I bought this game no long after it was released but in all that time I've not played it so mutch.
The reason being that I found the game not so playable becuase there is a very small variety of rides, especially themed rides.
I know it's not the same game can't help but compare this game to it's spiritual ansestor, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.
This game had many themed rides for each theme. Also there were many rides with customizable cars, you could build a coaster and, at any time, pick from the themed cars on it's menu, thus going a long way to theame the ride. I could fill out a decent-sized Wild west area with rides that had been made to look like they belonged there. I could do the same wich Sci-fi, Horror, Pirates, another one with generic rides and still not have built the same ride twice.
But tht is not the case with Planet Coaster. I was amazed by how little choice there was in rides! Particularly rides created with a theme in mind. I played the pirate themed levels dispite there were only 2 even remotely pirate themed rides. Wild west has 3 if you cound the train rides, Fantasy has only 1 with clear theming!
How am I supposed to build evan a small area, let alone a whole park with sutch limited resources?
It's so bad that when I play levels like the one with the big fantasy tree, I just got stumped.
And yes I know the game has a great engine for making custom scenery and you can even build it in and around rides. The idea being that you can use it to theme the ride to whatever theme you want. But that only goes so far.
Example: I gave the fantasy tree level another go. This time I was determined to try and customise all the rides I was working with to have a fancy theme using the scenery engine. I started with the kick flip, thought I could make it look like a windmill or a giant sword. But it was simply impossible, because of the way it was designed none of the scenery items could be put inside the ride's boundaries, not even slightly. So I tried building around it instead and actually built rather nice looking castle, but when I looked back I saw it was just a kick flip in a courtyard.
The rollercoaster's and tractor rides are just as bad, each one comes with only one car type.
And the same can be said for every other theme, the only type of part I can comfortably build is a generic un-themed one.
But I'm not writing just complain, here are a few ideas I have to improve it.
1, more rides in expansion packs or updates.
Create properly themed rides and either put them in DLC or in updates.
2, update the software so the scenery can more easily be put into ride areas.
As I said, I couldn't put scenery anywhere inside the kick flip's railings, even the part where no moving pieces could possibly intersect with anything.
3, Create themed versions of existing rights and coasters.
Think of this, I build a kick flip, I open its menu which contains a variety of properly themed skins so I could theme it at any time just like the coasters in RCT3.
4, modify the scenery program so I can stick things directly onto the moving ride parts.
That way I could cover the rides and lots of themed items, like in Thrillville: off the rails. Yes it's messy and cheap looking but at least it's something.
5, create a simple to use 3D modelling program and let us do the work.
I saw recently that you had Given the game an update allowing 3D modellers to convert their creations into acceptable files for the game. Maybe, for those of us who aren't experienced computer graphic artists or who don't have that kind of software, you create a simple version and incorporated into the game. That way we can create new skins and meshes for the rides ourselves and take it a step further to truly make it whatever we wanted.
It worked for Second Life.
If you are a visitor to this forum please let me know what you think and add any ideas you may have to resolve this problem.
The reason being that I found the game not so playable becuase there is a very small variety of rides, especially themed rides.
I know it's not the same game can't help but compare this game to it's spiritual ansestor, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.
This game had many themed rides for each theme. Also there were many rides with customizable cars, you could build a coaster and, at any time, pick from the themed cars on it's menu, thus going a long way to theame the ride. I could fill out a decent-sized Wild west area with rides that had been made to look like they belonged there. I could do the same wich Sci-fi, Horror, Pirates, another one with generic rides and still not have built the same ride twice.
But tht is not the case with Planet Coaster. I was amazed by how little choice there was in rides! Particularly rides created with a theme in mind. I played the pirate themed levels dispite there were only 2 even remotely pirate themed rides. Wild west has 3 if you cound the train rides, Fantasy has only 1 with clear theming!
How am I supposed to build evan a small area, let alone a whole park with sutch limited resources?
It's so bad that when I play levels like the one with the big fantasy tree, I just got stumped.
And yes I know the game has a great engine for making custom scenery and you can even build it in and around rides. The idea being that you can use it to theme the ride to whatever theme you want. But that only goes so far.
Example: I gave the fantasy tree level another go. This time I was determined to try and customise all the rides I was working with to have a fancy theme using the scenery engine. I started with the kick flip, thought I could make it look like a windmill or a giant sword. But it was simply impossible, because of the way it was designed none of the scenery items could be put inside the ride's boundaries, not even slightly. So I tried building around it instead and actually built rather nice looking castle, but when I looked back I saw it was just a kick flip in a courtyard.
The rollercoaster's and tractor rides are just as bad, each one comes with only one car type.
And the same can be said for every other theme, the only type of part I can comfortably build is a generic un-themed one.
But I'm not writing just complain, here are a few ideas I have to improve it.
1, more rides in expansion packs or updates.
Create properly themed rides and either put them in DLC or in updates.
2, update the software so the scenery can more easily be put into ride areas.
As I said, I couldn't put scenery anywhere inside the kick flip's railings, even the part where no moving pieces could possibly intersect with anything.
3, Create themed versions of existing rights and coasters.
Think of this, I build a kick flip, I open its menu which contains a variety of properly themed skins so I could theme it at any time just like the coasters in RCT3.
4, modify the scenery program so I can stick things directly onto the moving ride parts.
That way I could cover the rides and lots of themed items, like in Thrillville: off the rails. Yes it's messy and cheap looking but at least it's something.
5, create a simple to use 3D modelling program and let us do the work.
I saw recently that you had Given the game an update allowing 3D modellers to convert their creations into acceptable files for the game. Maybe, for those of us who aren't experienced computer graphic artists or who don't have that kind of software, you create a simple version and incorporated into the game. That way we can create new skins and meshes for the rides ourselves and take it a step further to truly make it whatever we wanted.
It worked for Second Life.
If you are a visitor to this forum please let me know what you think and add any ideas you may have to resolve this problem.
