If you'll indulge my narcissism for a second (you should all be used to it by now).
There's a lot of talk these days about sandbox games. Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, GTA 4. Of course, what you do in a literal sandbox is build and create, limited by your imagination. That's the other end of the sandbox game spectrum. Games like the Sim City series, The Sims, or RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.
I love amusement parks. I love the roller coasters, I love the themes and decorations. So the RollerCoaster Tycoon games have likewise appealed to me. RCT3 was a fairly solid evolution of the series, the first 3D version. While not perfect, it scratched an itch and wisely included a pure sandbox mode that let you build a park without worry of money. After finishing the campaigns, I started on a sandbox park of my own. At some point I got distracted and stopped, but when I got back from Disney World back in December, the urge to resume the park hit me and I finally finished it.
It may come as a bit of a surprise, but this game can require a pretty beefy machine. This park, for instance, gets roughly 5 to 10 fps in fullscreen mode, and much lower while windowed. This finished park takes over 13 minutes to load from file.
The cleverly named Stone's Park. (I forgot to turn back on terrain features outside the park, so it looks like it's sitting in the middle of a bizarre wasteland).
The main promenade bisects the entire park and is decorated with flowers, fountains, and generic unthemed rides. The monorail can be ridden right away to other sections of the park.
At the far end of the promenade is the reflecting pool and the opposite monorail station.
The main fountain is carved from marble is a popular place for groups to arrange meets.
The reflecting pool, with its nearby jumping fountains, is ar elaxing place to stop and sit for a bit.
The double deck observation tower is the perfect place to take in the entire park. It rises 355 feet into the air and takes so long that some visitors complain. Naturally, their complaints are ignored.
Those are pretty impressive. I didn't even know Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 existed yet, though
RCT3 is an absolutely amazing game. It is so easy to piddle around with a coaster idea for a few minutes and in reality lose a half day with minimal effort.
I never got much into the park design but I loved making coasters and log rides. Here are 3 of my favorites:
Oh I always thought that the coaster editor would make a great rapid level design tool. All you would need is some item and monster placement tools and the ability to make branching paths and dead ends.
Quintin, I'm in awe. I spent days fiddling around RCT3 (I love all RCT iterations, in fact I have them all complete, with all expansions) but I never came even close to the amount of dedication that your park shows.
Now I feel an urge to reinstall RCT3 complete and start working on my park again. You probably caused me to lose a whole night's sleep, sir!
Yeah, Quintin, I'm totally impressed by your dedication. I've built parks but never fleshed them out like that. That's quite a hobby.
Those parks are outstanding. I love RC3, and I never even knew you could do half as much as you've shown. Making me want to pick it back up
Quentin, those are freaking amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing. I need to pick up RC3 at some point.
I wish I had that amount of time on my hands. Last time I loaded up RCT3, I did nearly nothing and still managed to waste a few hours with it.
Good show though. Truly amazing parks.
Wow - stunning Q
Damn Quintin, you need a hobby.
I enjoyed Soaked... What does Wild bring to the party?
So is Chris Sawyer retired from gaming or what?
I enjoyed Soaked... What does Wild bring to the party?
I imagine this quote as being about Spring Break DVDs.
Oh no, NOOOOO!! Damn this thread and my itchy mouse finger. I've seen the pictures - now I have to reinstall Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. You all have started my addiction again. I hope you're happy!
Best Dwarf Fortress ever!
That park is awesome. How did you create the rides inside the landscape such as Neptunes temple and Pharoh's curse? I've always wanted to create a park with a group of shops underwater, but have never been able to figure out how to get the landscape overtop of the group of shops to create a "watertight seal". The water refuses to fill in because it would drown the shopkeepers.
Wow Quintin. Those are rather impressive.
I'd spend my money in places like those.
I admire your dedication. I know mine would never get close to how awesome yours have become.
Wow those are very impressive! I've been playing quite a bit of RCT3 with my daughter lately, but our park looks rather bland in comparison.
I'll have show her some of these pictures to give her ideas - she likes to think up different ways to do things and sketch them out on paper and then have me help her create them in the game. If I was to complain about the game it would be that is that there aren't enough hotkeys and the controls (esp for terrain and building) are just complex enough that they can be frustrating for a kid.
Great work and thanks for posting the pictures.
I used to love Sim Theme Park. I spent hours building the park, constructing the rides, getting the pathing just right. So addicting! I didn't care for the Sim Coaster sequel, and never really got into the Roller Coaster Tycoon series, though. Now that I've seen this, I'm itching for another go. Maybe I should hunt this down and play for a while.
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