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[SpacePirate Ridley]

I just pre-ordered it but i won't actually have the game until it releases, didn't get the alpha version so that might be why. Not really got the money for the alpha version unfortunately and besides that i don't want to support charging so much for it.

What sort of issues with Frontier are you talking about (other than what i've already mentioned with Eite)? Not sure on what design philosophy problems or problems with making things realistic planet coaster has. Only thing i can think of really is that i thought at one point they said they wanted the coaster supports to be realistic so you didn't have floating coasters and such...and then let you do exactly that.

I even saw people there defending the game not having dynamic water with reasoning like "Well it would take a lot of work" or "It could make the game run worse for some people" or "Not a lot of games have Dynamic water" as if any of those are good reasons to leave it out entirely. Dynamic water in this sort of game should be pretty generally expected feature (especially as it's been 12 years since the last game) but they still wouldn't complain about the way Frontier have done it so far. It reminds me of how on the reddit section for this game everyone was defending the alpha being 3 times the cost of the game itself and even when it was explained exactly why it was a problem, they'd just come back with "Well i got X hours out of it so far, so the price is fine" when that was just completely missing the point entirely. They just refused to think that tripling the price was a problem because they liked the game and it seemed they didn't want to believe anything about it could be bad.

By designing philoshopies I mean wanting to make everything as realistic as possible (as told in many dev diaries) and then having the problem of them putting restrictions everywhere (thinking they are doing a more realistic game, see coaster restrictions in alpha 3 and textures locked into biomes) and actually making the game non realisitic and non fun gameplay wise (so its not like this realistic things would make it more difficult to make the game and gameplay, most of those restrcitions have to actually be programmed in so its more work for them doing them than not).
They use a lot the excuse of, "works as intended" and "it works like that because its our vision", and most times than not they dont hear better ideas to fix them. And sometimes they only cave in when the pressure is too much.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

Something i hadn't noticed...what is Gulpee the mascot for?

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Something i hadn't noticed...what is Gulpee the mascot for?

An original trademark of some kind of fuzzy drink created by Frontier. The trademark is still not in the game apart from his t-shirt.
The mascot i made for them is for coffee shopsthay still need to appear in the game, for example.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Super good news, the devs actually heard us when i made the thread about the recolorable pieces and say that most of the pieces that are not right now will actually be recolorable in the final game.
Hope that also mean the smaller lights being recolorable.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

Has there been any mention of if it will be possible to properly build underground or multi-layered places? I like the idea of building an entirely underground park in the game but because of the camera that might be a bit difficult.

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

Has there been any mention of if it will be possible to properly build underground or multi-layered places? I like the idea of building an entirely underground park in the game but because of the camera that might be a bit difficult.

As far as I know it's totally possible to build/place items underground. I think they just added in alpha 3 the ability for lights to detect if they're underground/in a dark area so they stay on even if it's daytime. How easy it is though to build a whole park underground with the given tools/camera I've no idea. I'd imagine it'd be easier to build the park in a ditch and then cover it up with the terrain tools.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

As far as I know it's totally possible to build/place items underground. I think they just added in alpha 3 the ability for lights to detect if they're underground/in a dark area so they stay on even if it's daytime. How easy it is though to build a whole park underground with the given tools/camera I've no idea. I'd imagine it'd be easier to build the park in a ditch and then cover it up with the terrain tools.

I know it actually is possible to do, it's just with the camera i'm not sure how easy it would be. A one-layeredd park wouldn't be too bad but if you want something that has multiple levels i expect the camera would make that difficult to properly create. The ability to allow the camera to hide terrain or certain objects would be something that would help greatly with that.

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

Bit confused, is this game in early access or is there just a planned beta?

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

I know it actually is possible to do, it's just with the camera i'm not sure how easy it would be. A one-layeredd park wouldn't be too bad but if you want something that has multiple levels i expect the camera would make that difficult to properly create. The ability to allow the camera to hide terrain or certain objects would be something that would help greatly with that.

