Update on Moss Flower Zone 1's status.
It won't be done in time for the next contest, but my level's nearing completion. I've still got to work out a few kinks with the framerate, take care of some missing textures in the new areas, and add the ending. Overall though, its coming along better than I'd expected, provided I can polish the first half properly.
Here are some more screenshots showing the second half of the level. Once you're above water, things are a little easier as you're nearing the end. Watch out for the tall grass, you don't know what might be lurking underneath. The new textures for the tall grass are almost directly inspired from the tall grass of the N64 Zelda games.
Also, SonicMaster's been kind enough turn my crummy remix/composition into something worth listening to.. Whether or not I can have it in ogg format depends on how much time I have to devote to figuring it all out.
As its the first level of my planned level pack, expect it to be generous with the rings, and fairly easy to go from start-to-finish. Central gimmicks are quicksand, air pockets, and tall grass.
Assuming the Christmas Season and School don't get in the way, I should have it read to test by the end of January.
EDIT: In case you have to ask, no the areas in the screenshots are NOT the major offenders in framerate, and actually flow very smoothly. The framerate is mostly a problem in the marshy region... because unfortunately, the game has to draw both above-water and below-water junk at the same time. There is some HOM due to the massive size of the room in the first screenshot... so I may have to do some funny stuff to it to get it to look right.