Park / Ecstasy Summit

Park_165 Ecstasy Summit

33 Comments

  • iris%s's Photo
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    Ecstasy Summit by JKay

    Wanna know the fastest way to earn a reputation at New Element? Develop your own style of parkmaking that nobody could duplicate in a thousand years, build a string of runner-ups, dominate the QFTB-X up until the semi-finals, become a force in Head2Head, and top it all off with winning a spotlight. Let's just say that not many people have accomplished near the same resume of the mighty JKay, so needless to say expectations were pretty damn high. And even though JKay fell to 8th place, I don't want the impression to get out that he disappointed, because in my opinion, regardless of all of his accoldates, along with "Artesian Water Works" and "Rocky Mountain Mystique", this is definitely some of my favorite JKay work of all time. While bits and pieces of it can give the "seen it before from you" feeling, there are major areas of improvement evident all throughout the park. The coasters for one are a drastic improvement over any we've seen from JKay in any of his prior work. From the psychotic Beemer "HyperTronix" to the scaling woody "Razorback" to the dominating giga "King of Sparta", all the coasters are some of the strongest we've seen in the contest yet, something up until now you'd never expect to hear said in a JKay description. Also, while the "HyperTronix" area is just classic JKay craziness, he scales it down major in the "Razorback" area proving he can still be impressive while not being totally fantasy, something I definitely didn't expect. Meanwhile the Sparta area was a nice mesh between the two other areas, with areas of fantasy mixed with more refined ones, and a great water ride in the "Fall of Rome". All in all, a great entry placing somewhere towards the middle due entirely to the strength of the other entries, not so much the weakness of this one.
  • Geoff%s's Photo
    WONDERFUL.

    Definitely, by far, the best park I have seen so far for the pt2. Also, the most fun I've had viewing your work, Jkay. I didn't really have any problems with this park, only that the coaster layouts could have been tweaked here and there. Still though, I loved the coasters.. Razorback was a lot of fun, and the giga has the funkiest yet, coolest supports I have seen on a giga.

    The atmosphere is lovely. Damn how you have improved. Love the colors, and the architecture. The wackiness works very, very well!

    All in all, this is one of my favorites from you, Jkay.

    Congrats!

    Edited by Geoff, 27 February 2006 - 12:52 AM.

  • cBass%s's Photo
    JKay!

    I really like this entry. It does seem a little strange, though, with your superbly executed and quite realistic Razorback section right next to the ultra-cartoony HyperTronix area. It's definitely a contrast, I guess. Speaking of HyperTronix, what a great coaster. It really looks like a fun ride, and that's the yardstick that's most important to me. The architecture there is abstract but put together in interesting ways.

    Back to Razorback, that's a fun-looking coaster too, but it spends a little too much time underground for my taste. As mentioned before the architecture here is wonderful, making for some fantastic atmosphere. The only thing I question is the snowy trees next to un-snowy trees. If it's fake snow then I understand.

    The Roman area was a little less effective to me, theming wise, mostly because the colors are a little too flashy to convey that feeling of antiquity. The coaster itself, King of Sparta, comes off the lift with some incredible pace and has a really nice feel to it. But then after the brakes it just sort of fizzles. I noticed the same thing sort of with your water ride which didn't end nearly as strong as it began. Anyway, overall it's a really fun collection of rides, and a beautiful park.

    Oh, and it's peep-friendly! Way to go on that. I know it's not easy, but I think it really adds a lot to a park.
  • eman%s's Photo
    Great park, definitely the best of the PT2s thus far and congrats on the top10. I really liked this park, it had great archy and the rides were quite nice as well. Personally I loved the Razorback section, the woodie had great interaction with the scenery and landscaping, and the architecture was great. The HyperTroonix didn't do so much for me though. It was a bit cartoony for my taste, but still the archy was quite nice. Personally I didnt like the layout of HyperTronix, the elements just didn't seem to well placed to me, but it was still a nice roller coaster nonetheless. As for the water coaster and giga, I absolutley loved them. The theming, while a bit off in places, was very nice, and there were many of the "little things" that really made the area quite nice. I loved the usage of quarter blocks guarding the water coaster borders, and the color schemes were absolutely perfect. Great job overall, and congrats on getting 8th, though I'm sure you would have liked to get a higher placement this park was really quite exceptional and you should be very proud of yourself for creating such a great park.
  • Six Frags%s's Photo
    Omg WOW!

    This is great JKay, defenitely the best I've seen from you till date.
    I love the way you seem to improve with every park you make, and with this one the improvement is above phenomenal.. I mean you got your architecture organised and you actually put realism into your parks which is a HUGE improvement imo and really adds lots and lots of quality to your work..

