Week 3 Weekly Digest (30th December 2023-5th January 2024)
All right, folks! Week 2 is now over, so that means it's time for another Weekly Digest!
Let's start with the Round 1 results...
Round 1 Results
There were
6 responses to the Round 1 Voting Google Form in total, and the winners of Round 1 were as follows:
The complete leaderboard for Round 1 is as follows:
Great round, everybody!
As we have only done 1 round, the leaderboard shown above is also the leaderboard for the overall contest so far.
Now I've covered the Round 1 results, I think it's about time we moved onto Round 2 voting...
Round 2 Voting
Round 2 is finished and the submissions are in, so the voting stage can now begin!
Please vote for your Round 2 favourites via this Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZnHhGjJYm2OR2DYYXGVG1ppYlFrY7JPMmvYF_K5CkQnC7RA/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.
- 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 be 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:
- Terra Firma, a Mack Rides Launch Coaster by @Matt N:
- Valley Vengeance, an RMC IBox Track by @tactic:
- Unnamed Arrow Dynamics Suspended Coaster by @Poisson:
- Doctor Who Timey-Wimey Coaster, a bobsled coaster by @Thameslink Rail:
- Pigeon's Plunge, an Intamin multi-launch coaster by @cloudburster:
- BUT WHY: THE RIDE, a Vekoma inverted coaster by @MattyH:
- Nemesis of the Locals, an RMC IBox Track by @Willt7:
- Unnamed GCI wooden coaster by @Connor98:
- Raiders of the Lost Valley, an RMC IBox Track by @Matt.GC:
- Pagoda Fountain's Twisted Iron Vengeancey Revenge Rod Thing, an RMC IBox Track by @RicketyCricket:
- Big Ditch: The Ride, a Mack Rides Launch Coaster by @mo237: https://youtu.be/Hv99VVMsud0
(My apologies for the bottom video not being embedded... this is due to the forum not allowing more than 10 pieces of media in one post.)
Voting for Round 2 closes on
Friday 5th January 2024 at 11:59pm, and the results will be revealed as part of the Week 4 Weekly Digest.
Now that we've covered Round 2 voting, I think it's about time that I revealed the next round...
Round 3 Building
Seeing as we've now completed Round 2, I think we need a new round to sink our teeth into, so it's time for me to reveal the Round 3 brief! The Round 3 brief is...
Falcon's Flight Reloaded at Six Flags Qiddiya! The context for this round is as follows:
Six Flags made waves in the theme park industry when they announced a new theme park in Saudi Arabia with an obscene headline coaster. This ride was to be named Falcon's Flight, and was set to be the tallest, fastest and longest roller coaster on Earth. When the ride layout was revealed, however, reactions were more mixed. Some felt that the ride wasted its obscene height, speed and length, and looked like it had a layout built purely to break records. More concerningly, some folks questioned whether the physics of the announced ride even added up, likening the layout shown in the initial renderings to a poor RCT3 creation with friction turned off. With all of this in mind, Six Flags have shelved the original Falcon's Flight layout and hired you to devise a replacement headline coaster. They've said that the ride must maintain the record-breaking status of Falcon's Flight, so those all-important height, speed and length records must still be broken; your ride must be taller than Kingda Ka, faster than Formula Rossa and longer than Steel Dragon 2000. Other than that, though, the sky's the limit! As this ride is being built in a brand new theme park in a desert in a country where money is no object, there isn't even a footprint constraint here; the rich backers of the project can simply buy more land if it's needed! What record-breaking coaster can you create?
The constraints for the round are as follows:
- Minimum Height 456ft/139m
- Minimum Speed 150mph/241kph
- Minimum Length 8,133ft/2,479m
For some idea, here is the rough area we'll be working with (it's the area circled in black and labelled "Six Flags Qiddiya"):
I should say, though, that this doesn't make much difference here... as mentioned above, there is
no footprint constraint for this round. Due to this, I have also not made a template for this week.
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 3 is
Friday 5th January 2024 at 11:59pm. 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 3. Good luck with Round 3, 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 3 and voting for Round 2, everybody!
anyway, shows as 210ft sea level, 209 terrain relative.
