Planet Coaster

[Rip]

OK, the wait is pretty much over.

If you have ever enjoyed any coaster game watch this.

Go ahead try to resist.

I am so anxious it is nearly unbearable.

[jztemple2]

I see on the Steam page that the game has 3rd party DRM, "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Antitamper". I don't recall seeing that in any of my games before. Anyone have any issues with it?

UPDATE: Found this post on Steam discussions that discusses it in detail. Still don't really understand what it is, especially since one paragraph in the post says...

Denuvo – DRM?

Denuvo is not DRM. It cannot check the disk or perform online activation, as did SecuROM. And there is nothing – neither disk check nor online activation, that SecuROM and StarForce emplyed, that was not successfully reversed and/or bypassed. Denuvo (VMProtect) simply protects files from modification. Denuvo is more focused on being a protective layer over DRM mechanisms like Steam/Origin.

If it's not DRM, then why is it listed on the Steam store page as DRM?

[Max Peck]

I see on the Steam page that the game has 3rd party DRM, "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Antitamper". I don't recall seeing that in any of my games before. Anyone have any issues with it?

UPDATE: Found this post on Steam discussions that discusses it in detail. Still don't really understand what it is, especially since one paragraph in the post says...

Denuvo – DRM?

Denuvo is not DRM. It cannot check the disk or perform online activation, as did SecuROM. And there is nothing – neither disk check nor online activation, that SecuROM and StarForce emplyed, that was not successfully reversed and/or bypassed. Denuvo (VMProtect) simply protects files from modification. Denuvo is more focused on being a protective layer over DRM mechanisms like Steam/Origin.

If it's not DRM, then why is it listed on the Steam store page as DRM?

It's not DRM in the sense that Denuvo's marketing says that it's not DRM. Nonetheless, if it walks like DRM and quacks like DRM, then...

I have several of the games listed in the Denuvo wikipedia article, and I haven't noticed any issues with any of them.

[jztemple2]

Thanks for the reply, I feel a bit more at ease about it now.

I'll be waiting for some impressions of the Planet Coaster beta from folks. It certainly looks great.

[Bad Demographic]

What is a coaster game?

[Anonymous Bosch]

What is a coaster game?

It's a game that closely simulates the frustration of running a Californian business that sells protective discs upon which beverages are placed.

[Rip]

What is a coaster game?

Theme park simulator. SimCity for Theme Parks.

Trailer

[baelthazar]

Has the beta started? I am interested in games like these but the two in development right now have me a tad worried. This one is more focused on coasters, which is fine but was never my strong suit in RCT.

Of course, I cannot remember the name of the other theme park sim in development...

[Max Peck]

Of course, I cannot remember the name of the other theme park sim in development...

RollerCoaster Tycoon World?

[Bad Demographic]

What is a coaster game?

It's a game that closely simulates the frustration of running a Californian business that sells protective discs upon which beverages are placed.

I can actually see this being a game.

[Rip]

Of course, I cannot remember the name of the other theme park sim in development...

RollerCoaster Tycoon World?

Which is a steaming pile of crap.....

[Carpet_pissr]

I always enjoyed running the theme parks and dallying with the micro stuff in in the RCT games, as opposed to creating my own coasters. Is this new game more of a coaster builder, or actually a theme park sim? (or both, like so many before). I watched some of the footage, but could not tell from that.

The graphics and animation are specTACular though, holy shit. Really amazing eye candy there.

[LordMortis]

I always enjoyed running the theme parks and dallying with the micro stuff in in the RCT games, as opposed to creating my own coasters. Is this new game more of a coaster builder, or actually a theme park sim? (or both, like so many before). I watched some of the footage, but could not tell from that.

The graphics and animation are specTACular though, holy shit. Really amazing eye candy there.

From as much as I saw it was roller coaster centric, with aesthetics of building a park (and specifically coasters) to match the lay of the land being the central theme, though might just be appeal they were selling and the theme of the game.

[Rip]

Good bit of both.

[Fitzy]

How about, is it a good tycoon game if you ignore coaster design? Other than seeing how far I could launch cars, I never did well with coaster design in the earlier RCT games.

[jztemple2]

How about, is it a good tycoon game if you ignore coaster design? Other than seeing how far I could launch cars, I never did well with coaster design in the earlier RCT games.

Just a thought, there's another park builder out there, Parkitect. It's a more simplified park builder and tycoon game from what I gather.

