Park / Audubon Society's Field Guide Series I - Cardinal
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17-January 23
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Forget it Steve, it's Chinatown.
Sepulchre by the Sea
AJ-Audubon Society's Field Guide Series I - Cardinal
SteveChinatown
roygbivPablo Escobar's Hideout
RobDededeVoting Rules
Steve - let me pull out my typical adjectives for your work: peaceful, well-layered, well-composed, natural, humorous. They all apply here
roygbiv - go big or go home amirite? This is a nice submission, though admittedly some of the object choices baffle me (Millennium Force? Texas Giant? US flag on top of a tall building?)
Dedede - this is really cool, I'm a sucker for scripted sequences. The piles of cocaine around the map were my favorite detail
AJ - love this! It's gorgeous but eerie at the same time. I can't decide if I want there to be a larger payoff or if I want to just exist in the vibe
AJ - This is exactly the kind of shit I love to see in Micro Madness. Weird and artsy, an aesthetic I don't think I've ever seen in rct, and taking advantage of the small format to be artsy and think outside the box. The colors and the composition is really beautiful and the kind of work I've come to expect from you at this point. I'm particularly obsessed with the light beams at the top. I do think that some extra way to add a bit more activity would have helped (though not a ton, given the subject), and some of the construction might have benefitted from a few more smaller details to really up the execution. I think the aesthetic is at an 11 but the drama and content factor might have benefitted from being turned up just a bit. While this one may have taken less time to explore, I looked at it longer cause the vibes.
Steve - This is exactly the kind of work I expect from you, and I'd say that both as a positive and a negative. It is hard to top Steve atmosphere (trust me I've tried) and it has this effortlessness to it that. At the same time, this feels like what I expect from you, and Micro Madness is a contest where the unexpected has often reigned supreme. While I love this, I'm unsure it can compete with a bigger idea unless that other park lacks significantly in execution.
roygbiv - Love the combination of NCSO and CSO pieces in this, I feel like it suits a chinatown aesthetic really well, and you've been really clever in how you've repurposed a lot of different pieces. You've done a great job of including a coaster without it taking over or looking forced, and the archy, crunchy details, and half-diagonal work is all top notch. While this does feel really fresh, I also can't help but feel like we've seen this concept a lot in micro madness, and it might have benefitted from some extra 'edge' to turn up the drama.
RobDedede - Honestly, this feels like a huge glow-up for you. I haven't seen your work in a bit and this is spot on with the quality we're seeing across the board. Well executed, a unique style and aesthetic. Before things started exploding, I think this was already a great entry. The narrative and use of the exploding rides to blow things up was so cool. I do wish the end result was a cleaner 'exploded building' look, but that is more an issue with how that dynamic functions. For me, great execution and a narrative I went back to watch a few times made this a big contender in this group.
This is a wildly difficult group for me to vote in. All of these are well executed, all deliver on an aesthetic, I think each of these could win in a different group. Ultimately, for me personally it comes down to who I think delivered not just in execution and atmosphere but also taking advantage of the format of MM and would continue to do so moving forward. For that reason, I voted Robddd #1 and AJ #2 by a squidge over the others. But a big congrats to all builders on an excellent group!
1) RobDedede - HUGE W dude! What an entry this is. Crazy good set pieces and a very cool atmosphere combined with the story you gave it make this one of my favorite micros of the contest.
2) AJ- - I love the colors and vibe of everything! Dramatic scene well executed with finesse. The music is nice too, and fits perfectly.
3) roygbiv - Chaotic but well constructed, everything comes together to work in harmony. Some things felt a bit chintzy, which I guess goes with the theme, but they threw me off (Millennium Force sign for example).
4) Steve - Nice atmosphere and everything here looks nice, just wish there was more to look at and something to take up more of the space.
For first place I have to hand it to RobDedede for his brilliantly themed and animated entry.
For second place, I was struggling, but I decided to vote for AJ despite there not being much content because of the atmosphere. I would have voted for Roygbiv since he had more content, but it didn't quite cohere for me unfortunately. so he gets my third place.
Steve made a fairly good micro but it doesn't have the haunting atmosphere of AJs or the content of roygbiv's. It has part of a coaster which was arguably more than AJ's swimming sea creatures so I guess it's a case of mild success versus a grander misstep.
Every micro was good in some way. Good job to all the entrants and may each get a worthy park score once the contest is over.
Aj - Super strong atmosphere. The color selection is so strong kind of warps you into it. Love the little fishy flying around, that gold accent echoing those funky spires. And that emblem with the lines coming out... I feel like this would be a really cool t-shirt. The composition is pretty sublime, a really cool shape for that alter. Love all the little details in the strict pools of colors. Just so well executed and atmospheric.
