Copied from the May 2016 edition of PC Gamer Magazine.
PLANET COASTER
The next generation of theme park simulators is coming.
Planet Coaster is the spiritual successor to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, that beloved series of theme park simulators. The basic premise hasn't changed much - build a park, fill it with rides, keep the punters happy - but now there are many extra layers of complexity. The simulation is richer, the creation tools are more powerful.
"I worked on the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, and I always wanted to do more with it," says Jonny Watts, chief creative officer at Frontier Developments. "I'm really into simulation and creativity, and Planet Coaster
is a combination of both of those things. Whatever you create also feeds into the simulation.
Watts also thinks that this is the perfect time to revive the theme park simulation genre. "The success of games like Prison Architect and Cities Skylines's has shown that there's a commercial reason for making Planet Coaster too."
The goal of any park in Planet Coaster is to keep your visitors happy. You do this by creating exciting rides, catering to their needs (whether its a burger or an easily accessible toilet), and making your park look attractive. You do so using a robust suite of creation tools that offer an impressive degree of freedom.
You aren't just snapping parts together, like a Lego set: you can combine objects, splice them together, resize them, and do pretty much anything to ensure your park looks unique. But the option to snap to a grid is there if you need a hand.
TOOL BOX
"We're giving you more tools than ever before," says Watts. "As well as the building parts there are decorations too, which will give people's creations even more flavour. You can build things off grid. Even the path system is exciting. You can have curved paths!"
That sounds like a minor addition, but theme park sim fans who've always been constrained by grid like path placement will be overjoyed by this touch. I test it for myself, building a snaking network of paths, around the rides in a pe-made park one of the devs created. I'm playing a pre-alpha build, but it works brilliantly.
"We're trying to get that balance between the creation tools being powerful and accessible," explains Watts." Our design philosophy is nested complexity. It's very easy to start building something, however, if you want to achieve something, more advanced, you have to start digging. When you are building a coaster you can have it snap nicely to a grid, but at any time you can disable it and create a track at any angle.
"A lot of things have keyboard modifiers," he continues. "When you're laying a path, you can hold control to disable the auto-complete. This lets you create unique shapes like spirals. You don't have to do this, but it makes the tools so much more powerful."
As the title suggests, it's the roller coasters that are the real stars of Planet Coaster,
and the track creation tools reflect this. You can choose from a wealth of preset parts, but also fine tune every segement to a remarkable degree. You can accurately recreate any real world coaster, or create something totally crazy.
One of the coolest features I'm shown is having coasters go underground. With a few simple clicks the track digs into the ground, creating a tunnel. Then the terrain tool is used to dig around it creating 'windows' in the rock to watch the coaster through as it speeds along. These constructions not only look cool, but the people riding them will be more excited by them as well.
And, as is tradition with games like these, you can click on any ride you build - whether it's a coaster or a so-called flat ride like a drop tower - and view the action through the eyes of the shrieking guests. The parks are brilliantly alive, and I spend some time flying the camera around looking, at people milling around and mascots waddling along in over sized costumes. You'll be able to click on any visitor to see what thy're thinking, which will let you know the strengths and weaknesses of your park.
WIDE WORLD
I notice that the games main menu is a globe covered in icons. Watts says this is the games hub where you'll access your own parks, as well as other peoples creations. "There's a reason for it being called Planet Coaste, he says. "With the planet, you see when you load the game you'll be able to download coasters and parks built by the experts. But you'll see friends, friends of friends, top picks and your own stuff too.
Much like Frontier Development's other big game, space sim Elite & Dangerous, Planet Coaster will be released as an alpha first. Players will be able to pre-order it and get an early glimpse of the finished product. It's a model that worked brilliantly with Elite and Frontier is hopeful that it will provide a similar outcome for Planet Coaster. "We'll be listening to the community," says Watts. "And hopefully they'll be a barometer of how well we're doing. But we're also making this game for ourselves, because we're fans of the genre."
The team making Planet Coaster is made up of ex Roller Coaster Tycoon devs. as well as as a lot of new talent fresh from University. "We have the enthusiasm and the knowledge of the people who developed the Roller Coaster Tycoon games." says Watts. "However, we also have a lot of new people too. New graduates who played it when they were younger and who can keep us old guys on our toes."
