That may very well have been the exact topic I remember reading. Thanks for finding it.
By the looks of it the project never got particularly far.
I'm interested in starting something a bit different to what was discussed there. I'd like to loosely base a level off the Myst spinoff, URU. I've just started working on a desert themed tileset. Going slowly though, just trying to work out how to use image software I haven't used before.
Anyone else interested in this concept or have any ideas?