Park / Westwinds

99 Comments

  • robbie92%s's Photo

    I'll echo ITM's and Posix's comments. What's here is definitely high quality, though it's not quite the jump up from the realistic pack that Starpointe and WWAP/SFC were when they were released.

     

    I do need some time to further explore this, but it's commendable that you were able to finish this so quickly and so cleanly, especially with the jump in skills you've gained as of late. Can't wait to see what you can do with a more ambitious project/concept!

  • RCT2day%s's Photo

    Yes! I got acknowledged for helping or something!

     

    So my opinion seems to be similar to other's.  It's no Starpointe in terms of quality.  However, on it's own, it's excellent.  There's a ton of content here, some of which is Spotlight quality (Prowler, Whizzer, Flight Deck, Psycho Mouse).  But not everything is at that same level (mostly Fury), and I wasn't blown away with parts as much as I should be for a Spotlight (like I was for Starpointe).  Architecture was good, rides were almost all solid, it just lacked something that really impressed me.

     

    80% from me, with a "no" for Spotlight (if I was still a panelist...).  I plan on exploring more tomorrow, because there is a ton to see.  But hey, you know how much I love this park, your ability to produce it so quickly after H2H, and your dedication.  You've got more potential than any up-and-coming player I can think.  Looking forward to more from you.

     

    [Go Canes]

  • Maverix%s's Photo

    Fantastic, fantastic work here man.  

     

    As Bill has said, you absolutely nailed all the little Cedar Fair details.  While this may not be quite the detailed standard of Starpointe or SFSF (though it's very close) this thing nails the atmosphere of a Cedar Fair park.  You really did a great job with all the color and texture choices along with the building designs to create the colorful, clean atmosphere that Cedar Fair parks are moving towards (well at least the one's I've been to :p )

     

    While I'm sadly not on the panel anymore due to lack of time to take a look at every park in game, I gave this thing a 90%.  Not perfect, but you should be very proud of what you've made here.  Congrats

  • G Force%s's Photo
    @Psi: Glad you enjoyed the park, really wanted to focus on the CF atmosphere here, glad it seemed to come off well.
     
    @Six Frags: Happy you enjoyed the park too, definitely an improvement over my work in H2H, that’s for sure.  Too bad you’re going to eat your shoe now… 
     
    @Pierrot: As Bill explained, Cedar Fair is obsessed with trash cans…  I guess it works though, their parks are always very clean compared to Six Flags.
     
    @Version1:  Thanks!
     
    @Poke: Sorry you didn’t enjoy the park, I never really set out for it to be groundbreaking or amazing so its understandable why it can come off boring.  Cedar Fair is like that though, nothing amazingly original or groundbreaking, just simple.  But that’s why so many people enjoy CF parks I guess, because they don’t need hyper theming or amazing groundbreaking ideas to have a great park.
     
    @csw: Yea, originally it was going to be a full 150x150 map, but the object limit basically made that impossible.  There was supposed to be a lot more context and detail in the context as well, but sadly RCT said no.  Also, I got a bunch of suggestions to chance the colors on the floorless to single tone, sorry if you liked the old scheme better, but I think this one fits modern CF a little more.  I’ll keep the 2x2 oak tree thing in mind for my next park.
     
    @Bill: Trilled that you love the park, also glad to hear that the park is “Cedar Fair” enough for you.  Kind of sad more people aren’t able to recognize the little details like you can but oh well.  Architecture is definitely one of the areas I struggled with most, from my streams this is probably obvious.  Hopefully it’s something I can improve on in the future, just need more practice with it.  Also, those are meant to represent mowed grass.  Mostly because I hate the natural grass that grows in game and using 8cars to fix it every 10 minutes gets old.  Kind of helped make some areas a little less empty feeling as well, but yea, probably a mistake when it comes the object limit department…  oh well.
     
