The Future of Roller Coaster Videogames

The other day I was talking with a friend about the "Limit" of Roller Coaster Games.

I told him that the "Limit" will be a complete 3D world with graphics that aproaches to reality, and with all the options that a real park management have. All the rides that you can find at the parks, and all the themes that are available.

Also includes the option to be a guest and wait in line 15 minutes to ride a Coaster, and maybe chat with some other guest of the park. The option of buying Virtual souvennirs, and eat and drink all kind of foods, and play mini games to win prizes.

What do you think about it?

very true. I think if they ever to a total net capable RCT, it will have most of that, guess we'll have to wait till XMas this year to see what they have in store(though I don' t want to wait in line for my rides, thats why i have simulators;)).

You're never going to approcah realism until computers can achieve that with ease, and that won't be for another 10yrs when technology and prices can achieve such standards.

For now, you have your trade-offs... full on 3D graphics with a more cartoony look so they can sacrafice a few polygons for the sheer amount of objects that need to be in the game at a realistic pace... (see RCT 3, Zoo Tycoon 3D)
...or...
a 2D isometric point-of-view which offers limited views, but provides a much more realistic looking view, almost photo-realistic (see Sim City 4)

If I want a virtual amusement park, I'll visit one in person... people want where they can build & build their own fantasy park.

Ten years? I think you're over-estimating a bit. Have you seen what the current crop of 3D hardware can do?

Ok... a little exaggeration. I've seen some of the wicked things that the newest GeForce6 can do as well as what Doom3 & Half-Life2 will be able to do when (if?) they are released...

...but realistically... you can get as realistic as you want, but to really push a lot of little peeps, animated rides, blowing trees, & so forth will be really pushing the envelope.
...maybe a good 5yrs of development will see some marked improvements. But even with todays best games, you can still draw a fat line between the world of reality & gaming. Sound is spot-on, but character animation (especially facial movements) are really tough to get down pat. I honestly think it could be around 10 yrs before games achieve the quality that's in that "blockbuster" movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. 5yrs before they get good real-time animation like the Toy Story series.

Then again, that's just my guess, and I'm usually wrong (except when I'm right).

For some reason I see this being a possible reality in little over a year or two's work. People like Keith (Badnitrus) are doing AMAZING things in 3D software, and all it takes are those kind of people to team up with programmers to make one heck-uva program that allows for virtual park operation.

Sort of like the Matrix, huh?

Not really, sure, they can team up and build a program that will represent an amusement park in every aspect, but your computer would not be able to handle the load. If you want detail, visit in real life. There is no where else with todays technology you can get that kind of realism, even with nVidia's GeForce 6 ;).

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DawgByte II said:
You're never going to approcah realism until computers can achieve that with ease, and that won't be for another 10yrs when technology and prices can achieve such standards.

For now, you have your trade-offs... full on 3D graphics with a more cartoony look so they can sacrafice a few polygons for the sheer amount of objects that need to be in the game at a realistic pace... (see RCT 3, Zoo Tycoon 3D)
...or...
a 2D isometric point-of-view which offers limited views, but provides a much more realistic looking view, almost photo-realistic (see Sim City 4)

If I want a virtual amusement park, I'll visit one in person... people want where they can build & build their own fantasy park.

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Well, It is a kewl idea, and technology could easily be here maybe by 2005, i read an article on yahoo that Intel is developing a faster processer (10GHz) 6 times faster than today's computers, and with new technology the Terabyte could be released (1 trillion GB's) of storage so these goals of 3D are very real and could happen within 2005 to 2007 about 2 to 3 years or shorter, I think with RCT3D it will be pretty realistic, if its a big hit maybe this is a possibility, it would be cool, the only thing i don't agree with would be the que line waiting maybe it could just be a simulation only with other riders. We have to wait and see what comes our way before making judgements on what is to be. But don't you think we should inform Chris Sawyer of the Idea! ;)

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Zero-G said:
... but that's what I go to real parks for...

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The Sims: Online
But... that's what I have real life for!

The reason of including a que line on a "Future coaster game" is to give the game "All the possible realism".

