Detailed guide to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

It’s fun to try something that seems impossible. --Walt Disney

Host: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Bobby Channel 5. Welcome everyone to watch "You Can Become a RollerCoaster Tycoon!" 》Special program. Our theme this week is: "Let the customers scream! How to run an amusement park!". Therefore, we specially invited our old friends, President of the world-class amusement industry tycoon Disney Comando, and Professor Duck Stern, a senior engineer at the Institute of Architectural Dynamics of the University of Southern California, and the Economic and Social Column of the New York Times Miss Nicholas Krisna, author. Hello, Mr. Kamando, Mr. Stern, Miss Krisna. Can we get started? OK So I would like to first ask Mr. Kamando to talk about your business methods, okay?

Disney Kamando (hereinafter referred to as Kamando): Of course. The amusement parks I have run include 18 types and more than 100 styles, but their business goals are all the same, which is to make tourists feel exciting and happy, so that they can forget the unhappiness in real life in their happiness. I have been working hard to this end. The 16 chain amusement parks owned by the Cardiff Group and the six major theme parks in Europe have always adhered to this belief...

Nicholas Krisna (hereinafter referred to as Krisna) Na): Sorry to interrupt, Mr. President Kamando, I remember that you tripled the ticket prices of all roller coasters during the peak tourist season last quarter...

Host: Everyone, we I just prepared a video, I believe it can help all viewers who don’t know much about roller coaster theme parks to gain some common sense. See you after the commercial. (Indicates the director to cut the commercial in advance.)

Duck Stern (hereinafter referred to as Stern):…………

The main control buttons of the game are concentrated on the left side of the screen. side, divided into two groups. The functions in the previous group are Maps, View Controls, Files and Options, and Quit Game from top to bottom. It belongs to the control and detection part of the game system.

After pressing the map button, a map of the entire amusement park will pop up. You can select the map to display themed scenery (Map themed scenery), the map to display amusement facilities, shops and public facilities (Map). with rides, shops and facilities) or Map showing peeps to understand the current operating status of the park. In actual games, the map display crowd option is most commonly used, especially for operators who like to adjust their attraction tickets to tourists' preferences... well, like to cater to tourists' preferences.

The display control button can immediately adjust the display effect of the screen. Here you can choose to switch terrain grid (Toggle terrain grid), switch terrain contour lines (Toggle terrain contour lines), switch elevation display ( Toggle ride height indicators, Toggle path height indicators, Toggle peeps, Toggle ride supports, and Toggle scenery control display elements on the screen. The files and options include About RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Game Options, Save Game, and Load Game. In the game options, you can further adjust various aspects of the game in detail, such as the currency unit used (Currency), distance and speed calculation standards (divided into metric, imperial and scientific notation), game volume, key positions, screen effects and Special effects and more.

The functions of the lower group of buttons are to operate the game. From top to bottom, they are Park Management, Rides, Shops and Shops. amp; Facilities), Scenery, Paths, Terrain tools, and Delete Objects. This part is closely related to the game content, and we will explain it in detail in the following content.

Stern: ...(Finally got a chance to say your lines...)

Host: Great, Mr. Kamando. Before starting the next section, can you tell us a little bit about your experience in park management?

Kamando: Well, although this is not part of the agreement. So let me continue to explain.

Stern:………………

If something can go wrong, it will. ——Canon

Park management includes six aspects. Top management has the authority to decide park operations, such as changing ticket prices and park names, opening or closing parks, advertising in what media, or purchasing nearby land (Buy land for park) or land use Rights (easement rights on land not owned by park). Under this, Finances is the foundation of the park. All managers should carefully study the park’s income structure here. It can display the company’s cash (Cash) and loans (Loan), park tickets, and various departments. specific financial situation. Many people think that charts (Graphs) are valuable analysis tools, but just studying weekly earnings (Weekly profit) or stock price (Share price) will not allow you to find any problems, so experienced analysts will be more Pay attention to several aspects such as Ride running costs, Shop sales, Shop stock, Staff wages and Advertising (Marketing) in the statistical list. Employees (Staff) are the lubricant of the playground, so in addition to providing irregular training, you must also be careful not to make them emotional.

