Hello Everyone,

We wanted to give you an update on TPS development. Before we complete our final round of cleanup and bug fixes we had one more obligation to meet, VR support.

We had VR support up and running last year. Unfortunately Direct mode was not compatible with the graphics library we were using, but we needed to meet our obligations so we wrote some custom shaders and worked with the best options we had at the time. Unfortunately since then Oculus changed their support requirements which made the entire SDK library we used incompatible. We understand Oculus decision to drop this SDK support, and that it was simply due to progress. However, because of this change we were faced with either completely rebuilding our graphics pipeline or abandoning VR altogether. Neither option was good.

Then the Vive was released, and it was truly impressive. The graphical quality and user experience was simply amazing. Now we had 2 very solid pieces of equipment. We knew TPS’ extensive customization features, our immersive environment, and Live Parks were a perfect match for VR. In order to fulfill our obligations we decided to buckle down, strap ourselves in, go face down for a few months, and completely rebuild a new graphics engine

The results have been fantastic. The engine has been ported, we have added extensive optimizations, and have rebuilt the multi-threading which is now far superior to the previous build. We're getting dramatically higher frame rates and we'll be upgrading our shadowing soon.

Since then, we've also been contacted by Razer and plan to support the OSVR platform as well. Multiple requests from the community and strong support from hardware manufacturers reinforces our belief that TPS and Live Parks are an excellent fit for VR and we're looking forward to the update release.

Currently we are looking for VR testers as well as Live Parks testers. If you have a Vive, Oculus, or an OSVR kit, we hope you will sign up for VR beta testing by clicking here: http://www.instant.ly/s/8yq8q

If you do not have a VR device but would like to join our expansive Live Parks testing group, you can sign up here: http://www.instant.ly/s/s8LhR

We have had strong support from the community for Live Parks and appreciate all those that signed up. Live Parks testing is a lot of fun and includes socializing with other members of the community, competitive go kart racing with leaderboards, new interactive rides, exclusive sneak peeks at new parks, and more. We hope you will join us.

After the VR build is released, we will do our final round of cleanup and bug fixes, add the Platinum features, and ship the boxed edition.

Since TPS was first announced, the theme park sim genre has grown considerably and there are many new players on the market. It is great to see the genre revive. Our future roadmap goals include expanding on what makes us unique, and separates us from other products, including extensive customization, custom materials, in game physics based animator, programmable particle effects, interactive rides, and of course Live Parks with each park looking completely unique through specialized custom scenery and animations. Here are renders of one of the Live Parks being built by a member of the community. You can follow the authors progress here www.disneyparksearchive.com and on his twitter handle @DPEarchive. In game screenshots with the new lighting/shadowing will be posted soon.

TPS has grown exponentially since our announcement. If you look back to original videos you see it has expanded way beyond our original design. Early Access gave us the opportunity to take it further than we originally planned, which has not only benefited our backers but also helped us to build a product with unprecedented customization options and a new immersive social theme park experience.

We appreciate all our backers support, patience, and contributions along this incredible journey.

Thank You

Theme Park Studio Team

Hello Everyone,

Live Park testing has been going great. We have most of the network issues resolved and we are looking forward to opening our gates.

The response from our Live Parks testing group has been amazing. There is definitely a unique feel when walking around virtual parks with other live guests. You can socialize, ride coasters together, race go karts for leaderboards status, and more. With Live Parks now officially 'Patent Pending' many people have commented that TPS has found its own unique niche.

We would like to send out a special thanks to Micechat for covering our new "Live Parks" feature. Here is a quote from the article after the author visited one of our Live Parks. "I really like where this is going, and I think there’s plenty of potential. Instead of just being another theme park tycoon game, this really allows Theme Park Studio to find its own footing in the virtual theme park world. Imagine virtual MiceChat meets with your friends online, playing games, in new and recreated theme parks from around the world. This type of feature has never been done in a theme park game before, and it shows lots of potential."
In case you missed it, you can check it out here:
http://micechat.com/119629-theme-park-studio-live-parks-wa

We have a new update coming soon, that not only features our new renderer and front menu, but also has multiple optimizations including lag free immediate placement of trees and objects.

For a limited time we're putting together a Live Parks focus group. If you are interested in helping us test the Live Parks Network, please join our testing group by signing up here:
http://www.instant.ly/s/s8LhR

We will be unveiling the first park soon and look forward to you joining us

Theme Park Studio Team

Hello Everyone
We are happy to announce the ride library should be released this weekend. Even though most of the rides were finished, we wanted to step back and devote some additional time for optimizations, cleanup, and polish. We also enhanced the lighting by introducing fast soft shadows. The new ride library looks great and we are very excited about the release

If you would like to jump in and see them in action, we will be testing a couple parks this weekend that host some of the rides. Which brings us to our special announcement.

