Car Parks

-HH- · Jul 15, 2016

This might have been previously mentioned and I've seen a creation of a mock-up

It could be an idea to add car parks to our theme parks and maybe use them as extra coaster space like the silver arrow at Europa park does!

I think it'd also show a bit more realism than a tunnel from the depths of the earth (not complaining btw) I just think it'd be really cool to have parking spaces and stuff.

Long Story · Jul 15, 2016

Yes please! Road and car park and perhaps even the option to create something resembling a town/city next to it.

breezerHOG1 · Jul 15, 2016

https://forums.planetcoaster.com/showthread.php/8340-car-park

Long Story · Jul 16, 2016

@creaper
That's not what I'm personally thinking about. In games such as rct2 you could modify the land outside of your park. That gave the option to have a surrounding town or a car park in front of the entrance etc. Doesn't make much sense to have the car park inside the actual park ground.

Shief · Jul 16, 2016

I think it depends on what the goal of the carpark is:
1. If the goal of the feature is just for realism and visual reinforcement of guest density then "outside" the park makes more sense
e.g. Dino Park Tycoon has an automatic parking lot in front of the entrance that goes from dirt to pavement as your park grows and fills up with cars.
2. If the goal of the feature is to add management depth then having to allot park space to parking makes sense. Real parks face this problem: they have to build parking on the land they own. Is that the most interesting management challenge? Probably not. Sim City (2016) skipped parking lots because they really do take a LOT of space.

But it is interesting to think about how real parks solve this problem. If you don't have the land you squeeze it into your park where you can. E.g. Knott's

If you have lots of land you can stick it wherever (most commonly right outside the entrance) and then add alternate transportation around or between parks: E.g. Disney World has parking in front of each park and around and under resorts, then guests take the monorail, boat or shuttles between parks, resort, parking.

my feelings:
It could be interesting if we had to zone areas for parking to meet demand.
I'd be happy if there was an auto managed parking outside the park.
I would be a little sad if there was no parking in the game, but by no means is this make or break feature for me.

Coastin' Dave · Jul 16, 2016

Long Story said:
@creaper
That's not what I'm personally thinking about. In games such as rct2 you could modify the land outside of your park. That gave the option to have a surrounding town or a car park in front of the entrance etc. Doesn't make much sense to have the car park inside the actual park ground.

I agree completely. I think it would be great if we could build a parking lot and have a highway or something leading to it. Or even if we could build a lake and have buses and monorails bring guests in like at Disney World's Magic Kingdom. It would be nice to see guests come from vehicles so the park feels like it exists in a real location rather than a barren world.

breezerHOG1 · Jul 16, 2016

Building outside of the park will not be a problem once the game is complete. This is still alpha, and as you said, in RCT2/3 there was a full scenario editor which isnt available in PC just yet. As for having "traffic" well, it doesn't seem that important to me and I'd rather not have to worry about it draining CPU or anything. I'm sure there will be car scenery objects (same as in RCT) so obviously as you saw, constructing a parking lot is already possible... does it need to be 100% realistic? its close enough IMO

Coastin' Dave said:
if we could build a lake and have buses and monorails bring guests in

transport rides are also in the works

DonaldMcRonald · Jul 17, 2016

I think it would add a nice touch of realism if the people didn't come from a tunnel, and the background wasn't just a field in the middle of nowhere. Of course, this shouldn't be a primary focus for the devs yet. Maybe if there's time for it later on.

-HH- · Jul 19, 2016

There's more to it I believe, idk I thought the idea of Cities skylines could work (zoning) and if it's within the park that's cool but Frontier should therefore make the parks WAY bigger (which I believe they are doing). I think car parks could be a really complicated game decision and it's not make or break but it'd be nice to see peeps rolling on up to -HH-CoasterFields. I have to be honest my park is starting to run out of room too, anyway i'm sidetracking.

I would love to see a zoning carpark which you make from a desired material to fit the theme of your park, I think it'd also be fantastic to see the use of monorails boats and trains to get to the park especially for a more 'Magical' experience.

lui36 · Jul 19, 2016

i remeber a scenario, i believe it was in rct2, where the park was located in a city and you had to make do with very little space.
the concept of parking/transportation would really add another dimension, you would have to decide between a cheap but large car parking area or an expensive multi-storey car park. park and ride could be an option too, or you could fund your own bus/subway/railroad station.

-HH- · Jul 19, 2016

lui36 said:
i remeber a scenario, i believe it was in rct2, where the park was located in a city and you had to make do with very little space.
the concept of parking/transportation would really add another dimension, you would have to decide between a cheap but large car parking area or an expensive multi-storey car park. park and ride could be an option too, or you could fund your own bus/subway/railroad station.

Yes, this is exactly what im talking about.

The idea of a customisable entrance to the park from the moment they drive into the property! I'd love to see something like that in the game, People could also use existing buildings to theme the carparks too. It'd be time consuming and something I'm not great at but I think something like this could work really well!

PiLhEaD · Jul 19, 2016

No car parks thanks, they would add zero enjoyment to the game for me.

I'm very happy with people arriving from a 'magic tunnel' - for traffic management headaches I already have Cities Skylines and I really don't want any rollercoaster sim diluted, nor CPU cycles diverted, by such.

[yesnod]

-HH- · Jul 19, 2016

I wasn't thinking of adding traffic issues but more of just something to customise the look of and make a cute little entrance. Maybe there should be traffic but it shouldn't be like Cities where its something you HAVE to control but maybe just means that guests come into the park a bit slower or something, I just think it'd look cool seeing a carpark. Maybe allowing you to use the Transport rides between parks such as the freeways between cities in Skylines/simcity.

I just think it'd be cool to make a Disney style of various parks and create them from the ground up. It's more creative than actually functional for Sandbox mode purposes but within a 'Tycoon' style career (if ever implemented) then I think it'd be an awesome mechanic to add.

Salmonman · Jul 23, 2016

I agree that traffic management is too much, but I absolutely love parking lots outside my parks in RCT2. It adds so much realism. I honestly hope they add some sort of click-and-drag rectangle parking lot creation tool. Would be amazing.

Dario85 · Aug 1, 2016

Just like all major theme parks in the real world. This is another big money maker for them. And yes the option should be in game to build carparks and charge for them. I always found in RCT that when only charging a gate price then taking sales at shops only and not rides that the income was slow compared to charging for ride access. One reason for this was we were missing a big money maker on car park charging! I hope to see this added in game.