Can we PLEASE not force themes or names onto future flat rides?

TOGOFan · Feb 17, 2017

I'm not going to look through every page and thread to see if this has been posted before but I imagine it's a recurring concern.

One of the amazing aspects of this game is just how seemingly limitless everything feels as a designer (compared to RCT3, there might be less content, but what you CAN do with the content in this game is incomparable. So many angles, so many rotations, so many piece combinations to create your own custom scenery of sorts, so many color options, the list goes on).

But... when it comes to flat rides... I don't understand why Frontier has taken this very limiting approach with forced-theme flat rides or as we saw with the Scizzer ride, a forced name. (Scizzer was probably just an 'experiment' with the new lighting engine of the game as far as I can tell).

Bo announced that we'll be seeing a "number of new flat rides" in the April update, which is very promising. Any addition to the game is welcome! I am just hoping they will go for a more generic theme on these rides so that I can look at the selection before me and NOT think, "no... this is a sci fi themed ride. It won't fit in my western-themed park. If only it had a generic theme... with the right coloring I could have made it work!).

breezerHOG1 · Feb 17, 2017

I dont like the names much either but they are probably due to copyright laws

forced themes are just their "artstyle" I suppose, hopefully UGC will fix that soon

Alexman · Feb 17, 2017

I'm pretty sure the modding community will be around soon like they did for RCT3.

Ramm · Feb 17, 2017

creaper said:
I dont like the names much either but they are probably due to copyright laws

forced themes are just their "artstyle" I suppose, hopefully UGC will fix that soon

Alexman said:
I'm pretty sure the modding community will be around soon like they did for RCT3.

honestly any news on when this is? Because as far as I know there isn't a single mod for planet coaster and I dont know because of what that will change soon

AtomicDragon · Feb 17, 2017

I don't like the fact that they put the name "Scizzer" right on the ride in lights. How am i suppose to rename that without contradiction?

3pmusic · Feb 17, 2017

Personally I love the art style of the ride theme. That being said, I would like all of the flat rides to have alternate themes available for each unlocked theme set.

Generic will probably lack so much personality and immersion and just feel boring.

But some kind of a generic Planet Coaster theme that still fits the art style would be welcomed for sure to use on occasion.

Also agree on the scizzer that I was excited at first that the lights would change to what I named the ride. Sadly they didn't

hopefully in a future update.

breezerHOG1 · Feb 17, 2017

3pmusic said:
on the scizzer that I was excited at first that the lights would change to what I named the ride. Sadly they didn't hopefully in a future update.

that would be cool

RubberKerfuffle · Feb 17, 2017

Agree with what you're saying, although I'd say it doesn't hurt to combine themes and be a bit creative! For instance, I'm planning on an Aztec lost city theme with an ever so slight sci-fi twist (like Thorpe Park's Lost City) and I'm thinking of sticking in a Collider as part of the ride lineup. I think the sci-fi theme sort of mixes with the lost city rather well, like the whole cowboys and aliens contrast.

rdrunr7 · Feb 18, 2017

I like that the Collider is not too over-themed so that I can zoom out a bit & pretend it's generic. For Scizzer I squint a bit & read it as Scizzler. [wacky]

I'm hoping too that in some future updates we will get some different themes (skins) for existing flat rides. [happy]

Restless Bohemian · Feb 18, 2017

TOGOFan said:
I'm not going to look through every page and thread to see if this has been posted before but I imagine it's a recurring concern.

One of the amazing aspects of this game is just how seemingly limitless everything feels as a designer (compared to RCT3, there might be less content, but what you CAN do with the content in this game is incomparable. So many angles, so many rotations, so many piece combinations to create your own custom scenery of sorts, so many color options, the list goes on).

But... when it comes to flat rides... I don't understand why Frontier has taken this very limiting approach with forced-theme flat rides or as we saw with the Scizzer ride, a forced name. (Scizzer was probably just an 'experiment' with the new lighting engine of the game as far as I can tell).

Bo announced that we'll be seeing a "number of new flat rides" in the April update, which is very promising. Any addition to the game is welcome! I am just hoping they will go for a more generic theme on these rides so that I can look at the selection before me and NOT think, "no... this is a sci fi themed ride. It won't fit in my western-themed park. If only it had a generic theme... with the right coloring I could have made it work!).

I agree. Most prethemed rides (and coaster cars) are useless to me. If I want anything to have I theme I will apply a theme myself. While the themed items are fine, every item should be in the game first and foremost without theme.

Ramm · Feb 18, 2017

would be cool if we could build scenery and buildings closer to the flatride so we can kinda theme it ourselves more

Citytrader · Feb 18, 2017

Ramm said:
honestly any news on when this is? Because as far as I know there isn't a single mod for planet coaster and I dont know because of what that will change soon

There has been no official announcement of any kind, just a few hints of a definite probability of a possible maybe that it is coming. Maybe.

