The Sandbox has quickly become one of RCTLounge’s most popular features and is a useful tool for quick feedback or promoting your new project. We want to make the Sandbox even more fun than it already is. Simply like a snap on the Sandbox starting 12:00 AM Eastern Friday, March 16 through 11:59 PM Sunday, March 18 for a chance to win a $25 Apple iTunes Gift Card. Double your chances by adding a snap.

You can earn up to two entries (once for liking, once for adding a snap) and a winner will be chosen at random.

This giveaway is only open to residents of the 50 United States & District of Columbia.

Please see the official rules for complete details on the contest.

Over the past four years, we here at RCTLounge have been constantly looking for new, exciting ways to improve sharing and skills with RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. In the time we’ve been operating, exciting, unmatched features such as the Spotlight, Screenshot Contest, and our latest sharing feature, The Sandbox, have changed the RollerCoaster Tycoon community. It’s time to do that again, but this time even bigger.

Today we’re announcing our most groundbreaking tool to date. This isn’t just for hardcore RCT3 players; this is for everyone that plays the game. It’s an idea we’ve had for a long time, and it’s finally time to make it happen.

We’re proud to announce the addition of RCT Custom Content to the world. RCTCC.com will become the first resource of its kind to show users what content they have installed on their computer. An exclusive desktop application, nicknamed the “Scanner”, will search through a user’s RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 application folders and will show the results on the RCTCC.com website. While browsing pages on RCTCC.com, users will be able to clearly distinguish what Custom Content they do/don’t have installed. The RCT Custom Content Scanner will be available for download for both Windows and Mac OS X. To see results, users must have a valid RCTLounge account.

RCT Custom Content will be launched in Early 2012. Select members from RCTLounge will be chosen to test before a public release.

This is going to be an exciting year not just for RCTLounge, by the entire RCT community. We know RCT Custom Content will help every player manage and keep track of their Custom Content.

Stay tuned for updates in coming weeks!

If you have any questions about RCTCC.com, ask them in this thread. We’ll post answers to select questions in the next issue of Inside the Lounge.

Welcome to the first issue of Inside the Lounge! Every two weeks we’ll be bringing you the latest spotlights and projects, along with great tips to help you improve your playing. We hope you enjoy this new feature here at RCTLounge! Without further ado, let’s get going…

Frontierland (Disneyland Paris) by Acheronsland & 10 others

Archeronsland started this astounding project on his own. After he worked more on it he got more people to help him. These amazing CS and imaginative creators all joined together to make this outstanding work of art. Perfect to detail and scale this is so unbelievable that it should take your breath away! These other hard workers that Archeronsland thanked are as follows: Tom Berry, Martin Bailly, Jenova, Victor Chabrol, Killian Durand, Aquaxdesign, James Studios, Lucas Ravé, and Firefall. This is a great way to show what teamwork can do and without a question this achieved the beloved RCTLounge status of spotlight! They made a perfect recreation of such great rides as “Phantom Manor” and “Big Thunder Mountain Railroad”. It is to such perfection it is no wonder it has been recognized for it’s achievement, and without such dedication and hard work this community would not be as great as it is now. A lot has been achieved since the first release of RCT3 and this proves it! [Written by Mike21260]

Winja’s Fear by ImagineerTim

Although Winja’s Fear is not complete it seems to be coming along very nicely. Inspired by the Winja’s Fear & Force of Phantasialand in Germany, this coaster ups the ante from the real coasters! If you look at the picture above and the trailer on YouTube, you will see that this has had a lot of scenery work put into it. It seems quite intricate and plenty of ride events are used. I have a feeling the end product will end up great! Good work ImagineerTim! [Written by Mike21260]

Eclipse by FreescriptAT

With all these new custom trees floating around, it’s not uncommon to come across a forest with only one colour that creates a bland look. There’s nothing more refreshing than variety. This beautifully realistic Intamin Megacoaster twists and dives through a luscious forest completed with creative rockwork and a spectacular coastline. I can safely say this is one of the best landscaping jobs I’ve seen in a good while, and the scale of it makes it that much more impressive. Eclipse is definitely worth looking at. [Written by Keegs]

Silver Back by Murph the Engineer

Murph the Engineer is back! And he has arrived with a new coaster called Silver Back. This ride is quite B&M with a bit of Murphy magic added. Though it is generic, Murph seems to have created something that could very easily be in a theme park. And although the layout is, apparently, a bit unrealistic, somehow it just seems right in my point of view. Of course, the supports are perfectly done, and the path work is very realistic. It is still a work in progress, but I think that with a couple of trees, this ride could be released. Welcome back Murphy! [Written by dominoes007]

Creating Shared-Footer B&M Lift Supports by Wacky Worm

Click on the images to enlarge.

