Brett C
Frontier
Greetings Coaster Heads, in our next installment of our Meet the Team series... we had a talk with Richard Newbold, Producer working on Planet Coaster here at Frontier!
Rich will be live, on this thread, answering your questions at 5pm GMT tomorrow for roughly half an hour - so get your questions in now!
What is your full name?
Richard John Newbold
What is your job title?
Producer
What’s your earliest memory of visiting a theme park?
When I was in my early teens, we went to America and Islands of Adventure. I'm a comic fan so I was loving all the Marvel rides especially the Incredible Hulk. I used to wear specs so I had to take them off for rides and all I remember was the feeling of wind moving on my face as I get thrown around a blurry landscape at speed.
What’s the biggest stand out memory for you about theme parks?
My first time on the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios. My body and mind was just not prepared for the vertical drops on that thing and lifts still give me pause for thought to this day because of it.
What tends to be your favourite type of ride at a theme park and why?
Recently, my body just can't seem to handle the thrill rides that my young self could. I'm pretty happy on anything sedate these days so a nice log flume is a great thing on a boiling day.
What exactly are you working on with Planet Coaster?
I'm a producer which means I'm responsible for nearly every aspect of the games development. Ensuring the team are working together towards the same goals and everyone can do their jobs without issues.
What does an average day at work look like for you?
After experiencing a hellish bus journey, and arriving at the relative calm of the office, I'll settle down with a brew/breakfast and read through any emails that I'm yet to address. I'll likely have a few meetings to cover certain areas of the game such as the coasters, paths or UI. Between meetings, I'll pop round the team at various points to make sure that no-one is having issues and tracking progress for our deliveries. I generally handle project staffing, spreadsheets (I love a good spreadsheet!) and dealing with any requests from the team. I can be also be found generating spreadsheets for tracking, providing feedback to design and being sarcastic.
In production, every day is different.
Are you excited to work on a game like Planet Coaster, and why?
We're all excited to make a great theme park game and we've got the experience and motivation to do it here at Frontier.
What aspect of Planet Coaster are you most excited about?
I'm a bit of a nerd for simulation so for me it's all about ensuring that I'm running an efficient economy in my parks. I can't wait to spend hours adjusting all the values to ensure that I'm getting the most money out of my guests.
What have you worked on before Planet Coaster, and what did you do on those projects?
I've been at Frontier nearly 7 years and I've been a producer on Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Zoo Tycoon and ScreamRide but before that I was a QA Tester at Rockstar Games.
How does working on Planet Coaster compare to working on other games you’ve worked on?
This is my first game at Frontier that isn't being published by Microsoft so it's really exciting to be publishing our own game. Working with other departments such as marketing, community and it's exciting to see Frontier being more directly in control of those areas.
In your opinion what makes Planet Coaster special?
I've never seen the team so passionate to make a game and ensuring that every area of the game is researched, developed and fun. Working with the team every day is a fantastic.
What have you learned so far from working on Planet Coaster?
That there's way more types of rollercoaster ride than I ever thought. I assumed they were all just a similar track but there's all sort of various track types and shapes that have been used.
Tell the community a fun fact about yourself.
I get motion sick and I'm afraid of heights.
If you could ask the Planet Coaster community one question, what would it be?
What's the longest you've ever had to wait queuing for a ride, and what did you do to occupy the time?
Rich will be live, on this thread, answering your questions at 5pm GMT tomorrow for roughly half an hour - so get your questions in now!
What is your full name?
Richard John Newbold
What is your job title?
Producer
What’s your earliest memory of visiting a theme park?
When I was in my early teens, we went to America and Islands of Adventure. I'm a comic fan so I was loving all the Marvel rides especially the Incredible Hulk. I used to wear specs so I had to take them off for rides and all I remember was the feeling of wind moving on my face as I get thrown around a blurry landscape at speed.
What’s the biggest stand out memory for you about theme parks?
My first time on the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios. My body and mind was just not prepared for the vertical drops on that thing and lifts still give me pause for thought to this day because of it.
What tends to be your favourite type of ride at a theme park and why?
Recently, my body just can't seem to handle the thrill rides that my young self could. I'm pretty happy on anything sedate these days so a nice log flume is a great thing on a boiling day.
What exactly are you working on with Planet Coaster?
I'm a producer which means I'm responsible for nearly every aspect of the games development. Ensuring the team are working together towards the same goals and everyone can do their jobs without issues.
What does an average day at work look like for you?
After experiencing a hellish bus journey, and arriving at the relative calm of the office, I'll settle down with a brew/breakfast and read through any emails that I'm yet to address. I'll likely have a few meetings to cover certain areas of the game such as the coasters, paths or UI. Between meetings, I'll pop round the team at various points to make sure that no-one is having issues and tracking progress for our deliveries. I generally handle project staffing, spreadsheets (I love a good spreadsheet!) and dealing with any requests from the team. I can be also be found generating spreadsheets for tracking, providing feedback to design and being sarcastic.
In production, every day is different.
Are you excited to work on a game like Planet Coaster, and why?
We're all excited to make a great theme park game and we've got the experience and motivation to do it here at Frontier.
What aspect of Planet Coaster are you most excited about?
I'm a bit of a nerd for simulation so for me it's all about ensuring that I'm running an efficient economy in my parks. I can't wait to spend hours adjusting all the values to ensure that I'm getting the most money out of my guests.
What have you worked on before Planet Coaster, and what did you do on those projects?
I've been at Frontier nearly 7 years and I've been a producer on Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Zoo Tycoon and ScreamRide but before that I was a QA Tester at Rockstar Games.
How does working on Planet Coaster compare to working on other games you’ve worked on?
This is my first game at Frontier that isn't being published by Microsoft so it's really exciting to be publishing our own game. Working with other departments such as marketing, community and it's exciting to see Frontier being more directly in control of those areas.
In your opinion what makes Planet Coaster special?
I've never seen the team so passionate to make a game and ensuring that every area of the game is researched, developed and fun. Working with the team every day is a fantastic.
What have you learned so far from working on Planet Coaster?
That there's way more types of rollercoaster ride than I ever thought. I assumed they were all just a similar track but there's all sort of various track types and shapes that have been used.
Tell the community a fun fact about yourself.
I get motion sick and I'm afraid of heights.
If you could ask the Planet Coaster community one question, what would it be?
What's the longest you've ever had to wait queuing for a ride, and what did you do to occupy the time?
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