Worlds of Globala

[Matt N]

Hi guys. With this lockdown barricading us all inside our houses, a rather positive side effect of the lockdown is that when I'm not doing schoolwork, I've had far more time to do things I want to do, such as play Planet Coaster.

So for the past month or so, I've been working on a world-themed park that I've named Worlds of Globala. So far, I've managed to build an entrance area, which I'll be showing off in this post, and 4 countries, which will come later. This lockdown has also meant that my rate of construction is much faster than usual; I've opened about half the map in about 20% of the time it would normally take me, and I also feel that I've managed to pull off a better quality park than some of my past ones, so it's a win-win situation!

So, without further ado, may I welcome you all to the park entrance area; Explorer's Plaza:

Here's a little close-up view of the entrance to the park:

Now, the large structure you see looming over the entrance area is Hotel Globala. I was inspired somewhat by Disneyland Paris in having a hotel above the entrance, but the building itself is actually more inspired by the Alton Towers Hotel. This is actually a functioning hotel, with 94 rooms in total (79 standard, 15 luxury). Standard rooms are currently £30 and luxury rooms are currently £60; people don't seem to be complaining, so I assume that's an OK price, especially considering the hotel has quite a high prestige rating and many perks. The seating areas you see outside and on the roof of the building are unfortunately not accessible to guests; they are just for show.

I should probably move on to the attractions now, then! In terms of rides in this area, there is:

• Explorer's Flight, a Waveswinger with water jets; these were somewhat inspired by the likes of Monkey Swinger at Chessington and Phantasialand's waveswinger:

• Global Revolution, a carousel:

• The initial station for Globetrotter, a monorail ride that will run around the entire park and have stations in various different countries when it's complete; I probably won't open it until the park is complete, or at least until the area with the final station in it is completed. This is held inside the large structure you see at the end of the street.
• The initial boarding point for Globala Lake Cruises, a boat ride that takes guests across the park's large central lake to the area on the other side (will be revealed at a later date...) and offers views of the different countries:

I did also take a photo of what the area looks like from guest level, looking up towards the end of the street:

There aren't really that many rides in this area, but it's more intended to ease you into the park, with various different restaurants and facilities. I intentionally built the buildings in the area quite high so as to hide the rest of the park, so there's a lovely (in my opinion) grand reveal once you exit the main street portion of the area:

I did also capture a video to show off the area (I apologise in advance, as it's perhaps the most abysmal in-game capture footage I've ever seen, but I hope it shows off the area OK):

This video may or may not offer some slight spoilers of things to come... also, I have used the Islands of Adventure entry music, but YouTube didn't seem to mind.

So, I hope you all enjoyed this little snapshot of the first area of Worlds of Globala. I have built and opened 4 countries, so I'll go through and dedicate a post to each of them tomorrow, as it's getting quite late now.

 

[Matt N]

My apologies; I completely forgot to update this! Later today, I will upload some shots of the first country for you; I just got carried away over the last week or so!

 

[Matt N]

Right then; after an extended wait, which I again apologise for, I am ready to show you all the first country of Worlds of Globala. And it's one that many on this forum are particularly familiar with. Welcome, one and all, to Great Britain:

Now, I've gone for a castle-style architecture with this area, with some Victorian-style buildings as well. In terms of rides, there are 4 in this area, and they are as follows:

• Royal Tea Party, a teacups ride. This is Britain; there had to be something to do with tea in there somewhere! This is themed as though you're attending a typical British garden party, with lots of landscaping and various types of biscuits and sweets assorted around the queue:

• Britannia Tours, a car ride. This ride is supposed to be themed as though you are taking a taxi tour past various London landmarks; I'm not sure how accurate they are, but the various theming pieces on the ride are supposed to be the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye (the waterwheel was the closest small theming item I could find to a ferris wheel!). Each theming item also triggers some effects as you drive past:

As Britannia Tours is a tracked ride with triggered effects, I thought that it would be best appreciated in video form, so here is a POV I captured:

