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Park - Deciduous Harder

scw55

Hyper Poster
I don't have a name for the park yet. But it's a harder deciduous challenge park, and the title is the file name.
It's a multi-themed park. I am growing it organically like I did with the arctic park. In RCT3 I used to plan out the areas in advance, but it meant there were a lot of empty voids. Sure, the pathways and transport were in place, but I felt pressurised to fill in the gaps.

I this park, the gaps are smaller, which helps me fill them more creatively. These screenshots are of the family and child area.
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That area is nautical themed. Between that area and the starting street is a vague "garden party" like area. I am hoping to blend the zones together better. Unseen is a Technology themed area which gets more sci-fi the deeper you go in.

There is a sub-area where I plan to build a coaster. The bare basic scenery leading up to the ride entrance is established. I have vague terrain to work with, I'm just waiting for this particular coaster to be done researching. In work, I had as strong idea for what I wanted to do in Planetcoaster. This is what I had in mind:
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I wanted to do something different. It's going to be fun!
 
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Hixee

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A spider themed coaster like that could definitely be interesting. Although the thought of a Revenge of the Mummy type coaster like that is, quite frankly, horrifying.
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
To spoil the details of the vague idea, I want to build a hybrid wooden coaster that weaves around a hill where there are spiderwebs made from wires everywhere. I hope to be able to build a spider from Sci-Fi pieces itself. I wanted to bridge the sci-fi area into a creepy area, so I thought this was an interesting juxtaposition.
I find the easiest way to build awesome stuff in Planetcoaster is to have a specific idea in-mind, because then you'll happily go above and beyond to make it happen.

At the moment, I am struggling to place wires manually amongst the trees, due to the behaviour.

I want to include this somewhere as a center piece for the ride:
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Hixee

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All sounds very ambitious and interesting. It'll be interesting to see how you pull it off!
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
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The spider creature is built! It didn't turn out how I wanted, but I think it is fit for purpose. The only shame is that it's not visible from the ride. I will make note that in the future, set pieces are best placed where the coaster is slow or the train is heading towards it. The extra effects work nicely though. I get a Mass Effect Reaper vibe from it. The layer will be sealed up when I am happy with it. It's a lot more work laying wires as strands of thread than I had realised.


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I'm happy how this came about. It was a complete accident.


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There's a nice accidental effect with the first drop. You get deceived by which direction you'll be going. My plan was to have the entire coaster above ground, except for the spider lair. However, this drop into the unknown worked so well, I didn't contest it.


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Creepy spider tree concept turned into Smiler inspired crazy thing. The idea of the whole ride was to smash themes together. Sci-Fi spiders in a gnarly woodland. It is why I chose to use a Hybrid coaster. I hope this structure will confuse guests.


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This is the station. I went with that material because I wanted something unassuming and mundane. Ideally, I would have loved a derelict building, but we don't have those assets yet. I wasn't keen on making one from scratch, given I will be fighting with wires in the future. I have a lot of work in front of me. I may break it up and focus on other projects to avoid burn out.

I laid wiring in the tunnel into the lair, and despite it being very rough, it was very effective. The loose ends looked like sharp spines. I don't have the patience to lay wires neatly, so I will simply rough it up.

Next update I should include screenshots from other parts of the park.
 

Hixee

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The natural trees and metallic spider theme for a hybrid is a pretty neat idea actually. Sounds so "obvious" now you say it, but it feels reasonably unique!
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
I do want to tweak the plants. Before, it was dead trees everywhere. Now, I want to have a nice variety of living trees that turn to dead trees the closer they get to the coaster. I want to add context to the spewing black liquid. It's nice to do things because it's cool, but I feel like it's stronger if as many aspects can tie together.

@Hixee the default cars for one of the two hybrid coasters looks very industrial, so that lends itself nicely to the ride.

To do list:
1) Make a blueprint of a tree coated in wires like webs so decorating is less painful.
2) Make little spiders to add creepiness.
 
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scw55

Hyper Poster
I did nothing on my list. Mainly because I realised, if I wanted to add water to the parched mountain, I need to build the river/waterfall first.
So I did!

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How did I do it?
I placed a log flume. The rapids have nicer water effects, but I needed something with a steeper drop.
I edited the terrain around the flume.
Even with clipping enabled, the terrain was still unhappy with coating the track, so I had to fill the gaps with rocks.
Made the rocks look better.
Strategically placed water splash effects where the water would hit the rocks.
Made the end supersplashy to cover up the excessive use of rocks that hide the fact it's a log flume.


The last game update helped make designing waterfall like features look less bad. I used my memory as a reference of what would look plausible and realistic. I'm blessed to live near mountains. I think you can tell when a user has not seen many mountainous water features.

I need to stonify more of the layout, and then I can plant trees. I've now established this being a mountain, so I need to carefully consider how I place plants. As in, the higher up I go, the fewer and more sparse the trees will be. How would this affect the original concept of a cobwebbed woodland?

I find shorter sessions are much nicer because I can focus my time on one particular goal, achieve it, and then I leave satisfied. I find if a session is too long, I get tired. Today was about 1 hour or so.

(PS, I'm very happy how the stream came out! I am super excited by the crossing!)
 

