RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon
Logo of the first part
developer	Chris Sawyer Frontier Developments Bandai Namco Pipeworks Software Area 52 Nvizzio Creations
Publisher	Hasbro , Infogrames Atari
First title	RollerCoaster Tycoon (1999)
Last title	RollerCoaster Tycoon World (2016)
Platform (s)	various
Genre (s)	Economic simulation

RollerCoaster Tycoon ( RCT ) is a, originally from Chris Sawyer developed economic simulation game series in 2D or 3D graphics , in which the player assumes the role of a Park Director and a theme park to build and / or expand. The series currently includes five games. The focus of the game (unlike NoLimits ) is primarily on the management of an amusement park. The first three games ( Rollercoaster Tycoon , Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 ) were developed for the PC. They were later ported to other systems. The sixth part was published as Early Access at the end of March 2016 under the title Rollercoaster Tycoon World .

Game flow

Depending on the type, the goal of the respective scenario is usually to achieve a combination of a certain number of visitors, park rating and / or market value or a certain turnover. Sometimes you have to build different types of roller coaster with a certain value (thrill / excitement rate, g-force etc.). There is a wide range of attractions for the park , from finished or self-made roller coasters to carousels to bumper cars , wild water rides and pedal boats . In addition, food and other sales stands to supply the visitors, as well as various souvenir stands, can be set up. Paths, plants, etc. Ä. can be freely created and removed, the terrain can be raised, lowered and its texture changed. When designing the amusement parks, it is essentially a matter of maintaining the balance between moderately exciting attractions such as carousels, intense roller coasters, well-kept and aesthetic recreational areas and the various food and other stalls in order to keep a wide audience in the park permanently until it has spent his available money. A simple system of paths is also helpful, as visitors can otherwise get lost. In addition, without carefully deployed mechanics, security guards and assistants, the park can quickly become unattractive and less visited.

The park visitors simulated by the computer all have an individual preference in terms of adrenaline requirements , wallet and stomach strength. The player can query the thoughts and values ​​such as hunger, satisfaction and nausea of ​​each visitor at any time and draw conclusions about possible improvements. Many highly satisfied visitors who have spent everything when leaving the park are a sign of a well-thought-out, needs-based park.

One of the attractions of the game is that, as the game progresses, new attractions are always explored and thus available, whereby the research budget and priorities can be determined.

With all this, the player should not ignore his account balance, accidents or bad weather can ruin his plan and his plans.

Attractions

In Rollercoaster Tycoon there are seven different attraction groups (shops not counting, these are a separate group in the game):

• Transport trips are z. B. Attractions such as the miniature train or trams that take visitors from A to B. There are also some transport railways that run on water.

• Moderate attractions tend to be boring for the visitors and only make sense at the beginning of the scenario. These include the spiral slide or bumper cars.

• Children's railways are primarily designed for underage visitors who do not yet dare to venture into too extreme attractions or railways. Here, for example, there are slower carousels.

• Roller coasters are available in many different versions at Roller Coaster Tycoon. The variety ranges from wooden to racing mouse to steel scaffolding roller coaster. Roller coasters make a lot of money, but care should be taken that the roller coasters do not get "too exciting". There are also certain waterways, such as tree trunk slides or inflatables, to be found here.

• In addition to the twister and ship swing, exciting rides are also space gyroscopes and top spins. The rides are always a lot of fun even for not hardened visitors and a reason to leave money there.

• Water rides: In addition to the boat rental, which makes the most profit without a predetermined route, there are also swan boats, for example.

• Other railways: Here attractions are summarized which cannot be clearly assigned to any other group. These are, for example, observation towers or go-karts.

• Shops and stands not only cater to the physical well-being of the visitors. In addition to various stands for food and drinks, toilets, information stands or souvenir shops can also be built.

The following attractions are only available for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 with the "Soaked!" available.

