Planet Coaster

[PaulC2K]

Planet Coaster
Website URL: https://www.planetcoaster.com/

Planet Coaster is the future of coaster park simulation games.

We’ve created a living world where every guest is an individual with their own personality and money in their pocket. We’re giving you limitless freedom to build rides and scenery piece by piece, and to seamlessly blend them with your own hand-sculpted terrain. We’re building a connected global village where everyone can share in your creativity. And that’s just the start.

We hope you’ll join us to dream, build and share the ultimate coaster parks in Planet Coaster.

Announcement Trailer

Planet Coaster is being developed by Frontier, the studio which gave us the Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (but not 1 & 2 or the upcoming RCT World) and more recently Elite: Dangerous.

Its currently in development, with early access available around March 2016 (£49.99) with pre-order (£19.99, discounted) available also but with no known estimate for release.

Theres been a little discussion about the title in the RCTW thread here, and what little they've shown does seem positive and the original RCT titles are still very popular with fans of the Theme/Sim/Tycoon genre.

Side note
If you're simply reminiscing for RCT's of old, rather than fancy shiny 3D versions to bring back those warm fuzzy feels, there is a game called Parkitect (Trailer | Website) which is a spiritual RCT HD remake of sorts, which is in development. Also OpenRCT2 is looking to do what OpenTTD did for fans of Transport Tycoon Deluxe (and likely other Open Source remakes).

It seems like Rollercoaster sims are making a comeback!


---- August 2016 Update ----

Planet Coaster will be available to pre-order from Steam on August 25th, for £27 for the basic game, £30 for the 'Thrillseeker' version which adds beta access, soundtrack, sketchbook and some other minor cosmetic items. ).

The game has also been announced for release on November 17, 2016. After this point, the game will be sold at the higher price of £30 for the standard version.

If you pre-order from the Frontier site before the 25th you'll eventually receive a steam key for the Thrillseeker edition, and thats still at the original £20 price too. IIRC refunds are available from Frontier on the game itself up until release, so if you dont like the beta you can cancel. Steam may well have different rules, they may count the beta access gametime as part of the 2h limit on refunds. Check before you purchase if its a concern.

 

[PaulC2K]

Dev Diary - Part 1

Having just watched the Dev Diary im really impressed with what they're showing, the little bits that they've done (are working on) already.
The characters are really nice, simple but detailed, individual, and their animations convey personality really well.
What really impressed me was the visitor pathing system, the debug display for how they move and interact with each other was great. Coupled with the character animations to express their mood, it looks very good.

Those sort of technical demonstrations really appeal to me (for what its worth, i loved the SimCity tech videos too - so what do i know!) because I like being able to understand how it does things, genuinely, not what it tells you - ie fudging stats, teleporting things etc. These silly little things go a long way towards explaining to me the developers level of interest and effort towards the simulation. It doesnt make a bad game any better, but its reassuring knowing this is the level of detail they're working towards.

 

[PaulC2K]

Correction, Frontier only made RCT3... which was the worse.

Really? I thought they'd done all of them I've always gone back to #3 because of it being the most recent and dont recall 1 or 2 being better, to the extent that everyone seems to refer to #3 like its the ugly duckling of the series (without the transformation)

Thats got me concerned a little, if the only one they were involved in is considered the poorest in the series. That said, its the end game they'll be judged on, and use past performance for things like DLC and patching issues.

Updated the OP, doesnt sound quite so impressive now
Its odd, cos in the sub-reddit the description starts "Planet Coaster is the next evolution in coaster park simulation games from the team behind the genre’s benchmark.".
I dont know who made that claim, its very similar to the statement on the sites homepage (its the quoted text in the OP) and i ended up using the version on their own site as it just read better to me, it could be a fan made that 'benchmark' claim, it didnt seem unreasonable when i was under the false impression they'd made all the RCT games released to date.

 

[PaulC2K]

So these are the available buying options for Planet Coaster right now.

http://planetcoaster.mikehagendoorn.nl/

Is it just me or are they just seemingly ripping people off right now? £30 more just to play the 'beta' version. £25 just to get early access to 'dev diaries' and 'game devolpment updates' (you don't even get the game with this option).

