Planet Coaster

Dog gone it, Blake! I was just beginning to get my life back under control and you go and do this to me!

I was observing Rollercoaster Tycoon World at first, and preordered it so I could play the beta. I knew it was just a beta, but the coaster builder just sucked THAT much that I instantly refunded it. I built coasters in NoLimits 2 before, so I know how a coaster builder should work, but while I don't expect the game to be that professional, I still expected that it should be possible to build a coaster that doesn't look like the designer was drunk. After that horrible experience (which is available for 50$ in stores now) I put my hopes into Planet Coaster. I feel like the put much more love and effort in it, I didn't try their coaster builder yet, but it looks way more thought-out than the minimalistic builder from RCTW. Also RCTW misses so many features at release, not even underground tunnels are possible, while Frontier already presented the voxel based terrain in Planet Coaster, which is just so awesome. To me RCTW is just Atari's attempt to make money with the name they own, while Frontier actually wants to make a good game, you just see that because they rarely accept compromises on Planet Coaster. I am confident that it will be an amazing game that will keep me busy for a long time.

Planet Coaster is developed by the company that did the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and helped with the xpacs of RCT2. RCTW has been tossed around to 3 different developers at this point and its simply a cash grab, banking on the familiarity of the franchise name. Planet Coaster is the true successor to the RCT name, made by the same people who have worked on the franchise for over 10 years now.

The coaster builder is a lot more flexible than RCTW but still has some kinks to work out. The smoothing feature is nice but not perfect yet. Still, it's only in pre-alpha, so I'm sure they will get it in perfect order before it's officially released. I'm very excited to see what they do with dark ride design as they've hinted that they have big plans for dark ride design which will be distinct and different than roller coaster design. I haven't been this excited for a video game in YEARS! I am playing the pre-alpha and I must say, they could release this game RIGHT NOW and it would already be infinitely better than RCTW.

I play RCT3, Theme Park Studio, and I dabble in No Limits 2, but I'm not very good at it.

This is a GCI inspired coaster I made in TPS

I can post a POV sometime if anyone wants.

Blake,

You called me out; I'd better respond! (Nice avatar. Self portrait?) This game looks neat, though I can't say I've played any theme park sims before. I did briefly make an effort to start actual construction on DisneySky down at Disney's overflow parking lot, but security chased me away and confiscated my jackhammer.

There was some YouTube video I stumbled upon half a week ago which might've been a POV from this game. It was a coaster/dark ride hybrid, with a huge leaping Leviathan AA thingy which might've been ported over from SketchUp or some similar 3D architectural software. Planet Coaster actually looks fairly similar to some other architectural tools I've worked with, though more intuitive, user-friendly, and fun.

It'd be super neat to see Realms of Imagination made digital flesh, which I'm sure would take glacial ages for you to do.

Meanwhile, Jaiden, yes, absolutely, let's see your TPS GCI POV ASAP!

Douglas,

The avatar is a reskinned rare Pepe (Internet memes) of Gene Wolfe. My favorite writer. The game you saw was Planet Coaster and the Kraken was built in-engine. The team has also promised more "animatronics" for the game, as well as modding. Which means the possibilities are endless. I'm not a modder myself, but I'm sure the modding community will put out some amazing creations. Yes, recreating realms will take a LONG time, but I will probably build it pieces. I don't think my PC could handle a fully rendered, fully built version of Realms in one park. Regardless, I'm excited at the challenge.

I've been a longtime fan of the RollerCoaster Tycoon series and still play the games on occasion (RCT2 and RCT3...the original is just too old), though they have become a bit dated and NoLimits 2 is a lot better for just building coasters. I was initially excited for RollerCoaster Tycoon World, but unfortunately I have heard nothing but negative reviews. Planet Coaster, however, appears to be getting nothing but praise and looks like the true successor to the RCT series. I'll definitely be purchasing a copy once it releases, and perhaps if it is big enough we could try a Planet Coaster Apprentice spin-off at some point in the future.

On another note, anyone here ever heard of Parkitect? That's another one I've been watching as it looks like a modernized version of the original RCT game. Perhaps there is still hope for two good theme park games in 2016.

AJ,

Great minds think alike! My head was already filled with visions of holding a Planet Coaster Apprentice! I think if we did this, we would need to have some longer challenges to accommodate the time it takes to build lands and attractions in game. Also, not every PC is the same so some competitors may be limited in their ability to go crazy with detail like other competitors may be able to. Regardless, when it comes out, count me in as a competitor if we run it.

I also ordered the pre-alpha of Parkitect. It's really fun. It is essentially an updated version of RCT1&2. RCT 2.5 would be an apt title for it. It's got the classic controls of RCT1&2 but with more intuitive systems. The coaster creator is much more flexible and you can free place scenery if you want to, meaning not every single thing in the game must be attached to a grid tile. Both are very promising. So far I'm having a ton of fun with PC but with the little time I've had with Parkitect, I must say it's a worthy successor to RCT1&2

If we were to do a Planet Coaster Apprentice, I think it would probably need to be a smaller number of challenges (probably 4-5), with 2-3 weeks for each one. You'd also definitely need to give credit for when you can see where someone is going with it but know they were limited by technology. The game isn't releasing until Q4 2016 and everyone would need time to learn it, but perhaps this is something to consider at some point in 2017 if there is enough interest. We might just have to make it a Virtual Park Apprentice and allow Parkitect entries as well if that game ends up having a similar level of flexibility.

Yea I was excited for RCTW and was disappointed about 2 hours in. I even tried recreating the hulk and gave up halfway through the coaster and just started adding generic pieces. Their coaster building is awful in RCTW. I cannot wait for planet coaster.

@Douglas Hindley
I have to get my capture card out to record it and edit it so it might be a while cause I have a lot of other work to do. It will come though.

I'm not at home, but I'll also post a POV of my WiP park. It's basically me messing around so nothing to spectacular. I'll probably have it up sometime next week.