    @Posix: Hopefully you’ll get to see it in game soon, but glad to hear you enjoy what you’re able to see.  Perhaps I need to develop my own style a little more, as originality seems to be everyone’s biggest complaint, which I can definitely understand.  Trying to make the park a little more inviting and more appealing than the average realistic park was one of my goals though, as on my previous work everyone seemed to say I used to much grey.  Glad I was successful in this.
     
    @ITM/Robbie: Definitely can agree with this, to me at least it’s more of a piece of realistic park cannon (alongside Hudson, Violet Gardens etc..),  than a headlining entry.  I do hope to do something non Cedar Fair for my next park, so hopefully that will be a little more satisfying.
     
    @RCT2day:  Surprised you didn’t like Fury, personally it was my favorite coaster in the park, but I’m still really happy you enjoyed it.  Thanks a ton as well, hopefully I can live up to that potential, although I can’t make any promises.
     
    @Maverix: Happy to hear the park lives up to the Cedar Fair atmosphere, like I said it’s something I really focused on.  Especially the more modern CF style that they have been creating the last few years, it was something I wanted to include from the beginning and it seems I did a good job.
     
    Thanks to everyone else for the comments.  I’m interested to hear from Louis, Liam, and Sulakke as well!  
     
    Here is a gif I made of the construction of the park, OpenRCT2 actually makes this really easy with their giant screenshot feature.
    yOXPwOr.gif
     
    I just want to thank everyone who has given me suggestions and criticism over the past few months.  The park was a blast to build and simply won’t have been possible without everyone’s help, direct or not every little bit counts.   The park turned out so much better than I ever could have anticipated because of this, I never dreamed of getting such a high score when I stared and even when I submitted it becoming a Parkmaker was definitely not something I expected.  I’ve been playing RCT for a long time now, over 10 years, and this is probably the first real park I’ve ever finished.  I guess you could say it’s my dream park, mixing styles from Paramount, Marriott and Cedar Fair into one.
     
    For my next project I hope to complete something a little more original and different, which I never set out do on this park so I understand why people criticize the park for it.  It may just be me, but I think a lot of people struggle to finish things or enjoy building because they are pressured by the community to be original or unique etc...  It’s important more than anything to build what you enjoy rather than what you think people will like, at least in my opinion.  Hopefully this park inspires people to finish projects of their own in the future, or even start something new.
     
    At the moment I have nothing new started that I have serious ambitions to finish, might try to work on that LL park, or perhaps try something a little smaller scale in RCT2 next.  Usually, it takes me a while to really get inspired or motivated to start something new.  Hopefully I’ll be able to participate in whatever contests we have in 2016, along with some other projects, but I can’t make any promises. 
     
    Thanks again everyone, this positive of a response is something I never expected, it really means a lot to me.
  • chorkiel%s's Photo

    csw, might I ask. How come 75% + yes? That should have some interesting thoughts behind it.

     

    G Force, I liked this a lot. My thoughts lay near in the realm of what posix has said. This was really good, but it still felt a lot like Starpointe fan fiction to me.

  • Poke%s's Photo

    I think this needed some solid theming. The park just lacked some variety in terms of architecture and textures so it just got a bit samey and boring after a while. Trust me it's a solid park, but I think it's not special enough for spotlight.

     

    You should be proud  cause compared to Magnum Xl, you've immensely stepped up your game.

  • posix%s's Photo

    What a great guy you are G Force. Love your attitude.

  • FredD%s's Photo

    It’s important more than anything to build what you enjoy rather than what you think people will like, at least in my opinion.



    Some very wise words! The reason I'm still building on FUCK, because I have so much pleasure doing it.


    It's a great release, it's rct realism at his best. I only visited some CF parks two years ago so maybe I'm not the right person to say that it really feels CF-ish. But it just is. I'm impressed by the cleanliness, the lay-out of the coasters and the foliage. The archy is also very good (but still, my Coasters rule :p ).

    But I have to say I understand the doubt between spotlight or not (I'd chose yes). The technical level is undoubtedly spotlight worthy. But it lacks just a bit of content. I know most American parks don't do theme zones but I'd made a western village around the log flume's area. That's something most parks have and it would still be ultra realistic.

