Head-2-Head Classic / Round 1 | Match 2

Retracing our collective footsteps

Round 1 | Match 2

VS

Willow Belle		Tropical Thrills
wheres_walto (99%) mrs walto (1%)		Xtreme97 (45%) Lurker (45%) SSSammy (10%)

Voting Rules
- You should only vote if you have viewed both parks in game.
- Take your time to reflect on each park. The poll stays open for three days, not three minutes.
- Everyone but players belonging to either team in the match may vote.

Love to see that waltoX2 combo.

 

Also glad to see both of the caps building. Great start to the contest!

Agreed, good showing from the captains!

Lovely park, Barnacle Heads. Even if builders were anonymous, I'd still guess Xtreme and Lurker. You two made a great combination, and I'm especially excited seeing Lurker on a higher-scale park like this. Of course SSSammy put in work as well, and I have a feeling this isn't the last we'll see of him. Will probably give a more comprehensive review once voting ends.

 

Also please turn on sound for Hawaii 0-Five's park.

willow belle: you're right that the ambient soundtrack does wonders. Really love this. So quaint and well-designed, lovely infrastructure and pretty landscaping. the coaster is a pretty good layout as well---i like the kind of semi-open station you went with. and ofc the mansion is vibey too

 

tropical thrills: this is some great classic shit. frenzied jungle mess with some neat interactions and layouts. I particularly liked the little slide lighthouse. I've never been super partial to the LL jungle textures but I can appreciate its role in the pantheon of themes. a very solid entry, and willow belle only barely won over for me

I love Tropical Thrills for the sheer amount of stuff going on, and it nails the period (although with some definite modern-isms, like the peepability, and the general spacing of buildings - none of this "every 5ft has to be a new building" that was all the rage for so long). Volcanic Voyage is a lot of fun to watch. Solid showing for the first round and a good classic theme.

 

Willow Belle feels a little too modern in a lot of ways, from the object selection to the more minimalist approach to foliage and a lot of NCSO inspired tricks. Harvest is a great little layout, but four trains is too many and it just feels so disconnected from the meat of the park. I will say though, this was my first time learning about the nature sounds (when did we get those???) and this has used them perfectly. I adore it. Maybe on a bigger scale something like this could be a park formed around a historical monument, like an old fort or castle? Bigger, more fleshed-out version with the same foundation that would lend itself better to more rides and "stuff" happening.

Willow Belle: I think I could fall asleep to this park; really amazing atmosphere here. I largely agree with Ling; some elements are a bit disconnected and I think as a whole the submission is lacking a focal point for me. That being said, the atmosphere is among the best I've experienced upon opening a park.

Tropical Thrills: Right up my alley; I love a good tropical theme. Hang Out is fantastic, I love how it weaves among the rocks and trees and the subtle architecture of the station is perfect. Peeps really do this wonders, I think. 

First time turning on the game volume since my initial install - and I'm glad I did. I could use Willow Belle as a screen saver.

 

This was a tough match up for me. Tropical Thrills is a fun family park. Comfortable rides that would keep a family exploring together - it felt like a lot of thought was put into that part of the design, but it seems like an obscure point to focus on, so probably not. It just felt like you could spend the day TOGETHER here rather than needing a "meet up spot." This wasn't a matter of "pulling back" because the energy and excitement was really strong. Like "Limelight" it has a "master class" feel in its conception and construction.

 

Willow Belle is a gorgeous painting. The coaster - which is beautiful - feels like the homeowners' hobby and they gave up some of their farming land to build it. Aside from that, there is no "park feel." I used a small checklist when reviewing these parks and in this case, I voted completely against it. I voted for the "feel" I had when browsing around the Willow Belle.

 

Both of these submissions were fantastic and I wish I had two votes...

Willow Belle: Lovely little thing, really enjoying the atmosphere and the ambient music. Although the park doesnt feel very 2005 to me, it got my vote, mostly because the foliage and landscaping is too pretty to ignore. The wooden coaster has a nice layout and kind of rounds the whole thing up.

 

Tropical Thrills: Feels much more 2005 to me, cant too much wrong with some nice tropical theming. The composition in this is very good too and i really enjoyed the mine train. Some parts were a bit messy, but overall the architecture is really nice.

 

Great job, both teams!

Really tough to vote on this.

 

The nostalgia waxing was intense with Barnacles. Single wides, the extra oldschool custom ride, an inverted wild mouse, the LL-only standup. It was all pretty lovely, but ultimately also a bit messy.

