RCTW - Early Access - Dev Blog #5 - New Typhoon Ride Released via "Mini" Update!
Dear Tycoons,
First, thank you for the great response on our first major update, we are very happy to see that you are enjoying the improvements and are pleased with our direction – now it’s time for more!
Although our plan is to do major updates along with smaller hotfixes as needed, today is a bit of an exception. So here it is, via a "mini" update – the Typhoon Ride!
NEW CONTENT
New Typhoon Flat-Ride Available Now!
As promised, we have been working hard on our Typhoon Ride, we now feel it is ready to share, so we’ve decided to push a small update for the weekend just for you. Enjoy the ride!
IMPROVEMENTS
Animations We have seen a ton of feedback and video of peeps not sitting in rides correctly. With this update, we are addressing some of these concerns while we continue to work on additional improvements to the system to make it better:
[I]Age positions:[/I] Peeps now adjust their position according to age to avoid clipping;
[I]Peep AI:[/I] Peeps are now moving at all times; yes, they were sometimes flocking at the entrance of the park with some thoughts, and this has been fixed.
FAN HIGHLIGHT Yesterday, we also showed off an AMAZING park being made by one of you using the latest update– community member – Maxfreak! You can see the full gallery on our Facebook Page.
Going forward, we are going to work with our community to make sure we highlight more awesome creations so be sure to join in on the fun on our forums.
Thank you all for the awesome feedback on yesterday’s update and graphical improvements (we put too much emphasis on performance for our initial early access release; we are working towards the integration of our higher resolution assets – we are humbled by the reviews) – we know the visuals still aren’t where they need to be, we are working on this, but we are glad you all like the direction we are going in!
To better illustrate the direction of our first update, see these additional before and after screenshots:
ROADMAP UPDATE
We are currently working hard on our next major update that fixes known issues, adds additional improvements, and of course fixes bugs, as stated in our prior blog. Please, continue to give us feedback. We do follow our Steam Forums, Official Forums, and Social Media to learn about what needs to be fixed, improved, or added. However, please note the best place to report Bugs is on our Bug Tracker and improvement requests should be reported to our Improvement Tracker.
If you liked the update, make sure you let us know too – its important your reviews are updated as we go as we go so that we know we are heading in the right direction!
Thank you all for the support! Back to work for us, and have a great weekend!
See you in the park!
RCTW - Early Access - Dev Blog #4 - The First Update is Now Live!
Hello Tycoons,
We’ve received a ton of feedback, seen some awesome coasters being made, and are excited by the amazing UGC that has been created.
That said, it is time for our first major update. The focus was on fixing a number of critical bugs, adding new content, further balancing the simulation, and of course, the first set of graphical improvements. Our plan is to gradually improve the visual quality of the game (throughout the Early Access program and beyond), while trying to maintain a balance between visual quality and performance. We are upgrading to a newer version of Unity, so that we don’t degrade performance as we up-res the art. This overall plan will take us time to do but you will see gradual improvements (where we balance performance vs graphics) over the next few weeks and months while we do (the first of which you see today). This is only the first stage of these graphical improvements.
GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS:
Graphic Quality:
We’ve spent a bunch of time reading your feedback and seeing what are the immediate fixes we can make and what requires our engine upgrade to be done. In short term we were able to do a ton of work to lighting, shaders, and terrain texture resulting in:
Refinement of the ambient lighting.
New bounce light to the Sky Dome.
Updated ground textures of the Forest map
Increased texture quality and color correction of bushes and flowers
Increased the texture quality on the wooden coaster station (testing this out before we roll it out elsewhere)
[I]These images illustrate some of the graphics work we have done from the Early Access Launch Version to today's update. You will see more in the coming weeks but please adjust your graphic settings accordingly to ensure the right balance of performance vs graphics for you.[/I]
This is a small but important first step towards many future graphic updates. Please continue sending your feedback so we can address any concerns or questions as quickly as possible. Our plan is to test out improvements in phases, note performance, and make tweaks as we go based on your feedback.
Important Note – Player Settings File Reset
[I]Due to the work we did on the graphics for this build, we had to reset all “Player Settings” files. We elected to make the new default "Very High" with this reset whereas before it was defaulting to a much lower quality. This means that players who are seeing performance issues should go back and lower their graphical quality to account for this.