It is best for the janitor's activity area to be close to roller coasters, especially those thrilling rides, otherwise the vomit from tourists will make the area look like a toilet. It is best for maintenance workers (mechanic) to implement division of responsibilities, that is, to designate each maintenance worker's responsible facility. A security person can make sure thieves don't end up with money that should go into your pocket, but you can save a fortune on them if no one calls the police. Not every day in the park. There were fights. Actors (entertainers) are just to liven up the atmosphere. They seem useless, don't they? But without them people would soon complain of boredom on the road.

Of course, in my opinion, all personnel expenses are only a small amount, and you don’t need to care too much about this expenditure when operating. (Christina: Really? Mr. Kamando, it seems that in Japan you once laid off 60 people in one month to reduce costs? Or 65?) Let's continue. Scenario Objectives, uh, this has nothing to do with us now, skip it. Let's take a look at the Research section. Frankly, this is the part I care about the least. (Stern: Ahem.) Of course, the roller coaster project should be the one with the most investment. Anyway, all you need to decide here is your budget and leave it to the experts, right? Finally, if you are unfortunate enough to be a lower-level department manager or the like, the list of attractions you will probably deal with most is the list of attractions.

You should always schedule the schedule of cleaners or engineers based on the operating conditions of various facilities. Ah, looking at this familiar report, I miss the fulfilling life when I started building the first park in Southern California...

Christina: Mr. Kamando, I noticed...

Kamando: Miss Christina, if you have any objections to my business methods, we can discuss this at another time. What do you think?

Christina: I just want to remind you that according to the signature on the report, the person responsible for reviewing this report for which the "lower-level department manager" is responsible is you.

Kamando: ...Well, thank you.

Moderator: Management is important, but without amusement facilities, the park simply cannot exist. Mr. Kamando, could you... Professor, are you crying?

Stern: ...Nothing.

The amusement facilities in the park are divided into several categories according to the objects they are suitable for. They are roller coasters (RollerCoasters) suitable for young people who love excitement, children's amusement facilities (Junior Rides) suitable for underage children, and Thrill rides (Thrill Rides) for thrill seekers and some couples, more relaxed water rides (Water Rides) and relaxing rides (Gentle Rides), transport facilities (Transport Rides) with both transportation and entertainment, and non-returnable rides Enter Other Rides and Attractions of the above categories.

The most expensive and most attractive part of these facilities is the roller coaster. Professor Stern is an expert in roller coaster design and construction. We will ask him to talk about his research experience later. But on the other hand, not everyone who comes to the park wants to ride a roller coaster. It would be a good idea to gradually increase the enthusiasm of visitors with various relatively relaxing rides, and to use the roller coaster as the climax of the fun. As far as I know, the most common roller coaster is the Wooden Coaster found in most parks, while the slightly more outstanding roller coasters include the Spiral Coaster and the Spinning Wild Mouse. The existing design I am personally most satisfied with is the Fear Slinger, which was used in Germany in 1994. It uses a small flipping roller coaster as the track, including a large drop of more than one hundred feet and a forward G of 4.15g. force. However, there are currently 51 types of track designs in the world. Maybe some genius can design a more amazing roller coaster.