[Rip]

It has scenario missions so somewhat, but I would think you still want some coasters. You can download stuff from other people if nothing else. I think you will find though that the coaster building in this is so easy, yet capable that you can build pretty decent coaster without really being any good at it.

Since I am the only person on my steam friends list who has it already I will make it a point to post some more of my thought after it releases in a few hours.

[Rip]

Been sick and only played a little. Some good some bad but overall enjoying what little I have played.

But I just had my first crash.

I ended up on the desktop and was greeted with a dialogue telling me it had crashed and inviting me to enter and remarks in identifying and correcting whatever may have caused the crash.

Brilliant I felt involved as it showed me the data being sent. Now that is the kind of stuff that can make a guy like me not loathe always connected games. Make use of that connection for something other than a revenue stream and I may soften in my old age.

[YellowKing]

Just bought this after upgrading my video card (yay!) and I'm enjoying the little bit I played. Feels very much like RCT, just with modern graphics - which is exactly what I was looking for. I've only dabbled in the first scenario, so it will take some time for me to form a proper judgment. So far, so good though.

[baelthazar]

Just bought this after upgrading my video card (yay!) and I'm enjoying the little bit I played. Feels very much like RCT, just with modern graphics - which is exactly what I was looking for. I've only dabbled in the first scenario, so it will take some time for me to form a proper judgment. So far, so good though.

I was hearing the major criticism is lack of content. Supposedly they may be adding more with release. Any thoughts on this? I want to build my Medieval Funtimes Land Theme Park!

[Rip]

Just bought this after upgrading my video card (yay!) and I'm enjoying the little bit I played. Feels very much like RCT, just with modern graphics - which is exactly what I was looking for. I've only dabbled in the first scenario, so it will take some time for me to form a proper judgment. So far, so good though.

I was hearing the major criticism is lack of content. Supposedly they may be adding more with release. Any thoughts on this? I want to build my Medieval Funtimes Land Theme Park!

There will be a little but not much. The other complaints I have heard is about park size and management being unwieldy and of little importance.

I have only had time to play a little and what I have seen so far suggests the complaints are at least a little bit valid.

[Reemul]

Last patch increased park size by 2.5 times.

[jztemple2]

Steam reviews are " Overwhelmingly Positive", while for Roller Coaster Tycoon World they are "Mostly Negative", so I guess that makes me think I'll be looking towards Planet Coaster. Any impressions worth sharing?

[jztemple2]

Well, I broke down and bought this, seeing as I'm now awaiting a patch for Motorsport Manager to fix some dumb problems there and Transport Fever didn't grabbed me like I hoped it would.

After a couple of hours playing Planet Coaster I'll have to agree with this review over at PCGamesN that it's a pretty awesome amusement park builder. I played many a Roller Coaster Tycoon game and had fun with them, but just like in those games I find that in Planet Coaster I display an appalling lack of creativity. And it feels even worse when I fired up the first campaign mission, the little pirate park and find that just this simple park already has more "wow" to it than anything I might devise . Still, I accept the challenge.

One more thing I agree with in the review, that the game isn't too terribly challenging in the tycoon aspect, that it shouldn't be too hard to make money and be successful. I'm totally fine with that, I don't really need a heavy duty business game, I just need a game where I have to figure out how much to pay the guy who cleans up the vomit

And sheesh there are already a zillion downloads available through the Steam Workshop. Just like Cities: Skyline it's going to be tempting to throw tons of extra stuff into the game, so I'll have to temper my enthusiasm till I get a handle on what's already in there.

[naednek]

I received this as a gift, and while it's pretty, I wish there was more of a tycoon element. I haven't played it much and when I did, it was a week before release. I'll have to try again.

[Rip]

I haven't found the career mode very interesting. Not to mention there isn't much to it. Challenge mode seems to be the most entertaining. Of course I haven't done that much coaster building and theming, still trying to get my understanding of the gameplay mechanics down pat before I focus on that area.

[jztemple2]

With previous games of this genre, i spent the most time designing coasters.

[baelthazar]

I got this, but I must say that I am disappointed in the lack of content. There are not a lot of rides and the game feels fairly limited. That said, the idea that you can craft any sort of building or scenery is fairly awesome. My only problem is that the construction takes so much time, that I barely feel there is a management game at all here (kind of like the original Sims and building houses).