• The next ride is The Rack, a double inverter-style attraction. This is themed as a Medieval torture device:

• The final ride in the area, and what I'd probably say is the main attraction, is The Tales of Arthuria, a dark water ride similar in style to Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. Now I must confess that dark rides are not my strong suit in Planet Coaster, so I'm not sure how good this ride is in comparison to other dark rides you've seen, but I did add theming & triggered effects until ride scenery was listed as "Very High" and queue scenery as "100%", so it's clearly good in the game's eyes. The ride has various effects and Medieval theming pieces throughout, and it does also feature a drop, which I think is about 20ft high from memory, but don't quote me on that. Have a few pictures of the building exterior and queue:

Like with Britannia Tours, I felt that the attraction itself would be better showcased in video form, so here is a POV:

So, those are the rides in the British area! However, it's not only rides on offer; here's a picture of two of the buildings I installed. Now I must confess; unlike the rest of the area, which I built myself, these are blueprints from Frontier that I thought would fit nicely. The left building holds a Sugary Emporium outlet and the right building holds Britannia Bites, the area's main restaurant:

I should point out that one thing I would like to do in each country is to have it serve that country's native cuisine, so for example, Britannia Bites serves British food. I thought that this would add to the authenticity of the park's theming somewhat.

One thing I also wanted to do was to have some more secluded areas in each country, so here's a little alleyway I built that just has a few facilities in it:

Finally, have an aerial view of the entire area, as well as a video overview I filmed:

So there you have it, the first country in our global adventure here at Worlds of Globala! I hope you like my take on Great Britain, and I will hopefully show you the next country in a day or two's time, which you can see a few hints towards what it entails in a few of the pictures and videos! I'd also like to think that my video capture skills have improved a little since I showed you the entrance area, but I must admit I'm not too sure!

So, I hope you like Great Britain, and look out for the next country within the next day or two!

 

[Kw6sTheater]

Right then; after an extended wait, which I again apologise for, I am ready to show you all the first country of Worlds of Globala. And it's one that many on this forum are particularly familiar with. Welcome, one and all, to Great Britain:

Now, I've gone for a castle-style architecture with this area, with some Victorian-style buildings as well. In terms of rides, there are 4 in this area, and they are as follows:

• Royal Tea Party, a teacups ride. This is Britain; there had to be something to do with tea in there somewhere! This is themed as though you're attending a typical British garden party, with lots of landscaping and various types of biscuits and sweets assorted around the queue:

• Britannia Tours, a car ride. This ride is supposed to be themed as though you are taking a taxi tour past various London landmarks; I'm not sure how accurate they are, but the various theming pieces on the ride are supposed to be the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye (the waterwheel was the closest small theming item I could find to a ferris wheel!). Each theming item also triggers some effects as you drive past:

As Britannia Tours is a tracked ride with triggered effects, I thought that it would be best appreciated in video form, so here is a POV I captured:

• The next ride is The Rack, a double inverter-style attraction. This is themed as a Medieval torture device:

• The final ride in the area, and what I'd probably say is the main attraction, is The Tales of Arthuria, a dark water ride similar in style to Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. Now I must confess that dark rides are not my strong suit in Planet Coaster, so I'm not sure how good this ride is in comparison to other dark rides you've seen, but I did add theming & triggered effects until ride scenery was listed as "Very High" and queue scenery as "100%", so it's clearly good in the game's eyes. The ride has various effects and Medieval theming pieces throughout, and it does also feature a drop, which I think is about 20ft high from memory, but don't quote me on that. Have a few pictures of the building exterior and queue:

Like with Britannia Tours, I felt that the attraction itself would be better showcased in video form, so here is a POV:

So, those are the rides in the British area! However, it's not only rides on offer; here's a picture of two of the buildings I installed. Now I must confess; unlike the rest of the area, which I built myself, these are blueprints from Frontier that I thought would fit nicely. The left building holds a Sugary Emporium outlet and the right building holds Britannia Bites, the area's main restaurant:

I should point out that one thing I would like to do in each country is to have it serve that country's native cuisine, so for example, Britannia Bites serves British food. I thought that this would add to the authenticity of the park's theming somewhat.

