Planet Coaster (PLC) Discussion Thread

[FLIPDUDE]

^Some do. Especially depending on the country you're in.

 

 

And that launch trailer is FANTASTIC, if I didn't already own it and know about it, and I just came across the trailer, I would buy it on the SPOT based on that trailer.

[Risky]

Honest question, do stores even have PC gaming sections anymore? Last time I walked into a GameStop, they did not have one at all. I thought most PC games had gone to online downloads by now.

Walmart does. It's a small area, but they have them. That's where I saw the laughable RCTWorld for sale.

[gk2b]

 

 

I'm rly loving this game , My computer isn't that great... and PC says it can't even run the game, but it runs great!

[Dante80]

And the game is live. Grab it if you have it.

 

It’s here! Planet Coaster has officially launched!

 

Today, on November 17, 2016, Planet Coaster is officially released! Adding to the beta update earlier this week, the released game comes with all 12 Scenarios and more general balancing and fixes, as well as Steam Achievements and Trading Cards.

 

 

We’ve hit so many milestones over the past months, and it’s been a long way from concept to finish, so let’s quickly recap some of the highlights:

 

At the heart of the game are the park guests. Everything you do, whether it’s management or creativity-based, now has an impact on each individual crowd member. Each of them have their own simulated preferences and needs to ultimately affect gameplay, and new, advanced crowd simulation and path-finding algorithms help with the logistics of guest flow around your park.

 

Authenticity is key – a huge amount of research and development went into all aspects of the game, something especially noticeable in coasters. For example, the system which automatically designs the correct support structures for wooden and hybrid coaster had to be built with a new rendering pipeline, with so many pieces being on screen at once.

 

In fact the attention to detail and development effort that goes into each ride, coaster, guest and scenery piece from a technical, visual and audio point of view is an order of magnitude more than any previous coaster park game we’ve worked on.

 

Piece-by-piece construction gives you the opportunity to build anything and everything you’ve ever dreamed of. Change your parks by theming your areas, create buildings in every style, or add (animated) scenery and customised audio to entertain your guests and up your park and scenery ratings. The unprecedented control and customisation means that you can truly get super creative or be more focused on sophisticated finance and management; whatever suits you as an individual player.

 

The technology underpinning the game is both advanced and highly useable. The 3D voxel landscape gives terrain that’s completely in your control, the lighting engine ensures that everything you create in your park instantly becomes a seamless part of the whole dynamic lighting environment, and you can now create your own dark rides with full creative control of triggering ride events, lights and audio.

 

Every single aspect and element of Planet Coaster has been carefully selected and designed to work in conjunction with every other one as an integrated whole.

 

The tight integration with Steam Workshop has a front end that puts your friends to the fore. It enables creators to share and receive credit for their original designs, and also allows those of us who want to use these fantastic creations to download that content and enhance their parks with those existing blueprints.

 

It has been a fantastic experience for us at Frontier to have the opportunity to create a new game which we hope sets a new quality bar for a genre loved by so many people – no team could have been better suited to the task or more passionate. It’s taken a blend of the team’s expertise and experience, talent, and deep connection with the community; and for that we must thank you all.

First and foremost, we want to thank the developers for their incredible hard work, passion, and dedication to the project. Everyone at Frontier has contributed to Planet Coaster in one way or another; a true team effort and shared love for the game from the start. Programmers, animators, producers, sound team, designers, artists, QA, publishing team, engine wizards, support team, video editors, and all you other experts: you’re awesome, well done. #FrontierFam

 

We also want to give a massive shoutout to our forum mods, content creators, and master builders. Thank you for keeping the community an overwhelmingly positive place, where everyone has a voice but no one feels unwelcome. Thank you for making videos or streaming the game, showing it off to your viewers, and spreading the word across your community. Thank you for challenging yourselves and creating the most intricate buildings, for using shapes and items in ways even the devs couldn’t have thought of, and for pushing your creativity to the limit.

 

Last but not least: thank you. Thanks to every single member of this amazing community for your ongoing support, invaluable feedback, and enthusiasm about Planet Coaster. In the end, this game is for you, the players. You have helped shape the game in so many ways, inspired the devs with your ideas and suggestions, and humbled us with your shared passion for the game. We are honoured to have a community like this one. So thank you for joining us on this crazy and ever-evolving rollercoaster ride!

[Dante80]

If you have the thrillseeker edition (or pre-ordered the game before alpha 3 came out to Steam), you can access the sketchbook and soundtrack right now.

 

Go to your install drive, Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Planet Coaster, and the two respective folders are there. That works for Win7.

 

The sketchbook is 93 pages long, with an excruciating amount of detail and pretty sweet illustrations. It covers how the game was made.

 

The soundtrack (16 tracks) is offered in lossless FLAC and 160kbs MP3. Also has a printable album cover picture.

 

Both are pretty sweet additions imo. I'll definitely get some mileage out of that soundtrack while driving to work.

[bluestreak]

I get paid tomorrow and this is most definitely the first thing I'm buying with said paycheck.

Any Windows 10 users on here with feedback on how the game runs on their computer?

[Vigil]

I'm sad... I bought it, but my old af computer doesn't have the specs to run it well at all. Yet another reason to pull the trigger on getting a new one.

 

It looks so amazing though!

[Cj1990]

I get paid tomorrow and this is most definitely the first thing I'm buying with said paycheck.

Any Windows 10 users on here with feedback on how the game runs on their computer?

 

Runs fine for me on W10

[coasterkidJacob]

Does anyone know if Planet Coaster will feature transfer tracks and switches for their attractions??

Transfer Tracks like this to store trains.

