10 Year Anniversary / History of New Element - 2010

10 Days, 10 Years

- 2010 -
A New Decade, a New Element.

Leading up to this point, New Element was on its third incarnation. Darkfire had masterfully sculpted NE3, but it’s era of faithful and majestic service was waning. Something new was on the horizon. Back when posix and geewhzz took over as site administrators after Kumba’s reign, they had one key idea at hand. They desired a new face for New Element, and in turn, a whole new way to treat creating a park. What problems did the administrators want to solve? One problem they wanted to tackle was the difficulty of finding that park. You know the one I mean, the one that was on Damnation, built by Fatha’ in 2001. At that point, if you wanted to find that park, you’d have to make a plea on the forums, providing the most adequate description you could. If you were lucky, some brave soul would delve into the depths of history in their RCT folder in the hopes of salvaging something which looked remotely what you were looking for. If you were even luckier, someone would actually know what you meant and present the save file to you. But you would then be hit by a bus. You know, for karmic balance and all that.

There was another problem with NE3 and its earlier forms. It came in the form of this question – Who is really the best at RCT? Many a time you would see trash talkers throwing claims of greatness and superiority in the arena of RCT, and there was really no way to see who had the biggest RCT nuts around. Sometimes RCT skirmishes would break out, with players agreeing on their weapons of choice and throwing down, gladiator style. Except it had less moving. And I guess less murder, which is always a plus.

These problems, however, where abolished in 2010, with the biggest overhaul in New Element, and even RCT history. From scratch, geewhzz learned how to code, and using his hard-earned new skills, he and posix set about changing the face of New Element for the better. For a long time before 2010 the admins had been covertly compiling a detailed and thorough archive of parks throughout the history of RCT, often with geewhzz being the one to provide answers on parks people were looking for. With this considerable archive, they created a sophisticated and flexible search system, capable of finding the park you are looking for with as little information as the name of the builder and the site it was on. Now all I have to do is place Fatha’ in the “creator” field, and Damnation Spotlight as the park type, and there we have it. Wild Wild West. It is as simple and as super duper as that. A child could operate it.

The next feature is arguably the most consequential. No longer must the people argue amongst themselves as to who was better at RCT, for integrated into the core of New Element was a scoring system. This system rewards players on their releases. “But SSSammy,” I hear you cry, “what if one was to achieve a spotlight with the voting percentage system, but only achieved 20% more than a tiny design? How will I get the RCT pussy I so obviously deserve?”

Have no fear, citizen of New Element, for the admins designed an ingenious method of amplifying the scores of parks with desert. Spotlights receive 700% amplification, with all other parks receiving less drastic score multipliers. These scores went onto your total and allowed you to compete on two separate lists. The first of these lists is the Active Ranking system, where active parkmakers can submit their masterpieces to become the current No. 1 parkmaker. This score, however, decays over time to allow for other players to submit work and take over the new top spot. This breeds healthy competition, and encourages players to keep submitting work in order to maintain their rank. The other list is the Hall of Fame. This list, as the name suggests, is the place where history’s greatest are recorded. The score in this list never decays, so players with the most and highest scored releases occupy the top of the list, standing the test of time.

When unveiled, the new site received near universal positive feedback. Many old names returned to the site in order to express their pride with the admins, and many new members joined the ranks to applaud the streamlined functionality.

To commemorate the rebirth of New Element, a new Spotlight was released; Europa Park World Showcase, built by none other than Six Frags, a well known member of the community. The park was preceded by a massive amount of hype, and this hype was surely satisfied by its highly anticipated release. The park impressed and gained the respect of much of the community, scoring 88%, and receiving only two no votes to spotlight along with ten New Element Award nominations. The park took advantage of many of the new objects built by Six Frags, including his conversion of the RCT1 spinning trains into RCT2 form, having individually cloned each of the frames. The park featured a charm that was missing from many of the parks around the time, priding aesthetics over the obsessive realism of many builders.
 

Europa Park World Showcase by Six Frags

The year also featured two other fantastic spotlights. Legacies Theme Park Europe is currently Liampie’s biggest jewel on his RCT crown, although no one would be upset if that were to be changed by a new spotlight. The park itself scored 83.46% from the panel, and was nominated for 8 New Element Awards, receiving one, Best Architecture of 2010. Surely no one can argue with this award, as the park is filled with such brilliant and accurate architecture, emulating all parts of historical Europe. The park also achieved what many people thought could never be done – consistent detail throughout an entire spotlight. There are many wonders to uncover in the details of this park, and it was covered partially by Liam himself in “The Little Things” thread in Discussion RCT, and many more to be uncovered when examining the park.
 

Legacies Theme Park - Europe by Liampie

The last Spotlight of 2010 came from one of the biggest names of RCT2, Cedarpoint6. In 2007, CP6 had released a park which rocked New Element, Watkins Woods Amusement Park. It is clear to see, then, why so many anticipated this park with such impatience. Six Flags Carolina took a new spin on the popular park chain, emulating many of the most famous rides present in the parks while creating his own to breathe in new energy to the park. It is one thing to create a whole new concept in RCT. However, it is arguably many times more challenging to replicate real life in a manner which is entertaining from a RCT standpoint and also from a realism standpoint. Sterility is commonplace across New Element in realistic parks, and Cedarpoint6 sidestepped this issue with elegant charm. The park received a phenomenal 91% from the panel, and achieved 3 New Element awards of its 8 Nominations.
 

