Park / Cataclysm

Park_146 Cataclysm

87 Comments

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  • iris%s's Photo
    About the parkmaker thing, I've put a lot of thought into this.
    I want to see you do some more work, because I want to make sure that it's not just the WW that sways my decision.
    You're basically in the same boat as Blitz & AK now, that just any more work from you will put you over.
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    That's cool. I will be starting to update "Twilight Shores" Theme Park very soon (yes it's no longer Liberty Lake). Then you will see that I am NOT a "flash in the pan".
  • Corkscrewed%s's Photo
    Twilight Shores, eh? I once had a park named Twilight Hill that never got finished that had a similar idea to yours. :)
  • Roberto Roboparks%s's Photo
    I can't see Tilted Acres, unfortunatly, but from the screens it looks quite good.

    Cataclysm on the other hand, is amazing. I had the fortune of looking at it a few times during construction, and it turned out to be one hell of a park. Good job, both BG and CE.
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    What can I say, Corky, great minds think alike ;) . Actually the whole concept for the park changed when the name changed. I wanted to create more of a "city", if you will, and the whole "pier" thing just didn't inspire me enough.
  • mantis%s's Photo
    Well, the walkthrough of TA in the Ad. District is what i'm going by. It's brilliant. First off I want to just point out something to Kumba. Once you've seen something in RCT, you can easily say 'i could make that' because, well, all you have to do is copy. You say it's n00bish, yet you also say you'd have to be 'good at rct2' to do it...um...well, i'm not gonna bother, but you don't make much sense.

    Meretrix - Discoveryland is my favourite part. It's excellent. I really like technological type themes, and this one's cool. I can't really say much else about the park except that I hope you can make something even better in normal rct2 so I can look at it properly :)


    Cataclysm is a great park. Perhaps not in my top 10 (although certain parts of it would be top of my list...) but it's definitely a great addition to the spotlight page. BG's buildings are funky and his coasters really shine. The invert has a wonderfully simple layout, as does the 4D. Ever since his Steel Twister in Klabautermann Bay and his Scorpion design it's been obvious he's got talent with coasters, and I think this is where this park gets its main effect.

    Coaster Ed's work is, well, bewildering. I was talking to Posix about this...Ed's work is difficult to 'love' in the way I can, say, love IOAH or Moonlight Magic...Ed's work, to me, is 'bewildering'. It's on the brink of being completely inaccessible due to the sheer thought put into it. In Erwindale we saw not just a park made up of themed things, we saw a park that became like a world...a real fantasy, if that makes any sense. Then Battlefield came along and showed us that RCT can be more real than we ever thought it could be - not only can it be a 'snapshot', it can be a living entity. His areas in Cataclysm go further - they show real life locations and, i guess, 'communities' in action. The Harbour is the best example (even though i'm not explaining this very well). Firstly, it's incredibly real. The buildings look real, the atmosphere is most definitely tangible and you can almost imagine people going about their daily business, using the tram, manning the crane and working the power station. The buildings are evolved forms of the rudimentary coaster track architecture you find in most parks (including, now rather to my own embarrassment after seeing this, my own). They mix land, scenery and coasters to take on a life of their own - the ones using stations are my favourites, and the little mini-steel braces etc are just another layer of detail to add to the already mounting complexity. It's frightening, it really is.

    Not to mention the labs. THE LABS! The water ride is ingenious - double tracked lifts to remove floating, merging to make full use of the track types available, WME's complete circuit hack to remove the need for powered launch (which would crash, if i'm not mistaken), FISH!, excitement at every turn...this is probably the best example of how Ed's work is truly bewildering. I can't actually think of anyone that comes close to Ed in this sense...perhaps Pyro at his very best?? I really don't know... Every building has its own story to tell, every coaster is an adventure...Tektonic Ridge is petrifying, but not just because it's going at 60mph...the imagination to even BEGIN to make something like that...

    I'm going to stop now...otherwise i'd end up going for ages and ages and ages. It's daunting to carry on in RCT when you know something like this is being created...the only thing I think we (as in, the people who aren't lucky enough to be Ed) can do is carry on as we are and leave Ed to his own devices as the RCT version of...um...some sort of mystic yogi.

    Yes.
  • x-sector%s's Photo
    ED RULES :)
  • Evil WME%s's Photo

    double tracked lifts to remove floating, merging to make full use of the track types available, WME's complete circuit hack to remove the need for powered launch

    well... those would both have to considered mine =P.

    tho i guess i´d have to admit some of Coaster Ed´s genious is copying me. *looks at fingernails.



    To a more serious note, i agree. That adventure ride near the waterfall.. that´s the single best themed adventure ride part i´ve EVER seen in my life. It´s amazing. I ahven´t taken good enough looks at the docks, as i didn´t find it too appealing at first but that might change. Indeed, Ed´s areas look almost as if they have too much thought in them. =D.

