New Element - Park - Warden

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Door 21

Frost Village

We remain on the old-school path we have entered yesterday as we enter a small village with an even smaller coaster. As our little Advent Calendar draws towards its grand finale, let's take an opportunity to look at this LL creation and take a last short rest before the final sprint is upon us.

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Door 22

Gorgeous Gorge

As we head towards the finish line we open Door #22 and try our best to heal some traume. I know that all our American users have spent the last couple of weeks exclusively crying over the closure of Kingda Ka. At least, that is what I imagined. This entry will heal all the hurts as it presents an epic Stratas coaster but in a somewhat more interesting location than a field in New Jersey. Experience the thrills and amusements of this truly gorgeous gorge.

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Door 23

Navigator @ Ports of Call

Christmas is almost upon us, but before we open gifts and argue with our relatives, we get to see what lurks behind door #23. As we had a fairly big and nature-base entry yesterday it makes only sense to go in the opposite direction. This little scene might be small but is also highly detailed and was built with great care and effort. It depicts a beautiful scene of a waveswinger and some nice buildings at sunset. Make sure to check out the penultimate entry of the 2024 Advent Calendar!

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Door 24

Cone + South Pole Reindeer

It is done! 23 days and 23 lovely entries lay behind us! At this point I want to thank everyone who contributed to this event. No matter if you submitted an entry or just commented as it was going on, we all managed to create something special this Christmas.

Sadly, all good things come to an end but I hope I chose the right park to end it on. We had micros, macros, potential designs and small dioramas. However, we will end the event with a very classical design that, as I hope, managed best to capture the spirit of this event while still being wintery enough to fit on Christmas Eve.

As a bonus we have a last minute LL submission. South Pole Reindeer features some pandas on ice. What's not to love?

I will be back tomorrow at the usual time to post the official overview of parks and makers, so get your GTB guesses in before then!

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Version1 Offline

NE Advent Calendar 2024 official Wrap-Up

It has been 24 great days and it's time to put a bow on our little event. We have gotten 25 entries by 21 contributors. Special thanks to Gustav and Lurker who have both built more than one entry. I hope everyone enjoyed it and I am definitely looking forward to running this event again next year!

posix Offline

@Scoop: Warden was awesome. Very good ride design and layout, nice exposure to the ride overall in how you did the terraforming, and the general integration with the park. Nice theming too, albeit aesthetically a little weak for me. Perhaps a few supplementary rides other than the coaster wouldn't have hurt either.

posix Offline

@MorganFan. Thought I'd leave some thoughts as your entry has now pinged me for a panel rating: I thought this was enjoyable and had a unique style blending a canyon landscape with a modern "simple meta" and western theming. What was there though was almost forcefully held a bit too tight for me. The map edge has much too big a voice here, and instead would want to be invisible if possible. Given that in order to make the canyon you had to raise the land so much, the map edge is omnipresent and prominent in a bad way for me. Because it's simply not a feature.

On top, you've draped a Kingda Ka as the main ride. While it's creating an interesting verticality effect, and while I understand you wanted the technicality and engineering of the bridge and support work as a feature, it doesn't quite work for me. Generally the ride doesn't allow much engagement to the viewer other than being a large gimmick, if I can say. Thus for the category of Design, where you're looking for ride engagement, I find it vastly unsuitable.

Sephiroth Offline

Sam I love The Big Little so much. You used all of the new tools at our disposal so well to literally paint a world on what seems to be the first 999x999 release here on NE. It truly looks like a painting from afar. What a joy to see and to watch your youtube videos on building this one.

Lurker Offline

Door 1:

Love the stonework and pillars,very clean and the tiered effect looks awesome.

Door 2:

A fun coaster with a lot of interaction and some nice combos of NCSO object... Then I zoomed out, wow. Truly impressive to fill something that massive in that time.

Door 3:

Totally cool mech, I like how it's in the middle of setting the train up like that.

Door 4:

Great mall scene, the guests sitting on Santa's lap are a great tough, also a fan of the Christmas trees.

Door 5:

Really like the coaster layout, I like how the winter overlay mixes some CSO effects with LL-style work.

Door 6:

A cool non-park art piece, interesting watching things shift from each angle. Definitely adds some extra variety.

Door 7:

I made this after the first two, I've been wanting to have something abstract on my profile for a while and figured this was a good time to try it.

Door 8:

Absolutely packed with action, cool futuristic theme and palette and clever object use.

Door 9:

Great atmosphere, and a really clever vehicle use with the train.

Door 10:

Amazing lego-in-rct build, the new set of objects are impressive, hope we see more builds in this style.

Door 11:

Captures is feel of the ride it was based on well, I like the palette and colors choices, also nice support work.

Door 12

I like the gritty industrial feel and how the factory is hidden a bit from guests level from the beach and snow areas.

Door 13:

With toy trains being a Christmas tradition, building an RCT train layout was a natural thing, always love an excuse to build trains.

Door 14:

Amazing recreation of the movie set, both the exterior and cut-away interiours feel straight out of a Christmas card. Atmosphere absolutely on point.

