New Element - Park - Ports of Magia

Scorchio Offline

I reckon it's a great park to win Spotlight... and it wasn't a Disney park, which makes it even better in my opinion.

posix Offline

hmm, i don't know. not a spotlight for me, but the area around the arrow wasn't too bad, i guess.
the wannabe-sierra glen was just "ouch" and the rest semi-realistic. i like parks that are clear in style. this one wasn't.
like x said, this is standard and doesn't excite me.

if I only posted parks that absolutely wowed me and gave me visual orgasms, then probably only Toon, Kevin, X-Sector, Mala, and cBass would win.Â Well, probably Natelox and Fatha too.

which is exactly what everyone else who has an idea of parkmaking thinks. honestly, i think it should be that way. well, heh, maybe not kevin, but you know...
i mean how can you possible give spotlights to people just for the sake that they're not on the "top players list" ?! i find that quite funny, really. also, you are no spotlight selector when you feel you must put away your personal preference. it makes you objective by force, which never works. trust me, it just makes you unhappy because you call things good which, when you're honest, are just boring you.
also this "some may say yes, some may say no so if you belong to the "no" group, you must understand that we can't please anyone with our picks" argument. quite confusing how you can give spotlights to certain "groups" of people. i think it's just taking the easy way out saying "you can't please everyone". especially seeing as there have been spotlights in the past which, by and large, did please everyone.
so to state my point; spotlights have to be strong parks. there can't be weaker spotlights. that's a contradiction in itself.
if you're looking at a park thinking "hmm, i really dunno, spotlight yes? spotlight no?", then to me, the penny has dropped, no spotlight. simple as that.
sure, seeing as the overall talent of the site has dropped withing the two last years, it'd mean we'll possibly have only one or two spotlights a year, but personally, i wouldn't mind at all. just aslong as the spotlight stays "golden"!

edit; i forgot to say that it seems as if you consider the fatha's, nateloxes, x-sectors and bla to be sterilised? "we'd only have parks from them". wait until slob sends you his solo. okay, okay, it's posix and his annoying slob fascination again, yet what i mean is that there can always well be players to reach up. and from your post, corkscrewed, it seemed as if artist didn't by any means. so again, i don't really understand why you'd give spotlight.

Ride6 Offline

^ouch.

I can see why it was a spotlight though. Even the "weakest" area (the one with the giga imo) was excellent in quality and exicution but very little of it was terribly original or very infectivily exciting. Personally I agree that the spotlight should contain major universal apeal from either a mind-blowing talent or creativity standpoint. Maybe both.

Even so I consider this park to be one of the upper crust of rct2. But the spotlight has to be more than that... It needs to be one of the absolute best, ever.

But I do like the park and if nothing else it gives me hope that I will win a spotlight one day myself. Since it no longer seems quite so far out of reach (like the top of a cliff and I'm at the bottem)... Now it seems to be up a mountain, all I need to do is clime (er build a solo

)

ride6

rctfreak2000 Offline

Well if you were trying to generate buzz around the spotlight, ya should have given it to The Milieu Corkscrewed =P

lol, jk.

Overall, good park, but I liked BGE better than this. I dunno, I personally would have rather seen both get SRU, but hey, whatever works best.

Congrats Artist.

Geoff Offline

Watermelon Valley was definitely my favorite. The water coaster was AWESOME.

I enjoyed the park, and it was definitely appeasing to me. The thing that bothered me most about this park, was that the type of areas you chose (not including Watermelon Valley) are things that are seen ALOT and are some parkmakers' trademarks (strong points etc.) .

I can't really write reviews. So yea..

CONGRATS though. This is truly an honour. Don't let anyone rain too hard on your day.

