H2H8 / H2H8 Semifinals Match 1 - Strangelove vs Team Spacecrab

Wish i could see a bit more of Mobray's but it crashes when I move towards the duellers. What's I can see is lovely though I'm having difficulty adapting to the palette.

 

Disney park - uncreative concept but some of the execution is super creative. All the ornament on the frozen castle for instance is beautiful. The dark castle is really fresh too. Also the flyer is one of the best I've seen.

Sorry about that Alex - our team accidentally included a corrupted object that crashes mac and vanilla. The archive version has been updated with a non-corrupted object, so please re-download and you should be able to view the whole park.

SpaceCrabs

Interesting concept. It made some nice gimmicks like levitation, portal coaster, oracle... Archy is pretty nice overall, I really like the Magician/Apprentice station building, the factory and the big theatre at the street. Those are awesome. Less good were the two trackitecture roof buildings, the one with the tube coaster roof was kinda awful. 

 

The dueling Beemers were really good. Like the lay-out, love those rollcorks and the way they interacted with eachother. Oh also loved the street lights. Great detail to add in.

 

Now what I don't like... the palette! It kinda ruins the whole park imo. It's too dark for me to enjoy properly, it makes viewing quite hard. I understand you want to set a certain atmosphere but I think it could be a bit less dark. 80%

 

 

 

Strangelove

Another Disney park... is not something what I would think when seeing the entrance. That castle is so underwhelming small, come on guys. It looks more like a vague Chinese/Japanese rip off than an actual Disney castle. Also, all the path lines are quite messy, those weren't really necessary... Nice touch on the queue lines for the security scan though.

 

Once inside the park it all leaks so great on a technical level. Awesome architecture, amazing path details... The flying coaster looks really awesome. Wish Disney would build something like that irl... The ship is gorgeous. Frozen area looks ok, I do like Arendelle more but since I'm an Icon I'm maybe a bit biased on that. 

 

While aesthetically this park looks really, really good... it has some flaws. The Return of the Princess is so hidden away, there's almost none of the ride visible. The blue coaster looks kinda lame... I also don't get the theme of it?! Google learned me it could be themed after some minor characters from a Disney/Pixar movie? If so, don't get the choice for that theme... I think you should either make a bigger Little Mermaid or Alladin area. Maybe I'm too old/nostalgic but those two movies were bigger than the theme you went with imo.

 

While it was great on a technical level, the park didn't do that much to me because of some choices. Not a bad park at all, I just see some missed opportunities. A shame. 75-80%

 

 

 

Would have voted SpaceCrabs as well.

It's about time that I post a builder's insight into our park; especially now that I'm off the ship and will have consistent Wi-Fi connection.

 

 

Disney's Fairytale Kingdom was an absolute blast to build on from start to finish, and I can't understate how much of a pleasure it was to work on this park with Stoksy and Ziscor. Otter as well to a lesser extent haha.

 

Originally this was going to be an earlier round park for us. Stoksy was the lead on it from the start, with Ziscor, Otter, and I believe Jappy contributing on it. However, it was strictly a Frozen themed park (Arendelle). We had absolutely no knowledge of the Icon's Arendelle park until Round 3 of course - which coincidentally didn't affect our decision to change the entire concept of this park from a solo Frozen park to one that included many more themes. Somehow we decided to change everything up before we even saw the Icon's park. When their park came out, it essentially reaffirmed our decision to change and we doubled down on making the different themes more distinct.

 

Stoksy's Original idea

 

Stoksy's Original idea

 

I wasn't keen on working on a Frozen park, but when we made the decision to do more of a somewhat realistic Disney park with multiple different themes, I was all in. Stoksy let me take over the main planning of the park - which I was really happy about. Obviously our entire team had input at this stage, so it wasn't all my choices. But I'm happy with how we all worked together to achieve what we set out to do. 

 

Stoksy was really interested in adding a Mulan section, as well as a Tangled section. We mapped those parts out and he started building like a madman. The Mulan section came together quickly - with a few later additions/changes. (Drop tower, tents added, the Meet & Greet Pagoda, etc).

 

I really wanted to attempt the Tangled tower, so I went for it. Thankfully the rest of the team liked my attempt and were willing to let me hop on the park as a builder and take on the Tangled section. I mapped out the area and built the Snuggly Duckling Pub, plaza area, and dark ride. As some of you may know, Disney is very big on offering live entertainment during certain Dinner Shows, and having 'Character Dining'. We have a Snuggly Duckling Pub overlay as well as Rapunzel's Royal Table on the Disney Magic and Tiana's Place on the Disney Wonder. Both of which feature live music and character performances/meet and greets at the guest's table. That was my thought process when building the pub and the interior for Tiana's Place. 

