Dear RollerCoaster Tycoon World Fans,
We have heard you, and we concur; the trailer did not show the final game and the game everyone should expect from the RCT franchise. In this blog, we’d like to clarify our intention for showing the trailer and reassure you, our most passionate fans, that making RCTW great is our top priority. We would also like to talk more about the progress being made in the game and what we’re doing next.
TRAILER!
Let’s start with a bit of an explanation: The game is currently in what we are calling a pre-alpha stage – features and graphics are still being coded. Since the switchover of our development team this past Fall, we have focused on core functionality and “under-the-hood” engine work. This is why there has not been significant visual progress on the title. Engine work is critical to the overall stability of a game, and it requires significant labor and time to get right. We knew in the Fall we still had a lot of work to do to achieve the core engine we wanted – one that could support a game like RCTW. Now, however, we are able to finally continue working on the higher level functionality and visuals.
Our intention in releasing our pre-alpha gameplay as a trailer was to show that there is progress being made. RollerCoaster Tycoon has meant so much to so many people over the years, and it’s entirely your prerogative to feel protective of the franchise, just as it’s ours to assure you that it’s in good hands. Our hope in releasing the trailer in its current state was to offer some reassurance that gameplay and features were coming along.
UPGRADED ENGINE! BETTER GRAPHICS!
Regarding the current state of game graphics, we have been exploring prototypes for a while and are happy to announce we will be upgrading to the Unity 5 Engine. We hope to be able to share the results of the upgrade by this summer. We hope to take full advantage of the many new environmental, lighting, and shadow improvements as well as many other features in our original Unity 4.6-based engine to create a game that looks great. Our early results are extremely promising. We know that today these words must ring hollow, but trust that we are doing everything we can to make the game look excellent.
MORE REALISM!
In response to requests and comments from our fans, we can confirm that our teams will be adjusting the art in the game to make it not only higher definition (taking advantage of our engine upgrade) but more believable/realistic overall, while still keeping the charm of RCT. We want the rides to feel like they can be found in real life. Even though some of the rides may never actually exist, we want them to look like they could, and are constructed with real materials. Along with this, we are also taking a pass on our Americana theme to make sure those rides are closer to those you may find today when visiting your favorite amusement park. We will let you know as we make progress along this development path. We also know that once our robust user-generated content systems launch you will be able to make the scenery, rides, etc. that you want and we plan to fully support that.
TIMING!
We will not release the game until we know that it is truly ready. If the game needs to be “put back into the oven,” then we will do it. We have waited for more than 10 years for the next great edition of RCT, and we plan to take the franchise to new heights with RCTW. We will take the time required to achieve that goal. We will communicate on the expected release of RCTW later this year. The team needs the time to craft the experience that so many of you have been waiting so patiently for.
WHAT’S NEXT?
As always, what matters to us is your feedback and we want to continue to hear from you during the course of development. We have high expectations and standards for delivering RCTW as well as a desire to keep this open dialogue with our community going as development progresses. There will be lots more new content released with many visual upgrades, and as the game progresses we will share them. As we have said previously, there will be Alphas, Betas, hands-on previews at gaming events, developer chats, blogs, and more. We look forward to your feedback to make sure we are headed in the right direction. This game is too important to too many people for us not to do it right.
Please let us know what you think in our comments section! Also, if you haven’t already, please join the community on Steam and add RCTW to your Wishlist.
Thank you!
RCT Team