Park / Valium Skies

19 Comments

  • geewhzz%s's Photo

    Valium Skies Logo


    prodigy first graced our pages back in September of 2008 with the first ever Bronze winner, World of Pleasure - Mönchengladbach, he appeared once again in November of 2009 with another Bronze winner, this time as a member of RCT-Pro with
    Midwest Adventure Amusement Park
    . Now, we present you prodigy's latest Accolade winner, a fantastic Gold park, Valium Skies!

  • In:Cities%s's Photo
    YES:]

    been waiting for this !


    congrats prodigy:DD
  • prodigy%s's Photo
    Hi,

    At first I want to thank the whole NE-team.
    Then I want to thank Turbin3, Colorado-Fan, DelLagos and Cena for watching over the park, during it was still progressing.
    And best thanks to CedarPoint6, who fixed a black hole, that was at a very unfortunately place!!!
    Of course also my very best thanks to whoever created this wonderful logo and whoever wrote this amazing long and even nicer than long writeup and made the screenshots!!! I love all of it so damen much!!!

    I hope you´ll enjoy this little park, it took a long time to build it ;) .
    Please tell me, what you think about this park, I need some criticism for my upcoming park(s).

    Best regards, prod
  • turbin3%s's Photo
    Hey prod. :)

    Great park, I just think you used to much trees. :p
    The rest is just great.

    Looking forward to your next park(s).

    Yannik
  • JDP%s's Photo
    Main problem I had with this park was the parks layout in general. I felt I wasn't looking at the same park at times. A lot of your areas also looked incomplete and lazy (like the area in front of the Vekoma suspended).

    Um, as for the coasters. I don't really understand your purpose of using Sch track and naming it an Inatmin. I mean, it's not like you used vertical track or any inversions... I just don't see why you didn't use the normal giga track. I also feel with your coasters that you tried too hard I guess you can say. There was a lot of unnecessary merges and track pieces. Also come on dude. You refereed your inverted coaster to B&M yet gave it had no predrop and 9 cars.

    Foliage and architecture was really solid but I think when it comes to this park, you gonna either love it or hate it. After what you posted in your topic, I feel the actual park itself fails to deliver what you've shown in your screens.

    Most of the work is really well done and I did love the train but I just think that this park just doesn't give off the amusement park vibe that I thought it would. 12/20
    -JDP

    Edited by JDP, 03 December 2009 - 01:19 AM.

  • geewhzz%s's Photo
    hey prodigy.

    nice job on the park. looking back i think my vote was a tad low and the more i look at the park the more i really like it. i think you did a great job pulling off a 'natural' feeling with the foliage, landscaping and space around the park. it was nice to see outskirts done of a park and it's something i try and plan to do more of in my own work. i really liked the farm plots and the swamp, it was a very nice touch. you also did a nice job of using scenery most people find ugly in a good way, like the rocks.

    i really enjoyed the area around with the mega-splash and intamin. although i agree with jdp about the invert, i really liked the intamin and assume you were going for the newer intamin track style that resembles premier like on intimidator.

    good luck with your future projects.
  • zburns999%s's Photo
    Oh man JDP, I don't think I could disagree more. I think this park really kicked ass. Prod, I could tell that there was a clear vision behind everything in the park, and you accomplished exactly what you set out to do.

    Everything in the park was just so nice to watch. Usually I'm not a fan of these darker, more foliage and path-oriented parks, but this one was an exception. That little seating area right next to the mack water ride and Cannonball was just so perfect. I could totally see myself standing there on a hot day drying off from that water ride and watching Cannonball haul ass almost right overhead. The station for that mack ride was really something else, too. Other things I loved were the Vekoma Junior Coaster and the Togo Looper, which was just so fun to watch for some reason. I could totally imagine watching it from the parking lot, getting pumped up to go into the park--sort of like Dragon Fire at Canada's Wonderland.

    The only things I didn't really like were the B&M, which did nothing for me (bad colors, meh layout, no station, 9 cars, etc.) and the Orca coaster, which which was kind of in the middle of nowhere and just looked awkward.

    Other than that, everything was sick. Again, not the most lively and bright park I've ever seen, but still very entertaining. Well-deserving of the Gold, I think.

    Oh, and what was up with that little area with the Big Apple? Didn't quite get that.
  • geewhzz%s's Photo
    i was thinking the same thing about the seating area, burns. i liked it so much i used it in the banner:

    Posted Image

    also forgot to mention i wish the park was peepable, it would be much more lively then.
  • Steve%s's Photo
    The crops in the overview kick ass. It feels like I'm looking at a real park.

    I also thought the area around the watercoaster ride was pretty outstanding, too.


    Well done, prodigy! I can't wait to see what you build next.
  • SSSammy%s's Photo

    and whoever wrote this amazing long and even nicer than long writeup


    :D yourwelcome :)

    i really really liked this.
    everything was just so believable.
    its really impressive and so enjoyable.
    ive not seen this atmosphere pulled off anywhere else.
  • CedarPoint6%s's Photo
    Awesome to see this get posted!