    Meretrix park was also ",VERY," nice. Completely a different style, which i would best describe as Disney. Look at Natelox park chain, then look at this, and you can tell that this is no ordinary RCT park. He uses the different theming objects that custom builders, WW, and RCT2 itself brought perfectly. Some part range to look a bit ugly, but if you actually think of being IN the park, you notice you can´t see the ugly looking roofs. Amazing, large, awesome. What more can a guy want. Definitely not my #17.
  • natelox%s's Photo
    Nice, two spotlights! I can't look at Tilted Acres, but i do have something to say about it (more on that later).

    Cataclysm! CoasterEd is a genius. Period. His adveture ride/ water ride and harbour area are definety favorites of mine, among the best areas and rides i have ever seen. The harbour is my favorite themed area EVER. Great themeing, great rides, great archiecture, great details (THE DUMPSTER IS SO COOL) etc.. The adventure ride is amazing as is "The River of Death and Decay". CoasterEd fails to flaw. CoasterEd doesn't create themeparks, he creates real life. BUT, CoasterEd only did part of this park. Blind Guardian did the rest. His rides fail to stand out, the archiecture is boring and repeditive, so much so i got lost, I had to zoom out to find where i was, everything looked the same! All the paths are 'squre' (like a city). I give him credit for the Collapsed Reactor, but that's all that i could find that i liked that was made by him. This park doesn't rank in my top 20. CoasterEd out shines Blind guardian and creates a park that has it's good spots, but fails in the end.

    Tilted Acres...best disney park ever? I couldn't say, i can't open the park. From what i've seen, there are a few little things that take away from it being 100% disney (like Mainstreet, it's never crooked like that). BUT, the major thing I find intresting is that Meritix is a noob, like it or not. A good one? well, yes and no. Nevis released UIX as a noob, and his creativity and rides filled some huge empty spaces (like his archiecture...it reeks of noobism). Nevis, timothy cross and Meritix all have this 'good noob' thing going on. They can do somethings amazinly well. Timothy Cross has an amazing ability to create atmosphere, but his themeing is horrible and random. Nevis is very creative and makes great rides, but his archiecture is the worst i've ever seen in a spotlight winning park. Mertix, i can't comment, from what i've seen of your screens, it looks very messy, perhaps not well planned out. The archiecture doesn't look to hot IMO. The theming is great though. Bascially what i'm saying is, yes everyone has their flaws, but noobs have more than more experianced players, and usually they have expetional skills in other areas that make up for their major flaw(s).
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    While I certainly respect your opinion Nate, I hardly relish the thought of being called a "noob". Reality check, boys and girls...I have been playing this game since 1999. Just because this is the only park I've ever put out on a public forum, well NE noob, maybe, but hardly a noob in the grand scheme of RCT. And since we're on the subject, when exactly (in your "expert" opinion) does one graduate from "noobism"? After they've shown two parks? Ten? Give us a number so that we can all wallow in our own"major flaws" until we acheive your "greatness!!! :@

    Finally, in response to your comment about Main Street being crooked. That is the reason the park is called "Tilted Acres". The whole symetry of the park is "off" ON PURPOSE!
  • natelox%s's Photo
    it's not how many parks you release, it's when big problems get fixed. Like i said, i haven't opened the park, so I can't say this with accuracy, but there were two other people in your position that had large problems with their parks.

    And maybe it was ment to be crooked, but it still takes away a little from the disneyness of it.

    And two other things, one, it's my opinion, so I am not an expert, nor should you be trying to acheive my 'greatness' (there are tons better than me, but that's my opinion. And you could be better than me, there is no way to measure it, it's just opinion based).
  • BigFoot%s's Photo
    Hmmm....

    Odd. I have a pm in my inbox from a few months ago from Natelox. Stating he'd never call someone a n00b.

    Interesting.
  • Toon%s's Photo
    Nate, you really nailed my feelings on Cataclysm 100%. Coaster Ed's parts are brilliant and flawless. The rest of the park is not spotlight worthy in my opinion. It probably wouldn't make my top 30 parks list if I had one, but some of Coaster Ed's areas may be top 10. Maybe its Karma that it ended up sharing spotlight.

