I've sort of been hanging on hoping to find a few dats, but time marches on. Aside from tailoring each bench to certain rides, gates and concessions, my flatland bench is pretty much done.
Over the last few days I have created two play benches.
One play bench is based on the Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park. Using aerial satellite images, I've created an empty park surrounding a large lake shaped closely to what I saw in the aerial photos. Whether a user chooses to recreate the actual amusement park or not is strictly up to them. There will be convenient markers on the land for precisely locating and installing Lake Winnie's Cannon Ball coaster and its famous Boat Chute ride. I recreated Boat Chute from several photos and it is VERY close to the original Boat Chute in appearance.
A second parking lot (located next to the Cannon Ball) has been added, and an entrance midway and promenade along one edge of the lake is also included. Any further pathing will be up to the user.
One idea that particularly excited me after downloading the wonderful "County Fair" style concession stall dats was to create a play bench with a country setting. I finished this over the weekend. It has a country fair property site located in the boonies, nestled between operating farms with barns and farmhouses. A nice little country church is located just accross the road from the fairgrounds. An animated ditch follows the country road which passes the property site.
This bench features a small open lot for supposed bi-annual country fairs, ball games and public gatherings, so large permanent coasters are out of the question. You'll have to be content with smaller portable "family coasters", and wild mouse type rides for tracked thrillers. The only permanent buildings will be a couple picnic pavilions, storeroom shed and small gate office.
Spin and pukes will be the country fair's staple rides for content with lots of country style concessions featuring delectable farm goodies like fried green tomatoes, pickled pig's feet, boysenberry juice drinks, etc. Naturally, game stalls featuring ring toss games and the like are also featured in the bench menu. I am quite happy with this bench though its about 7.8 meg zipped! All those scenery items required to make a country atmosphere sure adds up!!
I may put scenerio restrictions on this to put pressure the user in turning a modest profit in a short amount of time. Country fairs are NOT permanent venues after all. Land plot size, among other things, will require some playtesting and tweaking. The fairground shouldn't be too big, yet not too small. The user can purchase additional land at the back of the property up to the railroad tracks if they wish.
I also have an idea for a larger county fair type setting based on the Puyallup County Fair in Washington state. This play bench will be large with exposition buildings already placed, and markers to install Puyallup's wonderful Coaster Thrill Ride, and their magnificent Monster Mouse. I will try to time releasing updated recreations of Coaster Thrill Ride and Monster Mouse so that one can attempt at recreating the entire Puyallup County Fair on this bench. My RCT2 structures pack is sure coming in handy!
A lot of terrain ideas are whirling in my brain for more interesting and challenging benches than just the flatland bench as supplied with my present coaster collection. I also want to reactivate my Ocean Park pier bench and create a Boblo Island play bench. Thoughtful planning by the user will be required to make good use of the limited land on these plots. Of course, here too, markers will be placed where actual recreations of coaster, flume, and chutes from both parks can be utilized. My coaster recreations are always considered in determining the park's scale so that the play benches will have creative scope for the user.
I'll try to at least start sending up a bench or two in the next few weeks after I am satisfied with their ride selections, etc.
My first coaster pack update will likely be for Lake Winnepesaukah. I have completely redone the Cannon Ball's station and rollout to make placement a snap. My earlier recreation required the user to terraform the land first to get the land height correct around the station. That was simply too much work for the user. Now its just click 'n' drop. This pack will also include some station tweaks for the mouse and the park's famous Boat Chute. Something I regretted not having recreated for the first released pack. Playtesting shows Boat Chute to be a knock out ride visually and a hit with the peeps!
Edited by Steve Franks, 30 May 2006 - 11:53 PM.