    Thanks for the mention; glad to fix the black hole for you. It's such a nice park. The layout of the park was a little awkward in spots and I wish there might have been a more developed space at the rear of main street with the carousel. But overall, I thought it was really pleasant. The coaster designs were pretty interesting. I like the attempt at the new style of Intamin track; maybe the best I've seen so far, although you're certainly limited with the single rail coaster. The attempt at the Pyrenees layout on the B&M invert was pretty nice, although that was one of the weaker coasters in my opinion. The Big Thunder Mountain thing was really interesting, and I think one of my favorite parts of the map. It was so well developed and looked fantastic. Overall, there was quite a lot of nice things around the park to look at, and it's certainly one of my favorite parks for this year. I hope you'll keep building stuff; I'm pretty interested in whatever your next project becomes!

    Congratulations.
  • RRP%s's Photo
    Congrats prodigy,ive not viewd in game yet so a more indepth review will come.Looking at the overview though I like the european vibe,it kind of reminds me of alton towers with the amount of walking that would be required through wooded areas to get to a ride.
  • prodigy%s's Photo
    Thanks for all comments!

    In:Cities: Thanky you, glad you waited for it.

    Turbin3: Thanks, you know my upcoming 2 projects (a 150x150 park together with colorado-fan and a rct-pro-design together with cocoa and sssammy).

    JDP: Thanks for the critism! I´ve asked for it and it really helps! To your points according to the B&M Inverter, your absolutely right and I fret that I didn´t see it. The missing predrop and the 9 cars are a mistake of me.
    The Intamin launch coaster I did that way, cause I tried to build the new track-profile with the double-backbone, that´s why I just could do a very simple layout for this coaster.
    The merges on the Vekoma Junior Coaster I did, cause it´s a re-build of Fort-Fun's Devil's Mine and there are also real merges between a 2-point and a 3-point track-profil. Vekoma is doing such things often at their junior coasters, I think.

    geewhzz: Really thank you, glad you like it! With your guess concerning the newer intamin track style that resembles premier like on intimidator you´re right.

    zburns999: Thank you very much. I´ve had a similar experience like you´ve had at Canada's Wonderland. I´ve had it at a belgium park, called bobbejaanland, back in the old days, when there was a Vekoma Corkscrew Coaster called "Wervelwind". When we came along the road on the way to the parkinglots, we could see the lifthill of that coaster behind fields and a forest. It was a wonderful feeling and like you I had so much anticipation in that moment, it was absolutely great. That was even the point, why I´ve build the Togo-Coaster here at this place that way. Glad you´ve seen it, thanks so much!
    The idea behind the small part of an other smaller park is, that here are two park, a big one called movie world germany and next to it a small one called schloss beck. The distance and situation there is similar to the one here.

    geewhzz: I really love the banner!

    Steve: Thank you very much. Glad you like it.

    SSSammy: Best thanks for the write-up. I love it. I´m very glad that you like the park so much. I tried to get a similar atmosphere like I always feel in De Efteling. Vers small but good themed areas and between them a lot of trees, cause that in my opinion it gives the park a very relaxed feeling, not so hectically as in a few other parks.

    CedarPoint6: I´m so glad you like it, cause you are my absolutely favourite parkmaker. I couldn't thank you enough for fixing the black hole, cause that recovered the whole park. I don't know, if I would have sent it in with a black hole in it.
    Also glad that you've seen the Pyrenees touch in the B&M Inverter.
    My upcoming projects are a duo with colorado-fan, that becomes a mix between Lake Compounce, Canobie Lake and Busch Gardens Europe; and a trio with cocoa and sssammy that becomes something like Expedition Everest.

    RRP: Thanks, I´m really looking forward to your review. I've never been to Alton Towers, but I think the vibe there is similar to De Efteling. That was kind of my main impulse for this park, even if there are a few several things that are Disney-based, but the main idea for the atmoshere I tried to grab, was definitely touched by De Efteling. I'm so glad that this vibe seems to come around.

    Edited by prodigy, 03 December 2009 - 03:03 PM.

