RCT3X - Your Xtra Resource For RCT3 - Simon Foster and Allister Brimble Interview

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1. Could you please give an introduction to the work you do, and your role with Rollercoaster Tycoon.

SF: I'm a freelance designer, and I was responsible for all the in game graphics for RollerCoaster Tycoon 1 and 2. plus the add-on packs for RCT 1.

2. What project(s) are you currently working on?

SF: Ah! I'm sorry but most of the stuff I work on has non-disclosure agreements attached to it, which means if I tell you they come round and stick prawns through my letterbox while I'm away on holiday.

3. How do you feel the time you worked on RCT1 and 2 went?

SF: You have to bear in mind that it was the best part of a decade from start to finish. From a freelancer point of view it's the best job opportunity you can have; regular work for a long time on a high profile project. On the other hand there was so much to do for such a long time that there were times when I sat there with my head in my hands in front of my PC desperately wishing it could end. But you get the job done & you don't waste anyone's time with 'artistic migranes'. Looking back it was on the whole a good time. The best times for many people is when they are hungry for something and working hard to make it happen and happen well.

4. Which game would you say was the best to work on, and why?

SF: Probably the first. It was all new territory and I was learning the 3d software as I went along, solving problems & exploring opportunities. It was that feeling of making something new. The second was fun but it was refining the known process, again learning new 3d software but by then we knew we could do it. It's more rewarding doing something new than doing something slicker.

5. How many people were there, working on both of the games? Were you closely liked with these?

SF: The sound guy, Allister Brimble was brought in at a later stage for 2 to 3 months, so most of the time it was just me and Chris Sawyer. We live about 3 hours away from each other & I visited him once during the whole process because I had a problem with my PC I wanted him to fix. Apart from that we spoke pretty much every day. He would call me up and give me feedback from last night's work & brief me for the day. Then I'd tell him he was crazy and a complete slavedriver and he'd tell me to shut up and get on with it. No! I'm joking. We'd chat about work and anything else. Over the years I got to know Chris extremely well professionally and fairly well personally.

6. How did you enjoy your time working along side Chris Sawyer?

SF: I've had a lot of clients over the last 20+ years from local startup businesses to huge multinationals and I can say with my hand on my heart that Chris is up there with the absolute best of them. Professional through and through but also decent, considerate and down to earth. Once in a blue moon I would read on a newsgroup someone claming that they thought he was the most greedy, self cantered, cynical etc. etc. and I would have to bite my tongue because I know he's nothing like that. The fact is that he wanted to do the best game he could and that's what he did. Any financial considerations came afterwards. If you've played RCT 1 or 2 and though it was fun then that's because it was a labour of love from Chris, not a committee's idea of what would attract a greater market presence. If you're still not convinced the consider this: Towards the later stages of RCT 2 we knew we had a monster hit on our hands and there was great pressure from a lot of people,
yet there were times when I couldn't get hold of Chris because he was helping his local community with free badminton tuition or organising the lights for a children's nativity play.

7. Are you pleased with the results of RCT1 and 2? Do you feel it did better than you expected?

SF: You're never entirely pleased with the work you do, otherwise why try harder to get better? It's nice to see my work in action in a game but you move on. What I'm most pleased about is that Chris liked them. Did it do better than I expected? There was a point early on in RCT 1's development where we didn't know if we'd ever get a publisher interested. It was against the trends of what was out there and broke a few rules. But it was the game Chris wanted so that's what we did. The game's phenomenal success took me completely by surprise.

8. Are you a fan of rollercoasters and has working on RCT1 and 2 improved your knowledge on them?

SF: I find it hard to go round a Theme park these days because a lot of the stuff that's there I've done a 3d model of, so I'm always checking my work against the real thing. But I love them and my tip is to scream your head off in the long slopes down; you don't get your stomach up in your mouth and you enjoy it a lot more.

9. Have you seen or played Roller Coaster Tycoon 3?

SF: Yep.

10. What do you think about RCT3?

SF: An excellent game done by excellent people. I had occasion to go down to Frontier Developments some time after RCT 2 and I was struck by what a great place it seemed to be to work at. The location was lovely, the people charming. I'll be looking forward to their new game, 'ThrillVille' which you can read about on their website.

11. Do you have any plans to develop or work on any more theme park games?

SF: That all depends on what a client wants, but after nearly 10 years it's nice to work on something different.

12. Are there plans to release any new RollerCoaster games, which you are aware of?

SF: Do you really want them to come round and stick prawns through my letterbox because of the non-disclosure agreements? But I'd love to see a new version published by people who have the resources and enthusiasm to really do it justice.

13. Are you aware of any news about the future of Rollercoaster Tycoon?

SF: Big fat tiger prawns with a surly disposition?

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