Back to our topic, the representative types of children’s amusement facilities and thrilling amusement facilities are carousels and haunted houses. They usually include Generic, Western, Spooky, and Adventure. (Adventure) and science fiction (Sci-fi) styles. Pair these styles with architecture and coaster design to create a great park theme. The water rides and relaxation rides are more similar to viewing entertainment, and it is a joke to find excitement on the pedal boat and observation tower. Transportation entertainment vehicles are often used to form connections between different parks. Personally, I think it is a good idea to arrange the lines of these inter-park light trains close to the roller coasters or even intersect with them. Those who get off are often the first to line up in front of the roller coaster ticket gate. As for other types of amusement equipment, as I said, they are all very strange in design and difficult to classify into other types... Rail amusement equipment, judging from the appearance, maybe only children will choose to ride on this. In short, they can be arranged in the gaps between other amusement equipment, because they are also rail equipment and can pass above and below other amusement equipment to form a three-dimensional amusement space.

Moderator: Thank you, Mr. Kamando. Your explanation is wonderful. But I think a park with only amusement equipment seems to be missing something... What do you think of this? Miss Krisna.

Christina: Apparently, Mr. Kamando once supported the daily expenses of three amusement parks in Southern California, Los Angeles and Chicago solely by relying on ride tickets from Five Flags Southern California. There are reasons to ignore others - of course we can also understand the behavior of using this kind of money-making... business methods. However, generally speaking, amusement parks should still include some shopping spots such as fast food restaurants, drink kiosks, and souvenir shops.

Stern: Steak to-go...

Camando: And hot cocoa.

Stern: Memorial T-shirt.

Kamando: Balloon!

Two people together: cookies, lemon juice, pizza, popcorn, hot dogs, coke...

Kamando: Professor, you do have business talent.

Stern: I went to your London playground half a year ago.

Kamando: I guess their propaganda must have impressed you.

Stern: No, at that time all the shops there had to close due to excessive bacteria in their products, and I took that opportunity to inspect the long-term overloaded roller coaster at the London Amusement Park. Have you forgotten?

Kamando: Oh, well, I think maybe... But it is running very well now, carrying at least 5,000 children flying happily in the sky every day.

Moderator: Uh...

The first condition for success in the retail industry is location selection, and the second condition is also location selection. ——Wal-Mart

In the park, all parts that are not amusement facilities or civil engineering buildings belong to shops and public facilities (Shops & Facilities). They usually include four categories: Food (Foods), drinks (Drinks), souvenirs (Salls) and public facilities (Facilities). Food and drink are a necessity for everyone—except, of course, those fresh off the roller coaster. I usually buy something to eat or drink near the less intense rides, maybe hotdogs and ice cream, both of which are always on sale. If the park is large, people will buy some pizza in front of the inter-park transportation facility. Souvenirs are different, you can put them anywhere. In a Western theme park, children are likely to buy an Indian feather ornament at any time, and in an adventure theme park, there are probably not a few people who want to ride a roller coaster wearing a pirate hat. The most popular public facilities - okay, I know this is a bit ridiculous - are the toilets. In addition, there are often long queues in front of the A.T.M. I guess Mr. Kamando sees this. The scene will make you feel very happy. In addition, from my personal experience, the location of public facilities in many amusement parks is not reasonable. The distance between them is either too far or too close, and they often sell the same things. If the managers there were more attentive, they should adjust the products based on customer response. The stores at the amusement parks have very high margins, and I mean "very" high, in fact I once saw a long line at the $3.50 hot dog stand.

We can certainly apply this strategy by reducing the frequency of a highly attractive amusement ride and building a 500-meter waiting corridor at its entrance. In this case, a child will have to queue for an hour. Only then can he play this amusement ride. Think about what he will do when he gets off the wooden horse? Tired again? Thirsty again? Want to go to the toilet? Or the sum of it all? So set up some shops at the entrance, they will surprise you.

Kamando: The profits of the arcade store are only "a little" higher. A ride on the roller coaster at Singapore Fairgrounds costs US$75, but it took us three and a half years to recoup the cost.

Host: It's a bit high indeed... I guess that roller coaster must be really cool, right? Professor Stern?

Stern: (Is it finally my turn?) Yes, that roller coaster includes two continuous giant loops, and uses pneumatic propulsion in the starting part. It is a very excellent design. By the way, that designer is me.