TO BE CLEAR - ALL GRAPHICS SETTINGS HAVE BEEN RESET TO A HIGHER LEVEL IN THIS BUILD. YOU MUST LOWER THEM BACK TO YOUR PREFERENCE ONCE YOU LOAD OR YOU MAY SEE PERFORMANCE ISSUES.[/I]
Simulation:
The simulation needs some love and we gave it a bunch! Our designers have been hard at work reading your suggestions and, as a first update, you will see improvements in the following areas:
Peeps should generate less nausea on rides
Janitors should be quicker at cleaning up messes
Mechanics should be quicker at fixing rides
Medics should be quicker at healing peeps
Entertainers should be able to entertain peeps for longer
Building Tools
Over the last week, we have improved our building experience and based on your feedback you will see key improvements in the following areas:
Improvement on the placement drop of scenery items – specifically this was done to make Piece by Piece building with UGC easier and more precise
Implementation of the cap placement for beginning/end of the curve path
Improvement of the rounding radius for Larger Paths
Improvement on queue paths making it easier to connect queues to elevated rides
We have also read your requests to implement a new bulldoze tool that will allow users to delete more items at a time. Please know, that we are currently working on a design for this improvement and it will be part of a future update.
Animation
We are working intensively on animation bugs. Like we mentioned previously, we will need a few updates to address all the issues. Yes, we know peeps hover above seats on certain rides or simply don’t sit correctly – we are fixing this. In this version, you will see:
Peeps sitting correctly on benches and at picnic tables, we have fixed this.
TODAY’S NEW STUFF:
In today's version of the game, we’ve provided you with the base of our coaster station. This is for our UGC lovers. This roofless base will give you the opportunity to create a different look and feel for your stations. Be creative, we can’t wait to see what you will come up with!
Coaster station with no roof – looks a bit more realistic but more importantly – lets you build UGC around and on it to make your own!
Last week, many players requested flat parks in Sandbox Mode and we heard you! This update provides you with the option of a flat terrain on all maps. You can access the flat terrain by clicking: You can access the flat terrain by clicking: ‘’Flat Land‘’ next to unlimited money in sandbox mode.
Click sandbox mode – see that we have added a new button to have a flat map! Not everyone likes trees, lakes, and hills everywhere so we made it easier for you to start with a fresh slate.
MAJOR KNOWN ISSUES:
We know there are a lot of issues as per your reports but there are two that truly standout as blocking core functionality. We have not been able to fix these just yet but know we are working on them.
ISSUE 1:
[I]UGC DOWNLOADS:[/I] Due to the help and support of the community, we were able to pin point the cause of the bug causing UGC content to not download. We are actively working on a solution and should have a fix for you very soon in an upcoming patch.
ISSUE 2:
[I]57% BUG:[/I] We know a few of you are experiencing issues with loading into the game and getting stuck at 57%. We are looking into this issue as well and testing special beta patches with certain users. As soon as we resolve the issue we will put out a hotfix or specific instructions to fix it.
[I]NOTE: Please note that at the moment, per our minimum specs, we only fully support users with Dedicated Graphics Cards.[/I]
POTENTIAL FIX: PLEASE UPDATE YOUR GRAPHIC DRIVERS - While this won’t be a fix for everyone, we know that updating your graphics drivers to the latest version does in fact resolve it for a sizable portion of affected users – please check this while we continue to look into the issue.
BUGS FIXED IN THIS BUILD:
Here is a partial list of what was fixed highlighting some of the bigger bug fixes. There are a bunch more fixes as well that you will find and we will work on being able to expose longer bug lists in the future.
Ingame - Cannot connect some plazas with paths
In Game - Paths & Queues - User is unable to connect large path from the center of the entrance building.
Fix mechanic node position
Scenario 3 - All Peeps getting in the park for free
In Game - There is a gap between entrance building and the boundary fence.
In Game - Coaster - A twisted track appears at the end of 'Specialty Pieces'.
In Game - Observation Tower - Lights of the posts does not illuminate at night.
Preview image for the Sand Texture A, Sand Texture B, Sand Texture C and Sand Texture D are missing for the map 'Dusty Dunes'.
The entrance path does not change to the 'Ghost Path' if user connects more number of path to the entrance.
Update collision boxes for queue connections
The entrance path does not change to the 'Ghost Path' if user connects more number of path to the entrance.
Adding Bounce Light to Sky Dome
Roofless Coaster Stations Integrated
In Game - Paths & Queues - User is unable to connect large path from the center of the entrance building.
NullReferenceException when using the ride cam of custom coaster in the build tab menu
Default Graphic Quality Settings on High
Peeps sitting correctly on benches and at picnic tables
Ground Textures in Forest Map
Trees, flowers and bushes texture quality increased
Wooden Coaster Station texture quality increased.
NEXT MAJOR UPDATE
Early Access is an exciting time! We have a ton more features, content, and bug updates to go to make this game all it needs to be. Every time we do an update its designed to take your feedback into account, future features, and of course to fix bugs. Sometimes we may even create new bugs – if we do be sure to let us know HERE!
We are already working hard on our next major update. Our focus, among many other things, will be on the following:
Bug fixing:
General bug fixing – all the things you have reported plus what’s on our lists
Special Attention: Animations and Peeps Disappearing from Coasters as well as a number of additional bugs reported by you. Please continue to go to our forums and report bugs so we can make sure to add them to our trackers for future updates!
