Park / Son of Kumba

50 Comments

  • Comment System%s's Photo
  • nin%s's Photo
    Yep, you did it. You ruined it.

    Kumba, from the start of construction I advised you to never lose sight of what made Kumba so great, that being the original vision/intention of it: to recreate a roller coaster at BGT. The entire 'sequel' idea was good, as sequels can be, yet you ignored the fact that Kumba was ultra-realistic as it was an actual coaster at an actual park with actual characteristics. You simply took what was good about the first one and blew it up to new proportions in the second.

    Kumba, you are the Michael Bay of RCT.

    The coaster itself blew any believability away as it didn't even fit the characteristics of a B&M stand-up. When you first started work on this, you and I spoke over AIM and (even if you don't recall this) I laid down some of the characteristics of a stand-up. I must have skipped over the launch bit as I didn't think even YOU would have though to include one.
    That alone threw off the pacing of the ride, and then you covered it up with a fucking cat?! Strike number two! That alone just about blew this entire thing for me, as you have so much hard-core RCT building going on, and then a huge balloon of a cat face on the lift hill. Did you think that that looked good?

    Other obnoxious bits of parkmaking appeared with the block that was the cave, one of the most useless bit of 'theming' in the design (seriously, do you even consider feedback?). The custom flat killed the realism, as even if it were based on a real ride concept it looked as if it were straight out of DRC. Maybe you could have saved it by include some bits of real-life operating equipment? Something needed to be there that this could in fact happen in real life.

    The station was impressive, yet dominated that portion of the map when it didnt need to. Kumba's station was so nice as it fit into the area, it complimented it. SoK's stole the show, in a bad way. There's no need to include full sized switchback in a station, that's what the queue area is for.. which itself could have used work and shows that you have little idea what queue/ride interaction is. There was a moment where the ride does a helix right by the queue, allowing for an impressive view for the guests who are nearing the castl- err, station. Yet, you block it with a fence? Why? You could have at least given them some signage to read on such fence!

    Kumba, when you first released your namesake I was very ecstatic to see what other jewels of realism you could bring to us. After what I see now, I don't want you to ever come back to the genre. Fantasy is where you belong.
  • deanosrs%s's Photo
    I normally just read here these days but nin, the only thing obnoxious around here is your presumption that you can instruct other people how to make their parks. You're free to not like it and express that opinion but your attitude of "do you even consider feedback" is ridiculous. I'd go so far as to say you're talking to THE most experienced RCT 2 player ever here and you think he should consider your feedback? And how do you know he didn't consider it but just decided to go with something else? The best thing about Kumba's parks is that he's always built them for himself in his own style.

    Anyway, I've got to say that it's right up my street. The layout up to the loop round the lift is ridiculously cool - it gets a bit too windy and twisty for me after that by the looks of it from the overview but I can't open this in game right now as don't have an XP machine on the go right now.

    I love how it's on the same map as the original as well - the slightly different style creates an interesting juxtaposition. Maybe you should build a grandchild of Kumba which is just your standard insane fantasy style right next to it haha!

    I like the helix to finish of the course too, nice touch.
  • Metropole%s's Photo
    As a quick response, I pretty much agree with absolutely everything nin said. For me to give this a score worthy of design was a testament to some of the skill required to make this, but there were so many issues I had with this that I will go into when I get a chance (and yes, the ridiculous cat thing is one of them)
  • SSSammy%s's Photo
    i agree with nin. you took something that was wonderful and... well, congrats on the accolade, i guess.
  • chorkiel%s's Photo
    For parkmaking, this deserved a really high score.
    Hadn't it been that you attached Kumba to it.
    Kumba did not fit with your design,
    the simplicity elegance and flawless realism are pretty much disturbed by this overblowing son of him.
    SoK is really nice but the style doesn't match with Kumba.
    This one is overkilled with all those (needed) supports and that immense overpathing track.
    There are tons of things that I love about this though,
    The 3-point shootout is just amazing!
    The cat-head near the entrance is really nice
    I like that custom flat though I have no idea what it's supposed to be/resemble.

    Congratulations on the design!
    I'd like to see this one and Kumba seperated though, a map without kumba and just this one.
  • turbin3%s's Photo
    On a single map SoK wouldn't have won design.
  • Metropole%s's Photo
    I disagree. If anything, the contrast with this and kumba makes this look worse. Anyways, I judged it on sok alone, though looking at it again, I would had scored this lower than I did.
  • Cena%s's Photo
    I agree with Nin.

    It just killed everything that Kumba acchieved for you...
  • turbin3%s's Photo
    Metropole, that makes no sense, if I got you right. If you would have scored 5% lower, it would be a 60% = no design win. :p
  • Jaguar%s's Photo
    I usually am not interested in designs, but this was excellent, it wasn't as good as the original, but I think it deserves a score a little higher than it has.
  • Luigi%s's Photo
    I have a bit mixed feelings on this one. I think it would be a solid design on it's own, but it is very hard to look at this without looking at Kumba.

    The lay-out looked great from above, but looking at it kinda destroyed if for me. A stand-up coaster with a launch section could work, but not with Kumba next to it. The cat which covers this section was waaaay too simple. I just know you are capable of creating much better looking sculptures.

    I felt that this launch section also destroyed the lay-out a bit. It went way too fast during the first half of the ride. I also was not really a fan of the ''cave?''. Again, I know you can do better and I felt it was a bit random here. However, I did really like the new object for supporting loops.

