Head-2-Head-X / H2HX Season Summary

Now that things have (mostly) wrapped up, it's time for some quick musings.

First, here's my MVP ballot:
 
1. Leon (97% total shares on 2 parks: Screameasy, Meccha)
2. alex (180% total shares on 3 parks: Ol' Smokey's Showboat, Radio Park Tbilisi, Gardens of Light)
3. AVC (115% total shares on 2 parks: Meccha, VERB)
4. walto (120% total shares on 2 parks: Yucca Desert Park, Super Nintendo World)
5. J K (120% total shares on 3 parks: Constellations, Murder in McAllan, Donkey Kong Country)
 
Honorable Mention: Mr.Brightside711, Ethan, nin, mamarillas, dr dirt, hoobaroo
 
Let's be honest, we all know Leon is the best player in the world right now. That's been the case for a while. It took an insanely productive season from alex to even come close to challenging for the top spot. There is a considerable gap between the top 3 and myself.

 

Shoutout to workhorses Liampie, Jens J, Babar Tapie, and Splitvision for exceeding 80% total shares on the season. Props as well to Mulpje and Steve for building on 3 separate parks.

 

 

Brightside is the front-runner for best value pick, earning a green name despite falling to Round 7. Also in consideration for best value, love the mix of old and new names:

 

Congoy (R12, Hurricanes)

Hobeon (R12, Soda Jerks)

monsterbux (R11, Jazzcats)

Six Frags (R10, Evergreen Gardeners)

dr dirt (R6, Soda Jerks)

 

 

Most valuable contributions as #3 builder (multiple players listed if shares are close)

 

1. monsterbux (25% on Meccha)

2. Hobeon/Gustav Goblin (25% on Valley of the Kings)

3. Scoop/Mulpje (20% on Sea of Symphonies)

4. Iretont/Jens J. (25% of Murder in McAllan)

5. mamarillas (25% on Donkey Kong Country)

 

 

Park Tiers
 
S
Meccha (JC)
Screameasy (JC)

 

A

Ol' Smokey's Showboat (DB)
Sea of Symphonies (SJ)
VERB (JC)
Buxom the Sunset Sorceress (DB)
Bugs and Bots (LHC)
The Yards (EG)
Radio Park Tbilisi (DB)
Yucca Desert Park (SJ)
Super Nintendo World (SJ)
Maverick (JC)

B
Sambhava's Rest (LHC)
Chateau Frontenac (LHC)
Lostileth (HR)
Troubadours et Baladins (EG)
Valley of the Kings (SJ)
Murder in McAllan (LHC)
Constellations (LHC)

Bene Volantes (EG)

Cirque Macabre (EG)
Millennium Discovery Museum (HR)
The Sailor (DB)

C
Donkey Kong Country (LHC)
Naam Chalong Suu Oom (HR)
Wawel Castle (DB)
Raveland (EG)
Hell (SJ)
Royal Institute of Biota (JC)
Castello Altovento (JC)
Neo Hot Springs (SJ)
Ghirardelli's Dream (HR)
Gardens of Light (DB)
Base X (HR)

i'll nominate roygbiv for a late value pick for us. the boats he did in the sailor were worth it alone

I agree with a lot of this - Leon, AVC, , and alex are in a tier all their own. Walt and J K have also been insanely productive this h2h.

 

Whats hard to quantify is the massive effort by a lot of the "non-builders" and supporters of their team's parks. For instance, I know 94supreme has been an absolute beast on the cats when it comes to hacks and rides, while players like nin provide tons of sketches, ideas, and art direction. 

 

As the contest nears it's end, I'd love to hear more about the players who we all have worked with during the contest and how the teamwork aspect played a part. I think the most successful parks are a result of healthy collaboration from builders and non-builders alike. Were there any people who you've never worked with before who you absolutely loved as a partner? Any big surprises?

 

For me, ethan is a blast to have on the team. Dude is quick to jump right in with help on a park, object help, CTRs, ideas, etc. And has some of the greatest commentary and perspective. Having never built with him, taking a peek into the process has been a blast.

 

I'd also shout out players like hobeon and mulpje - who have also been incredible team players when it comes to taking direction and embracing the iterative/rebuild process throughout.

 

 

 

I'd have to mostly agree with the tier lists of parks that i've seen, with the caveat that I don't consider very many parks if any to be "low tier" this contest. Quality has been top notch throughout.

This is nice. Enjoyed reading. In fact had planned a similar thing once the contest concludes, but cannot guarantee it'll happen, and also don't want to stifle this in any way, so do carry on.