Improvements
Additional Graphic improvements
More reduction in lateral g's from banking your curves
Updating pre-made coasters
EIN (excitement/intensity/nausea) number improvements and balance tweaks
Realistic track friction (note, once we implement this it will mean some of your coasters may not work anymore and you will need to tweak them – stay tuned)
Refining and balancing current Scenarios and Campaign Modes
New Stuff:
New Flatride: The Typhoon! We wanted this ready for today’s update but it needs some more love so we plan to do a small patch before our next major update with it! Stay tuned!
[I]Here is a sneak peak at the new Typhoon flatride coming soon! It's a bit crazier than some of our more standard rides![/I]
Early Access affords us the opportunity to constantly update the game, try out new ideas, and gain additional insights and feedback from you. Our forums been abuzz with all kinds of awesome ideas and we have been working on our short, mid, and long term plans to try and fit them all in.
Again, thank you for sending suggestions and points for improvement. We are reading all your comments and working hard on improving the game in order to provide you with the best experience possible. Please continue to let us know what you think of the new items and improvements in the game. We can’t wait to hear what you think.
See you in the park!
RCTW - Early Access dev blog #3 - Tips and Tricks!
Hello Tycoons,
First and foremost, thank you for being so active in our forums. We would like to give you some insight and visibility on features that could help you build your park!
Park Area -You can expand your park!
We have noticed some of you could not find our park expansion feature and feel like the park is too small… Let us reassure you, you can expand it and enjoy having a larger park!
Here is how you can expand your park (see reference below):
Click on the 'Modify Terrain' Button
Click on the 'Park Expansion' Button
Click on the desired tiles to unlock a new area of your park
Don’t forget to be mindful of your wallet, unless you are playing with 'Unlimited' money in our Sandbox mode!
Grid - Yes, you can make straight paths!
Players are asking how to create straight paths; the best way is to use our Grid System! The grid will appear on your terrain once you activate the button on the main HUD or press the ‘’G’’ key on your keyboard.
There is currently a path edge cases that creates difficulties when items are connected to the very end of a path. This is being worked on. We will make sure to keep you updated on the improvements, so you won’t have as much invalid locations.
Simulation - Staff questions
On the Staff side, many of you have noticed we now have staff buildings! This means you are now managing groups of employees from buildings that can hold a maximum of 3 or 10 employees. Each employee you hire at a building increases the running cost, but each building also has its own upkeep. Employees are expensive, so be careful not to hire more than you need!
Janitors will clean messes off your paths, it's true, but they're much more efficient at emptying trash cans and cleaning bathrooms.
Mechanics will inspect and repair your rides.
Entertainers will prevent peeps from losing patience in queues, and keep them waiting in line for longer.
Medics will attend to peeps who've been injured in ride accidents, or who have been too hungry, thirsty, or nauseous for too long. Remember, they can only work on peeps who are sitting down, so be sure to build enough benches!
All of our employees have energy that they spend to work, and they need to rest and recover after spending it all - so if you see them heading back to their building, they're probably just taking a staff break.
In Early Access, we will continue balancing and improving those systems. Please continue sharing your thoughts and feedback. We improve and balance the simulation frequently.
We've heard your comments on Staff as well! In future updates, we are considering adding the following options:
"Focus Areas", RCTW's version of Patrol Paths - set a spot for each employee to focus on, and they'll make certain that region is clean first before heading elsewhere.
An Administrative Building, which would allow you to implement Employee Training programs to improve their efficiency.
Employee Break Rooms, where your employees can rest without going all the way back to their building.
We are also investigating ways to better show you what areas your staff are and are not covering well.
On an end note, we are still working very hard on everything mentioned yesterday and on the next week update.
Keep on sharing your feedback, and keep submitting to us your awesome parks!
RCTW - Early Access dev blog #2 - Day 1 feedback
Hello Tycoons,
We wanted to touch base with you on the first comments we have received in the first 24 hours, and share with you some of the immediate priorities we are addressing straightaway:
1- Graphical quality – Please adjust your settings as indicated below
Thank you for all your constructive feedback on the graphic settings of the game. We will try to address some of your questions and concerns in the following explanations. We hope the follow will help clarify a few points.
Note 1:
Some of you seem to experience lower than expected graphic quality. We believe this is due to our automatic graphic adjustment system. This system was implemented to automatically improve the frame-rate performance depending on your PC configurations. So yes, our default settings downgrade the assets.
While we work on overall graphical improvements, to make sure you run the game at the current highest graphic quality, you have to adjust the graphic settings as follows. To start, go into the Main Menu, then select ‘Options’ and go to ‘Graphics’, and make the adjustments as follows:
1. Quality settings: Set to custom
2. Shadows: Enable
3. Level of detail: Very High
4. HBAO+: Enable
5. Reflections: Enable
6. Anti-Aliasing: Enable
7. Shadow Distance: Very Far
8. Anisotropic Filtering: Enable
9. Better FPS over Graphics: Disable
If, you need more support on settings, please post your questions on this forum, we will try to help you as much as we can.
https://forum.rollercoastertycoon.com/showthread.php?10235-RCTW-Read-Me-Tips-Tricks-Wikis-More
Note 2:
In the next few weeks, we will continue improving the graphics overall, but we will also optimize the game further to provide a better graphic quality to medium and low-end PC configurations.
