Introduction to Theme Park Studio

[SteveF]

Greetings!

I'd like to introduce everyone to "Theme Park Studio." My name is Steve Fielding, owner of Pantera Entertainment. I have been a long time fan of MTBS3D and friend of Neil, who I have had the pleasure of working with in the past.

We began making roller coaster simulation games many years ago, but Theme Park Studio is a revolutionary product. You'll be able to build stunning theme parks, wild roller coasters, and share them through exchange sites for others to come visit your parks, and ride your creations.

Today, we are announcing Oculus Rift support and I wanted to personally make an announcement on MTBS3D. We feel Theme Park Studio is a wonderful fit. You will be able to experience your parks and ride your coasters in a complete virtual environment.

I'd like to invite you to check out our Kickstarter page and please back our project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/101 ... theme-park

On the page you'll find lots of information about Theme Park Studio including videos, screen shots, concept art, and the different tiers we are offering to those who pledge. If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to ask!

Thank you!

Steve Fielding
Pantera Entertainment

[defactoman]

Awesome, glad to see the rift support. I had seen the project earlier and was hoping you would consider Rift support. Happy to participate in the kickstarter

[Krankin4Coasters]

Hi all. My name is Ted the Admin on ThemeParkStudio.com and I am on the TPS Team. I too am glad to see Steve move in the direction of Oculus Rift and myself can't wait to see the finished project.

defactoman thanks for your support on the kickstarter project and anyone else who has pledged. It really means a lot to getting where we need to be to get the 1st release out to the public.


If you have questions about the TPS project will do what I can to get answers for you.

[Boomer]

Hello to the members here at MTBS301. My name is Boomer and I am on the Theme Park Studio development team. I also am very excited about Oculus Rift coming to TPS, what better way to use such a stunning feature as Oculus Rift then in a Theme Park? I'm always saying at the TPS forums to; "Open the gates to your imagination with Theme Park Studio". But now with Oculus Rift technology available in TPS we'll have to change that to; "open the gates of your imagination with Theme Park Studio and step though those gates with Oculus Rift. Really glad the decision was made to use Oculus and felt it was a no brainer to make it available with a new Theme Park simulation game.

Just wanted to sign up, support Steve and say hi and am looking forward to the future of both TPS and Oculus Rift working together to provide sweet theme park dreams for anyone and everyone that is lucky enough to step through the gates of their imagination and into a stunning world of virtual wonder and delight. Just let me know if I you have any questions and I will try to answer them. If I can be of service in any way, please let me know. Thanks again to everyone here and thank you Oculus Rift for joining us in our quest to make the very best possible theme park simulation game that can be made.

--Boomer--

[the_wretched]

The Rift seems like a natural fit for this project and it's great that after some rumored "maybe" Support a couple of days ago, we've now got an official confirmation from you guys. Good luck with your Kickstarter, I'm very much looking forward to enjoy some rides in my own virtual theme park - backing now.

[remosito]

Howdie y'all,

very cool for you to go OR support and hop on the forums here

Backed your project yesterday and have a question and one pledge level feedback.

Question: Mind you I didn't dig deep at all. But didn't see a jump during the vid. Will there be jumps? It's one of the really cool things about VR versus IRL. Certian safety requirments just don't apply

Pledge Level Feedback:
A 40$ Platinum Level Pledge without physical copy and without Hyperrails would make a lot of sense for me as an international pledger


good luck with your Kickstarter and looking very much forward to experiencing it all with the OR

cheers

remosito

[Likay]

Very welcome! I'm excited to see new supporters of vr!

[Jademalo]

I've got a few pretty large reservations before I back this project, and I would like some answers if that's alright. I had actually backed, but rescinded my pledge after feeling incredibly uneasy.

I have no worries that the Rift support in your Sim will be fantastic, but I am very worried about the Sim itsself.
A few months ago, I bought RollerCoaster Rampage, and I was far from impressed. This is reflected in a lot of reviews and general opinions that I've read about the game, and it doesn't make me feel very comfortable backing something blindly that may only be of that quality, and most certainly not worth pledging $50 for.