One thing I also wanted to do was to have some more secluded areas in each country, so here's a little alleyway I built that just has a few facilities in it:

Finally, have an aerial view of the entire area, as well as a video overview I filmed:

So there you have it, the first country in our global adventure here at Worlds of Globala! I hope you like my take on Great Britain, and I will hopefully show you the next country in a day or two's time, which you can see a few hints towards what it entails in a few of the pictures and videos! I'd also like to think that my video capture skills have improved a little since I showed you the entrance area, but I must admit I'm not too sure!

So, I hope you like Great Britain, and look out for the next country within the next day or two!

I like how Great Britain sort of feels like a giant garden with the buildings surrounding a low, garden foliage-filled area. The organization gives the place a tidy, well-kept and manmade look. I can't help but wonder, though; did you consider doing a Medieval Britain subsection to isolate The Rack & The Tales of Arthuria from the other two rides to represent the time difference? I think this effect could be achieved by creating a castle wall between The Rack and Royal Tea Party, having a gated entrance on the path to mark the entrance into the medieval subsection, and extending said castle wall alongside Britannia Tours to connect it to The Tales of Arthuria's show building. But regardless, I'm grateful whenever someone shares their creations in here, and I can't wait to see more of Worlds of Globala!

 

[Matt N]

I like how Great Britain sort of feels like a giant garden with the buildings surrounding a low, garden foliage-filled area. The organization gives the place a tidy, well-kept and manmade look. I can't help but wonder, though; did you consider doing a Medieval Britain subsection to isolate The Rack & The Tales of Arthuria from the other two rides to represent the time difference? I think this effect could be achieved by creating a castle wall between The Rack and Royal Tea Party, having a gated entrance on the path to mark the entrance into the medieval subsection, and extending said castle wall alongside Britannia Tours to connect it to The Tales of Arthuria's show building. But regardless, I'm grateful whenever someone shares their creations in here, and I can't wait to see more of Worlds of Globala!

I did actually consider doing a big castle wall with a big courtyard with the two Medieval-themed rides enclosed within it along with a few facilities, and I did actually start building it, but I wasn’t sure if it would fit once I’d started building it, so in the end, I opted for the style I went for. It’s a really nice idea, though, and one that I actually thought of myself initially!

As I show you the rest of the areas, one thing I’d like to emphasise is that even though I like to think of Worlds of Globala as a themed park, landscaping actually plays a pretty major role in the park’s scenery; I was somewhat inspired by Epcot in this regard, as I absolutely loved the gorgeous landscaping and buildings in the World Showcase section, as well as other theme parks like Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

 

[Kw6sTheater]

I did actually consider doing a big castle wall with a big courtyard with the two Medieval-themed rides enclosed within it along with a few facilities, and I did actually start building it, but I wasn’t sure if it would fit once I’d started building it, so in the end, I opted for the style I went for. It’s a really nice idea, though, and one that I actually thought of myself initially!

As I show you the rest of the areas, one thing I’d like to emphasise is that even though I like to think of Worlds of Globala as a themed park, landscaping actually plays a pretty major role in the park’s scenery; I was somewhat inspired by Epcot in this regard, as I absolutely loved the gorgeous landscaping and buildings in the World Showcase section, as well as other theme parks like Busch Gardens Williamsburg!

I can attest - having visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg, the extensive, rugged terrain and landscaping gives it a very distinct feel from nearly every other park I've visited, except for maybe Knoebels (since it's located in a valley surrounded by 300 foot tall hills) or Kings Island (since it's also very forested, but unlike Busch Gardens Williamsburg the forested, hilly parts are along the edge of the park).

