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TowersStreet Planet Coaster Speed Build Contest 2024/25: Week 7 ends 3rd January

Week 6 Weekly Digest (14th-20th December 2024)
OK folks; that's the end of Week 5! Let's get into Week 6, shall we?

I'll start with the Round 4 results...
Round 4 Results
There were 6 responses to the Round 4 Voting Google Form in total, and the winners of Round 4 were as follows:
The complete leaderboard for Round 4 is as follows:
RankingUsernameOverallRealismOriginality
1@Matt.GC2210
2@RicketyCricket1902
3@GJMarshy1810
4@tactic1300
5@Thameslink Rail700
6@Matt N600
7@Poisson501
8@mo237000
And by extension, the overall contest results are now as follows:
RankingUsernameOverallRealismOriginality
1@Matt.GC7050
2@RicketyCricket5715
3@Poisson4612
4@tactic4320
5@Matt N4101
6@Thameslink Rail4011
7@GJMarshy1810
8@mo237000
Great round, everybody! Let's now move onto Round 5 voting...
Round 5 Voting
OK, folks. The Round 5 submissions are in, so the voting stage can now begin!

Please vote for your Round 5 favourites via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7Eds1ceNLDbFP_PhvmptUDN0IC-XC46F9sqTVqHXiGD_-6g/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 Realism or Originality if you wish. These nominations are not compulsory; you can award them if you wish, but you do not have to nominate anyone for Realism or Originality. As the Bonus Round doubling rule also applies to Realism and Originality points, each Realism or Originality nomination a player gets will grant them 2 Realism points or 2 Originality points.
  • 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 bear in mind that the numbered ranking categories in the Google Form (#1, #2, #3, #4 and #5) are intended to be mutually exclusive, and if you put a submission in one ranking spot, you should not put it in another. I will reject any ballots cast with one submission nominated for multiple ranking spots (for instance, you cannot nominate a submission as both your #1 and your #2). This does not apply to Most Realistic and Most Original, however; if you are making nominations in these categories, you can nominate the same submission for both, and you can also nominate a submission that you have already put in your 1-5 ranking for one or both of these categories if you wish.
  • 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 Realism or Originality 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:
  • Helix, a Maurer SkyLoop by @Matt N:
  • Unnamed Maurer spinning coaster by @Poisson:
  • Seagull Stealing Your Chips: The Ride, an S&S Free Fly by @RicketyCricket:
  • The Wurzels Present - Thatchers Gold: The Ride, an S&S El Loco by @Matt.GC:
  • Breanlivion, a wooden wild mouse by @GJMarshy:
  • Bulldog's Revenge, an RMC IBox Track by @tactic:
  • Eurofighter Typhoon, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter by @Thameslink Rail:

Voting for Round 5 closes on Friday 20th December 2024 at 11:45pm, and the results will be revealed as part of the Week 5 Weekly Digest.

It's now time to move onto the final bit of the week...
Round 6 Building
Now that Round 6 is over, it's time to reveal the next round of the competition! The brief for Round 6 is... Grand Prix Replacement at Blackpool Pleasure Beach! The context for the round is as follows:
After decades of operation, Blackpool Pleasure Beach's iconic car ride, or as you all call it the Grand Prix, was officially confirmed to have ceased operation in a contentious tweet from the park's manager earlier this year. Despite Ms Thompson's tweet generating uproar at the time, there was a good reason for the Grand Prix to be closing... Blackpool intends to build a new roller coaster on the site, and they've hired none other than you to design it! With the usable area occupied by the Grand Prix alone being unfeasibly tight, Blackpool have also allowed the aging Avalanche to be sacrificed for your build, but the area is still tight nonetheless. In order to keep the racing ethos of the Grand Prix alive, Blackpool would also like your ride to incorporate a duelling element of some description. It'll be a challenging build... what will you come up with?
Click to expand...
The constraints for the round are as follows:
  • Maximum Footprint 51m*147m/167ft*482ft
  • Must be Duelling, Racing or Quasi Mobius/Self-Duelling
For some context, the area of Blackpool Pleasure Beach we're working with here is as follows:
Grand-Prix-Plot.png


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=3380105726

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.

To submit, please build your submission, film a POV and/or 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 6 is Friday 20th December 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 6. Good luck with Round 6, folks! If you have any questions or concerns about the round, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am always more than happy to help.

Get building for Round 6 and voting for Round 5, everybody!
 
Last edited:
Matt N said:
Week 6 Weekly Digest (14th-20th December 2024)
OK folks; that's the end of Week 5! Let's get into Week 6, shall we?