Graphically, I also have some reservations. Comparing it to RCT3, it looks maybe one or two years younger, but by no means something that is being released in 2013. I'm slightly worried that from this Rift integration announcement people are looking past this, but I can't agree with that mentality.


Anyway, my questions:

Why is the sim split up into three different versions, with each one withholding various core features of a Coaster simulator?
What exactly would make me want to back this over buying NoLimits 2 in the future, when they have proven their ability to make a realistic sim and you have yet to in the eyes of sim enthusiasts?
Why is there a stretch goal for gameplay elements at 180k? Is this a sim, or a game without the game features until a goal is met?


I'm not alone with this opinion, I know for a fact that the RCT community on Reddit feels the same way.
http://www.reddit.com/r/rct/comments/1c ... ckstarter/

Don't get me wrong, I want to back this, but so far everything that I have read seems to be heavily putting me off backing this project. If you can answer my questions well enough, then I won't hesitate to back. I'm a huge fan of coaster sims and the Rift, so I am on the verge at present. To quote someone on Reddit, "It looks like it could be but I'm skeptical so far. The video has just proved that it could be great, not that it is."

[remosito]

Hi all!
Just a little friendly reminder: It's great of you to consider real vr support (oculus rift especially) for your software but be sure to talk to the site admin (Neil) before making announcements like these. It's really close to be considered spamming and will probably not end up good for anyone in the end.
You're very welcome here though and i'm personally excited to see more as well as new recognition for vr.
Cheers

Considering I came here through a link directly from an article from the main mtbs3d page, I think the did go through official channels first!

[zerax]

Hi all!
Just a little friendly reminder: It's great of you to consider real vr support (oculus rift especially) for your software but be sure to talk to the site admin (Neil) before making announcements like these. It's really close to be considered spamming and will probably not end up good for anyone in the end.
You're very welcome here though and i'm personally excited to see more as well as new recognition for vr.
Cheers

Considering I came here through a link directly from an article from the main mtbs3d page, I think the did go through official channels first!

The article is written by Neil Schneider, so i believe it has gone through official channels.
http://www.mtbs3d.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=73

[Likay]

I know, i know!

[Neil]

Hi Guys,

The Pantera Entertainment team is welcome to post here. It's something I made arrangements for.

Regards,
Neil

[SteveF]

I've got a few pretty large reservations before I back this project, and I would like some answers if that's alright. I had actually backed, but rescinded my pledge after feeling incredibly uneasy.

I have no worries that the Rift support in your Sim will be fantastic, but I am very worried about the Sim itsself.
A few months ago, I bought RollerCoaster Rampage, and I was far from impressed. This is reflected in a lot of reviews and general opinions that I've read about the game, and it doesn't make me feel very comfortable backing something blindly that may only be of that quality, and most certainly not worth pledging $50 for.

Graphically, I also have some reservations. Comparing it to RCT3, it looks maybe one or two years younger, but by no means something that is being released in 2013. I'm slightly worried that from this Rift integration announcement people are looking past this, but I can't agree with that mentality.


Anyway, my questions:

Why is the sim split up into three different versions, with each one withholding various core features of a Coaster simulator?
What exactly would make me want to back this over buying NoLimits 2 in the future, when they have proven their ability to make a realistic sim and you have yet to in the eyes of sim enthusiasts?
Why is there a stretch goal for gameplay elements at 180k? Is this a sim, or a game without the game features until a goal is met?


I'm not alone with this opinion, I know for a fact that the RCT community on Reddit feels the same way.
http://www.reddit.com/r/rct/comments/1c ... ckstarter/

Don't get me wrong, I want to back this, but so far everything that I have read seems to be heavily putting me off backing this project. If you can answer my questions well enough, then I won't hesitate to back. I'm a huge fan of coaster sims and the Rift, so I am on the verge at present. To quote someone on Reddit, "It looks like it could be but I'm skeptical so far. The video has just proved that it could be great, not that it is."

Honestly, all a post like this does is attempt to keep a project from moving forward.

All professional written reviews on Roller Coaster Rampage were decent, 6.5 on IGN and 7.0 for gameplay. There were only some nasty youtube commentators. These people indulge in mockery for ratings, one of them emphasized a bug that was already fixed, and he was told in advance there was a new build.

