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Planet Coaster (PLC) Discussion Thread


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^I don't think it's stupid, I think it's a valid complaint, $75 IS a very high price for something like that.

You can say "If you don't want it just don't buy it" about a lot of stuff, doesn't mean they're not still ridiciulously expensive or that their high price is justified.

 

They need to do beta testing and get feedback anyway. And I guess it's not unthinkable to charge people a couple of extra bucks for it, even if most games don't charge extra for beta. But to charge -that much- extra just seems... Inappropriate, honestly.

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The people paying that much are taking a big risk that the game won't suck, as opposed to waiting till it's released and reading reviews. Even paying normal price for the game this far in advance is taking a risk. It's really amazing there are people fanatical enough that they're willing to pay a premium just for the chance to offer feedback.

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Here's a new video with narration by the producer. It doesn't get into coasters, but the basic mechanics seem to be solid. I like the local grid overlaying on top of the map to assist in local construction. To give RCTW some slack, these two games aren't all that dissimilar. We all assume that the coaster editor will be competent with Planet Coaster, but I'm still eager to see the specifics of construction and overall breath of details/options.

 

Update: Okay, plenty of videos are now popping up on YouTube. Some of the POV work looks pretty good, and the detail on the Arrow track is excellent!

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Okay, so, I'm still excited about this game and it still looks absolutely great, so keep that in mind while I get a couple of minor complaints outta the way:

-Seems like ride theming is not optional, at least for now. The star flyer necessarily looks like a sun, the flying aces is necessarily skyscraper themed, etc. Really, REALLY hope they fix this.

-No coaster building in the first alpha release of the game? I know they're coming in a few weeks but... C'mon, you know that's the first thing the alpha testers were aching to open as soon as they got the game, could've at least mentioned that the first version won't have it.

-Okay, I get that people respond differently to different rides and what might be a gentle ride to one person might be a gut wrenching thrill ride to another, and I dig the individual responses but... There's absolutely no reason for one person to shake and vibrate while the other person isn't. That has much less to do with how excited you are and more to do with how much the ride is actually shaking you. Watching people on the Sun tower thing, the guy that vibrates sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

Having said that though...

-AAAH THE GAME LOOKS GREAT AND PRETTY

-Holy crap, that giant tree of life thing I'm seeing in some of the videos... That looks so incredible. If you can do that with the terrain editor I can't imagine what else! The creative people are gonna build some CRAZY fantasy parks!!!

-Love the portable grid thing.

-Big rides are actually big!

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-No coaster building in the first alpha release of the game? I know they're coming in a few weeks but... C'mon, you know that's the first thing the alpha testers were aching to open as soon as they got the game, could've at least mentioned that the first version won't have it.

!

Luckily, the developers have put in a cheat code to activate the coaster builder tomorrow!

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^Hah, no clue if that's intentional or not. Either way it's funny. (EDIT: according to their forum post, it is.)

 

Man I really want to play this... The price extremely bums me out though.

 

 

Additional note: Hmm... It seems like the height of tower rides isn't editable. This worries me a bit... I mean, one one hand you could argue that's more realistic, since rides in real life usually come in pre-existing models and heights, but...

 

This makes the game less flexible design-wise, plus, I doubt they'll really make a whole bunch of different height models.

I really hope you can edit their height when the game's done.

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^ Hopefully if enough people bring it up during alpha, they will change it for heights and generic options, really want to try this when I have some spare change, will probably buy Cities first and then after that will put a little away for the early bird and maybe try it next month or May.

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Will this game be released on Mac?

 

yeah, the likelihood that it will be released is high because another game was made on the same engine and released to mac, however, it might take a few months after the release date. Probably longer. We can wait though, and just enjoy seeing what everyone else builds. It truly does look like it's gonna be amazing.

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Hello, and salutations from sunny Greece...first time poster, been lurking for a while though. <3

 

I've been playing theme park games since...well the original themepark. I am also one of those guys that liked RCT2 a lot more than RCT3, and really thinks that Parkitect is the best project in the current flock of rollercoaster games in the making.

 

Having said that, I have been following the Planet Coaster project for some time now, mainly due to the fact that I love the genre and I am also an early backer for the other big project Frontier has made, Elite: Dangerous.

 

A disclaimer. I am a bit cynical in general when game projects are concerned, and a little wary of the way the game industry has evolved in general (being playing games since the 8-bit home computers were around). Planet Coaster looks good so far, but there are a number of areas that are a little too..er..."muddy" for my taste, especially concerning the way the game will be monetized and work as a true CMS (construction management simulation), not simply a glorified sandbox.

