Planet Coaster
Planet Coaster
Cosy up and snuggle down, for tonight's story is all about Planet Coaster.
You find yourself in a very field, a field bare and dry with hardly anything growing in it. It may have been a meadow or farmland before, but now it's a sad looking field with nothing to sustain it. The sun above warms you, and you notice there is a lovely view towards some mountains to the north. You wonder why you're here and what you could possibly do with this field. There doesn't seem to be any enemies around, nor does there appear to be any real danger.
As you wander around, contemplating the reason for you being there, you hear a voice carried by the wind.
"This land is for your imagination - you have helped many games in your journey so far, so you have been given this land to create whatever you want."
You turn around, trying to find the source of the voice, but are unable to. Instead, you hear the voice again in your head.
"Let your imagination run wild - like you did with the zoo."
Immediately you understand. You find a little hill and perch on it, surveying the land and trying to figure out what you wanted to do with it. You could build a little city filled with your favourite restaurants, play areas and parks. Or you could build an amazing stadium and invite all your friends to play olympic-style games. Or you could build a race track for horses or cars. The possibilities are endless. But you suddenly remember a waterpark you went to and then a theme park. You love rollercoasters and crazy rides, so you settle on building the best rollercoaster park in the world! Well, your world, at least.
You concentrate and start to imagine the layout first. You think about where you want to put your entrance and what kind of theme park you are building. Your mind races with colours and shapes, rides and attractions. You decide to focus on rollercoasters first. In your mind you start to picture the entrance gate; it's tall and made from iron bars allowing you to see into the park. The gate is always open though, and it funnels guests towards the first ride. The first ride is called ROAR, and you imagine the screams and roars of laughter as people ride it. It's a wooden rollercoaster, so it feels rickety and unstable - the way you want it to, so as to scare those riding it. It's not too big a ride, and only has one big corkscrew twist. But there is a problem, you'd like for it to go underground too and pop out the other end. You'll need to change the terrain, you'll have to dig underground, and you'll need to have the ride drop into a dark hole. You decide not to have any lights inside the tunnel underground. You chuckle to yourself as you imagine the scared riders disappearing into the tunnel.
As you think about all the details in your mind's eye, you get carried away with the rest of the park. With your eyes closed you imagine a few food stalls and restaurants, some toilet facilities and even a gift shop. You lay them all out in your head, making them easy to access. You then think about ROAR again, completing the ride. You open your eyes and before you the park you had imagined in your head is there in real life. Excited, you jump up and run towards ROAR. You want to try it out for yourself and clamber into the front carriage. Although you've created this ride yourself, you are more than excited as the carriage clicks and jolts you forward.
The clickity-clack of your carriage climbing slowly is almost painful. You rock forward and backwards trying to make the carriage go faster, but you stop as you take a look across the park as you get higher. It's a wonderful space and your surprised how high you've made the first climb. You know, from playing games and being in theme parks that you need that first really high climb in order to have enough speed to make it through the rest of the ride. This is your chance to try it and you hope you've made the drop big enough to carry you through the rest of the ride.
Suddenly you stop. You've reached the top. Your carriage creeps over the top, pauses and then it releases you. Gravity takes a hold and you're hurtling almost directly down to what looks like a massive hole. As you you pick up speed you start screaming with excitement. The tunnel is fast approaching and you shoot through into darkness hurtling at a speed you didn't think possible for a little wooden rollercoaster. You feel the track twist right, and then you feel yourself thrown to the other side as the track goes left. Still in the darkness and somehow you're still picking up speed, you feel the cart slow as you climb, then all of a sudden you're upside down. You carry on around, it's a loop, and you've picked up more speed. At the bottom you're fired out of the darkness into the blinding brightness of the outside. You're still going pretty fast, and as you carry on down the track, you notice the rest of the track around snaking around you. You'd forgotten what's next, but as you look forward you see a corkscrew; a tight and twisty turn that goes left, then pulls hard right and then immediately into another loop. The ride is exhilarating and as you come out of the big loop, you hit a smaller one, and then directly into another corkscrew right. You finally slow down as you approach the last right turn. You're thrilled with the ride and are already thinking of all the other types of rides you want to do. You decide to go around the rollercoaster again, and again, studying and learning every twist and turn so you're able to make the next one better, faster, higher and scarier!
As you sit back on your mound, watching the rollercoaster go around, you travel back into your mind and start building more rides, but you're stuck and don't know how to make them different. You decide to inspire yourself with all your adventures thus far, allowing you to theme each of your rides. You could have a Wii Sports type ride or attraction, where riders narrowly miss tennis balls and massive soft golf balls and ends in a ten pin bowling pit. You think about building a mini zoo or a petting area to commemorate Zoo Tycoon. Or maybe you could create a really fast and twisty ride to remember your time helping Sonic.
You decide to take a break and really think about the adventures and how you would create a ride to honour them and your friends. You remember a phrase - "Rome wasn't built in a day" - and you finally understand what it means. For you to make the best park you can, you must take a break from it and really think about the rides and attractions and what it is that your guests will find fun and exciting to do.
You decide to think about the things your friends and siblings would like to do, and you start to focus the park around them. You know you aren't going to be able to complete it all, but you have a better idea of what the park will look like. As you open your eyes and get drawn back into the world you're in, you hear the voices of other children's laughter and screams. Your park has been partially formed and opened for people to come and visit. You watch your ROAR rollercoaster zip through the park, and the joy of those riding it. You notice there are more rides and more rollercoasters that intertwine with each other creating more loops within loops, like a spaghetti junction of rides that makes them more and more thrilling.
You're happy with your park and decide to leave it for now and let the guests enjoy the rides. You're exhausted from all your planning and thinking, but are satisfied that those in the park are having a good time. You close your eyes and picture a secret garden on the edge of the rides that has a hidden door. You open your eyes and make your way towards the door. Without being seen, you wander in. The garden is quiet, sunny and cool with ancient oaks rising and creating a natural wall around you. The garden itself is full of the most beautifully formed and delicately coloured flowers, teaming with the gentle buzz of the bees. You breath the air deep into your lungs before you settle under one of the great oaks. You close your eyes, drifting away awaiting your next adventure.