A look at the early development of RollerCoaster Tycoon

RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 & 2 are amazing games as they are today, but they could have easily been very different. In this video we take a look at a lot of the ideas that were considering during development of the game and which ones did and did not make it into the final game.
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Outro Music: • RollerCoaster Tycoon g...
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[@MarcelVos]

Apparently I forgot that peacocks exist when making this video. At first I wrote "swan-like", but later changed it to "duck-like", but neither felt entirely correct. This feeling was correct as it is, as many of you have pointed out, a peacock.

[@bbgun061]

What's up with the exploding guest?

[@MarcelVos]

@@bbgun061 He ate too much TNT for breakfast.

[@bbgun061]

@@MarcelVos oh, of course!

[@wterlep]

I was thinking they kind of looked like turkeys

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

@@bbgun061 Dynamite in the brain.

[@MrCheeze]

The "rusty track" feature sounds basically like the effect in the final game where ride value goes down over time. I would have preferred to actually gave the visual indicator for this, instead of the player having to just know in the final game.

[@brybryguy6314]

I would have liked the rusty track idea too. Would show age and reliability rates. And should have added in guess reviews like after awhile the ride becomes rought like in real life lol. Should have put this into the game and instead of just repainting it, they should have added in options for like refurbishment.

[@OntarioTrafficMan]

Yeah and since it's just cosmetic, they could have an option to turn on/off rust for people who want all the rides to look pristine even when they are old and unrefurbished

[@dareldatt798]

Only they had a graphic for it and finally dumped it

[@jordanbradford7729]

There’s an official scenario where you have to fix up an old park and one of the coasters has a bunch of missing track pieces; presumably they fell off the rest of the ride due to lack of maintenance. Rusty track pieces might have worked there instead.

[@sophiacristina]

In a programming and art standing point, i think it would be tiresome to do lot of sprites by yourself. I don't know how much space it takes, but if you think in long-term to add more items, you might also want to think about how much memory it would occupy, and it is better to be safe than sorry.

[@aidangarvey7049]

Chris Sawyer was like "if I can program this entire game in assembly, by myself, then these lazy handymen can skip their damn lunch!"

[@RatelHBadger]

Lazy handymen, quit mowing that same patch of grass for the 10th time and clean up the piles of puke by my inverted coaster.

[@LEWIS1992]

On Chris Sawyer's website, one of the FAQs takes you to a page showcasing HD models of some of the rides, like the Haunted House. Apparently, many of them were full 3D models before being downscaled.

[@nthgth]

​@@LEWIS1992 Sounds like the pre-rendered 3D sprites of Donkey Kong Country, Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart 64, and other mid 90s stuff

[@RatchetSly]

9:20 I have learned that, if I'm wearing sunglasses, I should never sit on a bench.

[@Oscar-xs9cv]

Yeah what the hell was that

[@thenoisybunny]

He got what was coming

[@OptimusSubPr1me]

I really want Marcel to interview Chris, I think that would be so freaking cool. You could talk for hours and I'd watch every second.

[@onlyeveryone2253]

Someone here said Chris is very private, but we can always hope

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@@onlyeveryone2253 I mean the dude is clearly some sort of genius, so I guess I'm not surprised he's reclusive. But I would bet Marcel is easily the most qualified person to do that if anyone could though! I can't think of anyone (besides Chris Sawyer of course) that knows more about this game

[@rmac3217]

He programmed it alone in Assembly, he probably has PTSD and hears choppers flying overhead and machine guns when ppl mention RCT.

[@tomothybahamothy]

​@@rmac3217 no he hears the merry go round and people screaming on roller coasters

[@DanielLCarrier]

They didn't include the rust sprites, but I think the rust mechanic did make it into the final game. People will only pay half as much for a ride after it reaches a certain age, and you have to refurbish it to get them to pay the full price. I'm guessing they were originally planning to make the old rides appear rusty, which was scrapped because that's so many sprites, but they left the mechanic for old rides in.

[@Wiimeiser]

This makes a lot of sense.

[@Sp4mMe]

Could have been handled with a rust overlay. ... would have been nice for RCT2, maybe.