 

[Matt N]

Greetings once again, globetrotters! The 2nd country of Worlds of Globala is now ready for me to show, so without further ado, I would like to welcome you all to Spain:

Now, this area has many Mediterranean-style buildings of different colours; buildings are far more heavily used in Spain than in Britain. However, the onus on landscaping also remains, with some areas having a bit of a jungle-type feel to them! In terms of rides, Spain has 6 rides on offer, including the park's first 2 roller coasters. The rides in Spain are as follows:

• La Corrida (Spanish for "The Run" or "The Bullrun"), a GCI wooden coaster. In terms of stats, the ride is 121ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 52mph and has 3,670ft of track, with various banked turns, drops and moments of airtime throughout. I did base the layout off of Wodan at Europa Park in a sense, in terms of how it starts off with a high element and then stays low-to-the-ground for the rest of the ride. In terms of theme, the ride is themed as though you have been invited to experience a classic Spanish bullrun and have the opportunity to ride on a bull, and I've put various triggered effects and buildings throughout the ride area:

Also, have a POV and some cinematic shots that I filmed of the ride:

• El Torito (Spanish for "The Little Bull" or "Bull Junior". Well, something along those lines, anyway.), a smaller GCI wooden coaster targeted towards the younger families. This coaster is 42ft tall, reaches speeds of 35mph and has 1,152ft of track, and it interacts heavily with La Corrida. In terms of theme, it's very similar to that of La Corrida, but obviously aimed at younger guests. I must apologise for the photos of El Torito, as I must admit that it's quite a hard ride to photograph:

Again, I filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• The Spanish Armada, a pirate ship. As the name implies, this ride is themed around the Spanish Armada, and it gave me a good opportunity to use some of the Pirate theming in the game. In the shot below, you can also see El Restaurante Soleado, the area's main restaurant:

• Costa del Sol Splash Tours, a small log flume. This ride is around 21ft high, and has one drop. It's themed as though you're taking a relaxing boat tour of the Spanish coastline, but in typical theme park fashion, something goes wrong! Things start to look fishy when you see smoke, fire and a wrecked tour boat in front of you, and you later discover that there are sharks living in the water. The sharks then appear and briefly attack, but you are taken to safety in the nick of time:

I also filmed a POV:

• Sombrero Salsa, a Polyp-style ride. As the name implies, this attraction is themed to the classic Spanish Salsa dance:

• Flippin' Flamenco, an Intamin Tourbillon themed to another classic Spanish dance, the Flamenco. In this shot, you can also see that I included another secluded alleyway with some facilities in it like I did in Britain; I aim to include some more relaxing areas as well as places with loads of rides:

That just about covers it in terms of rides, but I did also capture an aerial view of the entire area:

As well as a video overview:

So, I hope you guys like Spain! I'm really glad to see that you seemed to like Great Britain, on the whole, so I hope you like Spain too! I hope that I can upload the next country tomorrow; I have actually completed 4 countries and partially opened a 5th thus far, so I've got plenty left to show off yet! I've looked on the map, and I've calculated that I could be able to fit 7 or 8 countries on the map by the time the park's complete.

 

[Matt N]

I hope you're ready for adventure, globetrotters, because the 3rd country at Worlds of Globala is now ready for me to showcase, and it's our first country outside of Europe! So without further ado, may I give you all a very warm welcome to Morocco:

Now, this area has almost an adventure-type vibe to it, with a focus on landscaping and buildings like the other areas, however I also used quite a few items from the Adventure pack as well as quite a bit of rockwork in Morocco. In terms of rides, the area contains 4 rides in total, as well as the 2nd station of the park's Globetrotter monorail system, although I won't go into too much detail regarding that as I haven't actually opened it yet. So, without further ado, the area rides are as follows:

• Black Mamba, an Intamin LSM Launch Coaster with 2 launches, one to 60mph and the other to 80mph. The ride stands at 203ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 80mph on that second launch and has 5,932ft of track, as well a top hat (the point where it hits that maximum 203ft height), and 3 inversions; a vertical loop and 2 zero-g stalls. I was inspired by Taron at Phantasialand in terms of the style of ride I wanted to go for (so in that sense, I've drawn inspiration from 2 Phantasialand rides in one, what with the name!), although I also drew inspiration from Taiga at Linnanmaki in a few places as well, namely the top hat and drawn out zero-g stalls. I must admit I think I may have made the final 2 or 3 elements a touch too intense:

