“We have a side-by-side comparison video. “They asked us to put their coaster in their game, and I was like, ‘Give me your CAD files, please!’ They did and I had access to their coaster engineers, actual 3D models.” I ask Denney just how closely does the virtual Steel Vengeance match its real life counterpart in terms of speed and movement, and his face lights up. It loved Frontier’s work on Planet Coaster and wanted to collaborate with the team.
Planet coaster rides update#
In update 1.3.6, Frontier added Steel Vengeance, an authentic recreation of a coaster from Cedar Point-a theme park in Sandusky, Ohio that calls itself the ‘rollercoaster capital of the world’. And I researched all of this to bring it into the game.” Then there are things like negative Gs, barrel rolls, cobra rolls… the list goes on. “First of all, it’s how they’re built, for example the traditional wooden coaster. It’s fast? There’s a big drop? But enthusiasts, or ‘coasterheads’ as Denney occasionally calls them, have a much wider set of criteria. “We have a really good physics simulation and it’s based on elements such as forces of gravity, wind resistance, weight and friction.” He adds that older coasters generate a lot more friction because of their heavy nylon wheels and thick tracks, which is reflected in how they move in the game.Īs someone who doesn’t know much about rollercoasters, I can’t really articulate what makes a good one. The physics system that drives the coasters has existed in some form for years, going as far back as 2004’s RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, according to Denney.