We have some very exciting news to share!

Theme Park Studio is proud to announce 'Live Parks'. Theme Park Studio's focus has always been on customization. It is our unique specialty and niche. To continue our vision, we are happy to announce a very special update that will take advantage of all our unique customization tools. This update is not part of our feature list . We love what we do and enjoy interacting with our supporters. It is simply a free bonus we are experimenting with, based on our personal goals, excitement, and vision, since we share the same enthusiasm as our community. If there is enough support for the service, we look forward to keeping it going! It is a feature we are super exited about, as we feel it will provide park builders a unique channel to express their dreams of building and hosting their own custom theme parks!

It begins with Theme Park Studio's new front menu interface. The title now opens with an animated photo book. With the turn of every page, players can select the park they wish to visit. Players can select different categories for parks, including:
"Featured Parks" Highlighted top picks.
"Subscribed Parks" Parks you subscribe to on Steam Workshop
"Live Parks" Parks located hosted by our server.

Live parks are completely unique and operate like real theme parks. They have operating hours, host special events, and include multiplayer rides, games, and activities. They are networked with live guests, stats are tracked, and leaderboards maintained. The author of the park is granted their own leaderboards and achievements, unique to interactive rides they have created for their own park. Finally, they are granted exclusive access to our unique "PHC" panel (Park Host Controller), which allows them to manage live guests, events, and more!

As a case example, when a member of the community has completed their park, it is submitted for live hosting. Once ready, the park is uploaded and a launch date and time is scheduled for opening. Goals for leaderboard status and re-hosting include getting as many live guests as you can to visit your park, and receiving positive ratings from your guests. Leaderboards and achievements will also be setup for unique visitors and satisfactory ratings. Once the opening date arrives, the author is granted access to the 'Park Host Controller'. From there, the host can open his park, and manage it, using specific features in the PHC panel. The host also has access to a special birds eye viewport for visualizing the park scene.

For casual players that just want to experience some great parks and have fun, simply select the park from our new front menu and you will be automatically logged into a live world. After the park opens, you will be able to tour the park, ride coasters, get on the leaderboards through challenging interactive rides, and rate the park to provide the author feedback and leaderboard status

We are super excited about the incredible possibilities this new service provides. Some awesome parks are already under construction by the community, designed specifically for live hosting. Here are just a few screenshots. These parks include (in order of their release):

1: "Enchanted Woods". A beautiful park that will be available at launch. It features go kart racing, bumper cars, coasters, and multiple flat rides. The scenery is simply stunning and beautifully highlights our new lighting. Go karts are connected to a Steam leaderboard for best time. Bumper cars are also connected to a Steam leaderboard for most hits.
2: "Splash Battle". A fun and highly interactive park. In addition to coasters and flat rides, this park features a unique interactive ride on a pirate ship. Each player has their own water cannon used to hit targets and set off special effects. Points are collected with each successful hit, similar to Buzz Light Year or Toy Story ride, and it is connected to a Steam leaderboard to maintain all time high scores.
3: "Majestic Gardens" An innovative park with stunning scenery featuring a hedge maze, interactive gameplay, custom lighting, and a beautiful night time environment.
4: "Four Winds" A beautiful park featuring extensive use of the Scenery Builder. No custom scenery was used and all the decor was constructed using in-game build sets. The park will feature multiplayer activities. Some of the architectural structures contain inside passages perfect for exploring.
5:. "Disney World" A Disney World recreation with 2 versions spanning different decades. Players will be able to tour the park, ride the rides, etc. The author's renders are a work in progress and do not represent the final project. In particular the texturing is only in its very earliest stages and most objects just have placeholder materials and textures for now. It is his goal to be as accurate as possible whenever he can find historical supporting data.. You can follow the authors progress here www.disneyparksearchive.com and on his twitter handle @DPEarchive.

We look forward to seeing the amazing parks the community will design.

Minus a couple new trains coming in the final update, this release completes our committed feature list for the Gold edition. This will free up some time to improve TPS and start a final round of bug fixes and community requests. If you have a specific feature request you would like to submit, now is the time to share your ideas. We have started a thread for another round of community requests here: http://forum.themeparkstudio.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=o2ojnj984dldp9huvj9mmonno0&topic=2300.msg22863#msg22863

We will be doing some initial network testing this weekend. If you would like to join us we will announce the times on our forums. We are starting small, probably only around 50 to 100 concurrent uses, and will grow from there. Special thanks to all our backers who supported us during development.

