RCT Discussion / Obscure themes and settings

What themes do theme parks often feature? Western, pirates Chinese, Roman, Greek, Egyptian, generic medieval, jungle wilderness are a few of the usual suspects. These are so commonplace that we almost take these for granted and originality mostly relies on twists on these standard themes. Sometimes we see a more original theme like Ottoman in BGA, Irish in Gaelic Meadow, modern South Africa in ILMENITE or Canada in BG North America. Sometimes it makes sense, for example Eritrea just isn't as relevant and interesting to us westerners as Rome or the American frontier. But sometimes it's quite puzzling why certain countries, cultures and eras have not featured prominently in parks. Why are Chinese themes so much more common than Indian ones? Why are there so few Russian themes that are not related to communism? Where is Yugoslavia? Where are the low countries? Why no 70's themes or prehistory? Ethiopia (you disappoint me, gdb)? The low countries have been done quite a lot, but almost exclusively by people from the low countries. Belgians doing belgian themes and Dutchmen doing Dutch themes. Aside from that there's is almost nothing at all. African countries usually suffer from being represented in naming in otherwise quite generic looking areas. Real sub-saharan African inspiration seems rare.

I'm wondering what real world (historical included) locations we have overlooked, other than the ones I've listed. Speaking of which let's make a list of obscure themes and where we can find them. This is both fun and useful for tag management. Another purpose of this topic is to ask the question "has anyone ever done [X] before?" The latter is what spawned this topic, as I'm currently wondering where I can find contemporary architecture from slightly less-developed countries. Think Belmont Shores in the Phillippines, or anything Favela. I just want to see how others have done it while working on Seaquarium. Can anyone help?

List of geographical themes and settings

Europe
- Scotland - England - Wales - Set in Britain
- Netherlands - Set in the Netherlands
- Belgium - Set in Belgium
- Set in Germany
- Sweden - Set in Sweden
- Norway - Set in Norway
- Denmark - Set in Denmark
- Finland - Set in Finland
- France - Set in France
- Spain - Set in Spain
- Portugal - Set in Portugal
- Hungary - Set in Hungary
- Turkey - Set in Turkey
- Greece
- Italy
- Lithuania

- Iceland
- Yugoslavia
- Ireland
- Russia - Communism

Asia & Oceania
- Set in Japan
- Australia
- China
- Vietnam
- India - Set in India
- -Set in USA
- Set in Canada
- Brazil
- Argentina
- Peru
- Mexico

Africa & Middle-East
- Set in Lebanon
- Israel
- Morocco
- Tunisia
- Egypt
- Kenya
- South Africa - Set in South Africa
- Ethiopia

This is quite an interesting topic! I think we can add Australia to the list, that's not done much I believe. Heck, the whole Southeastern hemisphere is overlooked!

Antarctica is never used even though it would be easy to execute. Also every Slavic country that isn't Russia is never used.

Great topic liam. Sometimes when I cant think of a theme I just jump on google earth, close my eyes, give it a spin and zoom in and build a little something that I see. 

I also think it's interesting that nearly every theme ever is geographic based. I mean I guess this makes sense considering theme parks are usually situated in geographic settings that require architecture and whatnot, but something like say, DisneySpace which had a mostly fictional setting inspired by a certain place rather than an entire area? Idk if this makes much sense I'm struggling to put it into proper terms. 

And yeh more times would be great. 

Just saw the list, and I thought: there IS a park from South Africa! Hoogland Park by 5dave.

Ethiopia made the list twice!

 

I think it depends partly on the Eritrea-factor you mention (we don't know anything about it/it doesn't play a significant role in our history or folklore), but also partly on what objects are available, in terms of both the standard objects and CSO. Would Chinese/Japanese themes be as prominent if there hadn't been a pretty good set of japanese theming objects, including music, in the game? The Wacky Worlds expansion tried to adress this by adding a lot of previously less explored themes (for instance, Indian and pre-Columbian American). If those objects had been better designed (fit the RCT look better) WW would probably not have been quite as reviled as it was by the community (though obviously the assortment of ridiculous themed rides added instead of missing real world types possibly played a larger part in the negative reception) and we might possibly have seen more parks with particularly an Indian theme (the blocky architecture of the old American civilizations is fairly easy to approximate even without custom scenery). The development of CSO toward enabling greater detail has made it easier to try a certain theme without dedicated objects, something I also feel we have seen in later years (such as the mentioned BGA).