The full release of Planer Coaster is a way off, but the developers have made a tremendous start. The build I played was solid, and creating buildings with the new creation tools hinted at the immense possibilities of them. When it's released the community is going to be making some mind blowing stuff - something Frontier is understandably excited about.
DEEP CUT
"There's a lot of depth in the game," says Watts. "We want to get it out there and have people play it for hours to see if there's anything making it unenjoyable. Some of the things that are frustrating in the first 30 minutes actually improve the long term experience. Placing lights by hand might seem fiddly, but it gives you a lot of freedom."
I see an example of this when Frontier loads up a park made by a developer, centred on an enormous tree created with the terrain tool. It is covered in spirals of lights, all hand placed and it looks amazing. Another park created by a developer, features a giant monster carved out of rock, and I'm told it would be possible to build the park around it, with paths running up its arms and coasters running through its tooth mouth.
You aren't limited to regular theme parks in Planet Coaster, if you imagine it, you could probably build it. And when you are ready to show your creations to the world you can upload the whole park, or select specific rides and buildings to make available for people to download.
A game like this will thrive on being accessible, and Frontier is making sure the game scales well for variety of PCs.
"We're pushing a lot of polygons," says Watts. "If you've got a powerful PC, the game will look great. But if you have a less powerful one, certain elements will automatically reduce in quality to make sure it runs well."
The vivid colourful art style makes for a vibrant game filled with personality, but the cartoony style is accompanied by some realistic lighting effects. I jump into the head of a visitor as they slowly rise to the top of a drop tower I built and I can see a golden sunset poking over the hills through their eyes.
Planet Coaster is shaping up very nicely, and I can already tell its going to be one of those games that spawns a passionate and creative community. Once people get their hands on these tools, you're going to see some wild stuff. But there's also the simulations side to look forward to: managing your park, keeping the people happy, planting trees, building concessions. Frontier is taking the classic theme park sim and boldly modernising it, and taking advantage of modern PCs. It could be one heck of a ride.
So as you can see from this review, Planet Coaster gets a great thumbs up from PC Gamer. There has been no mention of RCTW in this moths issue.
PLANET COASTER
The next generation of theme park simulators is coming.
Planet Coaster is the spiritual successor to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, that beloved series of theme park simulators. The basic premise hasn't changed much - build a park, fill it with rides, keep the punters happy - but now there are many extra layers of complexity. The simulation is richer, the creation tools are more powerful.
"I worked on the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, and I always wanted to do more with it," says Jonny Watts, chief creative officer at Frontier Developments. "I'm really into simulation and creativity, and Planet Coaster
is a combination of both of those things. Whatever you create also feeds into the simulation.
Watts also thinks that this is the perfect time to revive the theme park simulation genre. "The success of games like Prison Architect and Cities Skylines's has shown that there's a commercial reason for making Planet Coaster too."
The goal of any park in Planet Coaster is to keep your visitors happy. You do this by creating exciting rides, catering to their needs (whether its a burger or an easily accessible toilet), and making your park look attractive. You do so using a robust suite of creation tools that offer an impressive degree of freedom.
You aren't just snapping parts together, like a Lego set: you can combine objects, splice them together, resize them, and do pretty much anything to ensure your park looks unique. But the option to snap to a grid is there if you need a hand.
TOOL BOX
"We're giving you more tools than ever before," says Watts. "As well as the building parts there are decorations too, which will give people's creations even more flavour. You can build things off grid. Even the path system is exciting. You can have curved paths!"
That sounds like a minor addition, but theme park sim fans who've always been constrained by grid like path placement will be overjoyed by this touch. I test it for myself, building a snaking network of paths, around the rides in a pe-made park one of the devs created. I'm playing a pre-alpha build, but it works brilliantly.
"We're trying to get that balance between the creation tools being powerful and accessible," explains Watts." Our design philosophy is nested complexity. It's very easy to start building something, however, if you want to achieve something, more advanced, you have to start digging. When you are building a coaster you can have it snap nicely to a grid, but at any time you can disable it and create a track at any angle.
"A lot of things have keyboard modifiers," he continues. "When you're laying a path, you can hold control to disable the auto-complete. This lets you create unique shapes like spirals. You don't have to do this, but it makes the tools so much more powerful."
