Poll: You Pick the Project!

Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm back! I just posted my first original coaster in forever, and for the first time in a VERY long time I am excited about building again.

The problem is, I have too many potential projects lined up to decide what to build next. I had like 30 unbuilt coasters in my design folder, and was still only able to narrow it down to 8 from that. So that's where you come in! Below is a list of 8 potential coaster projects, along with their original sketches and a list of stats and special features.

So won't you help a suddenly over-motivated coaster designer out? Which of these projects would you most like to see built?



Coaster 1: "Thunderbird"

Official Design #31 (7th grade, fall 1998)

Thunderbird was yet another attempt at doing a B&M inverted coaster, a type which I had failed three times before to properly emulate. I chose this one over the others because I feel like the layout is actually workable into something.

Special Features: Big Loop, Tunnels, "Diving Eagle" Maneuver (Almost like a spin-then-dive, but tilted upward.)

Approximate Sequence: Spiral Drop, Loop, 0-g roll, Immelman, Turns/Hill, Diving Eagle, Hill, Diving Loop into Tunnel, Something, corkscrew into tunnel, end.



Coaster 2: "Maelstrom"

Official Design #38 (8th grade, winter 2000)

Maelstrom is a type unto its own. It was an effort to create something that had inversions, and yet still felt like an out-and-back hypercoaster. It combines the big/dive/inclined looping styles of a B&M with an Arrow-style boomerang and airtime hills. This was always a favorite of mine, and would need almost no modifications to the layout in order to be built realistically in NL.

Special Features: "inverted drop" (elevated 3/4 loop exiting down very steep drop,) boomerang, and general concept.

Approximate Sequence: Straight Drop, Loop, Inverted Drop, Boomerang, Dive Loop, Inclined Loop, Air Hills, Double Helix, end.



Coaster 3: "Mamba" (I didn't know that the name was already taken at the time...)

Official Design #39 (8th grade, spring 2000)

This is another coaster that doesn't quite know whether it wants to be an Arrow or a B&M. Every time that I drew this coaster, I envisioned it as a corkscrew type, and yet I used blatantly-B&M elements like 0-g rolls, and yet still also had airtime hills to go with it. I guess I'll just call it another of the same kind of mold as Maelstrom. I also always liked this one, especially since it was the first coaster I built that actually worked perfectly in RCT when I tried to build it there.

Special Features: Spiral Drop, Sea Serpent, just type/sequencing in general.

Approximate Sequence: Spiral Drop, Sea Serpent, Loop, 0-G Roll, Cobra Roll, Camelback Hill, Double Helix, MCBR, diving left-right drop, corkscrew, 3 airtime hills, rising spiral, end.



Coaster 4: "Nightmare"

Official Design #40 (9th grade, fall 2000)

The real gimmick of Nightmare was the initial drop, which takes the B&M spiral drop to its extreme in the form of flipping completely over while it drops. The rest of the coaster, though, is pretty much a straight-up B&M floorless.

Approximate Sequence: Rollover Drop, Loop, Cobra Roll, 0-G Roll, Immelman, Spiral Turn, MCBR, Dive Loop, Camelback Hill, Helix, Corkscrew, end.



Coaster 5: "The Titan" (also didn't know that the name was already taken at the time...)

Official Design #42 (9th grade, fall 2000)

I spent my entire 8th grade year checking on the construction progress of Millennium Force on the computer every morning, so it's no wonder that very shortly after riding it, I decided to draw a giga coaster or two. The Titan it kind of a mini-giga, at 275 ft, but the inspiration on the supports and the overbanked turn should be clear. However, in the end the layout was actually more like an Arrow hypercoaster than an Intamin. So this is like a fusion of the two styles.



Coaster #6: "Power Blast 2000"

Official Design #43 (9th grade, fall 2000)

This coaster was my first, and still best, attempt at a tire-launched B&M coaster, inspired by the newly-opened "Incredible Hulk." Not much else to say except that my drawing skills were really starting to improve by this point.

Special Features: Launch into spiral corkscrew drop, Inverted Double Loop, Cutback

Approximate Sequence: Launch, spiral corkscrew drop, loop, inverted double loop, diving turn, cutback, MCBR, spiral drop, corkscrew, 0-g roll over station, helix, end.



Coaster 7: "Flame Wave"

Official Design #46 (9th grade, spring 2001)

Flame wave was originally conceived as a type unto itself of my own creation, a "vertical inverted drop coaster." This was before I even knew that "Oblivion" at Alton Towers existed yet, and thus I still thought a perfectly vertical drop, let alone a straight one, was completely impossible. So my solution was the vertical inverted drop, which first appeared on my much earlier 6th grade coaster "Tempest." My goal with Flame Wave was to take the idea and perfect it. Now that initial element is obsolete as an idea, so I plan to re-imagine this coaster as an actual B&M dive machine.

Special Features: Vertical Inverted Drop, "Heartline Boomerang" (like a boomerang, but exits facing the same way rather than turning around), spin-then-dive off MCBR, big helix finale.

