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Freeze-E Frosty's - Now on Itch.io

5/30/2015

We have just launched our Itch.io page! It has taken us far longer then anticipated, but it is finally done. Please feel free to visit our page and give it a download!

Working as an ice cream cone isn't easy....especially when you accidentally blow up the world-famous Freeze-E Frosty's ice cream factory! Help Frosty get through this ridiculous action-adventure game and save your factory from certain doom!

- Play as Frosty, an Ice Cream Cone too cool for school and not afraid of anything!
- Use Frosty's signature Freeze Gloves to freeze and shatter obstacles!
- Use your Dash Boots to speed through the factory and to dodge danger!
- Precise Platforming Action!
- Awesome Original Soundtrack!
- 3 Exciting levels to explore! From the friendly Main Entrance to the dark and creepy Lower Factory!
- Take on the Ancient Terror of the Ice Cream T-Rex in a one on one boss battle!
- Awesome 2.5D Cartoon visuals come to life with the power of the Unreal Development Kit!

Recommended System requirements:
Operating system: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.5 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 1500+
RAM: 2 GB (Windows XP) / 4 GB (Windows Vista)
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce 260 GTX / ATI Radeon X1300 (256 MB)
Sound Card: Compatible with DirectX
Free hard drive space: 300 MB

Pay what you want or download for FREE! All proceeds will go towards the development of our next game.

Do you have questions, comments or concerns? Email us at [email protected]
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Don't forget to check out our affiliate IndieBox.com! Indiebox is a subscription service that delivers collector edition indie games straight to your door step every month. Referral code: Divercast.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freeze-E Frosty's : Developer Commentary - Level 3

12/10/2014

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Welcome to the third installment of Freeze-E Frosty's - Developer Commentary. In this video series I will go behind the scenes of the third level of Freeze-E Frosty and share with you my design process.

Freeze-E Frosty's Developer Commentary - Level 3 from Danny Quesada on Vimeo.

Further Notes: Level 3

- This level was the most test played section in the entire game.
- This section features over 815 kismet sequences.
- Sections from the main menu area can be seen in the background of the first phase of the boss fight.
- The boss fight was all scripted inside of kismet through matinees.
- The hit points for the boss had to be tweaked constantly. Some play testers could not even freeze him once before dying.
- Originally, when you died during the boss fight you would have to start over from the start of the level. We decided to make it easier by allowing you to start off from when you died.
- Originally, when defeated the T-rex would explode.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freze-E Frosty's : Developer Commentary - Level 2

11/18/2014

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Welcome to the second installment of Freeze-E Frosty's - Developer Commentary. In this video series I will go behind the scenes of the second level of Freeze-E Frosty and share with you my design process and about the original soundtrack.

Freeze-E Frosty's Developer Commentary - Level 2 from Danny Quesada on Vimeo.

Further Notes: Level 2

- You can listen to the games original soundtrack on our indieDb page.
- The idea for the health vent was pitched by one of our environment artist.
- The "Running Man" appears 3 times in this level in the background.
- Traveling through the vents was supposed to be much shorter, but was lengthened after positive feedback from playtests.
- There was supposed to be another section before you exit the vents, but it was cut due to time.
- The Ice Cream T-Rex appears in the background twice in this level.
- This level went through many iterations of environment art layout. The look of the level wasn't finalized till near launch of the game.
- My original intent of this level was to show the dark underbelly of the factory.
- Areas featured in this level are: a warehouse, Cookie Crumbler (where toppings are made) and the soda filtration system.
- In terms of design, this level was redesigned the least.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freeze-E Frosty's : Developer Commentary - Level 1

8/19/2014

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Welcome to the first installment of Freeze-E Frosty's - Developer Commentary. In this video series I will go behind the scenes of Freeze-E Frosty and share with you my design process.

Freeze-E Frosty's Developer Commentary - Main Menu and Level 1 from Danny Quesada on Vimeo.

Further Notes: Level 1

- The main menu was originally part of the third level but was discarded. Toward the end of development it was salvaged and turned into the main menu.

- There are almost one hundred dynamic lights in the first half of the level. Once the player reaches the second floor (where the workstation is) there is a trigger that completely deletes all of the lights. This was done to keep the frame rate from dipping lower than 30fps.

- We were lucky enough to record all of the voice over work in a professional studio with talented audio personnel. We did two 4 hour sessions to record all the voice work.

- This level went through many iterations before we went wit this design. This design was sketched by myself while I was stuck in traffic heading home one day.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Level Design 101: Freeze-E Frosty's - Boss Battle Breakdown

5/5/2014

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Battle For Dominance

The layout for the boss fight was very simple. This level would just be a long corridor where the player can walk toward their goal. With each phase of the boss fight the player would be once again cut off from their goal. The player must overcome the boss by utilizing Froty's freeze gloves and dash ability.

The programming for the boss battle took nearly 11 weeks of work. I had to bet the boss battle phases worked out, the third phase was cut, added back and altered at least 3 times before we settled on what you see in the game.

I had the distinct honor of not only designing the boss battle from scratch, but I also spent a week and a half of development time play testing and bug fixing back to back for days on end.

Level Goals and Objectives

Level Types: Campaign

Level Name: Boss Battle
- Single Mission

Mission Location

- World Famous Freeze-E Frosty's Ice Cream Factory
- Lower factory,storage vats etc

Visual Themes

- Dark industrial setting
- Lower level of the factory, not meant to be seen by the general public

Mission Difficulty

This level is a straight forward boss fight. The player must use their freeze gloves to freeze the pipes above the T-rex to cause them to burst, shooting steam at the T-rex and causing him harm.