    DTA is a different story. This park really captured Disney as I remember it from my childhood and may be the best Disney recreation-style park I've seen. It has a magical feel to it. The caveat is that the Disney feel is achieved with false fronted buildings and erratic theming so that I'm not sure how much parkmaking skill Meretrix has beyond this park. We don't really get to see your coaster making skills nor do we really get to see your architectural skills in this park. I feel this park is exactly what it tries to be and wouldn't want to see more elaborate architecture and coasters, it just leaves the question out there as to your abilities in these areas. I guess you have a little pressure on you for your follow-up effort.
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    Forgive the naivety of this question TT but how exactly do you NOT get to see my archy skills in this park? If nothing else is displayed, it is my skill level at architecture. You must have an eye for color, balance, and a sense of some kind of vision to create what i think I've done in TA. True, I constructed this park, based on a real park, but I think when you see "Twilight Shores", you will understand that DTA was NOT a one time thing, rather, my attention to detail within this palette(namely the game RCT) is really that finessed.
  • thorpedo%s's Photo
    Someone has a TINY bit of a big head problem.. :rolleyes:

    *coughmeretrixcough*

    Ahem...sorry..I had something in my throat.
  • Coaster Ed%s's Photo
    Most of Cataclysm is from last year so it's understandable that it looks a little dated. BG builds in a style that may even have been considered outdated then. My buildings use to be all blocky as well (Cedar Creek) but I can say now that was more out of lazyness than any sense of style. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. When it does work it has an appealing style to it and I think that's what BG latched on to. Looking at Cataclysm I think the coasters are very good but the atmosphere isn't as impressive to me as in BG's previous park. This style of parkmaking fits a realistic style park but when trying to convey themes it doesn't quite get the job done. It's very hit and miss. Sometimes, like on the log ride, the atmosphere really comes together. Other times I just get lost in all the trees and buildings. The park really needed some more geography to add depth to it. When I was finishing up the park I had thought at first that I could go back to that style of architecture and did a little bit in the harbor area but I couldn't keep it up. I need varied architecture now, it's an essential part of my style so I eventually just went back to drawing out the craziest buildings I could think of and then trying to create them in the game. I'll upload some of my sketches when I get the chance. I actually shaded them so they look better than most of my other sketches.

    Your comments have cheered me up some as I was in a rotten mood earlier today. I could talk endlessly about my work so I'll try to restrain myself to only a few comments. I made the harbor district immediatly after I finished Battlefield RCT so I was really going crazy with the coaster sculptures. I love the crane myself and the fire escape is cool too. The trolly was taken right out of a picture I had of a train depot with a bunch of switchtracks. At first it was just going to be scenery but I decided it would be better to have a running train on there for the same reason that I only put working custom flatrides in parks -- I don't really like static theming. Motion is so much more interesting. I also layered the bushes and flowers more densly than I have in the past. I was really inspired by RRP's earlier h2h2 park (Khalma Cove I think it was) to try placing more jungle bushes. The layout of the adventure ride never seemed quite right to me but the theming really made it come alive. I love looking at that area myself. The river ride only came together when I got the idea for the double tracked drops from Evil WME. I knew I wanted a water ride with themed stages like in FDS. The lab theme started with the main building on top of the double drop. Once I made one building the rest were easy. It's the landscaping that I like the most though. It's getting more and more like Schuessler (well I think so anyway) and that's been my goal ever since I saw IOAH. Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. If you guys liked the work I did here, you'll really like what I have planned. Whenever I actually get around to building it that is 8@
  • rctfreak2000%s's Photo

    Forgive the naivety of this question TT but how exactly do you NOT get to see my archy skills in this park? If nothing else is displayed, it is my skill level at architecture. You must have an eye for color, balance, and a sense of some kind of vision to create what i think I've done in TA. True, I constructed this park, based on a real park, but I think when you see "Twilight Shores", you will understand that DTA was NOT a one time thing, rather, my attention to detail within this palette(namely the game RCT) is really that finessed.

    Dude, shut up. Nate is a bit arrogant at times, but posting shit like that isn't going to prove your point to anyone. You just end up looking arrogant and cocky yourself.

    Congrats on the spotlight, unfortunitly I cannot let you know what I think due to the fact taht I do not have WW available.

    Again, Coaster Ed rules :)
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    Cocky and arrogant are two of the last words I'd use to describe myself. It was an honest question posed to TT. I feel that I have captured something, and it belies my logic process to state that one cannot see archy skills in a park that is all about the archy. That's all I meant by it. And I'll kindly ask you to not tell me to "shut up". I wouldn't think of attempting to censor your speech. DON'T TELL ME TO CENSOR MINE.
  • rctfreak2000%s's Photo
    Whatever, you don't seem to get it, so I'm just going to walk away from this one. A spotlight is a great thing to earn, but it's pretty sad to see the effects it has on some people.

    But hey, they're your decisions, not mine. Congratulations on spotlight.
  • Meretrix%s's Photo
    I get it just fine, and I'm glad that you have your opinions. As for what the Spotlight does to some people (or however you put it), that's harsh language. Yes, Spotlight is a great honor, and I am grateful to Iris for the privelege (considering his stance on WW), but if you are insuating that I have somehow suddenly morphed into some kind of arrogant asshole, sorry but no. I have always stated opinions that I have plainly and sometimes bluntly.

    The long and short of it.....(cause this whole conversation seems really stupid to me right now), is the question I have for TT. I would like it answered if that's at all possible. I think TT has done wonders for the architectural potential of RCT2, and if he makes a statement like he did, I'd like to know the thought process behind it.