Hey everyone! Saturday is the 20th anniversary of RCT3!!!! 20 years has flown by and I would like to begin a good discussion on how you got started with RCT3 and how have you developed. Share your thoughts and lets get deep!

 

I was 6 years old playing the game. I began with the demo before the official release. Made some real bad Splash Mountains and other attractions that were of interest as a 6 year old. My parents claimed I played RCT games since I was two, but RCT3 has been on so many computers and I have quickly evolved starting in my freshman year of college where I began finally posting projects rather than being a lurker. The first official project I was posting was World Of Discovery at SGW and TheCreatorsLounge. Then it evolved into my two Disney parks which are continuously growing and changing.  I will not consider myself a veteran 🤣. I love sharing my creations and ideas which have spawned many discussions on how the real world could better existing theme parks. 😀

I started with RCT3 before I tried RCT1 and RCT2. I think RCT3 may have been out for at least a year before I got my first PC computer; I had a MAC up until then. I LOVED RCT3 from the get-go. But there were a couple of annoyances like: The original 'vanilla' game wasn't capable of tunneling. And the Peeps shunned any ride that didn't meet their excitement and intensity preference (they still do! 😠).

When "Soaked!" came out, I looked at the box and decided I wasn't particularly interested in swimming pools and waterparks. So I didn't buy it right away. After a couple of months I looked at the box again and read that a lot of other types of coasters and flat rides were included, so I snatched it up!

About that time I discovered the (old) Atari forum and custom scenery and became a long-time lurker. When "Wild!" came out, I saw on the box that there were dinosaurs! And lots more coasters, themes, and other rides, so I bought it right away. When the Atari forum began to implode, I found my way to SGW and eventually stopped being a lurker and started to post comments and my own creations.... And now I'm HERE!

Nice initiative! Is started RCT3 around the year of 2005 when I was 15. Before that I was already quite active with RCT1 and RCT2, with RCT2 being the version where I really started delving into some serious projects with fully decorated rides, giant parks with tons of scenery, etc. Makes me wish I still had those creations somewhere but they are long lost on old harddrives I got rid of many years ago.

RCT3 for me however was the one that always stuck with me the most, mind you I actually never really bothered to do campaign mode. I don't know why, but I just can't get into it considering RCT3 is more complex in terms of park management. You not only have to mark territories properly of your staff, you also have to keep them happy which I just could never figure out. That and a bunch of other features and I just resided to playing nothing but sandbox mode, and being able to actually ride the rides was a huge breath of fresh air.

Things really took off when in 2006, YouTube started becoming bigger and bigger. It was a really great source of inspiration, with many great creators of that time (Deathfearsnone, Leglaude6, ImagineerJohn and a whole bunch of others). Because of that, I decided to make my very own youtube channel called m00nkinftw and I this video was the very first video I uploaded to YouTube:

I still remember how nervous I was uploading something for the whole internet to see, and after coming back from school I anxiously went to YouTube to see how my video was doing. It got 12 views lol. Such is the way of every new YouTuber who uploads their first video.

Either way, I just kept making creations and uploading them to YouTube. One day I decided to work out a wacky idea where a roller coaster would be inside a whole bunch of colored boxes.

This video ended up going viral, and to my suprise people started making their own 'The Box' creations, with well over 40 different creations so that was really really awesome to see.

 

Another thing that was gaining traction in the RCT3 community was the so-called 'King of RCT3' contests. Basically everyone would submit their creation with a chance of being the #1, or basically the King of RCT3. These would be everywhere on YouTube and it was a super cool initiative, a place where fellow RCT3 creators could battle head to head to see who could make the best design in RCT3.

My first entry was Chronos, a gigacoaster with huge drops and tons of speed. I had no idea how well I would do considering there were creators out there who I considered to be much better than me. Suprisingly, out of 86 entries I placed 7th which I was ecstatic about!

From that moment on I thought to myself 'Hey, I might actually be able to place first if I really put my mind to it!' and I started honing my skills, using more custom scenery and also getting the two expansion sets so I could fiddle around with the Stormrunner and Extended Coaster. Of course winning one of those contests wasn't the only reason to get better at the game, I just realized more and more just how much you could do in RCT3 and how much custom scenery and mods could vastly enhance the game. 

So, with the next King of RCT3 contest I entried with an extended coaster called Cruiser. This one had much more custom scenery included and the overall environment and scenery was much better. I ended up placing 2nd in that King of RCT3 contest. Not bad at all if I may say so myself!

