Ebbe

(Yes I reposted an old video because I couldn't think of something else in time)

Happy Halloween!

In case you were unaware, Drew Struzan was also the creator of the cover art for Spyro: A Hero's Tail.

This cover has been etched into my mind since I was a kid, and it remains an incredibly striking visual to capture the spirit of the game.

May he rest in peace.

Spyro hanging out in a lit fireplace inside a conch in the level Coastal Remains.

A screenshot of my RetroAchievements status on Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Every achievement is unlocked. They all have a gold border, since I used "hardcore mode" (which disallows savestates).

I got 100% on Spyro A Hero's Tail's RetroAchievements in a single day. I have perhaps played this game too much.

7.8 MB file on MEGA

Now that you say it, I should probably link it somewhere on the Cutting Room Floor. It's not the easiest thing to find.
For now here's a download link: mega.nz/file/j3hxBaS...

A screenshot of Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The subject is a dragon skeleton lying on a warmly lit cave floor.

The introductory paragraphs of the Gloomy Glacier design document made for Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The heading reads "REALM 3 B - Gloomy Glacier" The text reads: This level is a near impenetrable pass through the mountains and a long steep climb up to the Ice Citadel. Set in a deep ravine between mountains lies the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons. Inspired by the Elephants graveyard in ‘Lion King’ and the Dinosaurs graveyard in ‘Jak and Daxter’, this area has potential for striking visuals and lighting with detailed, interesting bone and rock formations. The level is played entirely as Hunter, so all the elements and enemies should be tailored for his specific movement and attack abilities.

The design document for Gloomy Glacier in Spyro: A Hero's Tail pitches the level as "the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons."
This is not explained in the final game, but is hinted at with the skeletons lying around.
#SpyroAHerosTail #SpyroTheDragon

I got a screenshot idea and immediately had to make it

(also of course it has a Jak and Daxter inspiration lol)

A screenshot of Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The subject is a dragon skeleton lying on a warmly lit cave floor.

The introductory paragraphs of the Gloomy Glacier design document made for Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The heading reads "REALM 3 B - Gloomy Glacier" The text reads: This level is a near impenetrable pass through the mountains and a long steep climb up to the Ice Citadel. Set in a deep ravine between mountains lies the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons. Inspired by the Elephants graveyard in ‘Lion King’ and the Dinosaurs graveyard in ‘Jak and Daxter’, this area has potential for striking visuals and lighting with detailed, interesting bone and rock formations. The level is played entirely as Hunter, so all the elements and enemies should be tailored for his specific movement and attack abilities.

The design document for Gloomy Glacier in Spyro: A Hero's Tail pitches the level as "the sacred Dragons Graveyard, the final resting place of the huge ancient Dragons."
This is not explained in the final game, but is hinted at with the skeletons lying around.
#SpyroAHerosTail #SpyroTheDragon

Five entries from the official hashcode defines file (hashcodes.h) for Spyro: A Hero's Tail. The hashcodes shown describe "entities", which are 3D models. #define HT_Entity_Sun 0x02000163 #define HT_Entity_Venus 0x02000164 #define HT_Entity_Mercury 0x02000165 #define HT_Entity_Earth 0x02000166 #define HT_Entity_Mars 0x02000167

Also fun fact, in the game's official Hashcodes, the planets shown in the orrery are labelled after planets in our real-life solar system, with the Sun, Venus, Mercury, Earth and Mars.
Dunno if it's because the planets are actually named this in the Spyro universe, or if it was just for convenience.

A 3D model of a miniature solar system. Four planets of various colors and sizes are orbiting a sun.

The orrery in the center of this render is weird, because Eurochef is once again showing an unused model referenced by an object, despite something different being hard-coded to show up in-game. This is an early model for the solar system model that sits in the level's center.

Overhead isometric render of the level Red's Laboratory from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Red's Laboratory

Overhead isometric render of the level Dark Mine from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Dark Mine

Overhead isometric render of the level Magma Falls Bottom from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Magma Falls Bottom

Overhead isometric render of the Ball Gadget course from the level Magma Falls from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Magma Falls Ball Gadget Course

Ignore that the Ball Gadget station isn't there, it's another hardcoded model so Eurochef doesn't display it :P

Overhead isometric render of the level Magma Falls Top from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Magma Falls Top

Overhead isometric render of the level Molten Mount from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Molten Mount

Overhead isometric render of the level Stormy Beach from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Stormy Beach

The Spyro: A Hero's Tail level Ice Citadel viewed in the map viewer in the tool Eurochef. It's focused on a dark shard hovering in the void far away from any in-bounds areas.

Bonus fact, there's a random out of bounds dark shard here. I edited it out of the map render for aesthetic reasons :)

Overhead isometric render of the level Ice Citadel from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Ice Citadel

The tool I used, Eurochef, was maintained by one guy who's on hiatus at the moment, and the blender plugin to export models/maps gives mixed results.
I think better/improved tools will need to come along before clean maps like that could be made for this game. But I suppose it's a motivator :)

Heh, not sure these screenshots of a map viewer is really up to that creator's standards. Also the map viewer in Eurochef still has a few kinks that add odd/inaccurate details to maps.

A screenshot of the Spyro: A Hero's Tail level Gloomy Glacier viewed in the map viewer in the tool Eurochef. Three detached wall switches are sitting in a void, and the rest of the level can be seen far in the distance.

My apologies, this map is technically incomplete. I did not include these random 3 unused wall switches sitting extremely far out of bounds from the level.

Overhead isometric render of the level Gloomy Glacier from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Gloomy Glacier

Overhead isometric render of the level Frostbite Village from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Frostbite Village

Overhead isometric render of the level Cloudy Domain from Spyro: A Hero's Tail. Screenshot taken using the map viewer in the tool Eurochef.

Cloudy Domain