I believe Frontier has hopes that this game will have long legs, including multiple expansions and add on packs. Why on Earth would they give up all that potential revenue and hand the game over to the community? Do you think they sat in a meeting and said "Hey, lets invest millions in a cool new theme park simulator, then three months after release, just hand it over to the fans and wash our hands of the whole thing!" These guys aren't Atari! They designed that other game, and probably shook their heads at how short-sighted Atari was.

It took almost three years for that other game to be hacked. Three years, not three months. By the community, not by any official add on from Atari.

I think there are a number of wishful thinkers on here who would love UGC, myself included. However, I am also very very willing to wait and see what Frontier has in store for us. Then when they start to run out of ideas, motivation, or the income stream decreases, they can release the UGC creator add on, and make more money, and revive interest in the game, which could even lead to more official content!

That is the win-win scenario.

Nemmie · Feb 18, 2017

TOGOFan, I completely agree.

I love the themed rides but they are very limiting. You should be able to use any ride in any themed area but you just can't without it looking weird. It goes against the rest of the game which offers limitless possibilities. Even the Sun Flair has that stupid King Coaster statue at the top. He's my favourite mascot but I don't want him on top of my rides. Because of this, I've never used this ride in my parks.

My ideal situation would be if there was an un-themed generic version of every ride alongside the themed ones we have.. This should also be the case with coaster cars.

I would also like massively reduced hit boxes on them so we can theme them ourselves. And finally, smaller ride bases. Some rides really don't need the extra space around them.

This would make me very happy.

PsychoScooby · Feb 21, 2017

This is something that bugged me even back in the RCT3 days where rides had names spreader plastered on them. I also wish that there was an option to remove the American Arrow name on the corsckeew Coaster. Not the end of the world, just a personal preference.

PS Did not mean to report a post on the thread! Posting from my phone and couldn't really read what I was doing [sad]

PC_OCD · Feb 21, 2017

PsychoScooby said:
I also wish that there was an option to remove the American Arrow name on the corsckeew Coaster. Not the end of the world, just a personal preference.

It rather dull but changing the American Arrow train to all the same color will workaround the name on the front car, but for whatever reason the word Liberty on the side of the front car doesn't go away.

I also agree with TOGOfan and would like to see less pre themed rides or at least the ability to change them.

Cosmic Cow · Feb 21, 2017

They announced a cosmetic DLC (not for free) for customizing your parks even more. More information about this around the realease of the next free update in april. In my opinion, cosmetic means an upgrade or alternative for things we already have. Maybe we can buy alternative rideskins, tracked ride cars and coastertrains? This won't be a problem for the workshop anyway, because the original things will be available aswell.

Lt.RAT · Feb 22, 2017

Individual letters of the alphabet should be made for every custom ride so you can change them theres only 24 letters and it would make custom rides a whole lot better ,,

the more Art and custom in the game the better along with custom rides to make it easier for non arty people , it should cater for all for the widest audience possible ,

Jammy3112 · Feb 22, 2017

I couldn't agree more. I put this in my post in the 2017 Wishlist.

Big Draco · Feb 23, 2017

I've got mixed feelings about UGC.

On the one hand, it can really bring a ride/area/park alive and make for some very different parks.

On the other, I agree with Frontier (see their digital sketchbook), in that they wanted everyone to have the same tools and components as everyone else and not have the situation with RCT3 where only the 'gifted' could have the best stuff. Whilst there is no doubt that UGC extended the life of RCT3 I look in wonder at some of the parks and rides seen on the workshop and realise I have all the components myself so it makes me strive to make better and (I hope) better scenery.

Some of the UGC in RCT3 was stunning but a lot of it crashed my PC as soon as it was loaded. I know RCT3 was made with XP's 4GB memory ceiling which is now removed on 64 bit operating systems but one of the things that impresses me with Planet Coaster is its ability to have 1000's of guests, loads of rides and coasters and still run well at night with all the lights on.

Then you come to the question - what happens when you download a park/ride/scenery item that the person downloading the item doesn't have? Do you crash (like RCT3)? Do you "ignore" it and leave it blank? What should you do?

Another consideration is the style of graphics. Even though there are different styles such as western, sci fi etc, you get the feeling that ALL the scenery "fits" together (even if it looks a bit odd), you can tell the design is the same. This would undoubtedly be lost if UGC was allowed.

I think Frontier needs to think very long and very hard on how to cope with this issue.

Citytrader · Feb 23, 2017

I could not agree more. Look at all the nonsense available now on the workshop (I'm sorry, but there is a LOT of badly crafted buildings and parks there) and then imagine if UGC were allowed anytime soon. The Workshop would be flooded with half baked garbage. Of course, there would be the few who create wonderful, versatile sets just like in RCT3. But for every great set, there will be dozens of mediocre sets.

Also, contrary to what a few very vocal people insist on, why on earth would Frontier hand over their brand new game to the community this early? They stand to gain a lot of money with expansions, add-ons, even pay for pieces. When the novelty wears off, or when sales diminish, then and only then will they open up the game to the fans. I'm looking forward to seeing tons of stuff from the community, but I am willing to wait until Frontier plays all their cards.