Hixee

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That's brilliant. Such a good way of solving the problem, and it looks fantastic!
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
Here's an update.
I have designed wired trees. Two species! Lowlands and uplands.
I have designed spiderlettes to place around the layout. I build a few custom models for specific needs. The general theme is that they're robotic insectoid four-legged creatures that are burrowing in the mountain. In doing so, they manipulate the physical structure of the stone. As a result, the rock is warping into uneasy shapes.

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This is the first drop. I am taking this in the direction of a rockslide into the abyss below. The slow movement of the train over the crest of the hill helps with the tension. The blue lights are deliberately vague. I wanted to suggest something was amiss, but not reveal everything at once. Eagle-eyed riders will notice the weird trees.

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The train enters the lair of the mother machine here. Undecided if the unassuming presentation works well. The different elements of the scenery become wild after you exit the lair, so maybe it's best to not overdo it. I did want thick wires on the side of the cave, but it was impractical and not fun to do. So, I went with the chaotic placement. I think this creates a more savage look. The exposed ends of the wires create a spine effect which makes the environment feel all the harsher.

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Mother machine. The lighting accidentally creates a spiderweb effect on the rocks.

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I want to theme this bit more. I don't want to overuse rocks though. Perhaps some bushes will be nice here. A shrubby area would add variance.

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I had a second sweeping section and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to place more rocks. I decided I wanted more water, but I didn't want to repeat what I had done nearby. I decided to semi-enclose this section with a web-like terrain. I added some chaotic wires. Threw in two spiderbots. It's now delightfully weird.

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A better view of my "what on earth" trees. Less scary than my reference picture, but rather weird. I hope it's quite unsettling. The broken spiderbot's legs are similar to the side bars on the track. I hope this implies that perhaps the coaster is part of the native/extra-terrestrial machinery itself. A la Nemesis.

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Under the toxic tower. I placed a blue light in the pool to imply it's another spider creature.

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Feedback at this stage is welcomed!
 

Hixee

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I'm afraid no feedback other than it looks really cool! :p
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
I guess I shall add shrubs and rocks where needed and sort out the station area and finish.

I hope I can have space around the place one or two flat rides. I do love high scenery coasters, but I find a strategically placed flat ride makes things pop. Like how the flat rides in Forbidden Valley feed into Nemesis. Or how Enterprise enhances Oblivion.
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
Rapture is effectively complete. I haven't recorded a video of it yet because of time and I am giving myself a grace period. This time will let me think if there's anything else I could do.

I've started building a new area of the park. The centre-piece of a concept B&M Flying Coaster, born from my insanity when being a checkout operator.
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The area will be a heavily wooded themed.

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Water will make a few more appearances with this coaster.

And have a nice overview of the whole place:
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GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
Wow, what a park! Everything looks incredible(especially that RMC <3 ), and the station for the flyer looks stunning. Keep it up!
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
Thanks!

I'm taking it slowly because I find it's really easy to get burned out in this game, given how much freedom the game offers, but at the same time, how annoying the tools are.

There's a lot of gaps I need to fill, but I hope ideas of how to do that will come naturally. I seem to like adding water, so I could simply add a lot more linkages. The game needs better tools for combing water levels. At the moment, the solution is to create fake waterfalls, which aren't always ideal.

At some point, I will need to begin including transport. Perhaps these gaps will be a blessing.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Hey scw55! It's been a long time since the RCT3 days.

Your park is pretty ambitious, especially with the seemingly endless possibilities PC offers as you said. Your RMC over the hill looks very impressive and thrilling! Nice job on this one.
 

Hixee

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I agree with the comments above. That overhead shot really nicely shows off the RMC and how well integrated into the hill it is. It'll be good to see this park develop! I'm interested how you deal with the transitions between different themed areas, something that is pretty hard to do, I always found (back in the RCT1 and RCT3 days).
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
Transitions are something I have been aware of, which is why I've tried to be logical with how I slot the areas in.

The main hub is a generic fantasy Oxfordshire feel. To the east, it keeps that feel. As the paths get closer to the lake, it shifts to a nautical theme, but not too ambitious.
West of the hub is a more sci-fi area, but the theming is still very much grounded. You have a technological feel, but you have a lot of normal plants and rocks. I was going with a low budget X-Sector feel.
The sci-fi area transitions northwards into a more heavily wooded area, which yields into the weird RMC coaster that combines natural feelings and high conceptual sci-fi.
Between the Spider Coaster and the Sci-Fi coaster will sit another wooded area, but this time withy rampant, but strangely beautiful growth.

So there is some organic transitioning happening anyway, assisted by not going too extreme with the theming. The most bizarrely themed area is the mountain, but the craziness is very much justified and used to enhance the ride.

I'm always heavily inspired by the theming of Nemesis, something out of this world yet grounded. No pun intended, much.

PORTEMINE COME PLAY PLANETCOASTER :D
 

scw55

Hyper Poster
Minor update. I clicked the wrong option when I got steam asking me about cloud syncing. I lost the work I did on the waterfalls with the flier. I'll resume working on this when I feel ready. It's not that much work lost, but the plant coaster waterfall tool is non-existent, and designing a waterfall is really annoying.
 
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