[bluestreak]

So I bought and downloaded the game, only to be greeted by a message when I started the game saying that my 3d graphics card is out of date or something like that. Something about dirextX11? Anybody know more?

 

I'm about as far from a computer nerd as you can get... that's why I can't figure this out myself.

Edited November 18, 2016 by bluestreak

[HEADCHEEZ]

If birds are flying around the park,does that mean it's possible for guests to do their best Fabio impression?

[Cj1990]

So I bought and downloaded the game, only to be greeted by a message when I started the game saying that my 3d graphics card is out of date or something like that. Something about dirextX11? Anybody know more?

 

I'm about as far from a computer nerd as you can get... that's why I can't figure this out myself.

 

I always have to google it myself, but you just need to update that driver. Just google 'how to update graphics driver windows 10' and it should walk you through it lol.

[bluestreak]

So I bought and downloaded the game, only to be greeted by a message when I started the game saying that my 3d graphics card is out of date or something like that. Something about dirextX11? Anybody know more?

 

I'm about as far from a computer nerd as you can get... that's why I can't figure this out myself.

 

I always have to google it myself, but you just need to update that driver. Just google 'how to update graphics driver windows 10' and it should walk you through it lol.

 

Thank you much! I'll take care of it when I get home!

[wmay]

So with the official word being that they have no plans of releasing a Mac version I suppose I'll have to do the boot camp thing again. I used to have a Windows partition on my old MbP but I thought it was such a hassle that I never bothered doing it on the new one.

The game has already been out for several days! I've been looking forward to this for like a year!

[TheDarkMaxim]

^Unless you have the brand new 15" MBP (assuming your new mac is a MBP), it wont run it anyways. The minimum graphics card required is GTX 560.

[Dante80]

Posting some pictures from around the web. The things people do in this game give a lot of inspiration, and also make me feel like a corncob.

 

Example of how you can use verticality for both theming and ride building.

 

 

The art shapes are somewhat limited (this part really needs both a re-texturing option, as well as a scaling tool), but you can still do a lot of things with them.

 

The 4m block size as well as the rotation/translation tools can help in making sincere re-productions of known venues. Here is someone making the Efteling entrance.

 

 

 

With the grid tools for pathing you can make pretty compact and efficient food courts.

[fraroc]

I just bought this game for myself today and what else can I say other than...This is it. This is the next gen coaster/theme park building game that I have been waiting for. Everything is just so intuitive and user friendly and building realistic looking coaster is just so unbelievably easy!

[tinaalsgirl]

Dante, do you think you could tell us who made each of those parks in the pics you posted? They're all so amazing!

[Samuel]

Awesome, awesome game, but I do find coaster speed, POVs, and physics to be just a bit off right now.

 

The POV cam feels loose and disconnected from layouts. The cam doesn't give a good sense of weight to the trains, and doesn't capture nuance in track design very well. As a result, POVs often look like a slippery glide over the track that's only loosely following the course, and this makes different coaster styles ride with the same generic feel. In terms of physics, I've also noticed that trains inexplicably haul too fast through some elements, and inexplicably lurch to a crawl through others. It's like friction osculates between being too high or too low, but I'm sure there's an achievable sweet spot somewhere between the two. I hope better balance on these issues can be realized through patches/updates, though I'll reiterate that PLC is a gorgeous and well-made game!

[cookiex]

^From watching POVs I agree about the camera that it feels very wonky, like it has a bit of a mind of its own.

[ECZenith]

Attention Planet Coaster players, on 12/15/16 around noon EST, expect a massive update to Planet Coaster including a new mascot, new scenarios, 4 new rides ( bumper cars, Christmas dark ride, new steam train, and Huss Enterprise) 7 new shops, and much more festive fun, the pictures of the new stuff looks amazing!

 

This new update will also fix some of the bugs in the game, as well as adding stairs to catwalks, height indicators during construction, improved speakers, so much stuff!

[Midgetman82]

Brace yourselves, winter is coming (tomorrow)!

 

 

Timestamps-

5:30 - Screenshots of new Collider flatride (HUSS Enterprise)

7:06 - Screenshots of new Bumper Cars

11:50 - Screenshots of new larger steam locomotive ("inspired by North Pacific Coast 12 Sonoma") named "Iron Horse."

 

12:55 - SNOW!!!

14:17 - Sleigh ride track ride.

18:31 - Opening a new scenario with the Christmas theme

19:32 - Bumper Cars in action

 

21:55 - New useful management options

22:42 - Ride prestige and reputation.

 

19:27 - Building the sleigh ride.

40:00 - Building the Collider (Enterprise)

44:31 - Building the new locomotive

 

Plus 7 new shops including pizza, doughnuts, smoothies, juice shop, water shop, ice cream. New elf and reindeer hats (9:10 mark). More flexibility with water ride inclines and declines.

[JonnyRCT3]

Those park management options, especially the auto-sync, is something I've been waiting on. Kudos. And the new shops are greatly appreciated, I've always felt PC was lacking in shop variety.

[Cj1990]

Thank you for posting that! Very excited.

I think it is great that with each update we are seeing some great additions. Whether in the background or the introduction of new items, they are doing a fantastic job.

[Midgetman82]

Played around with the update shortly after it came out since I won't be able to tinker with it more until a couple days from now. I was surprised to also hear a lot of mechanical and scream sound changes with coasters.

 

Those park management options, especially the auto-sync, is something I've been waiting on. Kudos. And the new shops are greatly appreciated, I've always felt PC was lacking in shop variety.

It sure didn't hit me how much it was until I saw the list of shops. Going from 9 food shops to 16 food shops is quite a jump!