I'll start with the Round 4 results...
Round 4 Results
There were 6 responses to the Round 4 Voting Google Form in total, and the winners of Round 4 were as follows:
The complete leaderboard for Round 4 is as follows:
RankingUsernameOverallRealismOriginality
1@Matt.GC2210
2@RicketyCricket1902
3@GJMarshy1810
4@tactic1300
5@Thameslink Rail700
6@Matt N600
7@Poisson501
8@mo237000
And by extension, the overall contest results are now as follows:
RankingUsernameOverallRealismOriginality
1@Matt.GC7050
2@RicketyCricket5715
3@Poisson4612
4@tactic4320
5@Matt N4101
6@Thameslink Rail4011
7@GJMarshy1810
8@mo237000
Great round, everybody! Let's now move onto Round 5 voting...
Round 5 Voting
OK, folks. The Round 5 submissions are in, so the voting stage can now begin!

Please vote for your Round 5 favourites via this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7Eds1ceNLDbFP_PhvmptUDN0IC-XC46F9sqTVqHXiGD_-6g/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 Realism or Originality if you wish. These nominations are not compulsory; you can award them if you wish, but you do not have to nominate anyone for Realism or Originality. As the Bonus Round doubling rule also applies to Realism and Originality points, each Realism or Originality nomination a player gets will grant them 2 Realism points or 2 Originality points.
  • 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 bear in mind that the numbered ranking categories in the Google Form (#1, #2, #3, #4 and #5) are intended to be mutually exclusive, and if you put a submission in one ranking spot, you should not put it in another. I will reject any ballots cast with one submission nominated for multiple ranking spots (for instance, you cannot nominate a submission as both your #1 and your #2). This does not apply to Most Realistic and Most Original, however; if you are making nominations in these categories, you can nominate the same submission for both, and you can also nominate a submission that you have already put in your 1-5 ranking for one or both of these categories if you wish.
  • 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 Realism or Originality 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:
  • Helix, a Maurer SkyLoop by @Matt N:
  • Unnamed Maurer spinning coaster by @Poisson:
  • Seagull Stealing Your Chips: The Ride, an S&S Free Fly by @RicketyCricket:
  • The Wurzels Present - Thatchers Gold: The Ride, an S&S El Loco by @Matt.GC:
  • Breanlivion, a wooden wild mouse by @GJMarshy:
  • Bulldog's Revenge, an RMC IBox Track by @tactic:
  • Eurofighter Typhoon, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter by @Thameslink Rail:

Voting for Round 5 closes on Friday 20th December 2024 at 11:45pm, and the results will be revealed as part of the Week 5 Weekly Digest.

It's now time to move onto the final bit of the week...
Round 6 Building
Now that Round 6 is over, it's time to reveal the next round of the competition! The brief for Round 6 is... Grand Prix Replacement at Blackpool Pleasure Beach! The context for the round is as follows:

The constraints for the round are as follows:
  • Maximum Footprint 51m*147m/167ft*482ft
  • Must be Duelling, Racing or Quasi Mobius/Self-Duelling
For some context, the area of Blackpool Pleasure Beach we're working with here is as follows:
Grand-Prix-Plot.png


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=3380105726

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.

To submit, please build your submission, film a POV and/or 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 6 is Friday 20th December 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 6. Good luck with Round 6, folks! If you have any questions or concerns about the round, please don't hesitate to contact me. I am always more than happy to help.

Get building for Round 6 and voting for Round 5, everybody!
Click to expand...


Bit of a catch with this one though right?

Avalanche Exists which would pose a major market to almost any coaster layout! Might it be worth doing a blueprint of the ride for contestants to work around? Place it on the pre-set map?

I don’t mind recreating it within the pre-set if it helps? Should add to the challenge for all involved and make it even more fun!
 
GJMarshy said:
Bit of a catch with this one though right?

Avalanche Exists which would pose a major market to almost any coaster layout! Might it be worth doing a blueprint of the ride for contestants to work around? Place it on the pre-set map?