 

Coincidentally, Disney announced their new Tangled expansion in Tokyo after I completed the area. Convinced my team that I'm a wizard. But I had a few educated guesses as to what Disney was up to next

 

https://disneyparks....d-port-in-2022/

 

My test screen

 

I drew up some concept art to convey my initial vision for the Tangled land. This is also where I expressed my interest in doing a Brave area as well. The thought process behind it being that this would now be a Disney park solely focused on the Princesses. The main promenade area being a general combination of the Classic princesses (Ariel, Pocahontas, the Hall with Snow White, Cinderella and Belle, and a tiny area for Jasmine.) And larger themed areas for the newer princesses; Frozen (Anna and Elsa), Tangled (Rapunzel), and Mulan (Who isn't really new, but is newer than most. And is cooler.) We also had plans to include the boat from Moana, but it didn't really fit the park.

 

 

 

 

My initial concept for the Brave area was to build a launched coaster that started in the castle hall. Then goes through the Witch's Cottage. From there, the guests would be tasked with following the Will'O the Wisps through the forest - shooting archery targets along the way. After passing through the village and forest, there would be an ultimate showdown in the Druid Circle with the evil bear. However, I am terrible at layouts. And my team didn't really like anything I came up with. We had a lot of frustration with this section, so ultimately I just let Stoksy and Ziscor take over and I focused on making the princess objects.

 

My general plan for the Brave area. Most of it was scrapped in favor of Stoksy's version. His gate was way better haha.

 

We decided to include a few meet and greets throughout the park, as Disney is very big on their character meet and greets. While we didn't really build any full 'lands', we wanted to make some small themed sections for them. Jasmine had a little corner with a ride and gazebo, Tiana has her restaurant, Ariel has a building, and the Fairytale Princess Hall has a rotation of classic princesses - similar to the one in Magic Kingdom. We also decided to include a few personalized restaurants/shops for each princess. Belle's Bookstore/Cafe, Cinderella's Cafe, Moana's Dole Whips, and Aurora's castle entrance. I know a few of you don't "get" the castle. (it's not big enough, blah blah blah.) It's an entrance plaza. Not the park centerpiece. I don't think it's too difficult to comprehend what we were going for. But with Disney comes extra criticism.

 

Ultimately this park turned out great and we were very happy with the result. We were very aware that a good portion of our community has a hatred for Disney parks (which sucks for them) but we honestly didn't care. We're really happy with what we came together to do and would like to someday expand this park into something more large scale. 

 

Congrats to the crabs for an incredible park that was clearly the better of the two. None of us on our team really expected to get as far as we did, so we're thankful for the season that we had. We hope Saxman wins H2H.

 

 

 

Josh

Great insight. I take back calling it 'uncreative concept' - I think the Fairytale/Princess framing was a smart way to make a multi-area disney park fit in a small and compact way.

Amazing write-up I:C..... but Moana boat getting cut makes me sad!

 

Great job with this, it was a great park. I owe it a full review, along with a few other opponent parks throughout the competition. 

Moana could do with an entire park

Moana could do with an entire park

 

Oh I know....I've been waiting for it the entire competition. I told nin to build one, but he didn't listen to me. 

I can't believe how beautiful the park is when I see all those very doubtful screens lol. Great job, you truly made something special with that park.

I liked the concept of Disney's Fairytale Kingdom but it doesn't feel very Disney to me with the giant B&M coaster and so many exposed, unthemed flat rides.

 

The front of the park is great, but the back either feels rushed or just so far away from anything that Disney would do that it's distracting. I like the Arendelle castle a lot though.

 

Highlights for me are definitely that front castle and the tangles area. Tons of atmosphere...

 

As for Morbay's, it's a bit too dark for me but I LOVE the idea of making those street lights "functional" like you did and the city street area more than makes up for the fact that (while good), the park isn't really all that stand-out.

 

I'm not sure how I would have voted on this, but I missed it anyway so I guess it doesn't matter. Great job by both teams.

Fairytale Kingdom is an outstanding park.  The planning and painstaking effort taken to recreate the worlds of the movies is really the highlight for me.  Each area is a perfect disney-style microcosm; big recognizable setpiece in the middle distance, some kind of theme-appropriate "town square" behind a threshold to immediately give guests a very literal immersion experience, ride poking through the fabric of the scenery to give you just enough of a hint that something exciting awaits.
 

what mobrays lacks in parklike vibes and the usual h2h expected amount of movement it more than makes up with elegance and avant garde architectural skill... one of the few parks this season that looks even better with consecutive views.

