Worlds of Globala

[Nicky Borrill]

I should point out that the area is open, even though it looks like a ghost town in all of my shots; for some reason, nobody wants to go into China, no matter what I do, which is also why I had to run all of the rides in testing mode in order to film the ride footage!

But aside from that, I really hope you like China, and I hope to bring the next country to you very soon!

Coronavirus ? Even the peeps are blaming China... ?

Looking great Matt. Love the prelift on the b&m... And again you’ve got some great scenery interaction in the layout. I think the kids ride is PERFECT. Those extra slow moments give the youngsters a greater false perception of speed when it does get going, great job imo. The dark ride looks great, but if I could give any feedback on it I would say that some of the scenes need more static scenery items, or something, to avert attention... Some of the scene’s felt a bit ‘boxey’ and it could do with more audio at a higher volume. But other than that it looks and rides amazing, can really see the effort put into the lighting and getting those triggers right... Overall a great job.

 

[Matt N]

Thanks @Nicky Borrill! I’m glad you liked it, and thank you very much for your feedback!

With regard to Zodiac Palace, I admit that there are a few things that I could perhaps have done differently. In terms of audio and why Zodiac Palace doesn’t have any triggered audio for certain scenes; I’ll let you into a little secret and tell you that I did actually attempt to do triggered audio earlier in the park (it was actually for the Big Ben sound effect on Britannia Tours, which I wanted to trigger as the ride went past), but it was a nightmare to get it to work and in the end, I opted to have that audio track just on on a constant loop. The reason I didn’t opt for audio of this style on Zodiac Palace was because in this style of ride, I thought it might take away from the atmosphere and spoil the ride within the other scenes; if it were a real park, I think I would definitely have made audio for it. With regard to theming within the scenes, I must admit that I was struggling a little for scenery to put into the scenes other than the effects and those dragon statues; maybe I should pick a theme with more available static scenery pieces next time I build a trackless! In terms of the box-like nature of the scenes, I sort of wanted to make it look like a real palace on the inside, but I admit that it perhaps doesn’t work as well in the “outdoor” scenes; I’m not really sure how I could get around that issue, though.

To be honest, I was mainly relieved to have finally finished a trackless dark ride, as me and that ride type have had a long battle over the years!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Thanks @Nicky Borrill! I’m glad you liked it, and thank you very much for your feedback!

With regard to Zodiac Palace, I admit that there are a few things that I could perhaps have done differently. In terms of audio and why Zodiac Palace doesn’t have any triggered audio for certain scenes; I’ll let you into a little secret and tell you that I did actually attempt to do triggered audio earlier in the park (it was actually for the Big Ben sound effect on Britannia Tours, which I wanted to trigger as the ride went past), but it was a nightmare to get it to work and in the end, I opted to have that audio track just on on a constant loop. The reason I didn’t opt for audio of this style on Zodiac Palace was because in this style of ride, I thought it might take away from the atmosphere and spoil the ride within the other scenes; if it were a real park, I think I would definitely have made audio for it. With regard to theming within the scenes, I must admit that I was struggling a little for scenery to put into the scenes other than the effects and those dragon statues; maybe I should pick a theme with more available static scenery pieces next time I build a trackless! In terms of the box-like nature of the scenes, I sort of wanted to make it look like a real palace on the inside, but I admit that it perhaps doesn’t work as well in the “outdoor” scenes; I’m not really sure how I could get around that issue, though.

To be honest, I was mainly relieved to have finally finished a trackless dark ride, as me and that ride type have had a long battle over the years!

Don’t worry, they were in no way criticisms, just constructive feedback for next time, overall it’s great and I certainly couldn’t do any better...

In terms of audio, I didn’t necessarily mean triggered, all of the best rides of this type, Symbolica for example, have really loud ‘background’ audio all the way through, and whilst I appreciate that loud music doesn’t necessarily fit with the mystic chinese palace feel, a bit more audio, at an appropriate volume, all of the way through, could make it more immersive.