[@PoleVaultProject]

The peep combusting at 9:28 😭😭

[@FrameRater]

I would guess that rusty tracks also affected ride performance and create more potential crash scenarios.

[@jacobnicola5950]

bumbly beach's wooden roller coaster would probably be rusty at the start.

[@TesseraCraft]

I think it would be cool to use it as a way to visually show us the age of a ride and how guess are willing to pay lass and less to ride it.

[@WoddCar]

Maybe a symptom of not inspecting your rides enough

[@triple7marc]

True, maybe it made the trains slow down and valley.

[@ItzzzBeamo]

Yep. Would probably have effects on friction.

[@GreatMewtwo]

Seeing the golden butts as part of the awards, it would have been nice if your park could win an award for being "the park with the most places to sit." I think you would get it by having large guest capacities in your park's rides.

[@chriscjohnston]

I was thinking best toilets when I saw that

[@blazerocker1734]

@@chriscjohnston I was thinking either Best Toilets award or a Booby Prize for the worst rides.

[@TheThirdDaySH]

Maybe we're overthinking this. I like to believe it was just an award for "the park with the nicest butts."

[@aaaaaaaard9586]

Hey!!! Bite my glorious golden ass!!!

[@DMoney13331]

On the panda model - maybe an alternate steeplechase car? Best idea I can come up with, as it definitely seems to be built to have some sort of rail run between its legs

[@Caledon91]

I assumed it was one of those electric scooters that some parks have that kids can rent but IDK if those were a thing in the late 90s.

[@BAKU2K2]

@@Caledon91 Those are called "Melody Pets," they've originated in Japan in the 1960's. I believe TOGO was the one who invented them.

[@Wiimeiser]

Panda DLC sprite swap for the Steeplechase? Open RCT2 should probably get onto that...

[@Kitteh2006]

I was thinking it's two dudes in a panda suit

[@JD3Gamer]

My mind went to those weird animal ride on things that malls have but I don't think those were a thing in the late 90s

[@paulcoffey1837]

I would love for the OpenRCT guys to add a couple of these things in the game, like some added scenery and paths, the robot entertainer, and the linear slide

[@colewhite4184]

It’s such a minor detail but the robot entertainer would be perfect for the time twister expansion pack

[@Samuel_Hearfield]

Well technically there is Custom Scenery for a linear slide you can get online.

[@bombaglad32]

yeees especially the cars/buses!

[@SergeantExtreme]

I would love it if OpenRCT added the rust mechanic back in.

[@polygondwanaland8390]

And the butt award. We need the butt award.

[@5MadMovieMakers]

Maybe that trophy was for the best toilets?

[@DogsRNice]

I'm thinking there might have been a best benches award

[@matthewcastronova7908]

9:02 The long slide ride eventually made it into the RCT3: Soaked! Expansion

[@BAKU2K2]

And although non-functional, The Amazing Earl have also made one as custom scenery for RCT2.

[@matthewcastronova7908]

@@BAKU2K2 Yes!! :D

[@Davtwan]

I’m guessing one of the reasons out-of-the-park vehicles were removed was due to the sprite limit. If you were close to it, having a bunch of cars spawning every now and then could prevent building at random points. Plus the bus spawning guests when you’re at the guest limit might have caused issues too.

[@Codraroll]

Interestingly, a lot of these ideas eventually made it into Parkitect. Staff taking breaks, cars driving outside parks, groups of guests arriving by bus, the robot entertainer ... I wonder if Sebioff also read this blog or if great minds simply think alike.

[@Cheerybelle]

Bullfrog's Theme Park series had the staff needing breaks and guest arriving by bus. While Parkitect often gets compared to RCT 1&2, I feel like it definitely has some Theme Park DNA in its veins as well... but maybe it's just because I grew up with Sim Theme Park / Theme Park World / Theme Park 2.

[@shaun4655]

I wonder what Chris would've thought of the fact that this game he was working on would become a huge part of the childhood of millions of people.

