http://www.facebook.com/ThemeParkStudio
Not sure who's keeping up with this, but the Facebook page has been pretty busy. A new video was posted showcasing the in-house scenery/geometry system, which will let us stay out of our 3D modelers somewhat more than we usually do for NoLimits.
I'm definitely looking foward to this. Even if the coasters don't reach NoLimits 2 in terms of realism and accuracy, the rest of the program looks like it'll truly give that amusement park vibe with apparently rideable flat rides and other features. (Whereas in NoLimits 2, we can animate the ride models, but not ride them, or so I thought?)
For me, there's no competition between this and NoLimits 2. I want both. Not sure about others, but there seems to be a separation between those who want to build parks in general, and those who want to just stick to coasters. (i.e. RCT vs. NL 1.x right now.) TPS will definitely be a welcome replacement over RCT for me.
Anyways, I look forward to seeing what's ahead for TPS. In particular, I'm interested in the terrain editing system, and perhaps underground tunnels if you guys took (or plan to take) the time to work on that. And regardless of how accurate the coaster models are, I'd still like to see modern track construction features such as FVD's and geometric parameter-defined sections. (They do make the process easier and faster to create good quality track.)
I am posting to this forum hoping to get some feedback. We started out with a specific UI style, seen in the video. Later, when we decided to merge our graphics' engine, we switched to windows gui. This gave it a more technical look, less game-like. Although the game-like style was lost, the advantages gained included better performance, customization, and dialogs that can be hidden, resized, docked, or pinned.
I think most of us would welcome this, as long as there's a fullscreen mode for experiencing the park. The tools look rather like that of a game engine / development tool, which I happen to think is also appropriate for park development, given the powerful tools are in place.
*edit
There's a new video they released showing a fully lit Top Scan model in action. Looks pretty sweet!