Week 11 Weekly Digest (23rd-29th February 2024)
All right, folks! Week 10 is now over, so that means it's time for another Weekly Digest!
Let's start with the Round 9 results...
Round 9 Results
There were
3 responses to the Round 9 Voting Google Form in total, and the winners of Round 9 were as follows:
The complete leaderboard for Round 9 is as follows:
As such, the leaderboard for the overall contest so far is:
Great round, everybody!
Round 10 Voting
Round 10 is finished and the submissions are in, so the voting stage can now begin!
Please vote for your Round 10 favourites via this Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpi4xSUn9Th6BI93RpbzJbB1uEMYHFU9OUNtXT7e3Hgfoy-Q/viewform
Let me just recap a few things about voting, if you need a reminder:
- If you're not clear on how I'd like you to vote; please pick your top 5 track layouts and rank them in order of preference from #1 to #5. Therefore, if you give a player a particular ranking, the points allocated are as follows; #1 ranking = 5pts, #2 ranking = 4pts, #3 ranking = 3pts, #4 ranking = 2pts, #5 ranking = 1pt.
- You will also receive the opportunity to nominate a submission for Most Realistic or Most Original if you wish. These nominations are not compulsory; you can award them if you would like to, but you do not have to nominate anyone for Most Realistic or Most Original. Each Most Realistic or Most Original nomination a player gets will grant them 1 Realism point or 1 Originality point, respectively.
- Please only fill out this form once. I have not mandated this within the form itself, but I'm trusting you all here.
- Please do not vote for yourself. I know that there is no way I can mandate this, but I trust you not to. Please can I request that you only nominate submissions that are not your own.
- The overall ranking spots from #1 to #5 are designed to be mutually exclusive; one submission cannot have more than one ranking spot. As an example; if you rank a submission as your #1, you cannot also rank it as your #2. Please only give each submission one ranking spot. The exception to this is nominations for Most Realistic and Most Original; in these instances, the same submission can be nominated for both categories, and submissions already nominated within your top 5 can also be nominated for one or both of these categories. Within the main #1-#5 ranking, though; please allocate only one ranking spot per submission.
- Please judge submissions on track layout only. This is a coaster layout building contest; theming is pretty much irrelevant here.
- I know that this form of voting is more anonymous than some may like. If you would like to add a slightly more personal touch, you can post a comment in this thread indicating your top 5 choices, as well as any Most Realistic and/or Most Original nominations. However, can I please request that the Google Form is your first port of call for voting; I will only count votes cast within the Google Form, as if you post in this thread, I wouldn't like to assume whether you've already voted in the Google Form or not. Post your choices in the thread by all means, but please make sure that you log your votes within the Google Form first, as the votes within the Google Form are the votes I'll be counting.
Here is a reminder of everyone's submissions so that you know what you're voting for:
- Megafobia Jr, a GCI wooden coaster by @Matt N:
- Unnamed Intamin Wing Coaster by @Poisson:
- Tree Surgeon Required: The Ride, a B&M Family Inverted Coaster by @RicketyCricket:
- Smack My Birch Up, a Mack Rides Spinning Coaster by @mo237:
- Steampunk Sheep, a Mack Rides BigDipper by @Matt.GC:
- MegaSoreA**e, a wooden wild mouse by @Thameslink Rail:
- Sky Soarer, a B&M Family Inverted Coaster by @tactic:
Voting for Round 10 closes on
Thursday 29th February 2024 at 11:45pm, and the results will be revealed as part of the Week 12 Weekly Digest.
Now that we've covered Round 10 voting, I think it's about time that I revealed the next round...
Round 11 Building
Seeing as we've now completed Round 10, I think we need a new round to sink our teeth into, so it's time for me to reveal the Round 11 brief! The Round 11 brief is...
Polercoaster Reborn at Skyplex Orlando! The context for this round is as follows:
Back in the mid-2010s, the developers of Skyplex Orlando and fledgling manufacturer US Thrill Rides announced a partnership to build a project that would take the theme park industry by storm; the Polercoaster. Designed to be the world's tallest roller coaster and the first over 500ft tall, the ride would have been over 5,000ft long and encapsulated numerous inversions alongside the world's steepest roller coaster drop. It also wound around a huge tower structure, giving it a highly distinctive layout. The Polercoaster was originally set to open in 2016, but this date was pushed back to 2017... and then to 2018, 2019 and further afield until the project just faded away into obscurity. Skyplex's spell in obscurity is about to end, however, as they've got grand plans to bring the Polercoaster back to life and have commissioned none other than you to design the new-gen Polercoaster. The site is not the most expansive for such a huge ride, so you'll certainly have your work cut out. Skyplex have also insisted that the 500ft mark must still be topped and that the original proposal's length must be maintained. It'll certainly be a challenging project... can you rise to the challenge?
The constraints for the round are as follows:
- Maximum Footprint 226m*132m/741ft*433ft
- Minimum Height 500ft/152m
- Minimum Length 5,000ft/1,524m
To put things into perspective, here's the area we'll be working with (it's circled in black and labelled "Polercoaster"):
For those unfamiliar with the original Polercoaster proposal (I'm aware that it was revealed quite a few years ago now...), here is a rendering and video simulation of it to give you some idea:
To apply the footprint constraints, I would recommend using the Scenario Editor to make yourself a park template that allows you to enforce the constraints.
However, if you find yourself unable to do this, I have created a Steam Workshop park template with the footprint constraints pre-imposed, which you can download here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3164342646
For console users, I would recommend setting out the footprint constraints using wall pieces or path pieces to build yourself an "area" to work within. Path and wall pieces are typically 4m in length, for reference. I know it's not ideal, but it's unfortunately the best I can recommend given that neither Scenario Editor nor Steam Workshop are available on console... sorry for the inconvenience, folks.
Please measure your coaster's height using
Terrain Relative height markers in build mode (this is the setting labelled with a mountain).
To submit, please build your submission, film a POV and off-ride shots of it, and post the video(s) in this thread. You can briefly describe your ride if you wish. YouTube is the website I'd recommend for uploading videos to, as this would integrate best with the Google Form when it comes to voting, but if you want to upload your video(s) using a different method, then that's also fine. If you have any issues with recording or uploading your video(s), please don't hesitate to contact me. I will try my best to assist you.
May I once again emphasise that this is a
coaster layout building contest. By all means add some light theming and landscaping if you wish, but the
coaster layout should ideally be the focus. Quality of coaster layout is pretty much the be all and end all here; heavy theming won't gain you any points, and no theming won't lose you any points.
The submission deadline for Round 11 is
Thursday 29th February 2024 at 11:45pm. If you struggle for time and would like me to extend the deadline, please PM me or request an extension in this thread before the deadline.
If you do not make contact with me and ask for an extension, I will assume that you simply do not want to compete in this round and move on after the posted deadline.
I think that's all I need to cover for Week 11. Good luck with Round 11, folks! If you have any questions or concerns about the round or about anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am always more than happy to help.
Get building for Round 11 and voting for Round 10, everybody! The Week 12 Weekly Digest will drop exactly 6 days from today, on
Friday 1st March 2024 at 12am. As previously mentioned, this week is being shortened slightly due to me being away in Ilfracombe from 1st-4th March, and therefore unable to access my PC between those dates. I apologise for the inconvenience.
