New Element - Park - [NEDC6] Gaudi Gardens

Xtreme97 Offline

Gaudi Gardens NEDC6 Logo

3rd place

monsterbux

82.00

D E S I G N W I N N E R

Recurious

Turtle

CoasterCreator9

monsterbux takes third place with a stunning tribute to the architectural genius of Antoni Gaudí, bringing Barcelona's iconic style to RCT2.

pants

deanosrs

SSSammy

Terry Inferno

RWE

J K

RobDedede

chorkiel

posix

Ever since its first iteration, the New Element Design Challenge has been a proving ground for fresh talent to emerge; the limited map constraints and pre-set layout enabling those with a flowering style to show off their skills on a more ambitious yet manageable stage. Tonight we reach the pre-finale of this edition with the reveal of the 3rd Place podium spot, and as you can already infer, we have another 80+ Design winner on our hands—and rather amazingly another new Parkmaker to award.

In the first edition of this contest AvanineCommuter took third place position, exploding onto the scene with his magnetic design icon Vesper Island in the run-up to a defining H2H run. The third podium spot tonight is quite reminiscent then: a player beginning to stretch their stylistic wings who puts pen to page (mouse to screen?) and instantly claims a top 3 spot out of seemingly nowhere: so it is that monsterbux places 3rd in NEDC6 with a brilliant 82.00% score and with which she becomes our newest NE Parkmaker, just days after Jaguar!

I say seemingly nowhere, but that isn't quite true. Monsterbux is certainly new to NE, having only signed up to the site in November 2023, but she found her earlier roots on DKMP, and through contest collaborations that made their way to NE ( design icon Taste of Tuscany and 2 8 1 4 to note) she was spotted by some eagle eyes - WhosLeon recruited her to the H2HX-winning JazzCats, before which she was a novice with custom scenery. It proved to be a flourishing environment for her - at first providing a modest share on Round 1's gold icon Royal Institute of Extraordinary Biota but later being given a more defining role on the Semi-Final winning Meccha, scoring among the top H2H parks of all time. The expert acclimation to CSO building is readily apparent in her behind-the-scenes posts on that matchup, creating all manner of complex robotic sculptures and shanty structures.

Monsterbux being from Denmark, now joins the small but mighty arm of Scandinavian NE Parkmakers, including Swedes Lagom and former Parkmaker Janus. To achieve this position and an affinity for the niche style of sandbox play we enjoy in such a short time frame is remarkable, perhaps the quickest ever to do so and earn a Parkmaker spot. Her NEDC entry is an announcement of her style and growth as a builder, a sublime map of eclectic colour patterns and organic architecture that pays loving homage to the visionary Antoni Gaudí. Congratulations Monsterbux, this moment is very well deserved and we can't wait to see what more you create!

Jaguar Offline

Wow... this is like the sequel to Park Guell, but in HD. The landscaping is very nice, and the architecture is amazing. This is one of my favorite art/architecture styles, with its organic forms and shapes, and this park does not disappoint. I'm a fan of the unconventional scenery use... those argonath towers are perfect for art nouveau and I love the spiral-shaped trees being used as columns. The fisch rocks being used as rooftiles is also a great idea.

I think the strongest part of this park is that building in front of the hedge maze, the colors, facade, and windows are just so beautiful. I also really love the gazebos in that maze. The coaster also has a lot of nice interactions with the paths and that swan ride.

The landscaping is obviously the highlight of this and I do love how it appears layered. It is also very impressive how this basically completely breaks away from the grid. Everything is smooth and curved and there are very few sharp lines With its pastel color scheme, this almost evokes a dreamlike quality and it is relaxing to view this. The foliage selection is also brilliant for a Mediterranean/southern European setting.

My only critiques would be that there are parts where the curved walls and paths are glitchy, especially by the swan ride. And that the edge of the map feels rather jagged and rushed. It probably would have been better to stay with the curved walls over the half-diagonal terrain blocks for that.

Outside of that, this park is a wonderful parade of colors and it is a joy to look at. Congrats on a well-earned parkmaker title!

Turtle Offline

this was a great little map, excited to see you get parkmaker and very much looking forward to seeing what you tackle next. i expected to be on the lower end of the spectrum for this one, which feels a little harsh, but my overall feelings are that this juuuuuust tipped over into the "messy" side of things.

it's a really tough theme to tackle in RCT, one i've considered myself and always shied away from due to the organic shapes being almost impossible to accurately do in the game. i commend you for tackling it, and also definitely getting the closest that i've ever seen to the real thing. there were a few spots on the map that i felt like could have done with a couple more days of polish too, but that's the nature of deadlines and stuff i'm sure.

my favorite parts were the hedges opposite the coaster station, the drop tower, and the carousel cover. really high level stuff there. exciting to see someone tackling a big theme and you're someone that i'm definitely following to see what's next. congrats on top 3!

MrTycoonCoaster Offline

I loved everything, the buildings, the colors, the stones/rocks, the mosaics, the roof, the use of Argonaut which was very good, but what really caught my attention was the carousel, I've never seen a carousel like it, I really liked it. The design of the park is beautiful, happy, pleasant and clean. 80%

RobDedede Offline

Perpetuum Mobile is one of my favorite songs, and the theme centered around Gaudi is superb. In terms of atmosphere, theme, and overall vibe this entry (unsurprisingly) landed VERY well with me. What’s also so impressive about this entry is the difficulty of translating Gaudi’s architecture into RCT, and you’ve managed to do it. The combination of Fisch rock pieces with other elements is truly impressive, and frankly I consider this entry to be ground breaking in terms of architectural exploration within RCT. Too often I think there is a focus on gimmicks, object creation, and extreme micro detailing in terms of the “meta.” Instead, this entry leans in HARD to elements of the game like aesthetics, form, color, and balance, which I think can play just as big a role in pushing our community toward fresh, new, cool RCT as the extreme micro detailing stuff. I am sure my review reads as mere gushing praise, and it mostly is, mostly because I cannot hide my positive bias for this type of theme and design style. Congratulations!