 

 

Whether or not one chooses a particular theme also possibly has to do with how many peculiar and recognizable features there is in a particular culture to be represented. A park or part of a park with a distinct "Chinese" theme is easier for us to recognize, without knowing any ride- or area names or having been told of the concept, than a park or area with, say, a Swedish theme, which would be hard to distinguish from a Finnish or Norweigan theme (since these countries look much the same with regards to the nature and architecture, and subtle differences are hard to represent in the rather coarse medium that RCT is). This I think is dependent on our cultural stereotypes: We all associate "China" with dragons, funny roofs and a prominent use of red in the architecture, although most of China hardly looks like what it tends to do in RCT. In the same vein, when Scandinavia is represented it tends to be through winter and/or "viking" themes with various attempts at "norse" architecture derived from Norweigan stave churches (and possibly architectural national romanticism of the late 19th/early 20th centuries), which doesn't really reflect what these countries actually look like. My point being, if there isn't a strong cultural stereotype relating to what a particular country or area looks like, it will be hard to execute comprehensibly in RCT, and probably also to even think of trying. 

WW would probably not have been quite as reviled as it was by the community (though obviously the assortment of ridiculous themed rides added instead of missing real world types possibly played a larger part in the negative reception)

 

I don't get why the rides aren't used more often... they're perfect for hacking and creating non-rides. There are plenty of car-shaped cars in te expansions that should be utilized for things like traffic. All the animal-shaped cars beg to be used in a zoo.

Making new themes in LL is incredibly difficult. Very specific themes in LL generally run the risk of becoming too obviously formulaic and difficult to recognise. I seriously dont understand why most rct2 players tend to limit themselves; they have every piece you could imagine yet they stick with the same boring ol stuff we're used too. Baffles me.

Making new themes in LL is incredibly difficult. Very specific themes in LL generally run the risk of becoming too obviously formulaic and difficult to recognise. I seriously dont understand why most rct2 players tend to limit themselves; they have every piece you could imagine yet they stick with the same boring ol stuff we're used too. Baffles me.

 

Maybe because not everyone has the same likes or dislikes as you?  Maybe there are people who like to play the game different than what you prefer?  Maybe because not everyone wan't to build the same way as you?  Or even, GASP, people have different ideas about what is "boring".

 

Honestly some of the stuff you post makes me think that the only opinion you consider is your own and that everyone who plays different from you is somehow incorrect.

Meh, he's sorta right. The RCT2 engine has so much potential and yet most parks tend to be kinda formulaic.

I think Poke was referring to themes people build, so his comments aren't relevant to you anyway G

I see some Brazil-themed stuff, but I rarely see other South American countries portrayed in RCT.

I think Poke was referring to themes people build, so his comments aren't relevant to you anyway G

Ooooooohhh, shots fired

I see some Brazil-themed stuff, but I rarely see other South American countries portrayed in RCT.

 

I think Argentina would be very interesting. Not the classic jungle environment  and no Incas, Mayas... And they have a rich and diverse landscape too. 

Good discussion so far. Before I reply, note that I've been working on a list in the first post. I will expand it more in the future and I will pay more attention when tagging parks. The "set in [x]" tags are new so they'll have to be expanded a lot.

I see some Brazil-themed stuff, but I rarely see other South American countries portrayed in RCT.

 

That's strange, I hardly ever see Brazil in RCT. South American themes are mostly limited to Incas, Mayas and Mexico... Do you have an example? 

Road Rallies from RCTSpace addressed a lot of unusual country themes.

The Baltic States are severely underrepresented. And what about the urban triangle Apeldoorn-Deventer-Zutphen?

Making new themes in LL is incredibly difficult. Very specific themes in LL generally run the risk of becoming too obviously formulaic and difficult to recognise. I seriously dont understand why most rct2 players tend to limit themselves; they have every piece you could imagine yet they stick with the same boring ol stuff we're used too. Baffles me.

Looking at parks across the world, there seems to be a set of typical real world themes, that are reflected in the game's standard themes (medieval, western, oriental, wonderland, space, etc.). I think many go for these themes in RCT as well because, aside from the things I detailed in my previous post, there are plenty of real life examples to be inspired by, to study and learn from, with these themes. Coming up with something completely different, and executing it well, takes a lot of imagination even if one understands the possibilities the game offers, and I think many people simply don't have that imagination (which btw doesn't necessarily make one a mediocre RCT player). I know I certainly don't. And even when one has it, there's the question of finding the time to play the game.

 

Louis definitely has a point mentioning the Road Rallies. I'd say there's also a few "obscure" themes among the Vacation Parks of RCTSpace, such as the very first one (Wisconsin), or perhaps VOC themed to Indonesia, with features like the urban motorbike race that definitely strays from typical cliché amusement park themes and takes a step closer to contemporary reality.

That's strange, I hardly ever see Brazil in RCT. South American themes are mostly limited to Incas, Mayas and Mexico... Do you have an example?

BGSS and Panoptica both have Brazilian favelas, and there are some parks with an Amazon theme. Also, Mexico is in North America