[@matsv201]

Its sad that the game he actually was making and later was launched is so underrated

[@jarlsparkley]

I wonder what he thinks, too. The good news is though is he is alive and well and is probably aware. He just values his privacy.

[@vitalepitts]

isn't that the goal when you make a videogame? lol

[@rollercoaster24]

@@matsv201 what game was that

[@CrAzYpotpie]

@@vitalepitts Sure, and how many spectacular games are there compared to garbage? Goal doesn't equal destination.

[@angelindenile]

I know way too much about this game and have never played it. I have been watching your channel for about three years now, and you helped me get through a rough time during the pandemic since your voice is really calming to me for some reason. Whenever I needed it, I would use your videos as both a distraction and a means of learning more about some of my favorite things-- Video games. Keep up the wonderful and informative videos, Marcel, and thank you so much.

[@stonedtaka6057]

you shaould play the game! it is awesome!

[@scj643]

I’ve only played OpenTTD

[@Combatarms4234]

What come on now, you had to atleast play the game for years to get an actual opinion of it. For you to say you know "too much about the game" is ridiculous, since you've never played it. When I was a kid I got this game from Wal-Mart for $50 in 2002 I believe was the year. A few months later the game came out through cereal boxes with General Mills. I don't imagine you will ever see CD-Rom games come out through cereal again. If you played the first Rollercoaster Tycoon you basically have played the second, but the second is much better. The only exception would be some maps and challenges in the first game are unique to the game. The graphics are basically the same. You can get the whole game on steam sometimes for like $6 its well worth it.

[@zacharycoleman1117]

The early pyramid seems to explain why you can place stuff inside of them in the final game

[@slopehoke1277]

5:30 "It is based on a train called the Northern Rock..." Nah, fam, that's Thomas.

[@BAKU2K2]

But it has a tender, so technically, it's Edward.

[@FrameRater]

5:23 oh my god it's him

[@PhoenixRoseYT]

IT’S HIM

[@HECKproductions]

those "duck like" bushes are peacocks yo aaaaand 9:28 a guest just up and explodes...

[@MarcelVos]

Well peacocks are a bit like ducks aren't they?

[@itslegiTim]

12:00 that looping coaster on the right not getting up the curved hill 😂😂😂

[@BAKU2K2]

10:58 The dome structure in the top left is actually an early version of the Info Kiosk, Buggy has made a recreation of it for RCT2.

[@alexdemoya2119]

Early versions of games are often interesting. As are early watchers of Marcel Vos vids

[@H3LPIV3FALL3N]

That’s an understatement

[@Cryster99]

No u

[@StarlitWitchy]

Like us!! Hehe ;p

[@OutwayKnoll1080]

Damn straight

[@pseudonymity0000]

Regarding Duck migration. If I am remembering correctly, You will also see the ducks actually migrating. They will fly in a V formation out of the map.

[@AmusementAcademy]

The ride on pandas (and other animals) are very popular at Asian parks, especially in Japan. The small park in Tokyo called Hanayashiki has merchandise featuring these rides and really talks them up. It's a very common thing over there. Not sure if that's where the ideas came from or not, but they do have a precedent in real life! I included one of these in my Washuzan Park RCT project.

[@straightpipediesel]

They're called "panda cars" and are a staple for the old Japanese department store rooftop amusement parks. To the uninitiated, they're motorized ride-on animals that slowly go forward, and the legs make fake walking motions. I think the concept is to be like bumper cars or go-karts but because they go so slow, they need a lot less space.

[@spinal357]

For the golden butts maybe an award for having many benches? "Most comfortable butts", my first though was an early most toilets, second was best ass in the country

[@tom117323]

lol

[@DuckInGameStop]

"best ass" isn't even park-related, they literally just give the park owner an award for having a nice ass

[@illusionismm]

they call him the handy man for a reason

[@-DeScruff]

The exploded track piece would have been a nice hint for how to get guests to ride a ride again, and mark where the problem spot of the coaster is for a player.

[@Duth_Olec]

The rusty track is interesting--I could actually see the chipping paint stuff only appearing as a visual indicator that a ride has gotten old and is no longer as profitable. If I recall there's not really any indication of when that happens in the game now so that could've been an intention.