Steve - The snowy mountains you did here are so nice and crispy I want to pour flavor syrup on it and eat it (snow cone). Kryp rocks looking nice here too. Little details like the shore foliage and he water gradient, very nice very nice. Coaster looks bad ass too, would be cool to see this terrain coaster fully in full and stuff\\
roy - This coaster is incredible and pure fire flames. One of my favorites of the contest, I love all the concepts like the curved station. All the context is so dense and loud and texture heavy and I love it. It feels antagonizing ina good way like tha.t big city lifestlye is you know. I cant get enough of this coaster though I really like it and the buildings around it/
dedede - great theme. So brilliant, and the storytelling. Architecture is so sharp and infrastructure too. Like those little boats the crane, so good. It's so sleak and clean and well designed but the concept you did with this scene really makes it a home run. The atmosphere created by the scene and your theming with the vehicals and the product and teh action. Holy guacamole. And that ending. So good Rob.
Yet again I'm finding this round incredibly difficult to vote on. It almost feels like we have the four pillars of RCT presented to us...
Steve – An achingly beautiful, tranquil slice of perfection. No tile is out of place and it's the standards we've come to expect from you.
AJ – Innovation, ambience and expression that couldn't be done in another competition and have the same effect.
Roygbiv – Realism forward, street scene, small touches and crunch that make us fall in love with what's going on.
Robdedede – Narrative driven, realist execution with big excitement attributes and storytelling.
Honestly, I could vote for any of the entries as my first choice happily. I'm conflicted to choose at this time as I want to spend more time looking at a near perfect round.
I'm adamant that a cutout of a larger scene or park works well in a micro format. Seeing a roller coaster train come in and out of the scene makes you speculate and visualize what might be going on in the larger park. At the same time you are not distracted by the bigger picture but can focus on a single element and its surroundings, as is the case with Audubon Society's Field Guide Series I - Cardinal. Good shit.
1) Chinatown by roygbiv
-Concept:++
-Content:+++
-Quality:++
Overall; Reminded me of the Tokyo Dome park cp6 and Maverix did in H2H9. Incredible how much you fitted into this 15x15 map. Everything has such a high quality, from the coaster to the architecture and interiors. Little things like the painting session interior, bike racks, pathing, and all the little lights and ornaments on the buildings make this one of my favourite micros so far!
2) Pablo Escobar's Hideout by RobDedede
-Concept:+++
-Content:+
-Quality:++
Overall; Great storyline event to start the micro with, reminded me of Gangland a bit (which is a very good thing). The structures blend well into the nicely sculptured landscape, and the foliage with the colour scheme give it this fresh tropical feel. Little things like the speedboat delivering the drugs, then the forklift transporting it to the lift, which furthers it to Escobar's building is just all well thought out and give it this polished feel.
3) Sepulchre by the Sea by AJ-
-Concept:++
-Content:+/-
-Quality:++
Overall; Yay, custom music! And very fitting here, adding to the atmosphere of the deep. Nicely sculptured centerpiece, and lovely gradients to create a nice fade effect. Wish there was a bit more content though.
4) Audubon Society's Field Guide Series I - Cardinal by Steve
-Concept:+
-Content:+/-
-Quality:+++
Overall; Very high quality scene like you did in H2H9 with Blue Pearl, but now in a more icy setting. Love that you started to use the new Fisch rocks and it's no surprise your use of them is top-notch. Also love the movement of the coaster dipping in and out of the scene every now and then, which adds some much needed aliveness to the whole. Great composition.
#1 - AJ - I am stunned by how much of a punch this packed, considering how scaled-back the contents are. There is only one ride - and no trackitecture. No peeps, No staff. Just this dreamy, beautifully detailed structure, and the fish slowly leading the diver around. I'm not sure if this is referencing something else, but I don't care - it's a beautiful scene. And on top of that - that music. It grabbed my attention immediately, and kept me looking at (and listening to) this scene for a long time. Learning later that you wrote the piece yourself added another level of impressiveness to this entry. The Tromso palette works so damn well here, too, to create a delicious color balance with the black, reds, dark blues and bright oranges.
#2 - RobDedede - A lengthy, action-packed sequence with immaculate timing set in a picturesque landscape with really cool architecture? Yes, please. So well done, utilizing several different features of the game to tell the story, and loved every part of it. Also really liked the attention you gave to the map edges on the backside - those looked great! Wonderful entry, likely the best stuff we've seen from you, and it's really good.
