Planet Coaster

Planet Coaster
Developer(s) Frontier Developments
Publisher(s) Frontier Developments
Director(s) Jonny Watts
Designer(s) Andrew Fletcher
Programmer(s) Owen McCarthy
Artist(s) John Law
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date(s) Q4 2016
Genre(s) Construction and management simulation

Planet Coaster is an upcoming construction and management simulation developed and published by Frontier Developments for Microsoft Windows due to be released in Q4 of 2016. An Alpha version of the game became available on 22 March 2016 for those that purchased the early bird edition which will run continuously until the games general release.[1] The game is a spiritual successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, a game that was also developed by Frontier in 2004.[2]

Gameplay

Planet Coaster is a construction and management simulation video game. Similar to its spiritual predecessor, the game allows players to build different theme park rides and roller-coasters. These player-created attractions can be shared through a mechanic called “global village”.[3]

Development

Before the development of Planet Coaster, Frontier Developments had developed several other construction and management simulation video games, including 2004's commercial and critical success RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, which sold almost 10 million copies.[4] Planet Coaster serves only as a spiritual successor to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 instead of a direct sequel, as the company considered the use of the brand Tycoon "didn’t carry the cachet anymore" due to the releases of mainly poorly-received Tycoon games in recent years.[5]

The game was announced on 29 January 2015 by Frontier Developments.[6] Originally called Coaster Park Tycoon, the game was renamed into Planet Coaster on 16 June 2015 during the PC Gaming Show at E3 2015.[7] Frontier Developments aimed to turn the game into the company's second self-published franchise, along with the Elite series.[8] The game will use an advanced version of Cobra Engine, which is an in-house proprietary engine developed by Frontier previously used by games like Elite Dangerous and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.[4] Features confirmed for the game include a hybrid spline/piece-by-piece coaster builder, modular structure building, a voxel terrain editor among others detailed through Q&A's and "Dev Diaries."[9][10] On the second live stream, the release date of the Alpha was announced. Released on 22 March 2016, the alpha emphasized on modular building and paths. The Alpha contained two themes: "Planet Coaster" and "Pirate". Although disabled by default, Coaster Building was included in the first alpha through a cheat code.[11]

Reception

Pre-release

The game was met with praise upon release of the Alpha. PC Gamer commented that Frontier is "off to a tremendous start" and that the alpha "was solid and creating buildings with the new creation tools hinted at the immense possibilities".[12] However, Ars Technica noted several small flaws including the "hard to navigate" menus and the lack of custom built roller coasters.[13] On 27 April 2016, about a month after the release of the alpha, Frontier announced that Planet Coaster grossed nearly two million dollars.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Frontier Developments (8 September 2015). "Frontier Developments - Year End Results". Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Lopez, Jason (16 June 2015). "Roller Coaster Tycoon spiritual PC successor Planet Coaster announced". GameZone. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Greene, Gavin (16 June 2015). "Elite: Dangerous studio debuts Planet Coaster theme-park simulator (update)". VentureBeat. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 Campbell, Colin (22 June 2015). "Planet Coaster is getting ready for a big ride". Polygon. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Hutchinson, Lee (18 June 2015). "about Planet Coaster". Ars Technica. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Cassidee Moser (29 January 2015). "Frontier Announces Coaster Park Tycoon for 2016". IGN. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  7. ↑ Wilde, Tyler (16 June 2015). "Frontier announces Planet Coaster with trailer". PC Gamer. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Matt Purslow (29 January 2015). "Frontier Developments lay-off fifteen staff, Coaster Park Tycoon announced". PCGamesN. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Dev Diary #2 - Rewarding Creativity. 11 December 2015 – via YouTube.
  10. ↑ "Meet The Team and Q&A - Richard Newbold".
  11. ↑ Tucker, Jake. "Planet Coaster Reinvents The Theme Park Genre". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Kelly, Andy. "Planet Coaster: hands-on with Frontier's theme park sim". PC Gamer. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Walton, Mark. "Planet Coaster: A theme park sim so good its developers forgot to develop it". Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  14. ↑ Walker, Alex. "Planet Coaster Has Nearly Made $2 Million Already". www.kotaku.com.au. Retrieved 29 April 2016.

External link

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