Live Forum Q&A - Design!

[ManFromDelMonty]

Hi, fellow designer James Taylor here.

Congratulations to Richard!

My questions: What would say are the most complex objects in the game to design, and what do you consider to be the most innovative feature for this park builder?

Station design has been a fun challenge for us, we wanted to bring aspects of real world stations to them like air gates, control booths and animated elements where applicable, whilst keeping them editable and able to work in conjunction with other aspects of the game. There's been a big team effort on this one and we think they will be a great addition.

Curved paths and the ability to build scenery on multiple, positional grids has been something we all wanted to add to the game as a next generation feature; we knew it would be a challenge to make interfaces that are usable and still powerful, but we didn't let that put us off, we're all passionate about making this game the best it can be and we felt this would bring the flexibility to create much more natural and authentic looking parks, whilst giving you the player greater freedom to create.

Simulation is another aspect we're making cutting edge, with reactive crowds, deep management options and a multitude of ways your decisions as a player affects your park, we challenge ourselves to make things the best we can and as a result, a lot of work has and continues to go into this.

 

[Periocus]

Hey SjakieApie! Yes, you will be able to edit the colour of individual track sections, or a stretch of track that you have selected. And of course you’ll be able to change the colour of the whole track overall.

Also, we’ve just added the ability to change the colour of your train on the track too, so you’ll see that in Alpha 2 as well.

Customisable operation sequences which allow you to choose the movements a flat ride performs is something we are investigating.

That is also good news.

 

[DaXin]

Hellow team!!!!

Is great to be part of this community and to got the acces to alfas and support you.... Is really nice see that you are taking this at that high art point.

Soo so hapoy to support your development n.n


I would like to ask you about only 3 things, what i think are easy and visible in parks arround the world.

- I liked the way lights turn on on a random way, but on theme parks there are "squares" or seccions. For example Lights arround a ride tourn on at the same time, after a few seconds maybe lighs arround the entrance, U know, by sections; Could be easily to add that detail in parks?

- premmium Fast Queues! We see that big parks got fastest (before of extra paying of our guests, of course ) queues to enter on the main rides earning extra amount on that .. Haha Any plans about that?

- And finally n.n Maybe not about design itself but... Was for you really difficult to improve paths as we saw on last week stream? Congratulations for all additions and improvements you are adding! Sure will make the game much much better for all gamers n.n

 

[DaveBamber]

Hello, first congratulations to the child!

And then my question, which I have asked may times before:

Are you going to consider recolorable everything? Even more than 1 color section on one scenery object but instead 3-4 sections, when needed to maximize creativeness? This is even more important when there's nog UGC (that is, user created custom objects imported into game, 3d shapes, recolors)

Could you at least please consider this?

Also including foliage. The plants can have recolorable flowers.

This mean that for every object we can use that object hundreds of ways but all different!

I'm going to try to get through answers a bit faster, sorry if they get shorter!

Being able to recolour everything is a noble goal, but more or less an endless task. We want to provide as much flexibility as is possible, and is also practical for us to deliver. We're starting with coaster tracks, and we're expecting progressively and significantly more things to be recolourable over time.

 

[Helena]

Ok, thanks! One can always hope. [up][heart]

 

[DaveBamber]

When Blueprints will be available in Alpha 3, is it then also possible to duplicate complete scenery structures like on the picture below, where I would like to move my stone arch with plants to another path?

Currently you can only duplicate buildings, all used scenery (plants, props etc.) will leave and will no copied with the building. That is a "shame", especially, when you add some decorations inside your buildings. I hope it will be fixed and a available feature in a upcoming version ...

Thanks for your question!

As you've noted, Blueprints are planned for alpha 3, and the situation you've described is one of a number we're investigating. We'll have more information on how Blueprints will work closer to alpha 3.

 

[Jaseypea]

Hi,

Is it a legitimate design question if I use the word 'design' in the question? I hope so - how many themes are you planning to design for the release of the game (and what are they)?

 

[Zac Antonaci]

This is a video game; not real life. Smh

Hey guys,

I understand that everyone is very passionate about the game and its development but let's try and keep the back and forth debating for another time and thread if possible.

 

[Fletch1]

First of all, keep up the good work, can't wait to see what everyone will make with alpha 2 and Im excited for everything that is more to come to Planet Coaster.
Ive got a couple lot of questions, not all totally design related, but asking never hurt [happy]

1. How do you guys decided what kind of rides and coasters to make?
2. And how do you decide the level of details, where to stop and did you have to stopeach other sometimes getting to detailed? For rides as well park details.

Hi StevieWonder. When prioritising rides, there was a very lengthy process in which we assessed and ranked hundreds of real life coasters and flat rides for inspiration. We knew we needed a wide variety that would appeal to different demographics, and for coasters we had to ensure a good spread of special pieces and track types.

Basically, it was several gigantic spreadsheets and lots of impassioned discussions that helped us plan out which rides we wanted to create in Planet Coaster.

