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Connection between "DHZ" and "the desert level"

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Simon, Jan 27, 2004.

  1. Simon

    Simon

    Oldbie
    I've been hearing from oldbies/technies that there's no proven relationship between the name Dust Hill and the desert level mock-up. I was about to make corrections to the site, but I found the following from the Brenda Ross interview:
    Again, later in the interview:
    And again:
    That seems to confirm the connection, unless she was talking about another desert level, unrelated to the mock-up we have. (She didn't see the picture, it seems. "You?ll have to send me the image so I can see it.") Or, she's on crack.

    Probably a bad time to bring this topic up (ICEknight is gonna explode), but it needs to be clarified.

    EDIT: Normally I'd search on forums (e.g. A51) when it happened, but they've all vanished as you all know.
     
  2. I allready knew that,people SHOULD read the interviews next time a little bit more clearly so they can understand it much better.I'm sure though that the information will help alot of the members.
     
  3. NickW

    NickW

    Member
    I also noticed something.

    That somewhat proves that Dust Hill was in the game, but just removed early.
     
  4. Simon

    Simon

    Oldbie
    Not exactly. She didn't see the mock-up picture.

    She could've meant "It was a real level, as in we did have plans to make it", not "It was a real level, as in it was actually in the game, playable".
     
  5. Fiz

    Fiz

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    Me, personally, have always thought that Dust Hill/ The Desert Level was never built, or very little of it was built, and that only the art was finished for it.

    And If very little of it was built, they scrapped it very early, and they built Mystic Cave over it, and just put off changing the level name in the stage select until the last minute. But that's just my thoughts on it.
     
  6. Same here Fiz, It makes sense why fuck around with level names and bullshit.
    Dust Hill was prolly taken in and little was done probably like 10%.They prolly decided it was "unfit" so they just scrapped it,bulit mystic cave,and when mystic cave was done they gave it it's proper name. Also tails is in none of the mock ups.
     
  7. LOst

    LOst

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    Only one man can answer these questions. I've searched for him a long time, without results.

    I can't trust the Brenda Ross interview completely because ICEknight didn't make it. If he'd done the interview, we would have got better answers, I believe.
     
  8. Kama

    Kama

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    Dust Hill should`nt have died. It was an original and creative idea. Which brings up the question. How come so many bad levels made it to the final? Hill Top was a masterpiece in mediocrity. Mystic Cave was no fun at all. And Oil Ocean was a total bore.
     
  9. Mustapha

    Mustapha

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    I really wish Dust Hill made it into Sonic 2 Beta or even The Final version.
     
  10. strx10

    strx10

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    I guarantee that if the Dust Hill made it to the final and HTZ, MCZ and OOZ got cut and were not even available for us to play at all, you would want to play them instead of DHZ. What does this mean? I have no idea. I think that this is just one of those cases that we want something that we can't have.
     
  11. Kama

    Kama

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    Perhaps in a diffrent dimension that is true!

    *shot*
     
  12. Lostgame

    Lostgame

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    Um... Craig Stitt interview...
    Those probably aren't the exact words because

    ICEKNIGHT, THE CRAIG INTERVIEW IS DOWN ON YOUR WEB PAGE
     
  13. fix yer HTML
     
  14. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    I think there might be a possibility that the level was made for a different game. I mean why scrap a finished level to replace with unfinished levels? Perhaps it was for the Game Gear/master system and it was that 'Secret Level' that was found in it. Or perhaps it was replaced with UGZ. I think the mock up was just there because it was created for the Mega Drive (Genisis for you americans :) ) but it was moved to the game gear version. That would make WAY more sense... <_<
     
  15. Quickman

    Quickman

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    Erm, no.

    The GRAPHICS for DHZ were complete. We have NO DATA relating to the level itself. Remember, Brenda Ross only knew she was doing art for a level. She knew nothing of what the level was and had no connection with the programmers. She was told "make art for a desert level" and made art for a desert level.

    Whenever she says "I think it was completed" she means she finished the art.

    As for OOZ, I like it. It's a highly novel idea, and OOZ was the only level by an American artist which got through to the final. HTZ, on the other hand... I'd happily substitute HPZ for it in the final version.
     
  16. Timecrash

    Timecrash

    I, Timecrash, will knock you all down! Member
    Odd how HPZ and HTZ sound a bit alike....Anyway, I think that DHZ was a really early level, probably in the alpha, with the playability of S2B-era HPZ, or less. Too bad Brenda Ross couldn't tell us if the level she talked about was related to the mock-up.
     
  17. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Why would I explode? Your posts make sense. :P

    I'll try to explain my reasons for still not thinking that Dust Hill was necessarily the desert level.

    First of all, keep in mind that this interview was sent to her after she had already chosen the person to contact. So there was a previous email that was probably in the lines of those you've seen posted in these forums, asking things like "We know you made Dust Hill, tell us about it".

    Also remember that, as stated in the first paragraph of the interview, she was completely flooded with emails speaking of Dust Hill, so in the couple of weeks (months?) while she was waiting for the interview to arrive, she was expecting to receive questions about that "Dust Hill" thing all the emails mentioned. She just wasn't in a position to say that they were all wrong only because she didn't remember the title. I think that, had we known about the winter level before, everybody would have mentioned "Winter Hill" or some other assumed name, in the emails she was sent, and she would have answered as if it was the real title.



    I've just found something in the interview that could illustrate what I'm talking about...
    In one of the first questions she was asked about the "woods zone" instead of "Wood Zone":
    Later, in one of the other questions, she assumed that it was the correct name and she said:
    Exactly as the interviewer said, not even with added capital letters. She was already told that the desert was Dust Hill, so that's how she refers to it.



    Also, due to the lack of everything professional in the interview and the huge dramas involving politics in the "Sonic scene" at that time, I wouldn't be surprised if some things were "corrected" by the people behind it.



    As you see, there's many reasons why I still think that this interview can't be considered as the ultimate proof for the desert level being called "Dust Hill".
     
  18. Quickman

    Quickman

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    I'm inclined to agree with ICEknight, for his reasons and also because we never at any stage had proof that Dust Hill Zone was the level on which she worked. We assumed "oh, Dust Hill sounds desertish so it must be that desert zone mockup".
     
  19. Fiz

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    I agree as well. I don't think Dust Hill sounds desert-ish at all to me. To me it sounds exactly like it says, a hill of dust. *shrugs*
     
  20. Badass Cyborg

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    So then, perhaps DHZ and the "Desert Zone" were two completely different levels? I mean, now that I think about it, what proof have we that the "desert" pic is in fact a screenshot/mock-up of DHZ?