Micool Offline

I also felt that this park was not looking better than the other "super runner-ups." However, I am glad that it won spotlight if only because the bar is not climbing to an eternal height anymore. Now if someone could just lower the bar...

sloB Offline

i'm not trying to rain on your parade, chris -- honestly, congratulations on winning spotlight and getting that parkmaker spot -- but i don't think this park was anywhere near spotlight quality, and i told you that. if i could honestly say that this park was completley original, i could then begin to consider it spotligh-worthy, but that obviously isn't the case. each area seems to be explicitly based on someone elses work, possibly with the exception of the 'watermellon' area. the entrance is a blatant rip of john's venetia harbor, the giga from the other area is highly influenced by my giga in future aspects, the area with the wooden coaster has its obvious influences and i think the area with the rapids looks exactly like something jkay would have made. in addition to these major issues, the park as a whole seems to be based on the styles of a couple of parkmakers -- including turtle, john, steve, jkay, voodoo and myself. usually, each talented parkmaker has his own little idiosynchracies which define his work; little rules by which all work is made that create an overall asthetic. i look at your work though, and see the idiosynchracies of all these parkmakers. so many little details which you have transported from your favorite parks to this, instead of developing your own little nuyonces and details which make up an overall style. all of this 'influence' creates a park which looks like it's less your own work than it is the work of your favorite parkmakers. as i told you on aim, anyone can make a park which combines all one's favorite elements of other parkmakers, but a truly creative and special park is beautiful and original, at least to an extent. now granted, everyone is influenced by other work. i myself am a sucker for rrp's work. that's not to say though, that i go around memorizing all his work and then simply transporting it to a map of my own. it just doesn't work that way. honestly, i am flattered that you like my work and i'm sure the other guys are too, but at the same time, it kinda sucks for me to see you winning spotlight off of all this work that isn't completley yours.

bah, i started rambling there, but what i said at the beginning stands chris. congratulations, and let's hope for some more original work in the future. if you can achieve originality, i think youll be a very very successful parkmaker.

gir Offline

Ugh. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but those "Drachen Fire-esque" drops are getting annoying on those Arrow coasters. Please, be creative.

John Offline

I would be inclined to curse Corkscrewed's name and say that Corkscrewed smokes crack because his choices are awful.
The reasons should be fairly obvious on that, I hope. If not, I'd be glad to elaborate but I think slob did a pretty nice job.

Tech Artist Offline

Congrats Chris! I knew you'd get a Parkmaker spot one day.

Burano: This area was very nice and wasn't overwhelming. The buildings were at the right height and the colors worked well with the area. I also liked how you put Assarie right in the middle of this area; it is a great centerpiece for Burano.

Piraeus: Anemous was awesome. I liked where it sat, the layout was great, and the color of it definitely goes well with the rest of Piraeus.
The architecture is nice as well except there was a little too much marble, but only a tad bit. I like how you put some blue in there right next to Assarie. It really went well with it.

Val Desaire: This is the best western area I've seen to date. The architecture reminded me of Steve's Mandarin design but was still original. The woodie could have been a little better. It seemed slow in spots and the way that it was laid out, it looked crowded. The architecture at the top was nice.

Watermelon Valley: This is a very unique theme. At first the colors seemed way to random but for some reason when I saw that Fruit Factory, they all seemed to fall in place and work well together.
Professor Tooty's Factory Tours is the best water coaster I've seen in Rct. I really liked how it snaked its way around and through Watermelon Valley. Nice work.
Some of the buildings look a little blocky but only a little bit.

Calypso Cove: While the architecture is nice, the colors seemed random and a bit too vibrant for my tastes. I know what you were going for but that is just my opinion.
Eruption was pretty cool and I liked how you based it of Nemesis. My only problem with it is it was not long enough. My favorite part of Eruption was that Zero G Roll over the queue. It reminded my of S:UF's barrel roll that goes over it's queue.