We will adjust the LODS of our assets, work on ground textures, coloring and refinements of the ambient lighting. These visible improvements will be part of our regular updates and should address some of the issues players on the medium settings are experiencing.
Our final objective is for you to experience the highest graphic resolutions as possible with your configuration and it is certainly one of our main focus for the game. We will advise on this last objective once the steps above have been implemented.
2- Peeps animation (bugs!)
We have also noticed an important bug with our peep animation system that creates several issues. It unfortunately makes peeps sit through objects or not hold objects properly. I know some of you have reported those issues, thank you, they are now all logged. We agree with the community; this is an important issue that creates several visual bugs and it has our direct attention.
Please note it probably will take us some time and few updates before we can address all the glitches, due to the complexity of the issues and their relation to our peep ‘bones’… be reassured that we are actively working on it and we will update you with fixes as quickly as possible.
3- UGC Bug
We are currently investigating the issue some players are encountering accessing UGC. This is appearing infrequently – we will make sure it is fixed as soon as possible. Nvizzio developers and QA team is looking into the reproducible steps and solution to the problem. We will update you with more information as soon as we can.
4- 57% loading (Bug)
We are currently investigating this issue. Our team is trying to reproduce the bug and addressing the problem as soon as possible.
5- Next update We are looking forward to next week’s update, where you will already be able to see bug fixes and improvements in the game.
Here is a list of cool new items that you will have:
• 1 new Flat Ride: The Typhoon
This Thrill Ride blends really well with our Adventure theme. We hope you and your peeps will really enjoy it. Give us your feedback!
• Flat parks
Community is divided on the maps of the sandbox mode, some love the deformed and staged terrain, others would like it flat. We decided to offer you both! This option will be available in the next update.
• Roofless Coaster Stations
UGC creators this is for you - we have noticed you want to create your own roofs and building styles. We will provide the base of our coaster station; this will give you the opportunity to dress it up like you want with your own building components!
• Important Placement Drop Update
This is a first update on the placement of scenery items in the park. The drop of object on the terrain will feel more natural, which improves usability. Can’t wait to hear what you think once you see the improvement.
Here is a list of things you can expect to be fixed:
• Peeps should sit properly on park benches. (First animation fix)
• AI crash when peeps are picked up
• Graphical fault with the Rings of Saturn
• Illuminating lights on Space Wars
• Park Ratings unlocks
Here is a list of improvements you can expect to be in next week’s release:
• Finance Screen updates
• Default Pricing Adjustments
• Coaster Cam rotation improvements
• Queues creation improvements
• Modifying terrain function producing an X instead of an invalid location notification
We will frequently keep you informed of all our future updates, improvements and bug fixes - Please continue being active in our forums, we value your feedback and suggestions, and thanks for working with us directly to shape the game in Early Access.
In particular, let us know about your graphical settings.
See you in the park!
RCTW - Early Access dev blog #1 - The Park Has Opened!
Hello Tycoons!
Welcome to the park! It’s only been a few hours, and we’re already so excited to see the amazing parks being created!
We have reviewed your first comments and would love to share with you some of our priorities, game highlights and current works in progress, along with addressing some of your questions.
Game Settings
When you load the game, the graphic settings appropriate to your PC configuration will be automatically adjusted for you. Since all PC configurations are unique, we encourage you to personalize those further in the graphic option menu to have the best possible game experience.
Campaign
After finalizing your settings, the Campaign mode is where you should start. It includes an extensive tutorial to teach you the basics of the game. Along with tutorials, the Campaign mode features progressive objectives guiding you to build a successful park.
The Coaster Builder
It is great fun to see you what you’ve already created with our Coaster Builder. Following our Beta preview, we decided to blend the best of our spline-based freeform editing tool with a new segment mode. We have built new specialty segments to help ease the creation of more sophisticated RollerCoasters. It has certainly changed a lot since you played last fall!! Thank you to all our fans for all your feedback - you have really helped us in making the coaster builder more user friendly.
Our list of current priorities and works in progress for our coaster builder is below:
Improving the coaster builder User-Experience
Improving the coaster grid
Refining the coaster cam
Improving the balancing of the coaster generated stats (Excitement, Intensity, Nausea & Safety).
New coaster type
Additional specialty segments.
User Generated Content
This is so exciting! We are overwhelmed with the first reactions to our User Generated Content system. You all are creating some awesome scenery items for all of us to use.
UGC is definitely a main focus of the game and we’re already seeing some great success with the system. Of course, we need more of your feedback to help us enhance the experience.