[@sabretooth1997]

The panda sort of reminds me of those motorized animal scooters you often see in shopping malls and amusement parks. Just way too big.

[@Goldenknight01]

11:50 I mean hey, I'll take the best toilets award over the buttocks award any day.

[@GraafBerengeur]

I'll take the buttocks award over the toilet award any day!

[@Goldenknight01]

@@GraafBerengeur 👀

[@MechWarrior894]

@@Goldenknight01 I mean, I’m not going to judge

[@Mucrush]

Having cars and busses use the roads would had been really cool! Imagine if it was a requirement to have a road leading up to the entrance, so the bus could provide with a bunch of guests at once~ kinda like how they did in Theme Park World!

[@BAKU2K2]

Looking at these unused assets, Bullfrog's "Theme Park" might have also served as an inspiration for RCT; not only was there cars/busses, but the handymen would've taken lunch breaks when not at work.

[@WackoMcGoose]

I was actually about to bring up TPW (SimThemePark, for us Americans). It definitely felt a bit more like your park was actually part of a world, seeing a bus come out of a tunnel, a seaplane swoop in, or an entire cruise ship docking at the entrance, and watching the guests magically beam in from them, then wait at the road crossing before finally running across to the entry gates...

[@Sp4mMe]

@@BAKU2K2 CS said so in an interview directly. Basically he played Theme Park, liked it, but thought the rollercoasters weren't good enough, and as he felt a bit stuck on TT2, he just gave it a try ... Amusingly TT is also "just" directly inspired by Railroad Tycoon.

[@DawsonsMemes]

Those staff eating lunch reminded me of the staff in Themepark from 1994

[@electrollama2127]

I remember seeing a different style of Space Rings when messing with glitchy operating modes. I wonder if there are any more prototype sprites stored in the game.

[@klobiforpresident2254]

Were they any better than normal space rings?

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@@klobiforpresident2254 Space Rings are _the worst._ I used to have a season pass to a theme park for a couple years because I live really close to one and am bad at prioritizing what to spend my money on. Anyway, the thing I realized is that Chris Sawyer did his frickin homework! He must have gone on ALL the rides there are to ride, because his ratings tend to be weirdly accurate. I always put the rides into test mode first (cause I'm not an animal) and every single time he gets the excitement/nausea/intensity ratings are exactly how I remember those rides (especially after you've been on it 7 times in a row and the novelty has worn off). "Space Rings" actually _aren't_ fun, they're just uncomfortable! That and the The Inverted Pirate Ship are my least favorite rides in real life, the restraint system is just uncomfortable for everyone (and on the pirate ship the lap bar won't even go down on people above a certain size, so sometimes they have to ask a fat person to get off the ride because they're too fat in front of so, so many people and it's just heartbreaking. Seems like there's a better way to handle that situation lol)

[@oneandonlysound3453]

@@idontwantahandlethough People probs just need to ya know, loose weight if they can't fit into a family or normal size pirate ship ride lol.

[@Bobo-ox7fj]

​@@idontwantahandlethoughThe better way to handle such a situation is for the tubs to put the fork down once in a while 😂

[@matsv201]

Transport tycoon 2 was later launched, and its actually fantastic. But due to cris losing the brand name ot was renamed to locomotion prior to launch. Its one of those perls of a game that is really the best for over a decade, but a lot of People looked at it as if it was a second tear game due the grapics being somewhat outdated at the time

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

Locomotion is awesome, and TBH the graphics still hold up pretty well. The sprite based isometric view was simple, but that kind of thing ages a lot better then 3D graphics. It does have a lot of flaws though: the holding patterns and general operation of airports is terrible. The game also badly needed separate freight and passenger train stations along with repair depots.

