Theme Park Studio (TPS) Discussion Thread

[robbalvey]

Hey Theme Park Review! We have some VERY exciting news for you! We have been speaking with our friends at Pantera Entertainment on a new theme park & roller coaster simulation game, Theme Park Studio, that will be released in 2013! Check out the screen shots and the teaser video below, along with some features about the new game, and we would love to get your feedback!

 

QUESTION FOR YOU ALL! I know we have a lot of Roller Coaster Tycoon and No Limits players here, and in my conversations with Pantera, Theme Park Studio sounds like it will be a wonderful "marriage" of these two games. Where you can construct more than just roller coasters, like RCT, but with some level of detail and realism, like in No Limits. Personally, I'm very excited about this concept! So here's the question for you...

 

After reading the information below, watching the video, etc, Pantera would like to know, what is the single most important feature you'd like to see in this game? And if you'd like to elaborate on how you think it should be implemented, that would be great to hear also! For example, if the most important feature to you is "being able to visit other players parks", tell us that along with how you would hope it would be done.

 

I would like to introduce Steve from Pantera Entertainment, posting under the screen name "PanteraEnt" and he will be happy to answer your questions and discuss the development of the game! So now, here are some details and features!

 

IMPORTANT! LIKE their Facebook page for updates! http://www.facebook.com/ThemeParkStudio

 

Theme Park Studio

By Pantera Entertainment

 

Theme Park Studio is a suite of tools that allow players to design, build, and experience stunning amusement parks. Players can build coasters, create mini games, build worlds, customize terrains, and more. When finished, parks can be published to their server for the world to enjoy. Theme Park Studio is targeting summer 2013 for its release.

 

Theme Park Studio features include:

- Custom coaster creation. Players can bend, pull, and stretch coasters into any design they wish. Prefabricated templates are provided as helpers, if desired

 

- Mesh importing: Build your own environmental objects and import them for maximum customization. You can also publish your objects on our server for a royalty share.

 

- Particle Effects: Full integration of the 'Oasis' particle effects system allows players to create everything from waterfalls, weather effects, explosions, and much more. Particles can have triggers for setting up shows like coasters jumping through rings of fire and splashing through water.

 

- Scripting: Build your own mini games.

 

- Networked: When finished, you can publish your game to their server, allowing the world to experience your custom theme park.

 

- Terrain Engine: Import your own height maps and textures to create stunning landscapes.

 

- Water: Control water parameters like speed, level, color, and ripple size.

 

- Animation: Integrated animation engine allows players to setup animated characters like people, animals, etc..

 

- Vegetation: 'Oasis' features an advanced vegetation engine. Pantera's proprietary technology allows players to build everything from grass to elaborate oaks. Trees are procedurally generated and can be controlled by custom wind and turbulence settings.

 

Screenshots

Wow! Now that you've had a chance to watch the video, read the features, and check out the screen shots, please answer for us this one question...

 

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO SEE IN THIS GAME?

Please post your answer in THIS thread!

Don't forget to LIKE their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ThemeParkStudio

 

Honest, constructive feedback on what you have seen is VERY welcome and absolutely encouraged!

Edited October 8, 2014 by A.J.

[Alex1337]

I'd really love if you were able to design and create your own themed objects in the game, in some way. So that you could import original theming from an amusement park and re-create your favourite rides. I know its a tough one to manage, but if you could make it simple and efficient, it would be friggin' awesome!

[rustyinpeace]

I just hope we will have guests in our park. That's just the icing on the cake!

[Angry_Gumball]

Since flat rides would be included, I'd love to have the ability to 'operate' them much like the No Limits Fairground game that was out a while ago. This would include creating custom ride programs, control 'rider controlled' flats (like flying scooters, tea cups, shifting weight on a tilt-a-whirl to get it to whip, etc).

 

I am highly excited for this and shared their FB page a week ago but will do it again as I face several coaster enthusiast friends on there. 2013's gonna be exciting!

[Swimace]

I think the one thing that keeps me going back to RCT2 is the ability to make a "complete" park rather than just one ride. No Limits is great to play around and design with, but I tend to get bored with it quicker because the rides never actually operate, draw crowds, become popular, etc.

