News / Welcome to New Element v5.0

Welcome to New Element v5.0!

It has been a long time coming. We've put in a lot of work on this website on and off over the past two years, but it's finally complete. There are a lot of changes for the better. We tried to really capture the fun at New Element and give fans of RCT a great platform to share their love of the game together with each another. It might take some getting used to, and many will be surprised and lost in the transition, but take some time and play around on the site and you should quickly come to realize how powerful the website really is.

 

Our main goal with the website was to simplify the processes of New Element down in terms of content. We came up with Screenshots, Projects and Parks as the main sections. Typically, players post a few screenshots of something they're working on, and if they work on it long enough it turns into a Project. Once the project is done the park is finally released for the community to enjoy. Taking these 3 concepts and providing a good platform for viewing and sharing was the primary goal.

 

Version 5 offers a new look and feel, bringing back the classic red format. The newest features are listed below:

 

Screenshot Database

 

The screenshot database allows users to upload a screenshot that they're working on to share with the community. This attaches it to their account keeping everything organized. The screenshots are all stored on our servers so they are never lost, or go broken. Previously, screenshots would be posted and as time went by the host they were on might have went down, or they just become lost in the shuffle never to be found or seen again. This is no longer an issue. Your screenshots will always stay on your account.

 

Project Database

 

Once you get some screenshots added to your account you can add a project to the system to group your screenshots together. Think of the project as a folder housing all the screenshots and parks that are related to the project. This essentially replaces the Advertising District. You must have at least two screenshots uploaded to your account that do not belong to a project to start a new one. Users may also upload logos for their projects if they wish. You can add additional creators of the projects if it is a group project. This will allow other members to attach the screenshots and parks they've uploaded to their account to the project.

 

Park Database

 

The park database is similar to version 4.0 but is vastly improved. Parks can be added to projects. So if a park that has multiple versions or years, ie. Six Flags Carolina 2010, Six Flags Carolina 2011 and Six Flags Carolina 2012, they can all be grouped together within the project.

 

Logo Requests

 

You can request that our graphic designers design your park or project a logo if you do not already have one. Logo requests will last in the system for 14 days. Please do your best to contact someone outside of the website to have one done first. Please use your best judgement if the park or project is worthy of a logo or not. Graphic designers will most likely NOT make your park or project a logo if it does not look like a promising one. Please do NOT abuse this feature or it will be changed.

 

 

Tagging System

 

New to the site is a tagging system. Users are allowed to tag their own content around the site. You can tag screenshots, projects, parks and topics. Tags provide a very unique way of searching and filtering. On the Screenshot, Project and Park index page you can chain tags together to filter searches more.

 

For example, http://www.nedesigns.com/parks/ on the parks index, if we type in the "Search Parks" box "RCT2" a dropdown will appear with results for the tags. If you click RCT2 it will filter the results to only show RCT2 parks. If you again go to the search bar and type Gold, you can filter all RCT2 parks that won Gold. If you again go to the search box and type "realism" it will locate all RCT2 parks that won Gold that are tagged with realism. This search box can also be used to search by creator, content name and content description.

 

 

Tag admin roles will be given out to people who show an interest in helping tag site content. As a tag admin you will be given privileges to add short descriptions to define the meaning of certain tags, add and remove tags to all site content such as objects, parks, projects and screenshots in good faith. If you are interested please contact an administrator.

 

Object Database

 

New Element now offers an object database for RCT2. There is a lot of data missing from it, such as tags, images, descriptions, but we are working on getting to this in the near future. This will eventually turn into a very powerful tool for parkmaking. The system is very efficient. You can see the benches used on most RCT2 parks live on the website. For example, here we can see all the objects used on the Design Goliath by Louis! http://www.nedesigns...oliath/objects/ You can even search the bench and filter via the tagging system. Once it's fully finished, imagine quickly finding all small scenery, quarter tile, water objects, quickly!

 

Game Utilities

 

We now offer a simple utility page hosting the popular utilities players need to build in RCT.

 

Follow System

 

You can follow your favorite screenshots, projects, parks, topics, discussion forums and be notified when there is a new comment on them.

 

 

Fan System

 

You can become a fan of your favorite content which saves the content to your profile so you can easily find it, and others members can see what content you like the most.

 

 

 

Notification System

 

There is a robust notification system which notifies you based on your preferences in your account settings. Integrated is everything that is important on New Element, including jobs that users might have access to, parks, projects, screenshots, topics and forums.

 

 

Public Ratings

 

All of the content can be scored by any registered member of the community. Screenshots, projects and parks can all be given a score between 0-100. This will ensure that everything can be sorted based on the communities opinion of something as a whole.

 

Park Accolades

 

For version 5.0, a few changes have been made to how park accolades are won. From now on, parks do not have to be unreleased to the public to potentially win an accolade. The only requirement is for it to score a certain percentage with a minimum number of votes from the community public rating. After it passes this requirement, the park is then scored by the Accolade Panel. This allows us to use the community as a whole for filtering bad parks that do not deserve to be voted on by the Accolade Panel.

 

With the public rating requirement, this means that parks will no longer be released as a surprise to the community. A park added to the site will be released as soon as it has a map made for it and public voting can then occur. We figured that this, while some may consider it a drawback, keeps up more with the times. With the advent of streaming and massive advertising, it is no mystery what parks are out there and generally people have a good idea what a park will win before it is even submitted.