Theme Park Studio Team

"Theme Park Studio....How many guests will visit your park?"

Hello Everyone
We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! This week we present the 3rd preview of our upcoming flat ride library. This preview includes:

Zamperla Backflash
Go Karts
Paratrooper
Zamperla Rotoshake
Intamin Giant Wheel
Vekoma Sky Flyer
Zamperla Turbo Force

We are looking forward to releasing the library soon, so stay tuned! Thank you for your continued support.

Theme Park Studio Steam

Hello Everyone,

Happy Friday! It is time to preview set 2 of 3, of the upcoming flat ride library.

Last week we presented: Sky Whirl, Super Round Up, Giant Sky Chaser, Bumper Cars (exterior), Intamin 1st Generation Freefall, KMG Experience, and Bumper Boats.

This week's batch contains more custom backer requests, including a unique custom backer design of a variation of a Condor with hydraulic arms.

This 2nd set includes: Chance Wipeout, Chance Turbo, Classic Coney Island Ride, Hay Baler, Custom Backer Design (Condor variation), steerable Bumper Cars (interior), and Zamperla Tea Cups

We also just finished adding audio to all the rides. One of our favorites was the 1st Generation Intamin Freefall. From start of the ride, up the elevator, and down the drop we used recordings from the ride, which makes the riding experience very immersive. We hope you enjoy it and all the rides coming your way soon!

Next Friday we will be back previewing set 3, which will include steerable Go Karts, Zamperla Backflash (which takes advantage of our specialized physics based animation solution), Rotoshake, and more!

Have a great weekend and thank you for your support,.

Theme park Studio Team

Hello Everyone,
We have been working hard on the upcoming flat ride update and custom backer ride requests. Most of the rides have been built, animated, and imported into TPS and will be released soon.

These include backer requests for modern rides, nostalgic rides, and even some innovative backer custom ride designs. We are currently finishing the audio for all flat rides. The ride library turned out spectacular and will nicely fill out projects, turning them from small parks into major attractions.

This will also complete our commitments and free up some time to improve TPS and start a final round of bug fixes and community requests..

We have also created a new front end interface. We understand some of our customers want an easy way to experience some of the amazing parks created by the community. You can now easily select the park of your choice through a beautifully animated front menu. After selecting your park, simply click "Enter" and a new 64 bit runtime module is launched, dropping you off at the front gate. This new runtime module has a much smaller footprint than the editor, as it contains only the render module, so basically it runs leaner and meaner.

We also added emissive lighting, seen in some of the upcoming screenshots, which take our night scenes to a new level.

Finally we created some awesome new interactive rides including Go Kart racing, Bumper Cars, and Bumper boats.

Here are just a few screenshots of some of the upcoming rides, with a series of new rides being presented every Friday, leading up to the update release in a few weeks.

Theme Park Studio Team

Hello Everyone,
We are pleased to announce that Phase 8 has been released. Theme Park Studio can now generate guests that will fill out your park and make it come alive. Guests will enter your park at the ticket booth and continue to stream in while rides are available. To quickly fill up your park, there is a new 'Time Lapse' feature in the 'Options' panel. You can check your guest count by pressing Control-F. Guests will follow your paths, climb stairs and ramps, enter stations and queue lines, ride coasters and flat rides, then exit when the ride is complete. Please refer to the new 'Adding Guests' manual and video tutorial located in the Help menu for more details, including best practices for creating guest paths.

In addition to park guests, Phase 8 now allows you to ride the flat rides. Simply press the 'Enter Park' button, pick the ride of your choice, enter the queue line, and wait for the gates to open. Next, pick any seat by simply walking up to it. You will be automatically placed in first person camera mode with the ability to look around using the mouse. When the ride is finished, you will be placed back into walking mode and the exit gates will open. A great deal of work has been put into flat ride physics and construction, and the results are amazing. Our flat ride physics really excel in this genre and come shining through when you ride 1st person. All the subtleties of natural motion, not possible through manually created animations, make a huge difference when riding. Our unique approach makes you feel like you are there, riding the real thing!

Riding coasters is just as simple as riding flat rides. Simply enter the queue line, enter the station, walk up the stairs, and enter the lane representing the car you wish to ride. After the train pulls into the station, the safety harness will raise and the previous guests will exit. Next, the lane gates will open in front of you. Simply move forward and you will be placed in the coaster seat. Like flat rides, while riding the coaster you can use the mouse to look around. When the ride is complete, the safety harness will raise and you will be placed to the side of the train. Next, simply exit the station, walk down the stairs, and onto your next ride.

