Semi-finals

Happy Valley Hangzhou

VS

Florida Action Park

Please view FAP with OpenGL if you can! We are aware that the loop glitches otherwise, and are hoping to remake it with the landmark editor soon!

Best of luck CK boys. America vs China.

Please view HVH with a waffle iron if you can! We are aware that RCT does not run on most waffle irons, but are hoping the sensation of freshly made waffles will enhance your enjoyment of the park!

 

Best of luck AC boys. OpenGL vs waffle iron.

I thoroughly enjoy both of these parks. They each have a bit of a similar feeling to them (weird/wacky realistic style parks) - which I definitely enjoy. Each also have vastly different building styles, which is fun to see up against each other. I'll preface my review with this - this is going to be an extremely tough one to vote on.

 

Happy Valley

 

Been waiting for someone to do a park styled after this chain. This is about exactly how I'd go about a park like this, and I very nearly have a few times! This has the right feel without a doubt, and the attention to detail is impressive. The ride design is also pretty fantastic - though I'd have loved to see some comically slow lift hills. I *love* the waterfront with the carousel. A bit less of a fan of the gaudy building next to it, but I recognize that's part of the real deal too. In general, this is a fun, solid, unique take on something I really hope people take on more in the future.

 

Might be a common theme this match, but I don't really have any big complaints. I'm glad you included the skyscrapers; the way they've been plopped in may feel a little forced - but the context is nice. Almost wish there could have been more of that, it's a great and fitting backdrop. Additionally, some of the sculptures and structures are perhaps a bit lacking in refinement compared to other locations in the park (popsicle palace, the...shark? thing with sunglasses - the shark-thing is a big one compared to the massively impressive orca right next door). I think the builders are perhaps aware of this fact; that the overall style might not meet all expectations; but I think the dedication to the theme and inspiration is what makes this a great park.

 

Some highlights:

 

 

 

 

FAP

 

Boy, this really *feels* like a classic H2H park with a modern spin. The abundance of fun details (go-kart joyride) both inside and outside of the park are almost nostalgic in a way. That's been rather beautifully combined with the emerging detail-heavy style we've been seeing since Grand Tour. Of course, I love waterparks - very glad that Open has enabled us to make everything so functional these days. This definitely has an "Action Park does Florida" vibe to it, so props for nailing the source material. It's horrendous and ugly, but in a good way - a carefully thought out and intentional way. The architecture is top notch, the rides are well done and quite fitting, and there's a lot of insane detail (that fire truck, the Love's sign, wow). The underwater detail is some of the best I think I've ever seen.

 

It's honestly tough to pick out negative points. The interior of the China Buffet seems a bit less well done than the shops surrounding it, and there are some visual quirks that are largely the result of various hacks - but I have no major complaints about this. It's a little hard to tell the difference between intentionally messy and just plain messy in some circumstances, but that in of itself is not the worst thing that could happen. It does exactly what it sets out to do - some people will love it, some will hate it - but you did a great job, AC.

 

Highlights:

 

 

 

 

Both parks are something I have been looking forward to someone attempting at some point. Both parks have similar advantages and disadvantages. Dedication to their inspiration, impressive execution of their respective concepts, and excellent atmosphere. Both also have their glitchy, messy, less refined moments. Gonna be a really tough vote for me, and I expect I'll be coming back to both of these a lot, now and in the future.

Man Adventure Club, you guys have done it again.  Probably one of my favorite H2H releases ever, just the full package is so well done and really hits home with me lol.  All the references, scenes, storytelling in the park just added a ton of depth.  Each ride really feels like its unique and crafted too within the park, and totally fits with its execution.  The commercial and custom music was great too, just created such a great mood and really set the tone for the park which was totally matched by the RCT.

 

A few things felt off to me, mostly how close the park itself was to the map edge, thinking the planning could have been a bit better there.  The coaster was missing a few details too that would of made it a little more believable (catwalks).  But overall, great work by you guys once again.

Florida Action Park, what a park!

And what an acronym too.