 

Hawaii's was beautifully composed, clean, lovable, with a mild touch of ar2910 perhaps. And the use of atmospheric sounds like that happens too rarely. I've found them really effective here. Well done on this.

Tough vote on this for me. I love the minimal aesthetic of Willow Belle. It all just feels so relaxing and peaceful. The coaster itself was cool, too. I think it was cool how it focused on rose bowl elements. As an evergreen gardener, I can also appreciate the landscaping and gardens/farmland throughout the map.

 

Tropical Thrills also deserves praise. I can definitely see Lurker's touches throughout the map. I am really happy he got such a large share so early! The highlight of this park for me is the landscaping, including the flat sandy atoll sections, which I really liked. The classic LL flat ride was also a highlight.

 

Again, tough vote. Both teams should be proud here.

Willow Belle: Excellent atmosphere which is nicely enhanced with the ambient sounds. Inspired by Oak Alley? I like the coaster layout a lot as well. The tire swing is a detail that made me smile. The rocky bay area with jungle foliage stood out as incongruous to me.

 

Tropical Thrills: Love to see peepable LL done so well. The mine train layout is really nice with a fitting hack. Landscaping stands out as top-tier. The architecture is the weakest aspect, but it allows the landscape to take the focus. 

Winner:

 

 

Hawaii 0-Five

13 - 11

The Barnacle Heads

Thanks for the votes and comments. Our map was visually inspired by Oak Alley, but more by the locations Shady Belle and Braithwaite Manor from Red Dead Redemption 2. I felt that this contest was meant to make us remember the past, honor long-gone builders, think about how far the game has come, and appreciate how long-lasting our community has proven to be. I wanted to build a park that reflected those ideas in some way.

 

In my research for the contest, I noticed that 2003-2006 had a relative dearth of non theme parks. Seemingly everything from that era fell into semi-realism, very few builders yet saw the game as a simulation tool to emulate daily life. That being my favorite genre, it was an obvious choice to create a farm.

 

Hopefully you found it to be nostalgic, atmospheric, and calming. I'm proud of how it came together and found the simplicity of style was an incredibly refreshing change of pace after the insanely tedious density of my last few releases. I think it's some of my most charming work, I just hope that the intentional simplicity isn't seen as a negative because there are many small details to discover

Great match, Barnacle Heads! You made an amazing little park and kept it close with us the whole time. Tropical Thrills feels like a perfect combination of a Coaster Ed-esque hackfest and a classic peepable park; exactly what I'd expect with Xtreme and Lurker at the helm. A big thing I've noticed about the LL parks in this competition is density and this is no exception. The macro composition with the central mountain is stark, and the tropical island theme means this park is jam-packed with foliage and dramatic landscaping. The ride design is great throughout, with Volcanic Voyage and Hang Out taking the top spots for me. I also love the lighthouse slide in the rocks near the corner of the map. As happy as I am to see my team win, it's hard for me to see this as a losing park. Great job once again Barnacle Heads; regardless of the score you put out a wonderful park.

 

Even if for a 2005 themed contest, I think what Mr. and Mrs. Walto did with the ambient sound in Willow Belle is a big sign of a changing meta. The concept of using park-specific custom music as ambient noise has been thrown around here and there ever since the parkobj format debuted, and we definitely showed its limitless potential. I think this is going to add a new level to the meta and will undoubtedly be a big part of a convincing H2HX park. Hawaii 1-0!

These parks couldn't have been more different! I really loved the layout in Willow Belle and the peaceful atmosphere was top notch. Great work.

I have a really hard time with RCT2 and LL matches.

Tropical Thrills:
The ride design, jagged landscaping, cluster foliage, and of course tropical theme - very on brand for classic. I enjoy the density of rides, very high efficiency like scenario play but all done well. I really dig the hill side architecture and overall forms. I like the way everything is nested, it enhances my overall mood to watch.

Willow Belle:
For those of you who are unfamiliar, a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy. At the end of a block zone is a method to stop the train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied. This is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another.

That said coaster and queue rock. Map has nice subtlety and breathing room. Nice movement throughout the map and the custom sound design is great. The sound and the scenes throughout the map together really make the viewing experience going through the nuanced landscapes.

voted based on gut instinct after going back and forward on them but it was quite close. Congrats Hawaii O-Five

Walto showing yet again the ability to switch styles and objects with speed and skill, a very impressive park with a short deadline. Willow Belle is such a peaceful and relaxing park to view, just great atmosphere all around, especially with the custom sounds. Was fun to just look around at all the small scenes.