People go mad at game devs for releasing 'DLC' packs or 'Season Packs' for a year etc yet these guys are charging £30 extra just to play the beta.

The reason for the £25 'Coaster Head' with no game, is because it was added for the people who wanted both the early access (game but no gimmicky items) and the coaster head package (game & gimmicky items but no EA). So this is basically a booster/add-on to create an 'early access coaster head' for those who wanted.
I caught a thread on Reddit for people asking them to do this, and i thought they'd said they'd also do a EA-addon too (EA access, no game) for those who bought the coaster head but want EA.

 

[PaulC2K]

Yeah, i dont like that practice either. They did it with Elite: Dangerous, and it stopped me from buying it on a whim as a result, and once i'd watched more videos i quickly realised it probably wasnt going to be what i wanted (a stop-gap till Star Citizen had more game content) as it seemed a little hollow and repetitive.

IMO, paying the RRP is more than enough. You're getting access to the game before its finished, and any problems you have you're providing them feedback, you're an audience to get feedback from etc, and the reward is getting it 'as-is' before its finished.
Ignoring the fact that RRP applies to only Origin, Steam etc for illegal price-fixing reasons to keep retailers happy and mistakenly feeling relevant, you can get most games for about 25% cheaper ahead of release & shortly after, but then to charge a premium to be the tester too, thats taking the mickey. Adding 66% onto the RRP is an insult.

Its also worth pointing out that the £29.99 is also a limited time price. They *could* put the price up to £34.99 tomorrow, or £49.99, we dont know. Maybe they'll wait till a month before release, maybe they'll give advanced notice '1 week left at the discounted price, pre-order now for big saving' etc.

Going back to the beta-access price, I can only assume they do this because A) they can, and people still pay. B) They probably dont need that income as they have a publisher financing them. C) Too many people, too many voices. You have say 5000 people who're so interested in playing their game they're paying extra, are likely to be a good sample of their core audience with a like-minded view, and not people that picked the game up with a casual interest, muddying the waters.

-edit-
I think Elite was £50 for beta, and £40 for release pre-order. Its possible this is following the same path, if it was originally £30 and later went up to the £40 price.
Looking on kickstarter, digital copies went from £20 (first 10k), £25 (5k), and £30. Then at £50 is "Participate in the second round private beta test, plus all rewards above.". So its following the same route, so maybe theres info out there as to when they bumped the game price up to the £40 price. Whether it was 6mo before release, the first month, or when they released the launch date.

 

[PaulC2K]

Dev Diary #2

Some screengrabs from the video

Spoiler

Looks absolutely amazing! The visuals are very good, but when you can see they're building the sets with game assets to give the location a specific vibe, its really impressive. The way they're able to manipulate the landscape and create caves and mountains which look pretty realistic (as realistic as they need to be, for a game with an art-style similar to a Pixar movie) and i'd actually read earlier today from a Dev Q&A the coaster builder would be similar to what they had with ScreamRide (XBOne game) and looked that up, and now seeing them using it here, im happy with how it looks. I was a little unsure when i read it'd be piece-by-piece, because of how its been done in the past with jigsaw-like pieces. This seems more like play-doh where it can be manipulated to good degree of technical detail while still allowing it to stay simple to use.

Stills show that there are themes for Western, Fairytale and Pirate (what we're seeing here). What concerns me a little is that they seem to be suggesting there wont be any access for the modding community. You'll be able to build things in-game and share them, but custom assets doesnt seem like it'll be possible, and yet when theres games like Cities:Skylines you'd think it'd be an example of what a community can do for you. IF thats what they're doing, can it be anything other than an excuse to sell themed DLC? Futuristic, Industrial, Aztec, Medieval etc

I still cant justify their early access price, but i could be tempted to pre-order the regular version later on, it certainly looks very good and a much more in-like with what i think most people have been looking for in an accessible modern theme park sim.

 

[PaulC2K]

2 time lapse videos:

Pretty much what we'd seen from the previous Dev Diary, but showing you how they were created. It seems simple enough to be able to get a desired look without too much effort.

It kinda reminds me of Little Big Planet, giving the user the tools to do a great deal of customisation that anyone can do, while also giving the more creative people the power to do some really impressive things.