Our company has been making games for 17 years, as well as developing products for the serious games industry. Many of our products have been exhibited by major corporations.

As far as reddit, the claims made by that person are fabricated and baseless. He knows nothing about this product and his comments about RCR are false.

[Likay]

My sincere apologies to the TPS team. I missed the news and wanted to dampen the avalanche before it gets started.
I realised later it's in the "middle of the summer" and no snow is present. Sorry about that!

[Neil]

I can confirm that I've personally had some very negative experiences on Reddit. While the mods and majority of the community are great, there are a handful of people out there that want nothing but to do personal harm because it gives them exposure or attention or just makes them feel good about themselves - and there are no limits to what they will say or do to achieve that harm. They will lie, they will slander, they will find hostile sources to back their claims, and they will just make stuff up. That's the mentality of some individuals, and it's an unfortunate reality of life.

I won't go further than that here as it's best to stay on topic. However, Internet and Honesty don't always go together, and that shouldn't get in the way of supporting an exciting product like this.

I know VR is new territory for Steve, so maybe it would be helpful to share some ideas or things you'd like to see so that the Oculus support is indeed unique and beneficial compared to just the traditional version of the game.

Regards,
Neil

[SteveF]

My sincere apologies to the TPS team. I missed the news and wanted to dampen the avalanche before it gets started.
I realised later it's in the "middle of the summer" and no snow is present. Sorry about that!

No apologies necessary. Your post was put very professionally.

[Boomer]

Question: Mind you I didn't dig deep at all. But didn't see a jump during the vid. Will there be jumps? It's one of the really cool things about VR versus IRL. Certain safety requirements just don't apply

Hi remosito, thank you for your question. There will be an extensive library of in-game, pre-made rides and attractions. Of course we are still in development and what specific rides that will be in the final release is yet to be determined. I couldn't agree more that a jump would look awesome in VR. But here is the beauty of TPS and the powerful Vista Studio engine that drives it, we provide the editors, tools, tutorials and instruction to easily make your own rides, make your own scenery and custom make your very own cool jump.

If whatever a player doesn't see in the games pre-made inventory, that they were really wanting to see, they have options. With these easy to use tools we believe that soon after TPS releases there will be a vast amount of community made custom designed stuff rolling in and with our exchange site, TPS players will have a large pool of rides inventory to pick and choose from and even leave your own cool ride there for others to use. The game engine is designed for easy import so these user made rides are easy to access.

Another option is just to make it yourself, the way you want it, keeping VR in mind and moving the way you want it to. Even the wind speed and many other features are controlled by the player, IE: the trees sway according to the wind speed that you set. With fireworks, particle editor, ride maker and much, much more, what any TPS player could possibly want in a VR world is basically only limited by the boundaries of their imagination. You want a jump? You got it, and you got it, just the way you want it. TPS is being developed keeping in mind a very clear simple concept; give a hungry man a fish and he will have a meal, but if you give him a hook and teach him how to fish, he will eat for a lifetime. Theme Park Studio provides the hook and instructions how to use it, Oculus Rift provides the magic and all the player has to do is simply step through the gates of their imagination.

I hope this answer to your question was a little clearer then mud and I hope that you and others will "dig deep" into TPS and discover all that it will have to offer. One thing we know for sure, Oculus Rift will be one of those things.

--Boomer--

[Jademalo]

Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it.

However, after reading it I am not going to pledge. You did not answer my questions, and proceeded to attack my post. My RCR impression came from buying and playing the game, not from reviews. I only mentioned those as they tended to agree with my stance and opinions.

I asked what I asked as I had genuine reservations, and was wanting to clear them up. Even if the answers weren't what I was wanting to hear, if they were honest I would have had a lot more respect for your company. Simply stating twice that you have "a great product" with nothing to back that up and avoiding my questions is, to me, very typical of a company that don't trust their own product.

I wish you good luck with your product, but I want my reservations to be known.



Neil, while that is true of most of reddit and the internet in general, this was an overwhelming consensus from a community of people who genuinely appreciate RollerCoaster Sims. As I said above, I made my own opinions about RCR, reddit had no influence.
I am a huge fan of RollerCoasters, and RollerCoaster sims in particular. I've spent countless hours in all three RCT games, and a decent amount of time in NoLimits. If this is a game and not a sim, then I understand that I'm not the target audience, however as I've stated before there isn't a "Game" until $180k. This implies to me that it's a sim, and I had my reservations as stated in my above post, which were ignored.