Overall you did a spectacular job on this park. I think it is a nice change to see some traditional, yet thrilling parks (Which are 1 of my favorite types of parks because of that warm, inviting, and calming feeling they give you.), winning here at NE. Another thing that is amazing to me is how fast you built this. It seems like just yesterday you showed me the 1st screen of this.
Congrats Chris on winning spotlight and getting a Parkmaker spot at NE3. You definitely deserved it. I can't wait to see more from you.

Edit: I forgot to mention this. I like how you made your own queues instead of using the regular queue paths.
The pirate area of Calypso Cove was pretty cool as well. It really gave a nice contrast to the rest of the area.

chapelz Offline

Edit: I forgot to mention this. I like how you made your own queues instead of using the regular queue paths.
The pirate area of Calypso Cove was pretty cool as well. It really gave a nice contrast to the rest of the area.

Hmm what recent park did that? Freak? I'm just saying Iris is like he produces he produces. Tell you the truth I can go throw together GCC, PoD, and a X-Sector look-a-like areas and come up with something creative in 1-2 months should I get a spotlight for that? I think no. I mean thats a slap in the face to parkmakers that actually sit down think up their own areas and actually do something creative. Honestly I loved Watermelon Valley but that's not going to make up for 3/4 of the park be a carbon copy of other parks. I mean this is just not fair to those parkmakers. I guess NE has come to the point where people just can't wait for quality parks so clones are put up to keep the masses from leaving the site. I just feel for these parkmakers that worked hard coming up with their own style only to see it become a "Spotlight" for someone else and make them a parkmaker.

tracidEdge Offline

A lot of people do stuff like that. It's not like freak just thought of that.

Meretrix Offline

I really enjoyed this park. As loud as certain parts of it were, there seemed to be a kind of "homage" to earlier RCT2 parks. Or maybe I'm smoking some of the crack that Corky is on...

Anyway, congratulations on your achievment. Watermelon valley was fab. Strange that bold colors could actually strike a sense of realism.

Looking forward to looking at more of your work.

Cheers.

Corkscrewed Offline

X, don't worry. I was just joshing around. Don't think I think you're being pompous.

which is exactly what everyone else who has an idea of parkmaking thinks. honestly, i think it should be that way.

You're entitled to your opinion. But then, if nothing comes for several months, do I wait a year to get a park that's better than the last Spotlight? I don't think the bar should be that elitist. To me, that borders on being snobby. Basically, while you may think it's okay to wait months, even years, for a "THE SPOTLIGHT," I don't. This is the best park I've gotten in four months. I cannot really assume that I'll get better. It's quite possible that I might, but who knows? In either case, that is merely a part of my reasoning. The fact remains that my gut feeling said this park was Spotlight-worthy. The other stuff merely confirmed it.

i mean how can you possible give spotlights to people just for the sake that they're not on the "top players list" ?! i find that quite funny, really.

I didn't give it to Chris just because he wasn't on the top players list. I gave it to him because he's produced two great parks within the past month and this one fits the quality in my opinion.

also, you are no spotlight selector when you feel you must put away your personal preference. it makes you objective by force, which never works. trust me, it just makes you unhappy because you call things good which, when you're honest, are just boring you.

If I hadn't gotten to know you better over the past few months, I'd probably be insulted by that line, which imposes your opinion on me. Firstly, the park did NOT bore me, because I would not have put it up if it had. Secondly, I didn't say I completely put away my personal preference. But to use only personal preference in choosing a park is pretty ludicrous as well. I balanced the two. And just because the park didn't appeal to you doesn't mean I was bored to it. Honestly, I thought you were above condescending assumptions like that. The park might make YOU unhappy, but I enjoyed it. Don't assume that I didn't.

quite confusing how you can give spotlights to certain "groups" of people. i think it's just taking the easy way out saying "you can't please everyone". especially seeing as there have been spotlights in the past which, by and large, did please everyone.