Edit: forgot to ask, do you use the workshop for extra scenery? There a lot of stuff available.

 

[Matt N]

Edit: forgot to ask, do you use the workshop for extra scenery? There a lot of stuff available.

I don’t tend to use it very often, but one or two of the buildings in Great Britain are blueprints that Frontier made. With this park, I sort of wanted to make it my own, and for that reason, I did sort of want to make my own things for the most part.

It’s a nice suggestion, though, and I may well have a look into it for future projects!

 

[Matt N]

Apologies for the lack of updates as of late; my building pace has slowed down somewhat since I first started building the park, for various reasons! Provided all goes well, I hope to have country #6 online by the end of the week! I’ve also calculated that I could fit 8 countries onto the map, so there are 3 more countries to come if you include the country I’m currently building!

 

[Matt N]

Aloha, fellow globetrotters! We meet again, for the 6th country of Worlds of Globala is on the horizon! And this one is another Asian country; welcome one and all to Japan:

Now, Japan has 5 rides on offer, and even though elements of it may look very similar to China, I've tried to make them as different as possible. So, without further ado, the rides in Japan are as follows:

• Sakura Falls, a Mack Rides water coaster. This coaster is 88ft tall, reaches speeds of 47mph and has 3,438ft of track, and it is themed as though you are on a shipping boat with the Sakura Shipping Company, but the journey goes a bit wrong, and as such, you are taken on a wet and wild journey through Japan! Have a few pictures:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots; in a first for my Planet Coaster videos, the POV is shot at nighttime due to the ride's dark ride sections:

• Izanagi's House of Beasts, a dark ride themed around some of the various mythological creatures in Japanese folklore. In terms of size, this is the smallest dark ride at the park, with 671ft of track, and I was sort of trying to make it akin to something like Snorri Touren or Gangsta Granny in terms of size. The reason for it being so small is because I actually built it on top of the indoor sections of Sakura Falls in order to save space (which is also why you may notice a bit of light and scenery bleed in between the two rides; in hindsight, putting Izanagi on top of Sakura Falls perhaps sounded better in my head than it turned out to work in reality). In a first for this park, I have aimed for this ride to be a little bit educational as well as fun, with the theme being heavily centred around Japanese folklore; in case you're wondering, the ride is named after Izanagi, the creator deity in Japanese culture:

I also filmed a POV, but before watching, I'd advise that you read this link for some context on my theming choices, as some of them look very bizarre without context: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZIv2IwjF6HcXye9APEslaj6E8S8V7wIIVw9nKAZZZT0/edit?usp=sharing
POV:

• Furaribi, a Gerstlauer Sky Fly themed to a different Japanese beast; this ride is themed to Furaribi, "a creature engulfed in flames that flies around aimlessly" (as pulled from Wikipedia). There are some triggered fire effects on this, but I'm not sure whether or not they show in my photos or videos:

• Views from Mount Fuji, a flying island:

• Swirling Sushi, a waltzer/tilt-a-whirl style attraction. As the name implies, it is themed around the Japanese fish delicacy sushi:

• The area also contains the final station of the park's Globetrotter monorail system, so I have finally been able to open it to guests, however I think I'll go into more detail about the transport rides in a later post.

That's all on offer in terms of rides in Japan, but I did take day and night aerial views of the area:

As well as an area overview video that I filmed:

So, that's Japan! As with China, the area is very much open for business; I'm just having trouble baiting guests down there, although I'm hoping that will be less of a problem once Globetrotter has settled in a little! I really hope you like Japan, and I hope to show you all the next country very soon!

 

[Matt N]

Out of interest, how do you guys think the park is coming along? Are there any glaring issues or gaping holes that you think I should address in the final 2 countries?

 

[Matt N]

Just realised I haven’t updated this for nearly a month; apologies about that, guys!