 

Having said that, I want to post three video links.

 

The first one shows a small vignette of the overall ambience and polish the current alpha has.

 

 

The second one is a timelapse from a competent RCT3 player of making a themed scene using the limited sets the first alpha provides.

 

 

And the third is a POV video of playing and watching things move in your park in the current alpha.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR6qRwNtGJc

 

-----

 

Now..there are a couple of things I can nitpick about (path-making, the eventual ability to re-theme flat rides, possible performance issues in large parks when the simulation is brought to the alpha process, rotation and scaling options for scenery, building grid re-sizing, more realistic queue lines, etc etc).

 

There are also a couple of things that I am ambivalent on, or don't have enough information to stop worrying about (pricing, monetization practices via DLC/expansions, the fact that proper dark rides and water rides may be an expansion, number of themes at launch, offline gaming support and always online DRM, modding support for UGC and other aspects of the game etc etc).

 

What I can say though from watching the above videos (and a couple of playthroughs) is that this is looking good so far. Something that really, really turned eyebrows for me is the sound design of the game. From little things, like the menu theme song changing according to the menu you are in, to the way rides sound as proper machines, not just fantastical creations. Also, I don't know if it really shows in the down-sampled youtube video..but binaural positional audio sounds excellent, especially when you zoom in and out on your park or move the camera about.

 

I don't pre-order non crowdfunded games, so I will get this on release if it matches the expectations. I'm having high hopes for this one, and I really thing that between this, parkitect, TPS and RTCW we fans of the genre are going to get a lot of things to be excited about (and spend hundreds of hours in).

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I really wasn't planning on pre ordering this game but I caved last night and bought the alpha edition, I only had about an hour with it after visiting the pre installed parks. Really impressed with the art style, audio, guests, particles, and animatronics. Coasters really aren't there yet, but considering how bare bones (and unfortunately, limited) the editor is- it's not that bad. But it wont be replacing NL or TPS for coaster nerds. Also, there are only a handful of flats and scenery options. No biggie, this is normal for "early access" games, but worth mentioning. That said, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to import my objects from max, and no reason why I shouldn't be able to load custom textures for paths, walls, etc. Also, there is no object scaling.

 

Some problems I have with coasters.. You can not scale prebuilt elements (loops, corks etc.). You can not modify pitch beyond +/- 75 degrees, and forgive me if I'm wrong, but I couldn't figure out how to modify earlier pieces/nodes without deleting newer track.

 

The first coaster I ever tried in PLC was a B&M hyper, came out OK, almost buttery smooth without effort. My TPS coasters are better, but my custom pieces required less effort in PLC. I wish I could have built the drop steeper, I'm not sure why they thought there needed to be limitations. You really couldn't build much taller than mine, and even this coaster is pushing it. You just don't see loooong straight drops on real coasters (modern ones anyway)

 

After my hyper, I tried to build a floorless, but couldn't. The pre installed loops are much too old-arrow style. You can not resize them, and you can not build your own (due to the pitch limitations I mentioned before). The first drop was beautiful, but if I had finished it, the coaster would have looked ridiculous.

 

Here are a couple screens of my first coaster.

803243429_bandicam2016-03-2618-52-19-742.thumb.jpg.844def452fb84e08dda44ee3514a39da.jpg

496719604_bandicam2016-03-2618-53-02-440.thumb.jpg.f59e69ca80205cef86db53fe057d162f.jpg

2110171879_bandicam2016-03-2618-50-26-918.thumb.jpg.ab422f31665c018c8ebec93e36ee7276.jpg

1605518261_bandicam2016-03-2619-02-10-875.thumb.jpg.6ba64de9b2ac4eff623b0f0b8ba0689b.jpg

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but I caved last night and bought the alpha edition

 

Hi, and welcome to the first public *ALPHA* edition of the game. The game is in it's first stages, and isn't even in Beta. I'm sure your complaints will be fixed.

 

But seriously... it's been less than a week.

 

RCTW had what... a *BETA*. And it was garbage.

 

Think about it for a minute.

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Gee, I never would have known the game was in alpha if you hadn't highlighted my own post.

 

As far as rctw, I don't know. Never tried it. Doesn't really matter what the developer calls it, either, neither game is complete. Regardless, I think your point is irrelevant. I don't understand why you felt the need to bring this up?

