RCT Discussion / RCT Advent Calendar 2025

LLovely! Hard to find much more classic than a four quarters LL park with a central lake. Using times of day as a central theme I think is really interesting, especially considering it could line up as you walk around the park clockwise. The sundial motif really helps with this. I'm a big fan of Nochtenburg as well as all the waterfront seating areas and walkways. There's some interesting LL tricks at play here like the covered dinghy slides as illuminated windows, looping coaster track as solar panels and iron roof land textures as tilled soil. Even with three coasters, I think the most memorable ride here is Color Splash which winds over and under Sera Springs really nicely. I'm noticing some quirks that hint this might be made with no building hacks whatsoever; perhaps this is SSSammy bringing the Fundamental Forest ruleset over to LL?

Door 17

 

Gladisant

 

An early door opening today and it's a doozy. This epic entry shows a icy castle with a dragon perched atop it. All around the castle is a coaster and the region is also visited by a flying carriage. Make sure to take a trip into the mountains to see this wonder and experience the thrill of Gladisant!

 

 

 Gladisant.park (1.86MB)
downloads: 19

Oh hey, I recognize this one! This is one of Bluetiful_Monday's DKMP multiplayer entries! Scored near a perfect 10 which was nuts, but for good reason! This would still be instantly recognizable as Blue even if it were my first time seeing it. The vibes are immaculate as typical of Blue's work. Love the way the castle is built with great use of DKSO and some single-angle trackitecture. The ice dragon on top is also really effective and I love his frost breath. The sphinxes as piles of snow is a neat idea but the execution is hit or miss for me. I think Revelations of Stonehenge improved on this effect tremendously. Coaster layout is nice and I love the shwoopy loopy supports. Reminds me a lot of the launcher from Stonehenge. Just fantastic work overall. 

Had a backlog of these to catch up on - some quick reactions... 

 

St Nick’s Wild Ride - a very nice coaster layout (which the peeps clearly love based on how busy it is haha). Lovely alpine style architecture too with the added snowy effects. The ultimate gift here I think is the new objects that are snuck in! Which also gives away the creator I presume  

 

Christmas Tree Lot - a simple but well-executed concept, and a charming little entry. I love how the peeps actually ‘shop’ for the trees - too cute!

 

Winterfest - this does such a good job of the ‘normal park but at Christmas’ concept - with the blocked-off areas and the dusting of snow everywhere. The ice rink is so well executed - haven’t seen one done before! The landscaping is another highlight with some really clever layering of objects to get the snow effect. So many little details all over this one - would encourage everyone to have a look!

 

Abstract Attraction - lives up to the name, and it’s quite striking!  Not a lot to keep the viewer’s attention but it was fun watching the ride go around not knowing where it was going to go next. 

 

Sundial Springs - always love to see an SV4! And this one made me smile so many times - such a fun concept and the rides in each area bring the idea to life really well - clever naming! I think my favourite area was the morning, with the coffee grinder and morning commute. Looking at this entry feels like taking a nice warm bath haha.

 

Gladisant - again a distinctive style where I can be pretty confident in my guess-the-builder selection! It has the trademark features like the ethereal atmosphere, towering spires, flying horses and all-around creative use of objects. Some top tier DKSO!

Door 18

 

Christmas Coaster

 

We already had two entires that featured christmas trees prominently, so why not add a third? But whereas the first two were more tranquil in their armosphere, this one promises pure action.Today we are visited by a lovely little hybrid coaster that is formed in a figure-8 around two christmas trees, and of course the presents also have to be present. Pack your scarf and your gloves and let's ride a coaster through the ice and snow!