Many B&M coasters have multiple supports on their lift hill that share a single pair of concrete footers. It is possible to do this on RCT3, although it only looks good on smaller rides.

Before you can do this, however, a little bit of math is required. For the nicest looking result, the last lift piece before the lift tops off (see the picture below) should be at a height using the following formula:

h=4x+1.65

with h being the height of the circled piece in meters, and x being the number of half-tiles the footers will be away from the center of the track.

The formula applies to the circled piece.

Step 1: Place a Vertical 1H (top) piece so it connects to the lift just before it tops off.

Step 2: Place Diagonal 4H Offset pieces until it reaches to the ground.

Overview of Steps 1 and 2.

It should now look like this.

Step 5: Do the same with Offset Diagonal 2H pieces.

You're almost done now.

Step 7: Add a support at the bottom of the lift. The four points where supports connect to the track should be equal distances apart.

Step 6.

Step 7.

The final result.

Well, that wraps it up for our first issue! We hope you’ve enjoyed it and can’t wait to bring you more issues in the upcoming weeks.

Stay tuned for a big announcement coming soon!

Since it came out, the RollerCoaster Tycoon series has attracted a large online fan base. Thousands of people have shared their project on websites, primarily forums. Forums provide a great way to present projects. However, forums are not a fast way to get feedback or attention.

So, we think it’s time to change how the Coaster Simulator community shares & gets feedback forever.

We’re excited to announce the Sandbox today. At the Sandbox, you can upload “snaps,” images of what you’re working on. Instead of having to go upload your images on a host, then go to the forums to post, you can simply upload your image, crop it, add a title & description and get feedback and attention right away. The Sandbox will not replace the Forums.

At the Sandbox, you can follow your favorite creators and see what they’re working on or need help with. If you find a snap you like, you can “fav” it. You’ll be able to see the latest snaps from who your following, the most popular the past two days and the newest snaps added by everyone.

The Sandbox is open to all active RCTLounge members. There’s no cost, and you can even upload .bmp files up to 10 MB in size right from your RCT3 pictures folder.

We hope you’re just as excited as we are. The Coaster Simulator community has always been strong, and we hope the Sandbox will keep this spirit alive and well.

Check out the Sandbox today!

Respond to this announcement on our Forums

1scream, a leader in online content dealing with the Amusement Industry with websites such as RCTLounge and Park Thoughts, will be introducing a first-of-its-kind online Theme Park question service, ParkPlanr.com.

“ParkPlanr is an exciting new service that we know both enthusiasts and general park goers will love,” said Doug Sisk, a 1scream partner. “You can ask questions and get answers before you go so you can plan your day at the park.”

ParkPlanr visitors will be able to navigate to specific areas for different Theme Parks. Once in these areas, visitors can then browse others’ questions or ask their own. Visitors can vote on whether or not answers to questions are helpful.

To post a question, visitors will be required to register. To make registration easy, visitors can either register using their email, or their Facebook or Twitter account. “If you decide to connect your account to Facebook and/or Twitter, you can post your question to those networks to reach your friends and followers,” added Sisk. “We know how big social networking sites are to people these days, so we couldn’t ignore them.”

Alongside general visitors will be designated “experts” chosen by the ParkPlanr staff. These experts will be designated by a badge under their avatar picture. Their answers will be weighted and displayed before general visitor answers. Experts will also receive a link to their website or blog, if they have one.

Theme Parks themselves can contact ParkPlanr to add an employee as an “official” to provide visitors with official responses. “Having an official is a great idea for parks. Instead of having to visit the Public Relations office during the day, visitors can ask their questions before they get there on ParkPlanr.”

ParkPlanr will be a free service for all visitors. Advertisements will be provided by the Maingate Ad Network. Invitations for experts will be sent out in April 2011, followed by a full public launch in May 2011. An exact date has not been set yet for the launch.

