After spending hours consuming video content and scouring the Internet for the tiniest tidbit of news on Jurassic World Evolution 2 (JWE2) the past several weeks, I couldn't help but hit on one relative shortcoming. Guest attractions were conspicuously absent from the hours of footage beyond the standard: small, medium, large modular building mold and carryovers from the first game. The most I saw was a cinema as a large modular building and a development build of the research tree which was pretty barebones. That being the case, here are some potential "interactive attractions" that could be used to spice up our parks and fill that void.... assuming Frontier isn't being coy with us and holding things back for launch.
Treetop Gazers
This attraction was a concept planned for Jurassic World, but ultimately didn't make the cut. Obviously, this is directed towards getting up and personal with sauropods particularly the more vertically inclined bunch like Brachiosaurus and Mamenchisaurus. What better way to give this old concept new life than having it make its return in JWE2? This tends to top my list as one of my favorite new attraction ideas. Appeals to Nature Guests.
Jungle River Cruise | Cretaceous Cruise
This attraction actually has an "era" equivalent that we can draw from directly. The Jungle River Cruise originates from Michael Crichton's original novel, it was initially scrapped from the film adaptation of Jurassic Park, but Universal wound up using it as the basis for the rapids rides at its theme parks. It slots in perfectly for JWE2 as the first water-based attraction we would have made even more likely with how Frontier conveniently noted that tour tracks can travel through Aviaries something that lays all the foundations for this callback to the novel.
The Jungle River Cruise will use yellow rafts, and the Cretaceous Cruise will instead use kayaks; same attraction, different era. The water as part of the attraction will serve as a non-interactable tour track so we aren't having to get fussy about water physics and what not. In an ideal world, any roads or other attraction crossings will automatically generate a bridge overpass, dinosaurs won't be able to cross it though, so plan accordingly. This attraction primarily appeals to General Guests.
The Bone Shaker | VelociCoaster
The Bone Shaker is, of course, an unfinished attraction featured in Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game. Its quickly become very iconic among fans and with good reason, its a neat concept and should be well within Frontier's power to execute. For legal reasons, it might not be able to officially be called The Bone Shaker and its design might not be identical, but that is fine. We can manually rename buildings anyway, and it merely has a dinosaur fossil theme, and Frontier also has licensed the IP so they could make their own Mr. DNA signage to accompany it. On the opposite end of things, we are again taking inspiration from the real world, this attraction also has an era equivalent in the newly opened VelociCoaster, go figure a company with its own theme park division would have something useful for a park simulator title.
Its a simple rollercoaster, Frontier has had experience making a million of these before, its more for variety and flavor and obviously would appeal to Adventure Guests.
Submarine Tour
Let's just go ahead and use this image as a starting point, most of you should already know where this is going. Where would a submarine attraction work best, the lagoon!? One of my persistent few gripes with the game is how non-interactive the marine reptiles remain. Not being able to breakout and escape makes sense, but not posing some form of threat or active gameplay role is a missed opportunity. This attraction lets you zoom around the lagoon with your marine reptiles similar to how you can manually control your gyrospheres. It attaches to the side of your lagoon and you set a tour track for the submarines to follow, if the creatures of the depths become restless or agitated, they will start attacking the submarines and make you pay for your negligence. Appeals to Adventure Guests.
Gentle Giants Petting Zoo
Pretty straight-forward, this is actually an attraction taken straight from Jurassic World that didn't wind up on the cutting room floor. While Universal seems pretty much against the inclusion of kids being in the game, we could still have this little self-contained looped attraction. Adds a bit of variety, our only glimpse at baby dinosaurs, and it would primarily appeal to General Guests.
Pteratops Lodge
Couldn't find any hard visual or concept for this one, so I found a stock image to give you an idea what it might appear like. This is yet another attraction derived from the Jurassic Park novel, it snaps into a pre-selected spot in the Aviary and serves as a special attraction-amenity combination. The image would be more for a Jurassic World era take, the Jurassic Park original would have a thatched roof and maybe a more bamboo and leather exterior similar to a Native American Tipi. The lodge rests high in the upper regions of the aviary, or on a cliff face. Binocular stations and optional covered walkways are setup so you can view your pterosaurs from on high. They will only attack if their comfort is low otherwise they will ignore guests. It provides superb visibility, accommodations, and food and drink. This attraction appeals almost exclusively to Luxury Guests.
Troodon Den
Okay, this one is a pretty experimental and radical idea. This was originally a concept for Jurassic World called the "Raptor Den" that was cut for Owen's raptor paddock. Anyhow, I swapped out the raptors for the Troodon, this is a pretty unique attraction as its part of an enclosed, unlit cave system and guests have to use night vision goggles for visibility. During the synthesis stage, JWE2 has a nocturnal trait that can manifest in some egg clutches, so this behavior isn't going to be too far out of the way from what we are going to need. Only small carnivores with the nocturnal trait will be able to enter or leave the den. If this is too complicated, animations can be looped instead.
