The RollerCoaster Tycoon World development blog has been quiet since March when a trailer for the highly anticipated game was released to less-than-favorable reviews.
But last week, the game’s executive producer shared an interesting update that shed some light on the development of the game, detailing some of the behind-the-scene changes:
…this past fall the game moved from Pipeworks to a new developer – Area 52 Games. We brought them in to focus on core engine development. In order to accomplish many of the great things we have planned for the game, we needed this work first so that development could later continue on not only the engine, but also on gameplay, content, and graphics. Following this effort, RollerCoaster Tycoon World is now in its next phase of development and on its way to release.
An unnamed team has now taken the development reins and is working on the next stages of the game. Their work was not shown in the trailer released in March: “You have not yet seen any of the work delivered by this new team since the trailer was prepared using one of the last builds done by Area 52 Games.”
The new developer’s identity is being kept under wraps because “they are laser-focused on a key upcoming milestone and we are keeping distractions to a minimum.”
Earlier today, a new blog post was shared showing a glimpse of what coaster track and car may look like once the game is released:
The author accompanied the images with a disclaimer:
NOW!!! the Art team, just delivered some amazing new shots of a coaster on a track. Below are two of these screenshots, taken directly from the game engine. They are unedited and untouched with the exception of the disabling of the skybox, supports, and ground (still works in progress).
The developers say they are taking full advantage of the powerful Unity 5 game engine’s ability to support next-gen graphics and textures: “Even the below shots do not show all of the improvements and polish details that are yet to be made.”
It’s not much, but it’s certainly a step up from what we saw in March. According to May 13th blog post, the game is still “on track for a release this year.”
“Game development is a journey and it is not without its bumps in the road.”
Hopefully this bumpy road will eventually lead to a worthy followup to Rollercoaster Tycoon 3.
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