    For the part after the midcourse brake I had mixed feelings as well. The lay-out was good here, as was the pacing, but I think this area was a bit too cramped. There were too many things to look at, while other areas felt a bit bare. The station was OK I guess, but I felt it was an adapted version of Kumba's station. The queue was nice, but I did not really like the fencing here.

    The two other flat rides were nice, but again: not next to Kumba.

    Overall I think this deserved a design, but it could have been a bit better. Next time, please just put it on a separate map. Congrats on another design.

    Oh, forgot to mention: sick logo!
  • Austin55%s's Photo
    I've not been able to download this as I'm not at home, but from the overview I think this looks quite impressive. I like it actually, Alot. More than the Original. But I should hold full judgement till I see it in game.
  • robbie92%s's Photo
    While I think it was presented a tad harshly, nin's point could be considered valid in this situation. I remember you telling me that SoK wasn't meant to be ultra-realistic, but what you would make if BGT asked you to make something. However, even that lends a sense of realism since you're putting this in the context of a real park, only magnified by the inclusion of the original.

    The layout had some really nice points, but a lot of it was ruined by the pacing; it just went way too fast through the layout. I think it was Blitz who said that a layout needs moments of tension and release, or bursts of excitement and breathers. A launched coaster like a rocket coaster is certainly an exception to that, but this type of layout should conform in some way, with the speedy parts being amplified by the inclusion of slower, drawn out parts, like Hulk's helix-type thing around its hill. That being said, I loved the post-MCBR layout itself, even if it was too fast.

    That cat... well, yeah... Not really my cup of tea, and it really brought the design down tbh, in part to its size and the way it interacted w/ everything. You go to these great lengths for realism, creating new realistic objects and supports, and you blow it with the floating cat head. If it was smaller and shaped better, it may work, but atm, it's a detriment.

    The surrounding details are all nice. I LOVE the 3-point challenge, especially it being operable. The foliage was meh in a sense that it's your general jungle bush bonanza. I understand that you like bush, but you gotta add some trees or grasses or something new! Kumba had great foliage, and considering SoK is right next to it, I'm surprised it wasn't carried over.

    All I can say is that, yeah, I thought this was design worthy, for the details and the effort involved. However, I agree with nin that a lot of what was suggested to you over AIM or the forums was ignored. I can't say this is your best work, as I feel it's a cop-out to both realism and your DRC-style fantasy, and isn't as successful as either.



    Deano, even the most experienced player should be able to consider advice, especially from the younger guns. I understand that Kumba could've chosen to ignore it, but it's also okay that, if he asks for advice, he really should consider it.
  • Metropole%s's Photo

    Metropole, that makes no sense, if I got you right. If you would have scored 5% lower, it would be a 60% = no design win. :p


    That is correct. With the issues with the pacing, the stupid cat, foliage etc mean, that upon another look, I would not have scored it as a design winner. In my first post I said the reason I did score this as a design was because of some of the skill required. I didn't say I still believed it to be design worthy.
  • trav%s's Photo
    I hate to say it, but I agree with JDP's score for this. This was truly awful, and this 'skill' that Metropole scored it on is not obvious to me. The coaster layout was pretty dire for a stand up, the foliage was awful in parts, the station was extremely basic as it was just a block with a roof on it with some poles holding it up, the flat ride was quite possibly the worst thing I've ever seen in a serious RCT attempt, I mean come on, there's a reason that it's never actually been made. The actual theming was bland, there's a difference between realism and just having some corrugated steel huts, the cat head was waaay too blocky and just generally ugly, and I HATE THAT PATH COLOUR, it's so bright that it just distracts me from looking at anything else.

    There were a few things I liked though; the little basketball thing was good, and I liked the queueline and the SoK lettering. The netting was a nice touch too, and although truly awful in places, for the most part the foliage was good, just a little too sparse.

    I really hope this isn't your new style anyway, I much much much prefer Bayfront and DRC to this kinda stuff.
  • pierrot%s's Photo

    I really hope this isn't your new style anyway

    yeah.

    this park is worth of the accolade. but, something missed from you..
  • nin%s's Photo
    Deano, when you post a screen to receive an almost entirely unified negative response, then maybe you should actually listen to the people talking to you.

    And I could care less if this is one of the most experienced rct2 players or not. It is because he is one of the most experienced that he deserves what I, along with others, have been telling him. It's crap park making, and just shows Kumba milking what he thought made the original so great, but obviously he was very wrong.
  • inVersed%s's Photo
    The harshness in this topic is a bit absurd to me. Technically speaking, this is a good design, and is very worth of the accolade. I appreciated the layout for the fact it seemed like your old style clashing with this new realistic style but it definitely worked. I really was not a fan of the custom flat but besides that I enjoyed this. While this was not as good as the original Kumba it is still quite a bit better than some of the other designs I have seen on this site.

    Had I not been a lazy ass an actually voted for this design I would have given it a 80%

    Edit- i just thought of something. It's been a while since I have been to BGT, so I am not sure if you did this, but it would have been cool if you would have expanded your recreation of the park and integrated the Son of Kumba coaster its real surroundings. Like play it as BGT added another coaster to the line up in this area of the park. It seems like you started with a blank pallet and built whatever you felt like instead of considering what is actually here in real life.
  • RRP%s's Photo
    I agree with the love/hate here.Some of the design was pretty decent and some pretty terrible.
    Its got that crammed full of brown and green feel in areas along with your better realistic style.A total style clash.

    Remove the cat heads,ugly flat ride,random cave and trim down the jungle bushes and its much better