Sinister Springs

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Just as a heads up, I'm not posting anything I've created here yet, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am still working on stuff in Planet Coaster, and I've created this thread today to introduce you all to a park concept I'm working on that I'm very excited about; I would be really keen to hear your thoughts on it.

After I finished Worlds of Globala a few months back, I started to ponder what I should tackle next in Planet Coaster. While I know I'm still working on Newman's Pleasure Gardens, my vintage park (I am working on that too, and more content will hopefully be coming soon from that one), I wanted a different park project to sink my teeth into when I finished Globala. And I thought that an interesting one to try would be an entirely horror-based theme park. It is pushing me out of my comfort zone a bit, as the game doesn't have tons of horror scenery aside from the stuff in the Spooky Pack and I'm not a horror aficionado in the slightest (I've never watched a proper horror film and don't especially like Halloween in the parks), but I feel that there's a gap in the market for a full-on horror park, both in terms of Planet Coaster (I've never seen anyone do one before) and in real life (I can't think of any real-life precedent for this kind of park, off the top of my head), so I thought it might be fun to give it a go. So with that in mind, let me tell you a little bit about my latest Planet Coaster pet project... Sinister Springs, the land where your worst nightmares come alive!

Sinister Springs, as I implied above, will be a horror park, with each area telling a different scary story within the overarching theme of horror. It will very much be a thrill park aimed at older guests, with big roller coasters, as well as some other types of ride (for instance, I'm looking forward to exploring the dark ride possibilities that the horror genre has to offer). I don't know about you, but I think that the theme and subject matter of Sinister Springs would likely put families off straight away by its very nature, so I wasn't sure it was worth targeting families a huge amount.

But you as guests aren't just coming to Sinister Springs for a fun, horror-themed day out, oh no; there's a full backstory as to why you're there in the first place, and it is as follows:

You got up this morning in pursuit of thrill and excitement to spice up your pitiful excuse for a life. In your search, you encountered the most beautiful woman you'd ever seen. Like many before you, you were drawn in by her stunning looks and charming advances. She promised you the thrill and excitement you were seeking.

But little did you know that you'd been yet another to have been lured in by none other than Sinistra; the goddess of horror, the very embodiment of fear and torture itself. And now she's got you under her spell, she's ready to reveal her true colours. In reality, she is an evil temptress who has thrown you head-first into a trap; she wants to play a game with you, and it's your move.

Laying ahead of you are many challenges concocted by Sinistra herself to induce ultimate terror and test even the most hardened adrenaline junkie. Each one tells its own unique story, and contains its own unique traps, with tests of both physical and psychological strength alike laying ahead.

If you brave the challenges ahead and win the game, Sinistra will grant you your life. But if you lose... she will make sure that you rot away like a fly, and become nothing but a memory.

So, it's time to show Sinistra how much you truly value your existence. Live or die... make your choice.

(I know that's pretty heavily inspired by the Saw films, but as I said above, I'm not a horror fan myself, so the one horror film that has a coaster themed to it seemed like a fair source of inspiration...)

So, I hope that's given you all a brief explanation of what Sinister Springs will be, and built the hype a little! While I've got nothing to show off in this post, I will leave you an image showing part of what I've done so far, just to give you a little morsel of what's to come:

While the park (heck, even the initial entrance area I'm starting with) is far from finished, and this is only showing a very small section of the entrance area, this picture gives away more hints than you might expect if you look closely...

So, that's a basic introduction to Sinister Springs, the horror park I've started in Planet Coaster! I apologise for the lack of any actual content in this post (I know you probably don't like that I'm being a tease, so sorry about that...), but I'll admit I'm very excited about the concept and couldn't wait any longer to tell you guys about it; I was very keen to know your thoughts!

In terms of when I'll be posting content from this park; I wouldn't like to put a date on it, especially considering that I'll admit to being in a bit of a creative block in PlanCo at present, but I'm hoping it will be fairly soon that I'll be showing off Sinistra's Lair, the park's entrance area!

What do you guys think? I'd be really keen to know your thoughts on the concept, or any ideas or suggestions you might have for the park!

 

[James F]

Great stuff Matt! I wouldn't be concerned with borrowing ideas from Saw as the whole "play a game/trap" concept has been in hollywood movies long before that and will continue to be. I like the overall idea. It takes me back "Horror Heights" in RCT3.

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[Matt N]

Great stuff Matt! I wouldn't be concerned with borrowing ideas from Saw as the whole "play a game/trap" concept has been in hollywood movies long before that and will continue to be. I like the overall idea. It takes me back "Horror Heights" in RCT3.

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Thanks @Thecoasterrus!