 

My overview of the game was actually quite positive. I'm sorry I offended you.

 

As someone who has been working for an indie developer with a game on early access- I've been saying this for years, the devs won't know what we want unless we tell them. In fact, that is the entire point of having an open beta. I think I did just that, I was not unfair in any way.

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Wow that scenery building video looks AMAZING, makes me really look forward to what you can do with more scenery items!

 

 

Let me just pre-empt the rest of this post by saying, this may come off as a lot of negativity but that's just because all the positive stuff I have to say about the game essentialy just amount to "This looks excellent and I want to play it can you be out and complete already thanks", so I'm just left with listing the few caveats I have:

 

I agree that paths are an issue and that Plazas are SORELY needed. Much as I think the paths system here looks way nicer than the games we've played so far, older games did at least have the benefits of letting you create plazas. If plazas dont become a thing I hope they at least add sharp cornered paths to the game.

 

And I'd like to remind folks that "It's still in Alpha, Jeez!" is not a magical phrase, you never know what issues will be tackled and which won't. Like, okay, some stuff is more likely than others (such as water rides), but even though they said the coaster builder is unfinished and still requires more work, there's no guarentee that part of said work would include steeper construction or scalable elements. I'm hoping it does and I'm by no means saying it won't, but, yeah, it's important to voice these concerns. Continuing the train of thought from comparing coaster builders to city builders, A certain game by the name of Cities XL comes to mind, that looked RIDICULOUSLY promising before it came out, and when people brought up issues people wrote them off as "They're still working on the game, chill". And when the game finally came out it was an absolute disaster.

 

Now, I'm not saying that's the case here, frankly, Planet Coaster ALREADY looks like the sort of game I'd love to play if you just threw a few more rides and scenery items onto it, I'm just saying you don't always know which issues are either not on their to do list or just not possible with the way the game is designed.

 

I mean, much as I want Plazas a LOT, and think the game will suffer without them (or benefit from them, whichever phrasing you prefer), go figure if they're even possible given the way paths and guest movements are coded. I hope it is and that we will see them.

 

Same goes for one of my biggest issues with the game - the rides that have pre-existing theming.

As mentioned in the second video, while, yes, the alpha only has a handful of rides, only a small precentage of them have no theming. The sun flare ride, the flying aces ride, etc. all have built in theming that limits what you can do with them, and as of now we have absolutely no idea if this is something they plan on fixing or not. It could be they consider "sun" or "skyscraper" to be generic enough to not bother making de-themed versions of them. Personally I'm hoping for the RCT2 school of thought, where every themed ride has a non-themed version.

 

--

 

On a side note, I was SO HAPPY that we finally don't have to build those annoying big clunky entrance and exit booths from previous games that I didn't notice just how big and intrusive those "ticket booth" things are! In that second video that thing sticks out like a sore thumb, as well as making the queue line lose it's shape a bit because they had to leave room for it. It seems pretty likely the final game will have different kinds of ticket booths (at least, I hope so, I don't want a huge metal sign over every tiny little kiddie ride), but I still hope that they also find some other solution that feels less intrusive.

 

 

--

 

Also, Botanical, you really think TPS will still be better? I mean, personally I didn't even buy TPS because it just looks so dang limited, and many things about how it looks just don't sit right with me. I like what it's TRYING to do but honestly I feel like despite the fact it can do a very small set of stuff other games can't do, planet coaster still looks like it would be able to let us create a much more overall cohesive theme park.

 

 

Also, I don't think de-sandboxing the game by adding money and such is a bad thing. Hell, sometimes I go back to older RCT games just to play their campaign. I get that some people are all about the sandbox (And I would be SHOCKED if PLC comes out without Sandbox mode. I really don't think that's likely) but some of us like the challenge of making a park work within the game's limits.

 

Hell, if anything, I'd say that Cities: Skylines (the game PLC has been compared to so many times)'s biggest fault is it's eventual lack of challenge due to the fact the whole game is essentialy a big sandbox.It's important to have both a regular gameplay alongside sandbox gameplay.

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Wow that scenery building video looks AMAZING, makes me really look forward to what you can do with more scenery items!

 

 

Let me just pre-empt the rest of this post by saying, this may come off as a lot of negativity but that's just because all the positive stuff I have to say about the game essentialy just amount to "This looks excellent and I want to play it can you be out and complete already thanks", so I'm just left with listing the few caveats I have:

 

I agree that paths are an issue and that Plazas are SORELY needed. Much as I think the paths system here looks way nicer than the games we've played so far, older games did at least have the benefits of letting you create plazas. If plazas dont become a thing I hope they at least add sharp cornered paths to the game.