I should probably admit that as much as I’ve adored building this project, and I’ve loved building each different country and devising what’s going to be in it, a huge project like this requires real motivation, and I must admit that as the project’s progressed, I have been lacking a little motivation with this park lately. As such, I have begun working on something different in Planet Coaster for the time being, which I am going to share with you all once it’s got to enough of a stage that I’d like to show the first section of it off.

I will of course come back to this park in the future (I have plans for how I’d like to finish the park off, for sure!), and I’ll probably have the next country ready before too long, but I have decided to take a break from Worlds of Globala for a little bit and focus on something else. With everything beginning to (sort of) return to normal now, as well, my Planet Coaster updates will likely become less frequent.

You definitely haven’t seen the last from this park, but I’m just putting it out there that it may be a little while before you see the next country. I hope you understand.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Just caught up on this one and wanted to say I love the ambition behind this park, particularly the dark rides. I haven't really explored that part of the game yet. How long did Zodiac Palace take to get it how you wanted?
Hope you get round to more at some point.

 

[Matt N]

Just caught up on this one and wanted to say I love the ambition behind this park, particularly the dark rides. I haven't really explored that part of the game yet. How long did Zodiac Palace take to get it how you wanted?
Hope you get round to more at some point.

Thanks @HeartlineCoaster!

While I can’t remember the exact time frame, let me just say that Zodiac Palace took me an incredibly long time, and I must admit that I did struggle for ideas somewhat towards the end of the ride (I hope that’s not too evident in the finished product...). In fact, I’ll let you into a little secret and tell you that even though it’s the first trackless dark ride I ever finished, it was far from the first trackless dark ride I attempted. I’ve tried numerous times in the past to build trackless dark rides, but I’ve always found it incredibly difficult and given up halfway through. Zodiac was the first one I ever fully finished, so I was personally quite proud of it at the time for that aspect alone.

In hindsight, there are definitely things I would have done differently with that ride, and I’ve got to admit that I’m always somewhat embarrassed by my creations in comparison to those done by other Planet Coaster players on the dark ride front. Dark rides have never been my strong suit in the game, I must admit.

Out of interest, I’d love to know; is this a park you guys would like to visit if it were a real park, and which rides and areas are your favourites out of what I’ve built so far? Also, is there anything you would do differently if you were in charge of building the park?

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

In hindsight, there are definitely things I would have done differently with that ride, and I’ve got to admit that I’m always somewhat embarrassed by my creations in comparison to those done by other Planet Coaster players on the dark ride front. Dark rides have never been my strong suit in the game, I must admit.

What's the best example you've come across, out of interest?
I haven't really followed the creation of dark ride content in the game since the coaster POVs put me off it and from an outsiders perspective it seems that the higher we go in graphical detail for these games, the harder it is to fill the space with fulfilling scenery. Custom content becomes an absolute necessity which in turn takes up an extortionate amount of time. My personal creativity balance just isn't there - too many ideas and not enough time to execute them so that's why I'm still stuck on good ol' RCT.

Out of interest, I’d love to know; is this a park you guys would like to visit if it were a real park

Of course, it has creds.

which rides are your favourites

Black Mamba.

which areas are your favourites

China & Japan, obviously.

Also, is there anything you would do differently if you were in charge of building the park?

I'd build it in RCT

 

[Matt N]

Right then, globetrotters! After an approximately 8-month vintage detour spent building Newman’s Pleasure Gardens, I’m finally back in Worlds of Globala, and I bring you the park’s 7th country! And this one is our first Latin American country; welcome one and all to the mystical land of Mexico:

Now, in terms of where I wanted to go with this land, I thought it might be quite fun to build upon the country’s rich Aztec heritage, as well as focusing on the more traditional Mexican town-type vibe in places. So quite a few of the rides in this area (actually, it may quite possibly be all of them to some degree) utilise the Adventure Pack and the relevant scenery.