Approximate Sequence: Vertical Drop, Dive Loop, Heartline Boomerang, Rising Spiral Turn, MCBR, Spin-then-dive, Sea Serpent, Tunnel, Corkscrew, Floater Air Hill, Helix Finale, end.



Coaster 8: "Hyper X"

Official Design #69 (college, spring 2006)

The original hypercoaster was based off the idea of taking a traditional out-and-back wood coaster to its absolute extreme in terms of speed, height, and sheer airtime on the hills. The wood coaster has changed an awful lot since Magnum was built in 1989. CCI and GG have popped on the scene since then, so now the wood coaster has become just as new and extreme as the big steel coasters. Hyper X is an attempt to update the hypercoaster concept to the new century, by taking a GG-style wood coaster to its absolute extreme in terms of speed, intensity, and sheer insanity. The new hypercoaster includes vertical drops, incredibly intense big hills that are nearly vertical also, and insane transitions not possible on wood coasters, all while also throwing in a splash of GG-style lateral g's in a few unpredictable places. That was the original concept of this coaster, which was eventually abandoned in the fall of 2006 due to lack of motivation. But now I really want to pick it up and try again.




All input is welcomed! Thanks for your help in deciding!

Last one is really the only one that caught my eye out of that list. Not sure of the name, but that's easy to change.

It's hard to say. The drawings are a bit chaotic and it's a little hard to see what the idea is behind them.

If I had more time, I would decide, but it's kinda hard with a huge post like that and a tight schedule.

[TheArchitect]

Power Blast 2000

Nightmare

I'd say either Power Blast 2000 or Hyper X.

Originally posted by AJClarke0912

It's hard to say. The drawings are a bit chaotic and it's a little hard to see what the idea is behind them.

Okay, well in that case, here are the actual track layout views of Coasters 2-7, the ones that it's hard to tell what's happening:


Coaster 2: ("Maelstrom") (looping out-and-back hypercoaster)


Coaster 3: ("Mamba") (B&M/Arrow looping hybrid)


Coaster 4: ("Nightmare") (B&M Floorless)


Coaster 5: ("The Titan") (Intamin/Arrow Hyper Hybrid)


Coaster 6: ("Power Blast 2000") (Launched B&M Sit-Down)


Coaster 7: ("Flame Wave") ("Vertical Inverted Drop" Coaster / B&M Dive Machine)

Power Blast or Hyper X. Others that seemed interesting to me were Maelstrom, Nightmare, and Titan.

CURRENT VOTE COUNT:

Thunderbird: 0
Maelstrom: 0
Mamba: 0
Nightmare: 1
The Titan: 0
Power Blast 2000: 3
Flame Wave: 0
Hyper X: 3

Hyper X seems like a neat concept. +1

All right, looks like I'm going to be working on Hyper X and Power Blast 2000 then.

(I'm going to say both of them, because unlike the others, Hyper X does not have a full-blown layout plan that I can just follow to the letter. I have some decent ideas after not having touched it in 5 years, but there is a legitimate possibility that I might hit a snag again, and jump over to Power Blast, so I'm going to say both, because who knows which will get done first...)

Thanks for your input, everyone!

Honestly I would just scrap everything, with the possible exception of "Hyper X." The other rides are generally so old and simple that they would only hold you back IMO, especially if you were to follow those layouts and element concepts closely.

Basically there's just so much more you can do now that you (or I) didn't think about that long ago, from nuances to full elements or layouts.

P.S.: Real question, where does one come up with a name like "Enodi"?

Originally posted by dcs221

Basically there's just so much more you can do now that you (or I) didn't think about that long ago, from nuances to full elements or layouts.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, at the time, I didn't even think that vertical drops were possible, let alone straight ones. I can't even imagine how much my mind would have been blown as far as what was possible if Maverick had opened at that time. And since then, I have indeed learned a LOT more in terms of mixing up pacing and sequencing and kicking up the insanity rather than just following typical layouts (my trip to Holiday World in 2004 was the big turning point for that.) I know that I could come up with much more interesting ideas and layouts nowadays if I really tried.

But the reason I am doing these coasters now is because it has been over FIVE years since I've built original coasters on NoLimits. That's April of 2006. Pretty much everything in the building world has completely changed since then, and I've frankly completely lost the mindset that I was in back in 2003 and 2004 when I was releasing coasters on a regular basis. That period started with me trying to take my hand-drawn designs and build them in NoLimits. So now I am going right back to what got me into this whole game in the first place. I think that revisiting some of my older designs, knowing almost exactly what I will build, is a great way to remind me where my inspiration came from in the first place and get me back in the swing of things.

There are a number of original projects that I fully plan on tackling after this re-learning period is over.

Just noticed your second question, dcs...

Basically, the name "Enodi" comes from a gymnastics move called an "Onodi." (Me and my mom used to go watch competitions at the University of Florida every other weekend in the winter.) The move itself is basically a backflip with a half twist where the gymnast lands on her hands upside-down. So when I was looking for something to call an element that was basically a roller coaster version of two of these in sequence, I decided to steal the name, and never bothered to look up how it was actually spelled.