Roller Coaster Tycoon 3D

So, has anyone noted the Top Scan yet?

^ Themed to a spider even.

I guess that's the "spooky" theme in action.

Straight from the horses mouth:

David Barabin [Chairman: Frontier Developments], who is a friend of Chris Sawyer, did an interview on Gamespot's Complete video interview, and has indeed indicated a number of things:

1) There will be a greater variation of banking on the coasters. (which was specified that this helps on re-creating real-world coasters)
2) There will be a greater variety of coasters, including all the coasters from RCT 1 & 2.
3) The emphasis will stronger on the people this time around and their needs. Each character will have their own little personality with facial expressions & more.
4) There will be much more detail in the customization of the food stands, such as a burger stand where you can choose to add additional items such as chili or cheese.
5) Their main reasons to goto 3-D are being able to ride your own rides & the individuality of the people & personalities they can create and how they can react to situations.
6) WILL indeed be a sandbox in the game for sure.

He indicated that, of course, they're all huge fans of the original RCT & know that the fans don't want to spoil the fun of the original, so they keep the same formula. Chris is NOT working on the game, but is offering his input into it.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/rollercoastertycoon3/media.html
You may have to be a Complete member to view it.

I have to chime in to echo what Gonch was talking about. RCT is one of the greatest selling games of all times because it's accessible to a wide audience. No game I've played since Pac-Man has hooked so many people.

Can you imagine Joe Blow casual gamer with a GeForce2 and a P3 messing with Bezier curves and nodes in a 3D environment? Not if you intend to sell the game.

NoLimits, however passionate its audience, is a tiny audience by Atari standards. The game will be as easy as possible for all types of players, based on gameplay that has already proven to be popular.

I have to say, I'm very pleased with what I'm hearing/seeing, and totally agree with Gonch and Jeff. I'm one of the people that like to play in the sandbox and do my own thing to make my own park, but I like to open my park afterward and run it. I think this will be a great addition. I have No Limits if I want to design killer coasters, but for this(I think Gonch hit the nail on the head with 'Theme Park Tycoon' which is what I wanted all along) I'm glad that there will be varying degrees of ages and likes for the peeps!

It seems that everything I've ever wanted in RCT is being confirmed in this game(though I would still like to have a 2d mode, but i highly doubt it, and it won't upset me in the least). Customizing food stands? Better stuff for coasters? More coasters? More Flats? More theming? Better Peep AI? All the stuff from the origional? How can anybody complain?

It seems that this is the origional game in 3D, and I can handle that! *** Edited 3/25/2004 4:24:55 AM UTC by TeknoScorpion***

Well said, Jeff.

In addition, imagine having to build NL-style coasters in a game like this? It would be a week before you'd get a chance to add anything else to the park. :) Not to mention even sufficiently powered systems crying for help in Coaster Cam mode.

I'm quite glad they are using track "parts" (and more "tuneable" ones at that) then the previous versions, which is also good news.

My only wish is many more flat rides. I don't mean re-skinned rides either unless they do it Amazing Earl style as in real world rides

well, I've seen what looks to be an inverter, a top scan, and something else i can't remember. I just want more realistic water rides;)

I wonder if the filesizes of tracks and park will significantly increase in rct3. Or if it's still the raw info being stored and the game itself that extracts all of the effects.

I would think (and hope) that it'd be the latter.

Downloading an andy or gonch park that are 40meg might not be worth it :P

It's nice that there's more being added to the refreshment stands. Hopefully, the variety will include food and drinks being sold at the same stand.

... and was that a "Guess your Weight" stand I saw??

the last time I went on a guess your weight stand they guessed 46pounds too little :(

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Ross McColl said:
I wonder if the filesizes of tracks and park will significantly increase in rct3. Or if it's still the raw info being stored and the game itself that extracts all of the effects.

I would think (and hope) that it'd be the latter.

Downloading an andy or gonch park that are 40meg might not be worth it :P

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I had the same curiousity, but I imagine, it has to be the latter. I'm also wondering if coasters will be able to be uploaded "solo" without an entire park...

Why wouldn't they be? They just need to readminister the "save track" function that's within the other games. Since they mentioned that you will have prefabricated coasters available to you, that obviously implies a tracks folder like the other games had.

Check out the RCT3 preview at IGN. It answers a lot of questions about the terrain editor, etc. It's easily the best preview so far.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/501/501974p1.html?fromint=1

I wonder if we (as guests of the parks) will not only be able to ride the coasters but buy food and souveniers and ride the other rides too. Know that could be interesting.

Yep, that's my final curiosity as well. Whether you can ride anything. I mean, I won't exactly miss not being able to ride flat rides, though it would be cool...but the Water Rides, and transport rides are a must for a full experience! So far, all the references are pointing to "coaster cam" with no mention of anything else...but maybe because they know it's the main emphisis, they didn't bother bringing up that the camera can go on anything?

If there is an actual peep camera mode (you choose a peep and follow him through his/her eyes) then everyhing goes! But again, only a camera view at peep "level" was mentioned.

I'm guessing that although this will be a little more realistic than in years past RCT's iterations...

...the food stands are going to still suck like they did then. I don't think they're going to have little food courts, or eat-in restaurants.

...although it'd be nice if the impliment this feature, as it'd add a lot more realism to the game. How many tentacles to peeps eat on the go, anyway?

I think it's cool that they are offering a Peep Creator...I wonder if it would be possible to make the gang from Homestarrunner. That would be hilarious watching that group meander through the park.

Sewiouswy.

For some reason this still reminds me of Sim Theme Park with more realistic rides. I don't think I'm rushing to the stores for this one.