Posted by Mattlab at 5:45 Eastern, 4:45 Central. Steam says the release is March 30!!!

Dear Fans, 

User-Generated Content (UGC) has kept the RCT community thriving for years. 

Previous games had thousands of custom pieces that users could choose from, giving players the ability to customize their parks in almost any way they liked. This was even more impressive when you consider the fact that none of these games had built-in support for UGC. 

With the upcoming release of RollerCoaster Tycoon World, that all changes. We designed the game from the ground up to support your creativity, with native UGC as the centerpiece of this new game. It’s the only way to truly allow unlimited freedom and customization. We believe this is one of the most exciting developments in the history of the franchise. It was a core architecture decision early on in development, and one we’re extremely excited about. 

So, without further ado, here is a short video showing you some of the power of UGC in RollerCoaster Tycoon World. One quick note before watching – the video taken is from an in-progress development build. The game is currently being optimized and the frame rates are being improved. 

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDl-303a9Qc [/video]

As you just saw, we have created a system that is custom-tailored to both the UGC “Creators” and the UGC “Users.” Let’s focus on the UGC Creators first. 

THE CREATORS 

Our UGC system takes advantage of the game engine that powers RCTW – Unity. Unity 5 already natively supports a wide variety of 3D editing programs. This allows creators to use any of these editing programs to make their models, animated objects, and more. We made this a key architecture decision for the design of our UGC system, instead of creating our own proprietary editing tools. Once you have created your model, you simply load it into Unity 5. There, you use our custom-made Unity Plugin that packages it into something that can be used in the game. Lastly, with the click of the export button, it’s brought live into the game. All of this works today and will be available at launch. 

Any piece of UGC content you make will, at your discretion, be available to share with the entire RCTW community through the Steam Workshop, or directly with friends. Any coaster or park you build can be shared with other players through our in-game UGC hub. This means that if you build an awesome coaster, you can simply click a button to create a blueprint and place it on the Steam Workshop for all to use. You can also do the same with entire parks. 

It’s also worth mentioning that UGC can be created in-game and doesn’t have to be limited to custom 3D models. 

THE USERS 

Want to use the creative power of the community without making your own UGC? We have built a beautiful UI and easy system to allow you to seamlessly interact with UGC assets uploaded by the community. The game utilizes all of the great APIs Steam has to offer. This allows you to go to the Steam Workshop, select any asset, and place it directly into the game. 

UGC is integrated seamlessly into the RCTW experience. The exact same building and placement tools that work for other models in the game are available for UGC. Every single scenery object imported into the game can be manipulated like any in-game object, rotated, snapped to a grid, and more. We’ve also allowed for UGC to be moved up and down in vertical space – without stilts forming under it. This means that if you want to import a cool UGC blimp and have it hover above your park displaying an ad for your next awesome ride – you can. 

You never have to leave the game to use UGC – it works just like any other in-game asset. This was important for us since we wanted to lower the barrier to using custom content in RCTW. We also took the casual user into mind – our saved game sharing feature allows you to see your Steam friends and visit their parks with the click of a button to see what they were up to. 

WHAT’S NEXT? 

This is only the beginning. The system we built can be endlessly expanded as needed. At launch, we are going to support custom static and animated scenery. So whether you want to place a cool castle in the game, a new type of tree, a Tiki idol, a rocket ship, or a whole volcano – you can! We have been testing the game with a number of different types of UGC assets and we are already seeing content being made by the team that we didn’t think would be possible. Even more exciting are the ways that our testers are mixing UGC with in-game content. We recently saw a UGC castle made with passageways and tunnels big enough to fit an entire coaster inside. This is possible. 

So where do we go from here? We are making the final tests to ensure you don’t need collision boxes with UGC. It will allow you to place objects almost anywhere in the game and build entire unique parks and environments with them – animated or static. This too will be at launch, and is the foundation of our eventual darkride system. 

UGC is also being utilized as the foundation for our Piece-by-Piece Custom Structure System. We know that not everyone will want to play with a 3D editing program or use custom content from the Steam Workshop, and we know a lot of you just want to be able to build cool things in the game. Now imagine the possibilities if we take the idea of Piece-by-Piece and mix it with UGC! This feature IS coming – but will be post-launch. We need to make sure we have the foundation of this UGC system just right, and validated by the community, before we start working on expansions to it. 

We are excited and we hope you are too! UGC will give RollerCoaster Tycoon World, and you, an endless well of creativity to draw from. It’s the foundation for a bright future for the franchise, and we can’t wait to see what you create! 

Our next blog will be about the schedule and the launch date. See you soon!

---

Sorry for double post, but Blog #30 was just posted!

Dear Tycoons,

We know it’s been quite some time since our last blog. We needed time to finalize some features and decisions on our end before being able to provide you with our biggest news yet - the street date. Thank you for your patience.

We now are happy to announce that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be available this Wednesday, March 30 via Steam Early Access.

It’s been a long ride, with all the ups and downs that you would expect from a roller coaster-obsessed team. We cannot tell you how excited, and humbled, we are to finally open the doors and deliver this early version of RCTW to you all.

Why Early Access?

As some of you may have guessed, we’ve been silently running a large test group with some members of the community since the beginning of the year. We’ve made so much progress with this group - getting invaluable feedback, testing ideas, and more – that we realized how much of a boon letting the rest of the community in would be in shaping our game. We cannot thank this group enough for their passion for the franchise and their contribution to the game, and for inspiring us to let the rest of you into the world of RCTW.

We also want to thank our developer, Nvizzio, and the QA team, who have been working tirelessly on this project. The Early Access version of RCTW includes a ton of content and we hope you will greatly appreciate the progress that we have made since our last public Beta.

This is the beginning of a new journey. RCTW was always going to develop and improve as time went on. Now you will have a direct impact on that process. It is only with your feedback, your input, your passion, and your creativity that we will bring the game to new heights.

Before the game goes live this Wednesday, we want to share its current features with you, along with what you can expect in EA, the free updates that we have planned in the near term and our long-term commitments, and finally a few words about the retail box.

Here are some highlights some of what you can expect in Early Access:

What can you find in RCTW?
An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control
Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it
Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout
A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game
Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park’s landscape quickly and easily
Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community
Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world
Campaign mode
An initial set of Scenarios
The Sandbox mode
10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams)
Over 30 different flat rides
Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks
4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and adventure)
And much, much more

Soo happy I'll finally be able to play this - I preordered back in December. Expect me to be living under a rock for the next month or so after next Wednesday lol, I'll be no-life-ing RCTW.

might get it even though planet coaster is better