Even if the game feature an instant front seat POV, the possibility to interact with people on the Que line could give an interesting perspective to the game. Don´t you think?

Jeff, I think 7-10 years time is a very plausable amount of time. There's a lot involved from transitioning from a fancy hardware demo to a real life application. First and formost...the computing power isn't there yet and will take awhile before it is. But even after it is, there is the even bigger problem which is consumer acceptance. That slows the pace of things down more then anything. There's people out there still running Win95 & 98. A program of this magnitude could quite possibly take far longer to write then current titles and therefore would need a larger staff to work on. A company would not devote those kinds of resources to a project until the vast majority of people could run such a program on their machines.

So until the majority of people out there have state of the art systems with super kick ass graphic cards, this will not occur. 7-10 years seems reasonable to me for that to take place. Depends a lot on pricing I guess too, and who knows what things will cost then! Probably 10 bucks a gallon for gas!

I think you're wrong. Graphics hardware is on a six-month product cycle, 64-bit CPU's are finally for real and memory is cheap. The "low end" GPU's in new machines were "high end" 18 months ago.

You're also incorrect in thinking that mass-market is the determining factor in pushing the harware and software. It's not. The hard-core gaming market spends a ton of money on this stuff, and that market alone is good enough reason to push this stuff to market.

As I understand it, the gamers are one of the last places you can sell a machine with a margin larger than "razor-thin".

Once Doom3 & Half-Life 2 come out... you're going to see a lot more people upgrading their computers so they can have the honor of playing the next generation of computer games.

Gamers probably make up a good 15% or so of the PC's out there (although that number is so arbitrary, I don't know where I came up with it). You're definately going to see a spike in new PC upgrades/sales if those games life up to their potential.

Right now, however... PC gaming just feels so flat & dead. It really could use a defibulator to jumpstart it again. Most people are upgrading so they can handle all the crap they're downloading on their new broadband connection.

First of all, since my computer Networking class is working w/ computers all the time, its really not that expensive to upgrade your system we upgrade P2's (Pentium 2's) all the time and i bet they could support just about anything and since most hard ware only requires about 7 volts to 3 volts better power is not a major concern, mind you they might be a bit taller than most PC's but over the years will shrink like technology always does. As for the number of consumers interested in gaming are willing to upgrade these days for a reasonable amount. yes i will agree PC technology seems a bit dead, but there are engineers out there that work constantly such as my cousin who works for Intel. They work constantly to make it all better. Roller Coaster has a big future if Roller Coaster 3D turns out to be success, maybe then can Chris Sawyer gain a pointer for RCT!

Well Jeff, what can I say? You always seem to have a difference of opinion from me. I stand by my opinion that the type of game talked about here is probably at least 7 years out. I also stand by my opinion that the mass market IS a deciding factor when making something of this magnitude.

Guess we'll know in 7 years huh?!! Even earlier if you are right. Tell you what. What is your timeframe for this type of game? I am curious. If your date is closer, I'll buy you a steak dinner at the best steakhouse in town. And if I am closer you can buy me a steak instead.

This may be one case where I'd be happy being wrong, because I rather have this kind of tech sooner rather then later! Either way..it's definitely going to get interesting.

Don't flatter yourself. I don't have the slightest idea who you are.

I say 4 years and I don't know any of you.

I say 4 months and nobody will even remember this thread. In order to assist the process, I will be keeping a score card of all the forecasts listed here. I will also be taking bets on who is right, and posting odds once the RCT gods grant me processor wisdom. Not only do the losers have to buy the winner steak dinner, but also hand over their first born.

And what shall be exchanged for my services? Steak dinner? Heck no; all this simple guy needs is a Double-Double Animal Style with fries well-done and a chocolate shake.

Don't flatter myself? That's about as far off the mark as someone could be from my personality. I never flatter myself. I'm actually more on the quiet and shy side.

But you're right, you don't know me. Does that mean I can't engage you in a friendly conversation? Frankly, I don't understand where all the hostility comes from. I don't feel that someone needs to be rude in order to get their point across.

I mean...we're here to talk about coasters, not put each other down, right?