Yeah I'm not sure how fiddly the camera is with underground stuff; I'm not in the alpha. Maybe SpacePirate Ridley has tried and can answer.

Bit confused, is this game in early access or is there just a planned beta?

It's in alpha for people who pre-ordered at a high tier (that option is no longer for sale). There is a planned beta (again for a certain pre-order tier or all pre-orders before August 25th) and the game is out fully on November 17th.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

They just showed in the Coaster Head Club forums art of the next theme, sci-fi. So yeah, thats the next one. Hoping for western and americana next.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

They just showed in the Coaster Head Club forums art of the next theme, sci-fi. So yeah, thats the next one. Hoping for western and americana next.

That is awesome. What sort of sci-fi does seem to be?

Is Americana actually going to be a theme? That would mean there are 8 themes hinted at, that seems like a huge amount.

 

[Mik2121]

They just showed in the Coaster Head Club forums art of the next theme, sci-fi. So yeah, thats the next one. Hoping for western and americana next.

That's great. How long did it take for them to move the Coaster Head Club forums content to the other forums? A week or two?

 

[Mik2121]

Some shots of my current park. I'm not doing anything weird with assets, so basically all of them are being used in the way you'd expect them to (ie, no weird rotating assets to create something that looks different). I'm still happy with how it's shaping up. I hope they're not too dark (I liked how it looks at night):

The big building is the roller coaster station.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

That is awesome. What sort of sci-fi does seem to be?

Is Americana actually going to be a theme? That would mean there are 8 themes hinted at, that seems like a huge amount.

It was super sparse, only hinting at it though (so they can show more things all this upcoming weeks). It was 2 robots with mechanical arms (and the shiloutte of a sci fi cast member for height comparison). From how the robots look, it seems they are going for some 1950's disneyland space/EPCOT stuff probably. As Fantasy theme s trying to mimic exactly how Fantasyland looks, it wouldn't surprise me this mimics exactly Tomorrowland. But not the Verne steampunk paris stuff (although they could mix it here and there).

Americana was actually hinted in an AMA with the artists, saying that RCT games had generic theme as Alton Towers/Thorpe park main street wall set stuff (pretty vanilla meh stuff), and with Planet Coaster, generic will be the modern theme we have now, while they wanted to separate the old generic stuff into its own theme and improve it so it looks like americana at Disneyland.

But those plans could have changed, I still really hope its still planed.
Western has never been mentioned, but it has always been a lock on on the older games (and one of the most extensive themes on them), so I wouldnt be surprise to see it on release.

That's great. How long did it take for them to move the Coaster Head Club forums content to the other forums? A week or two?

Hours, someone usually posts it really soon, although this was attached to an email saying we should wait some days. Im sure they are uploading it on sunday on its facebbok, as they always did that before.

Some shots of my current park. I'm not doing anything weird with assets, so basically all of them are being used in the way you'd expect them to (ie, no weird rotating assets to create something that looks different). I'm still happy with how it's shaping up. I hope they're not too dark (I liked how it looks at night):



The big building is the roller coaster station.

Im really loving that coaster building Mik!
A tip would be start working on the gradening part of your park, although i know you are playing management, so maybe it comes too expensive right now.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

It was super sparse, only hinting at it though (so they can show more things all this upcoming weeks). It was 2 robots with mechanical arms (and the shiloutte of a sci fi cast member for height comparison). From how the robots look, it seems they are going for some 1950's disneyland space/EPCOT stuff probably. As Fantasy theme s trying to mimic exactly how Fantasyland looks, it wouldn't surprise me this mimics exactly Tomorrowland. But not the Verne steampunk paris stuff (although they could mix it here and there).

They showed these a while ago, which of these does it seem the most similar to? https://youtu.be/JAItaBmxn6I?t=2889 There's a mascot at 18:55 and buildings at 48:08.

Looking up the disney thing you mentioned it seems like it could be alright if it's similar to that, i just hope it's not some sort of cheesy Jetsons style sci-fi.

