Steve

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• United States

hell yea, nerds.

I'm really glad you decided to use this really great idea that I came up with but I'm really not glad to see you totally screw the pooch on the execution.

You better send this to me; it really is missing the Steve touch that usually elevates your work.

I want to fully Steve Review the Expo Miami map, but in the interim I will be sincere for a bit.

Scoop, and the rest of the Soda Jerk squad: huge congratulations. Truly. I have been in several H2H's both as a player and a captain so when I say "it's no small feat that you arrived where you did" -- I mean it. With the match being as close as it was, and with the maps scoring exactly the same... I would say we were evenly matched. How it shook out simply was at the preference of the voters it seems. I know it stings, but take solace in the fact that you came incredibly far with a remarkable season under your belts.

As for us in the Jazzcats: I also want to take this formal opportunity to congratulate not only Leon, but the rest of our gang, too. Our finals map would not be here without them. I joke around and try to gloat and take all the credit, but this was such a team effort that throughout building I was consistently stunned by the level of collaboration. In my twenty-something years of being apart of this community, I have never seen anything like it. Truly a testament not only to our team, but especially our captain's overall leadership. Leon, you deserve all the love from us and title as champion; your dedication and humility throughout this contest was inspiring. I think I speak for the whole team when I say: "thank you for everything."

OK, so, the park itself: our finals map honestly saw a few ideas and iterations before it arrived where it did. I unfortunately was teaching a month-long class for work, where I was mostly RCT-less (which is why I stopped "floating" for a while haha) in July or so, so I wasn't actively involved in those finals ideas. The rest of the squad did great trying to kick things off and pull some things together with some awesome results, still, and I hope to see them at some point. Eventually, we really arrived at something, but it didn't have steam and eventually Leon asked me to try to dive in on a new concept. We had just over two weeks until the deadline at this point.

I am really in the mindset (especially with not much time to spare) of doing something you know and doing it well. Throughout this process of building, I was fully self-aware of how this map was turning into Steve's Greatest Hits and the entire team made fun of me for it. However, the mindset I mentioned earlier meant that the end result needed to be impeccable. Did we get there? Eh, probably not. But despite the lack of clarity in the map's concept, I thought if we could make this thing look gorgeous as fuck then it might just have a shot. Even if the match was close, I hope this serves as an example going forward that even a boring theme that looks good can find success.

The loose concept though was ultimately "fountain of youth" hidden deep within an unknown jungle. We really wanted to cruise on vibes, motifs, and atmosphere. I started the theme out myself very much in the way of loose Aztec temple theming, with AVC coming in to inject some further elements, like the coliseum object, which I took and tried to extend across the map with waterfalls and pillars among the rockwork and foliage. We also had some spa vibes in the mix for any guests who come to the fountain's waters to find eternal life. With the rough concept in place with some equally rough macro in place, here's where we had the park at with one week until the deadline:

 Screenshot 2024-08-29 at 4.16.57?PM.png (1.16MB)
downloads: 81

At this point, I think a lot of us were kind of struggling with some direction. Others have mentioned it but AVC was also incredible throughout the contest in providing concept sketches for nearly every round, and this one was no different:

 IMG_6757.jpg (141.58KB)
downloads: 108

When AVC dropped this: I loved it. It maintained what was already laid out with expanding on the idea and concept. I think we got pretty close, and with more time, I would have personally loved to have gotten closer. Still, I think we landed on an end product that is absolutely stellar. With that, here's the breakdown of that end product as best we can ascertain: 

 Vere Aeternum 2024-08-29 14-46-57.png (802.51KB)
downloads: 91

I did the RMC, and 94 did the woodie. We definitely wanted to have a new vs. old vibe with the two big coasters kind of dueling each other in a sense. 94 also did a good chunk of the rides like the flume, hopper, and the Demon Drop-inspired ride hugging the structures on the right side of the map. Otherwise, most of the team did well with passing the file back and forth with some working off the side and others pasting things in. In the last couple days (including deadline morning), it was the most zen frenzy of building together in multiplayer ever, with everyone touching up things and polishing things here and there in the final hours.