[@SniperTeamTango]

I was going to come to the commons and say I'm pretty sure all of these screenshots so far have been of locomotion transport tycoon definitely did not look that good

[@SniperTeamTango]

@@scottthewaterwarrior the game also does not follow its own rules in single player which is a big problem open Loco has started to finish a lot of these issues though I wish someone would cover all the stuff that's in it like Marcel does for rct2

[@scottthewaterwarrior]

@@SniperTeamTango Open Locomotion is a thing now? Doesn't surprise me, but I think the last time I played it was a few years ago, and the best I could find were some mods. Building multi-level railroad interchanges was really fun though.

[@SniperTeamTango]

@@scottthewaterwarrior yes sir it is has been for a couple years

[@Miss_Phoenix_56]

A lot of the early ideas are quite interesting to think about from a park management standpoint, particularly more interesting ride maintenance and management options. It would be nice if some rides did visibly show their age, maybe less extremely than with actual rusted track.

[@itscs1175]

That explains why some of the boxart shows broken track in the background.

[@TrxieVTuber]

Do you happen to know with ox art images those would be? RCT1?

[@TheOriginalJphyper]

I disagree about the buttons being pinned to wood. It's a similar-looking interface to a lot of point-and-click games of the time (especially edutainment games for young children), so it would've eventually made the game feel dated rather than classic.

[@idontwantahandlethough]

Ohh I hadn't thought of that, but I think you're spot on! And honestly, RCT is _the_ peak of classic computer gaming. There is nothing else that old that I go back to as consistently

[@unconstablelc]

lol i noticed at 9:27 a guest randomly exploding

[@MattiRedsky]

I wonder if OpenRCT2 could bring back that wood pinned interface, that looks pretty cool.

[@gymnasiast90]

Technically: absolutely. Just like with other graphics-related stuff though, it’s mostly a lack of people who are good at creating graphics. The OpenGraphics project is gathering steam, but currently it’s mostly concentrating on two things. The first is getting the lighting rigs and infrastructure in a decent state. The second is doing the things that would bring the most value to players first - which is new rides, and a replacement set for the existing graphics (so that people can play the game without buying RCT1/2, and also so we can add some additional elements to existing ride types.)

[@C.I...]

@@gymnasiast90 Is that where the new single rail coaster is from? That's actually my new favourite coaster type just because of how smooth it looks.

[@arrowguy173]

Somewhere on KZbin there are videos by one of the designers that show how they rendered coaster trains for each possible frame of animation. Just an awesome game and very cool to see the development!

[@posthistoricdino422]

i wonder is the most dazzling color scheme award is a holdover from the rusty track concept

[@supersonicbros23]

9:23 Someone left a landmine on the bench

[@triplej755]

Someday you should make a RCT iceberg video!

[@baksoBoy]

That sounds super interesting!

[@DiaryofaRollerCoasterGirl]

Hang on, why at 09:28 does a guest explode? 😆

[@joshallen128]

You can cause guests to randomly explode in cheats menu

[@rmac3217]

He ran out of money so he was executed

[@Leymora]

9:27 No ones gonna talk about the guest that sits down and just fucking explodes?

[@thesheq5023]

Id love to create an overlay for orct2 that allows multiple parks to be connected to each other as a multipark manaager thing, use the wooden graphic look, allow monthly goals and things, and allow competitor ai’s to exist that you’re trying to beat.

[@tom117323]

I think it's for the better they didn't add the cars to the game. the car looks very 90's which would have resulted in the game aging like crazy - pretty much how the expansions of RCT2 turned out to be, in which Chris Sawyer didn't have a part. same goes for the wooden lay-out theme... it looks fun and cool but way too outdated. the current one is more or less timeless. great vid nevertheless! was a true eye opener to me :)

[@radiocaster2k]

I'm kind of dissapointed that by "exploding track" Chris didn't literally mean track that would intentionally cause trains to explode

[@mbgal7758]

That would be awesome. If the track had a detonator then you could get the test done so guests will ride it, then you just wait until the train is nice and full then BOOM

[@theplasmawolf]

I would love staff taking breaks. Just adds that little bit more realism.

[@coastersplus]

Some games have tried since (I know Parkitect has, for one - you can plop down staff rooms for breaks too) and I'm not sure how much it really adds to playing the game, but it is a nice little touch.

