The Resort Update

[whitejj01]

PLANET COASTER:

THE RESORT UPDATE
(Frontier team, you can change the name if you want, but I like it. )


This update would introduce a couple new systems and lots of new features and require a lot of work on the part of the coders.


RESORTS

the first new feature of the resort update would, logically, be the resort system. this would work a lot like the shop system, where there are modular pieces, like a deluxe room as one piece and a more moderately priced room as another piece. the rooms could then be placed inside buildings, or wherever really, in order to create a resort where your park's guests could stay overnight. It would also work very well in conjunction with this next system.


RESTAURANT SYSTEM

This one is a bit less code-intensive, but it's still very cool. A set of new pieces would be introduced in order to satisfy this system's needs. whether you want it to be tables AND chairs or just tables with the chairs as part of the piece is up to you.
with this new system you would simply place down a table(or a table and some chairs around it) and guests would sit down and eat their food AT the table. if these tables are near a shop(for example inside the same structure), then it could be considered a restaurant. I've already sort of been able to accomplish this(not the second part) with benches facing each other, but most of the people I've talked to think this system would make it a whole lot more immersive and cool. I'm guessing that the guest AI would have to be changed a little bit in order to allow this, but I'm sure you could do it.


TWEAKS TO GUEST AI

1. Right now, attractions have to be connected by paths to entrance in order for guests to get to them. I'll just be honest; I and everyone else really hate this. they'd all really like it if the new system allowed attractions to be connected to the main entrance by paths AND/OR transport rides. this way, guests could access the different areas of the park the way it's done with the monorail at Disney world(Please tell me you guys have been to Disney world ) then the transport rides could actually serve their purpose.

{IF attractions are connected by paths to Entrance} 2. Right now, whether or not guests ride a transport ride is determined by how exciting the transport ride is. that just isn't what transport rides are meant to do. It would be nice if guests decided based on something like how close the next station is their actual destination; Like if the station is close to this coffee shop you want to get to, the the guest would logically ride it. if it isn't, then the guest would choose to just walk.

 

[breezerHOG1]

here here +1[up] https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...re-you-hoping-for?highlight=expansion+add+ons

personally i dont see the excitement over having guests walk to and from "facilities" much like a restroom, I mean we can already make hotels

 

[whitejj01]

If Guests could pay for hotel rooms, that would be a good source of income in career mode. also, I'm really tired of not having any guests sitting at my tables.

 

[breezerHOG1]

Tables would be great and they are highly requested

Hotels are also a popular request, I just dont see the point. How long would a guest stay in a bedroom? Would it be like a bench? Would it have excitement? Personally, I would rather see my guests riding the rides. Like I said, people have already made elaborate hotels with the current state of the game.

Now maybe if the hotels had stage shows, dance/ballrooms, restaurants and buffets, casinos, and golf courses, then that would be a pretty big add-on request

Im thinking UGC can cover certain things, like tables and maybe redefining how a restroom works and renaming it bedroom

 

[Angelis1]

RESORTS

the first new feature of the resort update would, logically, be the resort system. this would work a lot like the shop system, where there are modular pieces, like a deluxe room as one piece and a more moderately priced room as another piece. the rooms could then be placed inside buildings, or wherever really, in order to create a resort where your park's guests could stay overnight. It would also work very well in conjunction with this next system. [...]

+1 !

Just like I posted here : https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...ls-Resorts/page5?p=16732&viewfull=1#post16732
and here : https://forums.planetcoaster.com/sh...ls-Resorts/page7?p=41959&viewfull=1#post41959

Would love it !

 

[breezerHOG1]

create a resort where your park's guests could stay overnight

This would only work if we had a more realistic (slower) time flow. If the game time flow was like 1 ingame day = 1-2hour real time and guests actually left the park at night, then it would work. But as of now with the current time flow, I just dont see it being worth the effort. We would need to have the hotel open all day long, and guests would visit based on their needs (ie being tired)

So how is that different from a bench, would it refill their energy instantly? How much in-game $ would that be worth to a guest in Planet Coaster?