Good crunch all around and has some neat innovation like the infamous loop. All around the park were fun little details and maybe some not so fun details. Here's some of my favorites:
- driving the shooting boom through the fence and not cleaning up

- the mat slides crash into the pier way too fast

- swimmers unsegregated from boats

- tank battle

- Extra Pieces? ride

- the performers with only 2 people watching

 

Outside the park, the fun continues:
- Guy who's high and doing circles on a bicycle
- Golf carts in the RV park
- The train out on a job
- Fire ants
- Mobility scooter
- Shopping carts (they remind me of Rabbids Go Home)

I do have to question what exactly that train is based on. As far as I can tell, USSC never operated any orange and blue rolling stock, but their subsidiary SCFE did. Also, if it's "changing tracks" which I assume you mean "switching" then why does it have locomotives on both ends? Maybe you can explain this one.

Head Vs. Head

 

I didn't have a smart waffle iron but I did have a toaster, so I booted up OpenRCT2 on my toaster to check out the park in the builder-recommended way. The display didn't have color, and it was quite small and slow, so I was surprised that this is the best way to view the park.

 

I feel like I've seen this before. Chinese realism, played straight, no palette... this feels like Romon-U Park. Here's what I like:
- Animal sculptures are great. Only one I thought was a little flat was the snake head.

- Rides design is nice

- Archy is really good and has the wacky Chinese feel to it

- The plaza with the monorail cycles is nice

- I don't see many RC boats in parks, good to see some

 

I thought that the ride names you maybe put a little too much effort into, they almost made sense. The buildings on the outskirts had some nice details but they felt like they were miniatures compared to the many buildings we've seen in previous rounds, full interiors or not.

AC- this shit is so far up my alley, love me some dirty American realism, it feels exactly like non-resort Florida: hot and sweaty, tacky, stupid, and borderline dangerous. What does it say about me that I'm more wowed by a strip mall than a roller coaster? I don't know, maybe it's better not to know. I love the colors, I love the textures, I love your team and I'm not kidding at all about a finals collaboration. Screw the rules, we're already working overtime, who cares about [player you don't like]'s approval for one more match? We're all itching to play rct tinder after H2H is over anyways, why not start early?

 

CK- your park is good too, but my grandma just isn't as hot as my wife. I was hoping you guys would lean more into the modern game, alas. Sorry y'all, I'll have more thoughts later, there's a lot to like here (sculptures and interesting pathing were highlights for me), you might win the match and make me look like a doofus, but I voted for the other guys

having just been to florida for the first time (destin on the panhandle), and really looking forward to the family vacay, and then realising florida is mostly a crowded craphole, FAP is hitting it right on the money for me. The fireworks tent in the parking lot, the publix - I don't know if I've ever felt "in" an RCT park as much as I do this one.

Are fireworks sold year-round in Florida???

Florida Action Park: Action Park but trailer trash. You love to see it. I wasn't incredibly impressed at first, but as I looked closer and closer this became one of the highlights of the season. It's so Florida in the most unglamorous way possible. Between the strip mall, the trailer park, and the crazy mishaps like the gas station fire and the exploded meth van, this park made me feel like I was there. I've never even been to Florida and it still feels spot-on.
 
A few miscellaneous highlights I'd like to point out:

- Even if it's not functional, I can't believe you actually got the looping waterslide in there. Perfect way to immediately capture the Action Park vibe.

- The train with the diesel multiple unit and Shimmeria Subway cars makes me think we could afford to have a generic freight train with a bunch of different kinds of cars so we can mix and match them with the edit ride vehicles plugin.
- I also really loved the go-kart track with the half diagonals and the employee going out on a joyride

- Hurricane is mint. The design is really solid (aside from the weird split lift) and I love the rainbow trains.

- Everything is named. The little stories and interactive elements are what take this park over the top.

- Win a Gator. It's so Florida.

 

All in all, probably the funniest park of the contest and a real winner.

 

Happy Valley Hangzhou: I was immediately excited to see an Asian park in the semifinals, remembering Tubiao Action Park from the last H2H. I was especially pumped to see the ride names, and oh boy did they deliver. Big Clown Inertia Train. Falling From Great Heights. Dizzy Love and Whirling Passion. Action Tiger Orb. Beautiful. I'm not super educated on the Happy Valley chain, but looking into it shows how much attention you paid to the ride names and types.

 

Highlight time!

 

- The clear high point of the park is Ancient Python In Jungle. It's such a cool and creative layout, although I imagine in person it must be rough. The Fisch rocks work wonders for the huge mountain, and I love the little temples popping out of the mountain. The fading paint was also a nice touch.