The boss fight is broken up into 3 phases and after the fourth phase is complete the player must go into the shutoff valve room and save the day. Once that is completed the game ends.

Level Story

After traveling through the vents, Frosty has now reached the walkway leading to the shutoff valve room.

The only thing standing in his way is a huge popsicle T-Rex! Can Frosty defeat the T-Rex and save the factory?

Level Goals

- Player applies all their skills to defeat the boss

Enemy Units

- The player must defeat the T-rex boss
- There are hazards in the level that may injure or kill the player

Level 3 - Boss Battle / Shutoff Valve Room Sideview

This is the conclusion of the game. Here is where we have the showdown between Frosty and the popsicle T-Rex. After the epic battle the player reaches their destination of the shutoff valve room.

Level 3 - Entrance

As soon as the player walks past the stairs an event takes place. Steam bursts from a pipe and blocks the door. The player can only move to the right and can not return from where they came. As they move right they come across and injured NPC laying on the ground.

Entrance to the shutoff valve area.

At this point we pause the players movement because it is critical that the player listens to what the NPC has to say. The NPC reveals crucial information on how to defeat the boss. The player is told to use the Freeze Gloves to freeze the red hot pipes that hang overhead. The pipe is red, it flashes and it has a sparkle particle on it to grab the attention of the player.

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 1

As soon as the player enters the first phase of the boss fight they activate a checkpoint. This event triggers the T-Rex to enter the area, destroying the walkway and trapping the player between two busted steam pipes.

   The pipe above the T-Rex flashes red and has a sparkle particle over, this signals to the player that it needs to be shot at with the freeze gloves. Every time the player makes contact with the pipe it makes a low metallic ding.

   When the player fires the Freeze Gloves at the T-Rex he flashes until he completely freezes. Once he is frozen he remains frozen for five seconds giving the player time to target the steam pipe.

   Once the player defeats the boss, he will retreat. The Steam that was blocking the player is now gone and they can keep moving toward the shutoff valve room.

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 2

The second phase begins with the the player activating two events. The player is locked in by steam as the T-Rex emerges from underneath the walkway.

You battle the boss in a similar fashion to the first phase. You dodge the attacks and freeze the pipe over his head. Once the boss is defeated the next event is triggered, a large pipe crashes down allowing the player to cross to the other side.

Level 3 - Intro to Phase 3

After the second phase the player keeps moving forward. They will walk through a health vent that will heal them back to full health.

As they walk down toward the steps leading to the shutoff valve room, a large pipe will come crashing down destroy the walkway behind the player. The steps the player walks down will also come crashing down once the boss appears for the start of phase 3.

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 3

   As the third phase begins the player will activate the next checkpoint. If the player dies in this phase he will be respawned on the left platform next to where the stairs used to be.

   As the Rex makes its entrance it will walk to the center platform and destroy the middle platform of the catwalk. If the player is on the middle platform they will fall down to the chocolate river below and die.

   During this phase the boss has 5 different types of attacks. With every roar the T-Rex does he will cause icicles to rain down on the player. The T-Rex also has stomp and roar combo which showers the player with many icicles.

At this phase of the boss fight the Rex is invulnerable and can not be frozen. The key to defeating the boss is in freezing the ice cream sandwiches that hang overhead. Once they are frozen they will break, dropping the heavy steel pipes onto the steam pipes below. Once the pipes fall it triggers the ending sequence, Steam begins to douse the Rex melting it. The platform that was obscured by steam is now reset and the steam is removed. With this the player can now move forward to the Shut off valve room.

Level 3 - Shutoff Valve Room and Ending

After the boss is defeated the player continues on their path and will be contacted via their walkie talkie to go to the shut off valve room. As they walk toward the door they will enter a workstation with a worker NPC inside. We call this NPC the "soda engineer" he is the one that contacted the player over the walkie talkie when they first arrived.

Once inside the engineer will tell the player to turn off the shutoff valve. To the far right of the room the player will see a valve continuously spinning out of control. It has a sparkle effect to it to help alert the player that it can be frozen. With the valve frozen the final cut scene is triggered.

The final event is a short cinematic that has the player run out of the shutoff valve room to look at the defeated Rex. He is then followed by the engineer who makes a quick joke about the T-Rex being "T-wrecked". The game ends and the credits roll.

Level 3 - Boss Battle

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Level Design 101: Freeze-E Frosty's - Level Two Breakdown

4/21/2014

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Diving Deeper into the Factory

After the layout for the first level was underway I began construction of the second. I knew that this level had to be quite a change visually and tonally from the first.

The first level was bright and inviting, this level was going to be dark and a bit hostile. I took inspiration from Super Mario Bros. for the NES. World 1-1 was a bright happy place that was above ground. However, as soon as you get to world 1-2 the Mushroom Kingdom was no longer so inviting. And that was the tone I was attempting to convey with this level.

Level Goals and Objectives

Level Type: Campaign

Level Name: Factory Depths
- Single Mission

Mission Location

- World Famous Freeze-E Frosty's Ice Cream Factory
- Lower factory, lots of machinery and equipment

Visual Themes

- Dark industrial setting
- Lower level of the factory, not meant to be seen by the general public

Mission Difficulty

Level 2 is where the difficulty begins to ramp up slowly. The player will have to use everything they learned from the previous level in order to progress. The player faces a series of platforming sections and simple puzzle solving.