The Troodon is a clear reference to Jurassic Park: The Game and we can reinforce that since Troodon has a high probability of egg clutches with the nocturnal trait. This doesn't preclude other animals from the attraction, but the Troodon is just an obvious choice. You'll need to place the den within an enclosure (preferably... or not...depends on how sadistic you are feeling) and the entrance somewhere within the radius of the den. Essentially it works similar to JPOG's Viewing Domes. This attraction is pretty much on rails, a non-descript vehicle carries passengers on an incline above the animals, and you enable the goggles to view them. Attacks can occur, but you are booted out of the attraction immediately preceding one, prevented from interacting with the den whatsoever, and you can't get rid of it while an animal is inside.
Naturally, an attack shutters the entire attraction and your safety rating plummets, so its a bit unique in that regard. No other attraction will completely shut down from a single attack, but its the only logical way I can think of the den working. The Troodon Den has fairly universal appeal for All Guest Types, but it is primarily targeted at Nature Guests.
There we have it, some solid guest attraction ideas. Many are tied directly via references to the wider Jurassic franchise, yet are flexible enough for Frontier to make them their own and not be limited by legal and artistic constraints of other artists over the years. These would make our parks feel alive, unique, interesting, and offer a whole host of different gameplay and viewing opportunities. Better yet, Universal itself is likely more receptive to these attractions given their own in-house teams drafted the ideas behind many of them.
I would fill confident that these attractions would provide ample variety and gameplay that would strengthen the foundation Frontier has made with JWE2 to date. Let me know your thoughts and ideas.
Treetop Gazers
This attraction was a concept planned for Jurassic World, but ultimately didn't make the cut. Obviously, this is directed towards getting up and personal with sauropods particularly the more vertically inclined bunch like Brachiosaurus and Mamenchisaurus. What better way to give this old concept new life than having it make its return in JWE2? This tends to top my list as one of my favorite new attraction ideas. Appeals to Nature Guests.
- Modular Path/Terrace Placement (Ex: Monorail)
- Customizable height presets for path supports
- Tall
- Moderate
- Low
- Binocular Stations located at Terraces
- Collision so sauropods must navigate around
- Sauropods can stretch over paths to reach vegetation
- Nigersaurus/Amargasaurus unaffected
Jungle River Cruise | Cretaceous Cruise
This attraction actually has an "era" equivalent that we can draw from directly. The Jungle River Cruise originates from Michael Crichton's original novel, it was initially scrapped from the film adaptation of Jurassic Park, but Universal wound up using it as the basis for the rapids rides at its theme parks. It slots in perfectly for JWE2 as the first water-based attraction we would have made even more likely with how Frontier conveniently noted that tour tracks can travel through Aviaries something that lays all the foundations for this callback to the novel.
The Jungle River Cruise will use yellow rafts, and the Cretaceous Cruise will instead use kayaks; same attraction, different era. The water as part of the attraction will serve as a non-interactable tour track so we aren't having to get fussy about water physics and what not. In an ideal world, any roads or other attraction crossings will automatically generate a bridge overpass, dinosaurs won't be able to cross it though, so plan accordingly. This attraction primarily appeals to General Guests.
- Auto-generated river tour track
- Auto-flattens terrain during track placement
- Auto-generated bridge overpass intersections (paths and ground-based tour tracks)
- AI routes intersecting river tours one craft at a time
- River tracks cannot be interacted with by most terrestrial animals
- Dinosaurs cannot cross river tour tracks
- Dilophosaurus can hurl projectile venom at passing guests
- River Tours can be routed through Aviaries
- Pterosaurs can dive onto guests on river tours
The Bone Shaker | VelociCoaster
The Bone Shaker is, of course, an unfinished attraction featured in Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game. Its quickly become very iconic among fans and with good reason, its a neat concept and should be well within Frontier's power to execute. For legal reasons, it might not be able to officially be called The Bone Shaker and its design might not be identical, but that is fine. We can manually rename buildings anyway, and it merely has a dinosaur fossil theme, and Frontier also has licensed the IP so they could make their own Mr. DNA signage to accompany it. On the opposite end of things, we are again taking inspiration from the real world, this attraction also has an era equivalent in the newly opened VelociCoaster, go figure a company with its own theme park division would have something useful for a park simulator title.
Its a simple rollercoaster, Frontier has had experience making a million of these before, its more for variety and flavor and obviously would appeal to Adventure Guests.
- Place and forget attraction (e.g. Innovation Center)
- Optional preset customizations
- track direction (left, right, up, down)
- number of cars
- decorative flare items (signage, fossils, etc.)
Submarine Tour
Let's just go ahead and use this image as a starting point, most of you should already know where this is going. Where would a submarine attraction work best, the lagoon!? One of my persistent few gripes with the game is how non-interactive the marine reptiles remain. Not being able to breakout and escape makes sense, but not posing some form of threat or active gameplay role is a missed opportunity. This attraction lets you zoom around the lagoon with your marine reptiles similar to how you can manually control your gyrospheres. It attaches to the side of your lagoon and you set a tour track for the submarines to follow, if the creatures of the depths become restless or agitated, they will start attacking the submarines and make you pay for your negligence. Appeals to Adventure Guests.