 

 

 Christmas Coaster 2025.park (973.06KB)
downloads: 15

What a layout! Very convincingly off the grid with a strong focus on those diagonals. Love the support braces inside the last two curves, something a certain player who registered has a real penchant for. I also think white was the perfect support color here, as a more traditional brown would dominate the map and take away from the surroundings. Speaking of which, the composition of the map feels almost like a model or a diorama to me. The two massive Christmas trees really stand out from all the white and have some really creative object and CTR usage. Took me a bit to realize the garlands were custom ride vehicles! The presents underneath each tree are also really convincing, especially the half-diagonal ones. The amount of detail and commitment to realism here is really admirable, especially around Christmas Coaster's station and queue.

 

Admittedly I kinda don't get Santa's Workshop's inclusion; it's just kinda plunked under a tree and it's not really giving me a Santa's Workshop vibe. It could have also done without music, as it clashes with the music coming from the coaster on the other side of the very small map. Lastly, I think the palette could have been tweaked just a bit so the snow on the trees appears less blue in comparison with the rest. Highkey recolorable/DKSO snow-covered trees could have been your best friend here. Otherwise some really lovely work here; not hard to tell this is a much-anticipated G Force comeback. Love seeing you tackle more creative ideas like this while keeping your trademark realism intact.

Door 19

 

The Painted Ladies

 

Due to scheduling difficulties todays' door opens early and tonorrow's door will open later than usual. But this just means you have more time to look at today's door! What we have here is a highly detailed recreation of one of the most famous row of houses in the world (I think at least): The Painted Ladies in San Francisco! This means we get a short break from winter themed entires and instead get a masterclass in architecture that is not to be missed.

 

 

 The Painted Ladies.park (5.73MB)
downloads: 23

Well this is a surprise! Comparing it to real life photos, it's pretty bang on and executed with a very ornate level of detail. The custom trees made of shrubs are surprisingly accurate to the real life Painted Ladies! The subtle holiday decorations are a nice touch too. O Christmas Tree feels a little weird without a hint of snow on the ground, but I mean it is California. Between the smooth yet detailed look and some not-so-subtle hints in the objects and music, I'm gonna hazard an Ethan guess. Another player I've been missing recently!

Wow the quality just keeps coming! 

 

Christmas Coaster - what a fun entry. Love the layout and the layering on the track with the catwalks - feels very real. The huge trees and presents are so clever! The only downside for me is the Candy music - so piercing hahaha. 

 

The Painted Ladies - this takes me back to a trip to SF years ago - captures the vibe perfectly. I'm blown away by the detail but also how CLEAN it is - no glitching at all which is a big achievement when layering this many objects. Will definitely come back to this one for architecture inspo! 

Door 20

 

Kiki's Bakery

 

What's better than taking a stroll on sunday morning to the next bakery and getting some delicious, freshly baked bread? This little creation captures the feel of a rural bakery around christmas time and at the same time it's based on a popular Japanese IP. So make sure to take a look, maybe over breakfast.

 

 

 Kikis Bakery.park (2.86MB)
downloads: 18

Door 21

 

Diamond Dust

 

We are back to our regular programming with an entry of a style that has become very familiar to those who follow the advent calendar. A coaster, surrounded by somewhat abstract theming all in white and light blue. As we are heading inevitably towards Christmas Eve and the grand finale, take a breather and observe this neat little creation.

 

 

 Diamond Dust.park (91.39KB)
downloads: 14

Door 22
 
Antwerp in Snow
 
This is another week where the question "who built that?" is very easy to answer. This is because today's entry is a christmas version of a 2025 spotlight: Revelations of Stonehenge! The entry focuses on the Antwerp section and finally answer the question we all had in mind for the last three months: How would it look in snow?
 

 
 Antwerp in Snow Final Final.park (3.81MB)
downloads: 7

Yay that we managed to get there - 22 entries so far!

 

Kiki's Bakery - absolutely love this, just so charming and relaxing to look at (the music really helps set the tone). I haven't seen the film for a lonnnnng time so couldn't speak to the accuracy, but it definitely gives the same atmosphere. A very classy and understated bit of micro. 

 

Diamond Dust - I'm guessing this is the same builder as Magnetosphere way back at door 6? Good work getting multiple entries done! Another fun and abstract piece - the coaster layout is cute and I like the snowflake motifs in the background. 