Personally, I think it would be lame if half or 1/3 of my guests were "resting" and not enjoying my rides [downcast] and would I have to place 1 room per guest? nah 1 room would work the same as a bathroom cuz again I dont want my guests entering a bedroom and actually staying in it, like really? Whats next, guests are complaining about the hotels being dirty? lol

 

[Angelis1]

This would only work if we had a more realistic (slower) time flow. If the game time flow was like 1 ingame day = 1-2hour real time and guests actually left the park at night, then it would work. But as of now with the current time flow, I just dont see it being worth the effort. We would need to have the hotel open all day long, and guests would visit based on their needs (ie being tired)

So how is that different from a bench, would it refill their energy instantly? How much in-game $ would that be worth to a guest in Planet Coaster?

Personally, I think it would be lame if half or 1/3 of my guests were "resting" and not enjoying my rides [downcast] and would I have to place 1 room per guest? nah 1 room would work the same as a bathroom cuz again I dont want my guests entering a bedroom and actually staying in it, like really? Whats next, guests are complaining about the hotels being dirty? lol

God ... This argument about the bench again ...... [rolleyes]

How is a real seated restaurant different from the standing fast-food that we already have ? Nothing, because if refill their hunger bars, but it's still a popular demand too, because we want to recreate existing things, but in our way. Nothing more than that. It's simple to understand.

Hotels, transport between hotels and park(s), seating restaurants, real shops with shelves, it's things that you can "do" using "tricks" ... But the idea is just to make something "which works", and not only something cosmetic, or like I said before "using tricks" ... It's the goal of the game. If not, we just need to open Maya or 3DSMax, if we do not care if something "works".

 

[breezerHOG1]

Angelis you are not very good at argueing, not that I am trying to argue with you, but you don't answer the basic questions

how long do you want guests to stay in bed for? answer that one question. It takes maybe 30-60 seconds for a guest to refill their energy on a bench, or they could walk 5 minutes across the park and up a flight of stairs for an instant energy refill which costs extra cash. It doesnt work from an AI perspective.

If you want it for "recreation" purposes, you already built a park with a hotel and parking lot. But dont expect to see guests driving up and pulling out picnic baskets from their trunks [wink]

Their are more important features that PC needs to improve management wise before adding WORKING hotels.

 

[Le0ck]

Really like the ideas and i do believe they should go ahead ASAP

 

[Angelis1]

Angelis you are not very good at argueing, not that I am trying to argue with you, but you don't answer the basic questions

I would not respond to this insult, you flamer !

Tables for eating would be great, it makes sense. Guests sit on benches to eat, they showed a video with picnic benches. Where are they? I want them!

So I am.
I was one of the very first one on this forum to ask a possibility to make real restaurant.

But how long do you want guests to stay in bed for? answer that one question.

The same as in a real hotel : one night.
The equivalent of one night in the game is few minutes.

You always ask this question like it's important, but it is only in your mind dude ... Sorry I do not know how long is the night cycle exactly in the game, I never clocked how long lasts one night, but we do not care, it's a developers decision based on their informations, it's not important for us, players, to say a random duration based on informations we do not have. This kind of duration is the result of "balancing", such as queue waiting time, or the time it takes to buy a drink, or time spent on a bench ...

It takes maybe 30-60 seconds for a guest to refill their energy on a bench, or they could walk 5 minutes across the park and up a flight of stairs for an instant energy refill which costs extra cash. It doesnt work from an AI perspective.

Wait ? You mean a new feature need some changes ?????? No kidding Sherlock Holmes ...

Of course, if there is a hotel system, they need to add code, to change things, to adapt things, but guess what ... it's the case for every suggestions ....
Works for real restaurants, works for bus shuttle, works for fireworks, parades, water parks, zoo, parking lot, ANYTHING !!!

If you want it for "recreation" purposes, you already built a park with a hotel and parking lot. But dont expect to see guests driving up and pulling out picnic baskets from their trunks [wink]

Why not ? It's the suggestions subforum !