Part of me thinks it is refund time, while part of me wants to wait to see if there will be more content. Part of me wonders when I will get to play this - it took me 40 minutes just to design a medieval castle entryway for the park!!!

[jztemple2]

There is a truly staggering amount of content available in the Steam Workshop . Before you refund, check that out. People have been designing new content for months in the game during the alpha and beta.

As I said above, this isn't a heavy duty management game. I'm playing in sandbox where you have unlimited money, but you still do profit and loss. It's easy to maintain a profit margin by just being mindful of what sells and where to put it. I actually think the old Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 did a better job of making you feel like you are running a park.

That being said, it's still a hell of a lot of fun in Sandbox. I've been setting up a pretty bland park and trying to pretty it up and that's been enjoyable. Then I set the park hours to be only open at night and it became like a whole new experience, putting down lights and special effects. And now I'm just grabbing handfuls of content from the Workshop and playing around with it.

By the way, this game has Steam Cloud Sync for saves, and when I looked in the properties menu, I discovered I was using 33.93 MB of a total of 93.10 GB (yes gigabytes) available. Interesting...

[baelthazar]

You are right, which is why I will likely keep it. I see this being expanded upon in the future, with more water rides, etc. I also like the idea of the workshop stuff, and it is nice to see community involvement like that. My only issue is lack of time... so many games!

[Skinypupy]

I've been on the fence with this one, as I typically burn out on these type of games really quickly. However, I think this Kotaku review may have just nudged me into "buy" territory.

Having a bad day? Week? Year? Planet Coaster is here to help.

It won’t unelect anyone, or bring anyone back from the dead, or uncook the planet, but it will, for brief, shining moments of time, make you forget everything else except the fact you feel very, very good while playing it.

Planet Coaster is a Bob Ross experience. It’s creative, it’s chill, and the pleasure comes not from the final product, but in each tree, path and building you place down along the way. Popping a bright green tree down next to a path teeming with grinning cartoon people, having the time of their lives under a clear blue sky while soft guitar strums in the background and a man dressed as a T-Rex makes kids smile...you can’t really do the wrong thing here. Anything you build will be something good.

That sounds like just the sort of game I need right now.

[Rip]

I'm having fun. They already added some content and word is more free content in December. Combined with all the workshop stuff it is a blast for people that suck at building like me.

I do wish there was a little more management depth but you can't have everything.
Using skins for my flat rides makes each one feel different. Even when I don't have a skin I like with the ride I have gotten pretty good at using the existing theme items and sprinkling in enough myself to not have issues with it.

I've only actually built one coaster myself that wasn't a prebuilt, but it wasn't terribly hard to do and I am looking forward to digging into that aspect. Love some of the parks that come with some good dark rides and a coaster or two built. Helps me theme easier. Otherwise I end up with an unclear multi theme because I suck at that as well.

[Skinypupy]

Spent about an hour creating my first park. Was doing pretty well figuring out the basics and having fun...until the game hard locked. Fired it back up, hard lock again. Now I can't get it to progress past the loading screen.

Bah.

[jztemple2]

Spent about an hour creating my first park. Was doing pretty well figuring out the basics and having fun...until the game hard locked. Fired it back up, hard lock again. Now I can't get it to progress past the loading screen.

Bah.

Bummer, I haven't seen that behavior so far.

[Unagi]

I'd suggest a PC reboot, and see if you can at least start up the game.
Betting you will be able to.

[Skinypupy]

I'd suggest a PC reboot, and see if you can at least start up the game.
Betting you will be able to.

Tried that too, still hangs on the loading screen. Will try reinstalling and see if that fixes it.

[Citizen]

A few months back but a comparison of the 3 major roller coaster games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVUa58oY0T0

[AWS260]

I found this coaster-building tutorial useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9k2zYAbS3k.

[AWS260]

Planet Coaster is a Bob Ross experience. It’s creative, it’s chill, and the pleasure comes not from the final product, but in each tree, path and building you place down along the way. Popping a bright green tree down next to a path teeming with grinning cartoon people, having the time of their lives under a clear blue sky while soft guitar strums in the background and a man dressed as a T-Rex makes kids smile...you can’t really do the wrong thing here. Anything you build will be something good.

This is so true. My work life is stressful right now, and an hour spent fiddling with scenery or designing a coaster is a fantastic way to unwind before bed.

[AWS260]

My park.