Host: Great, professor, can you tell us more about your thoughts when you designed that roller coaster?

Stern: No problem. This is the draft I left behind when I was designing. Please see Drawing No. 145 and Drawing No. 221. These two key designs best reflect my genius idea.

Moderator: ...Please wait a moment, professor. I mean, "introduction", just a brief introduction.

Stern: ...Really? What a pity...

Give me a fulcrum and I can move the earth. ——Archimedes

Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it can only be converted from one form to another, or transferred from one object to another. ——The law of conservation of energy

The soul of an amusement park is the design of the roller coaster. A great roller coaster can save a poorly designed amusement park. Combine all the rides and roller coasters into a whole, or let them surround the roller coaster to form the entire park, or place the roller coaster deep in the park, and then arrange various rides on the roadside leading to it, or even simply let The roller coaster replaces the traffic in the amusement park. It uses multiple platforms and thrilling dives and rolls between stations to make those tourists scream. There are countless possibilities for using the roller coaster. Of course, we won’t discuss these now. Today, we only talk about technology.

President Kamando just mentioned that there are currently 51 known types of roller coaster (RollerCoasters) tracks, which is correct. I divided these rails into three categories: light, heavy, and underwater. Light rails usually refer to Mini Coaster and Virginia Reel. Most of this type of rails appeared in the 1970s. The rails are narrow, and the carriages are for two or four people. Most of them rely on hinge transmission to lift to the highest point. Due to structural limitations, they struggle to create a stimulating experience. Some people classify the tracks that appeared in the 1980s, such as the Wild Mouse Coaster, as lightweight, but I think the power and strength these tracks can provide are enough to withstand complex and high-intensity turns. Close to heavy duty tracks (by the way, the Rat Speeder is often called "Crazy Rat" in real amusement parks back home). Representatives of heavy roller coasters are Multidimension Coaster and Lay down Roller Coaster. In addition to being able to withstand extremely complex and difficult circling and rolling, their carriages are often specially designed. For example, the carriage of a multi-dimensional roller coaster is suspended outside the body. When the body dives and rolls, the carriage can also rotate and roll. In addition to traditional hinges, their traction methods also include compressed air ejection and linear motors. When designing this kind of roller coaster, what designers need to consider is not whether the technology is achievable, but whether your imagination is rich, and whether the passengers' bodies will turn into ketchup during the crazy rotation. As for water-type roller coasters, their biggest problem is that they cannot implement a common structure in ordinary roller coasters-tumble. Although some water coasters can create excitement with huge undulations and jumps, most of the time such coaster tracks are just a stop-gap measure chosen to adapt to terrain conditions.

The essence of a roller coaster ride lies in the conversion of kinetic energy and potential energy. Therefore, no matter how excellent the design is, it is impossible for the roller coaster to reach a higher point than the highest point of the traction device. But other than this limitation, the only factor that can limit your design is your imagination. Of course, some design common sense is also essential, such as minimizing the use of external power such as traction hinges. Sharp bends and rapid lifts cannot be used together. The track slope must be selected according to the cornering speed. Using lighter carriages can speed up the speed change of the roller coaster. , the opposite is true for heavier ones. Of course, the most critical thing is still imagination.

To measure the success of a roller coaster, there are three key elements and three sub-key elements. The three key elements are: Excitement, Intensity, and Nausea.

The level of excitement determines young people’s attitude towards this roller coaster. If the level of excitement of an amusement ride is too low, the only customers who patronize it will be the elderly and children. However, if the level of excitement is too high, customers will be scared away because No one would be interested in riding a blender. Generally speaking, this value is very easy to rise. Continuous rolling and undulating jumps can quickly increase it, so often we have to consider how to limit it. The intensity determines the motion of the roller coaster. The higher the intensity, the more overweight and weightless the passengers will feel. However, excessive intensity can easily cause injuries to passengers. Usually inward large loop structures and tunnel-type tracks can quickly increase the strength. If you want to reduce the strength, the easiest way is to reduce the height difference between the highest and lowest points of the roller coaster. Dizziness, this is the easiest element to understand. See that guy who threw up on the roller coaster? That's right, if your roller coaster is too good at this, you're going to end up throwing up. Vertigo is closely related to intensity, and a roller coaster full of dips and twists would definitely be called a "vomit blender," so be sure to avoid this.

