In theme park simulators, impressive roller coasters with loops, sharp turns and sudden drops are often created with just a few clicks and drags with the mouse. By contrast, it requires years of planning, clever engineering and a lot of paperwork to even get a project approved in real life.
Still, the principles behind a good roller coaster remain the same whether you’re building it in real life or on a computer screen, explains Mathis Gullon. He is the project manager for MackNeXT, a company that designs roller coasters for amusement parks around the world, and he offers the following tips for players of park simulators:
“First, define your goals. You want an extreme coaster, do you want a soft coaster? Then I’d say define the space you have, it’s important. Then I’d say, crazy. These games are Made for this. Just go crazy, make some mistakes, go back, try again. That’s how you learn, even us, when we do roller coasters, we start with some crazy designs and layouts, and then we adjust. So , feel free to do something that doesn’t make sense, then correct it.
We spoke with the roller coaster designers while visiting Europa Park, and were invited by Bandai Namco to take a closer look at the upcoming game Park Beyond. Mathis Gullon also tried the game himself, and there is one element he wanted to use in his designs:
“I thought I’d steal the cannon feature and that would be a great feature. Of course, we all dream of a moment where there’s no more tracks for a while, but that’s not going to happen. I have to say, they Some of the mods, I think, could actually exist in five or ten years. Crossovers, and that sort of thing, I think something might happen. But for the cannons, yeah, it’s just a dream.
Beyond the Park will be released in 2023 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X. If you can’t wait that long, you can certainly try some of the classic genres like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Theme Park. You can check out our full interview with Mathis Gurung below.