 

The original post mentioned that this will have more than just coasters, but will that extend to having customizable things like dark rides, flat rides, water rides, etc?

 

Also, will you be able to open your park to "peeps" of some sort? And fully operate the park like in RCT?

[A.J.]

The first thing that pops into my mind apart from what has already been said -

 

I think you should be able to put custom textures on cars, even if it's just the car's shell and not the seating and restraints.

 

But the biggest issue for me personally is, once again, Mac OS X compatibility, even if you just test it with Bootcamp and Parallels.

Edited December 10, 2012 by A.J.

[1pizza14]

I just hope we will have guests in our park. That's just the icing on the cake!

 

From the small preview it looks like this is more of a sim game.. so will we see guests? I think adding station ambiance or ride attendants in the station would add a great amount of realism to the game. I seriously can't wait to try this out!

[grrt]

So should we post our suggestions in this thread then?

 

If so, I think the most important thing is that the game be easy to add your own content to. It looks as if you're allowing for custom objects, but I think that everything tangible in the game should, at least on some level, be easily manipulated. For instance, when turning a park to fall colors, being able to change the colors of the leaves instead of swapping out all the trees, or repainting the ground texture. Same going for winter and snow. A lot of people like crafting storylines, but when winter or fall comes around it's a huge task to transform things to a different season.

 

The same going for changing out paths or lights, there has to be a better way to change out a pavement or lamp style rather than deleting and re-adding them again.

 

Allowing for custom coaster trains and flat rides to be added I think is the biggest thing I would hope for. There's plenty of talented folk willing to model and import their own designs. As well, it'd be much easier if we were able to swap out textures in-game rather than have to create an entirely new Custom train with different textures, as is currently the case in RCT3.

 

And to allow for easy sharing I hope that the object creation and installation process is fairly streamlined as well.

 

Oh, and an undo button! This is a MUST!

Edited December 10, 2012 by grrt

[tarheelblue55]

This looks epic! Can't wait for summer. Looks like RCT3 mixed with No Limits. Is there and alpha or beta yet?

[Ccron10]

I think one of the biggest things that I'd like to see in a theme park game is realism. It really irks me when I see some games out there with incredibly fake rides with cheesy theming and the lack of catwalks and trees that look like fake blobs. It would be a must-have for me if the roller coasters looked like ones from B&M, GCI, and Gerstlauer and the flat rides looked like designs from Zamperla and Huss. Let's also not forget the ability for the designer to be able to re-create and create their own awesome parks.

[Tomes1225]

I think a great thing to have would be to eliminate a grid style of play. It would be awesome if each piece of scenery could snap to a certain angle. Like if I typed in 45 degrees, then the scenery piece would be on a diagonal. It would help eliminate a grid and help build a more seamless, realistic looking park.

[CpBluestreakCp]

^I do like this idea, also. It would really help the park you create fit more together. I'm not sure if you're able to get rid of a grid type, but if you are it's worth a try to see how well it enhances the way you play.

[Gmaster562]

I'd like to see customizable stations.

[OldJJman]

I'm assuming that this will be made for the PC. I have moved on to Mac (though I still have a PC desktop and laptop - which I never use).

 

So my question is: Will this be available for Mac OSX??

[A.J.]

^ Aha! I'm not alone! Good on you, Jeff!

 

I don't think that eliminating a grid completely would be such a good idea. If we really want to be able to create our own custom content easily for this game, we have to be able to have some sort of reference point.

 

If anything, NoLimits gets it right with the ability to toggle snapping on and off.

 

I know that a lot of budding digital artists and modelers use SketchUp, and that's fine. But if you're like me, who designs things based around measurements and not simply "looking good", a lack of anything to snap to is a problem. You can't get exact measurements, such as "my station platform is exactly __ meters long".

 

EDIT: How about the ability to group objects and rides together and have them be able to rotate around the same pivot point? Like, say you have a ride that you've already built a station and queue for, and you want to rotate the entire ride and area around it to fit in a certain space.

