Hard to imagine at this time last year we’d only reached our first playable version of RollerCoaster Tycoon Story.
Our early days of production were spent on developing the playboard. Inspired by classic match 3 rules, we began RollerCoaster Tycoon Story with similar mechanics. However, as we considered ways for the amusement park theme to show through in the core mechanics, we realized we needed to bring innovation to the match 3 section for two reasons.
First, we wanted players to know they were playing a roller coaster game. Puzzle mechanics would be a big departure from the simulation gameplay the fans had known for 20 years. So, we needed to take a confident risk and bring roller coaster rails into the core gameplay. Second, we didn’t want to make “just another match 3” game. We wanted to innovate and offer a new twist on the genre that players had come to love through titles like Candy Crush. The result was our innovative “Rails” mechanic which allows players to move full rows of pieces along coaster tracks to make matches.
You can see the finished product live on the App Store and Google Play.