 

And I'd like to remind folks that "It's still in Alpha, Jeez!" is not a magical phrase, you never know what issues will be tackled and which won't. Like, okay, some stuff is more likely than others (such as water rides), but even though they said the coaster builder is unfinished and still requires more work, there's no guarentee that part of said work would include steeper construction or scalable elements. I'm hoping it does and I'm by no means saying it won't, but, yeah, it's important to voice these concerns. Continuing the train of thought from comparing coaster builders to city builders, A certain game by the name of Cities XL comes to mind, that looked RIDICULOUSLY promising before it came out, and when people brought up issues people wrote them off as "They're still working on the game, chill". And when the game finally came out it was an absolute disaster.

 

Now, I'm not saying that's the case here, frankly, Planet Coaster ALREADY looks like the sort of game I'd love to play if you just threw a few more rides and scenery items onto it, I'm just saying you don't always know which issues are either not on their to do list or just not possible with the way the game is designed.

 

I mean, much as I want Plazas a LOT, and think the game will suffer without them (or benefit from them, whichever phrasing you prefer), go figure if they're even possible given the way paths and guest movements are coded. I hope it is and that we will see them.

 

Same goes for one of my biggest issues with the game - the rides that have pre-existing theming.

As mentioned in the second video, while, yes, the alpha only has a handful of rides, only a small precentage of them have no theming. The sun flare ride, the flying aces ride, etc. all have built in theming that limits what you can do with them, and as of now we have absolutely no idea if this is something they plan on fixing or not. It could be they consider "sun" or "skyscraper" to be generic enough to not bother making de-themed versions of them. Personally I'm hoping for the RCT2 school of thought, where every themed ride has a non-themed version.

 

--

 

On a side note, I was SO HAPPY that we finally don't have to build those annoying big clunky entrance and exit booths from previous games that I didn't notice just how big and intrusive those "ticket booth" things are! In that second video that thing sticks out like a sore thumb, as well as making the queue line lose it's shape a bit because they had to leave room for it. It seems pretty likely the final game will have different kinds of ticket booths (at least, I hope so, I don't want a huge metal sign over every tiny little kiddie ride), but I still hope that they also find some other solution that feels less intrusive.

 

 

--

 

Also, Botanical, you really think TPS will still be better? I mean, personally I didn't even buy TPS because it just looks so dang limited, and many things about how it looks just don't sit right with me. I like what it's TRYING to do but honestly I feel like despite the fact it can do a very small set of stuff other games can't do, planet coaster still looks like it would be able to let us create a much more overall cohesive theme park.

 

 

Also, I don't think de-sandboxing the game by adding money and such is a bad thing. Hell, sometimes I go back to older RCT games just to play their campaign. I get that some people are all about the sandbox (And I would be SHOCKED if PLC comes out without Sandbox mode. I really don't think that's likely) but some of us like the challenge of making a park work within the game's limits.

 

Hell, if anything, I'd say that Cities: Skylines (the game PLC has been compared to so many times)'s biggest fault is it's eventual lack of challenge due to the fact the whole game is essentialy a big sandbox.It's important to have both a regular gameplay alongside sandbox gameplay.

 

I have some of the same reservations. Here is some things I found.

 

I agree that paths are an issue and that Plazas are SORELY needed. Much as I think the paths system here looks way nicer than the games we've played so far, older games did at least have the benefits of letting you create plazas. If plazas dont become a thing I hope they at least add sharp cornered paths to the game.

 

Sharp-ish cornered paths are in the game, you have to fiddle a little with the exact location you put your cursor though. Not too intuitive. A thing that does exist and helps a lot with pathmaking is using the ctrl key to disable auto-snapping/connecting when building a path. Also, when you like two paths together, a neat trick is to go to the destination path and make an indent in the exact location you want your paths to link. Then go to the first path and build from there.

 

Plazas are sorely needed indeed. 10m width is ok-ish for individual paths, but you need to be able to do more. Right now it is possible to build a plaza like structure by using the paths provided, but you have to cover the circular patches of grass that remain after placing them.