How many Spotlights HAVE pleased everyone? SWA, RoB, and then Phantasia? EVERY park has its non-fans. I don't pick parks "for people," I merely recognize that different people have different tastes. I'll assume that you misinterpreted my statement.

so to state my point; spotlights have to be strong parks. there can't be weaker spotlights. that's a contradiction in itself.
if you're looking at a park thinking "hmm, i really dunno, spotlight yes? spotlight no?", then to me, the penny has dropped, no spotlight. simple as that.

I can understand that. Although I can cite a lot of other Spotlights here at NE that gave me mixed feelings.

edit; i forgot to say that it seems as if you consider the fatha's, nateloxes, x-sectors and bla to be sterilised? "we'd only have parks from them". wait until slob sends you his solo.

I was just using them as examples of what would happen if we held a strictly elitist view. I don't think Spotlights should be glass ceilings. If a non-parkmaker makes a good park and I like it, why shouldn't it be a Spotlight? It's like people are clamoring for a perfect park, and only that can be a Spotlight. If you're always looking for that, you'll be looking for a while. Frankly, I think that sometimes, some people have too high of a standard. Going back to Posix's comments, if I judged every park according to "our" definition of great, very few parks would ever be released. And then people would start getting discouraged, thinking it's not worth it. And then either they'd leave and go to other sites, or they'd stay but not do much.

Now I've always been an honest guy, so I'll be brutally honest. With the exception of X-Sector, Slob, and John, I don't think any of the people who've commented "negatively" about this Spotlight can match Artist's quality. And it is MY OPINION that if you can't do better than a certain park, you cannot truly criticize its merit. Now, I'm not saying you can't criticize it period, but I don't think you can genuinely debate quality until you've reached quality. It would be like me trying to critique architecture with the likes of Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies Van Der Rohe. Yeah, I can indicate my opinions, but I can't expect to have my arguments hold any serious weight.

So basically, if you're just expressing an opinion on the park, that's fine. That wasn't aimed at you. But if you're questioning MY judgment, then that's just silly.

How's that for an elitist statement (since so many people seem to hold an elitist view on the Spotlight)?

EDIT: Hey, ya know what? I really want cg? to post his comments. In fact, I'm really anticipating his response. :lol:

AustinPowers Offline

Great job chris! you definitely deserve the spotlight and the parkmaker spot....don't worry about the critics too much. The people claiming that your park was influenced by turtle, jhon, sloB, steve, voodoo, and jkay are forgetting that everyone is influenced by others....and that your influences, which they claim are 'blatant rips', are from people they all hail as amazing parkmakers....so if you can make work like them then I say congratulations because that has been deemed parkmaker quality. And about the originality....imo your park was not a 'blatant rip', I actually found it fairly original for that style, it was influenced by others that build in a similar style to yours sure....but I certainly hope no one is trying to say that they 'own' that style...especially because it is clear that there are quite a few people that build like that...ie slob, john, voodoo, turtle, steve, and artist....hard to be original when there are sooo many people building like that these days...yet parks built like that, built well, are deserving of recognition. So, you deserve the spotlight and I'll be awaiting your upcoming parks.

PS ^well put cork....and you can critique architecture with me anytime...though it sounds like you have different tastes than me (I don't like Corbu or Mies....I can deal with some FLW though...I prefer more along the lines of Palladio and a lot of stuff done by McKim, Mead, and White)

Corkscrewed Offline

PS ^well put cork....and you can critique architecture with me anytime...though it sounds like you have different tastes than me (I don't like Corbu or Mies....I can deal with some FLW though...I prefer more along the lines of Palladio and a lot of stuff done by McKim, Mead, and White)

Heh, well, those guys are regarded as modern masters, so I just plugged those in. Louis Kahn too.

Palladio I know. Don't recognize the others, though I assume they're a firm. I actually have two levels of taste in architecture. I have the "famous" stuff that is universally regarded as "great" and some of which I like, and then I have "common" stuff, like resort architecture and retail stuff and general works that probably won't be remembered 50 years from now, at least not architecturally. :lol:

Jacko Shanty Offline

you all seem like you're getting awfully defensive about the negative feedback. i mean, all spotlight parks get negative feedback. but this is the only park where everyone is all, like, hardcore. as for the park, i liked it.