Here is our list of current priorities and works in progress for our UGC System:
Expanded thumbnails to allow easy browsing of the multitude of assets created by the community. This will encourage our Modding community to create even more content without limitations.
Improved flow and UX
Simulation
In the last months, we have been focusing on creating all the systems needed for modern game simulation, but we kept the foundations of what made the previous RollerCoaster games so enjoyable. Players of the previous games will feel right at home.
Here is our list of current priorities and works in progress for Simulation:
Balancing and refining the simulation
New themes and additional peep behaviors
With all the systems now in place our daily objective is to fine-tune the balancing of the game and the overall experience. The park is also filled with an unprecedented number of Peeps who are reacting to rides, coasters, restaurants and shops. New peep behaviors are continuing to be worked on and animations will be polished over time. Our objective is to provide the most detailed and immersive park simulation the franchise has ever had.
Scenarios
In addition to the Campaign, you also have access to our first 3 scenarios. We would love to hear what you think of them! We have several scenarios in progress and they will be released within the next few game updates.
Your feedback on Campaign progression and scenario difficulty will give us opportunities to tweak and adjust the overall game progression.
Sandbox
In Sandbox mode, you can access all the game content right from the start. You also have the option to play with infinite money, allowing you to immediately build the most beautiful park ever!
Here is our list of current priorities and works in progress in our Sandbox mode:
Additional and New themes over time
Additional Flat Rides
More scenery items
Path improvements
Terrain deformation improvements
We look forward to receiving your comments and feedback. Let's make RollerCoaster Tycoon World the best in the series together.
See you in the park!
FOR TIPS TRICKS AND MORE PLEASE VISIT https://forum.rollercoastertycoon.com/showthread.php?10235-RCTW-Read-Me-Tips-Tricks-Wikis-More
RCTW - Blog #30 - RollerCoaster Tycoon World Coming to Steam Early Access!
Dear Tycoons,
We know it’s been quite some time since our last blog. We needed time to finalize some features and decisions on our end before being able to provide you with our biggest news yet - the street date. Thank you for your patience.
We now are happy to announce that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be available this Wednesday, March 30 via Steam Early Access.
It’s been a long ride, with all the ups and downs that you would expect from a roller coaster-obsessed team. We cannot tell you how excited, and humbled, we are to finally open the doors and deliver this early version of RCTW to you all.
Why Early Access?
As some of you may have guessed, we’ve been silently running a large test group with some members of the community since the beginning of the year. We’ve made so much progress with this group - getting invaluable feedback, testing ideas, and more – that we realized how much of a boon letting the rest of the community in would be in shaping our game. We cannot thank this group enough for their passion for the franchise and their contribution to the game, and for inspiring us to let the rest of you into the world of RCTW.
We also want to thank our developer, Nvizzio, and the QA team, who have been working tirelessly on this project. The Early Access version of RCTW includes a ton of content and we hope you will greatly appreciate the progress that we have made since our last public Beta.
This is the beginning of a new journey. RCTW was always going to develop and improve as time went on. Now you will have a direct impact on that process. It is only with your feedback, your input, your passion, and your creativity that we will bring the game to new heights.
Before the game goes live this Wednesday, we want to share its current features with you, along with what you can expect in EA, the free updates that we have planned in the near term and our long-term commitments, and finally a few words about the retail box.
Here are some highlights some of what you can expect in Early Access:
What can you find in RCTW?
An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control
Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it
Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout
A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game
Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park’s landscape quickly and easily
Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community
Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world
Campaign mode
An initial set of Scenarios
The Sandbox mode
10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams)
Over 30 different flat rides
Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks
4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and western)
And much, much more
Our extensive list of Early Access features can be found by visiting our Steam Page: store.steampowered.com/app/282560/
What comes next?
Our planned feature list is HUGE! Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the FREE updates to look forward to in the coming months:
Piece-by-Piece Custom Built Structures
Scenario Editor
Mini-rides and Dark Rides
Additional scenarios
Transport Rides
Fence Builder
New and expanded decoration themes
Additional Flat-rides
Weather
Custom music
New Rollercoaster types
We will of course also be working on performance and user experience improvements, graphics updates, major as-yet-unannounced functionalities, and improving the base game in coordination with you all.
Launch Timing and Refunds
We will be in Early Access until we all feel the game is ready to be shared with the world as a finished product. Yes, there really is much more work we want to do. This isn’t about just improving and polishing but also adding new functionalities that the game needs. As Early Access progresses our timeline for final release will become clearer.
We know this is not what some of you may have expected. Thus, we are reaffirming our refund policy - we allow refunds up to March 31st 2016 to anyone that pre-ordered the game through Atari.com or RollerCoasterTycoon.com. This gives you a day to try Early Access, no strings attached. If you pre-ordered via Steam or another retailer, they will be able to facilitate refunds as needed.