 

[Mik2121]

Hours, someone usually posts it really soon, although this was attached to an email saying we should wait some days. Im sure they are uploading it on sunday on its facebbok, as they always did that before.

I see, looking forward to it!

Im really loving that coaster building Mik!
A tip would be start working on the gradening part of your park, although i know you are playing management, so maybe it comes too expensive right now.

Thanks! And yeah, I gotta start with the gardening.. doing that with normal trees is so much faster because they have a lot of volume, but using the palm and beach trees can take forever, hahah.

Anyway, I uploaded my park (still WIP obviously) up if anyone wants to see a fellow gaffer's park. I'm not some hardcore builder so don't expect anything crazy.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=750863226

 

[PaulLFC]

Just some added confirmation that any "standard" (£20) preorders placed before the bundle changes went live will get the Thrillseeker edition extras including beta access. I contacted Frontier support and they corroborated the forum post linked earlier in this thread:

Hi Paul,

You are indeed correct. All orders and pre-orders for Planet Coaster that were placed before the 25th of August include the Extras of the Thrillseeker edition including Beta access as a gesture of gratitude for your early support of the game.

Please let us know if you had any more questions, we are happy to help.

Best regards,

Ride Inspector Vega
Planet Coaster Customer Support

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

So I updated my alpha 2 parque warner recreation to alpha 3 (testing the whole alpha thanks to it) adding better interiors and exteriors, new colouring for some buildings, lots of new billboards and sculputures (the things that cost me more to include, although I think they look pretty cool), a new big restaurant building at the end of the Gotham area, adds 2 trains for each coaster, like in real life, and a complete rework of the Superman track to be more faithful to the original.

Here is a link to the workshop so you can download it and experience it for yoursleves:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=755099489

A video:
https://youtu.be/YU5mXgNkeyY

And some screenies:

 

[MUnited83]

i've recently came across this game while browsing Steam. I've immediatelly fell in love with as I watched alpha footage on Youtube. I've been waiting for a proper follow to Rollercoaster Tyccon 3 for so long!

So I updated my alpha 2 parque warner recreation to alpha 3 (testing the whole alpha thanks to it) adding better interiors and exteriors, new colouring for some buildings, lots of new billboards and sculputures (the things that cost me more to include, although I think they look pretty cool), a new big restaurant building at the end of the Gotham area, adds 2 trains for each coaster, like in real life, and a complete rework of the Superman track to be more faithful to the original.

Here is a link to the workshop so you can download it and experience it for yoursleves:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=755099489

A video:
https://youtu.be/YU5mXgNkeyY

And some screenies:

awww man, as someone who has been to Parque Warner several times, the last one being this year, this brings a smile to my face . Really good job there, thats a very good reproduction of the place!

 

[SmZA]

Has there been any mention of if it will be possible to properly build underground or multi-layered places? I like the idea of building an entirely underground park in the game but because of the camera that might be a bit difficult.

I don't know if this will be helpful or not but the Idle Thumbs stream features an underground ride:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O20bKR1TCaI

 

[GwyndolinCinder]

i've recently came across this game while browsing Steam.

Right there with ya, so hyped for it, didnt even know it existed before it went on steam preorder.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

i've recently came across this game while browsing Steam. I've immediatelly fell in love with as I watched alpha footage on Youtube. I've been waiting for a proper follow to Rollercoaster Tyccon 3 for só long! awww man, as someone who has been to Parque Warner several times, the last one being this year, this brings a smile to my face . Really good job there, thats a very good reproduction of the place!

Thanks Bernardo! Are you from spain?
Also welcome to the club if you ant to play a game like RCT3. Hope we can build a neogaf community of the game when it officialy releases.

Right there with ya, so hyped for it, didnt even know it existed before it went on steam preorder.

Glad more people are discovering the game now, we were a little alone here for some time lol

 

[confuziz]

Why isn't there more hype for this game? Looks amazing so far.