Steve - Going for the really pretty natural scene, and you nailed it. The snow is so convincing that even with audio on, I imagine it sounding more muffled than usual. The composition is flawless, the diagonal view of the bridge and the sections of the coaster really draws you in, and the waterfalls give a nice touch of movement to the otherwise frozen environment. I would have wished that you hid the stuff outside of the map better, though, to minimize distraction from this beautiful scene. In many other groups this would have for sure gotten a vote from me, but the quality across this group is just insane, and this was just lacking that additional factor that I felt AJ's and Rob's entries had.
roygbiv - I loved this piece. The surface level feels busy and alive, and the coaster is very nicely integrated into the cityscape. As I've mentioned on Discord, the underground stuff added some really wonderful detail which nearly moved this up to a vote contender for me. I think it could have used some more verticality though, to give more room for the underground stuff - the surface level "floor" had no thickness at all in certain angles which looked strange. Also, some textural choices are a bit questionable, but then again, who's to say you wouldn't see clashes like that in a real Chinatown. Really nice entry.
Steve - Going for the really pretty natural scene, and you nailed it. The snow is so convincing that even with audio on, I imagine it sounding more muffled than usual. The composition is flawless, the diagonal view of the bridge and the sections of the coaster really draws you in, and the waterfalls give a nice touch of movement to the otherwise frozen environment. I would have wished that you hid the stuff outside of the map better, though, to minimize distraction from this beautiful scene. In many other groups this would have for sure gotten a vote from me, but the quality across this group is just insane, and this was just lacking that additional factor that I felt AJ's and Rob's entries had.
2. Steve - natural beauty as per Steve’s usual MO, and as part of a series? I’m sold. Perfect composition and atmosphere, lovely to behold. This just vibed with me. Would love to see more exploration from you outside of this safe zone though; if you applied this style to a more out of box concept, it could be stunning.
3. AJ- I almost gave you my 2nd choice for the sheer creativity and beauty of your entry. Even more impressive that the music was written by you too! I definitely love this style you’ve presented and the moody, haunting vibe is spot on. However, I wish there was a little more to see beyond the initial impression. I’m excited to see your next entries if this is what you’re making in R1!
4. Roygbiv - lovely atmosphere, details and even the coaster is great! It has all the makings of a fantastic micro. Tough group to be dropped into though, could have easily won another group!
1. Robdedede : The idea is great and made me laugh, the park is well done, I give you the first place
2. Steve : It's simple but there is something very poetic and beautiful in your park, I let the feeling guide me and I give you the second place
3. AJ and Roygbiv : You really deserved to go through to round 2, your parks are superb in execution, maybe AJ in 3 and Roy in 4 but it was worth a good second place too
1. RobDedede: So proud of my dude. Like Jappy's, this felt less like I was playing the 20 year-old theme park management game and more like I was watching an action movie. Takes some finesse, timing, and hacking expertise to pull that off and you did so in spades. I'm still not sure how you got the police cars to stop in the middle of a curve, and the rapidly changing speed in the rides window only opens up more questions. I love how there's still more to explore after the cinematic ends, which really adds a new dimension and lets you soak in the details. You've really gone above and beyond with your landscaping, which I imagine Villerouge definitely helped with judging by the Fisch rocks and the back wall. Hearing you talk about how this started with just modern buildings on a cliff and seeing the end result really represents the importance of flexibility and improvisation with any RCT2 park, whether a micro, a H2H park, or a full scale release. Inventive, entertaining, and detailed enough to hold your interest; everything about this is a winner. You've come a long way from that steamboat on the DKMP multiplayer plot.
2. AJ: I remember this from H2H Classic! This resonates with the artsy, vibey goodness I've come to love and expect from you when you're not in hyper crunch mode. While I expected something way bigger for some reason, what's there is sublime. Huge fan of the top centerpiece with the radiating lines and the blood red water effects alone. The Mother leading the diver adds just enough motion to perfectly balance pensiveness and flow. Opening a park and then hearing an original tune by the creator will never not put a smile on my face. I remember watching this performance streamed live when you linked it in RCTClub, so it's awesome hearing it again in this micro with some cool visuals behind it. Well executed surrealism like this will almost always get my vote.
roygbiv: Good to see you back! Unfortunate to see you went over the tile limit though; gotta be careful as you build! This one radiates with fun though. Love the little cutaways at the bottom, especially the bar; I can imagine myself chillin in there. The archi is nice but the round building with Yellow Dragon steals the show. Yellow Dragon is a really fun layout which encapsulates the vaguely Asian feel of the park. It's wild and wacky without looking amateurish. Very nice overall!
