There are a lot of complexities that go into making a simulation game, especially one like Planet Coaster 2 that wants to appeal to a wider audience and not just a more hardcore few. Frontier Developments definitely has experience with this effort thanks to years of work on titles like the original Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, both of which helped the studio really perfect the simulation and information suites in the sequel.
We were told all about this process by executive producer Adam Woods during a recent interview, where he said: "It's all about trying to sort of provide that authentic feeling of running a park and all the nuance that comes to it. And there's new elements for that in Planet Coaster 2 as well.
"But as you say, it's about trying to present the information in a readable way and also allow kind of like a nested complexity. You know, you can kind of get quite a bit of information from a ride info panel just from that first tab. You get a good overview of it, but then you can investigate more information about it and actually really start to drill down and really tweak the ride or deal with the management side of it as you sort of grow with the game as well.
"And we've got a lot of experience in that with Planet Coaster, with Planet Zoo, bringing these PC games with their big simulations that are running behind it down to a console as well. So we've utilised that. We've taken some of the learning from there as well and applied it here. So it's always about trying to have a broad, you know, allow a lot of people in to experience the game how they want to, from someone that just wants to come in and sort of place a roller coaster blueprint all the way down to someone that really wants to manage money through a park."
You can see the full interview below where Woods also tells us a little about the Event Sequencer mechanic, how the team flexed their skills in the Career Mode, and more.