Micool Offline

BTW posix. Your argument is flawed I think because we can all totally tell that you'd make slob's park a spotlight without even thinking about it. Because it's your personal preference. Well some of us (no offense slob) don't find slob's work as masterful as you do so I think the definition of a truly remarkable spotlight is completely up in the air.

PS this is just me being pissed about knowing I'll never win spot :'(

Toon Offline

I think you guys are being a little ridiculous about the whole copying styles idea. I honestly don't see it. How is that giga like the one if future aspects? It's a giga-coaster, of course it's going to be similar. I mean it's really ridiculous to tell him he doesn't have a style of his own. I definitely sense that he has his own style working. It's amazing how one person can suggest that and then person after person jumps on the Artist is a copycat bandwagon. When you're working with a limited colour scheme and texture options, of course things can look alike.

The problem for me is that I only really like about 50% of the park. I don't like your architecture very much and find it very repetitive with only the colours and textures changing. Nothing in either this or BGE captures the atmosphere of the themes you're attempting here. When I look around the park, I find myself often varying between thinking 'that's nice' and 'that doesn't work for me at all'. The coaster line up is actually pretty good, but there wasn't one coaster that I really wanted to watch more than once. When I find a truly great coaster, I find myself watching it over and over and over again. They kind of hypnotize me. I'm not a big fan of the bright colours in Calypso Cove, but that's a personal preference. I do like the colour scheme of Watermelon Valley, it was very original and well put together. However, even that area lacked any magic for me. I didn't like the architecture on the factory and thought it was rather sloppy and random, and the watercoaster was lacking water imo. I'm not gonna sit here and critique the park forever tho. Hell, at least you can finish something (2 parks in such a short period of time) whereas I've been sitting on IOA for 2 years, so congrats on that. I don't think the parkmaker spot is unwarranted and I expect to see a lot of improvement from you in your next park. I wouldn't have given the park a Spotlight tho if it were my call. Fortunately for you, It isn't my call

As for the spotlight question. I have talked a little to Iris about my thoughts. I honestly feel that Spotlight should be reserved for parks that have an obvious brilliance to them. If you open the park up and have to think about it, then it shouldn't win. If this means that there is no spotlight for 6 months, then so be it. If it means that there are four in four weeks, because that many amazing parks are submitted, then so be it. Spotlight should be the ultimate park achievement and I think by giving the award away too easily it tarnishes that achievement. In Corky's opinion this park was worthy and I respect that, but I hate to see it being awarded because it's the best park submitted in the last 4 months. It may be the best you see for 4 more months, but that still doesn't make it worthy of Spotlight.

Congrats Chris, and I do look forward to seeing more parks from you in the future. You'll probably release at least 6 more before IOA is done.

Highball Offline

...and closest of all, Iceman's Disney park (which would have won if not for Disney parks flooding the market.)

Not to start up an argument (I'm glad I got SRU), but this statement doesn't seem fair. So what if Disney parks are flooding the market? If one is better than the others, don't let those others drag that one down.

Anyway, congrats on both SRU and now this Spotlight, Chris. I'll take a look at the park later. I've already turned RCT2 off for the night.

Poke	90%
Cocoa	85%
MCI	85%
Fisch	80%
inthemanual	80%
Stoksy	80%
5dave	75%
Liampie	75%
Xeccah	70%
Kumba	60%
78.75%

Park / Ports of Magia

73 Comments

Scorchio Offline

posix Offline

Ride6 Offline

rctfreak2000 Offline

Geoff Offline

Micool Offline

sloB Offline

gir Offline

John Offline

Tech Artist Offline

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tracidEdge Offline

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