[@martijn9568]

@@coastersplus I guess what this means for parkitect is that you can't just put down staff, but you also have to add supporting infrastructure for them. The same goes for many stalls. This may be much more meaningful than we initially appreciate. It turns Parkitect from just another Rollercoaster Tycoon like game into something of its own.

[@SwagzLife]

As a game developer myself I'm always grateful for videos that show and explain how long it takes to make games and how much effort goes into the process. Players of the games never see this side of things, and expect so much. So letting people know that it's very difficult and time consuming makes me very grateful! Great video!

[@StanleyDarsh22]

lol i wonder if the butt award had to do with the Best Bathrooms award

[@elijahbigsby4154]

My guess is that it's more likely that the image was a placeholder for the actual reward, but best bathrooms would be a funny one to have.

[@idontwantahandlethough]

@6:48 I absolutely LOVE that the safety bar restraints on the panda-coaster looks like the panda bear is just the panda wrapping his arms around the guests. Everyone gets to sit in a panda bears lap just in case they get a little scared, I could really go for that 😂

[@Shark0115]

The "rusty track" could have helped judging the aging and degrading of rides. Letting you know when it was time to start adjusting prices as the ride aged.

[@MrAgility888]

I see a Marcel Vos video and instantly like it.

[@SenLouie]

Considering the time frame, it's weird to know I was still developing into a full person and not born yet meanwhile sawyer was making this great game.

[@scottsymonds5649]

It always feels strange to think about the fact that things happened before you was born, and that things will continue to happen after you die. Like it makes sense, but at the same time it feels uncanny that you spend your entire life learning about things that you had no opportunity to perceive. And all those things have led up to me getting existential in an RCT2 video.

[@duetopersonalreasonsaaaaaa]

@@scottsymonds5649 yes! It feels so narcissistic but it's hard to comprehend life after I pass, that it'll continue to exist but I won't be there to perceive it. Aaaah, so weird. Thoughts like these are the reason I'm currently up at 4 am.

[@azuredragonofnether5433]

4:40 Actually those are peacocks. These birds are known/notorious for their wheel-like feather tails which to us humans are pretty, but naturally serve dual purposes: To impress female peacocks which do not have these wheel-shaped tails and to scare other animals.

[@stevenstice6683]

I thought those were turkeys, but I see it now.

[@Cheerybelle]

"female peacocks" lmao *_Peahens,_* mate. Also, collectively, peacocks and peahens are peafowl. The more you know!

[@TiredFerret]

4:40 I believe those are supposed to be peacocks, not ducks

[@BusterBeachside]

I like to believe the golden butts were a prototype for the "Park with the best toilets" award.

[@somethingsinister8493]

I often wonder if there will come a time when Marcel Vos runs out of ideas for rct videos, yet so far he keeps on pulling them out the bag, awesome video!

[@_Xiagax_]

That would be a sad day. If Marcel is creative enough that won't happen for a long time but I have been subbed to some people who end up quitting KZbin because they just run out of content because there is nothing more they can cover. Kind of reminds me of 95camryforlife.

[@Shoepert]

I almost forgot about all these dev stuff. It's always refreshing to see some old game development progress. I'm sure there're some in the community that'll revive some of these into OpenRCT to get a feel of how these could've possibly worked. Thanks for reminding me that these existed :)

[@MetalMephiles9000]

I think OpenRCT2 could add the rusty tracks as a way of indicating a ride aging and lowering the admission price. Paying for the track to be repainted resembles OpenRCT2's refurbishing feature, and makes it more visibly obvious why a guest wouldn't want to pay as much for it anymore.

[@berkebus]

11:22 DIS BUS You're the best Marcel.

[@racer927]

The multilane slide did come back in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked! and it was functionally identical to the concept you showed. Perhaps Frontier had access to these dev screenshots?

[@FranklinAshe]

One of the most interesting RCT-related videos I've seen. Great work! Love it.

[@nintoollica955]

At 6:31 the panda looks like those motorized pandas that kids can ride around on at the mall. I'm not sure if they have those overseas, but here in America, you can pretty much find them at every mall you visit. I'm assuming that guests at your park would be able to use them and ride around to get from place to place in your park.