- Attaches to one of the preset points on the Lagoon walls
- Still requires path connection (e.g. Lagoon Viewing Stand)
- Tour track has an added axis for depth (e.g. submarine can surface, dive, etc.)
- Tours can connect to other tour stations
- Agitated marine reptiles can attack and crush submarines
- Submarines have a Security Rating 4
- This makes them quite durable, but not invulnerable
- Submarines have a Security Rating 4
Gentle Giants Petting Zoo
Pretty straight-forward, this is actually an attraction taken straight from Jurassic World that didn't wind up on the cutting room floor. While Universal seems pretty much against the inclusion of kids being in the game, we could still have this little self-contained looped attraction. Adds a bit of variety, our only glimpse at baby dinosaurs, and it would primarily appeal to General Guests.
- Set and forget (e.g. Guest Attraction building)
- Plays a variety of looped animations
- Adjustable Presets
- Select Species
- Decorative flourish
- Number of animals
Pteratops Lodge
Couldn't find any hard visual or concept for this one, so I found a stock image to give you an idea what it might appear like. This is yet another attraction derived from the Jurassic Park novel, it snaps into a pre-selected spot in the Aviary and serves as a special attraction-amenity combination. The image would be more for a Jurassic World era take, the Jurassic Park original would have a thatched roof and maybe a more bamboo and leather exterior similar to a Native American Tipi. The lodge rests high in the upper regions of the aviary, or on a cliff face. Binocular stations and optional covered walkways are setup so you can view your pterosaurs from on high. They will only attack if their comfort is low otherwise they will ignore guests. It provides superb visibility, accommodations, and food and drink. This attraction appeals almost exclusively to Luxury Guests.
- Attaches to a preset point in an Aviary (ceiling or upper wall)
- Optional Cliff face preset for more naturalist look
- Binocular Stations placed on a large terrace
- Pterosaurs can attack guests on the terrace
- Guests who reach the lodge are protected
- Covered Walkway Preset toggle
- Requires First-Person View
- Pterosaurs can breach walkway and attack guests
- Provides Amenity Coverage (high quality offerings only)
- Food
- Drink
- Lowest Capacity Accommodations
- Exceptionally prestigious attraction
Troodon Den
Okay, this one is a pretty experimental and radical idea. This was originally a concept for Jurassic World called the "Raptor Den" that was cut for Owen's raptor paddock. Anyhow, I swapped out the raptors for the Troodon, this is a pretty unique attraction as its part of an enclosed, unlit cave system and guests have to use night vision goggles for visibility. During the synthesis stage, JWE2 has a nocturnal trait that can manifest in some egg clutches, so this behavior isn't going to be too far out of the way from what we are going to need. Only small carnivores with the nocturnal trait will be able to enter or leave the den. If this is too complicated, animations can be looped instead.
The Troodon is a clear reference to Jurassic Park: The Game and we can reinforce that since Troodon has a high probability of egg clutches with the nocturnal trait. This doesn't preclude other animals from the attraction, but the Troodon is just an obvious choice. You'll need to place the den within an enclosure (preferably... or not...depends on how sadistic you are feeling) and the entrance somewhere within the radius of the den. Essentially it works similar to JPOG's Viewing Domes. This attraction is pretty much on rails, a non-descript vehicle carries passengers on an incline above the animals, and you enable the goggles to view them. Attacks can occur, but you are booted out of the attraction immediately preceding one, prevented from interacting with the den whatsoever, and you can't get rid of it while an animal is inside.
Naturally, an attack shutters the entire attraction and your safety rating plummets, so its a bit unique in that regard. No other attraction will completely shut down from a single attack, but its the only logical way I can think of the den working. The Troodon Den has fairly universal appeal for All Guest Types, but it is primarily targeted at Nature Guests.
- Den is placed in an enclosure
- Entrance must be placed within a radius of the den
- Path Connection required for entrance
- Operational Day or Night
- Den has no light source
- Guests must use Night Vision Goggles
- Nocturnal Trait is required
- Small Carnivores (Only)
- Troodon
- Proceratosaurus
- Velociraptor
- Deinonychus
- Pyroraptor
- Dilophosaurus
- Monolophosaurus
- Coelophysis
- Compsognathus
- Dimetrodon (Exception)
- Inside the Den is preset and "on rails"
- Animals may freely enter and leave the den
- Nocturnal Trait is required
- Guests can be attacked
- Poor Comfort
- Attraction Damaged
- Attacks Shutter the Attraction
- Player is kicked out and prevented from interacting with the Den
- Den cannot be deleted while an animal is inside
- The attraction remains offline until the attack is over
There we have it, some solid guest attraction ideas. Many are tied directly via references to the wider Jurassic franchise, yet are flexible enough for Frontier to make them their own and not be limited by legal and artistic constraints of other artists over the years. These would make our parks feel alive, unique, interesting, and offer a whole host of different gameplay and viewing opportunities. Better yet, Universal itself is likely more receptive to these attractions given their own in-house teams drafted the ideas behind many of them.
I would fill confident that these attractions would provide ample variety and gameplay that would strengthen the foundation Frontier has made with JWE2 to date. Let me know your thoughts and ideas.
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