Steve: Painful flashbacks to Micro Madness 3 where you won my round with the prequel to this one. I can definitely tell your H2H9 team rubbed off on you for this one; it looks like a snowy Blue Pearl utilizing the Fisch rocks for snowy landscapes the same way Xtreme and co did in Frostgard. What's there of the layout is nice, albeit it does feel like a fragment rather than a self-contained micro. Love the land detailing on the bottom as well. Very close call with roygbiv here; while I don't have you two making it out, you're practically tied with some wonderful micros. Great group!
1 RobDedede: Damn dude, wasn't expecting this from you and so happy to be surprised! Favourite of the match for me, the story is really well told and the timing executed perfectly. Love the whole vibe of the map and the architecture set against the natural landscape. The towels as muddy sand on the beach, so cool.
2 Steve: Damn but you know how to compose a good scene. Awesome work, continuing the snowy vibes you did for the Building Challenge and enhancing on it. Neat idea to do it as a sequel to last MM with a new bird this time, and a sick coaster interaction too. I was also very fond of my cameo lol. What can I say? It's a good statue.
3 roygbiv: Talk about a stacked group, great work here. Love the urban environment and the bright pops of colour you're able to balance nicely. Unique object usages as well which I think you're good at making convincingly.
4 AJ: Super moody scene, really dig the atmosphere! The music helps a lot but the aesthetic is so pretty here with the restrained colours and monochrome architecture. Very calming to just sit and watch the mother shark traversing the map with the diver.
AJ - Its pretty cool. I like the darkside of the moon thing and scuba guy, Giving me some underwater hell (soma or subnautica) vibes.
RobDedede - Very cool. Nice story driven narrative. I didnt know you could make the staff talk lol. Big epic shootout was nice.
Steve - high quality landscaping cut diorama, nice use of texture all around. Maybe an archy piece would be cool here. Would be a great design or h2h park in full scale.
My park - trying to unrust mostly and sneak by but these entries are good lol. Trying like a polar euro fighter thing thought it was cool and did a china town theme i havent seen on here. Was pretty fun playing with new openrct and objects and stuff.
1.) Chinatown (roygbiv) - Wow, this is awesome! First thing I notice is the colors, which are gorgeous. The coaster really pops, as do the little details (signs, cones, lanterns glass) in the rest of the gray city. The coaster offers some unique elements and that station is beautiful. This has the most atmosphere of any entry here, so to me it deserves a clear top spot. Amazing work, and quite a surprise!
2.) Pablo Escobar's Hideout (RobDedede) - first thing I need to comment on has to be the earth on the back sides of the island: there's so much texture and it looks really really cool! I've never seen that before. And the narrative that this park started with was equally impressive. While I like the foliage, I'm not crazy about the rockwork on the surface level. It looks too...smooth? Anyway, this just edges out Steve's for me because it's interesting from every angle and has a fun story behind it. This was a great surprise, looking forward to more from you!
3.) Audubon Society's ... (Steve) - Gorgeous little snippet of something that feels bigger. This would be a great candidate for turning into a design later, especially since you've always done that snow/ice vibe pretty well. One complaint I have is that it's only really viewable from one side (but what a view that is!). Overall, I like it a lot. Surprisingly not as many Dunkin's as I was expecting though.
4.) Sepulchre by the Sea (AJ-) - I have no idea what I'm looking at, but it's awesome. What an absolute gem! I'm conflicted here, because it's beautiful to look at, but doesn't have the charm (Steve's), atmosphere (roygbiv's), or narrative (RobDedede's) of the rest.
wow, every park here deserves to be the best and for entirely different reasons.
1. AJ---just awesome. what a killer aesthetic, propped up by great music and a sense of mystery. the architecture is compelling and weird and just overall one of the most plainly interesting micros of the contest. just unique and compelling, like a good book.
2. roygbiv---frenetic and wonderful. I wish we could see more of that double half-diag building. love the coaster and that godawful skull object
steve---beautiful, from one angle. but very beautiful. probably never seen ice this good before
robdede---ridiculous to put this last because it was awesome. cute little story and high quality landscaping and building. looks like you'll have no trouble pulling through without my vote though
Cardinal - I'm never a huge fan of these chopped scenes from parks. Almost feels like cheating with the requirements of the coaster to go so far out of bounds. It could have been neat to see you pull off a properly frozen waterfall
Sepulchre by the Sea - Creepy, beautiful.
Pablo Escobar's Hideout - I do like a scripted story sequence. This one takes 2nd for me.
Chinatown - Lots of weird choices, but I enjoyed the chaos. The all-glass structure is really unique and lovely, especially juxtaposed with the grimy city around it.
Hoping to make up my mind tomorrow for this matchup , because I have a hard time deciding on winner(s) here.