 Chris Sawyer |
MicroProse's RollerCoaster Tycoon was created in a small village near Dunblane, Scotland, mainly by one person, Chris Sawyer. Released in March, it was the best-selling game of 1999 according to PC Data, selling over 700,000 copies in the US alone. (This represents about 80% of the market, which means it's likely the game has sold more than a million units in less than a year). It's managed to appeal to both the hardcore and casual gamers, and is by far the most pleasant surprise of the year. We asked him a few questions about the secret to its success.
Are you surprised by both the critical and public reaction to RollerCoaster Tycoon?
Yes, I'm surprised by how well the game has been received by the public and the press. I always hoped that what I was trying to create would appeal to other people, but there were times during the two years of development when I had serious doubts about the game, often because of the negative reaction from other people in the game industry.
How about the sales figures?
I'm delighted of course, especially with how well the game has been selling in the US. As a Scottish (UK) developer, it's great to see my game cross the Atlantic and sell so well in a market which is often very difficult for UK developers to penetrate.
RollerCoaster Tycoon isn't difficult in the traditional strategy game sense. Was that a conscious decision?
 Transport Tycoon |
I think my philosophy was that it should be fun to play with rather than just fun to play against. The whole process of playing the game should be enjoyable, not just the challenge of winning. I could have made the game much more difficult, but it might have turned a very positive game into a rather frustrating one, where all your hard work designing and building a park might result in bankruptcy and the end of the game. Where's the fun in that?
Why do you think it's connecting with so many people?
I think it touches on two of the most fundamental elements of our human nature. We all like doing something constructive, where we can see that we are creating something from virtually nothing, and we all have a desire to nurture or look after things. This is what the game is all about. You spend hours painstakingly building your park and roller coasters up piece by piece, and then it becomes your own baby which you want to look after and keep running smoothly, watching it grow in popularity and delighted by the little guests who are enjoying all your hard work. Of course the subject matter, roller coasters and theme parks, helps a lot as well. What could be more fun in a game than to build and run a park which is full of little people also having fun?
Your games seem to have a Sid Meier influence; that is, when faced with a realism versus "fun" decision, you seem to choose the latter.
 RollerCoaster Tycoon |
Most definitely. If you take realism to it's logical conclusion, you get a simulation of real life, which is often boring, frustrating, time-consuming and not very rewarding. A game does benefit from some realism of course, just enough to give the player familiar rules and recognizable feedback, but the key to a good game is to have the right elements of realism, along with plenty of other elements which are just plain good fun.
So what's next? How do you follow up something this popular? Do you feel any additional pressure to duplicate, or exceed, RollerCoaster Tycoon's success?
Oh, the pressure! Following up a successful game is never easy, but being an independent developer, I'm free to take things at my own pace and develop my ideas until something worthwhile emerges. RollerCoaster Tycoon itself came about through the ashes of another project, and initially was just an excuse for visiting theme parks to "research" the roller coasters! I have been working on a new project for several months now, but there's no guarantee it will reach completion. One of the advantages of being independent is that I can quickly change direction, try new ideas, resurrect old ones and generally do anything in search of the ultimate objective in a game—fun.
The Tracks of His Games
Chris Sawyer reflects on his past games
Chris Sawyer wrote his first game in 1984, and obviously highly-original work called Missile Kommand for the Memotech MTX system. He made a living converting Amiga games to the PC, and eventually created his first all-original game in 1995. We asked him to offer an anecdote about his two major original designs.
Transport Tycoon
Published by MicroProse (1995)
This was my first self-designed "big" game, taking around 12 months to develop. My aim was to create something less complex but more fun than Railroad Tycoon. I added more transport types, more detail and better opposition, though if you've watched a computer-run company building a zigzag railway line which is five times the length it needs to be, you'll know the company AI wasn't particularly clever!
RollerCoaster Tycoon
Published by MicroProse (1999)
A project full of ups and downs (and the occasional few days back at work designing the game and writing the code.) Over two years of development went into this game—it was a lot of fun to research the subject matter—and the published game is far, far larger than I'd originally planned back at the start of the project. Before I started the game, I hated roller coasters. Now I can't get enough of them, and even spent two weeks last summer visiting 14 theme parks in the US, just to ride the roller coasters.
by Steve Bauman
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