In terms of knowing where to stop with adding more details to our designs, we’re aware that there is always a super detailed approach that we could follow, but that our task is to sensibly edit that vision to ensure that we focus on what’s really important about a feature.

As you have seen from the livestreams, we have super-dedicated creatives who are focused on hitting the highest quality bar we can, and we need to make sure we don’t get caught chasing diminishing returns in one area of the game, when there are other areas that require our attention.

 

[coasterlover]

So, have you an idea of how to design fast track/single rider and pre show ques

 

[Jeff D.]

Hey fella's,

Will we be able to create our own animated scenery in the game? (Possibly using preset connectable linear or rotational movements?)

 

[ManFromDelMonty]

First let me send my congratulations to Richard and his wife on the birth of their new baby. [up]

There has hardly been any mention about landscape environments and vegetation during the live streams and Q&A sessions, so could I ask the following questions please.

1... Will there be different background landscapes for designing parks in different regions of the World, such as Tropical, for making Island Parks, Desert, for Western/Middle Eastern Parks, Winter/Snow for Alpine styles, before the final release of the game.?

2.... There isn't a good choice of vegetation at the moment, so will there be more trees, shrubs and plants for alpha 2 or will these be added at a later stage?

3... Will there be a range of colours to change the terrain rock,when landscaping caves and rock formations, besides the default bare rock colour?

1.) There will be different background landscapes available before the final release, I've seen concept images for them and can also confirm they look great, personally I'm really looking forward to seeing them in-game post alpha 2 and building some parks in them.

2.) I'm also a big fan of using vegetation to make a park more beautiful, as our creative director will attest to from when I was building the RCT3 scenario parks back in 2003 and being a bit too tree happy with some of them. There will be more vegetation added as the game develops and there might be a few extra in alpha 2 too. [yesnod]

3.) We will be giving a number of realistic textures to be used in the terrain editor. As textures can be added at varying strengths, a wide variety of appearances can be created by adding one over the top of another, it's easy and fun to go into detail if desired.

 

[Joël]

Once again great answers to some awesome questions! [big grin]

Personally I'm filled with joy about Planet Coaster, and I cannot think of a design question by myself at this time...

I do enjoy every video and picture we get to see though! Especially concept art and renders, but also videos in which we see the team do animations by themselves (example: on stilts to 'test' how Pirate King would walk, or how Coaster King would get up after falling on the ground).

[squeeeeee]

 

[DaveBamber]

Hey guys,
First of all great work on the alpha 2 !
I also have some questions ( sorry if they already asked).

* When can we expect benches, trash bins and fenches ?

* will there be a cheatcode for water like you guys did on the coaster builder in alpha 1 ?

* Can we please have the "Thea cups" ride in alpha 2 or 3 (H) ??

Thats all, have fun on all the brain crackers [happy]

Hi thanks for your questions!

We're not sure on 'fenches' , but benches and bins will definitely be in the final game, you'll have to wait and see as to when.

Water won't be in as a cheat code (sorry, turns out I'm bad cop today), but there might be a sneaky code that unlocks something else. Stay tuned!

No teacups in alpha 2, (they stopped for a coffee break haha) it's another wait and see I'm, afraid.

 

[BelavanceM83]

Hello Frontier!

Firstly, Congrats Richard.
I am just wondering how the gameplay will be. Is it going to be different than previous theme park game?

 

[Fletch1]

3. Did designs change in any way after seeing images and videos of the parks some gamers made?

4. And I see a lot of questions and ideas for more realism in the park, for example in real life when a group of people go on a ride, maybe 1 doesn't go on the ride and has to wait. This would be realistic, but it can go to far. How do you decide what is needed for a realistic park and what would be to much (for what is possible, leveling game play, keep it fun, etc).

When we saw the amazing things we saw the community create in Alpha 1, and how excited you are about the game, it really inspires members of the team to go the extra mile to feed that creativity and that enthusiasm. So thank you!

Something like the three-axis movement and rotation control is a good example of a feature that we worked really hard to get into Alpha 2, because we couldn’t wait to see what you guys create when you get your hands on it.

The realism question is a really good one, and to be honest it’s a question that often comes up during development, in lots of different areas. We need to make sure our coaster parks are believable, and of course a lot of our inspiration comes from real life examples, but we also need to make a simulation that is readable and consistent, so players can clearly see how their management choices are influencing the park.

 

[BernyMoon]

When will we see water rides? (log flume, rapids, etc...)

 

[TheSlayerNL]

Water won't be in as a cheat code (sorry, turns out I'm bad cop today), but there might be a sneaky code that unlocks something else. Stay tuned!

That hint, hmmm I wonder what that might be

 

[Abletudu]

1.we be able to place videos on the billboards (not limited to 5MB like RCT3) so we can make rides like Transformers, Expedition Everest. And will we have switch tracks, elevator tracks, and transfer tracks?

2. will we have block sections so that we can have more than one train operating on a coaster at the same time?

 

[Schabrackenaal]

That hint, hmmm I wonder what that might be

Me too[big grin]