I did also film a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Moroccan Queen River Expedition, a rapids ride themed around a river rafting expedition through the Moroccan desert. The ride contains a few animatronics, various water effects and a drop of around 30ft:

I also filmed a POV:

• Serpent's Sky School, a Zamperla Air Race themed around an explorer teaching you how to fly a plane:

• Casablanca Flyers, a kiddie balloon ride themed as a relaxing hot air balloon flight over Morocco:

That just about covers it in terms of rides, but as with every area, I've included some more relaxing areas, as well as a restaurant serving Moroccan food named The Marakesh. I also took the usual aerial view of the area:

As well as a video overview:

So, I hope you all like Morocco! I should be able to show you all the park's 4th country tomorrow (which you probably caught a few fleeting glimpses of in my pictures and videos of Morocco; my secrecy is not the best in this game!)

 

[Benenen]

Great stuff Matt. That last overview shot looks lovely, I like the way the coaster interacts with the rockwork tunnel then threads the loop with the deck area, that's some good verticality.

Looking forward to seeing your other countries.

 

[Matt N]

Great stuff Matt. That last overview shot looks lovely, I like the way the coaster interacts with the rockwork tunnel then threads the loop with the deck area, that's some good verticality.

Looking forward to seeing your other countries.

Thanks @Benenen! I put that bit in for a nice bit of plaza interaction for non-riders; as John Wardley says, theme park designers are entertainers who strive to entertain the maximum amount of people they can, even non-riders, so you’ll notice in some of my other countries that most of my roller coasters have some form of plaza interaction for non-riders! Although as you say, I do find the design of that bit very satisfying to the eye!

Speaking of other countries, country number 4 should be online later depending on my upload speed! I’ve filmed videos for it and taken some capture shots, so it’s ready to go provided I can get them uploaded by this evening!

 

[Matt N]

We meet again, globetrotters, for the 4th country of Worlds of Globala is on the horizon! And for this one, we're jumping across the Atlantic Ocean to an expansive land of liberty; welcome one and all to the USA:

Now, there are many different theming routes I considered taking for the USA, however the style I ultimately opted for was a New York City-style theme, with lots of skyscrapers, city theming and landscaping throughout, with quite a few items from the Studios pack coming in handy. Some of the rides take a more central city theme, whereas others have a park-style theme and take on a more general USA theme. In terms of rides, this is the park's largest country, with 7 rides on offer in total. They are as follows:

• Skyline Screamer, a B&M hyper coaster that is currently the tallest and fastest coaster in the park (and it will probably remain that way, as I don't have any larger coasters than it in mind for the future). In terms of stats, the ride stands at 250ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 83mph and has 5,537ft of track, and its layout has plenty of airtime and thrills throughout, while also speeding through a bustling city landscape, with various pieces of theming scattered about, huge skyscrapers and effects! In terms of the theming for this ride, I actually got quite heavy inspiration from the Manhattan Express in Las Vegas, with the huge skyscrapers that the ride intertwines its way through:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Empire State Thriller, an Intamin gyro drop tower. This is the tallest ride in the park; I built a coaster station next to the top of the tower to see how tall it was, and it's 332ft tall! You can also see Sunnyside Diner, a restaurant themed as a diner that sells quite simple American food:

• Washington's Dipper, a family coaster. This is just meant to be a nice relaxing family ride through some nice landscaping, and in terms of stats, it's 33ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 27mph and has 827ft of track, and it also does 2 laps of this track in total:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Central Park Tornado Chaser, a Zamperla Disk'O Coaster themed around a group of scientists who have noticed strange weather occurrences in New York, and have set up shop in Central Park to investigate:

• Wagon Wheel, a mini ferris wheel:

• Liberty Flyers, a flying scooters ride:

• Great American Auto-Rama, a dodgems ride themed as though you have been invited to test drive some classic American cars:

That just about covers everything in terms of area rides, however the area also features the 3rd station of the Globetrotter monorail system as well as the other station for Globala Lake Cruises:

There are also numerous relaxing city street areas within this country in order to add to that New York-style vibe, as well as a more upmarket American restaurant named The Skyliner:

Another thing that makes the USA unique that I'd like to show you all is that it's my first country for which I've really put a focus on nighttime lighting; I intend to focus on this more in future areas and go through and add lighting to my earlier areas once I've finished the park:

And finally, as with every country I've built, here's an aerial view:

As well as a video overview:

So, that's the USA! I really hope you like it! I'll say now, though; it could be a while before I upload the next country, as I haven't actually finished it yet. Parts of it are completed and open, but I don't really want to show it until it's complete.

 

[Hixee]

This is all great - ambitious, but looks like it's coming together nicely. Better than anything I'd be able to create, I'm sure.

Quick question - the POV videos are very slow to play for me (like, <10fps), is it just me? Or is it a hang-up of how Planet Coaster records footage? Back in the days of RCT3, it would record at an awful framerate, but playback would actually be fine.

 

[Matt N]

Thanks @Hixee!

I admit the FPS are not fantastic at this point, but that tends to come when you build larger parks; Planet Coaster is a game that really puts your computer through its paces when you have a large park, and even though I personally still find the current frame rates playable, I think I must just have very low standards, as even though I still find <10FPS perfectly fine to play, most tech geeks seem to see anything below 30FPS as “unplayable”, so I dread to think of what they’d think upon seeing my park! If you look closely, I have actually activated an FPS counter, and I must admit, I was quite shocked at how low my FPS were, as it’s always looked fine to me!

I’ve already put an attendance cap of 10,000 on the park, but I may well reduce this if need be later on.

 

[Matt N]

I do apologise about how long it’s been since I uploaded the last country; just to give you all an update, I’m not far off completing country number 5, and with substantially less distance learning to do over half term, I’m hoping I can get it to you by the start of next week at the latest! The main reason I’d say it’s taking so long is because it’s another relatively large country, and without giving too much away, one of the attractions within it is probably the most complex attraction I’ve ever built in Planet Coaster, so that is proving quite challenging and time-consuming! I’ve also looked at the map I have left, and by my calculations, I could probably fit another 3 countries on the map, giving the park 8 countries in total.

Again, I apologise for the long delay in finishing the 5th country, and I hope it will be worth the wait for you guys!

Also, @Hixee, I may have identified the reason for such low FPS in my last upload; as it turns out, I forgot to impose the attendance cap, and there were nearly 14,000 guests in the park! As such, I then closed the park and evicted all the guests before reopening it with an attendance cap of 5,000, and I am managing to eke slightly higher frame rates out of it now! I think they’re quite good now, but if they get too low for you again, please do tell me and I’ll see what I can do!

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Matt... This park is great, I’ve only just started playing during lockdown, and I am so far off producing anything this creative, it’s brilliant.

You need to upgrade your rig dude, FPS is really bad, with a good rig and your imagination you could really build on this skill you’re developing. What are your PC specs?

 

[Benenen]

Take your time mate and enjoy building it, no need to worry about getting the updates out thick and fast for us lot. Excited to see what you make next.

 

[Matt N]

Matt... This park is great, I’ve only just started playing during lockdown, and I am so far off producing anything this creative, it’s brilliant.

You need to upgrade your rig dude, FPS is really bad, with a good rig and your imagination you could really build on this skill you’re developing. What are your PC specs?

Thanks very much @Nicky Borrill! Trust me, Planet Coaster is something that takes a lot of time and effort to get right, and I certainly didn’t get it right first time; my very first big park took me 9 months to build, and looking back, some of my earliest attractions looked very sparse and just lacked a certain shine in comparison to Worlds of Globala, if you ask me! I’m very glad you like the park, and I wish you all the best with your own creations!