The working parking lot is a suggestion,
The bus/tram/monorail shuttle between park and hotel is a suggestion,
And your suggestion, adding animations for the people who come with their own food, picnicking on the lawn, is a good suggestion in fact.

It would be possible to allow guests to come with their food, in exchange of less sales in fastfood but this could attract more visitors, which would be an interesting strategic choice in terms of management (which seems to be a weak point in the game according to some members of this forum and the game sites reviews)

Seriously, I had never thought of picnics using food from the outside, but it's interesting.
At least, I will not say "what's the point, you already have restaurant to refill the bar" which is just mean and stupid.

 

[breezerHOG1]

The same as in a real hotel : one night. The equivalent of one night in the game is few minutes.

it just doesnt make sense with our current time system, maybe if guests left the park every night... but they dont

Why not ? It's the suggestions subforum ! The working parking lot is a suggestion

maybe with UGC if we have the CPU for it, but I don't see it happening as a default setting anytime soon

 

[Angelis1]

it just doesnt make sense with our current time system, maybe if guests left the park every night... but they dont

I agree to say that some modifications of the game are needed, but like I said it's the case for every suggestions anyway.

But they do not need to leave the park every night for this feature. Some guests just need to leave to park to go their hotel when it's close to the night time, that's all.
I know It's a big debate : "realism VS believability". For now, guests stay years in our parks without sleeping if we check the interface, but we do not care about it, same with the fact to leave the park at night to go to an hotel.

maybe with UGC if we have the CPU for it, but I don't see it happening as a default setting anytime soon

For the "parking lot" suggestion ? Yep, maybe you right about the needed ressources.

That's why I suggested the solution to have an object that you can put on the ground, which is an individual "parking space" (Which may be in two state : filled with a random car, or empty) that can react like a "spawner" if filled. It's not as good as a "real time animated and rendered" cars/bus who drive on the road,but ... this will do the job.

Sadly I can not find the thread where I posted the animated mockup of my idea ...

 

[breezerHOG1]

But they do not need to leave the park every night for this feature. Some guests just need to leave to park to go their hotel when it's close to the night time, that's all.
I know It's a big debate : "realism VS believability". For now, guests stay years in our parks without sleeping if we check the interface, but we do not care about it, same with the fact to leave the park at night to go to an hotel.

I agree not all guests need to leave, but I would like to see an improvement in the current time system BEFORE hotels can be added. I don't think the time flow can ever be perfect, but it can be better.

I think a day should last 45-60mins and a night should last 15-20 (roughly) and that at night, guests would get more tired faster. Not all guests need to empty out of the entire park, but it would be nice if parks were to "slow down" at night. If more guests chose to leave at night, we could see a rush of new guests each morning, which would help with charging admission.

If they could do something like that, then maybe I could see hotels being important. But as of now, guest AI can not pile into a hotel every night they would use it like a bench.

 

[Angelis1]

I agree not all guests need to leave, but I would like to see an improvement in the current time system BEFORE hotels can be added. I don't think the time flow can ever be perfect, but it can be better.

I think a day should last 45-60mins and a night should last 15-20 (roughly) and that at night, guests would get more tired faster. Not all guests need to empty out of the entire park, but it would be nice if parks were to "slow down" at night. If more guests chose to leave at night, we could see a rush of new guests each morning, which would help with charging admission. [...]

I 100% agree with that. [yesnod]

I remember the Vampiro's theory about opening/closing time.
I had hoped that they had innovated on this point, but in fact, not.

Let's hope in a future update !

EDIT : In the current state of the game, the night is just useless anyway, which is sad, because it's the same since ... always in theme park simulation games [sad]

 

[breezerHOG1]

The problem is this might cause guests to not reach the back of parks as much, and everybody wants bigger parks already

I dont expect much to change though, Im sure will see some add-ons eventually, I bet water rides are in the works, but I hope they can improve management big time, it sucks that they are not telling us anything [mad] we knew about PC 6 months before alpha, and we didnt know about the lack of security until right around release!

 

[Angelis1]

The problem is this might cause guests to not reach the back of parks as much, and everybody wants bigger parks already

About this, it's not tottaly true, even with the current state of the game.