Corresponding to the three key elements, the three secondary key elements are: maximum speed (Max. speed), gravity acceleration (G force), and drops (Drops). The maximum speed affects the excitement and safety. If the speed is too fast and the track design is unreasonable, you can expect the trapeze to appear. Gravity acceleration has a great impact on intensity and dizziness. Violent climbing and diving are the main means of generating gravity acceleration. In this regard, Air Powered Coaster is the veritable king of gravity acceleration. Note that the acceleration due to gravity is actually divided into two categories, namely vertical acceleration due to gravity (Vertical G) and lateral acceleration due to gravity (Lateral G). Drop mainly affects excitement and intensity. The higher it is, the better. However, if you want to build a roller coaster with a very high drop distance, it is best not to add sharp turns and make the drop the biggest selling point of your roller coaster.

Comando: Professor, I remember that your latest design included making the park scenes interact with the roller coaster?

Stern: Yes, since the 12-ton rock that rolled off the set and shattered the platform during the last experiment, I have changed all the platforms to elevated ones. Now the stones threaten the track at most. Mr. President, would you be interested in trying this idea at your next amusement park?

Kamando: ...Well, I think I might consider it.

It is indeed a new idea to interact with scenes and roller coasters. Such scenes are collectively called ride events and are classified under the Scenery column in the game. Generally speaking, most of the content in a scene is just things like Foliage, Fences, Walls, Roofs and Buildings, Path Extras, and Scenery Items. . The useful ones include benches, trash cans, bonsai and the like. But in addition, there are still three more special contents, namely facility events (Ride Events), custom buildings (Costum Structures) and fireworks editor (Fireworks MixMaster). Facility events are closely related to rides. They can be built near the track and set to start when the roller coaster passes a certain section of track. Custom buildings allow you to build various buildings in a way similar to building blocks. Want to build a pergola for your roller coaster platform? Want to build a castle in the middle of the park? Everything can be done with this tool. As for the fireworks editor, it's a pretty interesting tool. You can add different fireworks length bars in the editor to set the effect. Different colors represent different types of fireworks. Generally speaking, green fireworks bars represent lower and swaying fireworks, while blue bars represent shooting upwards. Large fireworks, red and pink, often explode into single-color fireworks or fireballs in the sky.

Of course, the final result still depends on the quality of the editor. The fireworks turret does not occupy much space, so the surrounding area can be arranged into a park.

In addition, roads are also an integral part of playground construction. In addition to the most basic asphalt pavement (Asphalt), you can also choose various pavements from Steel to Marble according to the atmosphere of your park. Naturally, prices vary. On the other hand, the queuing areas in front of various rides are also different. They are suitable for five styles: Generic, Western, Spooky, Adventure and Sci-fi. The queuing area does not seem to affect the attraction of the rides. You can choose the appropriate queuing area road according to your own taste.

Host: Great, I believe that all viewers must already have an understanding of the operation and management of an amusement park? Mr. Kamando, Mr. Stern, and Ms. Krisna, have you considered saying anything for the newcomers at the end of the show?

Kamando: Accurate investment and quick response are the keys to running an amusement park. Always pay attention to the mentality of tourists.

Christina: Properly arrange staff and facilities to ensure the park has style and character.

Stern: The most important thing is a gorgeous roller coaster! Dark Stern is the guarantee of quality!

Host: Welcome everyone to watch "You Can Become a Monopoly!" "programme. This is Bobby Channel 5, see you next time.