RCT Discussion / Will we see a Spotlight in 2013?

i think ncso could absolutely win spotlight if the right person builds it, like some of the great ncso builders...nin, fisch, jdp

oh, please.


it's a spotlight for a reason. gold quality parks win gold. gold quality parks with a wow factor win spotlight. and well, there just hasn't been much wow factor lately. aside from inspired ideas being flawlessly executed in game, extreme detailing is what wows us in rct. we've seen so many screens of amazing architecture with details you wouldn't think possible in this game that we now hold that the standard. to hold that quality across a 100x100+ park is rarely seen. until we see that, a new spotlight won't exist.

so i think your're dead right when it comes to extreme detailing being the downfall of spotlights but 'harsh' voting isn't one of the reasons.

edit: actually, scratch that. NE has always operated on the basis of "I'll know it when I see it," and voting usually reflects that.

Maybe we need to revise the criteria on the accolade voting scale - "I liked everything about this park" is currently 100%. If you find anything to not like, then <100. We used to get enough full-size submissions to say "I like everything, but it is still missing something" or "I'm not a fan of absolutely everything, but this has something special."

i think ncso could absolutely win spotlight if the right person builds it, like some of the great ncso builders...nin, fisch, jdp

And Jonny

I dunno man. Jonny and MCI only grabbed a silver with Inselfieber; I can't say that the panel is very likely to vote an NCSO park all the way up to spotlight status after such a (in my opinio) low score on such a well-done piece of NCSO.

I could see Wickline Park as a spotlight if ever completed.

How far along is CP6's SW?

I actually considered a yes vote for X250's park. In the end I didn't because I knew it was mostly intense nostalgia that made me think that. If the park was 1.5 times bigger I likely would've voted spotlight. Tussaud's Magical Kingdom is the proof that NCSO parks can win spotlight for me. And aren't all LL parks NCSO?

This is actually a really good idea I think, if you can get enough people to participate. It's something a little new that hasn't really been done before and it tweaks the team building concept a bit without losing the competitive aspect. Basically an entire season's worth of H2H parks combined onto one map. The tricky part would be deciding how much time to allow since it's basically a one-shot deal. Playoffs would have to be something smaller though, or no playoffs, just rank the parks and call it a season. I'd be intrigued by this idea if I were still building. I'm sure you'd get some incredible parks at the end.

I don't think it'll work, because H2H parks tend to get finished only because of the deadlines. If you want to produce the amount of work equaling 5 H2H parks, you need 5 hard deadlines to get it done. Moreover, the other crucial difference is that with a park only one person can build at a time, contrary to 5 H2H parks. The contest would drag for many months or even years and people will lose motivation. In H2H you're always busy, in this contest you'd be waiting on your turn. Lastly, communication on collabo parks get more complex the more people participate, and it's harder to please everyone.

The contest idea I had in mind would have deadlines. About 4-6 months total building time. The builders would just need to be organized. If someone is dropping the ball an alternate could jump in. A park is just 4-7 themed areas with an entrance. Each area is about equal to a full design and we know they can be done in a few weeks. I see this being pretty realistic if motivated parkmakers can be found. Personally, I am done with H2H. Just too much work for too little gain. I busted my ass on a pair of parks that lost and that sucked.

Starpointe should be the next spotlight and it's not far off. SW will almost surely win, but idk how far along it is.

Project Logos will be interesting... like how women claim, "size doesn't matter, it's how you use it." In that case Logos is a dude packing about 4 1/2 inches and gives women multiple orgasms consistently

4 1/2 inches.... multiple orgasms???!!!

Tinkerbell????!!!!!

I don't think it'll work, because H2H parks tend to get finished only because of the deadlines. If you want to produce the amount of work equaling 5 H2H parks, you need 5 hard deadlines to get it done. Moreover, the other crucial difference is that with a park only one person can build at a time, contrary to 5 H2H parks. The contest would drag for many months or even years and people will lose motivation. In H2H you're always busy, in this contest you'd be waiting on your turn. Lastly, communication on collabo parks get more complex the more people participate, and it's harder to please everyone.

Those are workable problems though. Just think of the full park as 5 H2H miniparks. Two or three people at a time work on one section of the park to completion and they have a deadline to finish it, and then it moves down the line to the next group. Maybe you have an entrance area that everybody works on together at the end of the season. So from a workflow standpoint it's not really any different than a regular H2H season, but at the end of it you have one full park (hopefully with a coherent theme of some kind that everyone agreed on, but not necessarily). And then you release the full parks at the end of it and have your vote then. Maybe break the vote up into categories like "best wooden coaster", "best steel coaster", "best water ride", etc like we do for the awards anyway and have those factor into the final vote. It places a great deal of impetus on the team captain to keep everything moving forward, but I don't see it dragging on for years as long as you treat it like a regular H2H season where the big map is divided into smaller chunks and the team is divided into sub-teams and the big deadline is divided into sub-deadlines. The main difference would be the voting format, with just one big delayed vote at the end.

It's an interesting idea anyway, could be worth pursuing at some point. It seems like people are getting tired of seeing mostly miniparks and designs and want to see more fully-realized complete maps. The competitive aspect of H2H often pushes people to create their best work so I would think you'd get some pretty good spotlight quality parks out of this. Also you'd likely end up with a blend of different styles, hyper-detailed work in some sections and some more aesthetic classic NE style work in others. The other thing it would do which I'd like to see is that it takes some of those far out concept maps we always see in H2H and it allows them to be put into the context of a full map. It challenges people to think a little bit differently to accomplish that.

I would love to participate if the idea does go through.

There are some really unused coaster types in RCT. I feel it'd be fun to see a competitive, team-based attempt to making the not-so-spectacular rides interesting to look at in RCT. I want to see how other people would build, for example, a Heartline Twister coaster.

Take the concept of QFTB but make it team-based. Give a challenge ride type (or two; for example an out-n-back woodie and a carousel) that everybody in round 1 builds to the best of their abilities so that it looks like a complete design. Judge these parks against each other; the winners advance with their park to round 2 of the bracket.

Round 2 has a new set of rides to build that are tiered in a timeline sort of way* that must be added on to the original portion of park.

By the time you get to the final rounds (IF there is enough dedication to get there) you could have the finalists submit the filled park to the panel; could get two spotlights from one competition.

Just an idea. Perhaps a little off-topic I just realized, my apologies.

*(for instance, round 1 features rides from before 1960, round 2 is rides before 1970...so on, so forth.)

There are some really unused coaster types in RCT. I feel it'd be fun to see a competitive, team-based attempt to making the not-so-spectacular rides interesting to look at in RCT. I want to see how other people would build, for example, a Heartline Twister coaster.

I like that.

We have an entire thread for contest ideas, gentlemen
(not that I don't agree wholeheartedly)

I think we can safely say that PT4 has taken the place of any large solos we would see from anyone participating. If there is a spotlight-sized park released this year it'll be from someone not in the pro tour.

What about Starpointe? Does nobody think Pac can finish it this year? Or does it not count because it was started a long time ago?