(The following is adapted from an e-mail I sent to Auran)
Hi,I am writing because of something that whilst unusal I felt was a nice idea for a group of simulation not yet featured on the home PC, but that I felt was a nice idea (as well as being a good way to show the capabilites of the Jet engine.)A while ago, I made some enquires on rec.roller-coaster concerning the
existence of any simulation engines that made it possible to build your own dark-rides on a (moderate) PC.Google has archived the thread here:-http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&frame=right&th=2376f60b576a2018&seekm=b8h1ib%247kh%241%248300dec7%40news.demon.co.uk#link1It seems that at the time, whilst there were a number of coaster simulations (and for all I know Auran may be planning one of its own.) , there were not apparently any simulators for building
log-f;umes, rapids, 'dark'-rides, magic mills or even a simple Ghost Train.
I am unsure of the current situation but have not heard of anything in this area being produced since the thread mentioned above.However, it occured to me that a park ride is usally 'tracked' in some way even if its rapids or a flume. It also occured to me that with a few extensions a train-sim engine might be able to provide the park-rides simulator I was wanting.It is noted with some interest that one article on a website (VMRJ) mentioned that Trainz could be used to generate walkthroughs by tweaking the way it did things. Although still a major project, building a simulator for building dark rides is presumably not that difficult, given that a number of features such as localised sound exist in Trainz already.At the time of the above thread it was reckoned that a dark ride sim might not do well commercially, but even at the time I found myself thinking that prior to Trainz(or MSTS) the same thing could be said about train-simulation on a home PC. In respect of one home-sim it's now possible to get levels of simulation accuracy that rival 'professional' systems costing thousands!!Train-simulation allows rail fans more creatvity than is possible with a physical model, coaster sims let coaster fans express thier creativitiy.I was therefore wondering why there wasn't a simulation that allowed
indvidual such as myself that have enjoyed well themed or constructed theme park rides to build our own custom ones.From a hobbyist perspective, my view of what I would want to do with a
park-rides simulator is that I would like to be able to set out some kind of 'virtual' floor-plan or landscaping, add in appropriate 'track', add scenery/theming, set up sound effects, add in music all in a user friendly environment and then sit back as I was able to take trip on my 'custom' ride. Being able to be the ride operator as well would be a bonus .If Trainz can enable 'Virtual Railroading', why couldnt a
'Ridez' title allow me to create my own 'virtual' park rides?I was of course wanting to be able to build my own designs as opposed to lifitng the many countless years of work that the proffesionals have devoted to getting genuine dark-rides 'perfect'.From a professional perspective a 'park-ride' simulation, could allow
'proffesionals' to develop anything from a walk-through (as is the case with some projects in Trainz) to present a new building design to a client; right through a genuine park seeing how it latest and greatest version of 'Dracula's haunt' will be seen by customers.(It should be noted for example that the No Limits coaster sim has apparently been used professionaly by a leading park opeartor here in the UK)It may be that a park-rides simulator, is just a wild dream and myself a wilder dreamer, but given the potenital I felt the idea had and the possibilites it presented it was worth suggesting.It has been mentioned to me that the next version of Trainz may be aiming at 'proffesionals' as well as rail enthusiats, why shouldn't
Ridez also try to aim at the professional ride designer (an area
where AFIAK there wasn't a simulator (yet).Alex
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