RollerCoaster Tycoon at 25 inspired real coaster designers

There aren't many games ever that inspired consistent joy like that one did, especially the sequel and its various tweaks. I interviewed Chris Sawyer twice for PointBuzz, formerly Guide to The Point. Incredibly humble guy, as I recall.

There is a new game that I find myself playing a ton called Against The Storm (currently on Game Pass Ultimate, and for purchase on Steam, GOG, etc., and there is a demo version). It's part mini-city builder, part management sim, part Dungeon Keeper. You build little settlements, gathering resources to sustain them, trying to gain reputation points faster than the queen has impatience points. Everything is interdependent as far as food, building resources, special objectives, critter needs and such. Each game takes around 90 minutes to two hours, then you start over. Game Pass says I've played it for six days.

I have a way out-of-date iPad mini with the iOS version of RCT. I'll still get it out occassionally and toy around with it. I never got into the actual game play as much as just messing around with the sandbox version once that became a thing. I can't believe it's been around 25 years. I remember a co-worker bringing a laptop to work and we would play it on our lunch break. That was probably around 2001.

I too enjoyed RCT, particularly as my son started growing up and got to sit on my lap as we played it together. I never got my head aroun d Minecraft...but RCT was something we spent a lot of hours on.

Oh man. RCT wasn't the beginning of the coaster hobby for me, but it was the catalyst that led me to this site. I was an active member of Danimation, a site created by a guy named Dan who was a 3D animator for movies and TV, but went nuclear once he dedicated a forum to RCT soon after its release. I was a moderator during its last couple years before he lost interest in the game; he got rid of the forums in favor of solely showcasing his work again, displacing all of us still active RCT players. During that site's heyday I found a few other RCT and coaster related sites, and this one is the only one that's still around that I frequent.

I miss those days. Every few years I break out the game and play around a little, but can never get into it as much as I did back then. Part of me is thankful for that, another part of me is a little bummed.

RCT consumed me. Up to that point all the coaster / park sim games I had played were mostly crap, so when the screenshots for the first RCT started to roll out, I was practically drooling. I remember sitting in class in 8th grade spacing out thinking about what I was going to do with my park when I got home. Now my older daughter plays it, and she recently told me that she prefers it to Planet Coaster.

It's funny how your interests change over time. I used to be big into first-person shooters, from Goldeneye to Counter Strike to CoD. Even with the family, I still managed to steal a few hours here and there, mostly weekend nights where I was up until 2am yelling at my TV. Then one day I just stopped, and I haven't fired a virtual round since. This might've been 5 years ago? Maybe more? I dunno.

My kid is still playing Planet Coaster, though mostly to download stuff other people made. He's not creating much himself, which is discouraging because he used to.

The games site here was fairly active, with a handful of people like Lord Gonchar posting quite a few tracks and parks. I remember really enjoying building it, and did so in a few days.

RCT/RCT2 is the only game where I could sit and not even realize that multiple hours were going by. It was that consuming when it was new.

The little guests jumping for joy is one of the Best Things Ever.

Failing to hire enough janitors then realizing the sidewalks around the top spin are literal rivers of vomit is one of the Best Things Ever.

Creating a death coaster that guests would never board because you could never complete a test, only to realize that if you did a launch coaster and put the death part just beyond a mid-course hill, and you did your test runs at just the right speed so that train wouldn’t clear the hill and you could complete your test and the guests would hop on board, only to jack up the launch speed just as the last guest was taking their seat, sending the train full of people into oblivion, is one of The Best Things Ever.

Love the RCT games. They were the natural progression from 1994's Theme Park.

I occasionally pick them up again and have a crack.

Along with Transport Tycoon Deluxe - which is still thriving today as OpenTTD with mods for everything

I met Chris at the media day for Cú Chulainn back in 2015. Nice guy.

OK, I need to figure out how to play RCT2 again. I loved being able to create my own terrain. I was definitely an unlimited budget kinda guy. I just liked to doodle with it.

Now where is the King of RCT, Gonch?

He’s rubbing flannel-covered elbows in Nashville.

I used to play RCT. Now I don't.

(I was going to post just that, but even I can't be that big of a dick)

RCT is definitely responsible for my taking a slightly heightened interest in parks and coasters and turning it into full blown enthusiasm (at least for a good period of time).

Honestly, those couple of years around RCT2 with CB Games was so much fun. So many solid players pushing each other to stretch the game. It was a whole side community unto itself.

Then RCT3 came out and sucked and ruined it all.

Not a fan of the more freeform stuff. I like hard grids and the creativity that limitations force. Never really dug Planet Coaster. I did champion Parkitect for a long time, but I got in so early on the game that by the time it was officially realeased I had like three years under my belt and was bored with it. Still wasn't the same anyway. It's the little things like when and where.

I still have these super-tiny screenshots from the original official site contests:

Two things:

1. I used "Gonchar" in those official contests. 😝
2. Twenty-six? I turn 51 in a couple of weeks. Ugh. That's perspective. Half my life ago.

I laugh at how much I see real-world coasters looking like stuff we did back that that seemed so out there. Like, "Oh, can you imagine that!?"

I always felt like RCT definitely influenced the real world, but never really considered the idea of a "next generation" of ride/park designers that grew up playing the games. I think you can definitely see the connections.

You're not going to mention the pinball machine? :-D

I still dabble in RCT every so often (OpenRCT2 is great!), but I do remember going to K Mart back in the day to pick up the original and Loopy Landscapes... So many endless hours playing it over the years!

Lord Gonchar:

I did champion Parkitect for a long time, but I got in so early on the game that by the time it was officially realeased I had like three years under my belt and was bored with it. Still wasn't the same anyway.

I remember being totally jazzed with Parkitect when it was in beta. Did it ever catch on? I don't even remember when it was released--or that it even was released. I think I may have lost interest before you did.

Edit: I guess I could have spent 5 seconds discovering that it's available on Steam before posting unnecessary questions.

HeyIsntThatRob?:

You're not going to mention the pinball machine? :-D

Kept it about 10 years and sold it.

Would've been a good fit for this apartment.