Dizzywood

Do you know the history of Dizzywood? Long before human Dizzywood explorers first arrived from Earth, the world had its own native inhabitants, called Ancients, Sprites and Bogies. Read on to learn more about this amazing world’s history.

A Brief History of Dizzywood

Before humans and animals, the world’s main inhabitants were huge elemental titans called Ancients, small faerie-like creatures called Sprites, their more wild counterparts Bogies, nasty monsters of all shapes and sizes, and the many flying and skittering critters who make up the world’s indigenous animal kingdom.

Animals from our world were the first to discover Dizzywood many thousands of years ago. Through the magic of Dizzywood, they gained a keen intelligence and developed speech as well as the ability to walk upright. These animals soon began forming communities, which mirrored the ones they had seen on earth. Ancient Egyptian cities made up of Nile alligator men sprang up in desert regions. Jaguars, snakes, and armadillos created vast Aztec and Mayan-like Empires in the area that would eventually become known as Tanglevine Jungle.

Magic in the world manifests itself naturally in a variety of ways, including pools of elixir and underground crystals. The animals have developed technology and machinery using the magical elixir, such as cars, airships, and all manner of modern devices. A group of mad scientists has even invented teleporters, robots, jetpacks, and other sci-fi devices.

Fairly recently, human explorers discovered the world. One of the explorers, a miscreant named Simon Withering, decided that he wanted to sap this newfound world of all its wondrous magical resources. Attempting to rename the world Witherland, he proclaimed himself to be Emperor and set to work gathering monsters and mad scientists to be his minions.

Do you remember critters in Dizzywood? Critters were a lot like pets in the game and would follow your character wherever you travelled throughout the world. What many people don’t know is that there were several different kinds of critters, each with their own story.

Crystal Critters

The first critters discovered in Dizzywood were Crystal Critters. These lovable little guys were discovered deep in the Elder Vein mines. Years ago, many woodland creatures wandered into the underground mines while the evil Emperor Withering was ransacking the sacred temple. His mining operation threw strange corrupted magicks into the air. The crystalized critters are the sad result. The good news is that the crystal critters could be brought back to life with the help of Kan the Geomancer. Here’s a look at all the crystal critters that could be found and re-animated.

• Piglet
• Bunnycorn
• Lizard
• Fish
• Batty Fox
• Bull Beastie
• Double Snake
• Flutterbird
• Twinklepig

Other Critters

Additional critters were found later by intrepid Dizzywood explorers. Some of the critters found later in the game included the ultra-rare TurtleBug. Here are some of the other critters that were discovered.

• Turtlebug
• Crested Fluppy
• Paintbrush Gecko

Easter is upon us and greetings from Dizzywood! Easter was always a fun holiday on Dizzywood, and it was highlighted by the Bjorn Brothers Easter Egg Hunt. Each of the three Bjorn Bears (Edward, Einar and Elof) would hide five eggs somewhere in Dizzywood, and it was up to Dizzywood explorers everywhere to try and find them. Some of the eggs were very easy to spot, but others required a lot more searching.

P.S. Does anyone out there remember the name of Edward, Einar and Elof’s mother? There’s a bit of Dizzywood trivia for you!

 

One of the most popular things to do in Dizzywood was to try on all the different fashion and clothing items in the game. Many items were rare and only rewarded as quest items. Others could be purchased with coins in one of the several stores found throughout Dizzywood (Groomfur’s in Canal City was a favorite). One of the earliest fashion features was the Dizzywood Fashion Cam, which let you take a snapshot of your style and save the image to your computer for sharing with friends. A later feature of the game was the Dizzywood Look Book, which allowed players to store their favorite “looks” for immediate recall. What was your favorite look in Dizzywood? Share your fashion memories in the comments below!

Did you know that there’s an entire album of the original concept art for Dizzywood on Flickr? Yes, all of the initial sketches for the design of the world were produced by the incredibly talented artist, Jake Parker. Jake went on to do some amazing things in illustration and animation, including work on the well-known animated movies Ice Age 3 and Rio. Actually, we’re kind of thrilled that he still features all his Dizzywood work on his portfolio page. Check out the Environments section to see some of the early sketches for the lands that eventually showed up in the game, such as the Explorer’s Camp and Canal City. You’ll even see some amazing things that never quite made it into the game, including an incredible car-racing track.

Here are some of our favorite pieces of the original concept art sketches for Dizzywood.