I'm less about individual builders and more about parks, so I thought I'd use this thread as my list of all the parks. I opened them all at least briefly today, and one thing I'd say is, getting a vote within 3 days is a very different thing from how I rate parks now.

 

A plugin for instance could massively piss someone off, or really impress them, but months later, I care much less about that stuff either way.

 

Anyway, here goes. And no offense meant to low ranked parks, I was genuinely super impressed by aspects of every park.

 

39. Neo Hot Springs: it wasn't a concept that grabbed me, and the bench being from my first era of NE, just felt like a step back in time to something I wasn't familiar with. Like being in someone else's childhood home.

 

38. Naam Chalong Suu Oom: I was impressed by lots of the tricks in this park, but the aesthetics didn't come off to my eyes.

 

37. Base X: love the concept, wish it had more time to flesh out and add more details.

 

36. Sonnental: great coaster, kites are awesome, just this low from wanting more content and more time available to landscape an alpine scene more thoroughly.

 

35. Gardens of Light: abstract/space stuff doesn't grab me, so like NHS, this one is just a personal preference of an idea that could have used more time.

 

34. Ghirardelli's Dream: the CTR stuff feels like it showed things were possible, but fell one step short of doing them really well. I loved the little mini dioramas in each corner.

 

33. Cirque Macabre: great coaster, love the cannon. Just wanted more detail in the haunted house and the crunch hurt my eyes a little. A lot of people loved the theme, I just prefer more upbeat stuff.

 

32. Valley of the Kings: best park for audio, and the main skull was awesome. For me though, again, I guess I have niche tastes and just didn't vibe for it as many did.

 

31. Donkey Kong Country: with more time, organisation and unified vision this could have been a top 5 park of the contest. It just wasn't to be.

 

30. The Sailor: this is one that I have come to appreciate more and more. The SS Dambusters is fantastic. When drunk, I enjoyed this a lot more (top 10). When sober, it gives me a hangover a little.

 

29. Bene Volantes: rotating issues making it tough to view mask some top tier parkmaking from Fisch, who is one of my all time favs. Some really good moments. Just challenging to enjoy from multiple angles.

 

28. Cedar Point's Maverick: I don't know how it could have been better, and that just speaks to how far the abstract parks in H2H have gotten.

 

27. The Land Before Time: gorgeous landscape, great rides. Lush.

 

26. Wawel Castle: the problem with this as an H2H park is no-one knows Wawel Castle. Once you google it (or spot it on the Grand Tour, as I did!) you appreciate the attention to detail.

 

25. Super Mario World: I still don't know what to think of this. I think I'm a little hung up like some on fantasy or realism? I don't know if the aesthetic works or not still. This could be as high as 10 or as low as 30 depending on what mood I am, because I love all these games and I love seeing RCT being done so differently.

 

24. Raveland: raves aren't my deal, but this is just so fun to watch. Maybe the most atmosphere of H2HX. Lots of fun little scenes.

 

23. VERB: I guess I never "got" this as others did. I appreciate great parkmaking when I see it, and I love seeing others use plugins. I guess I would have liked to see more context of this world to grasp it.

 

22. Hell: best macro of the competition and best opening scene.

 

21. Institute of Extraordinary Biota: visiting gardens is a jam of our family, and this one just really resonated with me from the greenhouses, inventive plants and little train station. Best map edge of the contest.

 

20. Bugs and Bots: best sculpture of the contest. Absolutely crazy good, down to the fix seconds before the deadline!

 

19. Chateau Frontenac: AmusementParker and the guys did the most solid week of RCT I've ever seen and came out with a real gem. The Frontenac is close to my heart as one of the places we honeymooned in so this will be a map that sticks in the memory.

 

18. Millenium Discovery Museum: so enjoyed looking through the interiors, and best hack of the contest with the switchtrack.

 

17. Troubadours et Baladins: great vibes, lots to like and some real hotspots in the village. Just needed a tiny extra layer onto the theme IMO to push it into the top 10.

 

16. Radio Park Tbilisi: for sure the closest matchup of the season for me. This one nailed the soviet vibes and love the duelers.

 

15. Buxom: this is one that is better after more time understanding the vision of the palette. The first reaction can be repulsion but when you "get it" this one jumps up a lot. Love the reflections in the pool and the cave scenes. Storyline per talkback was great but would have loved to have been able to figure it out myself.

 

14. Expo Miami: nailed the miami aesthetic here and tons of details to love, especially like the shark and submarine.

 

13. Castello Altovento: my under-rated park of the contest. The village area is so hot, just really neat, tidy and impressive RCT.