There is also a new 3rd person view. Simply zoom using X/Z, or the mouse wheel, to toggle between 1st and 3rd person view.

Finally, Phase 8 introduces a new 64 bit build. This removes many of the memory limitations what were previously present. If you do not own a 64 bit system, you can still access the 32 bit version by right clicking on Theme Park Studio in your library and selecting Properties. Next, go to the beta tab and enter the password 'ThemeParkStudio32'. You will now have access to the 32 bit version. If you own a 64 bit system, no setup steps are required. The 64 bit build will be automatically installed

So what's next? Our next updates will include finishing our flat ride library, a couple more coaster types, optimizations and bug fixes, and finally a community feature request round. Based on community feedback, we will spend a little extra time before beta working to implement additional community feature requests, as we have done in the past, to go above and beyond our initial development road map. After that, we will move into beta.

With phase 8, Theme Park Studio provides a complete virtual theme park experience, allowing you to tour your park, enter queue lines, and ride coasters and flat rides. Fill your park with guests and watch them ride your custom rides. The more there is for them to do, the more guests will visit.

In case you missed it, here is the Phase 8 video update.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avufJUNaqiA&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for supporting us during Early Access

Theme Park Studio Team

Hello Everyone,


We have some great news. We devoted some extra time this update cycle and created a new 64 bit build. We understand our community wants to build even bigger parks, and we share their excitement, This is a major step forward and will remove most of the memory limitations that previously existed, allowing players to create much larger theme parks. It also gave us a little performance boost, as a bonus. Combined with our new multi-threading, Theme Park Studio has made some great advances recently.


Also coming in the next update.....All flat rides will be rideable! Simply step into the queue line, wait for the gates to open, and walk up to the seat of your choice. A lot of work was put into the flat ride physics and construction, and the results were amazing. Our flat ride physics really excel in this genre and it comes shining through when you ride 1st person. All the subtleties of natural motion, not possible through manually created animations, make a huge difference when riding. Our unique approach makes you feel like you are there, riding the real thing!


Of course, our Phase 8 update is coming along great and will be released soon. In case you missed it, we created a video displaying our progress. We can't give an exact release date for the update just yet, but stay tuned. We hope you enjoy the video!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avufJUNaqiA&feature=youtu.be


Thank you for your continued support!

Theme Park Studio Team

Hello Everyone,
We are happy to announce phase 7 is complete. In this phase, we’ve integrated particle effects, fireworks, new lighting, dynamic environments, animated clouds, time lapse, weather effects, and more!


Theme Park Studio contains a very powerful particle engine. Users can create many types of effects using our extensive set of options and controls.

As with other modules of Theme Park Studio, particle effects are easy to use, plus fully customizable, appealing to both casual and advanced users. Casual users can enjoy a simple point-and-click method of adding particle effects to almost any scenery object, while advanced users have full access to the particle parameters for creating unique effects. We’ve introduced two new libraries: Particle Scenery and Particle Effects.

Particle Scenery

The Particle Scenery Library contains scenery objects easily placed anywhere in your scene. Like other scenery objects, simply click on the thumbnail and place the particle object in your scene. Some objects contain animated texture maps for finely detailed elements, like waterfall mist curtains. Other elements emit particles to create stunning animated visuals, like fountains and fireworks.

Particle Effects

The Particle Effects Library is useful for adding particle effects to existing objects in your scene. Adding effects is as simple as clicking on the thumbnail, and then clicking on the object in your scene you want to receive the effect. For example, if you have a cabin in your scene, click on the smoke thumbnail, and then click on the cabin chimney to instantly add smoke. The smoke effect is now part of the cabin. When you move the cabin, the particle effect moves with it. You can even attach particle effects to flat rides!

New Procedural Skies and improved lighting:

This update also includes new procedural skies and improved lighting. The new dynamic skies include animated clouds, time-lapsed lighting, lens flares, weather effects, dynamic time of day rendering, and even Crepuscular Rays, which together produce stunning results.


Optimizations

We added some performance optimizations, with more to come. Depending on your hardware configuration, some of you may notice a significant performance increase when running parks with guests.


Undo

Finally, we have been working hard to implement community requests while developing the phases. In this update, we are starting to roll out Undo. In this phase, you can undo coaster rail transformation and deletion. We will continue to work hard to fulfill backer requests over the next phases.

We look forward to moving on to Phase 8 and appreciate our backers working with us during Early Access.