RollerCoaster Tycoon World Retail
Lastly, we would like to mention a few words to those of you who would rather buy the game at retail. We have organized physical distribution in many countries, but not in all of them. Please note that we are working continuously to improve our footprint, so be on the lookout for RCTW on your store shelves. It is the same game you buy on Steam, and thus requires the same authentication procedures and updates that the downloadable version does.
We hope you are as excited about RollerCoaster Tycoon World as we are, and that you choose to go on this new phase of our journey with us. There is a lot of content and experiences to be had with RCTW already, and we know we can only make it better and more complete through the Early Access period with your help ! It’s exciting for us to finally be able to share RCTW and show all the love and respect for the brand that has gone into. It is truly a special moment. The best is yet to come!
See you soon in the park!
- Team RCTW
RCTW - Blog #30 - RollerCoaster Tycoon World Coming to Steam Early Access!
Dear Tycoons,
We know it’s been quite some time since our last blog. We needed time to finalize some features and decisions on our end before being able to provide you with our biggest news yet - the street date. Thank you for your patience.
We now are happy to announce that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be available this Wednesday, March 30 via Steam Early Access.
It’s been a long ride, with all the ups and downs that you would expect from a roller coaster-obsessed team. We cannot tell you how excited, and humbled, we are to finally open the doors and deliver this early version of RCTW to you all.
Why Early Access?
As some of you may have guessed, we’ve been silently running a large test group with some members of the community since the beginning of the year. We’ve made so much progress with this group - getting invaluable feedback, testing ideas, and more – that we realized how much of a boon letting the rest of the community in would be in shaping our game. We cannot thank this group enough for their passion for the franchise and their contribution to the game, and for inspiring us to let the rest of you into the world of RCTW.
We also want to thank our developer, Nvizzio, and the QA team, who have been working tirelessly on this project. The Early Access version of RCTW includes a ton of content and we hope you will greatly appreciate the progress that we have made since our last public Beta.
This is the beginning of a new journey. RCTW was always going to develop and improve as time went on. Now you will have a direct impact on that process. It is only with your feedback, your input, your passion, and your creativity that we will bring the game to new heights.
Before the game goes live this Wednesday, we want to share its current features with you, along with what you can expect in EA, the free updates that we have planned in the near term and our long-term commitments, and finally a few words about the retail box.
Here are some highlights some of what you can expect in Early Access:
What can you find in RCTW?
<*>An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control
<*>Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it
<*>Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout
<*>A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game
<*>Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park’s landscape quickly and easily
<*>Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community
<*>Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world
<*>Campaign mode
<*>An initial set of Scenarios
<*>The Sandbox mode
<*>10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams)
<*>Over 30 different flat rides
<*>Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks
<*>4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and adventure)
<*>And much, much more
Our extensive list of Early Access features can be found by visiting our Steam Page: store.steampowered.com/app/282560/
What comes next?
Our planned feature list is HUGE! Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the FREE updates to look forward to in the coming months:
• Piece-by-Piece Custom Built Structures
• Scenario Editor
• Mini-rides and Dark Rides
• Additional scenarios
• Transport Rides
• Fence Builder
• New and expanded decoration themes
• Additional Flat-rides
• Weather
• Custom music
• New Rollercoaster types
We will of course also be working on performance and user experience improvements, graphics updates, major as-yet-unannounced functionalities, and improving the base game in coordination with you all.
Launch Timing and Refunds
We will be in Early Access until we all feel the game is ready to be shared with the world as a finished product. Yes, there really is much more work we want to do. This isn’t about just improving and polishing but also adding new functionalities that the game needs. As Early Access progresses our timeline for final release will become clearer.
We know this is not what some of you may have expected. Thus, we are reaffirming our refund policy - we allow refunds up to March 31st 2016 to anyone that pre-ordered the game through Atari.com or RollerCoasterTycoon.com. This gives you a day to try Early Access, no strings attached. If you pre-ordered via Steam or another retailer, they will be able to facilitate refunds as needed.
RollerCoaster Tycoon World Retail
Lastly, we would like to mention a few words to those of you who would rather buy the game at retail. We have organized physical distribution in many countries, but not in all of them. Please note that we are working continuously to improve our footprint, so be on the lookout for RCTW on your store shelves. It is the same game you buy on Steam, and thus requires the same authentication procedures and updates that the downloadable version does.
We hope you are as excited about RollerCoaster Tycoon World as we are, and that you choose to go on this new phase of our journey with us. There is a lot of content and experiences to be had with RCTW already, and we know we can only make it better and more complete through the Early Access period with your help ! It’s exciting for us to finally be able to share RCTW and show all the love and respect for the brand that has gone into. It is truly a special moment. The best is yet to come!
See you soon in the park!
- Team RCTW
RCTW - Blog #30 - RollerCoaster Tycoon World Coming to Steam Early Access!
Dear Tycoons,
We know it’s been quite some time since our last blog. We needed time to finalize some features and decisions on our end before being able to provide you with our biggest news yet - the street date. Thank you for your patience.
