Park / Westwinds

99 Comments

  • Austin55%s's Photo

    It's so close I see the argument either way. This will never end.

  • Fisch%s's Photo

    I sadly don't have rct at the moment so I can't check it out ingame. It looks great from the overview though, simply because it's a highly detailed, technically incredibly well done, fully finished, large scale rct park.

     

    I do agree with Gee who said that this would've probably won spotlight had Gee sent it in.

    I also can see how some people, especially your friends on this site, are a bit furious that you got screwed with the vote. It's certainly one of the greatest full scale parks we've seen recently from a technical standpoint.

     

    But on the other hand I feel like I understand the people who said it was close for them and in the end opted for no. (as I said, I was only able to look at the overview, so this opinion might not be worth a lot) Not because it's lacking something groundbreakingly new. Simply because it's overall not very daring. It's a huge park sizewise. But there's no huge variety in its content I believe. The size of the park, and in other words the amount of technically 95% level work, seems kind of irrelevant due to the fact that it's all very generic and similar in itself. For me, I don't care if it has any resemblence to some other realistic parks. It's more about the fact that it's all a bit samey. If this park had maybe 2 small themed areas (something like a tiny Arabian town or maybe some sci fi stuff) that show your creativity a bit more I'm sure this would've won spotlight. Should that be needed for a Cedar Fair Park to win spotlight? Surely not if we're rating this on a Cedar Fair scale because Cedar Fair doesn't really do that. I see how it's more realistic to build the way you did it for a Cedar Fair Park. But on a sitewide park rating scale it's probably lacking that little spark that would've taken it away from being completely generic. The genericness is simply too safe and therefore becomes a bit boring despite being very well done. Perhaps also just a lake atmosphere like Cedar Point, with a small port for yachts etc. would've done the trick. Or a more interesting landscape like Kumba said. Your work is clearly on a level that should get you spotlight for how clean and how well laid out it is. I'm sorry you didn't get rewarded with a spotlight after so many hours were spent on it. But keep your chin up and try not to be too disappointed even if it's hard. Because in the end everyone here knows that this is incredible Cedar Fair stuff and everyone is praising you for that. So after all your park does exactly what it's intended to and everyone is praising you for it no matter the tag it received.

     

    Congrats on finishing something so big in size and with such attention to detail. Great work and I hope to see something more daring from you next time so you get that spotlight for sure.

  • FredD%s's Photo

    If you want people to "break rules" then you're basically saying it's impossible to win a Spotlight with a Cedar Fair park ever again because they're the most conservative company on earth.


    I really don't agree with this one. It's of course very true you can see you're in a Cedar Fair park when you visit a Cedar Fair park. There is resemblance between the parks. But my opinion is that the atmosphere in Cedar Point is not the same as in Valleyfair, or not the same as in Kings Island or Worlds of Fun.

    I can only speak for the CF parks I visited, but to me those parks all had a different atmosphere and vibe. Don't get me wrong, I love this park too but I can understand the critique.
  • Hepta%s's Photo

    Shame that a park that embodies and executes exceptionally what this community has been for the past 3+ years will be lost in the flood of overrated gold parks. Some real headscratchers for me this past year.

     

    I'm not suggesting spotlights for the sake of spotlights, and I'm not active enough to have a worthwhile opinion.

     

    But as a nearly 10 year veteran reader of this site, I'm sad. 

     

    Great job, G Force, your positive attitude will continue to serve you well.

  • mintliqueur%s's Photo

    Interesting how this turned so controversial...

     

    I counted on this winning spotlight, it just seemed natural when following the building process. That said, I can understand the arguments against spotlight too... I don't really know where I stand. Superb job on this park anyway, Wizzer is one of the best things I've seen in RCT2, period. So extremely well done, so great to see. Talking about originality, it felt really fresh. I also particularily liked the log flume and Flight Deck. The overview with its cut off parts of the map puzzles me a bit, though. There's probably a good reason for it, but if you had been able to fill the map with some landscaping around the park, I feel it might just have made a difference in terms of atmosphere, and thus maybe also the over-all decision on spotlight or not. But I am really not the one to judge or even speculate in matters like these, so apologies if I sound like some kind of wise guy.

     

    Again, thanks for making this park (and especially Wizzer), can't wait to see more of your work!

  • G Force%s's Photo
    Thanks again for the all the comments and replys.  Again, I can completely understand where everyone is coming from and saying its nothing special as far as concepts for content goes.  Which if that's something you consider important for Spotlight then that is fine with me.  I just hope we are consistent and fair to everyone in the future.  
     
    Also, like I said, my initial purpose with this was to make a CF park that fit in the same universe as Starpointe.  Meaning it would share the same style of detail and design.  At the time I never really considered the effect it would have on AP voting, but I really didn't care at the point anyways.  So really, the "fan fiction" tag is completely accurate, because that's basically what I set out to do.  At times I even had plans to add connections to Starpointe in the park timeline or even the park itself.  Although I never got a chance to do this and tried to avoid it to decrease the number of connections drawn between the parks I guess.
     