As for my PC; it’s a gaming laptop that I bought back in July 2017 with the specific intention of playing Planet Coaster, and I spent just over £1,000 on it at the time! In terms of my laptop’s exact specs, I just ran a DirectX Diagnostic on it, and it is as follows:

• Manufacturer: Dell
• Model: Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ clocked at 2.8GHz, with a Turbo Boost mode capable of reaching 3.8GHz
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of dedicated VRAM

When I was searching for a laptop capable of playing Planet Coaster, my key goal was to find the cheapest thing I could find that met the “Recommended” system requirements (not just the “Minimum”; I purposely searched for “Recommended”, as I wanted it to run well). Personally, the FPS at the moment don’t bother me (but I think my standards are just very low compared to most), and as I said to @Hixee above, I have done things since the last post in terms of the game settings with the intention of improving FPS, and there’s definitely more I could do if need be.

 

[Nicky Borrill]

Thanks very much @Nicky Borrill! Trust me, Planet Coaster is something that takes a lot of time and effort to get right, and I certainly didn’t get it right first time; my very first big park took me 9 months to build, and looking back, some of my earliest attractions looked very sparse and just lacked a certain shine in comparison to Worlds of Globala, if you ask me! I’m very glad you like the park, and I wish you all the best with your own creations!

As for my PC; it’s a gaming laptop that I bought back in July 2017 with the specific intention of playing Planet Coaster, and I spent just over £1,000 on it at the time! In terms of my laptop’s exact specs, I just ran a DirectX Diagnostic on it, and it is as follows:

• Manufacturer: Dell
• Model: Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming
• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700HQ clocked at 2.8GHz, with a Turbo Boost mode capable of reaching 3.8GHz
• RAM: 16GB
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with 4GB of dedicated VRAM

When I was searching for a laptop capable of playing Planet Coaster, my key goal was to find the cheapest thing I could find that met the “Recommended” system requirements (not just the “Minimum”; I purposely searched for “Recommended”, as I wanted it to run well). Personally, the FPS at the moment don’t bother me (but I think my standards are just very low compared to most), and as I said to @Hixee above, I have done things since the last post in terms of the game settings with the intention of improving FPS, and there’s definitely more I could do if need be.

That’s a fairly good spec, and being a laptop, not really a great deal you could do easily to upgrade it :/ I get a crazily higher frame rate, with an intricate and detailed full park downloaded from the workshop... And my specs are not that dissimilar to yours..

Ryzen 3600 (6 x 4.2ghz) (Benchmarks at 39% higher average, 21% higher effective speed)
16gb 3200mhz (Same... Depending on your speed)
GTX 1660 6gb (Benchmarks at 105% higher average, 99% higher effective speed)

So it’s a real shame it’s a laptop, because it looks like you could have got a huge jump in performance with a simple swap to a new £200 gfx card if you had a desktop... But swapping cards on a laptop is difficult to impossible...

Anyway, I’m ruining your great thread here, sorry... Back on topic...

I have only created one park myself so far, and it wasn’t great :/ but I was trying to learn the game really. Then I got stuck into playing the Valorant Beta, it’s really good fun. I will get back on Planet Coaster this week ?

BTW I really love what you did with Black Mamba, some great interactions, and a solid mixture of elements, though I’m not set on the hangtime, I like the fact it’s there, to add variety. I like the GCI too, you managed to create that classic GCI twistiness, with a shed load of airtime... That’s what separates the good GCI from the bad imo.

 

[Matt N]

In terms of my PC, I discovered that my graphics drivers apparently haven’t been updated since 2018, so maybe that’s the issue? As such, I’m now trying to make an NVIDIA account so as I can update my graphics drivers! Although as I said, the FPS don’t personally bother me; I’m more trying to improve them to give you guys better quality videos!

I’m also glad you like some of my coasters! There are plenty more to come!