    You also seem to have improved massively on your coaster building skills- I actually watched all of them run.. Only thing that could maybe be improved upon is that with most of your coasters you had some awkward flat-to-straight track in there.. Maybe it could be more smoother- take your space!
    When I was fixing up Mythologix this other day I didn't like your area that much to be honest, and it's a huge contrast with this style you're implying.. You also seem to have mastered the landscaping, as your park looks very natural in most places.. Great job.

    Another major highlight of this park for me was the fact you made it PEEP-FRIENDLY!! What a major upper and refreshment of all parks these days.. I love those peeps screaming in the coasters, wandering through the park, figuring out their parkmap, eating those burgers bought at a shop and puking all those G's out!! It proves what a great designer Chris Sawyer actually is, and what this game/themepark industry actually is all about: Entertaining your customers!

    I'm very pleasantly surprised by your park JKay, and other than the only negative I could find in your park (could also be a pet-peeve of mine) that you don't put another land-color under your paths, I thought it was a very good park, and proves the quality of the PT!

    Awesome job.

    SF

    edit; Oh wait, I'm gonna do a 'if SF judged' too! (without mine of course, because I don't want to sound cocky ;) )

    9 | En Midvinternattsdröm- DarkJanus
    8 | Ecstasy Summit- JKay
    10 | Memory Lane- Kumba
    11 | Mossflower Wood- Jazz
    12 | The Genesis- Magnus
    13 | Rugged Range: The Last Ride- Old Red

    Edited by Six Frags, 01 March 2006 - 09:50 AM.

  • JKay%s's Photo
    I crossed my fingers before I pulled up NE this morning hoping that I wouldn't see my park there. :'(

    Even though I was hoping for 5th or 6th, I really can't complain to much. Like Janus said, how can I be unhappy with such a wonderful way to release my park? And cork, great logo btw.....LOL @ "A Psychledelic Experience". I guess the name could imply some sort of drug refrence, eh? ;)

    Anyway, as for the park itself, I must say that this does not fully capture what I think I'm capable of. Timing was a problem with this park. It really suffers from an "identity crisis" and lacks any new, fresh ideas from me, mainly because when I started building it back in September my inspiration was quite low. I had just come off winning a spotlight and kinda felt like I didn't have much to prove with the PT2. I struggled coming up with fresh, new ideas for it, so I sorta just started building. I think the park kinda demonstrates that and that my frustration ended up leading to themes that were nothing new for me. (i.e. HyperTronix = TEU, Razorback = RMM, Sparta = Mystic Sands hotel)

    Construction began with the HyperTronix area, followed by Sparta and last was Razorback. I think the order of operations is evident that my inspiration increased during construction, and likewise so did the quality. Sometime around early December, I was SO close to almost demolishing the Hypertronix area because I felt the judges wouldn't like it and also because it didn't totally mesh well with the other areas of the park. But then I said "fuck it, I'm keeping it", a typical saying of mine when it comes to the notion of wasted RCT work, which never sits well with me. So by keeping the HyperTronix area, I probably sacrificed two or three ranks, but I did it to stay to true to my style.

    In the end, I think the judges scores here are quite accurate. I knew I'd get hit by Turtle because of the colors in Hypertronix and it looks Toon got me there too. Panic's comments are right on and go along with what I just said about my inspiration being low at the time I began construction. Believe me, if this contest had started sometime in late November or early December, I would of have owned. I say that with confidence too.

    Thanks for all the great feedback thus far. One aspect of this park I am COMPLETELY satisfied with are the coasters, especially Razorback. I really tried to improve on them here and it looks like I accomplished that. Big thanks to iris, corky, toon, jem, natelox, fatha, panic and all the participants for making this contest a reality. I've been on the edge of my seat since these parks have been coming out and although I won't be holding my breath quite as tight now, I'm still in utter anticipation of the 7 amazing parks we have left.
  • Kumba%s's Photo
    Awsome, best work I have ever seen from you. I really enjoyed each area, but mainly the entrance with its smooth archy with all that wonderful 1/4 detail. Your attension to detail is really getting good, I noticed it on the Q lines for some reason. I think the neatest was the duel one on pleasure dome (wtf @ that name btw you freak!) then the one for the monorail was great too.

    The coasters were not good or bad, your still not useing the nicest elements, but you do theme pretty darn well and that makes up for it. Razorback was great, I loved the old genaral kinda facade for the entrance, tho the rest of the area was sorta uneventful and the yellow blury flowers were an eyesore.