Door 15:

Really good layout, especially the pacing. Also especially like the support work and the look and feel of it.

Door 16:

A nice festive overlay, especially like the snow piles.

Door 17:

Impressive architecture, nice framing with the fade effect and it's full of life. Such a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere here.

Door 18:

This is such a cool towering castle, love how the rides are all built into it and the fact that it's a complete park.

Door 19:

The palette, the snow effects, and that fog horn. Absolutely nails the creeping, unsettling horror feel. Really nicely done lighthouse itself too.

Door 20:

Love the classic, LL-style gardens. Huge fan of the object and foliage choices here, also a great maze.

Door 21:

This was the first thing I made, quickly to make sure sure I got at least one park in. Decided it was a good chance to do another early-RCT style micro.

Door 22:

An imposing coaster on a cool landscape with some awesome infrastructure, love the bridge, love all the supporting rides and how much park is here.

Door 23:

Great architecture, probably the best wave swinger I've seen and the palette and music really add to this, amazing atmosphere.

Door 24:

A fittingly cheerful finale, nice pops of color, nice ride placement and some beautiful trim work on the buildings.

Bonus:

Really like the all-trakitecture buildings, A cool futuristic look and impressive in LL.

Scoop Offline

@Scoop: Warden was awesome. Very good ride design and layout, nice exposure to the ride overall in how you did the terraforming, and the general integration with the park. Nice theming too, albeit aesthetically a little weak for me. Perhaps a few supplementary rides other than the coaster wouldn't have hurt either.

I had two days haha. I would've if I had more time though!

CedarPoint6 Offline

Some great maps here. Now that I've had time to poke around all of them, some general thoughts:

- Lonely Signalman is a lovely melancholy vibe

- LEGO Hogwarts is ridiculous-- such creativity in object making

- The Dragon made me nostalgic for that ride and sad since it's now closed. Even though the real thing was not great. Excellent recreation!

- White Christmas does so much with just the architecture. Music and the cutaway really added to the storytelling.

- Warden has a great layout! Fun to wastch.

- Book Nook is so incredibly atmospheric.

- The Lighthouse is probably the closest I feel like we've gotten to a proper horror map in RCT. Genuinely unsettling and I loved it.

- Drachen Fire for Christmas is a fun overlay. Love seeing holiday themes overlaid onto maps.

- Navigator is an incredible atmosphere and a lovely use of objects on the swing.

Really nice work to everyone! I very much enjoyed my travels through these maps. Good work everyone!

Lilith Offline

will add my thoughts back on all the parks later, but my 3 favorites are Op Art Residence, The Big Little and The Lighthouse

great job to everyone who submitted and thanks v1 and the admin team for organizing such a fun event

posix Offline

I had two days haha. I would've if I had more time though!

I understand, but I'm viewing your park in light of a panel vote of course.

Gustav Goblin Offline

Shockingly I am not looking forward to re-yapping so I'll do some micro reviews for some micro parks.

Palace of Minos: LL never gets old. I almost wish there were more moments where the maze peeks out from the temple.

The Big Little: Such a funny concept but also so groundbreaking and historic, Beautiful landscaping, archi, and verticality in the micro area, some banger coaster layouts in the bigger theme park, and a lot of fun areas to explore.

A Merry Christmech Story: What a cool take on a traditional scene. Love seeing you keep at it with CSO after your amazing work in H2HX. The magnet picking up the train is such a cool touch.

Bru Galleria 2: Hard to top the original but this is still a great self-contained scene for the holidays. I almost wish you gave each store a proper interior instead of Julowing it but it's not a tryhard sweaty contest and time is a thing so I'll give you that. Btw PLEASE upload Bru Galleria here I know you're not a NE guy but it's some of the best DKMP work ever made.

Wicked Blizzard: LL archi with just the right amount of CSO on top is so much more satisfying than it needs to be. Great atmosphere and Wicked Blizzard is a great showcase for the new B&M elements despite only being partial. You should really do more LL Steve! Being able to create big beige walls just by raising land should have sealed the deal decades ago.

Op Art Residence: My perfect GTB streak shattered by the Ge-Ride bluff! This is probably my favorite attempt at the quad painting movement so far. I love how it does enough to look like the interior of a hotel or apartment while still maintaining a simple and abstract look. It also looks like a quilt or a tile pattern from far away. Observation tower gave it some nice movement too, and I almost wish the windows for it were bigger to break up those big orange spaces.

Christmas Dreams: Love the use of the glass squares for paths and how the presents are made.

The New Millennium Club: My first genuine "hell yeah" moment of the contest. I'm such a big fan of the way you find a crazy aesthetic and go all in on it. Y2K and Frutiger Aero especially hit home with me as I grew up alongside translucent iMacs and text with way too much embossing. The New Millennium Force is surprisingly easy to follow despite the chaos around it and the number of supporting rides is staggering for a micro.