I don’t mind recreating it within the pre-set if it helps? Should add to the challenge for all involved and make it even more fun!
Click to expand...
If you look at the context, you’ll notice I have accounted for this in there (relevant section in bold):
After decades of operation, Blackpool Pleasure Beach's iconic car ride, or as you all call it the Grand Prix, was officially confirmed to have ceased operation in a contentious tweet from the park's manager earlier this year. Despite Ms Thompson's tweet generating uproar at the time, there was a good reason for the Grand Prix to be closing... Blackpool intends to build a new roller coaster on the site, and they've hired none other than you to design it! With the usable area occupied by the Grand Prix alone being unfeasibly tight, Blackpool have also allowed the aging Avalanche to be sacrificed for your build, but the area is still tight nonetheless. In order to keep the racing ethos of the Grand Prix alive, Blackpool would also like your ride to incorporate a duelling element of some description. It'll be a challenging build... what will you come up with?
Click to expand...
I did wonder about putting Avalanche in there, but I steered away from it for a couple of reasons:
  1. You can’t very accurately recreate a steel bobsled coaster in the game in a non-DLC-requiring fashion (I try and make all the rounds open to anyone regardless of DLCs). There is a wooden bobsled coaster, but a) This is only available in the Vintage DLC on PC and b) The wooden supports would take space away that isn’t taken away by the real-life Avalanche.
  2. Given what I was asking, I almost wondered if including Avalanche in there might make it unfeasibly difficult. It’s already not a particularly large area for a multi-tracked coaster, so adding a whole second coaster into the area to work around could make the land unfeasibly small for a multi-tracked coaster, in my view. I try and make these rounds challenging to an extent, but they can’t be too challenging; it’s important for the requirements to be physically possible in the first place.
I do love the commitment to realism, but this is just a bit of fun after all and will never be completely, 100% realistic. I aim for realism in my briefs, but I also apply a little bit of poetic license to the briefs rather than making them hyper-realistic.

Does my rationale make any sense?
 
Last edited:
Matt N said:
If you look at the context, you’ll notice I have accounted for this in there (relevant section in bold):

I did wonder about putting Avalanche in there, but I steered away from it for a couple of reasons:
  1. You can’t very accurately recreate a steel bobsled coaster in the game in a non-DLC-requiring fashion (I try and make all the rounds open to anyone regardless of DLCs). There is a wooden bobsled coaster, but a) This is only available in the Vintage DLC on PC and b) The wooden supports would take space away that isn’t taken away by the real-life Avalanche.
  2. Given what I was asking, I almost wondered if including Avalanche in there might make it unfeasibly difficult. It’s already not a particularly large area for a multi-tracked coaster, so adding a whole second coaster into the area to work around could make the land unfeasibly small for a multi-tracked coaster, in my view. I try and make these rounds challenging to an extent, but they can’t be too challenging; it’s important for the requirements to be physically possible in the first place.
I do love the commitment to realism, but this is just a bit of fun after all and will never be completely, 100% realistic. I aim for realism in my briefs, but I also apply a little bit of poetic license to the briefs rather than making them hyper-realistic.

Does my rationale make any sense?
Click to expand...

Absolutely makes sense, missed that bit cheers Matt! Let the fun commence!
 
Can we have a separate option for best name? I mean, 'Seagull Stealing Your Chips: The Ride' has to be the best theme for a coaster I've ever heard.
 
My Round 5 submission is now here... say hello to Thunder Twins, a pair of Maurer spinning coasters:
Thunder-Twins-Overview.png


The ride stats are as follows:
  • Name: Thunder Twins (Cyclone and Hurricane)
  • Manufacturer: Maurer AG
  • Model: Spinning Coaster (Custom)
  • Height: 54ft/16m (both)
  • Speed: 39mph/63kph (Cyclone), 40mph/64kph (Hurricane)
  • Length: 2,325ft/709m (Cyclone), 2,112ft/644m (Hurricane)
  • Inversions: 0 (both)
  • Airtime Moments: 4 (Cyclone), 3 (Hurricane)
  • Maximum Positive G-Force: 4.7G overall/4.6G heatmap (Cyclone), 5.1G overall/3.9G heatmap (Hurricane)
  • Maximum Negative G-Force: -1.4G overall/-0.3G heatmap (Cyclone), -2G overall/-0.4G heatmap (Hurricane)
  • Trains: 6 cars with 4 riders per side
  • Throughput: 1,387pph (~173-174 combined dispatches per hour, 1 combined dispatch every ~20-21s)
If you'd like to play around with Thunder Twins for yourself, here's the Steam Workshop link you can download it from: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3384499500

So that's Thunder Twins, my Round 6 submission! I know I'm not particularly good at duelling coasters, and this one did prove a challenge, but I hope you like it nonetheless!
 
Just as a reminder for everyone, we are now half way through Week 6. There are 3 days left until the submission deadline.

