[Simon]

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:

Quote

How far into the design did desert zone see? Was a boss for that level ever created?
I think that Dust Hill was completed entirely

Again, later in the interview:

Quote

I came along later to create the desert/winter dust hill zone and the woods zone.

And again:

Quote

Did the desert, winter, and woods zones have specific names?
Desert was dust hill. I don’t remember the rest.

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.

[Yoshi 15]

I also noticed something.

Quote

Well, some people suspect that the screen shot was not an actual screenshot. Rather, it was an image created using a computer and some paint program. What do you have to say about this?
It was a real level.

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

[Simon]

Yoshi 15, on Jan 26 2004, 09:36 PM, said:

I also noticed something.

Quote

Well, some people suspect that the screen shot was not an actual screenshot. Rather, it was an image created using a computer and some paint program. What do you have to say about this?
It was a real level.

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

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".

[Fiz]

Yoshi 15, on Jan 26 2004, 09:36 PM, said:

I also noticed something.

Quote

Well, some people suspect that the screen shot was not an actual screenshot. Rather, it was an image created using a computer and some paint program. What do you have to say about this?
It was a real level.

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

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.

[LOst]

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.

[Wyvernlord]

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.

[Mustapha]

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

This post has been edited by Mustapha: 26 January 2004 - 11:25 PM

[strx10]

Wyvernlord, on Jan 26 2004, 08:21 PM, said:

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.

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.

This post has been edited by strx10: 26 January 2004 - 11:39 PM

[Wyvernlord]

Perhaps in a diffrent dimension that is true!

*shot*

[Lostgame]

Um... Craig Stitt interview...

Quote

there was a desert level that Brenda Ross was really upset about losing, but I think it was taken out very early in the design process.

Those probably aren't the exact words because

[SIZE=14]ICEKNIGHT, THE CRAIG INTERVIEW IS DOWN ON YOUR WEB PAGE

This post has been edited by Lostgame: 27 January 2004 - 08:16 AM

[Mr.Unsmiley]

fix yer HTML

[Black Squirrel]

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... <_<

[Quickman]

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.