Level Story

After the meltdown, Frosty finds himself trapped in the deep dark depths of the factory.

Frosty must now make his way through the bowels of the factory so he can find the "Shut-off Valve" room.

Level Goals

- Player will now use everything thing they learned from the previous level to traverse the challenges of this level

- To tell more of the story through background elements and events.

Enemy Units

- There are no enemy units present in this level
- There are hazards in the level that may injure or kill the player

Level 2 -Side View

The second level has a large shift in terms of tone from the first.

Level 2 is where the gloves come off a bit. Players will now have to face an array of challenges that will test their abilities and reflexes. This levels also builds up to the final confrontation with the T-Rex from the previous level.

Level 2 - Forklift Area

Once the player reaches the bottom of the elevator shaft they may catch a glimpse of their boss attempting to talk to them through a TV. Before the player gets a chance to hear what the boss is trying to say, the monitor explodes. The player can't go left so as they must continue on their journey by heading to the right.
As the player moves toward the right they will encounter the first health vent of the game. The health vent will heal the player gradually as they stand in its healing breeze.

Once the player gets near a large fan they are contacted by the Boss via the walkie talkie on their hip. The first obstacle they face will be a large fan is blowing air that is so powerful that the player can not get though. The solution to this puzzle is to freeze the fan blades causing it to fall apart.

In the forklift area the player must jump up and down on the steel crates to reach the catwalk overhead. Inside the workstation we can overhear some NPC characters talking. If the player continues forward they will set off an event where the T-Rex will appear and eat an NPC in the background.

Now that the boss can no longer reach the player with his TV monitor he will use the walkie talkier on Frosty's hip. The Boss will tell the player over the walkie talkie to get to the shutoff valve room. This is the player's ultimate goal, reaching this area will end the game and result in a victory for the player.

The boss will act as a sort of guide for the player. He will dispense directions/tips/hints through the walkie talkie and will help the player get to their ultimate goal.

Once the player gets into the vent they will encounter more fans. As the player learned from earlier the fans are strong enough to move the player. So if the player must now stand on top of the fan so that it will carry them further up into the higher parts of the vents.

In the highest part of the vents the player will encounter a frozen NPC worker. Instead of having the option to freeze them the player is told to use the "E" key to knock him down over the spike pit effectively making a bridge. As the player travels further into the vents they will see another worker trapped in the vents floating inside a vent in the background.

Frosty watches another worker float helplessly in another pipe.

At the very top of the vents is the first checkpoint of level 2. This checkpoint is implemented in this are because the vents will have few spots where the player can die, frequent checkpoints will prevent the player from becoming frustrated.

Level 2 - Vents Part. 1

Now that the player has reached the checkpoint they encounter the first real danger, a icicle pit. There is a small sign on the inside of the vents that will remind the player to use their dash ability. Dashing is the only option because the vents do not give the player enough space to jump.

Frosty must be careful not to fall into a deadly icicle pit.

After the spike pit we encounter the second danger of this level, Falling Icicles. With some careful maneuvers the player can avoid being hit by the icicles altogether and continue on their journey to safety.

The last thing the player will encounter is a running man NPC inside one of the vents overhead. The player then drops down into the next section of vents.

Level 2 - Vents Part. 2

Once the player is in the new area they will have to dash over another spike pit and avoid another group of falling icicles. This area has two checkpoints very close to each other because the risk of dying is very high is this section.

Frosty makes a daring jump as he tries to find a way out of the maze of vents.

As the player nears the broken steam pipe area there is a group of NPCs below him. Once the player is able to make it past the steam and event occurs. One of the NPCs in the vent below the player loses his grip and slams into a wall of icicles. He is impaled on the wall as the player drops down to the second checkpoint in this area. The second checkpoint in this area is near a large icicle pit.

If the player is capable of passing over the spike pit they have an easy ride to the next checkpoint.

The next checkpoint is in preparation for the next area known as the "Cookie Crumbler".

Frosty is just about to exit the maze of vents.

Level 2 -The Cookie Crumbler

This is one of the trickiest area in the game. As you enter this room, the Boss will tell the player to find a way out. When the player reaches the center platform under the health vent they will be told to find "Tim's Office".

There is a large Kill zone volume underneath the center platform. If the player were to fall inside it would send him back to the checkpoint at the start of this section, outside of the vent on the wall.. If the player were to stand on either of the platforms going up or down they will be taken into a kill zone volume.

Tim's office.

Once the player reaches Tim's office they will need to flip a switch which will then cause an explosion. The explosion will open up the giant vent on the right side of the map, which in turn allows the player to exit this area.

Level 2 - Air Vents and B-team Commandos Staging Area

This area of the factory is all about moving the player along quickly. This is achieved by having the player walk into an air vent. The vents will quickly propel the player into the staging area with very little trouble.

The staging area has a brief interaction with some NPCs (The B-team Commandos). Once the player engages them they will be treated to a brief cut scene. After the cut scene the player walks through the door and the level ends.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Level Design 101: Freeze-E Frosty's - First level Breakdown

3/11/2014

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Introducing the player to the world

In this installment of "Level Design 101" I will go over the first level of the game Freeze-E Frosty's. I worked on this project for 9 months back in 2010. I was the lead Level Design and I designed 3 levels and the boss battle.

I will be discussing each section of the fist level, going through my thought process and talking about the decisions I made and why.

Level Goals and Objectives

The Main Menu.