• Swimming pools , if they are excitingly built, are a real source of money as they can easily attract a few hundred visitors. Possible extras for swimming pools include whirlpools or diving boards. The swimming pools also indirectly include the water slides (see below). In order to ensure the supply of bathing equipment, it is advisable to build the appropriate shops near the changing rooms (this allows visitors to reach the bathing complex).

• Water slides are managed and built similar to roller coasters, but can only be reached from swimming pools and use is always free of charge for park visitors. Water slides can be built open, i.e. H. the end piece ends in a swimming pool or as a closed stretch like roller coasters. Regardless of the construction, it is important to ensure that the slide does not become too extreme.

The following attractions are only available for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 with the "Wild!" available.

• Animals belong to the zoo elements. These are fenced-in areas where elephants, tigers, for example, live and can be admired by the spectators on viewing platforms. In addition, there are special transport lanes that park visitors can use to enter the zoo areas directly.

Games in turn

RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon
Studio	Chris Sawyer
Publisher	Hasbro
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows March 31, 1999 April 12, 1999 Xbox March 25, 2003
platform	Windows , Xbox
genre	Economic simulation
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse , keyboard / gamepad
system advantages preconditions	Pentium 90 MHz or equivalent, Microsoft Windows 95 / 98 , 16 MB RAM , 4x CD-ROM drive, 50 MB hard disk space , 1 MB SVGA - video card , DirectX 5.0 compatible sound card
medium	1 CD-ROM , 1 DVD-ROM , download
language	Audio: no voice output Text: German
Age rating	USK PEGI

RollerCoaster Tycoon was developed in 1999 by Chris Sawyer , while the graphics were contributed by Simon Foster, a freelance artist. The game engine is based on pre-rendered 3D models, which are heavily scaled down and inserted into an isometric 2D environment with 4 side views. The roller coaster cars alone therefore consist of thousands of individual images. The density of detail in the animations is high. There are numerous sequences for fountains. Rollercoaster Tycoon is one of the most successful "Tycoon" games alongside Transport Tycoon and Der Industriegigant .

Scenarios

RollerCoaster Tycoon includes 21 scenarios, five of which are available from the start. When you have mastered one scenario, another is released. In addition, the “Megapark” scenario is released when all others have been mastered. This scenario has no goal. There are also two official scenarios available for download.

• The 21 original scenarios:
  • Forest Frontiers
  • Dynamite Dunes
  • Leafy Lake
  • Diamond Heights
  • Evergreen Gardens
  • Bumbly Beach
  • Trinity Islands
  • Katie's World (Katie's Dreamland)
  • Dinky Park (Pokey Park)
  • Aqua Park (White Water Park)
  • Millennium Mines
  • Karts and Coasters
  • Mel's World
  • Mothball Mountain (Mystic Mountain)
  • Pacific pyramids
  • Crumbly Woods
  • Big Pier (Paradise Pier)
  • Lightning peaks
  • Ivory Towers
  • Rainbow Valley
  • Thunder Rock
  • Mega Park (will be unlocked after completing all scenarios)

• Two official scenarios can be downloaded from the official website.
  • Fort anachronism
  • Alton Towers

Extensions

Official extensions

For Rollercoaster Tycoon , the add-ons “ Added Attractions Pack ” (“ Corkscrew Follies ” in the US) and “ Loopy Landscapes ” have been released, each offering new attractions and parks. The add-on " Loopy Landscapes " includes all parks and attractions from " Added Attractions ".

Other extensions

• One of the most popular patches for Rollercoaster Tycoon is the Drexler patch . It can be used by trainers to call up changed savegames (scores), which is not possible with the original version. According to the author, the patch works with both extensions. Thus, new scores and a secret track can be discovered.
• The XP patch is an unofficial patch that did not come from the developer himself. The patch enables the game to be played on Microsoft Windows XP , Windows Vista and Windows 7 .