 

[MUnited83]

Thanks Bernardo! Are you from spain?
Also welcome to the club if you ant to play a game like RCT3. Hope we can build a neogaf community of the game when it officialy releases.



Glad more people are discovering the game now, we were a little alone here for some time lol

Portugal actually . I regularly go to Spain when in vacation tho!

I really hope they reconsider making the Alpha available for purchase again. I want this game so much and have so many ideas already it's hard to wait lol.

 

[ekim]

Just downloaded on Steam and man... the game has come a long way since I last played it. Soooo good. I downloaded some custom parks from the Steam Workshop and the large ones run at barely 10 fps even on lowest settings. I guess it's the CPU that's the bottleneck here? I have an i7 4790k. Any way to improve the performance there?

 

[Mikeside]

Just downloaded on Steam and man... the game has come a long way since I last played it. Soooo good. I downloaded some custom parks from the Steam Workshop and the large ones run at barely 10 fps even on lowest settings. I guess it's the CPU that's the bottleneck here? I have an i7 4790k. Any way to improve the performance there?

the park I've been working on is starting to crawl on my CPU. Annoying, but it's a bit better with the most recent update, so I'm sure they'll carry on improving

 

[ekim]

the park I've been working on is starting to crawl on my CPU. Annoying, but it's a bit better with the most recent update, so I'm sure they'll carry on improving

When I start from scratch I get smooth 90+ FPS on the High preset. As soon as people crowd my park it's in the 30s. When I reload the game it's better (50+) so something is odd here. (GTX 1070, 4790K, 16GB RAM)

 

[Mikeside]

When I start from scratch I get smooth 90+ FPS on the High preset. As soon as people crowd my park it's in the 30s. When I reload the game it's better (50+) so something is odd here. (GTX 1070, 4790K, 16GB RAM)

sounds about right for an unoptimised game to me

starts off, not much to slow it down
as it goes on you'll have a bit of memory leak, plus your park taking up a lot more resources

when you restart, the park is still slowing you down, but all the stuff stored in the memory so you could CTRL+Z is cleared.


it'll get better through natural optimisation of the game through from alpha to release

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Whats makes the game crawl is the use of SFX scenery objects and visitors.
Dont overdo with the sfx, they are probably the most unoptimized part of the game.

Something to help you is play on 720p window mode with v-sync off for big parks. It comes pretty handy if you want to continue playing those.

Portugal actually . I regularly go to Spain when in vacation tho!

I really hope they reconsider making the Alpha available for purchase again. I want this game so much and have so many ideas already it's hard to wait lol.

If not, its still coming in november so its pretty soon.

 

[MUnited83]

Whats makes the game crawl is the use of SFX scenery objects and visitors.
Dont overdo with the sfx, they are probably the most unoptimized part of the game.

Something to help you is play on 720p window mode with v-sync off for big parks. It comes pretty handy if you want to continue playing those.



If not, its still coming in november so its pretty soon.

I wish it was pretty soon, but two months is torture considering how much I want this

 

[Sevenfold]

So I updated my alpha 2 parque warner recreation to alpha 3

Awesome work Ridley.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

So it's now the end of September with around 1.5 months until full release...has anything been said at all about the next version yet? It's a bit concerning if not.

 

[Mikeside]

So it's now the end of September with around 1.5 months until full release...has anything been said at all about the next version yet? It's a bit concerning if not.

I'm not sure there was ever going to be a next version until the beta, was there?

 

[TheVoidDragon]

I'm not sure there was ever going to be a next version until the beta, was there?

There has to be though, surely? There is a huge amount of content that still isn't implemented.

 

[Burny]

There has to be though, surely? There is a huge amount of content that still isn't implemented.

Frankly, I expect even the release version to be relatively barebones. That has been their pattern with Elite at least. Release something relatively barebones, but with a solid foundation and build from there.

Beta and eventually release are most likely going to have some additional things and the management aspect fleshed out. But don't expect the game to have even half the features that some legacy games might have had, after a number of addons.