Level Type: Campaign

Level Name : Welcome to Freeze-E Frosty's
- Single Mission/Tutorial

Mission Location

- World Famous Freeze-E Frosty's Ice Cream Factory
- Interior Factory and work stations
-Ice, Snow and mechanical factory equipment

Visual Themes

- Stylized cartoon elements
- Lots of blues and cold colors
- Contrast between factory and snow/ice

Mission Difficulty

This level will act as an introduction to the game's world and gameplay mechanics. The first few minutes of the level will steadily give the player information on the world and as the player progresses it will also give the player their in game abilities and show the player how to use them.

The overall difficulty of the level is very easy. By the end of this level the player should have a very firm understanding of how to play the game.

Level Story

   Frosty is the newest employee to the world famous Freeze-E Frosty's Ice Cream Factory.

   On his first day on the job he must learn how to use his freeze gloves and dash boots while making it to his work station.

   Once he Arrives at his station, things go horribly wrong and the factory begins to meltdown. Frosty must then escape whilst utilizing some of the abilities he learned along the way.

Level Goals

- Player is introduced to "The Boss"
- Player learns how to use the "Freeze Gloves" ability
- Player learns how to "Jump"
-Player learns how to "Interact" with items/objects
- Player is introduced to the T-Rex enemy
- Player learns how to use the "Dash" ability
- Factory explodes, causing the events of the game to unfold

Enemy Units

- There are no enemy units present in this level
- There are hazards in the level that may injure or kill the player

Level 1 - Side view of first level

The entirety of the first level is very large. It took weeks of iteration before I settled on a design.

The first level of the game serves as the tutorial that will teach the player everything they will need to know about the game.

This is where were introduce a few of the game's characters, we do some foreshadowing and we establish the world and atmosphere of Freeze-E Frosty's. It was very important for us a team to quickly establish the world and get the player in the game as quickly as possible.

Level 1 - Factory Entrance

The game opens up with a brief cinematic. At the end of the cinematic the player enters the room. The cinematic introduces the player to the world of the Freeze-E Frosty's Ice Cream Factory. It has a bit of humor and is very light and colorful. We establish early on that this game is going to be a lighthearted 2D adventure.

Once Frosty (the player) enters the factory, he stands in front of a large sign in the background. That sign in the background is a billboard that tells the player how to walk left and right in the world (A key to to move left and the D key is to move right).

Frosty stands in the lobby before he enters the factory.

As the player begins to walk into the waiting room, a monitor drops from the ceiling. This is where we introduce the character simply known as "Frosty's boss" or just "The Boss". He is the character in charge of the factory and he will be giving the player their missions. I wanted to introduce the player to the story as soon as they enter the factory without having to have a long cinematic that will take the player from the experience. This also meant that a lot of the story elements can be seen in the background of the levels.

As the player gets to the door they encounter the one of the many NPCs in the game, the receptionist. The door is locked but as soon as the player gets close it will be unlocked and they will enter the next area and begin their adventure.

Level 1 - Factory Walkway

   As soon as the player enters the walkway there is a wooden crate obstructing their path. We have an encounter with another NPC, "The Foreman" who will instruct the player to click on the left mouse button to use their "Freeze Gloves" to freeze the empty wooden crate, shattering it and clearing their path. On the wall behind the player we also have a sign with the picture of an NPC using their freeze gloves as an arrow clicks down on the mouse button, to help guide the player.

   Once the player freezes the box in front of them they are rewarded with an audio cue of "Good job kid, just like that!" from the foreman. To enforce the freezing mechanic with have another freezable wooden crate in front of the player being held by two NPCs. The player must freeze the crate they are carrying to continue moving forward.

   The next obstacle that the player comes across is a forklift that is moving its forks up and down. At this part we have a sign on the wall informing the player to use "W" to jump. The player will then know how to jump, this means that they can now jump onto the forks of the fork lift. The forks on the fork lift only lift the player high enough to know that they can get onto the ceiling of the walkway. In order to continue forward they must once again use W to jump onto the walkway.

Frosty freezes a wooden crate.

Once the player reaches the top of the walkway they can go left and interact with some NPC characters. If the player goes right they will run into a group of NPC characters who are trying to fix a malfunctioning crane holding a steel crate. The player is supposed to fire their freeze gloves at the crane which will cause the crane to drop the steel crate and move out of the way. Here we reaffirm the two things the player learned, 1) They can use their freeze gloves with the left mouse button 2) They can use "W" to jump over obstacles. The player also learns something new, they can not freeze a steel crate. Steel Crates are reinforced and will not freeze or shatter when you fire upon them with the Freeze Gloves.

Once the player gets down from the top of the bridge there will be two NPCs talking amongst themselves in the background. As the player progresses further they will see a fellow worker use their freeze gloves to extinguish an NPC who is on fire. If they player chooses to they can either freeze the worker to get through or simply jump over them, either way we further reaffirm the skills they just learned.

Level 1 - Elevator and Drawbridge

The player will get off the walkway and proceed to move right toward an elevator. In this area thy will find a large glove hand that will point them toward the elevator. If the player continues to go right they will see an image of Frosty's Boss appear on a nearby monitor. He will then inform the player to get back to work (to get on the elevator and go up to the next level).

If the player reaches the end of this area they will see a large ice cream sandwich drawbridge. This drawbridge leads directly into the heart of the factory. The player can not continue to the factory at this point and is taunted by a lone NPC worker. The player's only option now is to take the elevator up toward the second floor.

