Third Version of Frost Flare Zone...still looking to improve

I'm up to version number 3, if you count the original. Here's the new download link--remember, I'm still looking to improve this.

http://srb2ffh.supersanctuary.net/611scr_frost_flare.wad

Probably few people remember the original Frost Flare Zone (Not to be confused with Simsmagic's Freezing Flare Zone...although the levels are quite similar). A very long time ago, I submitted a still more primitive version of this level as a release inside a 4-pack of levels called "Fawfulpack 2". Those few people who noticed complained the level was not only insanely difficult, but in a repetitive and frustrating way. Now, I'm trying to clean it up, and I think I've really improved it, but I'm not sure it's quite ready for the Releases Section. So I'm posting what I've got now in Editing and asking if there's any improvement ideas you have.

Fawfulfan's official Changelog:

Version 2:

1. I did one of three things to just about every one of those annoying long lines of moving platforms: Increased their size, deleted them, or replaced them with a more unique obstacle.
2. The most inconveniently placed enemies have been deleted or untagged in Easy and Medium.
3. More Starposts.
4. A few more rings and monitors.
5. In the original, sometimes shortcuts were too hard to find, and, worse, what you had to do to advance was unclear. All of that has been corrected.
6. Crushers in both of the THZ sections have been moved and/or had their dimensions changed.
7. LOTS of new sector-based scenery to make the level look cooler!

Version 3:

1. There is now different music depending on what part of the level you're in.
2. At the request of everyone, I got rid of the Camera Scanner in the pipes. Personally, I think the area is now even more confusing, but because you insisted...
3. The Crawla Commanders in the secret maze at the beginning are no longer flagged in Easy Mode.
4. The first lava passage and the end of the first THZ section have both been widened.
5. A minor crumbling platform glitch in the first frozen lake has been corrected.
6. Even more sector-based scenery has been added, mostly at the end of the first THZ section.

There is even more I've changed, but I won't spoil everything.

I'm also providing some screenshots to get your interest:






Your input is crucial.

Okay, I had a few obvious issues with the level, everything else about it was astounding, but the obvious flaws are.

#1: Too freakin' hard!!
#2: The alarm areas were way to dark.
#3: Some areas were too enclosed.
#4: Winding your way around some mission impossible base, just to wind yourself trapped in a desolate corner, is rather anticlimactic.
#5: The section with the pipes, has serious camera issues.

I'm interested in how you did the red alarm thing, I still haven't figured out how to do it yet, along with a few other things, but, that's what the wiki is for.

GET RID of the camera problem in the pipes. That area is just fine without it, and because of the camera I ended up going backwards a few times. You also need to make the water underneath the ice only hurt you and not be a death pit, because that's a little unfair for opengl. I also got through into the pipes by thokking through the window as sonic.

Also, the difficulty of the level is just fine; I'd keep it that way.

The first lava-ish part is very cramped, also, please make the death pits have no camera mod.

Lol at pic 2. Anyways, i think this level is freaking huge, but freaking awesome. The only thing i see wrong with this level is maybe how the entrance pipe to the factory/plant messes with the camera horribly and maybe the lava area being a bit cramped.

One last thing though, the last thing the level needs (which is very minor) is appropriate music; i think that when youre in the ice areas of the level the music should sound cold and wintery but then when you get into the factory use a lindef executor to change the music to THZ1/THZ2 music and when you get into the magma area, maybe change the music to the red volcano music, you understand what i mean? :D

Lastly, this level is great, there are only a few things that need to be done to it to make it masterful.

Sonic Destiny said:

Lol at pic 2. Anyways, i think this level is freaking huge, but freaking awesome. The only thing i see wrong with this level is maybe how the entrance pipe to the factory/plant messes with the camera horribly and maybe the lava area being a bit cramped.

One last thing though, the last thing the level needs (which is very minor) is appropriate music; i think that when youre in the ice areas of the level the music should sound cold and wintery but then when you get into the factory use a lindef executor to change the music to THZ1/THZ2 music and when you get into the magma area, maybe change the music to the red volcano music, you understand what i mean? :D

Lastly, this level is great, there are only a few things that need to be done to it to make it masterful.

Click to expand...

That's... That's an awesome idea! I can't believe I didn't think of that!

One more thing, I think that sign should only be there on Easy mode, just for the lulz.

Jellybones69 said:

GET RID of the camera problem in the pipes. That area is just fine without it, and because of the camera I ended up going backwards a few times. You also need to make the water underneath the ice only hurt you and not be a death pit, because that's a little unfair for opengl. I also got through into the pipes by thokking through the window as sonic.

Also, the difficulty of the level is just fine; I'd keep it that way.

Click to expand...

Ignore what the first sign says. It's not any easier to find cracks in software mode.

And the music idea...that'll be difficult, because of all the starposts in the level, but I'll try.

Also, about the camera problem...without that camera, it's extremely cramped and hard to see anything.

Ice said:

The first lava-ish part is very cramped

Click to expand...

Just fixed that problem. Thanks.

Ice said:

also, please make the death pits have no camera mod.

Click to expand...

Why?

And the music idea...that'll be difficult, because of all the starposts in the level, but I'll try.

Click to expand...

Set MusicSlot to 0 in the Level Header and put Linedef Type 58 over all the Starpost Activators and make all of those intangible FOFs Trigger Linedef Executor sectors. Also, do this for the spawn point. Not hard.

I went mad here and gave up:

SWP (SRB2) said:

Okay, I had a few obvious issues with the level:
#5: The section with the pipes has serious camera issues.

Click to expand...

Okay, please stop with the camera issues. Without the Camera Scanner, it's even harder to navigate those pipes than it already is.

By the way, I'm about to release the new version of this level. I still need some tips on how to improve it, though. I'm going to put a changelog up on my first post.

1.For the love the god, NO changing cameras in the pipe, please...
2.Take out that lazer and replace the room with something else...

Well, yeah that was what I could say to change because I didn't want my computer to crash, and because I would get a game over anyway if I continued through trying to pass the lazer.

Okay, please stop with the camera issues. Without the Camera Scanner, it's even harder to navigate those pipes than it already is.

Click to expand...

Then get rid of it.

SonicMaster, you seem to have completely misunderstood everything I said. I DON'T want to get rid of it--but I did to make everyone else happy.

Yeah, I didn't bother to read. >_>

That's okay...so what do you think of FFZ?

When I get to the green quicksand acid, I just keep dying, so that's the part I stopped at. The rest of the stage? Vast, VAST improvements. =D

FYI: I got up to the 2nd factory part before I ran out of lives and continues.

Suggestions:

First of all, the death pits with the mod on messes with the camera if you're on a ledge right near it. I think the level would benefit from its removal.

I dislike that the lava is a 1-hit kill instead of simply a fire damage, as it made for quite a few deaths and restarts.

I found myself a bit confused by 2 pools of goop in the 2nd factory segment. The first acted merely as a quicksand pit, while the second (with the same texture) is a death pit. this caused me to believe that they both acted as quicksand, wasting my last life on the second pool.

I do, however, like the scenery. There is an excellent amount of sector placements in this level.

I'll fix the camera mod death pits. Thanks.

Wow, I loved the part near the end of the level, it was all complex with all the switches and whatnot. I didn't like the part at the very end with the lava textures though, it was a bit cramped and it didn't flow too well.
Here are some other parts which didn't flow too well either:

^A make those pillar things a bit smaller and it'll be fine

^Jeez, lighten up on the fire a bit. It's hard to go anywhere here without either: A) going 1 mile an hour, or B) getting hit every half second.

If you don't want to get rid of a pipe, make it bigger, at least?