In terms of rides in Mexico, there are a total of 6, and they are as follows:

• El Conquistador (Spanish for “The Conqueror”), a Gerstlauer Infinity Coaster that stands at 217ft tall, reaches speeds of 75mph and has 6,006ft of track, making it the park’s longest roller coaster. The ride also has 9 inversions, making it the coaster at the park with the most inversions, a vertical lift hill, a beyond-vertical drop, 3 launches (well, one proper launch and two that are just boosters to give the ride a little additional oomph), and numerous dark ride sections. In terms of how I’d describe this coaster, the best way I can think of to describe it is the love child of Takabisha and Karnan, but I’d say it’s possibly one of the most grand-scale themed attractions I’ve ever built in this game, in spite of it being a massive thrill coaster. Let me tell you; I'd like to think there's more to this ride than meets the eye from the exterior. In terms of the storyline for this ride; “You’re going on an archeology tour with Aztec Adventure Tours, to the legendary Temple of Imota, which has lain undisturbed for thousands of years. However, just as you enter, Imota (the Mexican conqueror who once ruled the temple) awakens once again and possesses your ride car, taunting you in all kinds of ways, and trying to get you to join him, or face his wrath. Will you escape from Imota’s clutches?”:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Expedition Yucatan, a motorbike coaster that stands at 54ft tall, reaches speeds of 47mph and has 1,944ft of track. As the name implies, the theme of this ride is that you are escaping from the ancient temple city of Yucatan:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Doomsday Temple, a Tower of Terror-style drop tower dark ride. The storyline for this ride is as follows: "Marco De Rico has been Mexico's most successful antiques seller for years, but he wants to get his hands on the priceless treasure that allegedly lies within the Doomsday Temple so that he can make even more money. However, he is not the first to try and get his hands on this, and reports of disappearances have left him too scared to explore the temple himself, so he has enlisted volunteers to go on his behalf; you. Your job is to explore the temple, and find the priceless treasure that Marco De Rico wants so badly, but be warned; the temple has numerous mechanisms in place to fend off those in search of what doesn't belong to them, and its inhabitants will go to any lengths to protect the temple and its assets, so getting this treasure won't be easy. Will you get the treasure, or join the long list of those who died trying?":

I also filmed a POV; due to the very FPS-sensitive nature of the triggers on this ride type, I pasted the ride into a separate map and redid the triggers in order to film this, which is why the FPS on this video are markedly faster than on all of the others. I also apologise if some of the triggers are slightly off:

• Azteca Explorer, an aerial track ride. This is a similar sort of thing to Squirrel Nutty/Get Set Go (it'll always be Squirrel Nutty to me...) at Alton Towers; a gentle, panoramic ride for younger guests. The theme of this ride is that you have hired a truck from the Azteca Archeology Company, and are going on an adventure to explore all that Mexico has to offer:

I also filmed a POV:

• Totem Twister, a second-generation Huss Condor similar to Fatamorgana at Tivoli Gardens. Totem Twister is 30m (approx. 98ft) tall and has two different types of seating; floored or floorless. The theme of this ride is that the Mexican townspeople have repurposed one of the old totem poles in the town, alongside some of the old archeology equipment (hence all of the cogs and machinery around) into a homemade observation tower-style device (with a bit of a twist) that offers views of Mexico and the surrounding area, and have opened it to you as tourists to try it out:

• Mayan Time Warp, an enterprise named to reference the Mayan calendar:

Finally, here's some area overview shots, both at daytime and at nighttime:

As well as an overview video I filmed:

So, that's Mexico here at Worlds of Globala! We're nearly coming to the end of this park; only one more country left to build! And as the eagle-eyed among you might have noticed during some of the videos, I have already made a decent start on building it; you could possibly even make a guess as to what it might be if you look and listen closely enough! I'm not sure when I'm going to be bringing that to you, but I'm hoping it'll be relatively soon!

In terms of Mexico, though; I really hope you like it, and would be intrigued to know your thoughts!

 

[Hixee]

It looks good - one comment (picking up on your frame rate issues) is that you appear to be adding lots of detail in places your guests can't see.