The player can avoid all of this and just take the elevator to the second floor. It is at this elevator that we teach the player to use "E" to activate switches/buttons/levers/interact.

Frosty's Boss tells him to get back to work.

Level 1 - T-Rex Laboratory

Now that the player has reached the lab area they have two choices. They can go left to interact with a group of NPCs or head straight toward the lab.

If the player heads into the lab it will suddenly lose power and the frozen T-Rex will begin to awake from his icy slumber. After the power is restored the door on the right opens and the player can continue to the next area of the factory.

Frosty walks by the Frozen T-Rex as workers man their stations.

   It is important to note that at this part of the game we did not want to stop the player from moving because we believed that if the event in the background is interesting enough then the player will naturally slow down and stop to watch rather then forcing them to sit still. Forcing the player to stop even for a few seconds can separate them from the game world.

   After the factory meltdown there is an event with the T-Rex. He breaks free from his frozen slumber, eats an NPC and storms off into the bowels of the factory. His escape and rampage are foreshadowed by the loss of power in the earlier sequence.

   After Meltdown: The elevator button has an event tied to it, at the moment the elevator will not go anywhere until the factory begins to meltdown. Once the factory has gone into meltdown mode the elevator will take the player to the second level and level 1 is completed.

Level 1 - Dash Tutorial and The Malfunctioning Bridge

This are is where we introduce the player to their new item, "Dash Boots". Once activated the player is told to use the "S" key to activate and use their dash ability. Ahead of the player are high pressure water jets shooting out from a few broken pipes. If the player attempts to use his gloves the water will become ice and form a temporary barrier. If the player attempts to just simply run past the water, the pressure will knock them back. The only way to get passed the water is to use the Dash Boots. The player needs to get through two more wall of waters before they can continue on. This is done to help reaffirm the dash mechanic.

Frosty Freezes the water coming out of the pipes before he learns he can simply just "Dash" through them.

The player eventually runs into a malfunctioning bridge. Here they have two options, 1)They can either dash across with proper timing, 2)jump over it using the W key. Once they reach the other side they will reach the first checkpoint in the game.

After Meltdown: The player back tracks through this area heading back toward the elevator. The first dangerous thing they encounter is the malfunctioning bridge, which has now collapsed, revealing a large pit of spikes. The player can once again dash over the gap or with some skill, clear it with a well timed jump.

We introduce the pit of spikes here so we can teach the player the consequences of death. If they player were to fall into the pit they would die, but be respawned nearby via a checkpoint.

After the player clears the gap they will then have to dodge some falling rocks. The rocks do moderate damage to the player and can easily be avoiding by a well timed dash. Once again, this is here to teach the player that they will face dangers in the environment.

Level 1 - The Workstation and Meltdown

Once the player reaches their workstation they are prompted by "The Boss" to activate the workstation. They will use the "E" key to activate a series of switches that will then in turn activate a machines in the background. Once all the machines have been activated this will trigger an event where the machines malfunction and the factory begins to meltdown. At this point the player is prompted by their boss to head toward the elevator outside the T-Rex lab so the player can escape the dangerous factory floor.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freeze-E Frosty's: Designing the Soundtrack

10/30/2012

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A Chill Soundtrack

There are 2 hidden tracks in the main menu.

When it came to making Freeze-E Frosty's we knew we needed to have a vibrant soundtrack that will capture the feeling of the game. At the beginning we didn't know how we were even going to start on a soundtrack. Luckily for us the very talented Mike Coons joined the team.

Mike Coons brought along with him over 25 years of composing experience. He however had never worked on a game before. Mike is an extremely talented guy. He composes all of his music and he plays just about every instrument I can imagine.

Over the period of a few months I shared with Mike some of the best soundtracks in gaming. I wanted the game to have a soundtrack that was retro with possibly some chiptune sounds. I sent him links to just about every game I could imagine. Bomberman, Mario, Contra, Crash Bandicoot were just a few games I sent him as reference. Mike came by weekly to demo his latest tracks. Below is a breakdown of the songs in the game.

Cold as Ice Jazz

That baseline is as smooth as Frosty.

   The first level is where we introduce the player to the world of Freeze-E Frosty's and the character of Frosty. When I described the character of Frosty to Mike we decided on a cool baseline that would emphasize Frosty's "too cool for school" attitude.

   The first thing Mike came up with was just the baseline. It was a very mellow line that sauntered through your ears. We talked about adding a bit more to it and what he came up with was great.

   For reference I told Mike that we were kind of going for a very 1950's malt shop kind of vibe. I described it as something that would be played through a jukebox. When it came to the tone and the vibe he certainly matched what we as a team was looking for.

   He filled in the track with some light piano and guitar that came together to form a very relaxed Jazz sound that perfectly reflected Frosty as a character. The piano to me fits well with the feel of the game, the song sounds relaxed but the piano is something of a warning that things might get a bit tense.

Cold as Ice Jazz - Indie DB

Meltdown

The factory is going haywire!

The factory is Freeze-E Frosty's eventually goes haywire leading to a chaotic meltdown. For this track we wanted to capture the sense of urgency and panic.

The first track Mike gave us was a bit dark. The second track was a mostly piano track. It felt right but it was missing the urgency. It wasn't until he combined the two he came up with something that fit the bill.

The track that he came up with captured the mood exactly. He kept the piano but added in some horns and gave it a pulsing rhythm. It is one of my favorite songs he composed for us. It has a very moody feel to it without being overbearing.