I’ll admit I didn’t exactly have a huge pool of source material to play with, because as I said above, I’m not a horror fan myself. With that in mind, taking a bit of inspiration from Saw The Ride seemed like a logical choice…

Come to think of it, Merlin has produced quite a bit of potential source material for me to use as inspiration if I get stuck… I won’t be ripping off Merlin park themes by any means, but if I ever get stuck for ideas, I could use them for a little bit of inspiration!

 

[Matt N]

Right then; sorry about the long wait, but the first area of Sinister Springs is finally ready! So without further ado, let me welcome you all to… Sinistra’s Lair:

I’ll confess that I struggled a little with this area. The entrance area of a park, regardless of how you tackle it, has to be quite all-encompassing, and effectively has to summarise your entire park in one area. With a thematic archetype as broad as horror, I’ll admit that was quite tough. I opted for a crypt-style building style, with bits such as skeletons and gargoyles around the area, but there are so many other ways I could have tackled it, and I’ll admit that finding stuff to fill the space was quite hard in areas. That’s besides the point, though; I hope you like it!

Now, Sinistra’s Lair has 4 attractions (well, 3 if you amalgamate the 2 that are different experiences of the same ride type together), and they are as follows:

• Sinistra’s Spine-Tingler, an S&S 4th dimension coaster themed as Sinistra's most terrifying torture device. The ride is 237ft tall, reaches 79mph and has 3,751ft of track. The ride’s story is as follows: “Now Sinistra has you under her spell, she’s ready to give you your first physical test. And she feels that her Spine-Tingler is the perfect way to test you. It’s a torture device that provides the ultimate endurance test, separating the strong from the weak… and alas, some are too weak for the Spine-Tingler, but that’s a sacrifice that Sinistra is willing to make. The Spine-Tingler feeds off the flesh of its victims… survive, and prove your true strength, or die trying, and become its next meal. It’s time to show Sinistra how much you can take… live or die, make your choice.”:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

I apologise for the slightly janky track profiling in places... I smoothed it, but those bits wouldn't budge.

• Sinistra’s Hellraiser, an S&S Screamin’ Swing. The ride is themed as a torture device giving you a taste of hell, and has a timed special effects sequence, including fire, water and smoke. Hellraiser’s story is as follows: "Hell is a terrible place... you'll be headed there if you lose the game, so Sinistra feels as though she may as well give you a taste of it. Her Hellraiser is the perfect device; it offers a taste of hell you won't forget anytime soon. That should be enough to scare you into submission...":

• Sinistra's Horror Crypt, a duo of drop tower dark rides. The storyline for the whole ride is as follows: "Sinistra may have tested you physically, but you still need a psychological test. When you enter the Horror Crypt, Sinistra has two terrifying tales up her sleeves to put you directly into, and your job is to escape them alive. Good luck, mortals...". I know that the previous drop tower dark ride I did, Doomsday Temple, only had one tower, but I decided to go for two here, as I later discovered that the throughput of one tower was only around 500-600pph... here, I decided to go for two towers, with each offering a different experience, to increase both throughput and rerideability:

• I'll introduce each of the two Horror Crypt towers separately, as each has its own separate storyline and POV.
• The first tower is Drop Dead. The storyline of Drop Dead is: "You have been invited on a ghost hunt at the house of Dr Derek Von Doom, a scientist experimenting with the dead. Will you find more than you'd bargained for? Or worse, become his next test subjects?". Here's the POV:

• The second tower is Terrorestrial. The storyline of Terrorestrial is: "It's 2089, and you've been summoned to the lair of Zorgor, a hostile alien... will you survive the encounter of a lifetime?". Here's the POV:

P.S. Horror Crypt POVs contain strobe lighting
That's all the attractions in Sinistra's Lair. But the area also has various amenities, which I decided to give some thematically fitting names. Conventional names like "Box Office" and "Souvenirs" aren't the name of the game here; in Sinister Springs, all of the information stands will be named Clues for Survival, all of the drink stands will be named Bloodbath, and the park's main gift shop is called Sinistra's Scars. There is also a buffet restaurant named Sinistra's Banquet. Here's one of the facility buildings I did:

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

As well as an area overview video:

I apologise for the slightly plain area surroundings at present... I'm going to jazz up the edges of the park a bit more when I've completed the entire park, so that is still a work in progress at present.

So, I hope you like Sinistra's Lair! I would appreciate any constructive feedback, and I hope to be back with more Sinister Springs content, or content from a different park, within a much quicker timeframe than my last break (7 months since I finished Globala... sorry about that)!

 

[James F]

Looking good! It's giving me Shutter Island vibes.