 

[PaulC2K]

Dev Diary #3 - Build, Create, Share

Keeps getting better & better.
Im looking forward to this entering public access, i wont be getting the alpha though i'll probably pre-order later on, but i'll be glued to various twitch & youtubers to see what its capable of.

 

[PaulC2K]

Forgot to post that they were doing a livestream at 7pm heres the video though, some decent in-game footage in there, some concept art etc.

Everything they've shown has looked really impressive, and theres still likely a good year before its released.

 

[PaulC2K]

Yeah, it wouldnt be so bad if it was full priced early access, but this double-price access is annoying. I dont care if its because they want to imply that its steep so only true die-hard rollercoaster enthusiasts will buy it, because fanaticism & money to throw away done go hand in hand. I could be rich and board and get it, or a huge fan and skint and be locked out.

At least if we could play it in alpha state for 12 months, looking at what they've got, it wouldnt be so bad, but double-price entry and a wait is painful.
Still, they'll be tons of youtube videos and twitch streams, not quite the same but im not paying £50 for a game they're selling for £20. I just might get that version though, before it goes up, which it inevitably will do and the page implies too ("Pre-order now to join us for a discounted price!"), which is what Elite Dangerous did.

I miss the days of Russian keys etc being viable

 

[PaulC2K]

Not that im saying this to change your mind, i wont be paying £50 either, but the early access begins at some point this month, and while i cant recall hearing when they're aiming for full release, i doubt it'll be within the next 12 months.
That said, its a full game they're letting us preorder for £20, and selling 'early access' & full game for £50, so £30 to play it a year earlier is pretty much what we're talking about. As mentioned, the 'we only want real fans' doesnt wash with me, how much money you can put into a project doesnt determine the quality of the opinion you'd give, it doesnt keep out people who arent really really big coaster fans, to ensure the feedback is on-point etc.

Cos im stupid and forgot last week, theres going to be another live stream on YouTube at 7pm on Wednesday, talking more about rides.

https://www.youtube.com/c/PlanetCoaster/live

 

[PaulC2K]

Same. I think if the game was say £30 and +EA was £40, perhaps i'd be able to justify it. Yeah, i could wait for a sale and get it for less, but then thats another 3-6mo further away. However £30 is reasonable, and £40 gets it me today etc.

However at £20, i cant argue with that price (im certain it'll be ~£30 on release), and when the +EA is £50, its a gulf in prices.

It seems like most people will be priced out of it, and yet youtubers & twitch streamers are going to love this, because the price locked out most people who'd want to buy it, and so content providers are going to be our next best thing for a year or so, they're likely to see it as a decent purchase, even for small channels.

 

[PaulC2K]

The livestream is in 20min if anyones interested, talking more about the actual rides this time, it should be available to watch within about 30-60min after also (if theres no replies on this thread, i'll just edit it into the post later)

 

[PaulC2K]

One minor concern i'll have with the game for a couple of months is the fact that we only have part of the game working, as it stands theres no currency, income, or management to the game. What there is, is pretty much an unlimited funds sandbox with a fraction of the end content.

I kinda wonder whether once theres a consequence to spending money on bushes and intricate detail, rather than on more rides, shops or staff, will it turn back into a min-max kinda game where you do enough to satisfy the guests needs, or will we still be making venues which feel authentic and attractive?

I want to be building a Disneyworld/Alton Towers rather than a Six-flags/Blackpool pleasure beach, and with no management aspect to the game currently, its just a 'paint a park' simulator, we dont really have much to go on, and it kinda concerns me that building the stuff we're seeing already is going to be extremely expensive and out of the question on most parks until we've got a decent income, and it may end up being a case of building a basic park and gradually making it better, rather than even making a small beautiful park and growing.

I absolutely love what they've implemented so far, but its worth remembering theres a heck of a lot missing still, and we dont know how far along that is (they could have a build with early management stuff implemented, but months away from being in a public build, or they might only have the basic framework built but not implemented).

 

[PaulC2K]

Yeah, im well aware of the state of the game, ive been the one posting updates and videos for the first few months till we got closer to the early bird access.

Im just saying theres a fairly significant element of the game not present, a fundamental element really, and while its been pretty amazing seeing what can be done, we dont know whether or not its going to be financially prudent once that element of the game is implemented.