 

Antwerp in Snow - another multi-submission builder unless I'm totally mistaken! Love this winter overlay on what was my favourite part of the wider park. Looking forward to checking it out in the game when it's ready!

Door 23

 

Erlebnispark Teutonia Winterzauber

 

"The 2025 season has still one surprise to offer. This december, for the first time in its history, Erlebnispark Teutonia will have a special winter opening! The park will be open from 12pm to 8pm every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a reduced number of attractions. As a special treat, a little Christmas market will be erected on the site of the future expansion of the Hansa main street. So make sure to get your tickets for a magical winter time at Erlebnispark Teutonia!

 

 

 Erlebnispark Teutonia Winterzauber.park (944.32KB)
downloads: 6

Getting caught up on the calendar entries (finally)

 

Undead Parish
Without knowing the source material, it's a rather nice LL building. It has a good sense of verticality, and the landscaping is excellent.

Glassware Lake
This one feels like I should be eating a cookie while looking at it. A very cozy Christmassy little park. Love the extensive use of glass.

Advent
I really like the grasses and underwater foliage, as well as the ice. I think the snowy trees are a little too blue (in appearance, not demeanor), but I rather enjoy the vibes of this one!

Model Village
Wow! I can't get enough of the miniature rides. The cargo ships especially make me want a bigger map of miniature towns/boats/trains/etc. The snowy landscaping around the park is lovely as well.

Polar Express
Fantastic atmosphere. The lighting and reflection effects are so well implemented, while the twinkling stars are a very nice complement.

Magnetosphere
Fun layout! It's cool seeing another calendar entry full of glass pieces. My head-canon is that this is the night sky over Glassware Lake.

Century of Progress
This is a great winterization of a very good map. The custom snow objects are a welcome step up over the game's precipitation. The cutaway views inside the buildings are great. I feel like I've only scratched the surface of all this map has to offer, especially since I wasn't aware of the original Century of Progress. 

Toy Train Town
Cute little entry! I like the border around the map edges. I keep waiting for the train to run out of batteries.

Winter Over the Garden Wall
I'm unfamiliar with the source material, but there's excellent landscaping and foliage on display, as well as some lovely architecture. Very nice steamboat. This map has succeeded in nailing autumnal foliage in a way that few others have. I find the snowy part of the map hard to read, and the coaster layout is not to my liking. The log flume is pretty cool - great idea using waterfall/water jet objects on the drops.

The Dancing Plague
Lovely landscaping and foliage! The map is rather well-composed, and the reverser layout is very fun. This would have done well in the DKMP contest. 

Abernathy Castle
Another excellent snowy landscape, and the architecture is so good. Love the snowy roofs. Only gripe is that I'm not a fan of the snowy large pine tree objects. It's rather high-contrast with a lot of parallel lines. I found it a little too busy compared to everything else. Nonetheless, it's an absolutely gorgeous map!

St. Nick's Wild Ride
This is such a good small-scale GCI layout, with great pacing and footprint. The buildings, landscaping, and foliage could all be described as "efficient", by which I mean rather effective and well-done without straying into the highly detailed, highly time-consuming things like crunch, cliff-work, small grasses, etc. Those things might have made this map better, but they're also not necessary. This map feels low-stress and joyful.

Christmas Tree Lot
Really like the needles underneath the trees. I'm also surprised at how well the sidewalk path blends in with the sandstone skyscraper roof. Great little entry!

Winterfest
I wish I made this. My wish has come true, incidentally

Abstract Attraction
This is a rather cool one, though I confess I don't love the corrugated steel.

Sundial Springs
I really like this park. The invert layout is top notch.

Gladisant
This almost feels like a practice run for Stonehenge, but of course that's easy to say in hindsight. The castle is excellent, as is the coaster layout and the abstract supports. Very creative object usage as well. Love the husky-stagecoach ride!