- Love Soaring With Dragon's entrance. The curved path passing over the coaster, the huge Chinese letters, and the dragon above the queue make for a real eye catcher.

- Another great example of a queue is Sunshine Family Invert Coaster. I love the minigolf path going over the water and leading to the ship where the station is.

- North Pole Christmas is so creative. Love the idea of a dark ride where you shoot targets. Coolest target is easily the one between the moving sleighs. Am I the only one noticing the ride is called North Pole Christmas while the sign says South Pole Christmas?

- The outskirts are pretty nice. I like the little scenes outside the park boundaries like the ride destined for the wrong park, and the skyscrapers really feel Chinese to me.

- IDK if this counts as a highlight, but something about the popsicle building feels weird. It almost feels like it was made 5-10 years ago. Love the interior though, especially with the trash everywhere.

 

My vote goes to the Adventurer's Club, who put out the King Of The Hill of H2H parks; immersive, authentic, and hysterical. Hoping we can get a TI vs. AC finals, the two kings of H2H9. Last time they were one vote apart with two stellar parks; I can't wait to see what happens if they're granted finals-size plots.

Happy Valley

 

Wow, really enjoyed this park. Reading initial reviews of the park and comments on Discord I feel that some of the community is sleeping on this park. While this does park doesn't have a faded palette or crunchy overlapping land textures, this park makes up for it in charm and ride design. I think between the two parks, the coasters here win over any of the rides in Action Park. There's family coasters, thrilling coasters, kiddie rides, dark rides, boat rides. There's an entire line up of attractions you'd see in a full sized park, but somehow it never feels cramped or too dense to me. Flying over Cloud with Mountain was a great coaster, and it's interaction with itself and Soaring with Dragon were great. The dips over and under the paths too would be fun as hell to ride. Also, these ride names were pretty funny. 

 

Going back to my comment on charm, holy crap all the sculptures are great. Lovely stuff and added a lot to the park for me. Maybe I'm dumb and need to be spoon-fed content with obvious call outs and signage, but having cartoony signs help me as a viewer and adds some fun atmosphere. 

 

Loved this little camera. Very indicative of stuff that seem very believable. Is that were you buy an on-ride photo? Probably with that huge camera sign! 

 

Cool rockwork creeping up the brown building here. Great usage of the Fisch rocks. And check out the sneaky gator

 

Lastly, theres cute little path details sprinkled throughout the park. Not pictured here is the phases of the moon outside of Soaring with Dragon. But, these jellyfish and sea turtles were great!

 

Really great park Cereal Killers. 

 

Action Park

 

Ugh... I wanted to do an Action Park soooo bad! I had brought up the idea a few times when brainstorming Gauntlegrym but I don't think it caught on obviously! I have such a fascination with Action Park and love the history behind that wild place, so to see it franchised in RCT was a joy. This park is dirty, crunchy, dangerous, but looks fun as hell. I think compared to Happy Valley this park falls short in terms of rides. Where's the slalom run? Dangerous tubing river? Not so lazy lazy river? I will admit though that you guys packed in a lot of cool jumping attractions like the bungee jump, cliff jumping, the swing into the lake. The go kart ride was very cool as well... but why a giant parking garage structure for it? Seems like making a half diagonal parking tower for the sake of it? It's ugly as hell. But in a kinda good way? It's framed well and surrounded by cool structures like the burger joint..

 

 

Speaking of outskirts, all the little vingnettes were pretty fun and added a lot of energy and story to the entry. Never though in a million years I'd see a strip club in RCT. The interiors also were really well done. Loved the detail for each one.. you guys even did a cutaway view of a pit toilet.. wtf lol. Every time you look at something like the strip club, or the grocery store, or the gas station incident, I giggle because there's always a powered scooter zooming around lol. So stupid but so funny. Love it. 

 

I will say though that an issue for me is how there seems to be more outskirts to the park than content in the actual park. Your team is packed with people who excel at park surroundings and cool little moments, but when comparing two amusement parks, I'm finding myself preferring the park with a better ride lineup and park entrance. It's a really tough for me since both parks are so strong at what they do. Action Park honestly is elevated a bit because of the custom music and the commercial. Opening up the commercial got me pumped to view the park, and the music added a lot of ambience to viewing the park. 

 

Really all I'm trying to say is great job to both teams, I have no clue which park I'm voting for. 