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
Studio	Chris Sawyer
Publisher	Infogrames
Erstveröffent- lichung	October 15, 2002 October 18, 2002 October 25, 2002
platform	Windows
genre	Economic simulation
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse , keyboard
system advantages preconditions	Microsoft Windows 98 / Me / 2000 / XP , Pentium II 300 MHz, 64 MB RAM , 100 MB hard disk space , CD-ROM drive 16x, 4 MB graphics card
medium	1 CD-ROM , download
language	Audio: no voice output Text: German
Age rating	USK

RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 was launched in Europe on October 16, 2002. Compared to its predecessor, the game includes new attractions, stands, building options and the slightly improved graphics engine, a scenario editor and improved menus. This version also contains a “roller coaster kit”. In addition, the second version contains replicas of five Six Flags parks and roller coasters from 2002, depending on the graphic possibilities .

Since 2014, as part of the OpenRCT2 project, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 has been newly implemented or further developed as free software . This is done analogously to Transport Tycoon / OpenTTD , which was originally also programmed by Chris Sawyer. The original game was decompiled and the source code was then revised.

Extensions

For the second part of the game, the add-ons " Wacky Worlds " and " Time Twister " have been released. In addition to new attractions, stands, construction options and the slightly improved graphics engine, they include a scenario editor and improved menus.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

→ Main article : RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 was released in Europe on November 4, 2004 and was developed by the development studio Frontier Developments. The third part included a 3D engine, which now ensures a clearly visible change of day and night, and the opportunity to experience the attractions from a visitor's point of view. In addition, a person editor was built in, with which you can also create your own park visitors.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D

On August 28, 2011, n-Space confirmed the development of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D . The game was released exclusively on October 26, 2012 for Nintendo 3DS . This time the publisher is Namco Bandai Partners Germany GmbH.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 mobile

On March 17, 2014 Atari announced the fifth part of the series on Twitter. This is planned for iOS and Android, but a PC version is also being planned, which is supposed to be released in autumn 2014. Atari has not yet indicated that the latter is just a browser game and not a full-price title like its predecessors.

Compared to the predecessor RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , numerous reverse developments were made, such as the lack of a 3D engine mainly as well as numerous detailed questions. Also because it was only designed for mobile versions, compromises had to be made on the graphics and the game as a whole.

Atari also published a trailer for the mobile version, which was largely rated negatively on YouTube. RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 has been available for Apple iOS , Android and Amazon Kindle since April 10, 2014 . The game received bad reviews ( Metascore : 43) and was primarily criticized for pushing for further microtransactions despite the purchase price of 2.69 euros . The video game magazine GamePro gave it a rating of 19% and called Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 a “rip-off ghost train” and advised against downloading it.

RollerCoaster Tycoon World

RollerCoaster Tycoon World was announced by Atari at Gamescom 2014. The game should return to the roots of the RollerCoaster series and will include a co-op mode , among other things . The game was initially developed by Pipeworks Software, but Atari changed the development studio and decided on Area 52 Games. On March 5, 2015 Atari showed the graphics and the gameplay of the game for the first time in a teaser trailer, but received a lot of criticism because of the graphics that were perceived as outdated, whereupon it was decided to change the developer again. Nvizzio Creations has been responsible for development since July 29th. At the end of September, Atari announced the start of advance sales for the sixth part of the Rollercoaster Tycoon series. The players were involved in the development of the game through a beta weekend. During the beta weekend, the roller coaster construction tool was tested and subsequently adapted according to the feedback. The announced publication date of December 14, 2015 could not be met and was postponed to the beginning of 2016. The manufacturer has announced that some of the elements that are essential for an amusement park, such as water rides and transport lanes, will only be submitted via free download after the release. The announcement that user-generated content such as decorative elements could be imported into the game on the game's launch date was very well received by fans in the official forums. The new part of the strategy and construction simulation appeared on March 30, 2016 as Early Access . RollerCoaster Tycoon World has been seen by the fan base as a major competitor to Frontiers Planet Coaster since the first alpha version . On November 10th, the developers of RollerCoaster Tycoon World announced that they would finally release their game on November 16, one day before the release of Planet Coaster. This was seen by many as an affront to Frontier, as the Planet Coaster release date had been known for months.