 

After this several designs followed including a dueling stormrunner, an extended coaster with a unique Camelback Loop inversion and I also made a few tutorial videos on how to build stations and supports. 

My best 'old' creation, would have to be this though. This is a coaster made in RCT3, but the scenery is made in such a way that it looks like it's a model coaster (like the old K'nex Serpent coaster). Because of this interesting take, I was finally able to place first in a King of RCT3 contest.

 

In 2010 I quit the game because of lack of motivation and it would take me 13 whole years before I would finally return to RCT3. Many other things happened in life but some time ago I just had the itch to play RCT3 again. Once I fired up the game I was overwhelmed with nostalgia, I mean that Summer Air soundtrack is just amazing if you ask me. I started out very simple but as time went on, I started to invest more and more effort into my coaster creations. 

And now here we are in 2024, with my RCT3 game having more mods and custom scenery than ever before and trying to push RCT3 to its absolute limit :) I know the RCT3 community is very small, but it's nice to see that there are other people besides me who really enjoy this game. It's very underrated in my opinion and for now I'm totally hooked with many more creations to come.

 

So that's kind of my story, sorry for this wall of text but this game really means a lot to me as it has been part of my life for a very long time, it allowed me to go wild with my creativity/imagination and I met some really cool people along the way :)

 

 

I started waaaaaaay back with RCT1 - before it's expansions even.  Was a lurker in the community for a bit, but hung out at RCTStation, then RCTDepot, RCT2.com, then the Atari forums, shyguys and then here.  Like a nasty case of some social disease I've been hard to get rid of...

RCT 1&2 were special as you really had to use your imagination and creativity, but RCT3 for me took it up a notch, first with the 3D, and then later with the addition of custom scenery, which really allowed us to make what we had in our heads.  I even held off a bit from moving on to Planet Coaster because RCT3 was such a fulfilling game.  And while I did eventually move on to PC, RCT in it's different versions (just 1, 2 & 3 NEVER the train wreck that was World or the money grabs of the other rip-offs...), is still among my favorite games of all time.

I'd also mention the importance of the communities supporting these games.  There was some great interactions among people, some of whom remain personal friends even decades later.  While ParkCrafters may not have as many people (because communities have evolved away from forums for the most part...), it's really nice that it strives to continue that same sense of shared community here.

I'm like Wabigbear - all the way back to RCT1 original game, Before internet and forums, etc. I remember subscribing to a gamer magazine to get the scoop of when a new version was coming out and would race to Best Buy or some other store to by the new box. Been a fan since and have owned and played every version. I remember printing screen captures of my projects to post on my wall at work.

I started by watching Toad's RCT3 series, he's not really on here at all or in the RCT community at all but he has played a lot of creative games as we all do. Then I started watching ShadowwolfTD5000 (who is now TheLoneSculler on YouTube) play RCT3 and build some great parks, and through him I discovered Silvarret and the rest is history. (this is all when I was like 9 or 10, I've watched roller coaster/RCT stuff since I was like 5 or 6 and some of it includes your stuff to whoever might be reading this who was active around 2010-2014) 

I got on ShyGuy's forums, lying about my age like most children on the internet, but I never really posted. I was not good at RollerCoaster Tycoon until I was actually in high school and didn't have the brain of a child. It's also when I decided to start seriously posting RCT3 stuff. My only real projects I've ever posted are eaglewood if anyone remembers it, and lake mcclain on here.

I was sad to see SGW go to be honest. Reading about everyone's parks and seeing their photos (that are now lost to history or down because their website deleted them) is how I actually managed to figure out what custom scenery was and how to use it properly. 

By the way if reading this made any of you feel old, I'll make it worse. Now I'm almost twenty.

Edited October 25, 2024Oct 25 by cookiecrispwizard
adding a fun tidbit

In a time long before RCT, I was playing Theme Park. And when RCT1 was eventually released, I was so excited that now, finally, one can build ultra realistic theme parks! Fast forward a few years, and I remember how everyone could barely believe that RCT3 was bringing actual 3D into our beautiful worlds.

When RCT3 arrived, I was in the middle of my time in university. One day I found the Atari forums, where I shared my first park online (Festival Park), and eventually I found the legendary place that was shyguysworld. At first I hesitated about installing custom scenery, but eventually I did, and so RCT3 became the one theme park game that I spent the most time with. Finding other theme park creators was the best thing about it all, I was so amazed by so many projects by talented artists that were presented on SGW, that it inspired me to work hard to improve my own theme park designing, presenting and storytelling.