This was a super weird matchup for me, and one that I found it pretty hard to vote on. I honestly didn't love either park, despite them both being pretty incredible work. Definitely just personal preference. 

 

Happy Valley was excellent work, but I don't know the subject matter, so it's pretty hard for me to give it props for being true to real life. I get that it's super realism, but it just kinda felt like i'd seen it before. There were a lot of instances where I found myself thinking "that's really nice, good work" but nothing that I thought "that's amazing, and new, and exciting". It was definitely very nicely done, quality work throughout. Everything felt excellent. Just not a whole lot of things that I personally find interesting. The rides were really good, but obviously had to stay within the confines of the setting and scale, and so didn't really bring anything exciting, for me. 

 

Feel like i'm being pretty harsh on a definitely VERY good park, but when compared to other parks we've seen this season, it's not quite there. 

 

 

 

Action Park was another park that I really couldn't get a grasp on. Again, seems like it's based on a real-life park, which I don't know, so I can't compare that. It definitely felt like Florida, which I do know, so props on that. It's another very realistic slice of the world, which honestly doesn't buzz me a whole lot. There's one coaster, and it's a pretty basic realistic old steel looper. Ballsy call submitting a park with one super realistic mid size coaster in the semi finals. The waterpark is pretty great, though, lots of cool stuff going on there. Some really nice ideas, very well executed. And the outskirts are very interesting, I spent way more time exploring those than the park and the waterpark. Some great little easter eggs, funny stuff. But that's not what i'm personally looking for in an RCT park. Never felt older than right now. 

 

Overall, I thought this park was maybe slightly less well executed than Happy Valley, but the things that were in here held my attention for longer, and I found them more interesting. I voted for Action Park, but it was very close. 

 

Good luck in the finals to whoever wins it!

Happy Valley Hangzhou:

This park was really well done and super enjoyable, not to mention funny. The rides were superb, and Flying Over Cloud and Mountain (lol) was probably the best coaster from your team. All of the ride names were hilarious, I especially loved "Big Clown Inertia Train". The highlight of this park for me were the various sculptures and custom signs, those were really well done. I think the ultimate reason why I did not vote for this park was not because this one was bad, it was in fact quite good, but because the other park was just slightly better in my opinion.

 

Florida Action Park:

Building off the end of my comment for Happy Valley, this park just slightly won me over due to its more "state of the art" object usage and the fact that it's extremely well done in its own right. Just like Happy Valley, it's a realism park with a funny theme and lots of room for jokes sprinkled in. It did not disappoint in that regard, lol. This park's humor was the highlight for me. I also really liked the coaster. It was super janky in a good way, and the water slide with the loop was a great addition. The only small criticism I would give this park is that some of the custom vehicles like the ambulance are very, very out of scale. I wouldn't normally mind, but when next to those smaller car vehicles it looks pretty wonky. That is just a nit pick, though. Like I stated earlier, this park won my vote by the slimmest of margins. 

Happy Valley Hangzhou:
From what I've seen from POVs of Chinese coasters this park does a great job of getting the atmosphere of Chinese parks. The coaster look especially clean and well done all around, layouts, supports, and some great interaction the rest of the park (Also nice to see a rare B&M family coaster recreated in RCT). And of course there's the great animal sculptures all round the park. I also enjoyed the colorful buildings around the park, and I loved that carousel.

Florida Action Park:
Having read about action park this interested me right away. And I could immediately spot some of the references to the park and the crazy stories behind it. I love seeing people build sketchy looking rides in RCT, so it was a lot of fun to look through these. And of course there's the area around the park, just a amazing amount of jokes, scenes and small details all around. 

What a difficult matchup to vote.

Both parks appear to be a risky move for a H2H semifinal and feel somewhat old-school to me, which must not be a bad thing. Execution of both parks in very solid. 

 

Happy Valley gave me the the perfect China feeling I know from too many business trips in this area. Odd colors, strange skyscraper, ...

I appreciate how you fitted so many rides in this park without giving it a tangled feel.

 

Florida Action Park captured the US/east coast feeling perfectly for me. More outside the park than the park itself though. Again a very risky move to only include one mid-size coaster. 

 

 

My vote goes to FAP, which truly is a close call for me. 

