Week 7 Weekly Digest (28th December 2024-3rd January 2025)
OK folks; that's the end of Week 6! Let's get into Week 7, shall we?
I'll start with the Round 5 results...
Round 5 Results
There were
5 responses to the Round 5 Voting Google Form in total, and the winners of Round 5 were as follows:
The complete leaderboard for Round 5 is as follows:
And by extension, the overall contest results are now as follows:
Great round, everybody! Let's now move onto Round 6 voting...
Round 6 Voting
OK, folks. The Round 6 submissions are in, so the voting stage can now begin!
Please vote for your Round 6 favourites via this Google Form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1...Zafe7FQCwaHAiY8dM7lSnQgg/viewform?usp=sharing
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. Note: As we only have 5 submissions this week, please only pick a top 5 if you have not submitted a submission. If you have submitted a submission, please pick a top 4 to prevent voting for yourself.
- 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:
- Thunder Twins, a duo of Maurer spinning coasters by @Matt N:
- Thompson Tumble, a duo of RMC TRex Tracks by @RicketyCricket:
- Return of the Red Arrows, a duo of B&M Flying Coasters by @Thameslink Rail:
- Unnamed standup/inverted/junior coaster trio by @Poisson:
- YaY, a duo of Mack Rides Launch Coasters by @tactic:
Voting for Round 6 closes on
Friday 3rd January 2025 at 11:45pm, and the results will be revealed as part of the Week 7 Weekly Digest.
It's now time to move onto the final bit of the week...
Round 7 Building
Now that Round 6 is over, it's time to reveal the next round of the competition! And for this one, I decided to do something slightly different and revive the first ever round from the first ever contest back in 2022 with a new budget restriction twist! As such, the brief for Round 7 is...
Hyperia Reloaded at Thorpe Park! The context for the round is as follows:
In 2024, Thorpe Park made waves within the UK theme park industry by building the country's tallest and fastest roller coaster; Hyperia. The ride opened to huge fanfare... but has unfortunately been dogged by problems ever since. From lift hill woes to an unfortunate tendency towards stalling in cold weather, Hyperia has had a rough season... so Thorpe Park have made the difficult decision to cut their losses and go back to the drawing board with it. They're designing a whole new record breaker, and they've commissioned none other than you to design it! It goes without saying that those all-important height and speed records need to be retained, and the park are not willing to budge beyond the land occupied by the original Hyperia. The knife is also coming down hard on budgets across the board at Merlin, so unfortunately, the budget you have to work with is not exactly the most plentiful either. It'll be a tough build... how will you rise to the challenge?
The constraints for the round are as follows:
- Maximum Footprint 820ft*328ft/250m*100m
- Minimum Height 235ft/72m
- Minimum Speed 80mph/129kph
- Maximum Budget $20,000
For some context, the area of Thorpe Park we're working with here is as follows:
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=3385844238
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 7 is
Friday 3rd January 2025 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 7. Good luck with Round 7, 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 7 and voting for Round 6, everybody!