Sisk added, “ParkPlanr is going to be a truly exciting thing for Theme Park fans and guests. We can’t wait to see how it improves people’s Theme Park visits.”

More information about ParkPlanr will be updated on ParkPlanr’s website, ParkPlanr.com. People interested in ParkPlanr are invited to “like” ParkPlanr on Facebook or follow on Twitter. Both links to ParkPlanr’s Facebook and Twitter can be found at ParkPlanr.com. For more information regarding the 1scream Company, messages should be sent to contact@1scream.com.

January

• RCTLounge along with Park Thoughts become products of 1scream, a company owned by RCTLounge’s very own Doug Sisk and Ethan Massey. 772pilot, the founder of RCTLounge, sold 100% of the site to 1scream.
• The first Theme It! contest is announced. KevinCoasterTycoon3 won with his creation, “Avatar.”

February

• YouTube videos are introduced on Spotlight pages, making it easy to watch project videos.
• The second Theme It! contest is held, which was won by SPR(SteelProductionsRct) and his coaster, “Delta.”

June

• Exchange moderator Ice101 steps down due to time constraints. He is now the editor and a key part to RCTLounge’s sister site, Park Thoughts.

July

• Third round of Theme It! is held, with liamrock’s “The Whisperer” as the winner.

September

• RCTLounge surpasses the 100,000 post mark in our Forums, a historic number for a site less than three years old.
• A new Screenshot Contest submission system is introduced, allowing users to upload their pictures to RCTLounge itself. The system also generates random voting tiers for even greater fairness.
• JamesB leaves his super moderator position due to time constraints also. James was a big help in helping us restore the forums late 2009/early 2010.

October

• Elections are held to choose two new Exchange moderators, a Screenshot Contest manager and a super moderator. In the end, hydraa and Stratales are voted into the Exchange moderator positions, Muffinzz was chosen by the RCTLounge team as Screenshot Contest manager and Wacky Worm was voted into the super moderator position. This was the first time the community participated in the choosing of moderation team members.

November

• 1scream announces the new operation of RCTgo, another popular Coaster Simulator website. RCTLounge and RCTgo will work together to create the strongest network of Coaster Simulator content and communities.

It’s amazing that RCTLounge members made nearly 60,000 posts in 2010 alone. We’ve had a great year, and we’ve been honored to make this site better for you.

2011 looks to be an exciting year! We hope to bring in some exciting, new, one-of-a-kind features the Coaster Simulator community hasn’t seen before!

Thanks once again for an amazing year, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year.

RCTLounge Team
Owners: Doug & Ethan
Administrator: 772pilot
Moderators: hydraa & Stratales
Super Moderators: Adamb241 & Wacky Worm
Screenshot Contest Manager: Muffinzz

I’m Doug Sisk, the owner of RCTLounge. RCTLounge is owned by the 1scream company, and we need your help!

Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey by clicking here. You won’t need to give us any personal information like your Age, Email, Location, etc. Your time is greatly appreciated, and it will help us build a new, exciting product!

Thanks,
Doug Sisk
1scream Founder, Partner

Great news for our Mac-using players! Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Platinum is now available for purchase for the Apple Mac OS X operating system! Platinum includes not only RCT3 itself, but both the Soaked! and Wild! (the first time it has been available for Mac) expansion packs. Unfortunately, Wild! is not available for single purchase for those who already have RCT3 for Mac.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: Platinum for Mac requires Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 with an Intel processor, 2GB of hard disk space, a DVD drive, and a dedicated NVIDIA or ATI Radeon video card.

You can pick a copy up (although it’s currently showing as out of stock) at GameAgent.com for $50 USD.

We hope to see more Mac-based RCT3 players join us here at RCTLounge! We’ll work to get a copy here soon so we can try it out and see if it’s just like it’s PC-based older brother.

Discuss this on our Forums

Discuss this on our forums, here.

We would like to thank all of our wonderful members throughout the years. Without you, we would not be here.

Both Ethan and I would like to thank the site founder, Chris (772pilot), for all the funds he put forward personally to help make this site possible in the beginning. We are honored to own such a great site, and we hope it continues to grow and people continue to share and enjoy their projects and other’s.

Here’s to 100,000 and the next 100,000! Thanks once again!

RCTLounge Team

Owners: Doug & Ethan; Founder: Chris (772pilot); Moderators: Adamb241 & JamesB