What we're seeing, and some people are playing, isnt quite representative of exactly what they'd be doing when they have a balance sheet and repercussions for the lavish parks they're creating.

I just think its worth taking that into consideration when we see these heavily detailed parks, this is what we'll be able to do eventually, but with financial constraints its going to look a lot closer to what we've had in the past (minimal decor), until we're in a position to go big and throw large sums of money at creating a *theme* park, rather than just an *amusement* park. Thats going to be a good few months away it seems, and the difference between what we're looking at and calling a beautiful park and a bog standard one, could be a couple of million worth of income earned over many game years, rather than effort to make it pretty (which is the only difference now).

Maybe these lavish parks will self-fund themselves with higher entry fees, or maybe there'll be some impact but the scale we're seeing people go to, is so extreme it couldnt really be recouped by increased income, you'd need to charge £200/person when the game says people wont pay more than £50 if you want decent entry figures. Theres a lot we dont know.

 

[PaulC2K]

Yeah, theres no way it'd be a 16gb requirement. I cant believe any game in the next 12-24 months would dare release a game where 8gb isnt acceptable.
Even 'recommended' specs, i can imagine games like The Division (no idea) might say they'd recommend playing with 16gb, but i think 8gb minimum will be with us for 2-3yrs to come.


Has anyone heard anything from the devs lately? Seems like they've gone back into their shell since the first alpha release, i kinda hoped they'd continue with the diaries as i found those very interesting. iirc they were saying about 8wks for the 2nd phase alpha, which i think was primarily terraforming. Feels like that should be any day now, and yet its only been 3 weeks

 

[PaulC2K]

Alpha Update #2 is out.

Its got terraforming, a handful of coasters, some new flat rides, and a few other bits & pieces including some changes based on community feedback & natural progression of the feature etc.

Its looking very good, but as ive said with the first version, until theres a management aspect its still just a sandbox for making something pretty... which is fine (and it looks amazing), but not a game yet. I wouldnt say theres reason for concern, the way they've done everything so far suggests its a high quality title, its just hard to judge the 'game' aspect till theres an objective and challenge.

 

[PaulC2K]

Hopefully this means the stuff being shown this week will include the management side of the game, something thats extremely important, right now its purely sandbox mode and this period of "lets make beautiful complex parks" hasnt been challenged by practicality of spending park funds on hedges and theming, rather than on a new coaster. Of having a policy of guests pay for their hats, their burgers, their entry fee or ride fee etc.
Its a sim where money doesnt exist and everything comes free and unlimited.

Seems possible that with the steam pre-order starting next week that this could well be when an Elite style price-bump happens. They bumped that price up to full retail rather than a discounted price, and we know they're doing a discounted price now, but we dont know whether them listing on Steam will continue a preorder discount as many titles do, or if it'll go up a nudge (ie 10% off, if its currently 25% off) anyway.

- yup, looks like it is (links wont be there cos its a C&P).

Hello coaster creators!

As we prepare to move to the next phase of development, Alpha 3, we have some important news concerning the Steam Store.

A quick recap: on August 23, 2016, the Planet Coaster Alpha 3 will officially be released. As of Alpha 3, Planet Coaster will require Steam to run, meaning you need a (free) Steam account to be able to play the game.

On August 25, 2016, Alpha will be closing to new players; current players or those who upgrade before this date will be able to play all the way through to Beta and release.

As of August 25, the following products will be removed from the Frontier Store:

• Planet Coaster: Early Bird Alpha Edition
• Planet Coaster: Coaster Head Edition
• Planet Coaster: Deluxe Edition
• Planet Coaster: Early Bird Upgrade
• Coaster Head Club Upgrade
• Planet Coaster In-game VIP Single Ticket
• Planet Coaster In-game VIP Group Ticket
• Planet Coaster In-game VIP Staff Pass
• Planet Coaster Foundation Stone

The Frontier and Steam store will then have the following products available until release:

Planet Coaster £26.99/€33.99/$40.99
Planet Coaster: Thrillseeker Edition £29.99/€37.99/$44.99 – this version includes an in-game Golden Hat for your avatar, a Gold King Coaster mascot, a digital sketchbook, the Planet Coaster Official Soundtrack and access to the Planet Coaster beta.