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic

RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic was released on December 22, 2016 for Android and iOS . The game is a new edition of the old parts RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 . The graphics and operation are identical to the old games. In the game itself there is the possibility to make three different in-app purchases. The two extensions “Crazy Worlds” and “Time Travel” as well as the toolkit can be purchased. The game received mostly positive reviews. It achieved a rating of 4.4 / 5 in the Google Playstore by the end of 2016.

RollerCoaster "Blockchain"

In December 2018, Atari announced that it would collaborate with Animoca Brands in 2019 to release a blockchain version of RollerCoaster Tycoon .

developer

Original developer of RollerCoaster Tycoon is Chris Sawyer , who developed the game almost single-handedly. According to him, 99% of the game was written in assembler , only the interfaces to Windows / DirectX should have been implemented via C. In the spring of 1999 it was published by MicroProse and Hasbro Interactive . The successor RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 , also developed by Chris Sawyer, came on the market in late 2002 and was published by Atari SA . Frontier Developments took over the development of the add-ons for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 . RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 followed in 2004 as the first game in the series in 3D graphics. It was also published by Atari, but this time entirely developed by Frontier Developments. Chris Sawyer was only in an advisory capacity. The sixth installment in the series, titled RollerCoaster Tycoon World , was originally developed by Pipeworks Software before rights-holder Atari moved its work to Area 52 Games. Nvizzio Creations has been responsible for development since July 29th.

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.chrissawyergames.com/contacts.htm
2. ↑ http://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature3.htm
3. ↑ http://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature1.htm
4. ↑ http://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature4.htm
5. ↑ OpenRCT2 website
6. ↑ http://www.gbase.ch/3ds/news/11375/Kurztest-Rollercoaster-Tycoon-3D-55310.html
7. ↑ http://www.eurogamer.de/articles/2014-03-17-rollercoaster-tycoon-4-angekuendigt
8. ↑ http://www.pcgames.de/Rollercoaster-Tycoon-4-PC-232497/News/Rollercoaster-Tycoon-4-Mobile-Ableger-fuer-iOS-Geraete-angekuendigt-1113742/
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iomc1P7HaX8
10. ^ Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile Metascore on Metacritic , accessed April 17, 2014
11. ↑ Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile - Rating and conclusion on GamePro , accessed on April 17, 2014
12. ↑ RollerCoaster Tycoon World: Atari announces full PC sequel for early 2015 with co-op mode
13. ↑ gamestar.de - Rollercoaster Tycoon World - Renewed change of developer (accessed on July 29, 2015)
14. ↑ gamestar.de - Rollercoaster Tycoon World - release postponed, beta weekend delayed (accessed November 13, 2015)
15. ↑ RCTW - EARLY ACCESS - DEV BLOG # 19: RELEASE DATE! In: RollerCoaster Tycoon World Forum. November 10, 2016, accessed November 13, 2016 . 
16. ↑ Tobias Ritter: RollerCoaster Tycoon World vs. Planet Coaster - release date as a declaration of war. In: GameStar .de. November 11, 2016, accessed November 13, 2016 . 
17. ↑ RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic released for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices. In: 4players.de. December 22, 2016, accessed January 2, 2017 . 
18. ↑ Google Play: RollerCoaster Tycoon® Classic. Retrieved January 2, 2017 . 
19. ↑ https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-12-18-atari-acquires-stake-in-animoca-brands-as-part-of-blockchain-game-deal
20. ↑ Frequently Asked Questions about Chris Sawyer & Game Development. Retrieved September 26, 2010 . 
21. ↑ Rollercoaster Tycoon World Production Blog # 6. Retrieved June 9, 2015 .