Edit: A colleague of mine has also been fascinated by the Alpha so far, but he wished for a cooperative online build mode. Has Frontier ever discussed anything like that? I find hte idea rather appealing.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

Frankly, I expect even the release version to be relatively barebones. That has been their pattern with Elite at least. Release something relatively barebones, but with a solid foundation and build from there.

Beta and eventually release are most likely going to have some additional things and the management aspect fleshed out. But don't expect the game to have even half the features that some legacy games might have had, after a number of addons.

Edit: A colleague of mine has also been fascinated by the Alpha so far, but he wished for a cooperative online build mode. Has Frontier ever discussed anything like that? I find hte idea rather appealing.

It's not just features compared to other games that are missing, though. There are several themes not implemented yet, the campaign, transport rides, wooden coasters, more mascots and shops, proper management/staff, non-ride rides (e.g.Karts), that 1 water ride they mentioned...there is a huge amount of stuff still missing that we know will be in the game. Without another alpha version, that's a lot to add in a beta about 2 weeks before release.

 

[Burny]

It's not just features compared to other games that are missing, though. There are several themes not implemented yet, the campaign, transport rides, wooden coasters, more mascots and shops, proper management/staff, non-ride rides (e.g.Karts), that 1 water ride they mentioned...there is a huge amount of stuff still missing that we know will be in the game. Without another alpha version, that's a lot to add in a beta about 2 weeks before release.

Those are all features, that I'd expect them to cut if they can't complete them for release. I would still expect them to come in updates, but I can't see them delay the release much. Take Elite, which was and is being advertised as MMO, but released without even a way to form a wing of players ingame. And support for accepting missions with wings is still missing today.

Let's see what the Beta brings.

 

[TheVoidDragon]

Those are all features, that I'd expect them to cut if they can't complete them for release. I would still expect them to come in updates, but I can't see them delay the release much. Take Elite, which was and is being advertised as MMO, but released without even a way to form a wing of players ingame. And support for accepting missions with wings is still missing today.

Let's see what the Beta brings.

That's a massive porition of the game they'd leave out, though. There's far too much content missing at the moment for it to be considered even half finished, really.

Elite is an MMO as it's all one shared universe, as far as i know that released with all the advertised features (except the offline mode...).

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Transport rides are coming to the beta, I suppose sci fi also, apart from new flat rides. Those are the two things they have been posting updtaes about in the forums.

They havent talk about release date updates, maybe they blow out their most secret things, like water rides and the wooden coaster.

In fact, things that were shown in an update or confimed but still havent shown:

-Changing the color of staff (showed it on an image during the EGX)
-Wooden coaster (showed a prototype without texturing 4 months ago in one of the video updates)
-The connie express (was shown months ago, and now shown fully in game last week, probably ready for the beta)
-Sci-Fi theme (has been shown a lot during the last updates and the EGX, probably ready for the beta)
-Karts (render was shown on an update like 4 months ago)
-Bumper cars (same as karts)
-RMC hybrid coaster (same as karts)
-Water rides (confirmed multiple times, last time by Johny Watts during the EGX, dont know if they are going to be ready for release or not, as they havent shown anything)

Theres probably a lot more they havent shown that is going to be updated before relase, they didnt show sci-fi for example until some weeks ago, and thats ready for the beta, and in every update they have done, they actually showed lots of new rides, coasters and scenery merely just some days before you could play it.

The only thing im a little iffy is on water rides being prepared for the realease, although it could be their big surprise for the final release update.

Basically, they said they were going to be 3 alpha uddate, a beta update and a final release update, during this year.
They also have said they will continually update the game for free when they udate with things like missing features, rideas and coaster, and big expansions, liked Soaked or Wild in RCT3 are going to be the ones to pay for, so final release in this game means little.

Just wait and see, and im not usually someone to defend them always, for example, they also confimed staff to not have user zoning and that they will be smart enough to do their stuff without it, but I (and lots of people) want to make entertainers stay in the theme areas we want and not move all around the park, and it seems thats not how is going to work, and if they try to do some AI shit of reading the number of scenery pieces or some heat maps for what type of scenery you have more in that area so the mascot stays there, its going to fail in epic ways, becuase people mix and match scenery so much is like you invent new themes out of it so that will not work out.