    I saw nothing roman about the final area, but I liked it for whatever it was. That building in the corner with the diagonal tracked hacked onto it was really awsome, however what was it? It had no sign and no shop or ride in it, whats the point just making a building like that and it having no explansion?

    Overall I think it was a great entry, and the best yet, but you still have a few things to work on, like thinking things out more before you shift to hyper drive and build

    So far:

    JKay
    DJ
    Jazz
    Magnus
    SF
    Old Red

    To come

    7. Xcoaster
    6. ride6
    5. X250
    4. Phatage
    3. cBass
    2. Steve
    1. Corkscrewed
  • Metropole%s's Photo
    And Titan...maybe.

    Will comment in due time Jkay

    Edit: Have looked at the park

    Wow Jkay, this is the first time I can safely say I have loved your work. Definately your best work to date, even though it may not be your most innovative.

    Hypertronix was an awesome area, despite what you say. That coaster is really good with only a couple of parts that were a little bit iffy. Some lovely architecture interaction with the coaster really made this special.

    The woodie had an excellent layout, albeit intense looking. Some lovely landscaping and woodsie architecture to give a really nice feel.

    My least favourite area was the Roman area, but it was still very good. I felt the arcthitecture looked a little to cartoony or something somehow to be roman. The giga had a good layout and great supports and there were some really nice building forms, but it all fell a little short of the rest of the park for me.

    Probably my favourite entry so far...just above Janus'. Great work Jkay and I look forward to seeing more from you in the not so far future (survivor)

    Metro 8)

    Edited by Metropole, 27 February 2006 - 10:01 AM.

  • X250%s's Photo
    Awesome stuff here JKay, what amazes me most is your coaster layouts and how much they have improved! Your archy is great, but it always was really... Your landscaping has drastically improved aswell, it was great fun to look around this park, your coasters and rides interacted perfectly with the scenery and paths, and i admire the 'peep functionability' of your park lol.

    This is the stage where i am starting to worry though, because your park was sooo good JKay... No idea how mine will compare to the others in the remaining seven... Still, i'm glad to still be in with a chance at this stage. :)

    -X-
  • cBass%s's Photo
    Posted Image
  • Kumba%s's Photo
    Fatha's unused 3 point (12th place) rateing must be scary to all those left in this.

    Someone will be "Grinched" :woot:
  • Emergo%s's Photo

    Fatha's unused 3 point (12th place) rateing must be scary to all those left in this.

    Someone will be "Grinched" :woot:

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    ^ yes, obviously someone who did not succeed in making his/her park looking enough like a "LL"-park :lol:
  • Jazz%s's Photo

    ^ yes, obviously someone who did not succeed in making his/her park looking enough like a "LL"-park  :lol:

    View Post


    Actually, that definitely is not the case with Fatha's judging, because he gave my RCT2 park an 11. (4th place !)

    Anyways, it looks nice from the screens JKay, I'll comment later if I get to it.

    ~Jazz~
  • tracidEdge%s's Photo
    hey hey. don't be hating on the ll.

    Wonderful park, jkay. definitely a vast improvement over RMM, despite the fact that hypertronix was a little less inspired than the others. actually, that was my favorite area out of all of them. It was such a fun area, the colors really made it what it is, and really made it obvious that it's yours. i've never liked one of your color schemes as much as i like this one. the coaster was a little awkward in parts, and the elements were kind of weird.

    the razorback area was nice, although i really don't think you should have done that right after rmm, it was a little too similar. the coaster was great though, very fast and fun. the only part of the coaster i didn't really like was the part where it went down steeply, then a small 2x2 turn, then went up steeply again; there are more elegant ways of doing that. other than that, though, great ride.

    the roman area was probably my least favorite, even though it was the best. your style isn't very "classy" or "elegant," if you know what i mean, elements that are essential for a roman area. however, technically speaking, this was the best area. the hyper was a great ride for the most part. i agree with cbass, though, it kind of fizzled out after the brake run. and the turn into the brake run was sloppy, you could have banked that (;), just being nit-picky). and the river rapids were a very fun ride to watch, as well.

    wonderful park, jkay, congrats on finishing on of the best parks of the contest so far. if i had to choose, i don't think i could say which is better between yours and darkjanus', excellent job, and i can't wait to see more in the future.

    Edited by tracidEdge, 27 February 2006 - 02:59 PM.

  • Turtle%s's Photo
    Thanks for doing that cBass, it's interesting to look at.

    JKay, about this park, I loved the area with the woodie, I thought that it was one of the best coasters I've ever seen you make. Unfortunately, the cartoony-ness of the other two areas really didn't appeal to me, and dragged it down a bit in my eyes.
  • Phatage%s's Photo

    Actually, that definitely is not the case with Fatha's judging, because he gave my RCT2 park an 11. (4th place !)

