Merlin Entertainments On How Planet Coaster 2 Captures Rollercoaster Design Authenticity

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For almost eight years now, Planet Coaster has reigned as the ultimate theme park simulator, offering enthusiasts and casual fans alike a place to create the theme park of their dreams. In just a few short weeks, Planet Coaster 2 will be hitting PC and consoles, bringing with it a bevy of new features and quality-of-life improvements that will hopefully cement the sequel as the new champion of the genre.

Game Rant recently attended a preview event for Planet Coaster 2 at one of the UK's most renowned theme parks, Thorpe Park. Here, Game Rant sat down with John Burton, the senior creative lead for Merlin Magic Making, a department that's been dubbed the "creative heart" of Merlin Entertainments. As joyful screams from the nearby Swarm passengers rained overhead, Burton spoke with Game Rant about the process of designing some of the UK's best attractions, and how Planet Coaster 2 is capturing that authenticity. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Q. Could you give a general breakdown of your role at Merlin Entertainments?

A: Sure, my name is John Burton, and I'm the senior creative lead for Merlin Magic Making, which is the company that designs all the rides and attractions for places like Thorpe Park, Alton Towers, and Chessington World of Adventures.

Q. What's your favorite part of the ride-making process?

A: There are so many bits. I love that initial part where you get to start coming up with the ideas of what this could be creatively, and what the storyline could be. The second bit is seeing it being built. I love being on the ground, art directing and seeing all the components – ingredients we call them – come together to make the thing you've been dreaming of come to life. The third bit is the moment when you open it for the very first time, you see the guests go on, and you see the reactions. That, for me, is what it's all about.

Q. On that note, what's the most satisfying reaction you've seen to one of your rides?

A: It was probably the Nemesis Reborn project at Alton Towers this year. That was a very tough project, and I remember the energy that came from the crowd that day. Some of the project team and I stood at the exit of the ride as the first train went around the track. When it came back, the round of applause we got was quite an emotional thing. We put so much blood, sweat, and tears into it, and to have that kind of reaction brought so much joy to us as a team.

Q. You mentioned earlier that you've worked on dark rides before. Is there a different kind of process for creating a dark ride compared to a rollercoaster?

A: A dark ride will primarily start more on the concept side of things, rather than hardware. Something like Hyperia started with the brief "We want the UK's tallest rollercoaster." We started building layouts for manufacturers and the theme kind of followed with it. With a dark ride, you're probably starting with the theme and concept, and the hardware will come from the most appropriate way to achieve that. You've also got a lot more storytelling opportunities with a dark ride as you'll be going through those elements slower, and you can incorporate media, like screens. I always say to "use the darkness as your canvas."

Q. What's your favorite piece of theming you've created for a ride?

A: I'm going to say Nemesis Reborn. It took the original Nemesis from 1994, which was very static, and we tried to bring life to it using technology that wasn't available back then. We incorporated a brand-new look and aesthetic. We painted the track, we brought a brand-new soundtrack. For the theming of the alien, we built this big eye with teeth that were animatronic and moved to bring it to life. We had a half-spherical dome LED screen that was used as the eye, with matching audio. When the monster would get enraged when the rollercoaster flew over the top, the eye would go bloodshot and smoke would blast out of its ventricles. It's one of my favorite pieces.

Q. You probably can't say, but are there any plans to do more touch-ups to other long-standing UK rides?

A: I can't say, everything I work on is top secret!

Q. A lot of US rollercoasters, like those in Universal and Disneyland, have a lot of theming in their queues. Do you think more UK attractions could receive a similar level of queue theming in the future?

A: It depends on what queues we're looking at. It depends on the budget you're working with, and what you're trying to do with the attraction. It might be that there will be no queues in the future and that they get replaced with virtual queues. There are different ways to think about how queues might evolve in the future.

I find that queues are a great place to start storytelling. You don't have much time to tell a story on a rollercoaster. You're on that 90-second ride, you can't really say too much, and you can't really make them listen to anything. Queues and preshows are important for that journey.

Q. My wife used to come to Thorpe Park all the time as a teenager. She told me how it was a big thing for those around the London area to come here. How much do you tailor the rides you work on for that younger audience?

A: It depends on the attraction. What we've found is that places like Alton Towers have a good breadth on offer for different people. It's got thrill-seeking rides but also goes all the way down to CBeebies Land. Thorpe Park has really established itself as the home of feel-good thrills. That's why you'll see the majority of the rides here are big, more intense, more scary. We tailor the attractions accordingly to those audiences.

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Q. Have you been able to see much of Planet Coaster 2 yet?

A: I've had a quick play. I've seen some of the new bits in it.

Q. Are there any particular features in Planet Coaster 2 that you think really capture the process of ride design?

A: I just think that when it comes to building a rollercoaster, the authenticity in some of the profiling, the block breaks, some of the new trick-track elements they've added in there, it's exactly like the real role. There are some really authentic elements to it.

Q. Is there anything you'd like to add in terms of what you've seen from Planet Coaster 2?

A: I've seen a lot of people that like to recreate our rides in the game, and I'm really excited to see that again. I've seen the new types of rides that you can build in Planet Coaster 2. I've seen that you can add theming to flat rides too. I'm really excited to see what people go and create using those tools.

Q. Is there a specific ride you'd like to challenge fans to recreate in Planet Coaster 2?

A: I'm really excited to see multidimensional coasters, the rides with drop tracks and other clever bits that can be put along the track. I'm excited to see these hybrid dark ride/rollercoasters.

[END]

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