Please note that these new editions do NOT give you access to Alpha and this can only be purchased by getting the Early Bird edition of the game before 25 August.

Anyone who has already purchased a pre-order of Planet Coaster will be given ALL the extras of the Thrillseeker Edition including Beta access, as a thank you for your continued support and feedback during the development of Planet Coaster. So with the current lower price of pre-order until the 25 August it’s the perfect time to pre-order or join the other Early Birds in Alpha now.

Please see the general Steam FAQ here.

-- Edit --

The ability to buy access to the Alpha ends on the 25th
Game only goes from £19.99 to £26.99 (Launch price is £29.99)
Game + Soundtrack, Digi Sketchbook etc and beta access (Beta date & duration unknown)

'Upon the release of Planet Coaster all pre-order customers will be granted a Steam Key which can be redeemed for game access via the Steam client'

Cleans up a chunk of what i was saying. So until the 25th you can pre-order for £20 rather than £27 before release or £30 upon release.
I know we have NMS fresh in the news as a stark reminder of the risk of preordering titles, however the difference with this and many other games is seeing legitimate content and hearing hands on thoughts beforehand from regular players not reviewers, and certainly no blind release etc.
If you're preordering and have a change of heart, you can still cancel upto release. See what this weeks announcements and content shows off, theres still a week before the first price bump.

edit #2 - Seems that reading through their forum comments, its clarified that pre-orders made via the frontier store will get a key for the Thrillseeker Edition (Game + Beta + Soundtrack etc), and i'd assume those with extra perks (VIP, Early Bird etc) will get keys like DLC would in order to access any additional content. So that £19.99 version (here) gets you the £29.99 version, if done before the 25th. After the 25th, the only 2 purchases possible will be the basic game (£27) or Thrillseeker (£30) as offered on Steam.

 

[PaulC2K]

Theres a couple of new short videos on their YT channel if anyones interested, i presume their earlier livestream will be uploaded in full too.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzpQvNnyoKgpu0lJdeXbFmQ/videos

Nothing hugely significant, but a couple of highlights being the ability to remove supports on tracks and bridges, remove the ride entrance 'gate' so it can be themed directly without having things forced upon you, and the colour adjustments to assets.

I kinda expected they'd do a range of simple walls will swappable materials, a few brick colours, wood styles, plaster, plastic, metal etc, but this is just changing the colours of pre-set areas of an asset.
This means you can change the colour of a building easily, but if it included textures then it could change the style beyond just colour, their way means if you wanted to swap brick for wood, you'd need to remove existing blocks and replace them, all of them.

Theres another stream from 3pm but i think its more of a community thing, showcasing what others have built with Alpha 2 etc.

It also appears as though Alpha 3 has the economic simulation in there, im assuming they'll talk about it during the full stream, ive only seen it present in screenshots so far.

In fact, i'll quote someones reddit post...

Things announced (from memory so might be missing some):
- Revamped coaster pieces
- More coaster pieces
- Coaster "handles" to help select track
- Recoloring of track
- Smooth algorithm improvements and smooth all/smooth banking separation
- Remove supports
- Remove entrance archway
- Paths can lock to building grids
- Blueprint functionality and pre-built buildings
- Fairytale theme
- New locale - desert
- Water
- Recolor scenery and walls

Things noticed (but not officially announced)
- New coaster types - looked like some RMC track and definitely Eurofighter track
- A few new flat rides shown
- Money and ride stats in game

 

[PaulC2K]

Seems even the brick pieces theres the ability to tweak 4 (iirc) colours, so if you wanted a darker red brick you could do that. It didnt seem to do direct colour, so if you picked blue the brick was tinted blue, rather than being solid blue, which is probably better. Would be nice to change materials, but i suppose theres so many unique blocks you'd only really be able to make material changes on a few simple pieces and not the ones themed anyway.

Apparently tomorrows livestream at 11am will talk about the management side, thats the big one for me, as much as i love just how much creative influence you have and the realism and variety of the park elements, management is the foundation of the game, without that its a sandbox. Im not sure it makes for a particularly exciting stream with things to show off compared to building and showcasing new rides and whatnot, but its important.

Todays streams should be uploaded at some point tonight, apparently.