After my many growing timeline park projects in RCT3 (especially Three Mountains Park, Tauber-Park, Jolly Hills, and later Alpen-Park), which I shared on SGW, I was set to finally build a park that would already be a big one on opening day, but all my attempts to do so eventually failed, and activity on SGW was already on the decline around 10 years ago. And then Planet Coaster came. I wasn't a big fan of it at the beginning, and it took me some time to do the switch. I finally moved to PC around 2019 and - once again - I started to work on a new big park project (and btw, I'm actually in the last few steps to finish it, as I type this). The undo button in Planet Coaster was of course a big help, but building things took so much longer, so that I had to take longer breaks from my park-building in between, but this time I really wanted to finish a massive project for once, so I took my time. And eventually, SGW was just... gone. And it's a big and very sad loss.

But now I'm supper happy and grateful that Park Crafters is here to reunite us with our passion, no matter which game we're creating our parks with.

And since RCT3 is the topic of the thread, let me get back to the one game that formed our community like no other: 

After many years, I revisited RCT3 and some of my parks a few days ago. I totally struggle with the camera navigation now, but the game really had one thing that Planet Coaster never had: Charm. Whether it's the peeps, the weather, the dated graphics or the lack of an undo button, RCT3 just had a more cosy feel to it than Planet Coaster had.

Of course, now I am also very curious about how Planet Coaster 2 will turn out, and what we will do with it. But first, before my Central European clock hits midnight:

Happy Anniversary, RCT3!

Well, It was my cousin (may she rest in peace) who introduced me to RCT1. I still have a very warm and happy memory of her playing Crumbly Woods in her PC.

I do not remember very well the transiton between RCT1 and RCT3, however I remember being infautated by Alloria's videos on their indoor pools and the such back in 2009/2010. It was really something I strived to emulate, but my poor planning skills got the best of me and never actually participated in a contest until now. (And i still somewhat poor planning skills as the park I made was honestly rushed to some extent, I actually wanted to put a "astronomy" section but there was no time left for that) 

Anyways it were some good times despite all that. It's nice to se RCT3 (somewhat) stood the test of time. Happy Anniversary RCT3!

Edited October 27, 2024Oct 27 by ThemeParkFan
Add info

I know that I'm late to the party, (colds, being a wife and Mom, & RL stuff keep getting in the way of my fun!) but I'd like to share my RCT3 experience anyway.

I was into  computer games from way back. (my youngest son is older than some posters in this thread) The first coaster game I ever had was Coaster by Walt Disney Computer Software back in '93. After that I got into Bullfrog's Theme Park, then lost interest in the genre until RCT came out in '99. I met my SO a few months later and so computer games once more fell by the wayside, but when RCT2 came out in '02 we both loved it and started playing it together. With the release of RCT3 though, I was enthralled. Ever since Coaster, I missed being able to ride my coasters... and RCT3 brought that back.

I bought Soaked and Wild when they came out and played through all 3 campaigns about 4 times each, but never got into sandbox play. (except to test out ideas for a campaign scenario) I only did 1 or 2 mixmaster displays that were, compared to people's submissions here, extremely simplistic, but I had a ton of fun! After a while I started downloading custom scenery and rides, but became disillusioned with the quality of some custom rides. (no cost, cheaty stats, etc.) Life got busy and raising my boys took priority, so it fell by the wayside again until my youngest graduated from high school in '23. I bought Platinum on GOG and went back to SGW to finally learn how to make my own CS... only to find that it was shutting down... which led me here!

Since then I've spent most of my RCT3 time working on rediscovering the lost mechanics behind RCT3's code, trying to relearn what was lost to the community when SGW's forums were lost. (there was such a wealth of information there that never existed elsewhere, it was the biggest loss to the community ever) The problem is that I'm not a programmer... I'm a retired Statistical Data Analyst who happened to learn computer code when I was a teen. So I muddle along, learning what I can, and now mostly enjoy looking at the stuff other people are making... helping when I can and trying to encourage others in their own projects.

That's my RCT3 journey!

Awesome stories all of you! Glad to have you all here at ParkCrafters. A lot of familiar members from SGW and from projects that are part of the RCT3 history books.