winner)

[HeroLinik]

So I felt the urge to post my level for the Snow Contest, and yeah it's the winning level. This also marks the second time I've won one of TTK's contests, first time being the Crossover Contest with my Zelda level.
As you can see in the following screenshots, I took a lot of cues from Frigid Fortitude by ElTipsta, but I didn't want to copy it directly so I threw in some new gimmicks such as the rising and falling of the water levels. But in all, it's a half-snow, half-underwater, half-castle and half-underground level all meshed up into one.

Spoiler: show

What are you waiting for?

And no, I'm not posting a playthrough because this level has a surprise at the end.

[MECHDRAGON777]

Here are the scores that you averaged 8.34 with.

The Thwomp King

Spoiler: show

Entry 10
Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water by Linik

Opening up this level and I get stunned by great visuals and wonderful music. Is this the snowpeak province music? I checked, it is. Staying true to your name. I was hoping this level wouldn’t deceive me and you know what? It doesn’t do that at all. I thoroughly enjoyed playing through this fun and expansive level. Puzzles are simple, but it’s a mario game, the dynamic of this level is powerful and effective. Challenging enough, but not unforgiving either unless you’re after the coins, but that’s fine to do because it’s a tougher challenge that’s added to the challenge of beating this level. A suggestion for this level is when I have to hit a switch and back track, I think you should add some more npcs in response to hitting the switch. That way if you’re someone who killed all the enemies on the way there, there are more to come in on the way back. For someone who doesn’t kill all the enemies, then simply replace those ones with the new ones from hitting the switch. Another huge problem is the section where you hit the switches and the water rises. You didn’t put enough water bgos so when I hit the switch I could see the end to the water. If you didn’t notice this before then it’s probably because I hit the switches multiple times (seeing if I missed something to be honest XD hahaha). The Ice Flower Gimmick is super creative by the way. I’m really impressed with this. The boss was creative and a nice touch with the animations at the end. The first time playing this I was luigi, so I found that amusing. XD hahaha. So I say fix the couple things I mentioned and this level would be rated higher. Otherwise I’m mad impressed with this level overall. Great work!

8.6/10

PROX

Spoiler: show

Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water: 7/10

I liked this level. It definitely has a lot going for it when it comes to creativity. The design itself is very polished
as well. I like the water rising gimmick the most in this level. The shell cannon bridge was cool too, but it was a little
annoying as well. What I didn't really care for in this level was the amount of backtracking you had to do in it. It didn't
exactly accomplish all that much except make the level longer. At least it wasn't repetitive though. You always introduce
different things in this level as well which keeps the player interested. The boss at the end was just an SMB3 bowser fight,
but the end cutscene was pretty cool. A little anticlimactic, but cool nevertheless lol.

HVMetal

Spoiler: show

-Entry 10: Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water 8,4/10

Nice level! The castle music fits to the levels icy, misterious and peaceful atmosphere perfectly. Altough the level had a lots of backtracking
it wasnt a huge problem which lowers the score, no. The block placement was ok, altough I miss some slopes in the castle section but looks
like its not necessary. When you hit the P-switch to get a Dragon coin, the coin turns into a yellow brick while others into a blue one.
Its not so out of place, but I should be fixed sooner or later. The BGO placement was fine and I didnt had too many problems with it.
In section 4 where you have to freeze the water there is a cutoff between the waterfall and the ice. The level was well decorated everywhere,
didnt made me feel that there are too many BGOs in the same spot. Maybe section 6 where the cave BGO is inside the castle. Its pretty out
of place and because its color because thats ok, but because it doesnt fit there. The NPC placement was fine, but some areas ( especailly
the underwater ones ) are a little bit empty. The para-galoombas wings are a little bit glitchy, so pay more attention next time to these
smaller things because a wrong step can break everything. After all this mess and exploring comes the final boss fight, which is SMB3
Bowser with a SMW styled recolor. After defeating him comes the "Hit of the show" because you wake up in Marios house and you find out
that it was a dream only. The level was ok, some minor things should be fixed like the waterfall and the ice cutoff, the galoombas wings and
maybe the Dragon coin in its block form. Maybe a few more npcs wouldnt be bad especially in underwater sections.

MECHDRAGON777

Spoiler: show

Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water
Okay, this is downright my favorite level in this contest I get to judge, and I hope I am not bias for the music. The music actually disappoints me. I really loved the Water Temple in Ocarina of TIme, and when I hear it's music, I was hoping it would be the same gimmick. I have to question why you did not replace the SMB3 Brick Block. (Dragon Coin + P-Switch = SMB3 Brick Block. I got two very funny kills on Bowser in this level though. The reward for all five dragon coins is a star. you have to talk to Luigi at the end of the fight to get the secret star, which is messed up. I beat this level more than two times for that star. I loved it. The broken maskes, and the extra layer of waterfall is the only flaws. I can see this level easily winning the contest.
Replayability 5/5
Music 5/5
Gameplay 19/20
Contest Theme 5/5
Gimmick 5/5
Difficulty 8/10
Aesthetics 10/10
Total 57/10
Average 9.5/10

Andialifbatara

Spoiler: show

Frozen Fortress of Ice and Water (8.2/10)
Woo this level is pretty nice, the start was little bit boring with the switch hunt, especially the underwater part. After the checkpoint it was fun; you put every
gimmick in the switch rooms, which is good, but the midpoint section (section 6) was confusing (i got dead ends like 2 times),
you should put some arrows or hints and it would be better. The P-switch placement is impossible to reach so i can't
get the dragon coin at section 1. The most fun part of this level is the boss, although it's little bit cliche, but i'm still enjoyed it.
The ending was pretty good, although the dialogues was little... bit... rude. Overall i'm enjoyes this level but next time
please don't use too much switch hunt gimmick. I also found a cut-off at the waterfall after i hit the 2nd switch.

...That means THIS would be Pretty Good?

[ShadowStarX]

FFoIaW review

Design & Gameplay: Great
+ I found this level quite fun and well-designed. The NPC placement and variety is good and I didn't have problems with the difficulty either. The level doesn't have repetitive parts because the sections are quite different from each other. The dragon coins are also placed quite well throughout the level.
| It's good that the level is explorable but it had a bit too much backtracking. I also found the level a bit too long.
- The boss fight at the end is really lackluster because it takes too long and isn't really fun...

Design & Gameplay: Great
+ The atmosphere of the level is really good in my opinion. It doesn't have clash or cutoffs and none of the effects were broken. The musics fit perfectly and there is a fair amount of decoration too.

Score: 8/10
A really enjoyable icy fortress level with good structure
Moved to 'Pretty Good'

[DarkDragon94]

this level really is beautiful the graphics are excelent atmosphere, I will record a video of this level !!! Rating: 9/10

I can use this level in my project: Archipelago of Bowser?