It’s only a few months before Planet Coaster 2 finally releases on November 6, 2024, but some details about the game still remainder under wraps. What is multiplayer going to be like? Are water parks going to be a big deal? To find out, I interviewed Rich Newbold and Adam Woods, game director and senior executive producer for Planet Coaster 2.
Making Simulation Games at Frontier Development
Frontier Development knows its way around management simulation games. Of course, there’s the successful Planet series, of which Planet Coaster 2 will be the latest installment. However, the company has been making theme park games well before 2017’s Planet Coaster, from RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to Zoo Tycoon.
This expertise came in useful when dealing with the unique technical challenges of the genre, like simulating sprawling but detailed crowds. Rich Newbold told me that the studio has “a rich background” in management simulation games. In particular, he points to the “technical challenges of having a large crowd,” like having both detailed close-ups and a legible bird’s eye view, as some of their strong suits.
“We’ve had a lot of experience in the past of making sure you can get close to these guests and have those ride cameras and you’re watching how excited your guests are when they’re on these rollercoasters.”
On the other hand, those guests are individual actors responsible for many decisions that could make or break your park. It’s not just about detail and legibility. “When you zoom the camera out [we made sure] that the game can handle that many guests walking around your park and all of the intricate management systems and navigation systems and decision making that they’re going through.”
Having the option to zoom in and experience the park at the level of an individual guest is very important to the Planet Coaster community. Customization is a big part of what made the original a success. But you don’t need to import textures and 3D models to make a beautiful park in Planet Coaster 2. You can thank themes for that.
Water Parks and New Themes
Planet Coaster 2 will ship with five themes: classic Planet Coaster, Resort, Aquatic, Vikings, and Mythology. Though this can sound like a random assortment, Frontier took the selection process very seriously. “We explored a wide variety of potential theme content, and we settled on several themes that we felt were very inspiring and very creative for players to build their dream theme parks.”
What sealed the deal on some of the more out-there themes are the water parks. As Newbold puts it, Vikings and Mythology “work really well with water. They’re sympathetic to that water field.” And so is Resort, which is inspired by “that west coast California surf vibe.” That said, no one will force you to make water parks. “Some of these themes also work really well for building theme parks without water in them.”
That is until you get deep enough into Career Mode. Says Adam Woods, “Within Career Mode, that would take a slightly different tone. We’ve got challenges that are really going to encourage the player to really flex all of their knowledge and prowess throughout their career. Sometimes they might be a bit more roller coaster-based or water park-based.”
What exactly there is to be found in Career Mode will remain a mystery until the game’s release on Nov. 6, 2024. What we know for sure is that pools and water-based rides are so varied to make pure water parks viable, if nothing else in Franchise and Sandbox mode.
But water parks aren’t just about wish fulfillment. They can also feed into your economy. On this, Newbold adds that economically speaking, “the water park aspect is making sure that you’ve got the infrastructure in place, like changing rooms so your guests can get changed” and “that they will buy pool passes, so they need to spend money before they get in your pools,” meaning you can “build parks that are just water parks.” A whole new economic system, when compared to the classic theme park scenario of placing the most attractive ride at the end of a road filled with cheap attractions and an overcharged food court.
New Additions and Multiplayer
So, is there anything new in Planet Coaster 2, beyond the water parks and the themes? Newbold and Woods had no hesitation pointing to the new multiplayer Franchise mode. A multiplayer management sim is rare. But while new, Franchise mode might be familiar to Planet Coaster’s most dedicated players.
Newbold describes Franchise mode as “an asynchronous online mode where you can collaborate with other players. You can share your parks in-game and work on different areas of parks you download.” However, this kind of asynchronous collaborative park building was already somewhat present in Planet Coaster 2. According to Newbold, they were inspired by “how the community was sharing its parks and working collaboratively, making those amazing-looking parks.”
Planet Coaster 2 enhances the fan practice of sharing parks via Steam Workshop in two ways. First, Franchise mode takes place inside the game and carries with it “an ecosystem where players can […] collaborate in a franchise and compete against leaderboards against other franchises.” The other major improvement is cross-play. Players can share their parks with any other players, regardless of where they bought their game and whether they play on PC and console.
That’s everything we covered during our Planet Coaster 2 interview. For more news about the game, visit our Planet Coaster 2 page.
Published: Sep 26, 2024 06:13 am