### Author:  [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/22 "2016-03-31T11:35:55Z")
> [@Quimby](#):
>
> I LOVED RCT 3. And I was weirdly good at it; I could create really awesome, successful parks. The Water Park and Zoo add ons were fun too. Weirdly, and I am sure I am alone in this, I hated making my own coasters. I was terrible at it so I would only used the premade ones but the game was still great fun just placing and pricing everything well.
>
> Thank you for the head’s up on the new RCT. I had assumed it was by the same people who made 3. It went from buy to wait and see for me.
I liked making coasters, but found it a pain in the ass because 1)I am not good at designing coasters and 2) RCT’s interface wasn’t too easy to use. The in-game rules on intensity and such were very difficult to figure out (for me anyway). I built a lot of coasters that people refused to go on. :smack:
**RCT World** just went early access on Steam. Yeah it’s cool looking and and has some nifty features. But In the “why early access” section of the store they claim that although they’re still adding features, “the game has everything you need right now”, a phrase they used multiple times. Um no, 30 “flat rides”, 10 coaster types, and FOUR themes is not “everything I need” Ok, it’s in beta and they’re adding stuff, but it seems like awfully light on content. Seriously, only four themes for rides? RCT3 had 6 or 7 and I thought that was low! They were also pretty vague about what they had yet to add or how much more content there would be. And towards the end the words “base game” were used. Ok, everything has DLC and expansions, but I’m picturing RCTW flooded with microtransactions. Get the Snickers \ Candy Bar Ride for only $1.00! Special deal: Red Bull energy drinks and Burger King Hamburgers in your park for only $2.50! Get the “kiddy ride pack” for $5!
Rarely have been that turned off of a game by the developer’s own description. I will check out the comments on RCTW on the Steam forums and the game site as the game continues, but I am not optimistic at all and at this point doubt the game is worth nearly $50 or will be at any point…
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/23 "2016-03-31T14:09:50Z")
RCT World released on Steam as early access. Early reviews are not favorable. Buggy, slow, kind of generic. I think people are actually being too harsh on it. If Planet Coaster wasn’t around, the attitude would be more like “well, it’s disappointing, but it’s nice to have a modern RCT game”, but now that PC is looking great, the attitude is more like “oh man it’s a huge pile of shit, everyone just get PC instead”
I feel bad for the dev team. Atari botched it so much in the background and basically gave their 4th developer about 1/3rd the time they needed to make a game. I would like if both games were successful since it’d give more competition and potentially different focuses and features, but it’s looking like Planet Coaster is just going to crush it.
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/24 "2016-03-31T14:25:52Z")
Color me mildly unsurprised that Atari fucked up. Have they made anything worth playing in the last decade? Might have to get Coaster Planet. That looks like just the thing for a kid who basically grew up on RCT2. 😃
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/25 "2016-03-31T14:32:31Z")
I mentioned it in the OP, but you might want to look at [theme parkitect](http://themeparkitect.com/) too, which looks a lot like RCT2 in terms of graphical style. The focus on that one is more on the Tycoon end of the game, from what I understand - more detailed management of staff and shops and logistics of the park. The focus is different enough that it might be worthwhile to try both, since Parkitect is going to be a cheap game. It’s $15 on their website for an alpha build, I’m assuming you own it permanently including the official release.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/26 "2016-04-28T22:03:28Z")
Apparently [Planet Coaster](http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/04/planet-coaster-has-nearly-made-2-million-already/) has already made $2 million, which is just bizarre, considering all that’s available is the preorder and a deliberately overpriced, little-advertised early access program that isn’t even on steam. It’s bizarre that we went a decade without this sort of game, because the demand is clearly there - the first 3 Roller Coaster Tycoons made lots of money and had broad appeal.
Meanwhile all signs point to RCT World being a dud. That’s unfortunate, since I want them both to succeed. Atari really borked that one.
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### Author:  [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/27 "2016-04-29T03:21:15Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> Meanwhile all signs point to RCT World being a dud. That’s unfortunate, since I want them both to succeed. Atari really borked that one.
At least with digital distribution they don’t have to find places in the desert to bury the unbought games.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/28 "2016-05-07T00:04:13Z")
Looks like [Parkitect](http://store.steampowered.com/app/453090/) hit steam. I think I’m going to grab that, too.
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### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/29 "2016-05-07T00:16:31Z")
that seems to be a spiritual successor to the bullfrog\maxis\ ea theme park series although they called the last one “sim coaster”
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/30 "2016-05-08T00:04:17Z")
More of an RCT spiritual successor, I’d say. I backed Parkitect on Kickstarter. It’s nice to see it getting a positive response on Steam!
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/31 "2016-05-08T23:38:43Z")
So I grabbed Parkitect. It’s at an earlier stage of development than the reviews seemed to indicate. It’s a fully functional sandbox - the rides, scenery, guests, coaster builder all work fine. The art style is fun. But it’s advertised as being a deeper simulation and those elements really aren’t in there yet. You don’t have the logistical network it promises, just some haulers who have to go from the entrance of your park to stock each shop. There’s little use for employee pathways, and it doesn’t seem to stress hiding the innards of your park from the guests - at this stage there aren’t very much in the way of innards, just employee-only paths and one staff lounge where they can rest.
There are some nice UI aspects, like seeing a line showing you everything a guest you click on has done in the park, but it’s also missing some stuff like an aggregate guest thoughts tab, or a tab showing the profitability/customers per hour/queue time/etc for all your rides at once.