  • Phatage%s's Photo
    While it seems like there's good execution throughout, I'm not sure I get the larger picture. As has been said before, the coaster selection and park layout are a bit bewildering to say the least, but I think it's really the ratio of flat rides to coasters that got me. However, I thought that having half the park be woodsy with that black path without fences was well inspired and reminded me of smaller parks that maybe have one or two coasters as their claim to fame. But it was definitely weird to have the coaster selection that you had in an atmosphere like this, and although I know that one can certainly read too far into realism, it really didn't seem plausible that a park so delightfully quaint as this would have this kind of coaster selection without having 10 more flat rides.
  • tdub96%s's Photo
    I think this park was pretty good. I'd probably give you a 14 or 15 if i was on the panel. The entrance plaza and archy were great, definetly worthy of this gold. Also, the surrounding land definetly helped this win gold, it is great. I really like this invert, although its not a true beemer as JDP said. the togo looper was cool and the mine train was awesome. But the accelerator, i agree again with JDP in that you shouldve used giga coaster track. Im also gonna agree with phatage in the coaster/flat ratio. Plus, i think you might have overdid it with the family coasters, although all of them were great. All in all though, you deserved the gold. Nice job prod.
  • RCTNW%s's Photo
    I've had a chance to look at it and to be honest, I was alittle disapointed. The park has its moments of greatness shich as the mine ride and entrance plaza however there just didn't seem to be enough based on the size of the park. I know your were going for this style and having not been to De Efteling, I will not pick on it too much. There were a couple of itmes that bugged me.

    - The Log Flume - WAY too many logs. I would take longer load/unload times thus causing a back up

    - Orca - Seemed like an after thought. You had all this room around the park to fit this coaster in which would have left the lake looking fantastic in it's natural setting.

    I would have scored this a strong 13. The parks has it's moments, but it was just missing that little extra to move it up for me. Congrats on the Gold though and I look forward to seeing more from you in the future.

    James
  • 5dave%s's Photo
    My opinion from the release prep:

    I thought this was a solid silver.

    I liked the whole style, but a few things were quite bad:

    - The coasters all were at one place
    - The entrance and mainstreet seemed pretty far away, seemed like sloppy planning
    - There were not enough other tracked rides besides the coasters
    - The pacing of the coasters was mostly weak
    - I have no idea was the 2nd little park was about, maybe it was a reference to Movie Park - Schloss Beck...
    - I couldn't really make out distinct areas of the park... It seemed each coaster has another theme
    - The Big Thunder Mountain/Phantom Manor was a bit too ripped-off for me

    + I loved the look of the 2nd loop of the invert (caged in the helix)
    + The archy looked clean, maybe a bit sterile but really nice altogether
    + The landscape and foliage was the most atmospheric stuff I've seen in a long time
    + the coasters looked good
    + I loved the details like barbecue areas and the indoor section of the haunted mansion ride
    + Also I really liked the unique ride selection (Hydro-thingy, Togo-looper,...)

    "MFG"

  • Liampie%s's Photo
    I like the park but didn't notice any Efteling influences... No problem, I know you made the park this spaceious on purpose.

    Pros:
    + Most coasters were good
    + The area behind Diablo had an amazing atmosphere
    + Great interactions around the spillwater
    + Copper Mine has an incredible station
    + The presence of surroundings
    + Original ideas
    + Lots of great architecture

    Neutrals:
    +- Foliage looked both great and horrible. The birchtrunks were too bright, the swamp plants (?) looked out of place (i hate those objects anyway) and the long grass looked fake for they only grew in square patches.
    +- The neighbour park was well executed but looked forced in that corner
    +- The farmstuff looked forced too... The patches were way too small to be believable.

    Cons:
    - The mainstreet is out of place in this kind of park... The area around the merry-go-round was so bare it was ugly. Very ugly, actually. You could've done more with that...
    - Too few rides in the front half of the park, too many coasters in the back half.
    - The stadium was useless. There wasn't much of a stage and the whole show could be watched from the other side of the lake.

    Overall a very good park, well worthy of Gold. Congratulations. My score: 14-15/20

    Work hard and your next park could be a spotlight, I know you can pull it off.
  • RRP%s's Photo
    Ok I've finally gotten around to looking at the park in game. Firstly why isn't the release called worlds of pleasure like the 1990 version you released even though the park entry sign still says world of pleasure?
    This was the main disappointment for me. I thought you'd started a great timeline park with the first release but you didn’t change anything from the first version. You could have at least moved some of the flat rides at the entry around or added to it but the map was just extended instead. It almost felt like a different park. As you’d set up a style for the main entry with wide paths and lots of building, then changed completely for the rest of it.

    Overall the rides were nice but there just wasn’t enough holding it all together for me, they were all singularly themed with very little tying them together or to their accompanying rides/shops.

    Congrats on the win but you could have done this more justice. The original areas were much better than the additions. Great foliage throughout though
  • Colorado-Fan%s's Photo
    So here's my opinion of your park. At first I have to say, that I really liked it and there were some really nice ideas, like the Vekoma Suspended Coaster. Another great idea was this little park next to VS. Same like Movie Park and Schloss Beck in Germany. The area around the mine train with the dark ride was very disney like, just like the entrance. Your architecture was great, but I think there should have been much more shops, etc. The foliage is great, but I think sometimes you used to much of it instead of buildings. For example your mainstreet: your style of architecture was just brilliant, but there were only a few buildings. I didn't get this mainstreet feeling. Another point is, that there are only themed rides with no area around it. You could have build a real western city, etc. That wouldn' have killed your Efteling feeling, I think.

    Congrats on the win and I think if you go on like this your next park could get spotlight ;).