    When I comes to Spotlight voting, I dont think we should punish parks for what they aren't in terms of concept or goal.  If a park doesn't what to be a theme park then we shouldn't punish it for not having themes.  If a park want's to be flat (this park is located in Florida so it has to be flat), we shouldn't criticize it for being flat.  People usually do a good job at this, but I kind of get annoyed when people vote low and hate on a park because its not a theme that they like or a style of park they like.  Its kind of close minded and doesn't really do anyone any good.  
     
    But really, I never considered this to be Spotlight worthy, so not winning doesn't really disappoint me.  I mean how could it, when the park was started it was completely garbage compared to what it is now.  Hopefully in the long run I can use the knowledge I learned from this to make something better in the future, which I do plan to attempt, at least for now.
  • dawidox%s's Photo
    Dear Mr. G Force,

    You bare this Name very rightfully! I really enjoyed my Day at Westwinds. It is Indeed a superb CF Park, very belivable Parklayout, buildings and Overall feeling. The Woodie (especially the interaction with the River Rapids) and the Schwarzkopf Spiral Coaster are awesome, Fury was great, especially the fast Pacing and the Interaction with the Bridge from the Parking Area Torwards the entrance. Those were definetly Spotlight worthy!
    The B&Ms unfortunatley were rather week, not as Regard the Layouts themselves, which were pretty belivable for a smaller CF Park, but their pacing was not as convincing.
    Nonetheless, You managed to compose a realistic Park, that made me Stay much longer than usually, which only Starpointe and DAW Managed to do lately. You can proudly consider yourself a Supreme parkmaker whos Name fits well in one line with Pac, Rob (SFSF), CP6 (SFC) and Even Liampie, the master of Efteling.

    My hearty congrats on a marvelis Park with one of the highest rate as regards belivability. Westwinds a Great achievement You can be proud of and which is highly recogniced By this whole Community.

    Auf Widersehn!
  • MCI%s's Photo

    I love this park.

    In my opinion the best we´ve seen since Starpointe.

    Congrats G Force, you did awesome work here.

  • Version1%s's Photo

    With all the silver-level parks winning gold and this winning gold as well, I think the panelist is just fan of giving out golds.

     

    The fact, that this is not a spotlight is utterly ridiculous, but I mean I think the voting for most parks are off, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

  • Hepta%s's Photo

    Spotlight decisions have always been contentious. It was worse when there was only one person responsible for the decision. Unfortunately, it's hard to know which parks are good examples unless you were here. The Masterpiece's debut was one that I remember fondly. I love that park in a lot of ways.

     

    With the panel now, it's better, I think. This was so close. I'll let Cork's words speak for themselves:

     

    "What is that thing line that separates a Spotlight from a Super Runner Up? What pushes a park above that special plane, and what elements can nudge it underneath the waterline? Should there even be a line? Or should it just be something that comes naturally? It's a debate that can rage on until the end of time (or RCT, whichever comes first), but in this latest SRU, X250 probably comes closer than anyone before him in skirting that imaginary line with The Masterpiece: Palette of Ideas."

  • Steve%s's Photo
    Maybe it's just been too long for me to remember but I hardly recall any upsets in terms of Spotlight selections when iris was around. I mean even then, his decisions weren't entirely his sole opinion but I think he had the final say. He would always ask the other admins, like Corkscrewed, what they thought.
  • Stoksy%s's Photo

    Fuck me, I go away for a week and miss this getting released. You know a lot of my thoughts from the building process but I'll make sure I get around to doing a full review soon.

  • Coasterbill%s's Photo

    I had a little more time to look at this and want to say that Whizzer is a masterpiece with the support work, little details like the shelves for loose articles and operator booth, catwalks and basically the entire station area. Fury's pacing is phenomenal too... reminds me a lot of the real thing.

     

    The more I look at it the more I realized you got screwed. I'm trying to be objective and think of "Cedar Fair" things that you left out to try to justify why this didn't get spotlight and I even came up with something as ridiculous as "if this was a Cedar Fair park there would be a cart right near the gate with a yellow sign selling Fastlane" and sure enough I scrolled over and there it was.

     

    Damn dude, I might like this better than Starpointe. You crushed it... I think the fact that a lot of people on the panel aren't as familiar with the intricate details of Cedar Fair as you are hurt you but for those of us that are this is really phenomenal.

     

    PS: Those Demon Drop entrance and exit huts... we're not worthy.

  • Kumba%s's Photo

    Maybe it's just been too long for me to remember but I hardly recall any upsets in terms of Spotlight selections when iris was around. I mean even then, his decisions weren't entirely his sole opinion but I think he had the final say. He would always ask the other admins, like Corkscrewed, what they thought.

    No, it happened with them too. SF:WoE, GOD, DEO and the Masterpiece caused some real debate (btw Russ, consider the guys who made those parks: X-Sector, Phatage, WME and X250). Also correct that iris would run parks by guys like Cork, Ed and Mantis. I did the same, but in some cases with monster parks like WOMB or WW, we'd just put it up because it was a clear winner.