I did some tests on my map with my "fake hotel". And they have so problem to walk to reach a toilet which is located to the opposite of the main entrance, just before the second entrance. And anyway, if the road is too long, then this is where the (free or paid) "shuttles" come in. This is how a theme park resort works in real life after all, when the hotel is located too far from the park, you take a bus/tram/monorail !

About the "park sizes", they are already great to make 1, 2 or 3 very big hotels, a road who links everything, and one theme park (like "Disneyland Paris") in the middle.
Not a "Disney World Resort" replica, but still "correct" to make a small/medium resort.

And, as I said earlier, it's just a matter of adjustment/balance after that.
There are no problems, just solutions.

I dont expect much to change though [...]

I do !

I hope this "winter update" is just the the beginning of a big serie of free updates to improve the game.
Many things need to be improved (like the management part), some tools need improvements (some members and me asked improvements of the building tool since alpha for exemple), and the lack of content (objets) and rides (flatrides, transports rides and tracked ride) is obvious (as the journalists and influential people on the web say)

But some features are also missing too (especially some innovative features for the genre that the community talk about a lot, because for now, the only two innovative thing in a theme park game are the "voxel terrain editor" (allowing to do tunnel and floating island, which is awesome) and the "fast pass system" ... but everything else is not that new, sometimes improved it's true, but not that new.

I think about : Resort with hotels and shuttle and seated restaurant of course (since they are the more reccuring suggestions for now I think), but not only, also parades with modular chariots, a new mixmaster-system on a bleachers-attractions to make shows and fireworks, a parking lot system (which is a recurring suggestion too), a full "black" building set to make darkrides in buildings, chances games (even if I don't care, it's recurring too), etc... This kind of thing would be innovative. All these things that would be new compared to RCT3, and not just a "next gen copy".

Anyway, there is many small and medium innovative features suggested by the community that they can implement in the game, before to make big expansion packs (like a water park expansion with waterslides and pools, or a zoo expansion with fences and animals)

The game sells well, so there is no reason that they do not continue free upgrades, with new content but also new features.
At least for a few months/one year, I hope.

Finger crossed [happy]

[...] it sucks that they are not telling us anything [mad] [...]

I agree with you. They are not very transparent. I would have hoped for more.

In particular, transparency on "planned additions" (what's in the todo list so we could talk about, make suggestions about what we expect, discuss on how this could work so they have a feedback before working on it) and on the "future economic model" (Free updates for how long ? DLC ? Yes or not ? Expansion packs ? Yes or not ? If yes, from when ?).

Two important topics that it would be time to share with us (since the game is released now).
I ask for a clear statement about this for months, but they turn a deaf ear, and I still hope.
We do not have a clear vision of the future for now, which is not a very modern way to communicate as a company.

B... At least, they read ... which is ... something.

 

[Curlyriff]

I agree not all guests need to leave, but I would like to see an improvement in the current time system BEFORE hotels can be added. I don't think the time flow can ever be perfect, but it can be better.

I think a day should last 45-60mins and a night should last 15-20 (roughly) and that at night, guests would get more tired faster. Not all guests need to empty out of the entire park, but it would be nice if parks were to "slow down" at night. If more guests chose to leave at night, we could see a rush of new guests each morning, which would help with charging admission.

If they could do something like that, then maybe I could see hotels being important. But as of now, guest AI can not pile into a hotel every night they would use it like a bench.

Out of interest is this time you mean for sunrise/sunset and not the date behind it which would still tick over in days & months as it does now?

 

[breezerHOG1]

Out of interest is this time you mean for sunrise/sunset and not the date behind it which would still tick over in days & months as it does now?

Good question!

Days/Night cycle currently has no affect on management, guests, or income. We can leave it sunny all year if we want.

The Month/Year calendar is very important to how the game measure your profits. I am not sure how long one month is, but it seems like that would be a big factor into the games "challenge" aspect. When I play, I frequently pause while building/spending money and then fast forward to make money. I usually time it so that I build new stuff on the first of the month and fast forward till the end of the month.