Christmas Coaster
Very fun how off-grid this one is! The pathing, landscaping, crunch, architecture are all very good. The oversized trees and presents are a fun juxtaposition to some of the more meticulous details. Great idea using the stone spheres as Christmas balls.

The Painted Ladies
I mean, come on. This is so good.

Kiki's Bakery: Man this is adorable. You're making me feel bad for not seeing this movie yet! It's very faithful to the source material, although it is missing some of those diagonal crossbeams on the facade. Landscaping and crunch are really nice. Ethan and AmusementParker are carrying the crunch object meta IMO. Love all the frozen peeps that bring life to the scene. I'm just not sure why there are peeps inside the bakery even though it's not cutaway friendly.

 

This one's builder really threw me for a loop until I decided to ruin everything and check the custom music file. All I can say is welcome to the world of CSO, TimmyTuner! I'd feel bad saying you're already looking as good as experienced CSO builders because it would be underselling you big-time. Also I'm doing backsies on Advent which I thought was Timbo because on second look that's definitely Narc. We're not officially doing GTB so don't crucify me here.

 

Diamond Dust: God this is so cool. Those big snowflakes and the blue background steal the show. Layout has a nice flow for how compact it is. This particular abstract style works well, but I feel like it does get a little scatter tool-y in some areas. Between the classic abstract style and the name of the palette, this one is pretty obviously a third Lurker entry. He's a machine!

Kiki's Bakery
The music adds much to an already great sense of atmosphere. Plenty of fun peep scenes. The bakery is really quite nice, and the bit of foliage & landscaping behind it is very high quality. Hope the creator keeps making cso content!

Diamond Dust
Love this one! Another great abstract entry. The coaster is a lot of fun, as is the music. 

Antwerp in Snow
I'm so happy to see this part of Stonehenge winterized, as it translates so well. The full park can be overwhelming in scale and ambition, so it's nice seeing one section by itself this time. Love your work, Blue.

Erlebnispark Teutonia Winterzauber
This is a very nice entrance area. It looks like it's from a few years ago, but it holds up really well. I appreciate how the buildings have their own identities while also being cohesive, as this is something I'm continuously trying to figure out in my own game. Much like Advent, I'm not a huge fan of the blue snowy trees, but that's no biggie.

Door 24

 

Driving Home for Christmas

 

I picked this entry for the final door not just because of its extraordinary quality, but because it reflects something that many of use feel around these holidays. Many of us get in the car, on a bike or train or even a plane to go home to spend Christmas with family. But of course it's impossible to separate Christmas as a family holiday from consumerism. I think this piece absolutely nails the atmosphere and therefore is a well deserved 24th door.

 

And believe me, you will want to download this one!

 

 

 Driving Home For Christmas.park (6.48MB)
downloads: 12

 

 

Bonus: chAsiNg aFteR yOu

 

Also, I received a bonus entry earlier today, which is also why the file is not ready yet. It will be uploaded to the database together with the rest of the entires. While this screenshot captures the entire size of the submission, there is more still to see in-game. But I think for now even this snippet shows a high quality and something that I always had in mind when I first proposed to run this advent calendar a year ago.

 

 

 

Acknowledgements:

 

A lot of people have thanked me for running this event, but I never really feel deserving of it. After all, what I do from my side is the smallest part. Receiving these amazing creations, bring them into some sort of order and then releasing them with more-or-less well written little texts. In reality, the thanks should go to the creators contributing, three of which participating with more than one entry. Thank you, you are the real stars. And also, thanks again to the admin team who did their best to get these files checked and ready for release, even if the files came in later and more short term than last year.

 

I will be back tomorrow to reveal the full list of builders and wrap-up this calendar for this year.

Before my final round of reviews, I want to say that V1, you are underselling yourself big-time. It's easy to underestimate the effort it takes to organize these events, even if the community is the one doing most of the building. Also remember that these events don't happen without the one guy who brings them to life. I am such a huge fan of having us all come together every holiday season to, as you would gladly put it, JFB. No stakes, no competition, just build a nice little piece of RCT. It's a really selfless gesture and a great way to wrap up the year. Thank you so much for bringing this back and I hope it continues!