[@erikiepeters]

I loved this video. It is different than what you normally do but very interesting. More of this please.

[@lumensmith9787]

In one of the beta screenshots, one of the wooden coasters is possibly a recreation of a cedar point wooden rollercoaster called Cyclone. It ran from 1929 to 1951.

[@MickanMansRCTStation]

This was really fascinating stuff, thanks Marcel!

[@Yakkers]

I still wonder if the 3D models used to render the ingame sprites are still hanging around anywhere. I'd love to see the peep model in full scale 3D

[@Kythyria]

My first thought was that peeps were hand-drawn; at those sorts of sizes any vector graphics rarely produce good results without a lot of careful fiddling. This impacts fonts a lot; less so now, but ones like Verdana contain a bunch of little programs to seriously mangle the outlines in the name of getting them to not be a blurry mess at small sizes.

[@2ero2nin3]

Id love to see a showcase of your parks at somepoint; especially the scenery. Some of that looks amazing!

[@internetendgegner1844]

Love this, I always like to peek behind the curtain of a finished Product, and see it's development.

[@James-eg3fr]

MARCEL, I LOVE YOU! You always make me wanna play RCT2 after i'm done watching one of your vids! I genuinely never thought that we would get to see some REAL RCT beta, let alone THIS MUCH. Stay awesome!

[@vertujoe2886]

Hi Marcel I'm very glad you dug such deep and made an informal yet still matches your iconic entertaining style documentary video. very good job dude. this makes me consider if you have any plan of making an episode to describe the differences between RCT1 RCT2 RCT classic and OpenRCT, I have to admit although I consider myself a long-term anticipated RCT gamer, I am also usually got confused by all those different RCT1 RCT2 RCT classic versions. do you have any plans on this topic? thank you.

[@RadicalEdward2]

12:00 my theory is the butt trophies could have been tied to guests riding an attractions for too long of a duration OR maybe a trophy tied to having a suitable number of benches in a park (reflecting how few tired guests are in a park).

[@K-o-R]

The pandas: search "Wild panda riding in Japan" on here to see what is almost certainly that object. 9:25 Did that guy just sit down and explode?

[@gloweye]

The rusty track could be a very neat way to visually signal how old a ride is, and how badly it needs refurbishment so that you can ask more money again.

[@digitaldeathsquid3448]

9:28 Guest 495 has spontaneously combusted

[@sErgEantaEgis12]

I'd personally love a mechanic where guests who die in the park nets you a money penalty to represent lawsuits/fines.

[@PlatinumEagleStudios]

I'm glad they added the multi-lane slide to RCT3. It's called the Giant SLide, and it has MASSIVE throughput. It can accommodate a huge number of guests in a short time. RCT3 also still has the spiral slide too. Would be cool to have the Giant Slide in RCT2 though......Maybe they'll add it in OpenRCT2 in a future "Developmental Rides" update or something.

[@MightyFineMan]

This was immensely fascinating and makes my life feel so much more complete. Thank you for making this information more available and known.

[@lisalove6370]

I love a sneaky peek behind the scenes of things...Great video. Thanks Marcel

[@chriscraft8046]

This is a blast from the past! I remember fawning over these pictures in the early 2000s, and wondering why so many of the ideas didn't make it into the final game!

[@mr.cook5]

one of my all-time favorites on this channel, what a joy to see development progress. I can guess that the exploded track pieces were confusing in testing -- maybe players thought the whole ride needed to be scrapped instead of deleting and replacing the track pieces? but who knows really! so much fun to speculate.