I’ve had 1 response to the Round 5 Voting Google Form so far, and that is my own. If you’d like to vote for your Round 5 favourites, here’s the form allowing you to do so: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf7Eds1ceNLDbFP_PhvmptUDN0IC-XC46F9sqTVqHXiGD_-6g/viewform

There have been 2 submissions for Round 6 so far, including my own. If you would like a deadline extension for Round 6, please notify me before the deadline and I would be happy to facilitate one for you. If you have any issues with uploading videos or anything at all, get in touch with me and I would be very happy to solve these issues for you. If you do not get into contact with me before the deadline, I will assume that you are happy forfeiting this round and move on.

The deadline for both Round 6 building and Round 5 voting is Friday 20th December 2024 at 11:45pm. The Week 7 Weekly Digest will be posted on Saturday 21st December 2024 at 12am.
 
I’d like to apologise, as I only just realised that the Round 5 voting form has been restricted for the last 4 days… Google seems to have changed their Google Forms interface so that it no longer enables respondent access via link by default.

I think I’ve managed to change the settings; would someone mind going on the form now to check whether they can access it and letting me know whether they can or not?
 
Matt.GC said:
I just voted, and it seems to work fine now?
Click to expand...
Thanks @Matt.GC; that’s good to know.

I only asked because late last night, I had an email in my inbox from someone requesting permission to access the form, and when I checked the form permissions, I discovered that voting access was “Restricted” rather than open to “Anyone with the link” as I’d have hoped for.
 
On a side note, I’ve noticed engagement seems to have been pretty low this week so far, with only 2 submissions for Round 6 including my own and only 2 responses to the Round 5 voting form including my own with just 2 days to go.

With this in mind, and with next week likely to be a busy one, I have a question. Would people like me to extend Week 6 by another week? My thought was that this could drum up a few more Round 6 submissions and Round 5 votes and also mean that we don’t have too much in the way of Speed Build activities to fit in over the busy Christmas week. If I leave you with the current activities over the Christmas week, then that might be a bit less to fit in for those who are tight on time over the busy Christmas period.

My suggestion if we do this would be that I don’t publish a Weekly Digest this week, and the Week 7 Weekly Digest, containing Round 7 Building, Round 6 Voting and Round 5 Results, is instead published a week later on Saturday 28th December 2024 at 12am, with all Week 6 deadlines being extended to Friday 27th December 2024 at 11:45pm.

What are people’s thoughts? Would we prefer this, or are we happy to stick with the current deadlines?

I’m happy either way, as I have Round 7 prepared and ready to go, but I’m asking as I’m conscious of next week being a busy one and engagement this week currently seems to be quite low. I’m aware that not everyone will submit every week, and that’s absolutely fine, but I’m afraid I can’t really run a Round 6 voting stage with only 2 submissions. Realistically, I probably need at least 4 or 5 for a voting stage to be feasible.
 
Can we have this extended to Monday night? I'm away with work unexpectedly and haven't finished my submission.
 
Can I have until Sunday night? If not possible then crack on without me and I'll understand. I'm pretty much working 12+ hour days until Christmas day. If I don't submit by early hours of Monday morning, then I'm happy to drop out of the round.
 
Poisson said:
Can we have this extended to Monday night? I'm away with work unexpectedly and haven't finished my submission.
Click to expand...
Matt.GC said:
Can I have until Sunday night? If not possible then crack on without me and I'll understand. I'm pretty much working 12+ hour days until Christmas day. If I don't submit by early hours of Monday morning, then I'm happy to drop out of the round.
Click to expand...
In this case, then, I’ll go ahead with the idea I mooted last night and extend Week 6 for the whole extra week if everyone’s OK with that. I’m perfectly OK to hold off for a bit until after Christmas Day has passed and wait for higher levels of Round 6 submission and Round 5 voting before moving on.

In that case, Week 6 has been extended by an additional week if everyone is OK with it. The Round 6 Building and Round 5 Voting deadlines are now Friday 27th December 2024 at 11:45pm, with the Week 7 Weekly Digest dropping on Saturday 28th December 2024 at 12am. If everyone’s OK with that, that’s a deadline I’m happy to adopt; with how busy Christmas week is, I wouldn’t want us to have a shortened Week 7 during that week of all weeks. Let’s reconvene once Christmas has passed and look at Week 7 then.
 
Thameslink Rail said:
Return of the Red Arrows - Dueling Flying Coasters

From: https://youtu.be/CvP59siglTk
Click to expand...

Great submission @Thameslink Rail! Flying coasters are a really unique choice of ride type for this brief, and I think you've pulled it off well, with some nice manoeuvres; I like the terrain usage!

Just as a reminder for everyone else, there will be no Weekly Digest this evening, so if you're anticipating one at 12am, there will not be one this week. Week 6 has been extended by a further week, and the Week 7 Weekly Digest will drop on Saturday 28th December 2024 at 12am.
 
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