Miracleman Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 This is a tragedy. There are already a bunch of these types of "theme park" games all over the app store. This is just Atari trying to get their hooks in peoples' wallets. I don't necessarily have a problem with the "freemium" model, but this impugns the good name of the franchise. The only thing this has in common with RCT is the perspective. In fact, no one would care if they called it something else, but they called it Roller Coaster Tycoon. Shouldn't that mean something? Seems to be an abuse of the franchise. A small part of me is still hoping that they just overshot April 1st with this announcement. Alas, in this cruel world, I know it must be true. EDITED TO ADD: This is unfortunately not a unique case. Many Videogame companies are trading the reputation of their franchises in to make some quick bucks in the mobile market. Kudos to those who don't. He did. The trouble is that he coded it in Assembly which is a real pain in the A$$ to port over. He coded the first game in Assembly Language by himself? Respect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atadritaata Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Taken from RCT4's facebook: "We hear everyone's comments on the new RollerCoaster Tycoon game and want to let you all know that the mobile game and PC experience will be 2 completely different games. Both games will release this year. The mobile game will include social features (sharing with friends, leaderboards) and the PC experience will have even more features and functionality. We are excited to bring these games to you soon!" First, they say they are completely different games, BUT then they say the PC version will have more features and functionality... that's like saying it will be the same game, just with more stuff... So don't expect the PC version to be very different from the mobile one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) ^ The fact that they keep with the verbage of "PC Experience" makes me think it's suspect. And even more so when they say "we've heard everyone's comments", yet they have not responded to any of them. If the game is going to release this fall, that's only 6 months away. They have a LOT of work to do if they are going to "hear everyone's comments" and do something about it, IMO. Edited March 19, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypotato Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Taken from RCT4's facebook: "We hear everyone's comments on the new RollerCoaster Tycoon game and want to let you all know that the mobile game and PC experience will be 2 completely different games. Both games will release this year. The mobile game will include social features (sharing with friends, leaderboards) and the PC experience will have even more features and functionality. We are excited to bring these games to you soon!" *cough*bullsh*t*cough* Atari is going to try and go into massive damage control. But the damage has already been done. I think Robb touched on this earlier, but if the games are completely different, why lead with the mobile version? Why not show what you can do with the "standalone" PC game? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Sounds to me like they were working on both simultaneously and just released the mobile version first (maybe because mobile games are trendy?). Wishful thinking maybe, we'll see. With NoLimits 2 already out, Theme Park Studio on the way, and (hopefully a proper PC version of) RCT4 it's a fun year for theme park software users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 People here obviously miss the point.... While it's awesome rct will be playable the issue is not just the new look, but the fact that some things (like loops a picture shows) will cost special tickets that may be near impossible to obtain without money. That is on top of the two dollars for the game. There's also the possibility of a terrible story mode further restricting the freedom of gameplay that is the rct magic. Of course because most mobile games do that atari decided to jump on the moneymaking bandwagon and screw over the player especially the broke ones. Terrible move on ataris part. I do understand why it's not the same as they don't have the original team. Still with all the development in game dev tech there is no reason they can't just remake the old rct even if they need to remake the code from scratch. While it would be time consuming and tedious most anyone could easily remake rct via some form. I did mention a open source version someone is working on called rct free that has been in dev for a while it seems although something a completed version of it could probably be ported to the phone easily. So again atari has no excuse to do what they are doing. It's like they redid the game to add the in game purchases yet be able to adventure they added more than that by changing the looks.... Hopefully someone hacks it to unlock everything and give unlimited money by modding the install although that screws atari out of money. Honestly though they have more than us gamers and don't deserve it when they test us like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 ^ Yeah the "Freemium" model seriously sucks on most mobile games, it's going to make RCT really suck. Who wants to pay 99¢ to buy rides and add-ons that used to be included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koasterking48 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 ^ It's not even free. It'll cost 2.99 upfront. Also, this article I read is very questionable as it claims that Atari stated Chris Sawyer is involved contrary to telling Robb that he is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 ^ See, I wouldn't mind paying $3 if I knew they weren't going to try to screw me out of more money just to play the damn game. Stupid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miracleman Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) ^ It's not even free. It'll cost 2.99 upfront. Also, this article I read is very questionable as it claims that Atari stated Chris Sawyer is involved contrary to telling Robb that he is not. This more current article on the same website confirms he is not: http://www.pockettactics.com/news/ios-news/chris-sawyer-involvement-rollercoaster-tycoon-4/ Still, it is concerning that the publisher would lie about that. Edited March 19, 2014 by Miracleman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPSFMMCW Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Is there or did there used to be a roller coaster tycoon for mobile? Or is this the first one? Cuz if theres another previous version out there, I'm gonna get that version instead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Until we start seeing screen shots of a game that *looks* like an RCT game that the fans want, or until someone from Atari starts actually addressing any of these questions or concerns, I will believe that any future RCT game is not anything that any of us would actually be interested in. It's clear where they are taking the franchise, and unless that direction takes a 180 back to the original series, Roller Coaster Tycoon is dead to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yay101 Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Well at least we have the first three! Memories... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
man Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I disagree in some aspects. As long as the gameplay is the same the looks don't bother as long as there is some recognizable or better word distinguishable model even if out is low quality. Hell if it is remake except looks of the original with added rides and sandbox that would be better than this. By remake I mean scenarios, rides, gameplay, and only play aspects that recreate the original to a t. I think it's important to be clear about the issues with the new game as well as the features from the original that are important as atari obviously doesn't know. Is there or did there used to be a roller coaster tycoon for mobile? Or is this the first one? Cuz if theres another previous version out there, I'm gonna get that version instead! Wouldn't we all .... Best chance is emulating the 3ds version units there's an android xbox emu lator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiMiT Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Yay for Candy Crush with roller coaster theming! On the other hand, if you have $16, you can buy This and This and get something that's well worth your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crispy Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 NOOOOOOOO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josephcissell Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Should have just ported RCT 2 over. I would have gladly paid $10 for that. Amen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railsrust Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Actually, Chris Sawyer is still in the gaming industry. He owns a studio and worked with a team to port Locomotion to mobile as Transport Tycoon. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) Actually, Chris Sawyer is still in the gaming industry. He owns a studio and worked with a team to port Locomotion to mobile as Transport Tycoon. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Wow, that's great to see! I'll have to buy that app. As for Chris, I'm not sure why people continue to want to debate things I've said about the games business, Chris, etc, as if they know more than I do, but I do actually chat with Chris from time to time (if you are also chatting with Chris as well, then I apologize), but here is what he told me in a recent discussion: "Not much to report on the games front - I doubt I will be directly programming or designing anything myself in the foreseeable future, but the RCT franchise will continue in some form or another." (Meaning that Atari owns the rights to it and they have plans for it) So from what he has directly told me, he's no longer doing much with games. Sure, he might have consulted on that version of Transport Tycoon and it looks exactly like his original design (which makes you question even more why couldn't Atari do this???) but unless he's flat out lying to me, I really do not think he's doing games any more. Edited March 20, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gax Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Only just caught up on this & skimmed the topic. Really upset about this news, RCT1 & 2 were huge parts of my childhood! I think despite what Atari said on facebook there's no way we're going to see any significant positive change when it comes to the full PC game. Yeah it might be a more 'complete' game, and have better gameplay and more extensive features than the mobile version, but I think it's safe to assume from looking at those screenshots that we will be disappointed. Why would Atari spend time creating a look and feel in terms of graphics and animation for the mobile version and then create an entirely different one for the PC. Yeah it may have been simplified for mobile but once you have a 'look and feel' set that surely isn't gonna change too much. And the issue is here the look and feel is the major problem, not the features and gameplay! The only hope we have is that they see the negative reaction and realise they need to go back to the drawing board, push back the release date and come up with something great for the PC release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. M Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 This is worth repeating: If the PC version was really going to be radically different/better, they would have announced that first. Obviously they would want the initial buzz to be as positive as possible. Has there ever been a crappy mobile version of a great game that was released before the actual game, before we even saw any news or screenshots of the actual game? Not on this planet. I think it's safe to say the RCT franchise is effectively dead. Time to cut our emotional losses and move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zem Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I just wish Atari realized they could make more money and attract more people by releasing a mobile version of RCT1 or RCT2 on mobile platforms. Many classic old games have been released on mobile platforms and have done extremely well. Even if it's a poor emulation of the original code it would be more enjoyable than this. Many more complicated games in even worse formats have been ported so that shouldn't be trouble for Atari. They could easily outsource it as well and have a strong release about 6 months later with minimal effort on their part. It's sad they don't realize the potential of core titles in this franchise as another game could do extremely well especially with people who played the originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mstankow Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 When Atari went through bankruptcy protection a few years ago they probably brought on a bunch of game dev "gurus" who believed that the only future in the game industry were social games for the iphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zem Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 When Atari went through bankruptcy protection a few years ago they probably brought on a bunch of game dev "gurus" who believed that the only future in the game industry were social games for the iphone. They aren't entirely wrong. A cheap mobile game like this is much easier for public consumptuion on a mass market scale. Although this probably won't make as much as a full title, the ratio of time and cost in production to monetary return is vastly greater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 ^ But mobile game developers aren't exactly thriving either. Look at Zynga. Or (what's left of) Disney Interactive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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