Head-2-Head-X / H2HX: Contest Wrap-up

With certain distance from the contest, it's time to look at the wealth of data the event has produced. The big picture allows to see a number of interesting facts that we felt were entertaining to pick out and present in a bit more detail.

To start, I've compiled a list of all parks of the contest, ranked by the panel score, very similar to how Jens J. had already beautifully done during the contest. In fact it could be said the table below is in collaboration with him. I've added a few things that were important to me: An attempt to better distinguish park type and player roles. I've semi-jokingly referred to this as "the algorithm" before, and I thought the H2HX parks would make an excellent trial case, as they include many of you and your parks, making me hopeful to receive your feedback.

This way of classifying parks is provisionial as of yet, but linked to the intention of establishing an improved categorisation on NE. I think a few aspects still need to be ironed out, but I do hope it'll help us to distinguish someone's main releases better, and give credit more adequately based on builder share. Thus allow me to go into certain detail on what it is you're being presented.

Exercised on all of the parks, we obtain the list below. One thing to regard: I have applied the weighted player points as tie-breakers for same scoring parks, where lower player point investments are ranked higher.

In the following, let's look at a curious few bits of data insights.

Great presentation Posix! Love that you've put so much time and care into organizing this contest. It sure brought it to a higher and more enjoyable level!

On a side note; Can't believe H2HX already is over. This one flew by harder than previous ones in my memory. Quality was so high again, and love to witness all the new inventions that were made (like the plugins, invisible color usage and the new peep editor for example), and meta shifts in more landscape and theme-story driven concepts.

Well done everyone!

Huge ovations to you all for making this contest happen for 22 years now. The attention the admins put into it and what the community was able to create throughout was nothing short of inspiring. I'm still so honored to have been part of it, and I'll even say we were four votes or two swayed votes in finals from what I would call a perfect contest. Amazing team, amazing parks, amazing vibes. Cannot wait to see how what we pioneered in H2HX affects NE and OpenRCT2 going forward!

I've been thinking about writing a big gratitude post for H2HX, and this feels like the appropriate time and place to do it.

First of all, thank you to everyone who took part in H2HX in any way. This was, without a doubt, my favorite H2H so far!

According to my user tag, I've been around on NE for 14 years—that's literally half my life! Before and since joining, I've been part of various internet communities, but none for as long as I've been here. In fact, I've been part of NE longer than I've known a lot of my real-life friends. Over the years, this has truly become one of my favorite places on the internet. I love RCT as an art form, but it's the people here who make this community so special.

H2H has always felt like one of the main staples of this site. Even before it wraps up, people are already looking forward to the next. Every editions brings back so many people. I'm grateful to everyone who contributed in any way to this year's contest.

A huge thanks to the admins for hosting and organizing. You were always so quick to upload the parks after each deadline, and your communication was clear and open throughout. I also like how you injected fresh energy into the contest with the altered rules. Without you, neither this site nor this contest would exist. I hope you know how much the entire community appreciates your efforts!

But I'm also very grateful to the players who spent dozens of hours creating all these parks. It's not lost on me that that is your personal time. And while I’m sure you also do it for yourselves, I really appreciate how you try to wow the audience with every park!

A thing I enjoy about this community is the closeness we have with the creators. Something you don't often have with art. Thanks to Discord and the forum, we can hear directly from the builders about their ideas, building process, the fun you had working together and the way you were able to elevate each other.

Lastly I want to thank everyone who has been engaging meaningfully ith he contest. Whether it was extensive video) and thoughtful reviews, hosting minigames, or creating otherwise interesting discussions. Seeing how deeply everyone dives into the parks that the builders worked so hard on is something I truly love about H2H.

This H2H was insane in terms of quality. We saw parks that I never could have imagined 14 years ago when I first joined. The first H2H I experienced was H2H6, and thought the H2H's I don't think I ever really expected to see such an amazing, wholesome edition like this one. The lack of drama and focus on the parks was refreshing, and I loved every moment of it!

Thank you all for making this H2H unforgettable. And with that for making my time here so rewarding!

Wild to see the Jazzcats with 4 of the top 7 parks.  Absolutely phenomenal work to the team.

Great write up and stats here-- very much enjoyed reading it.  Thank you to all who put in the effort to pull this contest together!

As someone watching from the sidelines, this was so enjoyable. Massive appreciation to all builders, the quality was the highest I can remember and to come out of a 6-month stretch with 35 gold/design standard parks is so fantastic. You are all the lifeblood of this little corner of the internet, and I love it. 

It's also worth mentioning a couple of things, at least from my vantage point - the general tone of the whole contest was way more positive than some previous contests, despite the stakes. There seems to be a real sense of community and people helping one another to further the artform, which makes NE a very positive place to be. Secondly, the admin team were flawless, despite either being in the contest themselves or just generally being adults with lives to live. It's easy to overlook when everything goes perfectly, but again it hasn't always been that way in the past. Love you guys. 

i kept meaning to comment on this, but i kept getting swept up in the stats every time i opened the topic. excellent presentation and a testement to how valuable our admins are. outstanding as always

i am humbled by the mention, the streams have been a pleasure and im very glad that others were able to get someting out of them.

Excellent array of parks overall; over half of them scoring over 80 is a testament to how incredibly good all of you have gotten at transposing your visions into RCT2. 

I wish I had been in a place where I could have contributed more to my team this season. I did not know what the year would look like when I signed up, and I'm not sure that I would have had I known what the non-RCT world would look like over the course of the following months, but I'm grateful that I did; building the museum interiors provided a calm and consistent environment during a period that was anything but. No solo surrealist endeavors this time around, but I imagine I'll have plenty more fodder for that (as well as emotional energy) in 2027.

As a viewer, I was consistently blown away with the high quality of the rockwork round after round. NE has collectively reached a new tier of landscaping, particularly rockwork, and I love seeing how conscientiously everyone is approaching it now. When the rocks work, the work rocks.
 
Statistic you didn't ask for: 18 out of 39 parks include a coaster with the expanded giga set. Have we ever seen a steel coaster dominate a single H2H to the degree that the mighty giga has H2HX?
 
Just finished watching the captain's mountain mike's round table. Would love to build with you as well sometime, Liam!