 

Antwerp In The Snow: If we're counting modified versions of existing parks, this is easily the best door yet. Just this one section of Stonehenge is one of the most beautiful and mind-boggling things I have ever seen in RollerCoaster Tycoon. It's genuinely on the level of players like Leon, AVC, Walto and Hoobaroo, objects be damned. While the whole Stonehenge is great, it's so cool having a version of the park that's just a souped up Antwerp.

 

So let's stop fangirling and dive in! This is such a vibe and I love the holiday-exclusive changes like the wreaths and Santa on the rooftop. The dark snow gives it a cool feel but a lot less contrast, especially with both coasters being a shade of blue. I changed them to red and green as a test but I gotta admit that's corny as hell. The yellow glows from the windows are the perfect antidote to all the cool colors and I wish we had more of them! A quick SM job to change the dark teal glass to yellow makes a world of difference. I think some Mahdezalg-style lighting effects on the ground using abstract objects and runway pieces would have helped nail the late night lit-up holiday vibe. It would have also been cool to see some snowdrifts on the roofs like you have on the ground, although that's just nitpicking. Really there's not much else to say because this is just a masterclass of RCT. Is it a stretch to say Bluetiful_Monday might be the voice of a generation?

 

Erlebnispark Teutonia Winterzauber: Hats off to the man behind the Advent Calendar because I recognize this as his work! Glad to see this project on the site in some capacity. Really lovely entrance scene with an adorable small scale and a cozy feel. Love the German-style architecture; always reminds me of my early days being inspired by players like Fisch and Royr. The ferris wheel is a really great weenie especially on that elevated platform. Proportionally everything works well, but I feel like if the map were expanded one tile on the left and right sides it would accommodate a busy crowd of peeps a little better. Making the entrance arch a little taller I think would help accentuate the sightline up to the ferris wheel from the peeps' point of view. I also think the natural foliage could use some more underbrush to smooth it all out. Great stuff Version1!

 

Driving Home for Christmas: IT MOVES! What a way to expand on the Ol' Smokey's Showboat formula! Featuring the Coca Cola truck doubles as an iconic holiday visual and a classic NE reference. All the moving scenery looks seamless, especially with the traffic and tractors moving at just the right speed in relation with the objects. The custom music playing through the radio really ups the immersion, almost like you're the one driving the Cola truck! It takes a genius with custom objects to pull something like this off, and no surprise Roomie's name shows up all over this one. This should have been Coca-Cola's Christmas ad this year, not that AI-generated garbage they thought was remotely okay and then tried to falsely cover up.

 

chAsiNg aFteR yOu: Oh HELL yes. This is my kind of RCT, plain and simple. Super atmospheric and surreal with a lot of detail to make up for its size. RCT as the world's funniest form of digital art. That little glimpse of space at the top is such a cool little detail. I also love how the details on the wall become part of the fade on the top. Such a cool artistic move. I just wish I could see it ingame! There's still more to see in-game WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!!! I'm coping with it by pretending that it's a present under the tree on Christmas Eve and we get to unwrap it on Christmas Day.

 

Guessing the builder on this one sucks. V1 just had to give me a final boss fight. Since I can't see it ingame before the big reveal, I can't see if some bozo forgot to put their name in the palette or the custom music (if there is any). I have to go by pure vibes and object recognition. A lot of the objects remind me of what the Lonely Hearts Club was doing in H2HX, especially the interior work in Constellations and Murder in McAllan. I'm inclined to guess J K or Deano, but they didn't sign up and haven't said anything about entering. I'd guess Hoobaroo off pure vibes but he's been radio silent too. There's no way it's Hex, right? All I know is I wish I could build like this and I want this player to teach me their ways. God I can't wait for Christmas Day!

 

And on that note, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays NE! So glad I could be part of this with you all again.