 

And I'd like to remind folks that "It's still in Alpha, Jeez!" is not a magical phrase, you never know what issues will be tackled and which won't. Like, okay, some stuff is more likely than others (such as water rides), but even though they said the coaster builder is unfinished and still requires more work, there's no guarentee that part of said work would include steeper construction or scalable elements. I'm hoping it does and I'm by no means saying it won't, but, yeah, it's important to voice these concerns. Continuing the train of thought from comparing coaster builders to city builders, A certain game by the name of Cities XL comes to mind, that looked RIDICULOUSLY promising before it came out, and when people brought up issues people wrote them off as "They're still working on the game, chill". And when the game finally came out it was an absolute disaster.

 

Now, I'm not saying that's the case here, frankly, Planet Coaster ALREADY looks like the sort of game I'd love to play if you just threw a few more rides and scenery items onto it, I'm just saying you don't always know which issues are either not on their to do list or just not possible with the way the game is designed.

 

As in any game during an open development process, its is our "job" of shorts to give feedback and really provide the developers with the info/data points they need to understand what works and what does not. There are many times when a developer feels/understands that he has made a good choice about something, but in reality it he has not. Getting feedback from the outside can really help him, provided he is ready to accept it. And many do.

 

In the last years, there has been a trend in games under development where constructive criticism from one part of a community is brushed down by a more..er..loyal part, simply due to the fact that the project itself is not finished. This is a slippery slope, since it sometimes transforms a project into an echo chamber, thus deluding the quality of the feedback process itself. You can view this in a number of different big projects, and Star Citizen comes to mind immediately.

 

So, the best attitude is to judge what you see right now, and explain in a constructive way what works for you, what doesn't, and what would you want to see as the process moves forward.

 

Same goes for one of my biggest issues with the game - the rides that have pre-existing theming.

As mentioned in the second video, while, yes, the alpha only has a handful of rides, only a small precentage of them have no theming. The sun flare ride, the flying aces ride, etc. all have built in theming that limits what you can do with them, and as of now we have absolutely no idea if this is something they plan on fixing or not. It could be they consider "sun" or "skyscraper" to be generic enough to not bother making de-themed versions of them. Personally I'm hoping for the RCT2 school of thought, where every themed ride has a non-themed version.

 

There has been some information on this one, from the Q&A sessions. Re-posting. Have in mind that the two last answers are more recent (for what it's worth).

 

(click for full res)

 

Also, this particular Q&A with Sam Denney is pretty cool to read (the guy is a veteran, and was involved in both RCT2 and RCT3, among other projects).

 

He even gives two spoiler pictures in the end.

 

Also, I don't think de-sandboxing the game by adding money and such is a bad thing. Hell, sometimes I go back to older RCT games just to play their campaign. I get that some people are all about the sandbox (And I would be SHOCKED if PLC comes out without Sandbox mode. I really don't think that's likely) but some of us like the challenge of making a park work within the game's limits.

 

Hell, if anything, I'd say that Cities: Skylines (the game PLC has been compared to so many times)'s biggest fault is it's eventual lack of challenge due to the fact the whole game is essentialy a big sandbox.It's important to have both a regular gameplay alongside sandbox gameplay.

 

This one is really important for me, I want this game to be a competent construction simulation management game, not only a zen sandbox like RCT3. I want the choices that I make in the campaign to matter, to research new and better rides for my parts and to have this be a challenge as a strategy game.

 

In other news, another video from Silvarret. This guy is pretty good.

 

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I never said that TPS will be better, I explained what it does better. Of course that could all change in the future, but right now TPS is much more flexible. I can understand if you don't like the art style of TPS, but the only reason you think it's so limited is because you haven't tried it. You can build CS from right within the game, import any 3d object with the click of two buttons, you can design/import your own flat rides, design/import your own coaster trains, and the advanced coaster editor will allow you to do anything you want. I've built everything from RMC coasters, Gigas, portable B&Ms, to a Splash Battle with custom trains rigged with working, user controlled water cannons. Besides these, the game also allows you to host your park for everyone to visit and chat. Live Parks are really cool, probably the biggest feature of TPS.

 

That said, the park atmosphere in planet coaster is totally different. Guests are beautifully animated, park mascots are jolly and interact with guests, the included animatronics are unreal. PLC triggers the nostalgia factor of playing RCT as a kid. It has a lot of charm. You can't help but smile when you see the pirate band start playing, or you hear the Coaster Kings' muffled voice as he skips around the park. I haven't had much time to play, and wont in the coming weeks, but I really like what they've done with it so far. I hope development continues on the right path. There is much room for improvement in the realm of custom content and the coaster designer.

 

One last thought, who came up with Chief Beef? I mean... c'mon... they deserve a raise.

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