Meltdown - Indie DB

Forklift Funk

Moody and atmospheric. Capturing the level perfectly.

For the second level of FF I knew exactly what I wanted the music to sound like. As a huge Mario fan I just had to share with Mike the music from Super Mario Bros from the NEs. World 1-2 is the underground level and since I was a kid that iconic music has stuck with me.

I sent Mike a clip of that music and told him that I wanted our second level to pay an homage to it without being overtly noticeable. I knew it was going to be a challenge but Mike was an expert and so far he hadn't let me down yet.

Mike really knocked this one right out of the park. He really made a track that not only paid homage to one of the classics but it stands on it's own. I remember running play tests of the level and having people come up to me asking if they can get a copy of this song. It was pretty much at this point I knew Mike was capable of working with the guidelines I gave him and excel.

Forklift Funk - Indie DB

Royal Ice Palace and Jurassic Flavor

We knew that our hero Frosty was going to do battle with a T-Rex for a long time coming. What came to my mind as memorable song we could use as a baseline was the Jurassic Park theme.

I sent over a clip of the Jurassic Park theme over to Mike and he got to work. He was able to replicate the sound really well. I dropped it into the boss fight level but it didn't fit the mood of the boss fight.

The track below is what he came up with. It had the Jurassic Park influence but it lacked the magic of previous tracks. I am not saying that it wasn't good, because it was good. It just didn't fit the mood of the boss battle. We ended up using this track for another area in the game known as the "Trophy Room". We scrapped the Jurassic Park idea and decided to go in another direction with it.

Royal Ice Palace (trophy room) - Indie DB

Mike headed back to the mixing board and came up with two different songs. The first was a very slow and grim. The second was a much more fast paced song. We originally were going to go with the faster paced track but we realized that before the boss fight is a short intro/tutorial and in between phases of the boss fights we had lulls in the combat so we needed something, we couldn't simply have no music for that part. Mike mixed both tracks together to make what became the track below. It builds up slowly and turns into a much more fast paced song. We looped the first half of the song for the start of the level and for the parts in between the rounds.

Jurassic Flavor (boss theme) - Indie DB

Ice Cream Adventure and 8-bit Boogey

Mike produced a lot of content for us, so much in fact that a few tracks didn't make it into the main game. Everything he came up with was fantastic. He took whatever mix of ideas we had in our heads and turned it into music. Below are two tracks that are not in the main game but were added as Easter eggs in the games main menu.

Ice Cream Adventure - Indie DB

Ice Cream adventure was going to be the song for the first level but it was taken out in favor of "Cold as Ice Jazz". We liked the song, it reminded us of Crash Bandicoot. We instead planned on using it for a level that would come after the boss battle. Early on we thought we might want to continue the project.

8-bit Boogey - Indie DB

8-Bit boogie was a great song that was also a contender for the first level song. I personally love the chip tune sound it has. This song is really upbeat, it properly reflects the tone of the game but we wanted a song that would suit Frosty's character.

Implementing the music into Kismet

When it came to implementing the music into the levels I found that using the matinees in Kismet allowed me the perfect level of control over the music in game. I was able to link it to switches and actions in a way to accommodate for just about any situation.

The kismet for the main menu was very easy to pull off.

The music was easily implemented into all of the levels. The only level that really had some problems was the boss fight. I had to make sure that the first half of the boss fight music played at the start of the level and to transition into the speedier battler music once the boss showed up.

Music was broken up into phases for the boss fight.

Things in the boss fight became pretty complex. I had to break the music into three music phases, one for each phase in the boss fight. I also had to have phases for each transition from round to round. In the end I was able to get the matinees to play the appropriate music when necessary. The whole thing came out spectacular, the music in the boss fight was flawless.

Freeze-E Frosty's went on to win Game Wizards Game of the Year at Art Institutes of Santa Monica that year. Mike didn't have any experience working with games but he didn't let that stop him from taking the challenge. I was happy to work closely with him to perfect the soundtrack and in the end his weekly visits was something the entire team rallied around. If it wasn't for him Freeze-E Frosty's would have been a much different game. The soundtrack stands as the best soundtrack Game Wizards has ever heard.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freeze-E Frosty's : Boss Fight Time Lapse Video

5/1/2012

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I wanted to post a time lapse video from my time developing the boss fight for Freeze-E Frosty's. The video shows everything from early design and ideas to the finished boss fight.

Freeze-E Frosty's - Time Lapse from Danny Quesada on Vimeo.

0:00 - 0:53 - This was the first part of the boss fight. Originally it was just going to be very simple. You walk into a room and the T-rex attacks you. This was scrapped because it felt excruciatingly boring, we knew we could do more. We were on a tight deadline but we didn't want to settle on a mediocre experience.

0:54 - 1:14 - This is week 2 of development. I started nailing out the scale of the boss battle level. The first idea was just the room, or "Ice Cave". So from here I started conceptualizing a bigger environment to mess around with.

1:15 - 2:08 - Week 4 of development the first and second phase of the boss fight are complete. We wanted there to be three phases (following the video game rule of 3), but with time running out. We still wanted a third phase but I designed the boss battled to end at the second one just in case.

Fun Fact: The exploding and sinking of the T-Rex is an obscure reference to Turok 2 : Seeds of Evil (Gameboy Color). We didn't have any animation for the T-rex dying at this point and with the way the game was coming along we had to have something that read as "Boss has been defeated". I remembered how every boss in that game just sank into the floor and exploded.