  • Top Gun%s's Photo

    Just wanna say I love the Fury interpretation.

  • posix%s's Photo
    Coasterbill, my point generally was that while you replicate and "execute" that Cedar Fair design formula as you say, I feel the only way to be spotlight-worthy-innovative these days is to pour some of yourself into the park. I don't mean building rides they never would. Just design choices that are interesting, cool and new to see, that have to do with your personal taste, that translate real life Cedar Fair to RCT Cedar Fair in an interesting way how only you could do it. I often feel the super realistic parks shy away from that as their builders erase themselves. I think that's a shame. People seem to see an ideal, and whoever comes closest wins. Like it were the exact same discipline for all. I don't think that's very interesting. Gee saying he could've built the park exemplifies this. If the parkmaker becomes exchangeable something's wrong. 
     

     

    my initial purpose with this was to make a CF park that fit in the same universe as Starpointe.  Meaning it would share the same style of detail and design.
    ^...so this I think is a problem: your direct route to lack of originality. But I've so been there myself. I've imitated the parks I've loved in most of my releases.
     
    Steve, the panel doesn't dictate my choices. I always vote on my first instinct as you say. But I do question it if I'm a far outlier. You never? And iris was never off? Come on... 
    My voting goes like this: I see the park and think of a score, then I think of an accolade I find appropriate, then in most cases the score matches that and I'll just adjust it a bit if I think it's a strong design/silver/gold/etc... or a weaker one. And I do agree with you on H2H parks winning spotlight. If it's that crazy amazing, maybe. But the kind of amazement I want from a spotlight is very much linked with scale and the sheer size of the park, its huge world of superiority that doesn't seem to stop unfolding. So it'll need a lot for me to vote "yes" on a spotlight decision of a small map park.
  • RCTNW%s's Photo

    Although I don't have RCT2 installed, I love what I can see from the overview and the various screenshots. This style is not easy to pull off to this level and you did a great job.  I really love this style and your take on this s fantastic.  I may have to find the disc and install the game just so I can check it out.  Well done.

  • Sulakke%s's Photo

    I don't have time to read the whole topic, but I see a big discussion has emerged whether this park is spotlight worthy or not. I'm one of the five voters that voted 'no', so I guess I owe you an explanation.

     

    First of all, it has been amazing to see you improve over the last few months and becoming one of the better realism players of the game. The first screens of Westwinds on this site weren’t that appealing and suffered from a dull atmosphere. The final product has become an atmospheric, colorful theme park, however, and is one of the better realistic parks of the last years. So congrats on that and I hope you start building a new park soon.

     

    Why did I vote for a gold accolade and not for spotlight? I do think a spotlight should contain a unique atmosphere and, to a lesser extent, progressive parkmaking like most previous spotlights did have. It seemed to be lacking in this park, as it seemed very similar in style with Starpointe. Not saying it was copied in any way at all, but it was not that revolutionary or shocking as parks that won spotlight have been.

     

    There would be only one way around this to earn a spotlight and that would be a perfectly executed park. In my opinion the park had some flaws. The coaster line-up is good (love the Schwarzkopff), but the coaster layouts were not equal in quality from what I would expect from a realism spotlight park. Although the beemers were perhaps a bit boring, I thought the elements of all coaster layouts were all suitable, but the transitions between them were sometimes chunky. They often contain pieces of straight track, weird bunny hops into the brake runs or awkward turns. The bigger coasters could have been built smoother than they are now. A small detail I do not like is the freefall support of Fury. I know what it is supposed to be, but this execution looks more like an unintended hack, unfortunately.

     

    Another aspect of the park that bothered me was the foliage. The combination of dense treeing in combination with rocks, yellow and green flowers, swamp plants, hay and long grass does not fit a theme park at all in my opinion. A more groomed (is that the correct word?) look would have looked better. And I find those oaks dreadful, but that’s a personal thing, so I'll forgive you on that one. I hope you will improve your foliage in your next project, as it is one of the easier aspects of parkmaking but can be really crucial in the final product.

     

    The architecture, flat rides, park layout, backstages and atmosphere were all top-notch, though. I merely have compliments on those and, like I said, you have improved so much compared to the start of the construction of this park.

     

    All in all, this park was really good, but in my opinion these three park aspects were not of spotlight quality. If you work on these, your next release would be a spotlight for sure. Thanks again for the fantastic Christmas present! It was way better than the ones I’ve gotten from Santa.

  • Faas%s's Photo

    This park was pretty awesome to look at. 
    Without adding too much to the discussion, I personally would have voted the same as Liampie and Sulakke, with the same explanations. 

    Congrats on the gold, and on finishing such a cool park in a relatively short time, a mighty achievement. 

     

  • Xeccah%s's Photo

    yeah, this is such a boring gray slate of realism. there's nothing innovative here. i mean, you really shouldn't get spotlight from building cedar fair parks because they aren't themed :/ 

     

    next time, dont do hyperrealism, do originality g force