Starting with this news I am going to release some new information every month about my current project. This project is definitely the largest project I have ever been working on and as you might already have guessed, I am talking about NoLimits 2. It is hard to say how far I am with it because a lot of development was spend so far on basic features like the graphical user interface and main engine and at this point there is nothing cool to show that is has anything to do with a coaster simulation. That means that it is still impossible for me to give you a clear release date. Two years ago, I would have estimated the year 2008 but now it more and more solidifies that I cannot finish it this year. I know that this is a damn long time for a new update. I would like to use these monthly posts for giving you more insight about the project and why it is so huge and why it is not just a new update and why it is not out yet.
A long time ago I decided to start from scratch for NL2 because a lot of things that went into the original NoLimits were not that perfect from today's point of view which give me more and more trouble now. I still think that starting from scratch was a good decision, though if NL2 would have shared more with NL1, it would be way closer to a release. But what about NL3 and so on? The more and more I will continue relying on a bad design, the more and more problems I would face with every new update. To start from scratch means, that I will get a second chance to do it right from the beginning which means that every new update will be so much easier. NoLimits is a project that evolves, it is not a simple game that is ever finished. The whole amusement industry evolves. New coaster designs are coming out every year and new techniques improve the ride experiences more and more. I am just trying to keep up with the industry.
The classic example for what I think that needed to be redesigned is the separated editor application which results in a lot of doubled code. The original idea was to have a simulator application with a highly optimized rendering path for best framerates and a lightweight editor with a simplified wireframe based display. When I was in the process of developing NL1, I had no idea how many people would actually buy the program. And then again, my guess was that most customers would most likely play with shipped tracks inside the simulator and only a minority of customers would really care about the editor at all. I was so damn wrong. Now it is for sure that the editor is a very important aspect of the application. On the same hand today's graphics hardware and CPU power is much higher which is not requiring too complicated optimization paths. For NL2 you can expect that the editor is built right into the simulator sharing the same display. The big advantage is that you do not have to switch between two applications if you want to try out your ideas. WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") becomes possible. One big downside of higher performance computers is that also the demands from the customers are much higher today. A lot of the overall development time is spend for keeping up with today's graphics features like GPU shaders.
I still plan to continue maintaining the NL1.x project while NL2 is still too far away. That's it for now, more information about NL2 and its features is coming in march...
Posted - 06/18/2013 : 06:18:50 AM Looks very good so far dev team! Love the new features and attention to detail.
SkyArrow
Posted - 06/18/2013 : 04:39:43 AM Lucky. The closest thing I have to that at my local state fair is the Power Surge, which is not as intense or vomit inducing as it looks. In fact, kinda relaxing. With that, do I even need a Tango?
NightwindElf
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 11:19:53 PM
quote:Originally posted by CKidd
on another note, where can I find a real flat ride like that?
We have something similar at the state fair every year. Caution! The harness goes ALL the way down, and it's not comfortable at all.
SkyArrow
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 9:50:47 PM I wonder if this will be more resource intensive than Portal 2, which my computer can run just fine.
CKidd
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 02:04:29 AM that just made me re-excited for this, if thats an actual word. on another note, where can I find a real flat ride like that?
mkingy
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 01:41:18 AM I may lose a good deal of my life to this...
gouldy
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 01:08:38 AM Yes, I'm going to need a better computer.
RideWarriorNation
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 12:38:54 AM this is making my benis hard
NightwindElf
Posted - 06/17/2013 : 12:18:45 AM Very nice. I can't wait to fool around and make some totally awesome animations.
PhyterNL
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 10:19:29 PM NL2VM is a fully custom language based on popular object oriented syntax. The API is fully documented and the reference including in the in-game help guide.
NightwindElf
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 10:07:20 PM God, I can't wait. Now, since the language used to script the animations is custom made, does that mean we're going to see some sort of documentation on the features that are totally custom made? I know it borrows from Java and C# but will it only borrow from those making it only technically custom made and not a true custom language?
Freddie
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 9:21:57 PM Here goes another 5 years of trying to make boulder dash.
cool5
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 8:45:43 PM I want to make a whole park of playground slides that I can virtually slide down with the walkmode feature.
SauronHimself
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 8:18:28 PM $50 or GTFO.
SkyArrow
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 8:03:05 PM 95% done with it? WOOOO! Tho sadly I don't think I'm going to do too much with scripting unless maybe someone is kind enough to write some detailed tutorials. With all the professional features and immense rays of awesomeness, my biggest fear is the price. It sounds like it could get pretty expensive. I worry about that more than the release date being unannounced.
PhyterNL
Posted - 06/16/2013 : 7:30:46 PM How about an update?
Posted - 06/02/2013 : 12:14:25 PM I hope so too cool5. I hope so too.
cool5
Posted - 06/02/2013 : 12:08:16 PM But the default catwalks look so lousy and they are not as tall as the wooden catwalk railings. The NL2 automatic 3ds catwalks will look so much better and they will automatically connect to the track. I hope that they can be customized for my jet coasters.
NightwindElf
Posted - 06/02/2013 : 11:30:38 AM You can do that now, cool5. Just change all the segments to brake sections and check the box that says "hide brake device". Play with the settings so it's not changing the momentum of the coaster, and ta-da!
cool5
Posted - 06/02/2013 : 10:43:18 AM I have another jet coaster that the supports are almost finished on. My jet coasters are certainly better than most of the noob coasters that are uploaded on here. I always put good detail into them. I cannot wait until No Limits 2 that will allow 3d catwalks on any piece of track.
tmv8888
Posted - 05/31/2013 : 9:45:11 PM ^ I for one have been here for quite some time. Lately I've noticed that my current floorless contest has gotten an astounding amount of attention. Much more than I would have expected. Yes, that is in part due to our current season. Kids are out of school and such. However, the contest HAS done a good job of boosting activity, as well as getting some otherwise "burnt out" designers very interested. I will continue to do contests similar to this one in order to play my part in boosting site activity.
Tetsu
Posted - 05/31/2013 : 8:52:18 PM
quote:Originally posted by SkyArrow
....and some of the crap tracks that do get rated, the comment is something like "booooring" or "this sucks. It could be better" without really explaining, and further discouraging the uploader. And giving ratings might help give people a better idea rather than blindly downloading, tho it might also be good to download a high or low rated ride anyway just to see if it actually deserves the rating it got.
The staff of this site is always open to ideas on how to bring up the rating percentage for this reason. If you have an idea, PM one or all of us and we, the staff and maybe the VIPs, will talk about it.
Coasterkidmwm
Posted - 05/31/2013 : 08:07:40 AM I'd make something but I don't have the goddamned time ugh.
SkyArrow
Posted - 05/30/2013 : 2:22:56 PM
quote:Originally posted by Ajax_Coasters
Haha, I have noticed a decline in the number of quality rides being uploaded
I have a theory that n00bs who upload tracks that are not rated (tho ideally they shouldn't upload tracks until they get more experienced) don't know what to improve on so they keep making the same low quality rides as before (or they do because they don't like criticism), and some of the crap tracks that do get rated, the comment is something like "booooring" or "this sucks. It could be better" without really explaining, and further discouraging the uploader. And giving ratings might help give people a better idea rather than blindly downloading, tho it might also be good to download a high or low rated ride anyway just to see if it actually deserves the rating it got.
