RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 are quite simply the greatest theme park/management games ever created. Originally released in 1999 from Chris Sawyer and they still stand the test of time today. I did a quick overview of the game right here. I recently re-brought the first three games via Steam with all the added content and I’m currently re-playing through them. According to my Steam account – so far I’ve racked up over 100 hours and that is just on the first game… and I’m nowhere near close to finishing every scenario either.
I thought 100+ hours was a decent amount of time to put into the game… until I found out some guy has spent ten years, that’s TEN YEARS creating his ultimate mega-park.
The above image is the work of one man – Sebastian Brendgen. Just to put things into perspective, the map is 254×254 tiles and that’s 64,516 individual tiles. If you know anything about the RollerCoaster Tycoon games, then you’s know that each and every single one of these tiles has to be placed and decorated yourself… that’s a hell of a lot of work.
Most of my theme parks end up being a mess of rides and attractions, and to be honest – I don’t really plan ahead and just build on instinct as the park grows. I just build because its fun. But what Sebastian did with his mega-park was very carefully pre-plan everything.
“At first I liked the gameplay very much, Later on, I don’t think it was a game anymore to me. It was more like a picture or an art.”
Sebastian used the modding tool OpenRCT2 to help him create his park. Its a tool that removes some of the restrictions the base game has, offers better building controls as well as add some new scenery and attractions.
The park grew and grew and Sebastian began to split it into various themed sections. Pirate Land, Middle Ages, Mountain Top, Mars and even a section based on Tron – he even created a parking lot!
His ideas would change and quite often, Sebastian had to destroy and rebuild rides and coasters and even entire sections in order get everything just right. A lot of the attractions in his park are based on real ones he has experienced first hand living in Germany. By the time his park was finished, it contained 255 rides and shops 34 of which are coasters and was averaging around 8,000 peeps in his park at any one time.
“It took me so long and I wasted so many thoughts on it. But I’m really proud of myself that I stuck to it and brought it that far.”
A decade is a hell of a lot of time to spend on any one game… never mind one map. I doff my hat in respect to you Mr Sebastian Brendgen – the king of RollerCoaster Tycoon.
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Boy I would love to download this guys park and play it
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