A good career mode requires a good time flow, not just cosmetically, but for financial purposes. There are a lot of different ways the game could handle time. Instead of days months years, it could be days weeks months. I think that would be cooler cuz then you wouldnt have guests staying in a park for years. But I dont think the devs have put much thought into this aspect.

I've seen people discuss the possibility of PC having its own unique calendar with 5 days to a week or something like that. Whatever it would take to feel natural while playing is whats important, and right now time is just wayyyyy to fast. The devs should do a few "test maps" for us each with different time settings, and then maybe we could vote on the best format.

Its hard to say what would be perfect without testing it so this is just an example: if the sun is up for about 45 minutes and then its night for about 15 minutes (I think that seems good) then the calendar could flow separately. Say a current month is 20 minutes, so 3 months go by in 1 hour. Lets change it so that 3.5 days go by every hour, and a week goes by in 2 hours. At the end of each "day" we would have our "monthly profits" (but now called daily) and at the end of each week would be our "yearly profits" (but now called weekly) something like that would just feel a bit more realistic IMO but it doesnt specifically have to work like that

Ive discussed this a lot before, check the link in my sig below (Park closing schedule)

 

[Curlyriff]

Cool glad we are on same wave length. I would suggest we are better splitting the day/night cycle into 7 segments.

I would suggest that a game day should take 9 mins to pass so a week would be 45 mins. With that I would say that a day cycle is 35 mins and a night cycle 10 mins.

This means your finance would report every 9 mins, 45mins and 2 hour and 20 mins (daily, weekly, 4 weeks). so you would have 13x4 week cycles to make a financial year. That means a park would be a year old after 39 hours.

With that I would like to see everything cost a lot more. I want the finances to feel like they add weight to what I am doing.

Edit: When you set your park close then I would say that the guests remain but they do not ride things, their stats are frozen until the park is open again. This way you get no loss for closing and no bonus for opening, however what it can add is that when the park is closed that is when shops are restocked, that is when ride inspections happen. That is when an attendant completes a circuit of said ride.

This means you need to manage your opening times to make sure that shops are able to complete a full days trade. With that I would then like to see guests leave after a 4 week cycle (2 hour 20 min mark). On that 4 week period it would mean that you would see 300-500 guests leave on closing time and then upon opening you get a new wave of guests.

It will mean there are always people in the park but you get that simulated opening/closing sequence that looks awesome. If you then wanted to have everyone leave at the same time (all 10k worth for instance). All you need to do is close your park manually and re-open and now they will all leave and cycle through that 4 weeks.

Edit 2: In my mind that would allow guests to ride 3-4 rides, eat and drink something, go toilet and have a small wonder around on average during their visit.

 

[SilverArrow]

Having in mind that month length is what matters economically, to me the best system would be simply to allow the player to choose whatever length he wants for the day (which should include an option for closing hours, to ensure guests buy a new ticket, guest AI should ponder if the price is worth judging the amount of open hours and rides in the park).

Real Disney facts to have in mind, and related also to the OP:

- Disney has night parades, and opens till late because they are awesome?! Well maybe, but the real reason is that way it encourages guests to also buy dinner there. That could be reflected in the management options, if you open until 8pm guests should spend more munies in food and drinks.

- Rabbit hole hotels would encourage guests to spend more days in the park. In Disney park, that's also reinforced by reducing the entrance tickets price and allowing you to visit the other resort parks instead of going to the others (let's say you wanted to visited Busch Gardens Tampa to see animals, then instead you spend one more night and go to Animal Kingdom... ).

- If rabbit hole restaurants or full fledged restaurants were to come to PC, adding a free pre-booking to avoid queues (another option to give work to the info stalls guys), that should ensure more guests use your restaurants (instead of going outside the park). That's "Disney's Dining Plan" in Disney parks.

- Not resort related, but games of skill / arcade stalls are another important source of money for Disney.

- We could make park tickets related to park entrances, so you could virtually have more than one "park", you just need to have the paths inside not connected to the other area/park you are charging differently. You could even have shops and hotels outside the parks.