As the title suggests, it's the roller coasters that are the real stars of Planet Coaster,
and the track creation tools reflect this. You can choose from a wealth of preset parts, but also fine tune every segement to a remarkable degree. You can accurately recreate any real world coaster, or create something totally crazy.
One of the coolest features I'm shown is having coasters go underground. With a few simple clicks the track digs into the ground, creating a tunnel. Then the terrain tool is used to dig around it creating 'windows' in the rock to watch the coaster through as it speeds along. These constructions not only look cool, but the people riding them will be more excited by them as well.
And, as is tradition with games like these, you can click on any ride you build - whether it's a coaster or a so-called flat ride like a drop tower - and view the action through the eyes of the shrieking guests. The parks are brilliantly alive, and I spend some time flying the camera around looking, at people milling around and mascots waddling along in over sized costumes. You'll be able to click on any visitor to see what thy're thinking, which will let you know the strengths and weaknesses of your park.
WIDE WORLD
I notice that the games main menu is a globe covered in icons. Watts says this is the games hub where you'll access your own parks, as well as other peoples creations. "There's a reason for it being called Planet Coaste, he says. "With the planet, you see when you load the game you'll be able to download coasters and parks built by the experts. But you'll see friends, friends of friends, top picks and your own stuff too.
Much like Frontier Development's other big game, space sim Elite & Dangerous, Planet Coaster will be released as an alpha first. Players will be able to pre-order it and get an early glimpse of the finished product. It's a model that worked brilliantly with Elite and Frontier is hopeful that it will provide a similar outcome for Planet Coaster. "We'll be listening to the community," says Watts. "And hopefully they'll be a barometer of how well we're doing. But we're also making this game for ourselves, because we're fans of the genre."
The team making Planet Coaster is made up of ex Roller Coaster Tycoon devs. as well as as a lot of new talent fresh from University. "We have the enthusiasm and the knowledge of the people who developed the Roller Coaster Tycoon games." says Watts. "However, we also have a lot of new people too. New graduates who played it when they were younger and who can keep us old guys on our toes."
The full release of Planer Coaster is a way off, but the developers have made a tremendous start. The build I played was solid, and creating buildings with the new creation tools hinted at the immense possibilities of them. When it's released the community is going to be making some mind blowing stuff - something Frontier is understandably excited about.
DEEP CUT
"There's a lot of depth in the game," says Watts. "We want to get it out there and have people play it for hours to see if there's anything making it unenjoyable. Some of the things that are frustrating in the first 30 minutes actually improve the long term experience. Placing lights by hand might seem fiddly, but it gives you a lot of freedom."
I see an example of this when Frontier loads up a park made by a developer, centred on an enormous tree created with the terrain tool. It is covered in spirals of lights, all hand placed and it looks amazing. Another park created by a developer, features a giant monster carved out of rock, and I'm told it would be possible to build the park around it, with paths running up its arms and coasters running through its tooth mouth.
You aren't limited to regular theme parks in Planet Coaster, if you imagine it, you could probably build it. And when you are ready to show your creations to the world you can upload the whole park, or select specific rides and buildings to make available for people to download.
A game like this will thrive on being accessible, and Frontier is making sure the game scales well for variety of PCs.
"We're pushing a lot of polygons," says Watts. "If you've got a powerful PC, the game will look great. But if you have a less powerful one, certain elements will automatically reduce in quality to make sure it runs well."
The vivid colourful art style makes for a vibrant game filled with personality, but the cartoony style is accompanied by some realistic lighting effects. I jump into the head of a visitor as they slowly rise to the top of a drop tower I built and I can see a golden sunset poking over the hills through their eyes.
Planet Coaster is shaping up very nicely, and I can already tell its going to be one of those games that spawns a passionate and creative community. Once people get their hands on these tools, you're going to see some wild stuff. But there's also the simulations side to look forward to: managing your park, keeping the people happy, planting trees, building concessions. Frontier is taking the classic theme park sim and boldly modernising it, and taking advantage of modern PCs. It could be one heck of a ride.
So as you can see from this review, Planet Coaster gets a great thumbs up from PC Gamer. There has been no mention of RCTW in this moths issue.
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