2:09 - 3:01 - I made a quick change and deciding to flesh out the second phase of the boss fight. We were finally starting to get animations in. Getting those animations really helped to bring the game to life. At this point we were able to add a "Charge" attack to the T-rex.

3:02 - 3:55 - This was week 7, by this time the boss fight had phase 1 and 2 basically done. It was in a state where I could properly run in and play. So at this point I started messing with the HP (hit points). Tweaking this stat is always tricky. I spent the week messing around with HP and refining the kismet.

3:56 - 4:16 - All the kismet for phase 1 of the boss fight.

4:16 - 4:29 - All of the kismet for phase 2 of the boss fight.

4:30 - 4:47 - All of the kismet for phase 3 of the boss fight.

4:48 - 4:49 - All of the kismet for the ending cinematic after completing the boss fight.

4:50 - 5:43 - The finalized boss level running in real time inside of UDK.

5:49 - 6:42 - The final and complete version of the first phase of the boss fight running in real time.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Freeze-E Frosty's : The Lost Levels

9/16/2011

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The Lost Levels

During the nine month production cycle of Freeze-E Frosty's there were many levels that ended up on the cutting room floor. These levels are referred to by me as the "Lost Levels".

Exposed Wires, Moving Platforms

This area was intended to come at a later point in the game. At this point of production the dash mechanic was not even in the game and the only abilities the player could use was jumping and the Freezing.

This level was one of my favorites. It was a level that would truly challenge the player. Death was a constant threat and only the most skilled player would make it out unscathed. If the player was to make one wrong move they could fall straight into the icicles that would kill them instantly. Icicles weren't just on the floor, they were also on the ceilings and walls.

Moving Platform Room.

The level starts off with the player coming across a locked door. The only way for the player to open the door is to freeze the exposed electrical wires hanging conveniently overhead. The next room has a single platform and an ice block. To get the platform to move the player is supposed to once again freeze the exposed wires overhead. Once the platform is moving the player can smash through the ice block and get to the next platform. The process of carefully traversing the platforms while freezing electrical wiring made the pacing of this map very slow and a bit tedious.

The main problem with this level was that it had too many cheap deaths. During early play tests we realized that most players give up once something becomes too hard. This began a debate about a level being challenging vs cheap. To avoid the possibility of being cheap I made sure to include checkpoints in every area where death is a possibility. Ultimately this level got cut early on in production. Another reason was because it didn't fit anywhere in the games story.

High and Low Road Level

During the production cycle we felt that we had to vary up the level design. One idea that we came up with was splitting up the level into a branching paths. I designed a level with two paths to take, the high road and the low road. The objective of this level was to reach the cooling vats and stop the factory from having an ice cream meltdown.

If you make a level with two paths you need to ensure that both paths are equally as interesting and polished.

The high road is a much shorter path but it is also a lot harder. The high road is full of dangers such as out of control conveyor belts, fire,steam and icicles. The Low road has very few real dangers and death here is unlikely. The low road babies the player until they reach their goal. The downside of the low road is that it takes a lot longer to get to the elevator to reach the goal.

The problem with this setup is that it lacked balance. What I mean is that we had to ensure that both areas were awesome and played well. The time it would of took to polish two massive areas like this would have been ridiculous. At this stage of development we were also trying to include collectible items. The problem with this is that no matter what route you took you would miss the collectible in the other area. The Other big problem was communicating to the player that the high road was more difficult compared to the low road. We could of easily stopped the game here and had a on screen visual that told the player but we felt that it would be inconsistent with our overall design.

Avalanche Level

This idea was sort of pitched to me by Tony Sanchez, one of the environmental artist on our team. He came up with the idea that some of the ice cream had melted and the player would have to escape from an avalanche/flood of melted ice cream. I recalled there being an Episode of the cartoon series "Doug" where there is a meltdown at the local ice cream factory. Doug has the ice cream hit the cooling fans so it can chopped up into smaller servings. So from that odd combination of disjointed thoughts this level was born.

The level inspired from an episode of Doug.

At this point in development we had the dash ability implemented and we had the main story beats down for the game. This level was going to happen a bit after the factory starts melting down. When the player reaches this area there was going to be a quick cutscene where we see a wall of pistachio ice cream come barreling down this hallway wiping out droves of workers in its path. The player would then utilize a combination of quick jumps and dashes to avoid being drowned in ice cream. The player would have to dash down the hallway avoiding various hazards and reach a service elevator that would take them to safety just as the ice cream avalanche would smash into the cooling fan.

This level got cut because it demanded a lot of work from an art perspective. After some story changes, it didn't fit with the games overall narrative unfortunately. By the time we sat down and discussed the block out we realized that the scope of the game had changed and this idea wasn't going to worth the time to create the assets and polish the design. It just didn't have a place in the game anymore.

Ledge Jump Tutorial Level

This level came a bit late in development. The idea came from our project lead Juan Valencia. He felt that we didn't have enough variety in our abilities. He developed an ability that allowed the player to bounce from ledge to ledge in quick succession. This ability was called the "ledge jump". It was a cool idea but the hard part was getting it into the game so late. This section of the game was supposed to come right after the "Cookie Crumbler" area and before the boss fight.

The player was going to use the ledge jump to scale some broken platforms and reach the top of this room. Once at the top the player would use the ability to jump over a small fire, reinforcing the skill they just used. Once that is done the player would fall into a mine cart delivery area where every few seconds a mine cart would be shot out from the left side of the room to the right side. To avoid being hit by the mine cart the player would use their new ability to dodge up into the ceiling.