 

a park that i first shrugged off as being an easy vehicle to showcase as many hacks as possible with coincidentally having some eye-candy on the peripheries turned into an appreciation of the theme. this is how you execute rct themes: a recipe of strong art direction along with movement and narrative via rides. 

the other park, for how well executed everything is, shows the issues of doing multiple-theme parks in h2h. it turns into an amalgam without proper transitions and never enough stuff in one area to sink your teeth into. zoomed out it is a shitshow, zoomed in and you see visual proof that stoksy is perhaps the strongest micro builder on this site. as ][ntamin said each area within its own microcosm shows near perfection, but from the top-down perspective where one can see the other areas in the edges of the screen, you lose immersion. 

 

i think this is best seen in the mulan area, where the flyer, albeit a fantastic layout, wraps so tightly around adjacent park elements that there's no place to breathe.

Holy shit. I only just realised both parks in this match had one creator too many. At least they were facing each other so in the end it didn't generate an unfair situation, but still... Refs were asleep?

 

edit: I was asleep myself. Total brainfart. Good job refs

F L O A T E R 

What a match.  I’m so impressed by the quality this community can put out.

 

Disney’s Fairytale Kingdom

 

Sometimes with IP branded parks like this, there’s a reaction of “not another one”.  Thankfully that’s absolutely not the case here—I’d call this one of the nicest looking Disney parks done in-game.  It does stretch the believability of what counts as Disney with some pretty extreme rides, but the theming, atmosphere, and overall look of this area feels just right. 

 

It kind of seems like this entire park concept came about because someone figured out a really good way to do meet and greets.  And then the rest of the park was built around that.  I can’t fault it, though, because it’s a pretty neat trick.  The various IPs chosen for the land are a nice mix of the super popular (like Frozen and Mulan) to some of the movies that don’t typically get top billing like Brave, Princess and the Frog, and Pocahontas.  Frozen taking top billing makes sense from a popularity standpoint, and the castle looks great.  I love the courtyard area with both the skating and restaurant seating as well as the Olaf ride tucked in the corner.  The boat ride seems to spend a lot of time out front rather than in show scenes, but it does give the area some good movement.

 

I would question Disney’s inclusion of arguably B&M’s most intense type of coaster in one of their parks, but it is nicely presented here and has a smooth layout even though it’s a bit short.  Great pretzel loop interaction.  I wish more of that huge station building would be used, however.  It’s nice architecture that’s begging for a fireworks dessert party venue or some other kind of Disney cashgrab.  The Brave theme motorbike on the other side is a little more Disney’s speed and has that sort of awkward layout that feels about right.  The round towers are a bit imposing, but that really dark brown color works well with everything.  The canoe ride is sort of shoehorned in there, but I like the theming cutaway in the back.  That whole Tangled area is one of the best areas architecturally including the absolutely fantastic tower.  The Snuggly Duckling bar is especially nice and probably my favorite cutaway on the map.  Great detail. 

 

I think what I like about this map is how it doesn’t outright copy much of anything Disney has done, but the setup and theming has the proper Disney feel.  It’s original without totally departing from the expected look and style.  It has life to it rather than being overly sterile.  So because of that, I can give some of the very non Disney ride types a pass.  I would like to see more Disney parks approached this way.

 

Here’s a bunch of little things I liked:

 

Love these turrets.

 

Clever system used to great advantage across the park.

 

Best architecture on the map.

 

This H2H has been all about the quality ships.  One of the best.

 

Fun little sculpture here for the ride and I like the fire in the middle.

 

Nice to see Tiana represented.  Great façade.

 

I love this courtyard.

 

More courtyard.  The sort of terrifying Olaf ride with the skating rink is super cool.  I like the ice crystal detailing.

 

This is a great diagonal gate.  So is the Mulan one on the other side. 

 

Ariel’s Grotto is super cool.  A nice little standalone area.

 

Interiors are always appreciated.   And an attempt at telling a story with it!  I like the structural hints for the roof.

 

The subtle canoe in the water is a very Disney kind of detail. 

 

Mickey fountain is pretty cool.

 

My favorite interior on the map.

 

This pretzel has great interaction.

 

Love the meet and greet design used here for the bag check.  Clever.

 

 

In my opinion, this was a much closer match in quality than the score indicated.  This is a great park and one of Strangelove’s best this season.  Congrats on creating original Disney content that still feels like Disney.  There’s so many nice details to discover.

 

 

Mobray’s Illusions

 

I don’t really know where to start on this one.  Team Spacecrab has continued to put forward interesting, out of the box ideas.  But this one takes it just a step further.  This seems like the pinnacle of custom palette usage—it’s such clever idea.  I can’t imagine what a pain this must have been to build, though.  My eyes hurt just trying to make out the various pieces of scenery.  Props to the builders for really using the colors and textures to the fullest here.  The map looks great.