Anyway, I encourage the rest of the Jazzcats crew to chime in with anything I might have missed!

Last thing: thank you to the admin team for this unreal season. We often take for granted everything you do for us with little in return. It means more to us than you know.

- deletes paragraph

- edits LHC plugin joke

- extends apology to admins

Okay, I wanted to hedge a little at the jump for this one because daddy had espresso in his coffee this morning and I'm full speed ahead now, sailors. Hard to port! Step lively! Belay that (I don't know what these mean, but I think they're nautical terms of some kind)! I recently decided to rewatch the Pirates of the Caribbean film series and I'm not done but, phew, what a wild ride. Action! Drama! Romance! Rum! The first one is arguably a solid watch but they get progressively worse, huh? That Keira Knightly, though... Orlando Bloom, even. Can't wait to see where the gang heads next (just kidding, I know where they head because I said I'm rewatching them. Don't ask me why). Alas, I digress, but it's a pirate's life for Steve.

Anyway. Let's run aground and check out Cirque, first (pirate diss!). Dudes, first and foremost: cool theme. If someone said in the group chat to take La Reve and Riverview out for a date and convince them both to fuck only to birth this map then give that nerd a raise. Hopefully RWE is paying you all fair wages. I'm making like, $20/hr with the Jazzcats right now. Regardless of monetary compensation, it does not excuse this absolute dumpster fire of a park. Nah, it's not that bad. Great ideas nearly everywhere. Is the execution of said ideas there? Sometimes! Gotta say, what's up with these tents, guys? What's up with this enormous mansion, guys? What's up with this Target not accepting my Circle Rewards, guys (I need pull-ups for my daughter and I'll be squarely fucked if the Gardners will stop me from potty-training her). The coaster is solid and a cool idea to launch it out of a goddamn cannon, but also, whoever is building your coasters needs to chill or play the game at 0.5x speed because I watch your RMC layouts and feel like I need a nap afterwards. I do like how crunchy everything is though. Good texturing. Who did that skull cave behind the coaster? I want names, because if you tell me names then maybe you'll get DQ'd. Surely someone on your team is either silly or angry enough to do that. hydro said architecture school turns people into assholes so he sounds like my man for the job. All of that to say: the skull cave is good and whoever did it should have sprinkled more of that around, cause like, damn.

Lonely Hearts Club (why did you pick such a long name, J K, and why are you guys lonely. Half of you are married and have children. Is everything okay at home guys? Therapy works!)... where do I begin? A park shrouded not only in controversy but also shrouded in clouds! Or mist? What's the difference? Water density in air? What are the CTR's named again? Let me click on one of th-- and the game crashed. Listen, you lonely yet adorable nimrods: this park is good... GREAT, even. But can you take a page out of your own teammate nin's book and "chillax?" You have some incredible landscaping and architecture in this map with an excellent coaster. Let it speak for itself! Because good RCT fundamentals have much more to say than whatever gimmicks you're tossing out. And I don't say "gimmick" as a negative. H2H incites them and invites them, but it takes more guts to ignore them than to use them. Put that energy into something more worthwhile. Like what? Oh, dudes, I'm so glad you asked! How about some waterfalls that look like they were built after the pandemic. I was scouring this park thinking "this is so good but something just feels off..." and mother of all fucks, I was craving some Tolsimir waterfalls here. With that opening scene of the hanging bridges over the ravine having some more textured waterways would have been Keira Knightly-levels of hot (see, I brought it back!). Take solace in the fact, though, that this is some of the best landscaping I've seen and you should have this player be your floater going forward if only to landscape your parks, cause like, damn.

I ended both park reviews the same way for comedic effect. Did it land? Jokes, ho (that's like when you're up on a crow's nest of a ship and say "land, ho!" but I turned it around for comedy. I wasn't calling you, the reader, a "ho." But I mean, how you spend your sex life is your prerogative, so)!