We now are happy to announce that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be available this Wednesday, March 30 via Steam Early Access.
It’s been a long ride, with all the ups and downs that you would expect from a roller coaster-obsessed team. We cannot tell you how excited, and humbled, we are to finally open the doors and deliver this early version of RCTW to you all.
Why Early Access?
As some of you may have guessed, we’ve been silently running a large test group with some members of the community since the beginning of the year. We’ve made so much progress with this group - getting invaluable feedback, testing ideas, and more – that we realized how much of a boon letting the rest of the community in would be in shaping our game. We cannot thank this group enough for their passion for the franchise and their contribution to the game, and for inspiring us to let the rest of you into the world of RCTW.
We also want to thank our developer, Nvizzio, and the QA team, who have been working tirelessly on this project. The Early Access version of RCTW includes a ton of content and we hope you will greatly appreciate the progress that we have made since our last public Beta.
This is the beginning of a new journey. RCTW was always going to develop and improve as time went on. Now you will have a direct impact on that process. It is only with your feedback, your input, your passion, and your creativity that we will bring the game to new heights.
Before the game goes live this Wednesday, we want to share its current features with you, along with what you can expect in EA, the free updates that we have planned in the near term and our long-term commitments, and finally a few words about the retail box.
Here are some highlights some of what you can expect in Early Access:
What can you find in RCTW?
<*>An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control
<*>Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it
<*>Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout
<*>A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game
<*>Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park’s landscape quickly and easily
<*>Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community
<*>Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world
<*>Campaign mode
<*>An initial set of Scenarios
<*>The Sandbox mode
<*>10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams)
<*>Over 30 different flat rides
<*>Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks
<*>4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and adventure)
<*>And much, much more
Our extensive list of Early Access features can be found by visiting our Steam Page: store.steampowered.com/app/282560/
What comes next?
Our planned feature list is HUGE! Here’s a sneak peek at a few of the FREE updates to look forward to in the coming months:
• Piece-by-Piece Custom Built Structures
• Scenario Editor
• Mini-rides and Dark Rides
• Additional scenarios
• Transport Rides
• Fence Builder
• New and expanded decoration themes
• Additional Flat-rides
• Weather
• Custom music
• New Rollercoaster types
We will of course also be working on performance and user experience improvements, graphics updates, major as-yet-unannounced functionalities, and improving the base game in coordination with you all.
Launch Timing and Refunds
We will be in Early Access until we all feel the game is ready to be shared with the world as a finished product. Yes, there really is much more work we want to do. This isn’t about just improving and polishing but also adding new functionalities that the game needs. As Early Access progresses our timeline for final release will become clearer.
We know this is not what some of you may have expected. Thus, we are reaffirming our refund policy - we allow refunds up to March 31st 2016 to anyone that pre-ordered the game through Atari.com or RollerCoasterTycoon.com. This gives you a day to try Early Access, no strings attached. If you pre-ordered via Steam or another retailer, they will be able to facilitate refunds as needed.
RollerCoaster Tycoon World Retail
Lastly, we would like to mention a few words to those of you who would rather buy the game at retail. We have organized physical distribution in many countries, but not in all of them. Please note that we are working continuously to improve our footprint, so be on the lookout for RCTW on your store shelves. It is the same game you buy on Steam, and thus requires the same authentication procedures and updates that the downloadable version does.
We hope you are as excited about RollerCoaster Tycoon World as we are, and that you choose to go on this new phase of our journey with us. There is a lot of content and experiences to be had with RCTW already, and we know we can only make it better and more complete through the Early Access period with your help ! It’s exciting for us to finally be able to share RCTW and show all the love and respect for the brand that has gone into. It is truly a special moment. The best is yet to come!
See you soon in the park!
- Team RCTW
RCTW - Blog #29 - UGC Video!
Dear Fans,
User-Generated Content (UGC) has kept the RCT community thriving for years.
Previous games had thousands of custom pieces that users could choose from, giving players the ability to customize their parks in almost any way they liked. This was even more impressive when you consider the fact that none of these games had built-in support for UGC.
With the upcoming release of RollerCoaster Tycoon World, that all changes. We designed the game from the ground up to support your creativity, with native UGC as the centerpiece of this new game. It’s the only way to truly allow unlimited freedom and customization. We believe this is one of the most exciting developments in the history of the franchise. It was a core architecture decision early on in development, and one we’re extremely excited about.
So, without further ado, here is a short video showing you some of the power of UGC in RollerCoaster Tycoon World. One quick note before watching – the video taken is from an in-progress development build. The game is currently being optimized and the frame rates are being improved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDl-303a9Qc
As you just saw, we have created a system that is custom-tailored to both the UGC “Creators” and the UGC “Users.” Let’s focus on the UGC Creators first.
