Hey there, your talk about the ice is very cool (god i didnt even notice that pun till i re-read this post..) and i have an idea to check with you.
If you have seen demolition man you will get a good image of this, you spray round a solution which does nothing speicial on its own but can then be activated and it all freezes... i guess similar to lighting napalm in unreal2 (that was cool !)
What do you think, any good ?
Those links are great aswell, youll be seeing those animations in the game very soon!