    Congratulations on the gold, the high score and becoming NE Parkmaker! All of them are very well deserved. it's amazing how much progress you've made on such a short time. And even more amazing how you've build such a park in just 6 months...
  • Coasterbill%s's Photo
    Congrats on the gold but you got screwed.
  • csw%s's Photo


    csw, might I ask. How come 75% + yes? That should have some interesting thoughts behind it.

     It felt like a spotlight, like it belonged in the same category as thorpe and sfsf and the like. But it's not the same level of amazing as starpointe. Hence a yes vote but lower percentage vote. 
  • Austin55%s's Photo

    Fuck, that really sucks man. 

  • nin%s's Photo
    This didn't get Spotlight? I swear this site will never see another one if people keep the bar set so incredibly high. Did EVERY spotlight before this have something innovate to offer? No. Because we had a Cedar Fair park win spot, does that mean every park after should be compared to it and seemed "fan fiction"? Why does this not apply to the Six Flags parks that be won? The Disney parks? This park is incredibly realistic and at times better than those aforementioned parks.

    If this is what a gold park is, then stop giving every other park of decent quality the same award because it literally becomes just a sweet little stamp that gets it onto the front page and means absolutely nothing.
  • bigshootergill%s's Photo

    Man, what a park! My impressions of this park as I keep looking at it, I'm just blown away. It's crisp, clean, realistic, right down to the smallest of details. I was honestly expecting an 85%+ from this park, you're clearly among the elite builders G-Force. I was honestly surprised to see any votes below 80%, but to be fair it's not 100% either, so there needs be some sort of balance to be found in the votes. Nonetheless, now that you're really digging into the game, I'm excited to see what you polish to perfection for your next release. Congrats on the gold, 5 spotlight votes (and many more spotlight supporters), becoming an NE Parkmaker, an honorary title you've earned!

  • robbie92%s's Photo

    Kyle, I feel like the "fan fiction" comments are coming more from the style of the park rather than the actual content of it being a CF park. The realistic spotlights you're referring to (not including SFSF because that's not spotlight-worthy these days) all offered something new in terms of the execution of the park and created stylistic leaps from the previous realistic styles. SFC was like no other Six Flags park in its unparalleled attention to detail from ride details to layered history, Starpointe was unlike any other realistic park in its more colourful, vibrant execution with its embrace of a more fun atmosphere than any other realistic park to date. Westwinds is definitely a fantastic park, but when stacked up against parks like SFC, WWAP, and Starpointe, it doesn't offer that same "newness" that those three parks did.

     

    However, your comment on the proliferation of golds is something I definitely agree with. Gold is a high standard if you look at it as our modern "blockbuster" parks, but the amount of Golds won recently, particularly with the H2H parks, degrades the perceived quality of the accolade. Gold is nothing to scoff at, and should be seen as a great achievement, so this park getting gold shouldn't be a disappointment; it's what Gold-level parks should strive to be.

  • Six Frags%s's Photo

    Yeah, there should be some kind of "Platinum" category for parks like this that didn't make Spotlight with the yes/no percentage and 80%+ scores.

    This in no way compares to any H2H park getting Gold or for example the last Gold park http://www.nedesigns...ts-movie-world/

     

    Sucks this didn't get Spotlight, I really thought it deserved it :(

    Ah well, at least you got a Parkmaker spot I guess..

  • chorkiel%s's Photo

    It's been indeed a weird year for Golds. Including H2H we had 28 gold parks, yet no spotlight. I feel like spotlights are put to such an extreme bar. 80%+ is spotlight contender but it feels like some people only consider 90%+ to be worthy of spotlight. Of the last 6 spotlights only 1 had a score below 90.

  • alex%s's Photo

    I can't believe this has a score so quickly... Less than 24 hrs??