 

[Matt N]

Right then, globetrotters; who's ready for some more global exploration? Because the 5th country of Worlds of Globala is now on the horizon and ready for me to show off! So, without further ado, may I give you all a very warm welcome to China:

Now, China is quite a large country again, with 6 rides on offer in total. They are as follows:

• Inferna, a B&M inverted coaster that is 154ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 62mph and has 4,035ft of track. The ride contains 6 inversions; a dive loop, two vertical loops, a cobra roll and a corkscrew. I also tried to put in a few little pockets of airtime, as well as triggered effects, near misses with theming and interaction with the area, as well as a Nemesis Inferno-inspired pre-lift section. In terms of theme, it's themed as though you are riding on a fire dragon named Inferna:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Flight of the Fire Dragon, a B&M family inverted coaster that is 73ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 40mph and has 1,736ft of track. The ride contains various different drops, helices and turns, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out as far as family coasters go! In terms of theme, it has a very similar theme to Inferna:

I also filmed a POV and some cinematic shots:

• Fire Dragon's First Breath, a kiddie coaster that is 17ft tall, reaches a maximum speed of 16mph and has 487ft of track, although the ride does two laps, so traverses 974ft of track in total. I admit that the layout isn't the greatest, but this ride was very much intended for the very smallest guests, and I found it quite hard to build a layout that made it the entire way round on that sort of scale. The ride is themed around riding a baby fire dragon; I admit that my coaster storylines are not the most creative in this country:

I also filmed a POV and cinematic shots, although I merged them into one video for this ride as it does two laps:

• Force of Feng Shui, a pendulum ride themed around the Chinese belief of feng shui, which is apparently the belief of making you at one with your surroundings. This ride does also contain some triggered fire and water effects during the cycle, but I'm not sure whether they're shown in any of the videos:

• Boating in Beijing, a small family boat ride themed as though you are taking a sedate cruise around some Chinese sights. The ride is 839ft long and contains various triggered effects and pieces of Chinese-themed scenery; think of it sort of like the Chinese equivalent of Britannia Tours, but replace taxis with boat cruises and make the "sights" less specific and you've got the idea:

I also filmed a POV:

• Now, I've purposely saved the ride that I'm personally most impressed with in this area until last, as I feel that it is potentially the most complex attraction I've ever built in Planet Coaster, and it is also the ride in the park with the highest Prestige rating according to the game. I have tried various times to build this ride type, but this is the first time I've ever succeeded in finishing one. So, without further ado, may I present Zodiac Palace, a trackless dark ride. This dark ride is 1,995ft long, lasts just over 5 minutes (according to the game) and has 33 different trigger points, with 623 different triggered objects (I did tweak it slightly after taking these shots, which bought it to 35 trigger points and 631 triggered objects). Some of you may remember that I built a dark water ride called The Tales of Arthuria earlier on in the project, however there are certain things that I feel I've improved upon from this ride, most notably in the area of lighting, as I have added triggered lighting within Zodiac Palace following feedback on The Tales of Arthuria. Now, I must admit that in the POV, some of the triggers are not working quite as I'd intended, and I am going to go back through and change those. Before I show the ride off to you, I should probably explain the plot, as some of my theming choices may look peculiar without context. Basically, the ride is themed as though you are on an archeological expedition through a Chinese palace, but things are inexplicably going wrong, and strange things are happening. The cause is discovered to be down to the dragon statues dotted around the ride, and it's discovered later in the ride that the statues have actually come to life and begun wreaking havoc (hence the dragon animatronics). But some helpful spirits come along to tame the dragons in the nick of time and all ends well:

I also filmed a POV, which I should point out is filmed in night cam in order to show off the triggered lighting I put in:

That's it in terms of rides here in China, but I also captured some aerial views; one in the daytime and one at night in order to show off the area's lighting:

As well as a video overview; I should apologise in advance, as I don't think this one is quite as good as the others due to the fact that I could not bait any lucky guests into China in order to get their viewpoint! I tried a number of tactics in order to try and lure people into the area, but none worked, and unfortunately, you cannot drag and drop guests as you could in RCT3:

So, that's China! 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!