Edited December 10, 2012 by A.J.

[MrSum1_55]

I think my dream game has just come true.

 

Only a few requests:

1. Transfer and switch tracks. (As in, double stations)

2. Realistic stations, (like where people queue for rows and scramble for the front), with air gates

3. Actual simulated ride ops that check restraints

4. (Of course) plenty of coaster types to work with

[Gav]

For me, the #1 feature is ensuring Sketchup files are one of the 3d formats supported for importing.

 

Sketchup is available free, widely used and accessible so it becomes a really powerful way of creating your custom scenery.

It also means that everything already in the Google 3D warehouse can just be dropped in, so that means basically any 3d object at your disposal.

 

I know that a lot of budding digital artists and modelers use SketchUp, and that's fine. But if you're like me, who designs things based around measurements and not simply "looking good", a lack of anything to snap to is a problem. You can't get exact measurements, such as "my station platform is exactly __ meters long".

Sketchup does allow exact measurements, and snapping though?

For example:

Edited December 10, 2012 by Gav

[A.J.]

Shows how much I know about Sketchup then. I've just humiliated myself there.

 

EDIT: Maybe I should start using Sketchup myself so this doesn't happen again...

[thrillseeker4552]

I have played RCT3 since it first came out (2004), and I love how you can create a park however you would like. NoLimits' target is realism, but as some have said before, I go back to RCT3 because of the ability to create a full operating theme park. The most important thing that I think should be in this game is ride designs that were not implemented in to RCT3 or NoLimits, such as the B&M Wing coaster, as well as flat rides, such as Windseeker (or any star flyer). I would also like the ability to put multiple types of cars on the same track. That way, rather than having a billion types of rides with similar track systems, you could have the ability to choose your track type, then choose your car type. For instance:

 

B&M track system (the 8 B&Ms, the Giovanola hyper and inverted)

Arrow track system (different types of Arrow/Vekoma trains, SLC trains)

Schwarzkopf track system (Schwarzkopf trains, Gerstlauer trains)

Premier track system (LIM coaster, 2nd gen LIM coaster)

Intamin track system (accelerator coaster, hyper/giga coaster, inverted)

 

I know the game is well in to development, but this is just a thought that I think would be easier to access different types of rides.

 

I am glad that this game is in development though. RCT3 has never been realistic enough for me, and I have had trouble with NoLimits, so maybe this game would be a good fit.

[historyfreak92]

Sounds nice, but I'm getting too old for those games!

[thrillseeker4552]

I think my dream game has just come true.

 

Only a few requests:

1. Transfer and switch tracks. (As in, double stations)

2. Realistic stations, (like where people queue for rows and scramble for the front), with air gates

3. Actual simulated ride ops that check restraints

4. (Of course) plenty of coaster types to work with

 

I forgot about this! I think this is the most important of all!

[R.C.]

This looks like an awesome game! I love that it is a combination of No Limits and RCT3 while being it's own game. I like the realistic features of No Limits, but the 2D editing system is not easy to pick up unless you put a lot of work into getting used to it. Having a similar editing system in a 3D world would be awesome!

 

My one request would be that the game be updated often with new rides and other features as they become possible.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of this!

[SFMM fanboy]

I think my dream game has just come true.

 

Only a few requests:

1. Transfer and switch tracks. (As in, double stations)

2. Realistic stations, (like where people queue for rows and scramble for the front), with air gates

3. Actual simulated ride ops that check restraints

4. (Of course) plenty of coaster types to work with

 

I forgot about this! I think this is the most important of all!

I second this. It’s really those small details that make games more enjoyable. Looking at how guests in RCT3 get in row by row, and how the restraints come down all at once makes me eager for these suggestions.

[slowednblowed]

But the biggest issue for me personally is, once again, Mac OS X compatibility, even if you just test it with Bootcamp and Parallels.

 

This is my main thing too, gotta support us apple people.

[Wes]

My only 2 things would be:

1. OSX support

2. Building a coaster should be more customizable than RCT, but less intricate and time consuming than No Limits.