Ice Level is one of the maps created by the EX Crew, and was officially released on August 7, 2010. It was known for it's extremely difficult final challenge (created by MIHB) located in the bottom left corner of the map, informally known as the Ice Slide. Ice Level actually first appeared on July 5, 2010 as a practice map built solely by MIHB, and this earlier version inspired him and the other EX Crew members to remake the map in a much grander form.
Title
The title is the same as with most of the other rooms created by the EX Crew, that is, four spaces in between their group name and their level name. The title "Ice Level" actually stems from an earlier map with the same name which was primarily used to test ideas and recruit new members but was also opened to the public.
MFL: Other levels were obtuse such as Cube, Illusion, Tower of Bable and this one is just called Ice Level as sort of a joke and tribute to a concept map mihb did earlier which waws also called Ice Level. We have people everywhere on the map which is a good indicator that the map scales in difficulty well.
What was the inspiration for your level?[]
MFL: The level was planned for a month but mihb left town for a long time. Took about 5-7 people working on it one night in conjunction with MIHB's own work over the span of a couple of spare days setting up outlines and key parts.
MIHB: I did a smaller level about a month, month and half, with a few hard ice concepts. Turned out really well, so I added a couple easier sections and opened it to the public. It was extremely popular so we decided to expand it and make a full ice map.
Layout[]
Ice Level has a distinct style that is based primarily on a frozen castle sitting on a series of large ice caverns. Players started at the top left corner of the map and made their way through the ice caves until they briefly emerged at the surface before heading back into the caverns. After progressing further through the second section of ice caves, the players finally entered the castle and faced a series of challenging rooms. Escaping the castle leads the players back into the ice caverns where a snowman and large icicles blocked their path. The map concluded with the "Ice Slide", a challenge that was incredibly difficult even for the most skilled players. All light blue blocks that appeared in the map were considered to be ice, and were covered in dots to mimic sliding and prevent jumping.