 

I’ll start with the deulers because they’re absolutely awesome.  One of my favorites of recent memory.  I like how non-standard they are—like it almost goes out of its way to be different—lift lengths, lift synchronization, etc.  It all lines up to a few really great dueling moments including that great cobra roll / zero g roll set around the arched bridge.  The pink stands out a lot against the rest of the map, but it helps to highlight this coaster. 

 

The rest of the Illusions around the estate are so cool and each warrants some time.  The teleporter coaster is super cool, mostly for the theming around the teleporter mechanism.  I love how Roomie’s football ride has become so ubiquitous now with all sorts of different uses.  Here with the oracle is one of the more interesting applications.  I feel like I could watch that all day.  Everything here is a nice balance of an actual ride with some movement without sacrificing the theme.  The standard circus show ride fits great within the other theming around it.

 

The atmosphere created by the palette and some of these custom objects is unreal.  The streetlights are probably the single biggest thing that helps to bring this mood home.  Architecturally, there’s a lot of great detail, though some of it does get lost in the darkness of the whole thing.  I love the two big cutaways in theater and the mill.  The mill especially has some absolutely incredible little details, most notably the spinning tunnel and golf course used as a casting bed.  There’s a great level of dirt and grime around the map that’s offset by the perfectly manicured grounds of the estate.

 

With enough time viewing this park, my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I was able to enjoy the map more.  On first viewing I thought it was really too dark, but once my eyes adjusted a little bit, the colors felt just about right.  There’s a really cool mix of darkness for the structures, mediums for the foliage, and some bright options for effects and highlights.  It’s a great setup.

 

Here are things I enjoyed:

 

Hansom cabs are an excellent custom ride.

 

The theater cutaway is cool with the backstage details visible.

 

Newspaper salesman and those amazing street lights.

 

This façade on the Ironworks is so good.

 

I love seeing how these Ferris wheel scenery pieces have been used.  Great look here.

 

This is such a cool setup with Roomie’s footballs and the neon blue.

 

Love this fountain.

 

The walk on water attraction is clever.

 

The telescope and the tower itself are bother really nicely done.  I like the use of the curved pieces.

 

Fantastic support.

 

This scene in the back of mansion with the coasters and the section of invisible track looks great.

 

Love the teleport mechanism.

 

I can’t get over how great this coaster is.  One of the best sections the ride here.

 

The back garden areas have some great details, including the peeps playing catch.

 

This whole thing is just incredible.  So much movement, great detail, and structurally gorgeous.

 

The stock circus building actually works really well with the theming around it.

 

 

This was such a cool park.  I love the concept, the theme, the colors, and the execution.  It’s all carried out at a high skill level and it’s not a surprise to see this carry the team into the finals.  Awesome job.   

 

 

I really enjoy reading these reviews, Brian. H2H8 is a while ago by now and these reviews are great throwbacks.

Another thing that I like is the screenshots that you include. One of the downsides to OpenRCT is how it allowes for such big resolutions RCT isn't designed for. If your screen is 2000x1500 pixels or whatever, a lot of the details are just hard to spot, or it's too exhausting to constantly focus on little details if there's a ton of shit going on on your screen. You're singling small areas out and I'm discovering new details that way.

For example, the ropes on the Disney ship are hanging down a little bit. They're not straight lines, they're actually affected by gravity! In the theatre in Mobray's, I never noticed the bags of sand. I'm also finding a new appreciation for some of the arcy in Mobray as well. That park really suffers from the large resolution.

Yeah I like the format of the reviews too.  it helps highlight the strong suits of the park even if it's not the best park in the world.  Might be why I stole the format

As far as the origin of the park goes, its a bit strange.  I don't know if Stoksy or anyone ever touched on it, but it didn't initially started out as an exclusive Frozen park, hence the Arendelle castle being the centerpiece.  But it wasn't really going the way we wanted so everything outside of the castle was scrapped and the rest of the park was built as sort of a Fantasyland/Magic Kingdom thing.  The meet and greets were almost all In:Cities though, and most of that was done later in the construction, we just knew stuff like that needed to be a big part of the park, and I think the builders just really enjoyed making them.  Josh and Stoks can detail how it all went down a bit better than I can though.

 

Anyways, thanks for the review Brian!  ...I really should get to responding to some of them.

One of the downsides to OpenRCT is how it allowes for such big resolutions RCT isn't designed for. If your screen is 2000x1500 pixels or whatever, a lot of the details are just hard to spot, or it's too exhausting to constantly focus on little details if there's a ton of shit going on on your screen.

This is where the pixel scaler comes in which I always use, and love.