The Lonely Signalman: A quiet and plaintive take on the season, almost like a European Norman Rockwell scene. Love the contrast of warm yellow windows on dull white snow. Using Sandcrawlers for the snowplows was really smart and I imagine the second backwards engine is something they do in real life. Landscaping and archi do just enough to sell the scene, but I almost wish you could find the signalman somewhere!

Lego Hogwarts Castle: Congrats on finishing your Lego set dad! But seriously, it's been so cool seeing what you've been doing with object creation considering how often you focus on pushing the envelope. I almost wish the pieces were 1/4 tile instead of full-tile though; I'd imagine they'd be a little easier to use in other settings that way.

The Dragon at Ocean Park: A quintessential Alex build that does everything it needs to; nothing more, nothing less. I actually wasn't aware this was a recreation until earlier today! From what I can gather it's pretty bang on.

Santa's Workshop 2135: One detail I really like about this build is the dedication to peep perspective. They're not going to see the gritty underbelly of Santa's Workshop, just the inviting entrance and the big smokestacks in the distance. Good to see you trying out crunch as well! I like how the grass trims create leading lines to where the trucks have been.

Advent Railway: Wouldn't be Christmas without a train going in a circle. I like how you've forewent the typical Christmas tree approach in favor of a more decorated model railway complete with control table.

Irving Berlin's White Christmas: Parker you big ol' sweat this is incredible. Landscaping looks so natural with the curvy frozen river and the snowdrifts. I can see myself getting a lot of use out of that pile of stuff object you made. Beat me to interiors too, albeit yours are way way better. The rafters?! I thought this was Otter before finding your custom objects which is a really good sign for you. Keep building!

Warden: Hot layout Scoopy! Insane you built this in two days. I like the restricted color palette with the grays and deep greens and the light blue lines in the path breaking it up. So mystical. The path feature with the immelmann is so cool too, as is that crazy custom sign on the rock.

Drachen Fire For Christmas: Looking at this the first time made me realize I hadn't reviewed the original Drachen Fire, which as I can tell is a rock solid recreation with your signature blend of clean macro and very subtle details. You're one of the players I'm really looking towards as I try to focus more on the former myself. Layout looks a lot like the real thing if not a pinch dark. The holiday overlay gives it a lot of added zing and pop with the flashing lights and the way you've blended the snow into the paths is very convincing. Ethan Flat Roof Crunch is the real MVP.

The Book Nook: What a cozy and British scene. Archi is beautiful and very diverse. Having every store themed to a different author is a really nice touch. The little cutaways are nice, but the angle where the compass faces left needed them the most. Kind of an awkward angle with a lot of blank walls otherwise.

Dinky Castle: Shocked at how much detail made it in after watching you frantically speedrunning this on stream. Everywhere from the ground to the top floor feels very lived in, even if there's some obvious SM here and there. The peep scenes and hanging rides on the higher levels of the castle steal the show for me, as does that great rainbow sign. It was also a nice surprise hearing My Castle Town show up in another park after using it in Endswell two and a half years ago. Funny enough there's a lot here that I wish I was able to channel in that park.

The Lighthouse: From what little I know about this movie, I think you nailed it. Make that OpenRCT2 window almost square to really hammer it in. Landscaping and archi are really nice, but considering this is inspired by a movie I would've liked to see more interactivity. Frozen staff scenes and clickable details from the film could have put this over the top. I thought this was RWE's entry for a good while which I'd say is a testament to your growth as you continue to experiment.

The Lily Temple: My sleeper top 3 entry. I LOVE this. Even outside of its symmetrical shape it's a very balanced park. I love the juxtaposition of clean LL influence versus granular NCSO detail and cluttered, peep-heavy areas versus open space. You don't casually stumble upon a 4x5 area of mostly open grass in the middle of a micro unless it's unfinished and I think it works so well here. I also love how the rides are nestled into the maze and how the aqueduct splits the park and the temple in half. Such a nice scene.

Frost Village: He won't do it a third time! So nice seeing another LL entry, and this one almost feels like a wintry Glassware Glen. I love the balcony on the far edge of the map; its position really gives it the impression that the peeps are getting a nice panoramic view.

Gorgeous Gorge: It put a big dumb grin on my face realizing this is inspired by Colorado's Royal Gorge, a place I've personally been. I love the archi which blends modernistic with clear Western and Mexican influence. The supporting rides are very nice, but the monorail and the chairlift tucked into the coaster's supports steal the show for me. And then there's YEET, which would ascend from zoomer slang to a thoosie rallying call if it really were the last remaining stratacoaster. Honestly its implausibility is what makes it so cool and notable in my eyes. I also love the classic Tolsimir trick where you used half of the steep-to-flat pieces to make the airtime hill look a little more natural.

Cone: This almost feels like an evolution of that one holiday village scene you did for that one building challenge. Don't ask me how I remember that. I love how the verticality increases from the front of the one good angle to the back. Archi is very colorful and detailed and I love the merry-go-round using the half diagonal pieces.

Favorite doors are The New Millenium Club, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, and The Lily Temple in no particular order. BTS for Navigator and South Pole Reindeer coming very soon or else I will completely forget how they were made.