Six Flags Carolina by Cedarpoint6

Other important releases of the year include the mind-blowing gold release from Turtle, Myst. Myst, based on the game of the same name places the atmosphere of the title into the theme park environment, with fantastic coasters and classic Turtle use of colour to create an immersive environment that could only come from the man himself. Talking of big names, seventeen showed up with the release of Sonoma Falls Theme Park, the first true New Element group park in seven years. Truly a blast from the past, Sonoma Falls encapsulates the development of RCT through the years. This is almost inevitable, considering the timeframe in which the park was built. Many famous and significant styles are present in this release, from the classic charm of the entrance area, to the more modern, ornate and intricate atmosphere of Kinetus Seaport. This park is a must see, with many names involved, you are sure to feel the New Element culture come to life.
 

Myst by Turtle

Sonoma Falls Theme Park

There were yet more surprises from old names in 2010. Having been heavily preoccupied with running the site, no one could have predicted an admin finishing any project. Nevertheless, posix released a magnificent design. Carnivore plunges in and out of its prehistoric theming, taking advantage of underground sections to make the ride unpredictable and exciting, whilst presenting a methodical and palpable sense of purpose present in any of posix’s releases. If you weren’t already completely saturated with old names already, there is one more release to consider. Disguised under the pseudonym of “The Electic Echidna”, an old legend returned to the site with a bronze release. That old legend was Butterfinger. More notably memorable for his Spotlight, Euroscape, this release still maintained a significant feeling; a nostalgia, if you will.
 

Carnivore by posix

North of the Border by Butterfinger

Another impressive gold released was from RCTNW. We all know that anything from RCTNW is going to have undeniable quality, and Hyatt’s Ocean Adventures is no different. With assistance from his coaster builder of choice, CedarPoint6, RCTNW went about creating his signature civil engineering masterpiece. As usual with RCTNW parks, the park looks just as good – if not better- when zoomed out, as it really displays RCTNW’s ability to create sophisticated yet sensible and realistic park layouts. Kumba also bagged a Gold in 2010 with his remarkable hotel-themepark-casino lovechild, Virginia Key. The park is just filled to the brim with that delicious Kumba fun-factor and hacking innovation. And also that one jungle bush object. It really wouldn’t be a Kumba release without an unrealistic yet unbeatably fun coaster, this time with a twister coaster which throws the rider vertically, over supported with massive cylinders, before twisting and juggling them back to the station. However, this wasn’t Kumba’s only contribution to the site in that year. You’d have to walk a country mile to meet someone who hadn’t heard of Kumba’s recreation of his namesake, Kumba. Or maybe that’s what Kumba would like to think...

Regardless, Kumba shows one of the finest recreations in RCT to date, making use of many objects that were custom built for the park, yet can be used in any park. This also displays Kumba’s prowess as an object maker. The release of Kumba marked a significant turn in style at NE, as its quality inspired many builders to construct recreations or realistic parks to emulate his style. The release also showed the RCT world that Kumba is a dynamic builder, capable of both immersive realism and wonderful fantasy. Kumba wasn’t the only active member that year. JK has been a prominent member of New Element for many years. His productivity was way up in 2010, releasing 2 designs, Ilmenite and DJINN. Both designs feature the classic JK style, a subtle blend of realism and fantasy to create a plausible yet unique atmosphere in both cases.
 

Hyatt's Ocean Adventures by RCTNW and Cedarpoint6

Kumba by Kumba

DJINN by J K

2010 was a mind-blowing year for RCT and NE, with innovation coming from within and without the game itself. NE4 is a massively significant part of NE History, and the effort of the administrator, Accolade Panellists and Release Preparation teams will never go unappreciated.

 

Must-See Releases of 2010

Myst by Turtle Trinity Glades Amusement Park by Ozone Comet by robbie92 Virginia Key Resort & Casino by Kumba FreeRider's Sylvan Realm by FreeRider Europa Park World Showcase by Six Frags Sonoma Falls Theme Park by New Element Pixie by John Legacies Themepark - Europa by Liampie Battlestar Galactica: Cyclon Strike by Roomie Kumba by Kumba Six Flags Carolina by Cedarpoint6 ILMENITE by J K Calypso Theme Park LA by 5Dave Les Trois Mousquetaires by Turtle DJINN by J K Hyatt's Ocean Adventures by RCTNW Brachiosaurus by Fr3ak

thanks for adding the photos and the "must-see" section, Liam. 2010 was a corking year.

RCTNW, you are the best!
For me Hyatt's Ocean Adventures is the best park!

Hey guys.
Just wondering - did anyone ever write a 2011 writeup? ^^

"MFG"

Yeh, we are just waiting on a few more screens, H2H6 has sort of created a back-log for us. It is coming though!