SSSammy Offline

As part of this series reviewing the fantastic NEDC6 entries, I will enter into a commentary on how the builders have decided to approach using Pacificoaster’s layout, and how those decisions compare and contrast one another. I encourage reading all my reviews on NEDC6 to get the most out of this more fragmentary commentary you will find interspersed here if you find this interesting or desire clarity.

Holy smokes, monsterbux! I think this entry is a large, multifaceted diamond in the rough. I am overjoyed to see you have entered and to see that you have taken on such a singular theme. The work of Gaudi has been interpreted before by the Ultrarealists in Park Guell, but you have given it your own spin in a way that shows you are neither slouch nor coward.

Opening the park the first thing I thought was “son of Biota”. I am glad to see the vibes of Biota brought into new contexts here. There is a level of confidence with your craft which lets you bring such a strong atmosphere through object use and form decisions. The music was an excellent choice and brought strong vibes to the experience. I went and hunted down what the song was called - in hindsight, i should have just shazamed it, but I instead took the long way around and listened to a live show by Penguin Cafe Orchestra to find out the track is called “Perpetuum Mobile” for those enraptured like me.

The building to the left when you open the park is wonderful in so many important ways, but I think it trips at one important fundamental - I think each layer is so significant and thick, especially that flower and curved canopy layer, it makes the scale feel funny - I think adding a unit at every floor or layer would have given it that room to make it perfect. It, for now, will just have to settle for being a masterwork of colour, texture, and composition. Overlooking that water feature and the hedge maze is simply divine. Bravo.

The other buildings on this map are simply stellar. I really commend your commitment to capturing these ideas, you really brought them to life with gorgeous colour uses and inspired object use. The swan boats, though perhaps a bit of an afterthought tucked in the corner, are a great choice, vibes-wise.

The dominant viewing angle of the coaster appears to be “inside L”, where we view the inside of the predrop turn above the cobra roll. A strange optical illusion of this entry is that the ride appears to be significantly longer or perhaps larger than the other submissions. I believe this may be because of the more zoomed view the entry opens upon, implying a more zoomed context for the park, but more significantly it may be because of the deadzone in the middle of the map beneath the cobra roll. In a display of individuality, the cobra roll uneclipsed by a crossing path. There are, however, many moments of interaction elsewhere. The corkscrews leap over hedge mazes and the diveloop is framed inside the footpath on the higher terrace.

The balance of the entry feels very off, and I think one of the main culprits is the aforementioned deadzone. The simple grass should feel like a welcome break from the maximalist nature of the rest of the park, but it instead feels like a huge missed opportunity. I think it is because the coaster isn’t satisfyingly integrated in the same way some of the other interpretations we see in other entries. I think, perhaps ironically, there was more fanfare for the negative space, it would have been more effective. I imagine more of a trench for the coaster to go into, rather than the wider bowl you chose. The grassy area is recessed, but not in a way which plays to the strengths of the moment.

I think this also speaks to why so many people were drawn to using path over the cobra roll. Along with being a bit of a broader cliche, the footpaths offer a level of layer separation between the tracks stacking and interacting in this area. Also, there are fewer moments where paths or ride track pass over the coaster. There is a confusing moment where a small platform sits inside the turnaround into the MCBR, a moment of very little significance, and the other is to stage the diveloop under the higher terrace. The rest of the ride sits completely above its surroundings, damaging its ability to effectively integrate.

Though I appreciate the huge beautiful staircase on the right and the beautiful angle of the spiral staircase and waterfall on the left, the upper level was wanting from a macro perspective. I really want to speak about this monorail motif you have used, but I fear I may be unable without cursing. I deleted it, and the balance of the map skyrockets. The monorail in this context, where you have such an impressive level of grain across the whole map, and we even begin the journey zoomed in beyond normal zoom, is far too weighty. I’m honestly staggered at how great the map looks with that one simple change - and not even changing the track type, DELETING it. I feel as if the monorail is a vestigial artefact of your NCSO roots. I wish some of the bravery you had exemplified elsewhere in the park had allowed you to let it go.

Having a vast paved area led to by an ostentatious staircase from a relatively modest group of paths below really throws off the balance of the map in a harmful way. In this upper layer, the excellent buildings feel pretty plopped in without the same level of macro consideration as the other examples in the lower map.

One last roast as I am certain it will go to good use - you need to plaza the entrance to your coasters and rides. The coaster queue begins at a bottleneck which would have been clumsy even without the queue beginning there. You want the exact opposite, a place for peeps to stop walking and congregate without getting in the way.

Your mosaics and other path ornamentation is simply wonderful. The integration of foliage and landscaping is so very effective. With some simple design decisions early in the process, this could have easily been a contender for first place. As it stands, it remains a testament to how much you are improving release after release. I hope to see a red name for you soon.

SCORE: 80%, in great anticipation

ballpitwarrior Offline

This is an excellent map overall! I love your use of color consistently throughout the map. Your range of color palette taste really shows in this map since everything is so varied and yet all feels like it belongs together. The architecture is fantastic as well - I specifically enjoy the cafe the most but the station is a close second. The foliage around the map is varied and different, but it constantly compliments the complex building work you have, never take away from it. This is something to be proud of. The way you used trackitecture mixed with objects I usually don't see like the corner fisch rocks for one of the roofs is brilliant. The mosaic is a smart way to add color to a scene when you otherwise can't layer in foliage. Congrats on PM!!!