Bandai Namco teamed up with European developer LIMBIC Entertainment during Gamescom and announced for the first time an all-new theme park game “PARK BEYOND” that combines management and creativity. Creative Director Johannes Reitmann also accepted an interview with Chinese media to explain what the game actually plays.

About LIMBIC Entertainment and “PARK BEYOND”

LIMBIC Entertainment was founded in Germany in 2002 and currently has two development teams. The games that were previously developed were mainly on the PC platform. The development of “PARK BEYOND” continued for two years. Currently, Bandai Namco has acquired a portion of the company’s shares. Cooperation will become closer.

“PARK BEYOND” is a game based on the theme of amusement parks, a paradise that allows players to build their dreams. The producer said this is a modern amusement park game, hoping to make the impossible possible and let players experience the fun of the park.

The role of the player is a visionary architect who completes this legendary amusement park by completing various tasks. The development team said that the game focuses on simple hands-on training, and the game itself is a single-player game, but you can have fun with friends by sharing.

Turn the impossible into a possible creation

“Turning the Impossible into Possible” is our core concept of this business. We will use the existing amusement facilities in reality or transform the existing amusement facilities to exaggeration and become a new concept. For example, another example of a Ferris wheel, which is driven by gears, is a carousel. The circuit we finally developed can contain the second and third layers, in addition to the normally invisible rotation modes. And like a pirate ship that can actually enter the waters. The roller coaster fired by the cannon and so on.

In order to achieve this goal, we have designed some modules for players to add themselves. In addition, players can also design the entire terrain themselves, such as a roller coaster that can pass under a bridge, or go around a certain type of terrain, etc. We also designed a roller coaster that can deform, such as wings in flight, airbags when crossing water, etc.

Pay the same amount of attention to management and creativity

This game has a story mode. The main story is mission driven. Players will encounter various NPCs, such as the financiers of amusement parks. Players must find ways to solve the tasks they propose. As mentioned earlier, the player plays the role of a visionary designer. And the player will pay equal attention to management and creativity. There are many business elements in the game, such as managing the store, paying the facilities, or taking into account customer satisfaction, how to train the employees, salary etc. are all important considerations.

In addition, there is a board mode in the game, players need to suggest and persuade their own ideas, so it’s like setting their own goals, customer groups, etc. Each stage may have different constraints, such as budgets, or some special situations, players need ways to solve these problems.

“PARK BEYOND” is expected to be available on PS5, Xbox Siries XS, and PC in 2022. The development team has plans to provide more convertible things and utilities in the future.

“PARK BEYOND” FURTHER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: Are there ways other than stories?
A: There are two modes in the game, one is mission mode and the other is sandbox mode. For players who just want to build a happy amusement park, in sandbox, they can ignore the process and missions and cover their minds. • The most important theme park.

Q: Does the game have a so-called security design?
A: The agents in the game are divided into families, teens, and others. These three types of customers have different concerns about utility risks. For example, a roller coaster that spends more than 50% of the time in the air, then customers in the family group may not like this amusement equipment.

Q: Will the story mode ever end?
A: Restrictions on the mission will be of the player’s choice, such as time or revenue. If it is not accessed, it will actually cause the game to end. There is also a situation where an NPC might buy a nearby land. It may cause the game to end. (Yes, there are also land purchase expansion items in the game)

Q: Is there such a thing as a full cut in story mode?
A: Yes, we designed an experiment for more than 30 hours. There will be one last mission in the story mode. After the main story ends, you can move the original amusement park to sandbox, or open a new one in sandbox, play in the park from the beginning, in addition, the sandbox amusement park will continue to perform new tasks.

Q: Are there rides that do not exist in reality?
A: When we designed it, we hoped everyone could do something cool. So, for example, the theme of space adventure, we will design the corresponding materials to allow players to transform the city into what they want. But we want to emphasize that the design is based on things that are there, so we won’t see magic or science fiction. It still relies on reality-based facilities. If there are actually people who don’t worry about safety, then these facilities can be designed.

Q: What will happen to tourists in accidents?
A: We thought about this part, in the game, there is a ghost train system that will judge whether the facility is going off track or lacking in power. In the case of the actual game, the slightest thing is that the tourists feel uncomfortable after coming out of the facility and need treatment. Another possibility is that the amusement equipment is damaged, and a mechanic needs to be sent to the site to fix it.

Q: Are there rivals in the story?
A: There is no other paradise to compete in this game, but new characters may make your task more difficult, or you have to convince certain characters to join you. As players progress, some of the characters may be you and can never be persuaded, but this can be achieved with a little effort.

Q: Could the story mode not adopt the advice given by the NPC?
A: This is of course possible, but there is indeed the potential for bad outcomes, such as bankruptcy.

Q: The Ferris wheel presented above can see different combinations of wheels and wheels, is it possible to customize the appearance or is there a fixed upgrade type?
A: There are two kinds of amusement facilities: Flat amusement facilities are updated according to the level, such as vortex game. The high degree of customization is roller coaster, for example, the track mode is customized, or added to, mostly.

Q: Will upgrading the building increase the space?
A: No. In addition, there is a value for these special buildings in the game, the more such buildings there are, the higher the value.

Q: Is there a VR mode?
A: We thought about it and even bought equipment, but later found out that VR in some of the facilities wasn’t fun to play with, so we didn’t.