Disney Ride Operation Simulators
I have been spending way too much time on a set of Disney Ride Operation Simulators that Boing Boing reported on.
If you've known me for years, you'd know that for the longest time I wanted to be a Disney Imagineer. While that dream mutated into interactive media, I still have a soft spot for all things theme and roller coster parks. For games, there have been a mix of good and bad titles I've played through the years.
Quick Review of previous Roller Coster/Theme Park games
Coaster (1993), the best piece of software Disney Interactive has ever released, focused only on creating a roller coster ride. You didn't have to worry about budget or most construction decisions; Just the physics and the technical restraints. There were a few annoying things about the program. The track building was forward-thinking and the only way to change a track is to delete the track pieces after it. Besides that, you can make a coster, ride it, and share the track files. That's the most important aspect of Coaster. You can share a coster file with anyone who has the game.
Ultimate Ride (2001) was the 'follow up' to Coaster from Disney Interactive. There were a few fixes and features added. They fixed the mid-track modification problem. You could make wooden, steel, or camel-back rides. The creation maker benefited from a 3D engine. However, the direction didn't really understand what made Coster a success.
The file sharing was convoluted by creating an internal, closed sharing system. While I'm not opposed to a publisher-run space for sharing, the true rewards of file sharing occurs when the user can break out of the publisher's space. Disney Interactive didn't trust users with creating a community. In all, it wasn't bad, but it could have been better.
Recently, I bought Theme Park (1993/2007) for the DS. This game is different from the Coaster series as it's a park management game. While there's some limited 'create a track' rides, it's mostly about running a theme park. Currently I'm having some money problems with my parks and can't seem to ever get out of debt...
This is actually a direct port of the DOS game with slight modifications for the DS. 'Direct' port because a few of the bugs that plagued the DOS version are still in the game. These bugs are rather debilitating to the game play. Park guest get stuck in the oddest places and can't get out unless you remove and rebuild rides. Display issues and other aspects make the game more laborious than entertaining. I'll stick to ride creation games for now.
Enter these ride operation simulators.
I can't recall of any kind of game that focused on this aspect of theme parks. Instead of how to run the business of a park or how to design a ride, the focus is on the crowd control of a ride. In the Tower of Terror, you have to sort out the crowd flow between two TV rooms that filter into three elevators. There are areas the game can be improved with features and performance issues, but it sets out to do one task and accomplishes. I've played it for hours.
Now I'm considering recreating the game with a better control interface and optimizing performance. I could ask for the original FLA files and work from there, but something not Flash may work better. Yes, this is the kind of things I think about in my day.
If you want to play these titles, here's the link to all of them. For any of you have have the standalone flash player (AKA: Have Flash authorizing software installed), the SWF links allow you to download the file itself which help performance issues.
If you've known me for years, you'd know that for the longest time I wanted to be a Disney Imagineer. While that dream mutated into interactive media, I still have a soft spot for all things theme and roller coster parks. For games, there have been a mix of good and bad titles I've played through the years.
Quick Review of previous Roller Coster/Theme Park games
Coaster (1993), the best piece of software Disney Interactive has ever released, focused only on creating a roller coster ride. You didn't have to worry about budget or most construction decisions; Just the physics and the technical restraints. There were a few annoying things about the program. The track building was forward-thinking and the only way to change a track is to delete the track pieces after it. Besides that, you can make a coster, ride it, and share the track files. That's the most important aspect of Coaster. You can share a coster file with anyone who has the game.
Ultimate Ride (2001) was the 'follow up' to Coaster from Disney Interactive. There were a few fixes and features added. They fixed the mid-track modification problem. You could make wooden, steel, or camel-back rides. The creation maker benefited from a 3D engine. However, the direction didn't really understand what made Coster a success.
The file sharing was convoluted by creating an internal, closed sharing system. While I'm not opposed to a publisher-run space for sharing, the true rewards of file sharing occurs when the user can break out of the publisher's space. Disney Interactive didn't trust users with creating a community. In all, it wasn't bad, but it could have been better.
Recently, I bought Theme Park (1993/2007) for the DS. This game is different from the Coaster series as it's a park management game. While there's some limited 'create a track' rides, it's mostly about running a theme park. Currently I'm having some money problems with my parks and can't seem to ever get out of debt...
This is actually a direct port of the DOS game with slight modifications for the DS. 'Direct' port because a few of the bugs that plagued the DOS version are still in the game. These bugs are rather debilitating to the game play. Park guest get stuck in the oddest places and can't get out unless you remove and rebuild rides. Display issues and other aspects make the game more laborious than entertaining. I'll stick to ride creation games for now.
Enter these ride operation simulators.
I can't recall of any kind of game that focused on this aspect of theme parks. Instead of how to run the business of a park or how to design a ride, the focus is on the crowd control of a ride. In the Tower of Terror, you have to sort out the crowd flow between two TV rooms that filter into three elevators. There are areas the game can be improved with features and performance issues, but it sets out to do one task and accomplishes. I've played it for hours.
Now I'm considering recreating the game with a better control interface and optimizing performance. I could ask for the original FLA files and work from there, but something not Flash may work better. Yes, this is the kind of things I think about in my day.
If you want to play these titles, here's the link to all of them. For any of you have have the standalone flash player (AKA: Have Flash authorizing software installed), the SWF links allow you to download the file itself which help performance issues.