THE CREATORS
Our UGC system takes advantage of the game engine that powers RCTW – Unity. Unity 5 already natively supports a wide variety of 3D editing programs. This allows creators to use any of these editing programs to make their models, animated objects, and more. We made this a key architecture decision for the design of our UGC system, instead of creating our own proprietary editing tools. Once you have created your model, you simply load it into Unity 5. There, you use our custom-made Unity Plugin that packages it into something that can be used in the game. Lastly, with the click of the export button, it’s brought live into the game. All of this works today and will be available at launch.
Any piece of UGC content you make will, at your discretion, be available to share with the entire RCTW community through the Steam Workshop, or directly with friends. Any coaster or park you build can be shared with other players through our in-game UGC hub. This means that if you build an awesome coaster, you can simply click a button to create a blueprint and place it on the Steam Workshop for all to use. You can also do the same with entire parks.
It’s also worth mentioning that UGC can be created in-game and doesn’t have to be limited to custom 3D models.
THE USERS
Want to use the creative power of the community without making your own UGC? We have built a beautiful UI and easy system to allow you to seamlessly interact with UGC assets uploaded by the community. The game utilizes all of the great APIs Steam has to offer. This allows you to go to the Steam Workshop, select any asset, and place it directly into the game.
UGC is integrated seamlessly into the RCTW experience. The exact same building and placement tools that work for other models in the game are available for UGC. Every single scenery object imported into the game can be manipulated like any in-game object, rotated, snapped to a grid, and more. We’ve also allowed for UGC to be moved up and down in vertical space – without stilts forming under it. This means that if you want to import a cool UGC blimp and have it hover above your park displaying an ad for your next awesome ride – you can.
You never have to leave the game to use UGC – it works just like any other in-game asset. This was important for us since we wanted to lower the barrier to using custom content in RCTW. We also took the casual user into mind – our saved game sharing feature allows you to see your Steam friends and visit their parks with the click of a button to see what they were up to.
WHAT’S NEXT?
This is only the beginning. The system we built can be endlessly expanded as needed. At launch, we are going to support custom static and animated scenery. So whether you want to place a cool castle in the game, a new type of tree, a Tiki idol, a rocket ship, or a whole volcano – you can! We have been testing the game with a number of different types of UGC assets and we are already seeing content being made by the team that we didn’t think would be possible. Even more exciting are the ways that our testers are mixing UGC with in-game content. We recently saw a UGC castle made with passageways and tunnels big enough to fit an entire coaster inside. This is possible.
So where do we go from here? We are making the final tests to ensure you don’t need collision boxes with UGC. It will allow you to place objects almost anywhere in the game and build entire unique parks and environments with them – animated or static. This too will be at launch, and is the foundation of our eventual darkride system.
UGC is also being utilized as the foundation for our Piece-by-Piece Custom Structure System. We know that not everyone will want to play with a 3D editing program or use custom content from the Steam Workshop, and we know a lot of you just want to be able to build cool things in the game. Now imagine the possibilities if we take the idea of Piece-by-Piece and mix it with UGC! This feature IS coming – but will be post-launch. We need to make sure we have the foundation of this UGC system just right, and validated by the community, before we start working on expansions to it.
We are excited and we hope you are too! UGC will give RollerCoaster Tycoon World, and you, an endless well of creativity to draw from. It’s the foundation for a bright future for the franchise, and we can’t wait to see what you create!
Our next blog will be about the schedule and the launch date. See you soon!
RCTW General Update and New Community Manager Welcome!
Dear Fans, Friends,
We would like to provide an update since our last post. We are deep into the optimization of the game and have a few tasks left before we can announce the release date. Our next blog will talk about optimization and those tasks we have left. We do not want you to believe that the attached screenshots (and upcoming in-game videos as well as other assets) are a distraction of the important issue, i.e. the release date; we do not want this to be a misperception. The only priorities currently on our agenda are delivering a high quality game and the few things left in order to get you a firm release date. We greatly appreciate your patience and continued support. Those of you at PAX South got to see RCTW in a good state, and we look forward to sharing it with everyone else very soon too!
Our community is important to us and we enjoy hearing from everyone so keep the comments coming! To make sure we can engage with our community on a consistent basis we are bringing a new community manager to the team. Without further ado, I would like to introduce “Nookriot” to you all! He is our new Community Manager here at Atari and is dedicated on RCT and the whole community around it. Nookriot is here for you. To talk to about RCT, to answer your questions, and most importantly, to listen. He will be active on all of our social media channels so feel free to reach out! Please welcome Nookriot to our community!
We are looking forward to the road ahead and of course the launch. Stay tuned for details in the very near future.
These are all in-game shots from a beautiful park made by one of our talented QA testers! He named the park – Adrenaline Meadows.
Note: As an aside, this is from a recent build and please note that the lower number of peeps in the park is a direct result of current optimization work going on with game. We have to decrease the number while we optimize various systems before increasing it back to its max potential – filling the entire park!