 

12. Vere Aeternum: such a beautiful park. One set piece/map focal point short of top 5 for me.

 

11. 008 Mission Tropico: most fun park of the contest. I'm not as coaster mad as some so don't mind the absence, and really enjoy the vibes.

 

10. Yucca Desert Park: again love me some plugins. Really skillfully done town too - only could have been improved with a little more content maybe? But again the sparseness is part of the theme.

 

9. Murder at McAllan: best storytelling of the season. The harbour is beautiful and the mansion interior too. Also love how the distillery vibed with the map edge.

 

8. Lostileth: just really good, honest, RCT, to a theme that I'm not hugely for or against, but just executed so well it's really difficult to fault.

 

7. Sea of Symphonies: the hotel is so brave. Is it too messy? In places maybe, but the macro is so strong and the coaster is an underdog for coaster of the contest IMO.

 

6. Sambhava's Rest: definitely hugely underappreciated, and I feel mostly to blame for that due to the plugin fiasco. A beautiful landscape, detailing in the architecture is through the roof and Hex on top form with the coaster and support game.

 

5. Constellations: gotta be honest and say how proud I am of this park. I think maybe it's easy to forget the drama and impact of the tower on first viewing, and then the way the eclipse comes in. So much stuff behind the scenes from the full team to bring this together in just 4 weeks. Really enjoyed working with JK, Sammmy and CHE on this.

 

4. Meccha: undeniable level of quality. Almost want the mecs to move but I'm being so greedy there. Just unreal levels of stuff to look at and a perfection to the execution.

 

3. The Yards: I said what I said. I don't care about the darkness, just feels like a Lowry painting got made into RCT and then injected with coasters, life, and crazy diagonal/half diagonal work.

 

2. Ol' Smokey's Showboat: usually I whine about "could have used more content" but for some reason I don't care here. Major sucker for the feigned movement of the water and the engine room. Just an idea I'd never dare to even attempt executed so well.

 

1. Screameasy: how could it be anything else?

I forgot to post Minideano #1's rankings too! How could I! Here he goes...

 

39. Murder at McAllan - he wouldn't even look at this after I told him it was about a murder

 

38. Yucca Desert Park - They've ignored scenery. And there are overflooding guests, equals sad guests. They focused their time making it look cool.

 

37. Cirque Macabre - It's too dark to like, actually be a park

 

36. Naam Chalong Suu Oom - Those cars with people hanging down with them are really good

 

35. Valley of the Kings - It's so sandy, even if it's set in space, it doesn't seem like it was

 

34. Hell - too scary

 

33. Institute of Extraordinary Biota - They really should add more rides

 

32. Sonnental - Very good for the amount of space they had

 

31. Void Extraction Research Base - why are they trying to make this land, like, not pretty

 

30. Gardens of Light

 

29. Ghirardelli's Dream

 

28. The Sailor - it makes me sick

 

27. Neo Hot Springs

 

26. Cedar Point's Maverick

 

25. Screameasy - In real life, this would be a bit scary for the people running the parks

 

24. Radio Park Tbilisi - It's awesome except they put it a bit too, like, epic

 

23. Base X

 

22. Chateau Frontenac - is that the pokemon castle?

 

21. Lostileth - I think it's pretty good

 

20. Wawel Castle - It's funny how they put a dinosaur museum underground

 

19. Troubadours et Baladins - Some of these rides go a bit too slowly

 

18. Buxom

 

17. Donkey Kong Country

 

16. Sea of Symphonies

 

15. Ol' Smokey's Showboat

 

14. The Yards - The park should be called "a bunch of beautiful gardens with houses

 

13. Bene Volantes

 

12. Sambhava's Rest - It's a mixture of chaotic and calmness

 

11. 008 Mission Tropico - Too noisy

 

10. Raveland - Too crazy, way too crazy

 

9. The Land Before Time - Maybe a bit too much rollercoaster

 

8. Bugs and Bots - I don't know why the people are trying to kill the bugs

 

7. Millenium Discovery Museum - The reason why I did 98 is because of the backwards ride, I don't like those. It's really cool how it's themed and the skywalk.

 

6. Castello Altovento - A bit too much water, the rides are perfectly timed.

 

5. Vere Aeternum

 

4. Meccha

 

3. Expo Miami

 

2. Constellations - I really nice how the wheel spins when a train goes past it

 

1. Super Mario World - wow! So cool!

 

Damn you Soda Jerks, you did about the only thing that could have made him demote his dad's park down to #2!