I bought it hoping it’d be further along than it is, so that it’d hold me over until planet coaster was released in 6 months, but it looks like it’s probably not going to mature into a full blown simulation until after PC is out anyway.
It’s still fun to tinker around in. The coaster and scenery building are much less clunky than RCT1/2. Just not quite what I was hoping for yet.
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### Author:  [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/32 "2016-05-12T19:20:44Z")
I found and installed my old copy of RCT2 so my son can play. He’s having a blast. I like sharing games I like with him.
I just wonder how long before he finds the joy in drowning the unhappy guests . . .
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/33 "2016-05-12T19:49:57Z")
Did you download [openrct](https://openrct2.org/) to run it? It doesn’t change the fundamentals, just does a lot of quality of life stuff.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/34 "2016-08-13T17:40:21Z")
[Planet Coaster announcement](https://forums.planetcoaster.com/showthread.php/8984-Moving-into-Alpha-3-Steam-Store-Update) that in 2 weeks they’ll be moving to steam to distribute their game. If I’m interpreting the post right, you can still get the $30 preorder price until then, at which point it becomes $41 once it gets on steam, and then will be $50 at release.
It looks like if you want to use their custom character creator thing (instead of drawing all randomly generated guests/staff members, your park will pull from characters that actual people paid extra to design and insert into the guest pool) it looks like this may be the last chance for that too. Which is weird, since I don’t think you can actually use the design tool now, so you’d have to buy them in anticipation without knowing what you’re going to get. Maybe they’ll have some other way of doing it later.
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### Author:  [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/35 "2016-08-13T18:29:13Z")
I just pre-ordered Planet Coaster (just the basic game) this last month. Really looking forward to it.
I got it for £20, looks like it’s going to £26.99 once it goes to Steam.
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/36 "2016-08-13T22:36:26Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> [Planet Coaster announcement](https://forums.planetcoaster.com/showthread.php/8984-Moving-into-Alpha-3-Steam-Store-Update) that in 2 weeks they’ll be moving to steam to distribute their game. If I’m interpreting the post right, you can still get the $30 preorder price until then, at which point it becomes $41 once it gets on steam, and then will be $50 at release.
>
> It looks like if you want to use their custom character creator thing (instead of drawing all randomly generated guests/staff members, your park will pull from characters that actual people paid extra to design and insert into the guest pool) it looks like this may be the last chance for that too. Which is weird, since I don’t think you can actually use the design tool now, so you’d have to buy them in anticipation without knowing what you’re going to get. Maybe they’ll have some other way of doing it later.
How meaty is the game as it currently stands?
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/37 "2016-08-17T18:14:30Z")
I haven’t kept up with it much in the last 2 months. They’re still in phase 2, which means they’re focusing on scenery construction, roller coaster design, landscape editing, etc. So it’s just a sandbox where you can build stuff and have people use it and react to it. The people simulation is mostly in, but the management sim stuff isn’t there. That’s what comes in phase 3 which is happening when they move it to steam in a week or two.
By the time it comes out I expect it to have as much content as the traditional RCT games - 4 or 5 types of scenery, a couple dozen flat rides, lots of different types of coasters, and a full management simulation. Not sure what their plans might be as far as DLC, but I think they’re supporting workshop/user content support so hopefully people can design their own rides and such.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/38 "2016-08-17T18:24:01Z")
Looks like they also just announced a Nov 17 launch date.
If you preorder the game at $30, you get the deluxe edition with the beta access, art book, soundtrack, and special in game mascot. That preorder price dries up a few days when it moves to steam.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/39 "2016-08-17T18:32:39Z")
Looks like PC is going to have some gamescom reveals/streams over the next few day so check those out.
> [@](#):
>
> ```
> Planet Coaster are very excited to be at gamescom 2016 and we have a full schedule planned! We’ve set up an epic four-day series of streams for our community to enjoy and all will be broadcast live from the show floor. Make sure you tune in with us to get the latest updates and see new developments in-game, on stage, live on our Official YouTube channel.
>
> The schedule could still change but here’s the current times, be sure to mark the following dates and times in your calendar:
>
> DAILY LIVESTREAM from Thursday, August 18 to Sunday, August 21
> 12:00 – 13:00 CEST // Developer Streams
>
> 13:00 – 14:30 CEST // Community Streams 16:00 – 18:00 CEST // Community Streams
>
> The Developer Streams will focus mostly on Q&A sessions with our amazing team and showing off the latest developments within the game. The Community Streams will feature some well-known YouTubers and Planet Coaster community members showing off their skills and creativity on the screen.
>
> ```
Via [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/c/PlanetCoaster/live).
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### Author:  [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/40 "2016-08-17T23:51:57Z")
Do you think that November release date sounds realistic, given that the management part of the game hasn’t been rolled out yet?
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2016, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-return-of-amusement-park-manager-games/750237/41 "2016-08-18T00:01:59Z")
I think so. It’s not like they’re inventing the management stuff from scratch - it’s just not the part of th game they want community feedback for yet, which is why the design tools have been the focus of the alpha. It’s probably mostly developed but th didn’t want it public until the whole package was closer to coming together.
They’re a solid company with a good track record and they self publish so there’s no publisher forcing them to meet a date. So if tht just set a date its probably realistic. What they’ve released so far is high quality. It doesn’t have the ring of a half baked product.
No guarantees but at almost half off it seems easily worth the risk to me. Obviously I wouldn’t preorder it except th discount makes it a good risk / reward proposition.
Check out the gamescom presentations starting tomorrow.
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