I'm very worried with regards to the growing trend that I'm seeing in the VR community where worries or questions about the quality of the products are dismissed, dodged or ignored purely because of support for the Rift. This is a $50 commercial product by, as Steve stated, a 17 year old professional company with multiple releases under their belt. Support should not be riding purely on the promise of rift intergration.



That's my 2p, take from it what you will. I've backed many, many products on kickstarter for very considerable sums of money, and I know when I'm taking a risk that's worthwhile, and when something isn't sitting right.

[Neil]

Neil, while that is true of most of reddit and the internet in general, this was an overwhelming consensus from a community of people who genuinely appreciate RollerCoaster Sims. As I said above, I made my own opinions about RCR, reddit had no influence.
I am a huge fan of RollerCoasters, and RollerCoaster sims in particular. I've spent countless hours in all three RCT games, and a decent amount of time in NoLimits. If this is a game and not a sim, then I understand that I'm not the target audience, however as I've stated before there isn't a "Game" until $180k. This implies to me that it's a sim, and I had my reservations as stated in my above post, which were ignored.

I'm very worried with regards to the growing trend that I'm seeing in the VR community where worries or questions about the quality of the products are dismissed, dodged or ignored purely because of support for the Rift. This is a $50 commercial product by, as Steve stated, a 17 year old professional company with multiple releases under their belt. Support should not be riding purely on the promise of rift intergration.

You're talking to the guy who developed GameGrade3D to make sure that 3D compatibility has a real meaning, versus being marketing fluff (and we take no prisoners!). I can't answer your questions as I'm not the game developer. However, I'm sure Steve can speak to what they are doing and what they are doing differently to make this a good title. You probably have a lot of valuable feedback and ideas they could benefit from, and I see no problem with sharing them here. Helping make better games and better immersive technology products is what the MTBS community is best at I think. Maybe it's best to start this off with what exactly you didn't like, what you'd like to see differently, etc.

Regards,
Neil

[Jademalo]

You're talking to the guy who developed GameGrade3D to make sure that 3D compatibility has a real meaning, versus being marketing fluff (and we take no prisoners!). I can't answer your questions as I'm not the game developer. However, I'm sure Steve can speak to what they are doing and what they are doing differently to make this a good title. You probably have a lot of valuable feedback and ideas they could benefit from, and I see no problem with sharing them here. Helping make better games and better immersive technology products is what the MTBS community is best at I think. Maybe it's best to start this off with what exactly you didn't like, what you'd like to see differently, etc.

Regards,
Neil

Thank you for not instantly dismissing my criticisms. As it stands, I have no doubt that the VR and 3D implementation in the sim will be of a very high standard. Ultimately though, even if it is a very high quality, it could still suffer from a situation similar to strapping a turbo onto a transit. The turbo is fantastic, but what exactly does it give to a transit? If the sim/game isn't up to standard, having good VR doesn't instantly make it a required purchase.

I've stated my three initial questions, the second was a mask for a "What makes this better than NoLimits in terms of the simulation" since NL is pretty much the direct competitor in my eyes. RCR isn't comparable to this product in a way that criticism can be applied, since they are fundamentally different. One thing that I would like to know a lot more about is the interface and controls, how coasters are actually designed and built in the engine, and what kind of versatility is offered. Is it as easy as say RCT, or is it more versatile?
I have a few others, but I'm going to hold them until I've received answers to my other questions. As I said, I'd much rather an honest answer than the answer I want.

As I've also stated, I'm a huge RC Sim fan. I want this to be good, and I want Rift coasters. I'm not here to derail or slander the project, I genuinely want some answers to put aside my reservations and have something to look forward to.

[Boomer]

Hi Jademalo, I wasn't trying to ignore you or your question. They were honest questions asked in an intelligent manner. I by know means, I'm even close to being head of development on the TPS project. I consider myself lucky to even be on the team. I was asked if I wanted to join in the discussion here on these forums and help answer questions. Of course I said yes.

