The game that changed...the game?

This is my first proper random article on here, and I thought as a benchmark, a starting point if you like. I'd write about something so knitted into the enthusiast's community and the general public's heart, not to mention mine too.

Genesis

Wind the clock back to the early 2000's when I was just a wee lad, and I'd be rushing home from a long laborious day at school for one reason and one reason only, when I was around the age of 8, I was given my first computer, I had no clue what this would unlock for me in my future with regards to my career and passions alike.

With the PC I somehow obtained a copy of Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 & 2 with all the expansions included, this was a jackpot for me and before I knew it I was on 5-6 hour binges of these solo-developed tycoon games, and furthermore, we had no clue of the beast that would be the successors to these titles. Just the idea of creating my own theme park, entertaining guests how I wanted to was just so appealing, I was in complete control, with no rules, just me, a mouse, and dozens of rides, rollercoasters, and food stalls at my disposal, to gain awards and the public favor. I was in my element! 2004 brought a huge step up in this series with Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 (or RCT3) which brought a literal whole new dimension to the series with super advanced graphics for the time, and a fully 3d world, allowing you to not only build but now ride rollercoasters. This 3rd installment in the series had the team expanding, from the one-man team of Chris Sawyer in the first two games to now having backing from Frontier Developments alongside Atari and guidance from the legendary John Wardley. For some this game changed too much from the original titles, becoming a little too arcade-like (Atari is to blame for that one). However I really enjoyed RCT3 and was my most played game from the series, and when the two expansion packs came out, allowing you to now build a zoo and a waterpark alongside your theme park, this just increased playability by tenfold to me.

As the years passed backdoors to the game were opened allowing the modding community to have their way with the game adding countless new assets from the game, something which I had never delved into beforehand. Usually, mods will include over-the-top facial expressions, NSFW mods, and so on, however, because this game was so popular in the enthusiast community, the majority of mods for this game were more detailed rollercoasters, rides, and scenery elements, allowing you to build some pretty impressive parks and rides alike. Even to this day, the modding community for this game is thriving, and some iconic builders such as 'ImagineerJohn' are still creating digital masterpieces within the game. However, after a decade after launch, there was a slight wind of a new storm brewing...

Planet Coaster

After huge shifts during the 10-year-long silence from forums to social media, there were groups emerging for everything, from photography to baking to PC theme park builders, in the latter members would share creations, created within any of the theme park titles at the time, to other members of the group. However one day, in around 2014, a photo was shared of some very early modeling mock-ups of what appeared to be a new theme park simulation game.

With myself included, there was some speculation as to whether this was going to be a half-decent game, as over the years, many had tried and failed, usually for budgetary reasons. However once more details had been revealed, it became clear that this could be something special, as Frontier Developments, the team partly behind RCT3 were now doing it on their own, with no external help from Atari or the like.

As time went on Frontier would share snippets of concepts (pictured above), and eventually, the name and more details were announced. Planet Coaster was set to be everything everyone wanted within a Theme Park Tycoon game; a long and elaborate campaign, completely unrestricted sandbox, and Steam Workshop capability, allowing people to upload rides (blueprints) and entire theme parks, and share them with the world.

The game eventually got released to the public on the 17th of November 2016, to overwhelmingly positive reviews and support from enthusiasts and the public too. This game had done the impossible, made a game that both enthusiasts and anyone else could play and enjoy. You didn't have to know about the profile and dynamics of a B&M Wing Coaster, but if you wanted to, that ride is in there, along with several other common ride models, that help create a dense and elaborate theme park.

Soon after the main game got released the DLCs started coming thick and fast, at present, there is a total of 12 DLCs available through Steam, with some being IP based, like Ghost Busters, and others being more generic and original, such as the Spooky Pack and World's Fair (my favorite DLC). All the DLCs included new rides and new scenery objects, allowing the player to make new and exciting areas for their parks.

A few years later the Consoler Edition got announced and subsequently released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, now allowing console players to experience the game without the need for a high-spec PC (even now a mid-range PC will struggle with Ultra Settings). Some Planet Coaster veterans were somewhat disgruntled by this, however, it brings more people to the community, so I'm all for it.

At around the same time, in my opinion, the biggest step up came to the game, in the shape of something called 'Thememakers Toolkit' (or TMTK for short). This allowed people to create scenery assets, in 3D software such as Blender, and then import them into the game to create infinite new items for the game, thus pushing the realism to a whole new high. The true capability of the game can be seen on YouTube with users such as Nerd Chacho and Moomin' Littlesocks creating hyper-realistic parks, including everything from water treatment plants on water rides to ensuring fire escape signs are placed where they should be, it really is incredible.

TMTK ride signage. Credit: Moomin Littlesocks https://www.youtube.com/c/MoominLittlesocks

The Future

That brings us to now, coming up to 8 years since the game first got released and over 3 years since the last DLC update, which has us asking the question, what next?

I try not to speculate but since around 2020 there has been wind of a 'Project Einstein' as it was dubbed by an anonymous Reddit user, who allegedly leaked a vague Frontier roadmap (future plans/schedules) for upcoming projects, who stated that there is a Planet Coaster 2 in the works, and I do believe that is the case.

Within the leak, and I must stress, this is not proof or official, so its important to take it with a large pinch of salt and make your own judgment, the poster stated that Planet Coaster 2 was due to be announced in Q1 2022, which has now been and gone, with no actual signs of movement within the project, I'm doubtful we will see anything this year.

This does beg the question, what do I think about it all? And the honest answer is I'm not entirely sure, since that original post was put up, there has been another one from another user stating that the other leaker was genuine and did indeed work for Frontier, and they have since been dismissed, because of that post, yet the second poster went on to confirm and deny some points within the first post. One of the key points id like to bring up is the talks of delays due to a large IP, pulling out last minute, causing large gaps in the ride scenery and hardware lineup to have to be filled by Frontier, since the hearsay of Planet Coaster 2 there has been word of a Disney DLC of some sort, to some peoples dismay (including mine), this is because id imagines it wouldn't be a 'Disney DLC' it will more than likely be 4 or 5 of Disneys IP individually sold as DLC's, eg. 'Marvel DLC' 'Pixar DLC' and so on. In both the Reddit posts (which annoyingly I can't find) they state a large IP, and with regards to theme parks there is only a handful that spring to mind, such as Universal, Disney, and maybe Merlin, and in my humble opinion, Disney is the only ones that I could picture doing anything like this. But I digress, either way, it would seem evident that IP, whoever it was, is no longer in the picture, so this would cause severe delays. And of course, Covid-19 hit right in the midst of the rumors, which again would cause delays. In the second Reddit post, there was speak of a Q2 2023 announcement, which I see likely if at all, I think the community is ignorant to think Frontier wouldn't make a sequel to this game because it's an overwhelmingly successful game, so why wouldn't they?

I won't get into what I'd like to see within the sequel, because that would need a whole new article, but in the second 'leak' they mentioned the path-building system wouldn't undo any changes, which sent ripples of frustration throughout the community. On the flip side, there was mention of Planet Coaster and Zoo coming together, which I personally think should've been the case from the start, similar to how RCT3 had the Wild! and Soaked! expansions.

For the full rundown of these leaks, check out Moomins video on them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o60g4uknb90

But for now, I'm going to keep piling onto my 1246 hours of playtime within the game and keep everything crossed for the future.