[@thenarstar]

I'll contribute with my little bit that I saved from the Chris Sawyer Website: February 13 1998: At 21:47 this Friday evening after 3 weeks of solid work, I have created my what can only be decribed as my 'Magnum Opus' ready, just in time for tomorrow. A kind of rollercoaster that has the best stats in the game, tops of excitement, little nausia and just the right amount of intensity! This is but is a mere token of appriciation to the ravising line of steel across my park and straight into my heart! In fact! Ive just come up with the perfect name for it. _The Heartline Coaster_ I'm sure the players will also love this coaster as much as I. Now I must retire for the night after spening the last 42 hours at my computer. I hope my dear, sweet Heartline coaster thinks of me tomorrow. Much love CS xx February 14 1998: I HATE MY LIFE !! March 20 1998: After 4 weeks leave of compassionate leave, will return Monday morning to re-commence work. March 23 1998: Minor changes made to Heartline Coaster. Coaster is now complete and need no further development.

[@toainsully]

5:35 Trivia: The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway was the basis for the Arlesdale Railway in Thomas the Tank Engine

[@Leonhardt04]

Duuuude those little tank cars for the car ride would have been so cool. And the Handyman sitting down eating lunch is cute af

[@bucky97]

"You have received an award for 'The Nicest Butt in the Country'!"

[@kyleolson8977]

At its core, RCT is Transport Tycoon Deluxe except the cargo usually ends up and the same place it started. The construction was been advanced to allow very free 3D building. And none of the vehicles move freely on the map but the cargo does. If you go to the much later official Transport Tycoon for iPad game you'll find that the construction works much more like RCT. Tracks have smooth corners instead of angles and you can build stations in the air and underground like RCT. Digging through hills is also like RCT instead of the fixed tunnels of TTD.

[@KoploperMau]

You are probably talking about Locomotion, not Transport Tycoon. :)

[@matsv201]

@@KoploperMau locomotion was launched after rtc

[@kyleolson8977]

@@KoploperMau Locomotion may have some game engine similarities to the iPad TT (I don't remember) but TT iPad is not nearly so stripped down. It certainly feels like it's largely the same kind of game as TTD. Of course, you can get OpenTTD for the iPad or Android if you want the TTD experience (and the iPad has a nearly identical RCT2 game).

[@kaltenstein7718]

I don't know why I love listening to this guy talking about a game I never played and didn't know existed before i discovered this channel, but you made it sir!

[@RadicalEdward2]

11:38 if I recall, there IS lines of text with some of the park marketing campaign options that mentions “bus loads of people” or I might be thinking of a line in the scenario editor.

[@Porcf81]

The pandas look like the animal vehicles you can ride around in at some parks in Japan. They sit on the ground in large open plazas and you climb on and ride them as they “walk” about and you steer them.

[@Mastervitro]

The Bus reminds me of an older amusement park game that I played from Floppy disks. I think it was "Theme Park" but I'm not 100% sure, might just be bad memory.

[@OQIF87NREU]

those pics remind me how sad it is that both Classic and Open don’t feature the OG steel coaster car designs

[@lumindoesvideos]

Developing a game is painful and time consuming, and it's obvious even RCT wasn't easy to make either. God just imagine how hard making sprites was back then. Maybe some of these were never implemented because coding the behavior would hard to do. Also, the panda may have been a possible steeplechase car or cycle monorail, I'm not sure why I think that, it may just be the shape. And that peacock ornamental tree would've been so awesome to use in my animal themed park.

[@juneguts]

Great Rollercoaster Tycoon bonus video!

[@LEWIS1992]

On Chris Sawyer's website, one of the FAQs takes you to a page showcasing HD models of some of the rides, like the Haunted House. Apparently, many of them were full 3D models before being downscaled.

[@thendar823]

12:00 Feels like a diferent model for the best toilet award to me. I imagine the toilet was more child friendly

[@ClickPopBoom]

neat video, really cool to think about what could have been. The rusty and exploding track could have absolutely been neat ideas as long as coasters didn't degrade too fast, the 'sign nailed to a board' ui does look charming but at this point I'm so used to the ui we got that at this point I can't imagine having anything else.

[@WereDictionary]

It is so crazy to me that the steamrollers that were RCT1 and 2 essentially happened because one guy went like "I'm gonna assembler a game" and then went to tour the world off of the profits of that game and while he was doing that, he discovered his love for roller coasters and went full Star Wars Cantina Band on the idea - "The same thing again? Okay, Same thing again!" and thats when it popped off.