Why not go one step further on the realism and only theme the stuff worth theming?

I remember always 'making that mistake' (not necessarily a mistake, but you know what I mean) in RCT3 - if you're going for realism you have to remember that you've got a very strange perspective as the 'god' in these worlds. If you look at Disney or Universal from these sort of eye-in-the-sky views they're crap:

It's very impressive what you're able to pull off - it's very detailed and does feel very realistic in many respects. If only it was real.

 

[Matt N]

Thanks @Hixee! In terms of frame rates, I’ll be honest and say that the recording does make them drop quite considerably; although still not great, they’re better for me building and playing the park than they are for you watching.

You raise a good point, and if you go around the back of some of the show buildings, I have left them more blank, but the problem is; from my perspective, I see blank areas that I want to fill! Do you get what I mean?

You raise a good point about the perspective; it’s a very odd one, and I’m always staggered by how different things look from guest level!

 

[Hixee]

You raise a good point, and if you go around the back of some of the show buildings, I have left them more blank, but the problem is; from my perspective, I see blank areas that I want to fill! Do you get what I mean?

Haha, yes I know exactly what you mean! What could be a good mindset to try, though, is try to make it realistic so you have the functional side of the buildings all designed too (with access doors, ventilation units, etc). You have to be a different kind of creative to do this sort of thing.

 

[Matt N]

Haha, yes I know exactly what you mean! What could be a good mindset to try, though, is try to make it realistic so you have the functional side of the buildings all designed too (with access doors, ventilation units, etc). You have to be a different kind of creative to do this sort of thing.

Ah OK; are you saying that I should put in all of that stuff, or pretend it’s there and not theme those areas?

In terms of the roofs of buildings, I also themed those because you can see them from some of the park’s taller rides, such as the flying island and the drop tower. I wanted them to look somewhat interesting from that perspective as well as a ground perspective.

 

[Hixee]

Ah OK; are you saying that I should put in all of that stuff, or pretend it’s there and not theme those areas?

Well, it's up to you. My day job is developing a lot of stuff like that (not for theme parks, but it's the same basic premise for all buildings) so I tend to quite like getting stuck into the details. Theming on the facade is the easy bit.

In terms of the roofs of buildings, I also themed those because you can see them from some of the park’s taller rides, such as the flying island and the drop tower. I wanted them to look somewhat interesting from that perspective as well as a ground perspective.

A perfectly rational explanation that you, as the 'designer' are entitled to make. It's gotta be something you want to do and the choices are yours to make (that's the fun of these sandbox type games) - I was only making a comment based on the realism and/or potential savings of performance you might get.

 

[Matt N]

I’m intrigued to know @Hixee (or anyone else, for that matter); while you’re here, what would you say are some of your favourite rides in the park, if you had to pick?

Only asking out of interest (and partly to see how accurate the game’s Prestige algorithm is in real-life circumstances, as I just looked at the highest Prestige scores in the park, and they are... interesting, to say the least).

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Another great dose of ambition, shame we can't get a sense of flow or pacing from the pov with your frame rate issues.
What are custom supports like in PC? The thing that struck me was how sparse the inversion structures look for a Gerst!

 

[Matt N]

Another great dose of ambition, shame we can't get a sense of flow or pacing from the pov with your frame rate issues.
What are custom supports like in PC? The thing that struck me was how sparse the inversion structures look for a Gerst!

Thanks @HeartlineCoaster! You can do custom supports, but I’ll admit it’s not really something I thought about when building; it was actually quite helpful having a less dense support structure when adding the scenery, I found! Now you say it, I suppose it is a little sparsely supported compared to other large Gersts; I’m thinking back to that photo of Karnan’s huge support structure in the weirdest ride supports thread...

I do apologise for the frames per second; it’s an unavoidable issue when your park grows to a certain size. I do find that the FPS look noticeably worse in those videos than they do to me when I’m building the park, which I find interesting; maybe it’s that the CPU is under more strain when recording?