Players must use the ledge jump in order to avoid danger.

It all sounds pretty reasonable, in fact I even added a secret room in the ceiling with a collectible item to encourage the player to use the ability for exploring. The biggest problem was that this area of the game would be coming in so late the new ability was only going to be used for this area. The ability would be a one time use thing. To solve that problem Juan asked me to incorporate it into the boss fight, which at this time was in its early prototyping phase.

I was against incorporating the ledge jump ability into the boss fight because it felt completely shoehorned. Also we would be forcing players to rely on a ability they just learned only minutes before to defeat the boss. It was a recipe for disaster and I am glad we decided to cut the ability and the level.

Ice Maze Dungeon Level

This level was inspired from the Ice dungeon from Pokemon Red and Blue. I hated those dungeons.

This level was one of the levels that I came up with early on in the development cycle. The Idea behind this level is that Frosty must navigate a series of doors ( A links to A, B links to B etc) in order to find two switches that will open up a door that will give him a key to open up the exit. Sounds complicated? Well it kind of was.

This level was created so early. It was made when we were still brainstorming how the game should play. At this point we were focusing on areas that were a bit more focused on puzzles and problem solving rather than just platforming. We decided to gear the game towards platforming rather than puzzles. We wanted to keep the pacing just right. Making the player stop their platforming adventure to search for switches and keys drastically slows the game down and wasn't the direction we wanted to go with.

Mine cart Leap of Faith

This is once again a level I put together during our early days. I was asked to come up with a level that had more of a vertical feel to it. What I came up with was a grueling, challenging level that screamed difficult.

The player starts out descending down a bit, avoiding some deadly steam, breaking through an ice block and attempting to solve a switch puzzle without being impaled on icicles or being melted. The next area was supposed to be a large delivery room style area that was dropping mail down towards the player via conveyor belts. The player was to jump back and forth on the conveyor belts while avoiding anything being dropped on them. If the player were to fall off of one of the conveyor belts they would be killed in a horrible pit of fire.

One of the hardest levels I designed for Freeze-E Frosty's.

   I don't even know what I was thinking when I was designing the next room. It is one of the hardest levels I ever came up with for this game. In this room the player needs to hop into a mine cart and use their freeze gloves on some exposed wiring in order to power the mine cart. Once the cart is online it will move forward allowing the player to jump to another mine cart. Once again the player must slowly advance to the right. One wrong move and they would fall to their death.

   I didn't make this area any easier. The exit was locked which meant the player head to get to the switch to open the door and jump in a mine cart, power it up enough so that the momentum will then toss the player toward the exit. Yeah executing all that isn't really for the casual gamer. I know some hardcore gamers that wouldn't like doing this. As I said before this was an exercise in balancing out being cheap versus challenging.

   This level got scrapped because we didn't have the time and assets to make this area. Story wise this took place well after the factory blew up. We needed to focus on the first half of the game and not the second. The tutorial area at this time was there but it was very crude and very simple. We passed on this idea and focused on our strengths and polished the first few areas instead.

Lost but not Forgotten

An early concept by Nick Marks.

These areas got cut from the game but that only lead to our game being more refined and polished. It is very important to look at the scope of the game and to realize what is doable. Although I will say that it is also important to fight for what you believe in.

I was told countless times that the T-Rex boss fight was never going to happen. I wanted it in the game so I dedicated weeks to get it in and I am proud to say that it is in the game.

Just remember that when you design a level you need to make sure that the player is having fun. If the player has a bad experience with your game, they have little reason to come back and play.

- Danny Q
@Dannylv100

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Further Notes: Level 3

Further Notes: Level 2

Further Notes: Level 1

Battle For Dominance

Level Goals and Objectives

Level Types: Campaign

Mission Location

Visual Themes

Mission Difficulty

Level Story

Level Goals

Enemy Units

Level 3 - Boss Battle / Shutoff Valve Room Sideview

Level 3 - Entrance

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 1

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 2

Level 3 - Intro to Phase 3

Level 3 - Boss Battle Phase 3

Level 3 - Shutoff Valve Room and Ending

Level 3 - Boss Battle

Diving Deeper into the Factory

Level Goals and Objectives

Level Type: Campaign

Mission Location

Visual Themes

Mission Difficulty

Level Story

Level Goals

Enemy Units

Level 2 -Side View

Level 2 - Forklift Area

Level 2 - Vents Part. 1

Level 2 - Vents Part. 2

Level 2 -The Cookie Crumbler

Level 2 - Air Vents and B-team Commandos Staging Area

Introducing the player to the world

Level Goals and Objectives

Level Type: Campaign

Mission Location

Visual Themes

Mission Difficulty

Level Story

Level Goals

Enemy Units

Level 1 - Side view of first level

Level 1 - Factory Entrance

Level 1 - Factory Walkway

Level 1 - Elevator and Drawbridge

Level 1 - T-Rex Laboratory

Level 1 - Dash Tutorial and The Malfunctioning Bridge

Level 1 - The Workstation and Meltdown

A Chill Soundtrack

Cold as Ice Jazz

Meltdown

Forklift Funk

Royal Ice Palace and Jurassic Flavor

Ice Cream Adventure and 8-bit Boogey

Implementing the music into Kismet

The Lost Levels

Exposed Wires, Moving Platforms

High and Low Road Level

Avalanche Level

Ledge Jump Tutorial Level

Ice Maze Dungeon Level

Mine cart Leap of Faith

Lost but not Forgotten

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