    Anyways, it looks nice from the screens JKay, I'll comment later if I get to it.

    ~Jazz~

    View Post


    You do know that the post above yours was in reference to your park, right?
  • Jazz%s's Photo
    I really enjoyed this park. My favorite area was the Hypertronix area; very colorful and the coaster had an excellent layout.

    Razorback had a little weak layout in some spots, but for the most part it was very good. The archy was good and the foilage was nice, but those flowers weren't working for me, though. Still a decent area, however.

    My least favorite area was definitely the Roman area; but not because of the coaster, but mainly the theming. The giga was amazing, but the architecture didn't look Roman IMO. Infact, it had sort of an abstract look to it; if anything maybe futuristic. But still; the King of Sparta was amazing; especially the custom supports.

    Overall, I thought it was great. Nice job, and the Hypertronix area was near perfection, IMO.

    If I judged (not including me), it would be:

    -JKay
    -DarkJanus
    -Magnus
    -Six Frags
    -Old Red
    -Kumba

    ~Jazz~

    Edited by Jazz, 27 February 2006 - 04:50 PM.

  • Ge-Ride%s's Photo
    It's a great park, but the ideas behind it aren't as original as some of the others. That's obviously not what you were aiming for, and I think that you made an entertaining wild colored park, which I've grown accustomed to.

    8 Darkjanus
    9 JKay
    10 Kumba
    11 Jazz
    12 Old Red
    13 Six Frags
    14 magnus
  • Steve%s's Photo
    I have to be honest here, I've never really gotten into your style JKay. I probably never will either, but maybe you're just too wild for me. Still, I like a few things you've got here, which tell me you're a very established parkmaker and you know what the hell you're doing. My personal favorite details were the monorail going about the techno area; reminded me of the one in Disneyland. Another one being the river ride. I thought how you had the barriers for the entire ride was a bit excessive but it works and I applaud it since you did it excellently.
    Bottom line, not a park I enjoy, but one I respect in it's own right. Definitely a step up from everything you've done before though, in my opinion.
    Congrats on the top ten finish! :D
  • Xcoaster%s's Photo
    Well, now we're halfway through. I find it a little hard to believe, since it seems like this has been going on for a while. The competition for those parkmaker spots will probably be pretty tough too, because of the seven parks remaining, four are presumably by non-parkmakers (self included :p).

    Anyways, onto JKay's park. I think this is the first park where there wasn't some hint of dissapointment in iris' opening comment, so even before opening the park I knew that was probably a good sign of what was to come. Well, looks like I have my park to top d4rkj4nu5' park. True, I still love d4rkj4nu5' architecture, but this park has the depth, coasters, and completeness that some of the previous entries have lacked. All the coasters were very enjoyable, with my favorite being Razorback. You've got to love a beginning like that. The other two coasters were also very good, though there were a few RCT1ish unbanked curves that I didn't care for, but I can forgive that because they both had good flow and theming interaction. Also, your pathing was great. Very complex at times, with good interactions, but still logically organized. I must admit I've also not been a great fan of your color choices, but you had some great architectural forms, and as was mentioned, in the western area your color choices didn't really change anything. Actually, other than some slight initial shock, the colors worked very well in the digital area. That was probably my favorite area, and as Steved mentioned, the monorail there was neat. So, the Greco-Roman area was probably the only one where the unusual colors might've been noticable to me, and they still certainly worked in places. For example, I really liked the building with the diagonal coaster track on top that Kumba mentioned.

    I'll probably have some more comments later since I've only had a chance to look at this once so far, but safe to say, I think it's my favorite of the seven released. Now I think we'll be getting another one in about 8 or 9 hours if the pattern holds out. I hope it's not mine, now that I'm pretty close to a parkmaker spot, but at this point I'd be satisfied with 7th. Top ten was my minimum goal, though the parkmaker spot was my aim, but at this point I can't say I feel especially confident against any of the other three. But, who knows? I did use some trackitecture. :kiss:

    On a side note, I managed to download this park almost as soon as the download was up. I happened to have just checked the #8 page just before it was posted, and then I refreshed, and there it was. Hehehehe.

    EDIT: Almost forgot. I'd like to echo that thanks to cBass. Those stats have proved useful in my mental "Oh crap! Someone's gonna get nailed by the Fatha' 3!" (or Panic 5 or Iris 5 or whatever).

    Edited by Xcoaster, 28 February 2006 - 04:16 AM.