Planet Coaster 2is an upcoming theme park simulator by Frontier Developments that lets players create their dream theme parks piece by piece. It looks set to be the ultimate theme park paradise formanagement simfans and those fond of the renowned original game released nearly eight years ago.Planet Coaster 2offers players a wave of new and enhanced systems and features for fans to sink their teeth into, including changes to heatmaps and brand-new power and water filtration systems, to name a handful. While the original title included a Career Campaign Mode to challenge players in unique scenarios and a Sandbox Mode to unleash their creativity to the max,Planet Coaster 2also introduces players to Franchise Mode.
Following a recent hands-onPlanet Coaster 2preview event, Game Rant had the opportunity to chat with game director Richard Newbold and senior executive producer Adam Woods among others on the team to discuss some of the new systems inPlanet Coaster 2, including power and heatmaps. Woods also teased more details aboutPlanet Coaster 2’s Franchise Mode and what it involves.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Planet Coaster 2’s Power, Water Filtration Systems, And Heatmaps
Q: One of the things I was curious about is the new power system. I think I figured it out after playing around connecting different things, but could you summarize briefly how it works?
Newbold:Yeah, so there are numerousrides and facilities inPlanet Coaster 2that need power before they can be opened and used by your guests. You have to place power generators in your park, and these will generate the power that you then use distributors to share around your parks. Your distributors are in an area of effect.
You have a radius to them and you need to make sure that your rides and your facilities are inside that radius, and that your distributors are then connected via cables. Generators will createpower, the distributors share it out. You make sure that your generators have paths on them so that your mechanics can access the generators because they will slowly, over time, start to degrade.
Your mechanics are going to be there in your park to repair those generators to ensure that you don’t run out of power, and those rides and facilities then close. This is a system that also appears with water as well. It’s a very similar system, where we have water pumps and wells to create clean water that your water filters then share out again via a radius in an area for things like your flumes and ports.
Q: And the heat maps seem quite crucial in figuring out those problems. Could you talk about the changes you’ve made with heat maps? They seem park-wide now and not just for individual rides.
Woods:Yeah, quite — there are lots of different heat maps that will be there to help guide the player and understand what’s going on in their park at that high level. Allowing them to quickly interrogate and see what’s going on, where the needs are, and where things need to be addressed.
Like I say, that’s actually across multiple different kinds oflevels of management featuresacross the game — not just power, not just water. you’re able to look at guest needs, guest happiness. You can also look at scenery ratings as well, so you can really ensure your park is looking good, which helps improve the guests' mood, which then helps make sure that they’re having the best day they can.
Weather In Planet Coaster 2
Q: I see that the weather is now a big thing and guests can buy sun cream from the pool shop. Could you talk about the new weather features and how they affect park management?
Newbold:Yeah, as you mentioned, there’s theweather, the water parks aspect. One of those real-life experiences that we have with these water parks is sunburn — making sure that you don’t get too much sun. On some of the levels, we will have weather periods where there is really bright sun, and you need to verify that there’s enough shade for your guests, or there’s an aspect for our guests where they can buy sunscreen as well to mitigate the impact of that sunburn.
It’s going to be a challenge for our builders, who build those amazing theme parks, to make sure that their guests are happy whilst they’re in them during those weather periods. Whether you’re trying to monetize the sunscreen lotion and make sure they’ve got access to that, but giving you a nice income boost as well, or if there’s enough shade.
There’s also an aspect of rain. Ensure that your shops have umbrellas so that your guests have access to your umbrellas and that they’re not wet and a bit miserable; making sure you’ve got umbrellas that they can buy again, they’ll be happy, and you’re making money as well. It’ll be down to our players to build parks in a way that our guests can have access to those shops, buy those different things — to react to the weather that we have in the game.
Woods:I recently spent the day at the theme park with an umbrella with my children whilst enjoying our British weather [laughs], so, very authentic.
Pool Types And Wave Machines In Planet Coaster 2
Q: It’s exciting to see wave machines as well in the pools too. Is there anything else that you wanted to add about the wave machines or the different types of pools that you can have? You’ve talked about pool shapes in the past, but there are also different pool machines.
Woods:Yeah, the wave thing is a classic feature of many water parks across the globe, but we also have the lazy rivers. If you use the linebuilder toolfor pools, there’s a new extra section where you can turn on the jets, and then that will automatically place jets along that panel you’re building.
That automatically turns it into a lazy river that the guests understand that when they go into that channel, they then just lovely and peacefully float along the lazy river, just like you would do in real life. If they’ve got an inflatable that they bought from the Splash Emporium, then they might be able to utilize that as well and have a really relaxing little ride around a lazy river that you’ve built piece by piece how you want to see it in your park.
Newbold:Yeah, and on the pools themselves. It’s notjust about the shape of them or the wave machines or the jets you’re adding. We’ve also got different depths as well so you may build nice, gentleinclines into deeper water. If you want to have that nice, shallow incline, or you have deep water that the guests will leap into, or use the ladders that you’ve placed as well. We’ve got a number of different ways that you can adjust the look and feel of those pools.
There are things like the different pool types, the different tiling as well. You can change the color of the tiling in the pool. There are lots of different tools for players to build those amazing-looking water bodies that you’ll see in water parks.
Woods:Coming back to the authentic part is — when I’m wading through a certain depth ofswimming pool in real life, I walk quite differently, and you’ll notice that the guests will do that as well. When they’re wading through slightly shallow water, their walk type is slightly different, just like back in real life. It’s a really lovely attention to detail there.
Planet Coaster 2 Themes And Franchise Mode
Q: Are you able to tell us more about the different themes in Sandbox Mode or elsewhere that players will see? We’ve obviously seen a lot of the Nautical theme.
Newbold:We have a number of different themes inPlanet Coaster 2. We have thePlanet Coastertheme, which is a theme that kind of embodies thePlanet Coastervibe. It has a lot of blue and white. We have Resort, which is inspired by Western Coast California Surf — I really like that one. TheVikingtheme which, again, is inspired by Viking culture.
It’s very complimentary towards having those big, long boats in your water parks. There’s the Aquatic theme, as you mentioned, the kind of great submarine vibe, and then we have our Mythology theme as well, which is inspired by the Greek Mediterranean feel — those big, amazing stone columns.
Between those five themes, there are lots of different scenery pieces for players to combine together, or use as just one specific theme. They can change the scale of some of those pieces. They can change the color as well. There are lots of different pieces across those five themes for players to come up with some amazing-looking visuals and theirtheme parksand water parks.
Q: Is there anything else that you wanted to share today?
Woods:I think I’d like to give a quick shout-out to Franchise Mode — we haven’t demonstrated that today, but that is coming as well. The ability to asynchronously collaborate with other players in a franchise where you’re able to — you know, perhaps me and you are in a franchise — I could be the one putting all the posters in the park, upload that. You can then download it, and put all the scenery pieces and things in.
We can also then submit that to the Leaderboard and see how that stacks up against everyone elsecross-platformand across the globe as well. I’m really excited to see what Franchise Mode will bring when players get their hands on it and start to be able to collaborate in game and also share all those fantastic creations across the in-game workshop as well.
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