Please see the attached map for reference.
http://imgur.com/c1LF9g0
I always thought that the level did not make it far into development, but it's quite playable! We know that Plantation house was to be level 3, and the first level to feature dinosaurs. I want to compare how this level plays to that "plantation House Walkthrough" that we received in 2010-11. I cannot find a copy of that walkthrough to compare to.
As JR ends, you are walking on the monorail, and jump off into the area below to end the level. {RED} This area seems to match up with that. There is even construction and a monorail beam where you start. You are on a cliff in a small valley, and have to find your way out into the larger valley. This first area seems well made, but the valley is a little strange. Was the monorail really supposed to twist through here?
once you leave the first valley, you head west and see more of the monorail posts {PINK}. Following the post leads to an ambush by 2 raptors, and eventually you arrive at a construction area, and a dead end. I am not good with photoshop, but If you compare this path to Zandor's map, I would guess that the town is located on the other side of the construction. This could mean that no second monorail station was ever considered, and that the player needed to find an alternate route to the town.
Once the player learns to take their own route, they head south through "the stables" and then into the riverbed area. You are ambushed by a raptor, and then we meet the Green T Rex, something all fans have wanted to see since '98. This area is actually shown in an old screenshot!
after evading the T-rex, you come to some small ravine/stream obstacle {BLUE}. this forces you to head a bit further south, and once you do, you will see the plantation house {GREEN}. You can immediately head west down this valley, and it will lead you to the start of IJ {PURPLE}. Matching up almost perfectly!
if you head east instead of west, you will come across a much better made "cathy's beach" {YELLOW}. It's out of the way along a long meandering path.
My personal theory was that PH was scrapped early on, and that the JR/IJ gap was an error. It turns out I was way wrong, and PH was supposed to fill the gap. It makes the flow much better, and is a very open level.
Things I hope we can discuss:
- Where are the copies of the beta walkthroughs? I feel like they could shed light on this?
- What voice overs are relevant to any of this? how does the player know to stop following the monorail, which guided them all throughout JR?
- Is this a better lead-in to IJ?
- What do you think of the Green Rex? how would you defeat or escape?
- What point do the stables serve? were they part of the plantation house?
- This level seems much less linear than the retail game. Do you think this would have confused players?
- Why do you think the level was cut?
- What objects carried over into other levels, or what ideas were carried over?