 

[MUnited83]

I just wish they would implement water physics, the current "fake" water is a bit of a bummer.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

I preordered the Thrillseeker Edition of this game a few days ago, I'm quite excited for a proper successor to RTC3.

SpacePirate Ridley, I saw a video that someone did of your Parque Warner a little while ago, it's really impressive.

 

[slash3584]

Just got an email for the Thrillseeker weekend!

I didn't even know this was a thing lol. Finally I will be able to try this!

 

[MUnited83]

awwww yes, so happy to get access to the alpha for a bit.

 

[baconcow]

This is one of the best looking simulators I have ever seen. Just learned about this now and instantly excited.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

So I was invited by Frontier to visit their studio and have dinner with them on the 14th of October. Super excited about that.

I preordered the Thrillseeker Edition of this game a few days ago, I'm quite excited for a proper successor to RTC3.

SpacePirate Ridley, I saw a video that someone did of your Parque Warner a little while ago, it's really impressive.

Thanks, I suppose that was Keralis! Im making a new original park right now with lots of detail on its buildings. The save was lost yesterday becuase of my own stupidity (more than 100 hours down the drain) but I started reconstructing the same park yesterday to get back in track soon.

You can start watching the series from this video:
https://youtu.be/naQk-lCHGzw
And here is a screen of what I lost:

Just got an email for the Thrillseeker weekend!

I didn't even know this was a thing lol. Finally I will be able to try this!

awwww yes, so happy to get access to the alpha for a bit.

Enjoy guys!

 

[satriales]

I finished up my Alpha 3 park/ride:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hWjM8GigYg

Full Park - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=780841700
Coaster (with supports) - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=780838949
Ruined Church Station - http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=780839916

So I was invited by Frontier to visit their studio and have dinner with them on the 14th of October. Super excited about that.

Awesome! How did that go? I was in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago but only recently found out that's where Frontier are based.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

That looks absolutely beautiful satriales!

About the Frontier invitation, it was probably one of the best days of my life. We were with 10 more coaster head club members (great people BTW) from 10am to 10pm and then went to dinner with some of the devs (that used their free time to be with us).
Obviously I cant talk much about what we saw during the day (because we signed an NDA) but wha I have to say is, be super excited for release, there is surprises that are going to blow your mind and things some people think that are missing but they are in the game.
Everyone working there was so passionate its basically like they are making the best game ever they really want. And they were some of the nicest devs ive ever seen (and ive been inside this gaming industry for some years now).
Like is said, be excited!
Only a few more weeks for the beta!

 

[satriales]

That looks absolutely beautiful satriales!

About the Frontier invitation, it was probably one of the best days of my life. We were with 10 more coaster head club members (great people BTW) from 10am to 10pm and then went to dinner with some of the devs (that used their free time to be with us).
Obviously I cant talk much about what we saw during the day (because we signed an NDA) but wha I have to say is, be super excited for release, there is surprises that are going to blow your mind and things some people think that are missing but they are in the game.
Everyone working there was so passionate its basically like they are making the best game ever they really want. And they were some of the nicest devs ive ever seen (and ive been inside this gaming industry for some years now).
Like is said, be excited!
Only a few more weeks for the beta!

That sounds excellent. They've already exceeded my expectations with each update, and their passion really shows through so I have no doubts that the final release will rather good.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Obviously I cant talk much about what we saw during the day (because we signed an NDA) but wha I have to say is, be super excited for release, there is surprises that are going to blow your mind and things some people think that are missing but they are in the game.

That's a good sign, the alpha's content felt lacking, considering we're only a month from launch.

 

[Jedi2016]

I need to learn how to make a coaster like yours, Satriales. The only one that I've finished so far is rubbish and would probably kill anyone who actually rode it IRL.. lol.