 

The rest of the accolade requirements and accolade panel remain the same. To read more about what requirements need to be met and a short history of Accolades at New Element please read here: http://www.nedesigns...park/accolades/

 

 

I guess we forgot to mention that a new potential Spotlight was just released! http://www.nedesigns...914/starpointe/

 

Checkout Starpointe by Pacificoaster and cast your first public rating today! Help it get the required vote minimum to be voted on by the Accolade Panel to win Spotlight.

 

Parkmaker System

 

The Parkmaker system has returned in version 5 with the old points system being phased out. Parkmakers have three tiers, NE Parkmaker, Elite Parkmaker and Legendary Parkmaker. Each level has a color code attached to the username. Parks are used directly to determine who is a parkmaker. Any park with an accolade can net a player a parkmaker spot so long as the park meets certain scoring and share requirements. Checkout the parkmakers page to see who is a current parkmaker, and the requirements to obtain the status here http://www.nedesigns.com/parkmakers/.

 

Parks that do not have an accolade panel score but are awarded an accolade (before the accolade panel came into existence) will be scored by the accolade panel to determine parkmaker status. The accolade status of these parks will remain unchanged regardless of the score given by the panel. If you belong to the Accolade Panel, head into your account settings and click the My Jobs tab to find current older parks that need to be voted on.

 

With this new parkmaker system, we thought it was important that ALL parks in the database be a potential parkmaker winner for the creator of that park. This means all old parks, if they pass the public voting requirement, will be scored by the accolade panel and can potentially earn an accolade and parkmaker status for the creator.

 

Conclusion

 

We hope you enjoy the new site and hope it helps you enjoy RollerCoaster Tycoon that much more. If you have any questions, suggestions, run across any bugs, please reply to this discussion.

 

Happy RCTing!

The New Element Staff

IT'S NE5 BITCHES

 

wow what a fucking shit house website

 

is there a way if we want we can go back to ne4

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS

ommmmggggggg

this is sooooooo coooooooooooooooool

 

so many things to click on

 

i dont know what to do

 

thank you all

Wow. This is crazy. Amazing site Gee.

Haven't had time to look around properly but well done on finishing this and good job to the rest of the team, congrats.

Looks good guys. I like the content system so far. Although I'm a little lost on how the forums work now. From what I can tell there's no forum front page anymore? just the little thing in the top right of the main page?

is there any way to access the old advertising district (I guess it no longer exists?) so we can download screens from it (no longer have many of them) and upload them to the new system?

 

also, is there a forum button other than in your notification feed?

 

wow i somehow replied directly to roomie... still figuring this out

Truly a step forward. Amazing work guys, and thank you.

http://www.nedesigns...ising-district/

 

there you go cocoa

The forums are on the homepage http://www.nedesigns.com/ in the top right.

Advertising District is still readable here http://www.nedesigns...ising-district/

become a fan of ALL THE THINGS

 

ne5 in a nutshell 

 

not all the forums are listed and without them listed there is no clear navigation to get to other areas.

 

you guys can have this but i just say yuck. I like some of the new layout but you trashed the forums even more than the last design

From what I can tell there's no forum front page anymore? just the little thing in the top right of the main page?

 

Correct, there is no direct forum front page. Instead, the forums are a part of the front page of the site.

 

Every part of the site can now be accessed from the front page.

Where does it have a link to a forum page like ne4?

Where does it say how many posts a member has, where is join date, where are signatures

Where is the option to not be a fan of something? or are we only allowed to like something, essentially circle jerking and praising each other 

Fucking shit website

Listen, kid, I spent 2 years of my life working on this. The least you can do is show some respect.

Banned for 30 days.

Go circle jerk to your post count.

Ah Gee, if only we could fan posts too...

 

Fantastic work really. Thank you so much to you and the rest of the staff for your commitment to the site. You're all incredible!

Wow, gee, AMAZING work! Don't let haters like goliath get to you, he just hasn't seen the potential this new design has. Of course, it's a bit getting used to the new way discussions work, because we're so used to the old way of using a tree-like forum structure. What I get is that the front page basically is the forum index page. The only real difference with the previous design is that the ad district is now an internal section of the site in 'screenshots' (and then later on 'projects' and when it's done 'parks'). I really like the way a park's path is integrated into the site. For me as a parkmaker it's a great way of getting motivated again by the follows, ratings and comments it could receive.

 

Also glad the NE Parkmaker accolade is back! I think the new gradations are a great motivation for new and veteran parkmakers to achieve that ultimate legendary status (which will be incredibly hard to get!)

 

Great job on the utility page too! makes it really easy for new members to quickly find the tools they need to build.

 

Only thing I was hoping would be introduced in a new NE version was a tutorial section. There are so many great tutorials burried in the forums. If they all somehow could be transfered to a new section that would be great. Or maybe they can be tagged now, so that new members can just find them by searching for a tag 'tutorial'?

 

Anyway, great job once again gee (and who else helped creating this), this will ensure an even more dedicated and long-term rct community for sure!

:golf clap:

Well done. It's pretty much flawless.

Links to anything that didn't exist on ne4 don't seem to work on mobile. I'm also pleasantly surprised that there's a mobile friendly version of the site now, even if it does seem to be missing some of the functionality of the full version.

Awesome job gee, this thing is badass.