    Anyway I've only just been able to download and see it. First impressions are that it's fantastic and probably spotlight worthy. Yes it lacks innovation but makes up for it with the story and timeline you've woven through the park and all the little details that sell the realism. Aesthetically it's clearly great too. Regardless of whether it's stylistically a continuation of starpointe, you're clearly very skilled at working with colours and composition.

    I'll write a longer review (and give you an irrelevant score!) later when I've explored it a bit more. Congrats man!

  • G Force%s's Photo

    I don't really have an issue with people calling it fan-fiction.  Initially my idea was to make a park that would fit in the same universe as Starpointe and shared a lot of the same trends and stylistic details.  In my opinion Starpointe does a better job than possibly any other park in history of imitating a real park chains style, some old Disney parks come close, but lack the detailing and visual depth of SP.  

     

    I hope that this doesn't set a trend though, which really already seems to be happening, that people believe that Spotlights must be completely innovative, new, mind blowing, and unprecedented..  Because really, there is going to come a point where innovation on the level that people expect is just never going to happen anymore.  We kind of have been spoiled with the last 3-4 RCT2 Spotlight parks, which I think has curved peoples opinions of what Spotlight really means.  I know it was a completely different era, but if you look back at many of the old spotlights, a lot of them are very similar almost indistinguishable in some cases.  That coupled with the rapid increase in difficulty in completing a full scale park has basically made Spotlight achievable for anyone but the absolute elite builders.  

     

    Hopefully I don't come off as a whiner, but I hope we aren't quite as demanding going forward.  NE just isn't the same as it used to when 75% of the parks get Gold and the rest are Silver.

  • Steve%s's Photo

    This thing is Spotlight worthy. I understand that this park doesn't exactly break new ground, but come on. What does it take to impress us now? This is a full scale park, done at a level of detail and skill that is what we expect of a great park these days. Like I'm honestly deadly curious: WHAT do we expect of a Spotlight? We need to take a serious look at how we judge things, I think. This is a great park. Even better than Thorpe Park I think, and that was something of semi recreation just like this one. Why is Thorpe better? Just cause it was more "fun?" Truly don't understand.

     

    Having said all that, I haven't given the park a proper once over, but this thing is just impressive. We need a revote. I agree with Kyle. The bar is set too high.

  • Liampie%s's Photo
    I'm with Robbie. There have been so many golds this year, you'd forget what it means... And yeah, I think many golds we've seen should've been silver. Silvers should've been bronzes. The spotlight category is the only one that hasn't been inflated, and I'd like to keep it that way. This park shouldn't get spotlight just because the panel has made some poor decisions in the past...
     
    Pro-spotlight guys (some of you), maybe the park isn't as good as you think. Different people like different things. I liked this park a lot, it's well made. Clean, quite flowing, realistic, vibrant! Enough to warrant an 80% score. But I think there's some flaws too. First of all, the park is boring. I've seen it all before, and not just once or twice. The only original things I saw in this park are the spiral coaster (lovely) and the mowed grass trick (it works!) But I don't care if the density of trash cans mirrors that of the average Cedar Fair park, it's not interesting or fun to look at. At least, not to me. Some shorter notes:
    - Layouts: not bad, but they didn't stand out. Meh.
    - Architecture: meh! Is there any building that's not generic and taller than one story? Seriously.
    - More on architecture: I really like your clean style, but watch out for the Shotguns syndrome. Undefined trims and things.
    - I think the park missed the imperfection and awkwardness that make realistic parks credible. I didn't think this park was immersive. It's too 'composed'.
    - I'm not saying it should've been a themepark, but some different stylistically distinct areas would help giving the park and all its rides and corners more identity. Everything blended together into a sea of genericness. Genericness benefits from a varied context, I believe. It could become a theme itself, paradoxically.
     
    Well fucking done on finishing a park of this quality in such a short amount of time, very impressive. It's a well deserved gold.
     
     
     

    It’s important more than anything to build what you enjoy rather than what you think people will like, at least in my opinion.

     
    This is the right attitude. I'd love to see a theme park by you - could be mindblowing - but if you want to build CF parks until you die of old age, go for it!