RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 - Alpine Adventures

Another one of my passions is to create and design theme parks in games like RollerCoaster Tycoon 2, or RCT2 for short. I am aware of other theme park simulation games out there, but none can compare to RCT2. If I've been good and Santa gets me a nice desktop or laptop, I would be playing Planet Coaster. Until then, it's RCT2 for now.

These screenshots below show how I took one of their scenarios, Alpine Adventures, into the thriving theme park I have now.


This is Alpine Adventures, when you first start off. You get a mountainous winter wonderland of possibilities. You start off with this zig-zag path leading to an old ski lift that takes you to the top of one of the peaks.


After several years in game time, I have turned this empty looking entrance to this:


Lots of change happened between the two. First off, lifting the terrain to the highest possible allowed point (pictured above at the lower right corner.) I have added several more ski lifts to take you to several of the themed areas in the park. The first ski lift near at the entrance takes you to Olympic Village. The headline attraction is the bobsled coaster called "Time Trial Run", which can be accessed from the lower level of the ski lift complex at the top. The rest of the attractions here are all themed to what life would be like as an Olympian training for the Winter Olympics.

If you take the zig zag path inwards, you'll find Valley Village, home to the wooden coaster, "Shiver Me Timbers." The rest of the attractions here are generic carnival rides and shops and stalls to help generate revenue while I am playing to complete the challenge. In the center, is Frigid Lake with "Dizzy Ice Mice" spinning wild mouse coaster. Further up the path is the original ski lift inside a new ski lift complex, still going to its original destination.

After I have completed the challenge, this view changes over the next 10 years . . .



Frigid Lake was just too cold of an area to have any park, so it got torn down. I also didn't like the cheap look and feel of the carnival area towards the front, so I tore that down too. I extended the theme of rustic alpine village out past the entrance ski lift complex, and filled in a section of the valley to create a lake that is twice the size of Frigid Lake, called Crescent Lake. The big attraction here, is "Ice Road Truckers" where you take a monster truck up and around a treacherous mountain-side path. Several activities on and around the lake keep this area thriving. I have also built a new ski lift complex and re-routed the lower sections of both routes. There is also a suspended monorail system to link you to a couple other sections of the park that aren't as accessible from the ski lifts. (This gives me a way to work on a new section of the park!)



Here's a closer up look of Olympic Village. There is a second coaster on the bottom left called "Abandoned Ski Lift" that has mysteriously been turned back on for the most daring adventurers. This is an inverted hairpin coaster that takes you on a wild ride up and down through land that the Olympic Committee deemed as "too haunted." You may soon regret getting on this ski lift and finding out why they have abandoned it for over 10 years.



One of the things I challenge myself while playing the game, is trying to preserve the original attractions from when you first start this challenge. I took the top half of the original ski lift, and turned that into a destination. What secret things do you think await you when you take a ride on, "Chairlift 51?" When you get off at the top, you stumble upon what looks like some military/government installation. You can take the elevator down and see what secret tests happen every day inside this unknown location.



If we turn off the ground layer, we see all that's hidden underneath this mountain. The headline attraction here, is "Test Subject #57," where the coaster subjects you to several tests of speed and daring maneuvers. What exactly are they testing? No telling, but it sure makes for a great thrilling ride! Other attractions include go karts, mini golf, zero G spinners, and the elevator to take you back to the top.

Also hidden underground, is a series of paths. In an ideal park, I wouldn't have a network of boring underground paths that you as a park guest would use. Unfortunately, the park guest AI needs to have these paths, as not everyone utilizes the convenient park transportation. Speaking of park transportation, where does that other ski lift go to?



Wait sec, what is this lush green land in the middle of this alpine mountain range? It's Neverland! Yes, the same Neverland from the Peter Pan stories you've probably heard of. There are two head lining attractions here, "Pan" and "Hook." Pan is a flying coaster (where you are flying like Superman) that takes you on a quick fly over the land, and Hook is a vertical drop coaster that makes 2 high speed drops at 90 degrees. Other attractions include Indian Canoes, Lost Boys River Rapids, The Jolly Rodger, and Jolly Rodger Splash!



I hope you have enjoyed a tour through one of my favorite parks I have built, Alpine Adventures. Please be sure to collect all personal belongings, take small children by the hand, and watch your head and step as you disembark. Don't forget to stop by the photo booth to purchase your commemorative souvenir photo of your experience here, at Alpine Adventures!

Oh my word! What a piece of work!! Visually it is simply stunning. I have no idea how you did it. Any tutorials in the pipeline?

johnr wrote:Oh my word! What a piece of work!! Visually it is simply stunning. I have no idea how you did it. Any tutorials in the pipeline?

Thanks John! Do you have RCT2 as well? There are plenty of videos on youtube where you can get an idea of how the game play is like. It is up to you as the park owner on what to make and how to make it. For me, I think about what makes my favorite theme parks so great. Things like, theming, rides used, spacing of rides, walking path positioning, etc. 

Overall, I think of how each item is positioned in the whole layout of the park, so that everything flows well together from one thing to the next, with no dead spaces. For example, think about having to walk across a large parking lot, with two exciting shopping malls on either end. The walk across the parking lot doesn't sound all that fun, and probably feels longer than what the actual distance is. Now, lets assume that a traveling carnival is in town, filling up this empty lot. The walk from one end to the other doesn't seem as bad now, with all these exciting distractions that keep your mind off of how much you're actually walking.

The park guest AI, known as "Peeps" tell you everything you need to know about how your park is doing, as a whole. You can see what everyone is doing all at once, or what they're thinking. They can think things like "I need to go to the bathroom." or "I'm hungry", "I'm tired", "I'm sick" or " [ride name] is really good value!" You can even check out what one peep has done since they have entered your park, what rides they've ridden on, what they've purchased, what is their ride tolerance levels, etc. Based off all this data, you operate your park to make your guests happy. In other words, the customer, or guest, is always right.

Here's a video of the first scenario of RCT, which plays nearly the same as RCT2 minus a few upgrades here and there. This will give you a good idea of how playing RCT2 is like.