I am part of a team but have specific areas of responsibilities. So I tend to answer what I'm sure of and leave the other answers to other team members. The problem right now is that we are in that fragile state of development with TPS that is typical for game developers. With release set for September it's time to promote and make aware of what we have coming up on the horizon. That being said, we also can't reveal and release a lot of information that you or others may want, for various reasons. So we walk the fine line of discretion when people demand answers that have to be answered or they refuse to support TPS in any manor.

There is a lot of information on our website and also on our Kickstarter page. We also will be soon releasing the first part of an extensive interview I conducted with Steve, the head of development, that will answer a lot more questions that people are asking. When some one gets upset with us because they didn't hear what they wanted or think they are being avoided, all we can do at this time is to take some time to say we hear you and respect and understand your opinions and certainly understand if you don't want to support us.

There is no logic to arguing or trying to talk you into anything. We don't expect everyone to get what TPS is all about at this stage of development, but we would hope that everyone will be patient enough to get the answers they feel they should have, when we release them. If not then I certainly respect your decision to pass on supporting TPS and also respect the right you have to express your opinions here in the MTBS forums. But we would also hope that you would respect ours when we say thanks for your considerations and move on to those that have more interest and hope and faith in the development of a theme park game that we feel is going be just as good if not better then any other game out there in this genre (especially with the addition of Oculus Rift).


We aren't in a conference room trying to figure out how to avoid your questions Jademalo, we just choose not to answer them at this time. You wanted honesty... there it is.

--Boomer-

[Jademalo]

Thank you, I appreciate the reply and it's tone, and I seriously appreciate the honesty.
Since there is still a decent bit of time left on the kickstarter, I'll wait and see what is said in interviews and updates. I'm more than happy to wait on an answer if I know it's coming eventually, I just felt that I was being dodged.

The only thing I will say, and the question that I do want answered sooner rather than later - I get what TPS is about, I'm just seeing a bit of conflicted design. Is it a game, or is it a simulator? They are two very different things, and I'm struggling to discern this from the kickstarter page and the replies that are being given.

As I've said before, I'd love for a good coaster sim on the rift. To an extent, I want to back this project, it's just difficult without enough information and without some answers - regardless of the answer in itself.

[STRZ]

No Linux version, or even strechtgoal = bummer

[Jymmyl]

Hi Guys,

Well I am very excited about the project & it's potential.

I'm quite interested in seeing more of the game's themeing capabilities, as that's where I would likely spend much of my time. Can you shed any light or give an ETA on when we can expect some more info/pictures/video of things like peeps, facilities, speakers, etc?

It's great to hear that you have plans for a collaborative hub for exchanging rides & such, but can you elaborate further on the games modability. For example, how easy will it be to import/use custom textures? Will the core game be open/editable to the extent that somebody could mess with the physics, or add/edit park management functions (If we get them of course)?

Will it be possible to use animation or video for textures (I think that would lead to some amazing possibilities)?

I once spent a week building a stargate themed coaster in RCT3 that had animated gate graphics & sound effects on launch (was part dark, part outside). Positional sound played a huge role in most of my creations so will there be functioning speakers (area specific/range-limited with importable custom effects/music) for attractions?

[SteveF]

Hi Jymmyl,

Thank you for your questions. Although some features are still under wrap, I will do my best to answer what I can.

Pictures/Video of peeps will probably be forthcoming in the next couple months. Much of the AI is complete, and of course we have our own bones engine. Additional images of environmental objects will probably not appear until after KS funding is complete, and more models are built (although we have a nice selection of new trains we will be presenting over the next week!)

Importing custom trains, environmental objects, textures, particles effects, etc... is very easy. Just download from the community and drop them in to your folders. The app scans and builds libraries (without loading the entire object, until it is used)

Animated textures are allowed. Video streaming is something we'll be adding, but I am not sure if it will make it by release, we will see.

Thank you for your support! We all really appreciate it. We are working hard to build this for the community and have been adding features based on their requests!

[miahallen]

Pretty interested in your project....but I wouldn't back it unless you plan to support telemetry output in order to support add-ons like SimVibe....then I'm on board 100%