Really difficult match up for me. I like both parks. Some quick thoughts:

 

Happy valley:

Great park, favourite bit is the B&M hyper coaster. Super cool layout and love the path interaction with the turn around. Love all the little sculptures and how colourful this park is. Entrance area archy is fantastic too except for that one building next to the clown entrance thingy. I felt like that was in general a bit of a problem with this park, it felt pretty inconsistent in quality. Some bits felt a lot better for me than other bits. For example the areas near the family suspended coaster and the vekoma invert felt a bit underdetailed/simple to me while the area near the B&M hyper and near the park entrance/launch coaster feel much more complete and detailed. Overall it is still a great park though and I am really just nitpicking.

 

Florida action park

Also a great park. First off I will say I am not a huge fan of the palette although I do think it works here. I think the arrow corkscrew is really cool. Especially the supports on the corkscrews. I think the train blocking all the traffic moving back and forward is hilarious. This is such an American thing and I have been in this exact situation while in New Orleans so it instantly reminded me of that. I love the area with the campers, gas station and fire truck. Those are all made very well. I think what was lacking for me in this park was that there was not really anything that really stood out to me overall, although I will say that the overall quality of the park is high and consistent.

 

Overall I feel like Happy Valley has a bit more of a fun factor and is more interesting to look at, however I feel like florida action park is better from a technical quality perspective. In the end it was a hard decision but I decided to go for Florida Action Park.

Well this was quite an interesting contrast from the first semis match, going from two fantasy parks to two realism parks facing eachother, and showcasing different approaches that are both very successful in their executions.

Florida Action Park:
Been waiting for Florida Guy: The Park from your team and you guys delivered in so many ways. The park is packed with detail and everything contributes to the questionably unsafe but endearing kind of vibe. Found the loop slide hilarious and instantly recognisable, and the way everything else is packed into that one lagoon pool fits very well. The coaster used the space pretty nicely too, the double lift hill is ugly as hell which is perfect for the setting, and I found the cork supports pretty neat. So many great supporting rides and pieces in the park as well - things like the go karts track, the tank battles and the bungee tower stood out strongly. The outskirts of the park are also some of my favourite things about this map. The shopping arcade with the Publix(!) is so well done and perfectly detailed, and the rest was a lot of fun to explore and chuckle at. Also great use of objects and colours in general throughout which gave the park a memorable impression.

Happy Valley Hangzhou:
This is another type of park that I've been anticipating and I think you delivered here, though I wouldn't have expected it as much from your team. This runs along the same sort of lines as FAP but with a much different, but by no means bad, outcome. There's lots to love with this, it has a very charming, friendly atmosphere and the bright colours in the buildings and path certainly contribute to that. Loved the naming conventions also, was a smallish thing that helps sell the setting and believability better. Great layouts throughout, would perhaps have liked to see a generic clone in here somewhere but I think given the limited space it's better you went with mostly original (I think?) layouts. The hyper is definitely a standout but I also loved the uniqueness of the SLC. I think you did a lovely job with the scenery as well, the sculptures like the clown sign and the dragon are really cute, and I adored the various fish murals on the ground of the kids area. I think I would have liked to see more things like the North Pole christmas shooter, with western cultural products filtered through the lens of a Chinese chain park to produce these charmingly weird results. Don't really have many complaints other than the park looking a bit too pristine and glossy perhaps but maybe that's a product of my lack of experience with HV parks.

I'm sure the creators are a bit tired of hearing how this match was a "difficult choice" but they're both strong parks. FAP gets my vote in the end, I think it was better executed and more in depth at the end of the day. Congrats to both teams on a pair of lovely parks!

Match Conclusion

The poll is now closed.

Adventurers Club have won this match with a score of 46–7.

They are now qualified for the H2H9 Grand Final.

Creators

I'm pretty surprised this match was so one sided. It seems both parks were certainly very strong, but I'd guess many of the voters were swayed by certain elements of FAP over Happy Valley. I definitely don't think the difference in number of votes reflects the quality of the parks - I do think both are exceptional.

 

For me, it came down to a few elements of Happy Valley that I found less well executed than its opponent - the path edging in the screenshot being one of them. That isn't to say FAP didn't have faults; but the gritty, worn-down nature of the park concealed any that might have otherwise stuck out to me in a more well-groomed park.

 

Both parks are excellent, and I think my accolade scoring of each will reflect that one only just edged out the other in my mind for the H2H vote, but both are of exceptional quality independently.