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But after leaving the beach , my interest in the game lulled . I kept it on my families creaking old desktop computer , but my love for the game wasn ’ t rekindled for another few years
In seventh grade I went to Hershey Park with my family for a day trip just to ride some rides . I couldn ’ t get enough of them but that wasn ’ t enough to bring me back to my days making roller coasters . No , what really pulled me back in was a single sign asking park guests to design roller coasters with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , the new installment in the series that had just been released .
Hershey Park was hosting a contest to see who could design the best roller coaster in the game . For some reason I thought that the winner ’ s design would actually be built ( which was completely untrue ). I immediately ran home and broke out my old copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 and got to work . The fact that they would only accept rides from RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 didn ’ t stop me .
At first I built rides for the expressed purpose of submitting them but soon that goal took a backseat to the fun I was having not only building rides but also building parks around them . Within a few days I had forgotten about the contest and I was playing the game the way it was actually intended to be played , worrying about finances , precise design , and even my park ’ s scenery .
After that , I didn ’ t stop building for years . I eventually upgraded to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 , but I soon felt limited by the game ’ s engine . While RollerCoaster Tycoon ’ s park building tools were always incredible , the tools used to build roller
A completed ride in RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
coasters themselves were always very basic . At a certain point , I became so obsessed with building roller coasters in RollerCoaster Tycoon that the game wasn ’ t realistic enough for me .
So I took the next step up . After searching around online I discovered No Limits Roller Coaster Simulation . No Limits isn ’ t your standard video game . This is a program that uses a wireframe CAD editor to design only roller coasters .
No Limits looked more like an engineering program a game . Yet , somehow I managed to get dragged in even though completing a single ride could take 50 + hours of work .
Within a month I was a member of a vibrant online forum that discussed the finer points of roller coaster simulation . RollerCoaster Tycoon turned out to be my gateway drug to the world of roller coaster enthusiasts .
It turns out that I wasn ’ t the only person who was obsessed with roller coaster video games . There were hundreds of people just like me who built rides religiously and asked for them to be reviewed . Some of these rides were absolutely incredible . So incredible , in fact , a few of the people I met during my time in this community went on to work for real roller coaster design firms ( sadly I haven ’ t ridden any of my friends ’ roller coasters yet ). I started out at the bottom of this community , building truly horrific rides that were boring and unrealistic . After many hundred hours spent on the game , while I never reached the level of the true masters of the craft , I was putting out solid work .
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A finished ride in No Limits
Strangely , this community introduced me to calculus